He had pity on him...

6^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, year B 2018

I have always appreciated this story from Mark’s Gospel.  It truly helps us to experience the compassion, the love of Christ.  We hear that Jesus is moved with pity.  Then he stretches out his hand to the leprous man, and heals him.

In many ways, this many with leprosy represents the whole human race.  He is sick, he is cast out from the community, he is hurting, he faces a great deal of suffering.  Isn’t it true for us as a whole?  The whole human race fell away from God.  We have inherited this great wound, we call it original sin.  It leads us away from God, it causes us weakness, suffering, death, sadness, sorrow.  And yet, God is moved with pity. 

Many times in our lives we will ask the question “why” in the face of suffering.  Why did this person die?  Why did this disaster happen?  Why did my loved one get sick?  These are honest and heart-felt questions.  The answer is often illusive: we suffer and die because we live in a fallen cosmos.  This isn’t the most satisfying answer.  We want someone to blame!

But, as I often like to say, rather than ask “why” we can ask “what”.  In other words, what did God do to respond to the suffering of the human race: he was moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, he sent his only beloved son.  My friends, this mercy extends to every one of us.  Know and believe that Christ continues to have mercy, compassion, pity for every one of us.  Just like the man in the gospel, he is there to stretch out his hand, to heal and save us. 

So, this story teaches us a great deal about God, his son Jesus, and the great mercy and love he has for us.  But, I think, it also teaches us a little bit about the spiritual life.  The many with leprosy represents us all.  So, his actions sketch out a pathway for us.  Notice he does 3 things in the gospel before he is healed.

Number 1: he approaches Jesus.  This might sound simplistic.  But, it is truly impossible to receive the healing and mercy of God if we don’t go to him.  Our task in this life is to love and serve God.  But, it is quite difficult to love and serve a God we don’t know.  Without spending time with God, without turning to him in prayer and praise, we will keep wandering around lost and suffering.  But, if we take the example of this man in the gospel, we will approach Jesus, we will pray and spend time with him.

Number 2: he kneeled down.  I love this image of kneeling down.  It’s a powerful image of submission.  It’s an image of worshiping.  Kneeling down is a powerful reminder that God is the great king.  Kneeling down is an act of thanksgiving, it is an act of prayer.  So, our prayer life should certainly include giving God thanks and praise.  I mentioned this last week when I spoke about stewardship, but the more we recognize that everything comes from God, the more we will be filled with his joy and peace.  Like it often says in the Eucharistic prayer, to give God thanks is itself a gift from God.  Kneeling down before the Lord gives us a great perspective.

Number 3: he begs Jesus.  He makes known to Christ his needs: if you want you can heal me.  So, the other side of the life of prayer is to beg God for all that we need.  To ask him for healing, to ask him for guidance, to ask him for courage.  These are the prayers we can bring before the Lord.  Now, the healing we are looking for may not happen as swiftly as it did in the gospel today.  In fact, we might not receive the fullness of the peace we long for until heaven.  But, by begging Christ for all we need, we grow closer to him, and we experience his love and compassion more deeply.

So, I love this reading because it tells us a great deal about God.  He is moved with pity at our suffering, he sent Jesus as the response to human suffering.  And, it teaches us about the spiritual life.  If we long for healing, if we desire to experience the mercy and compassion of Christ, we approach him, we kneel down, and we beg him for all that we need. 

Everyone is looking for you

5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B 2018 Stewardship Sunday

Everyone is looking for you.  These words were spoken by Simon Peter to Jesus over 2000 years ago.  But, I think they are just as true now.  Lord, everyone is looking for you.  Jesus Christ is the answer to the question of human existence.  Jesus Christ is the answer to the question buried deep in every human heart.  What is that question?  Why am I here?  What is my destiny?  The answer is Jesus Christ.  He is the union between God and humanity.  Why am I here?  Because God put me here.  What is my destiny?  To be united with God forever.  We are all gathered here in church to day because we too are looking for Jesus.  Everyone is looking for you.  Because we have found Jesus, because we have the gift of faith, we come here to give God thanks and praise for all the many gifts he has given to us. 

This is a familiar pattern.  God does amazing things, and his people give him thanks and serve him in return.  This is what Simon’s mother-in-law does.  Jesus heals her fever.  Then, the gospel says, she waited on them.  Gift leads to service.

It was similar for St. Paul in the second reading.  Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.  Paul had received so much from God, that he was internally compelled to serve God, to preach the gospel and to serve the people “free of charge.”  And, most importantly, he says that it was important for him to do it willingly, not under constraint.  He loved God so much, and God had done so much for him, that he gave back freely to the Lord.

This weekend we celebrate our Stewardship Sunday.  Every year about this time, we take a Sunday to pause and to reflect upon the Stewardship way of life.

I would like to start by giving a little update, especially when it comes to our stewardship of treasure.  The last time I spoke to you about parish finances, things did not look so good.  We put together our parish budget in the spring and noticed big problems.  So, I brought these problems to the attention of everyone this last spring.  The response has been tremendous.  You have generously answered the Lord’s call to generosity.  We had been noticing our collections going down over the last few years.  This past year our collections are going up again.  Thanks to your generous response our financial situation is looking stronger.  Also, we made some pretty major changes in staffing in the school.  Mike Obergfell and all the faculty and staff creatively found ways to give an excellent education to our children, while significantly lowering the annual budget.  This has helped tremendously.  Also, over the past year, we have received some very generous contributions to pay for technology improvements in the school, and here in the church.  This has been a year of tremendous blessing.  This is all thanks to you and to your generous response to the gifts that God has given you.

But, when I look to the future, there are always things that cause me some anxiety.  Our projected number of school children ended up about 15 too high, which means that our school income will be quite a bit lower than I had anticipated.  We had a few pipes break in the school, and we still have to decide how to fix these issues.  There are a number of other capital improvements that we can see as being needed in the next few years. 

So, what is the outlook of our parish?  I think it is tremendously hopeful, with a dash of uncertainty.  And you know what?  That’s probably good.  I mean, this just means that St. Jude is just about like any family, right?  Doesn’t this sound like most of our own personal financial situations: tremendously hopeful with a dash of uncertainty? 

So, I’m here today to encourage each and every one of you to continue to cultivate the stewardship way of life.  This is an important spiritual principal for all of us to live by.  God gives us so much, we give back to him out of love.  He has given us our lives, our talents, our treasures.  We use these things for his good and for his glory.

This week you will receive from us an annual report about Stewardship in our parish.  This will include financial information, but also a great deal of information about all the important works of service that have taken place here at St. Jude because of your great commitment of time and talent as well.

As I mentioned, life is often a mix hopeful and uncertain.  This is just a fact of life.  But, if we put our attention mainly on the uncertainties of life, we are filled with worry and dread.  But, rather, if we put our attention to the tremendously hopeful things in life, we will be filled with God’s joy and peace.  As pastor, I put my hope and my trust in God and in all of you.  Over the past year you have responded with incredible generosity, and I know you will certainly continue to do so in the future. 

Therefore, I invite all of you to spend some time this week to think about your stewardship of Time, Talent, and Treasure.  And I invite all of us to recommit to giving back to God for all the good he has done for us.

Fight Anxiety

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B

Today we see the mighty power of Christ at work.  He is spreading the gospel and he is driving out evil.  I love how the gospel writer puts it: what is this?  A new teaching with authority.  And: his fame spread everywhere.  Jesus Christ is the new Moses.  He is leading all of us to heaven, to His heavenly Father.  Jesus came to preach the Good News and be our savior.  However, I often think that we can fall into the trap of just thinking that this will happen at the end of our lives.  But, we don’t always remember that salvation starts right now.  God doesn’t want to be with us just at the end of our lives, but he sent Jesus to be with us in the midst of our daily lives.  The present moment is the place for us to meet Christ.  Notice, when Jesus drives out the unclean spirit, he doesn’t say: go out of him sometime down the road.  No, he says: come out now, and indeed he does.  So, invite Christ into your lives right now, drive out the demons that you find afflicting you.

One such demon might be anxiety.  I know that many of us face difficulties in our lives, many of these situations bring us distress, tension, and anxiety.  Well, this is not a new problem.  St. Paul was teaching his people about anxiety 2000 years ago.  He says, brothers and sisters, I should like you to be free from anxieties.  Yeah, wouldn’t that be nice!  Now, just a little context, when St. Paul wrote this letter, he had the feeling that Christ was coming back at the end of the week.  So, his recommendation might sound strange to us.  He was basically recommending that people not get married, because marriage comes with things that can cause stress: things like kids, couple communication, jobs, schools, on and on.  So, since Jesus was coming back at the end of the week, Paul said just stay single.  

Well, that is not very practical advice.  There are people who are called to be single, called to be totally dedicate to God and to service.  But, the majority of you are living the vocation to live in marriage, to live in families.  So, you can’t really get rid of all your anxieties by changing your external circumstances.  Sometimes that sounds tempting, but I find that changing externals doesn’t always get rid of anxieties.  We might think: if I just had that job, if my spouse would just agree with me more, if I just get into that good school, etc.  But, you know what?  When the externals change, we often still find anxieties that go along with the new externals.

However, just like St. Paul, I should like you to be free from anxieties.  Anxiety is really tough on us.  It can make everything seem unbearable.  It certainly can cause our joy of living to be reduced greatly.  So, I have three practical suggestions that have really helped me with anxieties over the years.

Number 1: prayer and meditation.  Prayer is so essential, of course.  It’s our time to connect with Jesus.  He truly has the power to drive out this unclean demon of anxiety.  But, without prayer, it’s almost like he doesn’t have a chance to work his miracle.  Prayer and meditation are so effective when it comes to anxiety because it helps us to change the interior, it helps to change our minds and hearts.  If we can change our internal narrative to be more filled with faith, hope, love, and joy, the external situations in our lives will cause so much less stress and anxiety.  My favorite example to use is St. Maximilian Kolbe.  He was killed in the concentration camps by the Nazis.  One thing they did to him was to lock him in a starvation bunker.  So, I can’t possibly imagine a more depressing and stressful situation to be in, being in a starvation bunker would probably cause me anxiety.  Yet, they say that he could be heard singing.  Now that is a person filled with faith.  Prayer and meditation can help all of us to have more faith, to be able to deal better with our external situations.

Now, the next two suggestions seem more practical.  So number two is exercise.  I can always tell when I’m able to exercise and be active.  Not just because my body feels better, but because my mind feels better.  You know, when I’m up here talking I’m normally talking about spiritual things, which is natural.  But, I also want to talk about our bodies.  Our bodies are intimately connected to our spirits.  We don’t have one without the other.  I think sometimes we neglect the body to the detriment of our souls.  So, try to get moving and get active.  I’m not saying everyone here should run the marathon next year, but if you find stress and anxieties are burdening you, try to get some exercise and see if it helps.

Number three is good sleep.  I’ve been reading a lot about sleep over the last year.  Studies are conclusive that sleep is really, really good for you.  Yet, for so long, I’ve always been one of those 5 hour a night people.  It used to be that we would wear this as a badge of honor: I only sleep 5 hours a night.  Now we say: congratulations, your lack of sleep is causing health problems with your body and your mind.  So, I’ve made a goal of mine to get over 7 hours of sleep every night.  Sometimes that’s tough.  I usually get up at 5:00 when I have 7:00 mass.  So that means I have to be in bed at 9:00 something.  But, it’s worth it.  I can tell you I’ve never once regretted going to bed early in my life.  But, I’ve regretted staying up to late tons of time.  I find that this commitment to sleep really helps the life of my mind.  I have less worries and less stress simply by being committed to sleep.

So, my friends, I’m not the expert, I’m not a doctor.  But, these things have worked for me.  I would like all of you to be free from anxieties, I would like to be free too.  If we all make commitments to prayer, exercise, and good sleep, I think all of us would find that we are much more able to deal with the difficulties in life, and we would have many fewer anxieties.  Let Jesus drive out that demon in your life. 

Vocation story

2^nd Sunday of Ordinary time, year B 2018:

Last Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany, where the magi came and worshiped Jesus.  And now we are back to ordinary time.  So, just like that, our Christmas season is over, and we are back to green vestments and ordinary time.  But, ordinary time doesn’t mean “bad” or “plain.”  Technically it comes from the word “ordinal” meaning numbered.  There are 34 Sundays of Ordinary time.  These Sundays fill in the gaps between the special seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter.  The focus of the gospels during Ordinary Time is the life and ministry of Jesus.  Therefore, I think the liturgical year teaches us an important lesson about our own life.  Sure, there are great high points in our lives, just like Christmas and Easter are high points in our liturgical life.  But, I think it’s ordinary time where we really grow in our faith.  In some ways, it’s easy to be a Christian on Christmas, but what about the second Sunday of ordinary time?  We should really see these “Green Sundays” as “Growth Sundays.”  If we do, Ordinary time will be anything but ordinary.

I really love today’s gospel reading.  It’s the vocation story of the apostles.  This is the story that tells us exactly how it was that the apostles heard the call to follow Jesus.  Andrew was guided by John the Baptist.  He met Jesus and spent time with him.  He was motivated to tell Peter: we have found the Christ.  There’s an interesting power in vocation stories.

I didn’t know this early on, but when you are a seminarian, a person studying to be a priest, people oftentimes want to hear your vocation story.  I remember my first Christmas as a seminarian I was at a lunch sponsored by the Serra club.  It was a lunch for all the seminarians and their parents, along with many priests and with Bishop D’Arcy.  Since I had only been a seminarian for a few months, I felt sort of intimidated by a room full of priests, seminarians, and especially Bishop D’Arcy, who I greatly respected.  So, I was definitely trying to keep my head down and just stay under the radar.  Now, at every one of these lunches, Bishop D’Arcy would always get up to “say a few words.”  So, bishop started talking about vocations and he started talking about Pope John Paul II.  He said that JP2 had a great impact on vocations throughout the world.  “In fact,” he said, “our new seminarian, Jake Runyon, was influenced by JP2.  Jake, why don’t you stand up and tell everyone all about your vocation story?”  I was so embarrassed.  Gee, thanks a lot bishop.  So, I told my vocation story.  The very first time I ever thought about being a priest was when I was in Denver in 1994 for World Youth Day.  I remember seeing priests from all over the world.  I was impressed that they came in every shape and size.  I thought: maybe that’s what I’m supposed to do.  There’s more to my vocation story of course, but we don’t want to be here all day.  I sat down after telling my story, greatly relieved to be out of the spotlight.  After lunch, one of the other seminarians said: I’m really glad you are in the seminary.  Now, Bishop won’t call on me to talk in front of everyone, he will just use you.  I learned from that day on: always be ready to tell your vocation story.

But, I want to turn it around on you: what is your vocation story.  When did you realize you were being called by Christ?  Was there a moment?  If you are married, when did you know he/she was “the one?” 

Having a handle on your vocation story is important.  If you have never really sketched it out in your own mind, you might really be missing out on the ways you could be meeting Christ.  But, faith is also meant to be shared.  What would have happened if St. Andrew had never talked to his brother about the faith?  We never would have had St. Peter.  So, that’s your homework assignment.  If bishop D’Arcy were here today and he pointed his finger at you and said: what is your vocation story, what would you say?  And, second, share that story with someone.  Could be a friend, a spouse, one of your kids.  Sometimes our vocation stories can really go a long way towards helping other people grow in their faith.