Christ is Alive! Alleluia

Easter Sunday 2019:

Alleluia.  Christ is alive.  Alleluia is a Hebrew word that means “praise God.”  Praise God indeed.  Jesus Christ died on the Cross.  He was buried.  Yet, that tomb is empty.  We proclaim: he is alive.  Today we celebrate that day where Christ completed his mission here on earth.  He came as our savior.  We needed rescuing.  We were slaves to sin and death.  But, Jesus set us free.  Like Moses, he led us across the waters of baptism.  Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt.  Christ leads us out of the slavery of death.  He is our Savior.  Today we proclaim his victory.

But, I found this gospel passage really interesting.  I find it interesting because of what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say that Mary met Jesus.  It doesn’t say that the apostles met Jesus.  In fact, we don’t see Jesus anywhere in this gospel passage.  Now, if you have your bible and you keep reading, you will find that Jesus appears to both Mary Magdalene and the rest of the Apostles.  But, not in this passage.  In this passage, the only proof of the resurrection is the empty tomb.  

It got me thinking about how we can prove the resurrection of Christ.  It seems to me that the most powerful proofs of the resurrection of Christ are all the various appearances of Jesus.  I’m sure all of us have our favorite ones.  There is the road to Emmaus where Jesus speaks with the disciples and they recognize him in the breaking of the bread.  There is the time where Jesus was on the shore and asked Peter 3 times: do you love me?  There was the time when the doors were locked and Jesus appeared saying: peace be with you. These appearances were amazing and miraculous and certainly helped the disciples believe in Jesus.  But, how many of us can say what we have had the same experiences?  Of course, nothing rules it out.  So, if Jesus comes to your family Easter party today, let me know all about it.  We certainly do believe that Jesus is alive. But, for most of us, face-to-face appearances will not be the evidence we use to believe in the resurrection. So, what else?

First, we have the same evidence as listed in the gospel for today’s reading.  The empty tomb.  You know what?  That tomb is still empty.  There is a huge church built over top of the tomb.  But, the tomb is still empty.  There has never been any evidence that they found the body of Jesus.  There has never been any kind of concrete proof of there being a great hoax or whatever.  No, the tomb is empty.  Think about that.  If you visited the tomb of a deceased loved-one and found the tomb empty, you’d be pretty shocked right.  Mary was shocked too.  That tomb is empty.  What could be going on?  So, we have that evidence.

What else do we have?  I think the best evidence for the miracle of the resurrection is the lives of the apostles.  These were lowly and simple guys.  During the passion narratives they don’t seem to great right?  One betrays Jesus, Peter denies him 3 times, many of them flee when Jesus needed them the most.  Yet, after the resurrection, what do we find?  They boldly proclaim the truth of the resurrection.  Today in the first reading Peter stands before everyone who would listen and proclaims his faith in the risen Christ.  Peter denied Jesus three times before maids and servants, and now he willing to tell anyone who would listen that Christ is alive.  What explains this radical transformation? The resurrection.  Peter experienced Christ face-to-face.  He knows he’s alive.  That changes everything.  

So, that gives us two powerful pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Christ.  We have the empty tomb and we have the witness of everyone who believes in Christ. Sure, we start with St. Peter, but really all the saints down through the ages are great witnesses to the power of Christ, who is alive.  

Is that enough evidence for you?  Maybe not.  You might say, it’s not fair.  I need to see him face-to-face.  Well, we are fortunate.  We have the sacraments.  All seven sacraments are encounters with Christ.  These encounters are more veiled than the encounters of Christ in the gospels. But, they are still encounters with the Risen Christ.  Let me just highlight 2 sacraments. 

First, confession.  When we go to confession we humbly acknowledge our sins and Jesus says: peace be with you.  Remember when Jesus first appears to the Apostles in John’s gospel.  The same thing happens.  In fact, he says: peace be with you.  Then he says: who’s sins you forgive are forgiven.  During these last few weeks, we have been having lots of confessions here at the cathedral.  Each and every time a person goes to confession, this is an appearance of the risen Christ that strengthens our faith.

Second, the mass.  One of my favorite appearances of Jesus is the Road to Emmaus.  But, what happens in that story.  Jesus explains the scriptures.  Then he breaks the bread.  The recognized him in the breaking of the bread.  They were face to face with Jesus the whole time, but they only recognized him at mass.  This is why the Mass is the very foundation of our life of faith.  This is the bedrock of Christianity because it is the lasting appearance of Christ which he gave to us as a way to strengthen our faith for the rest of time.  The Mass is the risen Christ appearing to us his disciples.  

So, today we proclaim the resurrection.  The evidence is compelling: the tomb is empty, the disciples changed their lives, Christ continues to appear to us in the Sacraments.  My friends, Christ is truly alive.  Let this foundational truth of our lives fill us with Joy as we celebrate the feast of our redemption.  

5th Sunday of Lent

Homily for the 3^rdScrutiny:

Today we celebrate the 3^rdscrutiny for the members of our RCIA.  If you remember back, the first scrutiny focused on thirst and how Christ gives the living water.  The second scrutiny focused on the man born blind, and how we have been given the spiritual sight of faith.  Today focuses on life.  Lazarus was dead.  But, now he lives.  Each of us has experienced the death of sin.  But, through the power of Christ, he has opened up the way to eternal life. Lazarus’ raising was only temporary. But, we believe that Christ will raise us up to eternal life.  

Have you ever wondered why death feels so bad?  Why does it bring us pain to see people we love go through suffering and death?  In some ways, dying is just a part of life.  Each of us was born and each of us will die.  Nothing is certain in this life except death and taxes right (and right now most of us are pretty aware of our taxes being due next week).  And yet, if death is certain, why should it be painful?  

The Christian answer to this problem of the pain associated with death is that death is not natural.  God did not create us to die.  Rather, he made us to live.  Death only enters the story of the human race after the fall of Adam and Eve.  Death is a byproduct of human sinfulness. Therefore, when we experience death, deep down, we know that something is wrong.  

Jesus came to right that wrong.  God loved us so much that he did not simply leave us to our own punishment. Rather, he sent Christ to raise up the fallen.  Death is the worst enemy of the human race, but Christ has conquered that enemy for us. 

Yet, each of us lives in this weird “in-between” time.  We profess that Christ is the victor over sin and death and that all those who believe in him will live forever.  And yet, we still suffer, we still mourn when someone dies.  But, Christ is even close to us in this pain as well.  My favorite line in the gospel of John: and Jesus wept.  He came to bring us life.  He did that on the cross.  But, even now, he is with us in the midst of our pain and suffering.  

Today’s gospel teaches us two important lessons.  First, Christ has the power to raise the dead.  This gives us hope for ourselves and our loved ones who have died.  This gospel also teaches us that Christ is close to us, especially when we are suffering. So, we turn to him in our toughest times, for the Lord is never far from us.

Message of Mercy

4^thSunday of Lent Year C Prodigal Son:

One of the best parts of my job is the ministry of reading the gospel at Mass.  I get the true privilege and honor of reading and proclaiming the very words of Christ. It’s truly remarkable.  Today, is one of those days where I don’t feel worthy to proclaim such amazing words.  This parable is great.  We could read it the rest of our lives and find something new, something exciting about it.  I’ve read this parable so many times in my life, but each time I hear something new. So, reading or hearing this parable is sort of like a check-up on our life of faith.  

Sometimes we feel like the prodigal son.  We feel lost and sinful, in need of God’s mercy.  Well there is good news for us in this parable. Sometimes we think that we have been working hard in our lives and we can become frustrated at the foibles of others. Well, then today’s gospel is a challenge.  Don’t be like the older son.  Or, sometimes we are being called to emulate the Father’s compassion.  Is there someone you have been hesitant to forgive? Why not rush out there and forgive like the Father?  

This parable shows us the message of mercy.  But, it shows the message from so many different angles. Need mercy, got that covered.  Jealous and frustrated, covered.  Need to be merciful, got it.  Let the parable speak to you this week.

But, I wanted to share with you what I heard when I prayed with this parable this week.  I heard all the amazing details about the rich banquet.  Now maybe that’s because I’m always fixated on food.  Ok, one of my struggles.  But, listen again to the details of the celebration.  The son is dressed in the finest robes, sandals, a ring on his finger, they slaughter the fattened calf, then there is music and dancing. Sounds like a great party.  What was the impetus for that party?  The son returning and the Father granting mercy. Amazing.

Jesus says in another place that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance.  Rejoicing in heaven over the repentant.  Have you ever thought about repentance in that way?  When we repent, when we seek forgiveness, there is rejoicing in heaven. 

So, I’m going to make a request: don’t forget to cause some rejoicing in heaven during this season of Lent.  What do I mean?  Go to confession.  Go to confession because you need God’s mercy.  Go to confession because you need to learn how to be more merciful.  Go to confession and cause great rejoicing in heaven. Let this parable become a part of your life.  Let the message of mercy become your story.  God is excited about mercy.  We should share that excitement by going to confession and receiving God’s mercy.

3rd Sunday of Lent Scrutiny:

3^rdSunday of Lent Year C (Scrutiny reading) 2019: 

As we journey closer to Easter, it is becoming a more intense time of prayer and discernment for our Elect and Candidates.  These men and women are preparing to enter the Catholic Church.  4 of them will receive the gift of baptism.  We understand that the waters of baptism are foreshadowed in the water about which Jesus speaks in the gospel.  I will give you the living water: you will never thirst again.  We truly believe that God is the origin and destiny of every human being.  This means that we were made by God and we were made for God.  In our hearts, we all have a longing for the divine.  We have a thirst that cannot be quenched.  We have a God-sized hole, only God can fill it. Sure, many people try to fill this hole with many things: wealth, honor, privilege, pleasure.  None of these things satisfy.  We will remain thirsty.  Jesus says: this water will satisfy, you will never be thirsty again. My dear Elect, this is the water the Church offers you.  This is the water that Christ offers you.  The waters of Baptism create union with God.  The sacrament of Baptism will give you the gift of faith.

My dear friends here at the Cathedral, keep these men and women in your prayers.  They are on the doorstep of a beautiful adventure, the adventure of faith.  

But, as they are preparing for these sacraments, each of us should also take a moment to renew our own amazement for these gifts.  Most of us here have received the gift of God in baptism.  We have been washed clean of sin and given a new relationship with God as his adopted sons and daughters.  What an amazing gift.  We have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. Every week, some of us every day, receive the amazing gift of the Body and Blood of Christ right here in the Holy Eucharist.

These brothers and sisters of ours are preparing to receive these sacraments for the first time.  They are excited and filled with joy.  My prayer is that they never lose this joy, the joy of coming into contact with God.  But, what about all of us?  Sometimes we can lose that awe and wonder.  Sometimes we can take God’s gifts for granted.  But, what a shame that would be.

One line from the Gospel really stood out to me today. Jesus says to the woman: if you knew the gift of God, then you would ask me for the living water.  “If you knew the gift of God.”  Hear Jesus saying that line to each of us, right now.  If you knew the gift of God, how would that change your life?  How would that make you look at the mass?  How would that help you to change your lives?  How might you treat people differently if you knew the gift of God each and every day of your lives?

I think it would make a huge difference.  That is why I want to recommend the practice of Gratitude.  I would recommend that every day you begin by simply remembering the gift of God.  Doesn’t take long.  Spend 3 minutes specifically and consciously remembering the amazing gifts that God has given you. These could be the gifts of life, faith, family, water, air, food, shelter, jobs, kids, etc.  One thing I’m noticing more and more is that all of our news these days is bad news. People just report what’s wrong with the world, what’s wrong with the competing political party, etc.  But, if we don’t take some time to give God thanks for all the good things, we might be tempted to think that our lives are all bad.

If you knew the gift of God every day, it would have a tremendous impact in your life.  Get into the practice of gratitude and you will see big changes.  

First Sunday of Lent

1^stSunday of Lent Year C 2019:

This is the first Sunday of the season of Lent.  These 40 days are meant to be a spring time in our faith.  Hopefully the weather outside will keep getting warm.  Hopefully, the grass and trees will become green, the flowers will come back again.  The same is true of our annual season of Lent.  It’s a chance for new life to grow and flourish within our hearts and lives. I pray that this season of self-denial will be a wonderful season of growth for our whole parish community.

Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear of Jesus’s temptation in the desert.  The story begins in an interesting way.  It says that Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit”.  Jesus is able to make it through all the temptations in the desert because he is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Let’s all make a resolution to pray to the Holy Spirit this week as we begin our journey of Lent.  Holy Spirit, come to us.  Fill us with your power.  We are journeying into the desert of Lent.  Keep us safe from the poison of Sin.  Fill us with power to overcome temptations.  May these 40 days of Lent help us to grow in our faith.

I also think this reading helps us to think about how to overcome temptations in our own lives.  Now, if you never have a problem with temptations of any kind, if you have perfect will power, then no need to pay attention to the rest of the homily. But, for me, willpower has always been a challenge.  So, I’ve been reading up on willpower.  Studies have shown that willpower works quite a bit like a muscle.  It can help us to be strong.  But, it can also wear out.  Willpower can be weak, but by exercising it, willpower can get stronger. 

This is really good news.  Willpower is not a set commodity.  You might think: I just don’t have willpower.  Well, the good news is that your willpower can grow and change. 

This is one of the reasons that I really like Lent.  It’s like a chance to boost our willpower. That’s why I would recommend that you take up some kind of practice that might help you where you think you have a challenge in your willpower.  Can’t say no to food?  Give up your favorite food for Lent.  Trouble with responsibility with drinking?  Give up alcohol for Lent.  Internet causes you problems: give up Twitter.  Our Lenten fasts can help us to charge up our willpower reserves.  So, where do you need to grow?

Now, what do we do when we are tempted?  Usually, I just sort of grin and bear it.  I might just try to avoid the thing.  I might just say “no” in my mind a million times.  But, Jesus shows us a different path.  For each of the temptations from the devil he has a response which unwraps the lie of the devil.  Notice, each temptation has a sliver of truth.  If you are the Son of God, command this stone.  Of course, Jesus could command the stone, but Jesus replies that there are more important things than food.  Second, the devil says he can give power and glory, which certainly seems true if you pay attention to the world around us.  But, Jesus says that glory and power belong to God. Throw yourself down, the angels will catch you.  Again, that is likely true.  But, Jesus responds, you shall not tempt the Lord.

This is a really important point when thinking about temptations and willpower.  All too often, we are quickly tempted, and we react without thinking things through. But, if we are able to respond in a healthy way to each temptation, we will see our willpower muscles getting stronger.  

This is another great reason for Lent.  It helps us to work on our reasons for overcoming temptations. Ice cream is yummy.  Yes that’s true, but I’m saying no to sweets so that I can grow closer to God.  I need to fight this person on Twitter who is saying dumb things.  True, these might be dumb things, why not offer up a prayer for that person instead.  This person has a great house and car, I’m jealous.  True it might be a nice house, but I’m going to give up jealous thoughts and just remember how amazing God has been to me.  

So here are the three things from this week’s mass. Number 1, pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that this season of Lent will be a great one.  Number 2, willpower can grow and get stronger, so focus in on where you need to grow this year.  Number 3, Jesus answered all the temptations with a good response.  So, be sure to think through the responses to your temptations.  Let’s pray that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can always be strong in the face of temptations, not only during this season of Lent, but through the rest of our lives as well.

Fill up your storeroom with good

7^thSunday of Ordinary Time year C 2019:

More sage wisdom from Christ this week.  These last several Sundays we have been learning from Christ how to put into action his own brand of love and mercy.  Today, especially, he is showing us the way to growing in patience and kindness.  Why notice the splinter in your brother’s eye when you have a beam in your own?  I can readily admit that I’m a card-carrying member of the “beam in the eye club.”  I’m an expert at recognizing other people’s problems, when I have enough of my own problems.  So, this is practical advice to grow in patience.

But, I wanted to reflect on another part of the gospel today. I really like this comment from Jesus: A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good; an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.  This is a good reminder that our actions really begin with our hearts. If our hearts are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and mercy, then our actions are good and loving and holy.  But, if our hearts are filled with envy, jealousy, lust, greed, etc, our actions turn out to be evil.  What kind of person do you want to be?  If you want to be a good person, and most people generally do say that they want to be good people, then the key is to fill up your heart with goodness.

How do you do that?  I really like this image of a store room.  Jesus says that from the store of good comes good, from the store of evil comes evil.  So, what kind of inventory are you putting into your hearts?  Our daily lives, our little actions, our habits, our thoughts, our motives, these are the ways that we fill out the storeroom of our hearts. So, what does you inventory look like? 

These words from Jesus reminded me of a Native American parable I heard one time that has really stuck with me.  A young man asked his grandfather this question: “Grandfather, how can I be good?  Often, I want to do good and to be good, but it feels like there is a force within me that moves me to choose things that are evil and wrong.”  The grandfather looked at his grandson with love and said: “in the heart of every man and woman there are two wolves who are fighting to win for control of your life.  One wolf is good, the other is evil.”  The grandson replied, “Grandfather, which wolf ends up winning?”  “The wolf that you feed,” he answered.

I really loved this image: the one that you feed.  We often think about good and evil in terms of big and dramatic actions or habits.  But, our hearts are really formed by the small things.  The daily actions.  Which wolf are we feeding?  What are we putting into our storeroom?  

I’ve been reading a lot recently about habits.  I have more than one bad habit that I would like to get rid of.  And I would like to have the habit of better diet and exercise.  From everything I’ve read, the best advice I’ve gotten so far is that the only way to get rid of a bad habit or to start a good habit is to focus on the small things, the microsteps.  These little actions every day feed the good wolf.  These little actions stock up our store room with good.

Jesus calls us to be like him: every disciple will be like his teacher.  Jesus shows us an amazing example of goodness, kindness, love, and mercy.  If we are going to be like our teacher, we are going to need a storeroom that is packed full of goodness.

Moment of decision

Message in a Minute for Feb 17:

A moment of decision.

Today’s readings seem to focus on the fundamental decision that faces each human person: for God or against God.  In Jeremiah, we hear that the person who trusts only in human beings is cursed, while the person who trusts in the Lord is blessed.  St. Paul is facing a similar dilemma with his congregation in Corinth: either Jesus was raised, or he was not.  In the gospel, Jesus lays out blessings and woes.  Blessings if we follow after him.  Woes if we choose ourselves.

The Christian life is a really a life lived in the tension of this decision: for God or against God.  Belief that Christ is truly God, truly raised.  Or disbelief in the message of the gospel.  Each and every one of us is faced with this decision: for God or against God.

Now, if I took a poll at the parish and simply asked: are you for God or against him.  Not many of our parishioners would choose the “I am against God” box in the survey.  Right? Most people would say: of course, I’m for God.  But this moment of decision is not a question that is answered with our thoughts or our words.  This is not even a question that we answer with our hearts.  This fundamental moment of decision is a question that must be answered with our very lives.

Several years ago, there was this popular theory in moral theology called the fundamental option.  This theory basically stated that each person is faced with the fundamental question of being in union with God or separated from him. This fundamental question is answered once and for all in a person’s heart.  The daily affairs of a person’s life cannot affect one’s fundamental option. St. John Paul II rejected this theory in his wonderful letter Veritatis Splendor.  In that letter, St. John Paul II said that we are indeed faced with this fundamental decision.  But this question is answered in the decisive moments of our daily existence.  We cannot pretend that our hearts are set on God if our lives and our actions are not set on God as well.  Therefore, the decisive moment is the daily moment, choosing God every day and in every moment and action.

So, let the question hit you again today: what will you choose?

They want to throw Jesus off a cliff...

Jesus begins his ministry in the gospel this week.  Things start out pretty good.  All spoke highly of him.  All were amazed at the words that came from his mouth.  So far so good.  Then Jesus challenges them about wanting him to do miracles for him, and things go haywire real fast.  The passage ends with: they were all filled with fury, the rose up to drive him out of the town, they were going to throw him off a cliff.  I’ve been here at the Cathedral for about 7 months.  I’ve been very happy to be here, and everyone has been so nice. So far, I don’t think anyone wants to throw me off a cliff.  So, thanks!

What happened with these people in the gospel today?  I think it really highlights the difference between the heart and the mind.  See, with the mind, the people were happy to hear about Jesus.  They spoke well of him.  They were amazed at his words.  But, then, his words cut them to the heart.  He demanded that they change.  Result: they were ready to throw him off the cliff.

Now, each of us here might say “I would never throw Jesus off of a cliff.”  True, I would hope not.  But, how quick are we to convert our hearts?  How quick are we to change our ways?  That can really be tough.  The words of Jesus should fill our minds with delight.  We should speak highly and be amazed at the words of Christ.  But, what about letting the words change our hearts?

We have no better example of just how to change our hearts than the reading we just heard from St. Paul.  This is St. Paul’s great treatise on love.  This is such an amazing and inspiring reading.  It is definitely the most popular reading for people to choose for their wedding.  Love is patient, love is kind, on and on.  Amazing words.  But, they can be painful to hear.  These words should be a checklist for every Christian.  Remember, Jesus said “my commandment is this, love one another as I have loved you.”  That means we need to be kind, patient, humble, not jealous, or inflated, or quick tempered.  When I read this list, I can instantly think of the many ways that I have failed to live up to these expectations.  Maybe I haven’t thrown Jesus off a cliff, but my heart still has a long way to go in order to be loving like Jesus.

But, don’t let this list depress you.  Rather, let this list inspire you.  Imagine for just a moment if every person in this church was able to live out this list perfectly.  Can you imagine the difference in the world?  It would be amazing.  Imagine if you and your spouse lived it out every day.  Imagine if everyone in your family lived it out.  Isn’t that inspirational?

How do we do it?  Bear with me for a moment.  I want to talk about Greek grammar.  Hopefully no one will fall asleep.  St. Paul’s original text is in Greek.  The way he wrote this passage is really interested.  When talking about love, he uses all verbs.  It’s really not possible to bring that into English, that is why the translation we have is just fine: love is patient.  But, St. Paul actually says: love patients, love kinds, love doesn’t jealous, it doesn’t pompous, etc.  In other words, love isn’t so much about our thoughts.  Love is about our actions.  John Mayer has a song on his born and raised album called: Love is a verb. Perfect.  He says: love ain’t a thing.  Love is a verb.  

In my opinion, this is what the people get wrong in the gospel.  Their minds were fine.  But, their actions were bad.  Maybe the same is true for us.  We hear St. Paul’s list and it just sounds terrific.  Now, it’s time to make those words verbs in our own lives.  

Love never fails.  St. Paul’s challenge to us today is simply, but difficult.  Make love a verb in own lives.  

The whole gospel of Christ

Message in a Minute for Feb 3:

            First, let me begin by asking everyone for your prayers.  Today is the 6^thanniversary of Bishop D’Arcy’s death. Hard to believe, but he died in 2013. He was tremendously important for me in my spiritual life and vocational discernment.  He is greatly missed.  The crypt chapel will be open on Feb 3 if anyone would like to go down there and offer a prayer for his soul.

We see two crazy extremes in the gospel today. At first, people are saying nice things about Jesus: “All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.”  But, this positive sentiment does not last very long: “They were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town… to hurl him down…”  All spoke highly, then all were filled with fury.

What can explain this alarming, and quick, change of opinion?  The people listened to Jesus.  At first, the message was one of hope and blessing from God.  But, then his message turned into a message of challenge, conversion. The first message was greeted with joy. The second message was greeted with fury.

Can we really claim to be all that much different? We all love the story of Christmas, where Christ was born to be our Savior.  But, what about the message of Good Friday: only the Cross can bring new life. Jesus certainly told his disciples: follow me.  But, he also told them: pick up your cross if you would be my disciple. 

For some years now there has been this “prosperity gospel” that has become pretty popular.  Basically, it goes like this: if you are good, then God will bless you and fulfill all your dreams.  This is obviously attractive.  It’s also a true message.  But, it’s only part of the message of Christ.  It’s like the beginning of the gospel: all spoke highly and were amazed.  But, what about the message of conversion?  Do we avoid that part of the gospel?  Or, worse, does it fill us with fury?

Take some time this week.  Ask Jesus for both parts of the message.  Ask him for the good news that will fill you with joy. But, also ask him for the tough message of conversion.  Hard as it might be to hear, conversion will lead us to an even deeper kind of joy and peace.

Today this passage is fulfilled

3^rdSunday of Ordinary Time year C 2019:

Today the scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. These are powerful words from Christ. He is telling the people in the gospel that, behold, God’s promises have been fulfilled.  Indeed, this is good news.  This is at the very heart of the entire Gospel of Christ: God has sent Jesus to fulfill the promises of God that he made in the Old Testament.

What are those promises?  Glad tidings, liberty, sight, freedom, a year of Blessing from God. I’m sure that the people in the synagogue that day may have been a bit skeptical.  Who is this guy to say all this?  But, I can’t help but think that their hearts may have lifted at the same time. Maybe?  I mean, who among us wouldn’t want these amazing things promised in the scroll of Isaiah?  I want glad tidings, liberty, sight, freedom, blessing.  But, we might have the same kind of skepticism in our own hearts: can God really give me these things?  Will God give them to me?  

Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. Today.  Let this be a new day.  Listen again to the words of Christ.  Know that he is not simply a historical figure.  He is present in our world right now, today.  This reading is just as important for us today as it was 2000 years ago.  For, the gospel is not a dead letter, it’s the living voice of Christ that continues to speak to us right now. 

This makes me want to encourage everyone to spend time with the Bible.  I know that the Bible can seem intimidating sometimes.  How do we read it?  Where to start?  Which Bible should I read?  It can seem complicated and confusing even to start.  Then there’s the Bible itself.  Sometimes there are wonderful stories about God’s gifts and blessings and the miracles of Christ.  But, there are also a lots of long stories about tabernacle construction and things that might not make sense.  Reading the Bible is not easy.

But, it is so worth it.  The beginning of our Gospel passage today is actually the beginning of St. Luke’s gospel.  He tells us why he has written the gospel.  He tells Theophilus that he has written an ordered account of Jesus’ life so that “you might realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” This is why we have the bible.  So that we might come to know the certainty about the teachings of Christ.  But, it also works the other way: if we don’t read the Bible we will have uncertainty about Christ and his teachings.  This is why it’s so important to read and study the Bible.  It gives us insight into the mind and heart of Christ.

You all know it’s winter outside right now, right?  The high temperature on Wednesday is going to be -2 degrees.  So, I happen to know that all of us will probably be stuck inside for the next several months.  Why not spend some time reading the Bible?  We have about a month until Lent begins, but why not start early with some spiritual practices, especially reading the Bible.

In the Message in a Minute this week, I give an outline on the practice of lectio divina.  This is way of prayerfully reading the bible.  Maybe pick up the MIM if you want more info.  

St. Luke addresses his gospel to someone named Theophilus. We don’t know who this is.  A couple years ago a read a fiction novel, where the author dreamed up a life story for this man.  It was an interesting book.  He is mysterious.  But, his name is not mysterious.  It means: person who loves God.  So, the Bible is written for anyone who loves God, so that we can grow in our faith. Spend time with the bible so that “today this scripture passage” may be fulfilled in your hearing.

Importance of the Scriptures

Message in a Minute for Jan 27:

            Today’s gospel is the beginning of Luke’s gospel, sort of.  If you notice, the pericope is Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21.  So, chapters 1,2, and 3 all come between the first paragraph and the story of Jesus in the synagogue.  Now, we had been hearing those intervening chapters over the last several weeks, since they contain the stories of Jesus’ birth and childhood. Now that we are back in ordinary time, we hear about the proclamation made by Jesus in the synagogue: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

            But, for this week’s MIM I wanted to focus on St. Luke.  He gives us his insights into what he is doing.  He tells Theophilus that he has decided to put together an ordered account of Christ’s life so that he might “realize the certainty of the teachings he received.”  In other words, St. Luke put together this gospel so that Theophilus, and all of us, can grow in our faith.

            This reminded me of the importance of reading the Scriptures.  It might sound basic, but we can’t know about Jesus’ life without reading the Bible.  The Bible is a great gift that God has given us, but it only “works” if we actually read and study it.  I would recommend trying to incorporate Lectio Divinainto your prayer life.  Lectiois a way of reading the Bible that turns it into a wonderful prayer experience.  Here are the basic 4 steps:

            Lectio: read a small passage (out loud works fine if you can). Really understand the words and their meaning.  What kind of passage is it?  (Parable, historical encounter, teaching narrative, etc).  Know what the passage says.

            Meditatio: wrestle with the text a little bit.  What are the major terms in the passage?  What do those terms mean, have we seen them before? For example, what is a shepherd? Who are the sheep?  

            Oratio: take a conscious moment to turn the passage into a prayer.  “Thank you, Lord, for being my shepherd.  Please keep leading me to green pastures, etc.”

            Contemplatio: this step is God’s chance to speak to us while reading the Bible.  We don’t even have to do anything extra.  This step takes place by God working through our prayer time.

            See if you can’t take some time this week to find a passage in the Bible and practice Lectio Divina.  It will help you “realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.”