February 28, 2010 at St Mark Church in Norman, OK

Genesis 15: 5-12,17-18 + Psalm 27 + Philippians 3: 17-4:1 + Luke 9: 28-36

It’s about glory, and not just about Jesus. What happens on that mountain provides for those present a glimpse of what they might hope for themselves. If you wanted to sum up the work of Jesus on this earth, it was simply to restore us to glory; to give us the glory of being a chosen race, a holy people who live in the presence of God. That is what happened to Jesus on that mountain top; he came into the presence of God. His mission was to take us there. Yet the truth of the matter is, there is work to do. One look at the human condition, the human family, and it doesn’t look to glorious much of the time, and we know what keeps us from glory: Sin. All of us are engaged to one degree or another in a personal, ongoing battle with sin and vice. We are seeking glory. Yet, sin is in the way. Although anger doesn’t make most of us murderers, our lust doesn’t make most of us rapists, and our greed and envy do not make most of us outright criminals, together with gluttony, arrogance, and sloth, there isn’t much glory and those who have to live with us are miserable. Our failure to live up to the glory that is ours is as tragic as the unhappiness our evil causes.

There is a social dimension to all of this as well for which we are responsible. It works its way through our commerce our entertainment, and our whole culture. Pride, greed, and anger profoundly influence domestic and foreign policy. If we truly had generous and compassionate leaders who were imbued with the value of social stewardship rather than greed and ambition, we would not have tolerated the corporate scandals we have endured in the last ten years. “Every deadly sin fuels harmful social phenomena: lust-pornography; gluttony-substance abuse; envy-terrorism; anger-violence; sloth-indifference to the pain and suffering of others; greed-abuse of public trust; and pride-discrimination.”

These sins are about what it means to be human and humane, not about what it means to be perfect or “holy.” As long as there is any trace of them in our lives, we are less that human and less than what God has made us to be. We are far from glory. This is basic stuff. It concerns the core of what we are, of what we can become, and most importantly, of what we should aspire to be. We should be in glory. In the end, the question of what we want to be has an answer most of us would quickly give: happy. We want to be happy, but happiness is not dependent upon physical or material pleasure. In fact, it is often hampered by it. Our culture teaches that pleasure and possessions are happiness with the result that pleasure is often substituted for happiness and meaning in life. No glory there. When a crisis comes along that pleasure cannot resolve a secular person runs to the psycho-therapist. It is not so for us. We have a treasure of wisdom and tradition, teaching and revelation that leads us to a life of virtue and balance, holiness and joy; that is glory! It is not that pleasure is inappropriate, but that it comes from character and virtue, and a right relationship of one’s self to others and to God. That is where we shall find pleasure, and that pleasure leads to glory.

“If we do not take seriously our capacity for evil, we are unable to take seriously our capacity for good.” There will be no taking credit for the good that we do if we fail to accept the blame for the evil. So, I am inviting you to spend three nights this week reflecting upon “The Seven Deadly Sins”. Unlike our bodies influenced by our genes; our souls, our spirit, and the lives they animate are free to be shaped by our choices. We can choose to be whole. We can choose glory. There is more and better in us than we have chosen to become. Accepting the fact that we sin is a summons to life.

We are always inventing gods. It seems to be a characteristic of our age and perhaps every age. The god most popular this day is a god who does not demand much of us, is certainly not a god that punishes, although we don’t mind a reward now and then. The sentimental god of most sappy religious pop music is a god that just pats us on the head like grandpa and sends us on our way. With a god like that, there is certainly no need to trouble one’s self about the devil but there’s the trouble. The devil’s best trick is to convince us that there is no devil.

We recognize evil in others, but if we ever want to see the face of sin, we must look in the mirror. All we see in others is it’s reflection from ourselves. The honest among us know that what we always criticize first in another is the very thing we dislike in ourselves. Sin is our secret from others. Only we know where and how deeply it has taken root in us. Saint John says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

When we recognize and confess that sin and our inclination toward it is a part of our nature, and that we alone will never wholly eradicate it, there is at least something for us to do in our lives that will not in the end seem just futile and absurd. We can make sense of our lives because the existence of evil presents us with moral choices, and in making those choices, we form our character. We have been given our nature, but we choose our character. When we say someone is a good man or a good woman, we do not suggest that they are people in whom there is no inclination to evil, but rather that they are people who have wrestled and still wrestle with it and never give in because their quality and their goodness comes from the struggle. Those people are truly noble. Glory is theirs.

“Morality is like art, said G.K. Chesterton, “it consists of drawing a line somewhere.” We live in an age in which no lines seem to be drawn at all, or those that have been drawn are being erased. In my 67th year of life and my 41st year as priest I have come to recognize that an unhealed wound, a kind of sinful restlessness, afflicts humanity and robs us of glory.

Almost four years ago someone gave me a copy of the newly translated Don Quixote. I’m reading it, but it’s slow going. I tried many times over my years in College to read it and gave up. This new translation is more to my liking and I may throw a party when I finish it in the next week or two! In this classic piece of literature I recognize the Knight Errant’s vain search for the impossible dream as my own. Millions of people appear to be looking for the ideal marriage partner, the perfect child, the utopian community. Some disappear into a world of alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or violence in an attempt to calm their restlessness, to satisfy a need that they cannot name. I am a Bruce Springsteen fan. “The Boss” wrote a song that describes our age when he sings: “Everybody has a hungry heart.” I think we are hungry for glory, hungry for the life we should have had by God’s will and God’s original plan for us. But we have traded our glory for something else, and sin is the consequence. Our hunger is for God and the glory that comes from being in God’s presence. The glory of Jesus Christ came from his willingness to suffer and in obedience to the will of his Father. Calvary was no short – cut to glory. There isn’t one. We will have no glory from a short-cut either. We cannot fill ourselves with things that do not satisfy, that do not fill us or lift us or hold us up. Yet we fool ourselves into thinking it is possible. As a result, our humanity has lost much of its real glory and beauty. It is less and less a mirror of the creator. That’s what is going on in this Gospel – on that mountain top. Those apostles saw the glory of God, the glory of God in humanity. It is possible, it is desirable. It is God’s will to have God’s glory revealed in human nature; not just his Son’s, but in all of us. I want to propose to you that if we can take our sinning seriously, we might at least find that we can be interesting again, and so can life itself, and then we shall find glory.

I invite you to give three evenings this week for the sake of the truth and glory; three evenings in this church for the sake of life itself, your life. Tonight we shall reflect upon Pride and Envy, tomorrow night Anger and Sloth, Tuesday night Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. I’ve saved the best till last! I hope to see you again for prayer tonight night when we might begin to consider how it is that we satisfy our hungers and our thirst, because “everybody has a hungry heart.”

February 21, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10 + Psalm 91 + Romans 10: 8-13 + Luke 4: 1-13

Something will happen this afternoon at 32nd and North Western in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Oklahoma City. It is a ritual that profoundly expresses the nature of our church. Adult Candidates for Confirmation seeking full communion with the Catholic Church and Catechumens from all over the western half of this state will present themselves to the Archbishop in his Cathedral Church. There he will welcome them one by one and then proclaim them to be one with us in faith.

It is a rite that marks the strongest and most clear distinction between Roman Catholicism and other Christian communions because we are one church who assemble around one Bishop who is the vicar of Peter’s successor in the city of Rome where Peter exercised his threefold ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and leading the Christians. We are not separate congregations scattered around who vaguely relate to one another by creed or confession when we need to and then act independently when it is more convenient.

Every year on the First Sunday of Lent, this rite takes place unseen to most of you unless you are a sponsor or a convert. Every year on the Tuesday of Holy Week, another Rite takes place with the whole church assembled for the Mass of Chrism when those holy oils are blessed and then divided among all the churches for use during the year with Anointing of the Sick, Baptism, and Confirmation. The presence of those oils there at the Baptistry is a visible reminder that we are part of one Church with one Bishop.

Every year after Easter, the Archbishop comes to this parish church as he does all the others to Confirm in Faith the young people we present to him as examples of faithful lives and service. I do not exercise that rite, the Archbishop does, because we are one church. Every time a couple comes to be married at Saint Mark or any other Catholic Church, the Archbishop is notified formally, and by a special document authorizes a local pastor to witness a Marriage in the name of the Church.

Every year in February we do something that expresses our faith and our commitment to this Church to which St Mark Parish belongs. It is a profession of faith and an acknowledgement that we believe that we belong, and that we are responsible for more than the parish of Saint Mark. It should be a matter of pride and of faith to accept a share in the responsibility for the support of the larger church, and for this reason, I present to you with no regret nor hesitation the envelopes and brochures you find now in the hymnal racks of your pew.

It is February and it is time to either renew your commitments made in the past, or for the first time to recognize what is your responsibility. Every week, you support the ministry of Saint Mark Parish with all its services, programs and administrative costs with insurance and utilities and repairs.

Every year, we do the same for the larger church, and now it is time.
If your circumstances make it impossible to do so this week, use the pledge card to do so later.
If your circumstances make it impossible to do as much as you did last year, do it anyway and see if God will make provide an opportunity to make up the difference. If you did nothing last year, this is the time to re consider why you fail to contribute to your church when God expects it. If you fill out the contribution portion of the brochure today, give it to me after Mass. If you take it home for use later; bring it next week or the week after and add it to your offering.

The brochure lists very clearly the principal ministries you will be supporting. Everyone one of them affects and strengthens those same ministries here at home. Without the support of the Archdiocesan offices, we would be left without great resources, information, and leadership. I trust every one of you to make certain that the larger church continues to provide what is needed for continuing the work of Christ Jesus.

In the desert of today’s Gospel, the temptations in each instance boil down to one thing: “Go it alone.” or “Do your own thing.” or “Take care of number 1” The temptations are subtle suggestions that Jesus should consider being someone other than what he is. He calls himself “Son of Man”. The Devil calls him “Son of God.” In both the first and third temptations, Jesus must decide whether he will save himself from suffering and death because he has the power to do so. The question then arises, does he use his power for himself or not? That is the root meaning of these tests. Luke ends by saying that Satan leaves Jesus for a “time”.

A final test is yet to come in Jerusalem while hanging on a cross when he will be tempted three times again to use his power to save himself. This is the still the test we all must face as followers of Jesus today.
Our culture offers endless possibilities for remaking ourselves with the priority on personal fulfillment and material success; but this not what we were created to be.We are not alone, isolated individuals. When Genesis says: He created them male and female – it means we were created into community and relationship. When one person eats an apple, all are affected by that decision. What we do and what we fail to do has consequences on others. This is how we live as Church and how we work together in a larger community than Saint Mark Parish or Norman, Oklahoma. Think of this please when you consider whether or not to pick up and use that envelope.

February 17, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Joel 2: 12-18 + Psalm 51 + 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 + Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

It is important to notice that Jesus says: “When you fast.”  “When you give alms.” “When you pray.” He does not say: “If you fast” “If you give alms” “If you pray.” Living our faith is not a matter of “if”. It is a matter of “when.”

And so: when you fast, it is from more than food. For a nation that can boast of a diet industry that rivals the  ross national product of more than half the world, this is something to take seriously not just for physical health. A hunger pain is a wake-up call to remind us that we do not live by bread alone. We will not put meat on our plate for the next six Fridays because by our tradition, this food has blood, and so we keep Friday without Blood to remember one Friday of this season when Christ’s blood shed for us all. By fasting, we may savor the sweetness of all God’s gifts. Rather than gorge ourselves we simply sip and savor just a little to remember how good it is. But taste is not the only sense of our bodies that should fast. The eye can fast by looking less and watching less.
The ear can fast when it is closed to gossip and slander. The tongue can fast when it speaks no evil, no anger, no lie, no rumor, no criticism. Silence in this season may be the sound of God’s call. The hand can fast when it leaves things alone, picks up nothing in the store that is not necessary, and touches only to heal, caress, and comfort.

When you pray it is both public and private in praise and in gratitude. It is alone and it is as a family. It is as a church in Eucharist, in devotion, and in adoration. The balance of all prayer is restored in this season when you pray. Public prayer is a witness that calls others to prayer. A blessing in a restaurant reminds others who may have forgotten who has provided what is shared. It is not for show and admiration. It is to acknowledge the source of all good things.

When you give alms, it is an act of charity and an unmistakable reminder that we are stewards of God’s gifts.  Nothing is ours to keep. All has been entrusted to us for the sake of others so that none of God’s children would ever be in want. It is impossible to imagine that our God would leave someone in need! When we think, “Someone should do something.” We have forgotten who we are and failed our calling.

Pray, Fast, Give. This is how we live our faith. It is not a matter of if – but of when, and that time is the present.
In this we shall know the power of the cross with which we mark our heads this day recalling that we are dust and to dust we shall return. When we do return, we shall take nothing with us which is reason enough to begin to give  it up now. When we do return to dust, what we shall take with us is what we have done with what we have had. Giving up is not all there is to Lent. Taking on is more to the point. So, the question today I propose to you is not: “What are you giving up for Lent?” But rather, “What are you taking on?” There can be only one answer: “A Life of Prayer” “A life of Fasting” “A life of Charity.” In this life you will find life – life everlasting.

February 14, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Jeremiah 17: 5-8 + Psalm 1 + 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20 + Luke 6: 17, 20-26

As we pick up these verses of Luke’s Gospel today, there are two points to notice.
First, Jesus brings himself on a level with the Twelve.
Then although a large group is there, he speaks just to the twelve.
This message is of utmost importance for his closest followers.
It is important to understand that what we have here is not a code of conduct that produces Christians. This is not a prescription for how we ought to behave or live.
It is a description of what life is like for those who live in the Kingdom of God
which has begun in Jesus Christ.
These are not conditions for inclusion in the realm of God.
They are indications of what life in the Kingdom of God is like even in the present.
We read these verses not to suggest that we have to become poor, hungry, or sad;
but to examine our lives in such a way as to discover whether or not we fit in with the Kingdom.
These are not scare tactics to stimulate a change of behavior.
What we receive through Luke’s Gospel is a proclamation by Jesus
about the way life is inside and outside the Kingdom.
There is no proposal here about how to be happy.
This is not about the future either.
Remember the first word Jesus spoke publically in the Synagoge?
TODAY!

Rather than the word: “Blessed” we might get the point better if the text read: “Congratulations!” Jesus is not suggesting that those at the bottom of the economic system are holy.
He is saying that those who are powerless and trust in God are successful
while those who live with the illusion that they are self-sufficient are failures.

Jesus does not propose that an empty belly makes for sanctity.
He is suggesting that knowing that we do not live by bread alone is really wise;
that experiencing restlessness and spiritual emptiness or hunger is a good thing.
Jesus does not promote tears and sadness. The truly holy are not glum miserable sour human beings. He is suggesting that laughing at people, making fun of others, finding humor in racial slurs and jokes for example is a sure sign that one is outside the Kingdom of God.

Experiences of want: poverty, hunger, suffering create a void in us, and to this void Jesus speaks today. In that void, in that want, hunger, and sadness, we can learn reliance upon God.
Those who experience it look to God to fill up what is lacking,
and they are heirs of the Kingdom of God.

Benedict XVI in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, proposes “that the Beatitudes present a sort of veiled interior biography of Jesus.” He has brought himself to the level of his apostles.
He looks each one in the eye and tells each who he is.
If they wish to be united with him in his ministry, this is what it will be like.

They will be poor. Jesus himself has no place to lay his head. They will be hungry as he is hungry.

They will weep as he weeps over Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus.
Their sadness will not be about themselves or their misfortunes.
It will spring from their identification with the oppression or suffering of others.
They will see the suffering of others and weep with compassion.
They will be persecuted as he is persecuted, excluded, insulted, and denounced as evil. What they do and what they say will not be motivated by what others think of them.
If they are mocked, laughed at, ridiculed, or excluded: Congratulations!
This is a road map of discipleship!

Gathered in this place, just days away from Lent,
Luke offers us a chance to examine just how well we fit into the Kingdom of God.
This Gospel comes with an invitation to ask:
What good is it to be poor?
What good is hunger?
What good is sorrow or rejection?
People outside the kingdom of God would avoid these things.
Much more appealing are riches, full bellies, and the approval of others.
Jesus suggests that those who prefer these things have received all they are going to get
for these things are their own rewards.
When the present evolves into eternity, these things are not portable. They will be no more.

Live now the way of the Kingdom and live without worry or concern, anxiety or fear. Do it today and be blessed.
Congratulations, says Jesus.
“This is the way I live.” he says.

“Live like this, and live forever.”

1/24/2010

Nehemiah 8: 2-4, 5, 6, 8-10 + Psalm 19 + 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 + Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

To get to Nazareth Luke has provided us with several manifestations or “Epiphanies” that reveal who it is who has come among us and what is happening.
First the Shepherds had a manifestation. Then the church led us to Matthew for another with visitors from the East. Then the presentation in the Temple with prophesies and prayers by an old man and an old woman. Next Jesus was baptized and a voice from the heavens manifested the identity of this one Baptized by John. Last week we were at Cana for a wedding where another Epiphany moment occurs over jugs of water turned wine. Now we are at home in Nazareth where one more manifestation takes place in the synagogue. Amazement and wonder continues, and always the power of the Holy Spirit is unmistakable.

Our look at the people of Nazareth sitting in that synagogue is really a look at ourselves. Luke is not just giving us the facts of what happened on a particular day in a specific place. As the opening verses say, he is providing his Gospel so that we might know the “truth.” By “truth” he is not referring to a provable fact. Luke wants us off the surface and the superficial. This is the meaning of “truth” in Luke’s gospel: deeper meaning.

The people of Nazareth would rather stay on the surface, in the shallow. They begin by complementing Jesus with their superficial comments: “Isn’t he nice!” “He uses such big words so easily.” “We know his family, they’re such nice hard-working people.” “He has done wonderful things so we hear, wait till he does even greater things here at home.” “He is our home-town boy.”

Then he takes up the scriptures, and you notice he does not open the book to the lesson assigned for the day. It says he searched for a passage to read. Something different is coming. Then he speaks the first word of his mission. The first word publically spoken in Luke’s Gospel is important. In that word his whole mission is summed up. He says: “Today.” With that word, his mission as God’s anointed is announced, and for Luke’s purpose so is the mission of the church which proclaims the Gospel. The church too is anointed with the power of the Spirit on Pentecost. So the mission of Jesus and the mission of the church are the same.

It is a three fold ministry:
a ministry of preaching Good news of the coming of God’s Kingdom
a ministry of social justice, bringing freedom to those held captive by forces of evil; a ministry of bringing sight to the blind, that is, a ministry of compassion

To be Son of God is to be on a mission of liberation. Wherever human life is impoverished, imprisoned, impaired, it will become enriched, free, and enabled. All this will be done by the power of divine favor. SON OF GOD is not a title of privilege. It is a call to transformative action. (Privilege was the temptation just rejected in the desert.)

The people of Nazareth wanted privilege not a transformation into action. They wanted to be secure, affirmed, and receive the perks of being friends of Jesus. They were unprepared to recognize in Jesus the anointed one of God because they failed to see themselves in any of the prophet’s categories (the poor, the blind, the captives and oppressed). Superficial and shallow, they looked after what they could

get, not what they could become. Their presumed privilege blinded them to the truth of their lives and they failed to grasp the initiative God was offering them. Blinded by their privilege of proximity and familiarity with Jesus, they quickly turned to resentment as they realize that Jesus has taken God’s favor to others beyond Nazareth especially Capernaum said to have a heavy non-Jewish population. Resentment produces anger which is not really anger at Jesus. It is anger at themselves for their own failure, to live as the prophet has instructed them; so as always, the innocent, in this case, Jesus becomes victim of this anger. What they expel from that synagogue is not Jesus, but the truth that they are blind, captive, poor, and oppressed. They are offended, and so are we by God’s grace to all those of whom we do not approve. Jesus does not go elsewhere because he is rejected. He is rejected because he goes elsewhere.

Today this Gospel is proclaimed in this church. We cannot leave here and remain shallow and superficially wonder what we will get because we are here. This was the mistake of Nazareth. We are to be transformed like the Son of God, anointed by the Spirit because of Pentecost our own Baptism and Confirmation.
We are commissioned to preach good news to the poor. To do that well, we must first know ourselves to be the poor transformed into a people who rely on nothing but God alone. That is poverty. It is not a matter of economics. It is a matter of where we place our trust and what we live for. We must know ourselves to be transformed captives free from slavery to wealth, possessions, status and power. God is our only authority, not what other people think. We must know ourselves to have been healed of our blindness to the presence of God in every human being.
The good news is preached best when it recognizes its solidarity with those who hear the message. We are still poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. Yet in the recognition we are released. What we see in the people of Nazareth, we must see in ourselves, and in the seeing become wise and stunned by the truth of God’s grace to all and accept our call to extend that grace where ever it is dulled or dimmed by evil. This must happen today says Jesus through Luke, and “today” must never be allowed to become “yesterday” or slip again into a vague “someday.”

January 3, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Epiphany of the Lord 1/3/2010

Isaiah 60: 1-6 + Psalm 72 + Ephesians 3:2, 3, 5, 6 + Matthew 2: 1-12

The chief characters of these verses from Matthew’s Gospel are obvious, and there have been enough Christmas pageants, plays, and rendition of their visit to the new-born to confuse and complicate our ability to grasp the message and the purpose of these twelve verses. We have given them names they do not have. We have decided that there were three when the Gospel never says so. We have sentimentalized the whole event to the point that asking what it’s all about makes one feel like the Grinch that stole Christmas or Mr. Scrooge.

The challenge of what is implied here, and the purpose that seems to motivate Matthew is enough to make us uncomfortable if we really want to listen to Matthew’s message and intent. He is always the Jewish writer tuned in to the prophets and the law and anxious to see the law and the prophets fulfilled. The vision proposed by the Third Isaiah which opened our liturgy today was a powerful influence upon Matthew. This image of a great throng of the saved returning home forgiven and freed by God’s providence inspires Matthew to share his conviction that the coming of Jesus in flesh and blood, in time and space, has precipitated the fulfillment of the ancient prophet’s vision. Matthew sees in these figures bearing their gifts all the non-Jews for whom the Christ has also come. It is a parade of nations who, like the Jews, have been invited to live in the light of God’s peace and salvation.

Matthew’s hope for universal unity poses a great challenge. Tribalism threatened the unification of the clans of Israel and Judah. Territorial disputes and conflicting loyalties to their leaders made for great conflict. The appearance of Jesus did not bring these to and end. Discrimination, power plays, and prejudice continued to thwart the vision; and it isn’t just a matter of history either. We live in that history.

We can point to the Sudan, Congo, Ireland, Sunnis and Shiites, and countless other examples of prejudice, racism, aggravated by fear and hatred; all continuing to thwart the vision. But pointing the finger around the world is simply a kind of denial of our own condition and a failure to look into our selves. Racism has never been more powerful and more destructive than it is right now. This nation is secretly and savagely weakened and threatened by racism. Racist jokes, bumper stickers, tee shirts, and posters are everywhere shaming us with the truth of how deeply divided, suspicious, and fearful we are.

The vision the Prophet and the Gospel put before us must push us to move beyond pride and ego and, rather than blame another, make the first step toward unity.

Exclusiveness is a natural human inclination. Life is easier with people who are like us, who think the way we think, and do things the way we do. Including strangers different from us and from unfamiliar cultures is a major challenge. When we get down to the basics of food, water, clothing, shelter, and jobs, the desire to take care of our own grows stronger. The notion that we all do better, when we all do better is very attractive on paper until there is not enough to go around. But there is no mistaking or watering down the message of the Epiphany’s story. God is inclusive, and God’s people will be so too, or they will not be God’s people.

Jew, Gentile, Christian, Muslim, Black People, Brown People, Yellow People, White People, Male,

Female, Gay, Straight: whoever, where ever are all invited, and if we can’t get along respect, care for, and love one another here on earth, what’s the point of thinking about heaven? What will be different there than here except we will have died.

In the background of these verses, a great evil lurks. Matthew calls him Herod. We would do well to pay attention to him – at least as much as we pay to those who come visiting. The figure of Herod in these verses points to the eventual rejection of Jesus not only by Herod but also by those who were disappointed at the manner in which he exercised his role as Messiah. Notice how indifferent those scholars of the law are as they confirm the information of the visitors. You would think they would pack up and go running along with these gift bearers: but not to Bethlehem. In their minds it’s a slum.

The contrast between Herod and the Magi raises the issue of an internal struggle between the part of us that accepts the Messiahship of Christ and the part of us that refuses to embrace His teaching. Those teachings include a call to be open and welcoming to others, regardless of their differences, their looks, their language or their customs. The challenge we have today is to look closely at the Herod in ourselves, and step into the light of Christ out of the shadows of fear and distrust and take our place in the great immigration procession that will lead us home. We are all immigrants when it comes to faith. Leaving behind the poverty of our ignorance and our slavery to sin, leaving the danger of hatred and fear, we move out of the darkness to walk in the light of Christ. We must raise our eyes and look about not to see how we are different from one another, but to affirm how we look in the Light that has come shining upon us all. Only in oneness will the glory of God be revealed.

January 1, 2010  at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Numbers 6: 22-27 + Psalm 67 + Galatians 4: 4-7 + Luke 2: 16-21

It is the year 431. The Bishop of Constantinople has been preaching about Christ saying that “a baby of two or three months old ought not be called God.” He is not the first to think this, but he is the most credible and as Bishop of Constantinople, the most important person to say it. He is on good terms with the Emperor and feels safe. There are objections to his opinion about this matter, and before long word gets to Celestine who is Bishop of Rome that the divinity of the Christ is being challenged by the Bishop of Constantinople, and so there is trouble coming.

Not far away is Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria who hears of this teaching and begins to respond and correct this challenge to the expression of faith that has been tradition since a Council in Nicea a hundred years earlier formulated a Creed which said: “The Word became Flesh”. Celestine in Rome and Cyril in Alexandria united in their efforts to correct this man named, Nestorius who was the Bishop of Constantinople. At their urging the Emperor ordered a Council of all Bishops to convene probably thinking that they would work it out and it would be a safe way for Nestorius to be heard with the protection of his favor. I doubt personally that the Emperor had much interest in such theological issues. He just did not want the Christian Churches fighting one another. No unity. No peace.

The history of this Council makes interesting reading from the point of view of human behavior, power politics, manipulation, and passion. Why they met at Ephesus is a good question except that it was “neutral ground” fairly accessible by land or by sea, and there was room in a great basilica. Now remember it was the year 431 so there was no convention center with grand hotels. Travel from any of the great centers of faith and civilization was a matter of months, not days. They were to convene after the celebrations of Easter and Pentecost, so it was summer time, late June to be exact, and Ephesus is in southern Turkey. Think hot! Think dry! Think formal ecclesiastic garments, add in great passion and determination, and then think: “Get me out of here.”

Cyril came with 50 other Bishops. Nestorius came with 16. The Bishop of Rome stayed home probably because it wasn’t safe to travel but sent delegates. Since he was not present, Cyril presided so Nestorius was mad and would not attend. He had a number of important supporters like the Bishop of Antioch, but they stayed away and kept sending messages asking to delay the start of the Council till they could get there; but those who were there, hot and miserable got tired of waiting. Cyril drafted a letter to Nestorius outlining his errors and asking him to clear things up and stay in unity. Nestorius refused. The Bishop of Rome joined in the persuasion, and Nestorius still refused forcing the Council to declare him a heretic and out of communion. The real and important consequence of all this is what we celebrate today: an affirmation of the unique divinity of Christ that preserved the human nature totally, entirely, from the moment of conception.

I tell you this story and share this history today partly because we’ve had a long two weeks of celebrations and festivities around Christmas and New Years, and partly because a lot of people mistakenly think this is a feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While in English it may use her name, this is really the first feast of Christ the Son of God. It is a day for us to profess our faith in common, and affirm that Christ is God, and that the Word is made flesh.

Every age has struggled in one way or another with distortions and exaggerations or even outright error when it comes to naming and relating to Jesus Christ. In our time, it is the opposite of Nestorianism. Instead of exaggerating the human at the cost of the divine, we seem to toy around with the other side exaggerating the divine at the cost of the very real and very human man, Jesus Christ. We distance ourselves from him. We use his divinity as an excuse for not imitating him or believing that we can do what he asked of us.

It is the Incarnation that we celebrate today and in doing so we affirm that our God has come among us and shared every experience, every moment, every joy, and every pain of human life from conception to death. We are chosen by God in this way to share in Divine life just as God chose to share in human life. This is redemption! It is a new creation! It must leave us with hope in the face of every challenge and tragedy: hope that God is with us, and in His Son, he shows us how to live through every human experience. There is no human experience that Jesus Christ did not face and resolve with his experience and his teaching from the death of a child to a run away greedy son; from betrayal by closest friends to misunderstanding and slander; from being used by friends for their own advancement to the injustice of a death sentence; from the death of friends like Lazarus to the jealousy of his peers. He did it all and so can we is what God says to us in Christ because God is with us, God is for us, and God is within us. Calling Mary, the “Mother of God” is an affirmation of the nature of Jesus as “Son of God.” While it names her and honors her role, this day is about Jesus Christ, and this day is about us and how we shall live in the year 2010 as God’s chosen people. It is reason enough to believe, to hope, and to wish each other a Happy New Year.

December 27, 2009 at Saint Mark in Norman, OK

Sirach 3: 2-6, 12-14 + Psalm 128 + Colossians 3: 12-21 + Luke 2: 41-52

There are two strong themes that weave their way through the whole of Luke’s Gospel. One is a place the other is a person. This is unique to Luke, and as we now settle into the coming year with Luke’s Gospel, these themes stand out clearly in today’s verses and prepare us for more to come.

The place is the Temple. This place is prominent. It only takes Luke 8 verses in the first chapter to bring us to the temple. That is where Zechariah is conducting his rituals when he experiences the presence of God. After the story of the birth of Jesus, the next thing we hear is that Jesus is being brought to the Temple to be presented to the Lord. It is there that the ultimate theme of Luke’s Gospel begins to unfold: The Holy Spirit. Chapters 9 through 19 form a journey narrative we shall explore this coming summer, and the whole purpose of the journey is to get to the Temple. Luke’s Gospel ends where it begins: in the Temple. It is the first meeting place of the disciples after Pentecost, and there Peter works his first miracle.

So today’s Gospel is not an isolated story. We must hear it and listen to it in the context of the whole Gospel. Our imaginations must be inspired by this Gospel so that the Holy Spirit may lead and teach us when we gather together here. It is Luke’s Gospel that tells that the veil of the Temple was torn in two at the death of Jesus. Imagine that veil which separated the Holy of Holies, the Divine dwelling, from the human side being taken down, torn away so that the Divine plan which begins with the child Jesus could be fulfilled in the union between us and the Holy One. In Jesus a new Temple has come: a new place to meet, to encounter, and to discover the presence of God. In fact, the old one can be torn down for after three days, the new temple will rise.

The action in today’s verses is in the Temple. The first clue to the identity of Jesus is given to us in the Temple. Do not be led by popular misunderstandings to believe that Jesus is teaching the teachers. It never says that. The astonishment of the rabbis in the Temple is simply a preview of the astonishment others will have at the authority of his teaching when be begins to teach in the Synagogues. The disciple who learns from Jesus is not those teachers in the Temple. It is the other figure; the other person so important in Luke’s Gospel.

Here we get the other theme of Luke’s Gospel, the person. It is his mother. She is constantly emerging in Luke’s Gospel as the ultimate disciple. With her, and through her, Luke will put before us the model disciple. She will show us how to be a faithful disciple, and today, Luke tells how a disciple takes in what Jesus teaches.

She is the ideal believer.

Augustine said that Mary conceived Christ first in her heart before she conceived Christ in her womb. In her response to the Angel, she set in motion the Divine plan for us all. “Let it be done to me according to your will.” is the heart of the prayer her Son will teach his disciples: “Thy Will be done.” She hears God’s word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart and brings forth fruit with patience. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. She listens, and ponders. When she does not understand, she takes in the word and rather than refuse what she may not understand, she waits, ponders, listens, and remains open.

We are almost left to wonder who it is that is lost in this story. It does not seem to be Jesus. He knew where he was and was beginning to discover who he was. He was finding his identity as a child of God, a Jewish man who kept and lived his faith. He was finding that in the Temple and in the Prophets and the Law. This was not a discovery that made him proud or led him to think he was special or excused from all the experiences of life. In fact, it made him humble; humble enough to go to Nazareth and be obedient to Mary and Joseph. He was not lost. It seems to me that Mary and Joseph are the ones who were lost, and so they do the seeking. Pay attention to where the lost go: to the Temple and to Jesus. Seems like good a good plan. The Boy Scouts taught me that when I was lost I should stand still and stay put. This Gospel suggests that when lost we should head for the Temple and for Jesus.

There are many times in my life when I feel lost, and I look out from here and into your lives, and recognize that I am not the only one lost. We come to this place to seek out the wisdom, the Spirit, the Word and the plan of God for us. This place is both our Temple and our Nazareth. This is the place where we can grow in wisdom and grace and find favor. The good disciple may not always understand. Sometimes there is anxiety like that of Mary and Joseph. Sometimes what we find is not always what we are looking for, not always perfectly clear to us, but we can learn from Mary how to make that work.

What she teaches she learns from her son: discernment follows commitment. Understanding God’s will only comes from doing it. You first will and decide to be obedient to God, and then you will understand God’s plan. It is not the other way around. We can never understand God’s plan until we have become obedient. Jesus never understood or knew what the Will of his Father was until he became obedient and surrendered to it. Mary had already done that before she conceived him. We must learn from this wise, prudent, faithful, and perfect disciple.

December 25, 2009 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 9: 1-6 + Psalm 96 + Titus 3: 4-7 + Luke 2: 1-20

I doubt that they stayed long, the Shepherds that is. Leaving the sheep even for a few minutes would have not been a good idea for whatever reason .Trying to explain to the owners of their flock that angels had sent them to Bethlehem would probably not have been a very convincing or acceptable excuse. To this day, there are some amateur astronomers who play guessing games about that star. They talk about a conjunction of planets and various other theories float around which might be a conversation that entertains imaginations, but the fact of the matter is: Who cares? and What difference does it make? The star is gone. In fact if you don’t even believe in an actual physical star you are in no immediate danger of heresy. There was no intent on the part of the writer to create a historical chronicle. Yet the story tradition give us says that the Wise Men went home, and like the shepherds they probably did not hang around long. It wasn’t a particularly hospitable place. Bethlehem was a poor town.

I doubt that there was an Inn, Hilton or otherwise up to their standards. My point is, none of this lasts very long.
All of these people went home, back to work, and back to the normal routine of their lives. Even the angels who are so busy popping into dreams disappear back to their heavenly home. The song they sing comes to an end and the sky is dark again. It’s is not hard to imagine that they were simply worn out from a noisy night in the fields,
from chasing a star that’s there one minute and gone the next to waking up people to invite them to Bethlehem or warn them of trouble or one more angelic choir practice to get that four part Gloria just right for Christmas.

Within 24 hours in some homes Christmas trees will be down, decorations back in boxes, and stores will have Easter decorations on the shelves. At some point in all of this before we do it all again, we might ask ourselves why and maybe start to remember what the real work of Christmas is, because our faith insists that this is beginning of something, and getting ourselves exhausted over the beginning does not leave much for completing what God has just started with the birth of God’s only Son.

We have finished our period of “waiting” only to discover that there is more to this than waiting for Christ to come into our lives if for no other reason than because He has already come. Now God is waiting for us to figure it out. Victims of injustice are waiting for the “Just One.” The hungry are waiting for their place at the table not the scraps. The homeless are still waiting for a room in the Inn – not homeless shelter. The broken wait to be healed. If we celebrate the coming of Christ we will finally have to ask why Christ has come. To simply say that Christ came to save us from our sins is just that: simple when the truth is: it is not simple. It is challenging. It is awakening. It is troubling. It is not simple.

For some it may mean leaving the sheep and risking the displeasure of those who own us one way or another. For some it may mean picking up our gifts to give them away to a foreigner who is unknown and we may never see again. For some it may mean waking up the sleepy, or disturbing those whose lives seem all planned out and settled. Whatever the case, in just a few hours or a day or two, we all go back to what we were doing before Christmas. Guests will be gone. Or if we’re guests we will be back

home again. If we have failed to move deeper into the mystery of what this is all about and what it asks of us, it is all in vain on God’s part and ours as well.

When all the feasting is over, the wrapping paper cleaned up, and the notes of gratitude written, it will be time for the real work of Christmas to begin. It’s time to make peace and make music in every human heart. No one else can do it, and God waits for us to finish what God has begun.

December 24, 2009 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 9: 1-6 + Psalm 96 + Titus 3: 4-7 + Luke 2: 1-20 Fr. Boyer

Homily for the children

Delivered on Christmas morning after Mass because of Christmas Eve Blizzard cancelling all Masses

Just a little while ago there was a church like our church planning to have a Christmas pageant telling the story we just heard about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. All of the children lined up to get a part in the play. The teacher started out by asking who wanted to be Mary and every one of the girls raised their hands and jumped up and down to get attention. They all wanted to be Mary and wear the beautiful blue dress and hold the baby. Then the teacher asked who wanted to be Joseph, and all the boys waved their hands in the air and they pushed and shoved to get in front of the teacher.

Then it was time for the shepherds and the wise men, and everyone left wanted those parts because of the neat robes and they got to talk and carry the beautiful gifts. Then the angels got chosen and there was great excitement because they get to sing the best songs and the wings were fun wear and everyone would clap for them. Finally the teacher asked who wanted to be the donkey. The room got very quiet and no one raised their hand. After all, who would want to be a donkey? You don’t get to say anything there is no song, no body claps for you and you just sit there and stare at Mary and Joseph and their baby.

The teacher was very sad because no one would raise their hand to be the donkey, and so that year there was no donkey in the play. In fact, that year there just was no Christmas at all. If there is no donkey, nothing would happen in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph could never get there in time. They would have walked. If there is no donkey, no one could carry Mary, Joseph, and their baby away to Egypt to save them from King Herod who wanted to kill all the baby boys. If there was no donkey Jesus could not have come into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and his last supper giving us his body and blood.

In fact, without the donkey, there might not be any story to tell at all. The problem with being a donkey is that you never get much attention because everyone is looking at the angels and Mary and Joseph and those shepherds and wise men dressed up pretty and nice.

When you look at every Nativity scene, I want you to learn to look at the donkey and remember how important the donkey is to our story. When you grow up I want you to remember that sometimes in God’s plan it is better to be a donkey than to be an angel or the star of the show.

The donkey never got to say anything or look very pretty, but the donkey got to carry Jesus, Mary and Joseph to safety. The donkey had the best view of everything in that stable, and without someone willing to play the part of the donkey, there’s no story to tell. I don’t want you to grow up thinking you all have to be star of the show. I don’t want you to grow up pushing and shoving thinking that the best parts in life are the pretty parts or the famous parts. Even if you don’t end up playing the part of the donkey, always remember, recognize, and be grateful that someone plays the part of the donkey for us all.