November 27, 2005: Seeking Christ’s Truth

+ THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Today’s Readings: Isa. 63: 16–19 and 64: 2–7; Ps. 80; 1 Cor. 1: 3–9; Mk. 13: 33–37


Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent—the beginning of a brand new church year. For many of us, this means that Christmas is just four weeks away.

But Jesus’ first words today don’t seem to ring with the Christmas spirit. He says: Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.

So even though we know that Christ’s first coming—Christmas—is just around the corner, the time of his second coming on Judgment Day remains a great unknown. Spiritually, then, Advent is not just a season to get ready for the great Feast of the Nativity, but is also meant to be a time of serious personal recommitment and preparation for all eternity.

Maybe that’s why the Scripture readings today sound a little scary. Our Lord is trying to impress upon us that there is an urgency to get right with God while we still can.

And yet, despite the tough language, we must never, ever forget that God loves us deeply. Intensely. He made us. He adopted us as his very own children. He constantly floods us with grace, especially when we receive his Body and Blood, to draw us near so we can respond to his love and live in his love.

The Church New Year, just like the calendar New Year on January 1st, offers us a special opportunity to take stock of our lives. Hopefully, it’s also a time when we can resolve to take steps to fix the areas of our lives that need fixing. Each and every one of us could stand some of that.

And not only do we need to make resolutions, but we also have to take concrete steps to carry them out. Resolving to exercise more doesn’t mean buying a stationary bike and then hanging your dirty laundry on it. Wish it were that simple!

No, talk is cheap. It’s easy for a priest to stand at his pulpit and talk about the truths of our faith and the demands that God wants us to live by. It’s easy to say “Thou shalt not!” and list out all kinds of imperatives, even if sometimes it’s unpopular. And it’s also easy to retreat the other way and teach little more than “God loves you! Follow your conscience and have a nice day!”

As a Catholic priest, I am haunted by Jesus’ scathing put-down to the Pharisees when he told them: You load great burdens on people’s backs, but you don’t lift a finger to help them. I want to be Christ’s burden-lifter, not a burden-loader... so it’s my special job to show you the way.

I’m also deeply moved by the trials that St. Paul went through. Think about that awful list in Second Corinthians where he talks about being beaten, shipwrecked, robbed, betrayed, famished, and on and on and on—all of which he endured so he could bring the light of Jesus Christ to God’s people. Couldn’t Paul have settled in a nice, friendly community… maybe run a school for missionaries… be a little more discreet about what he said? Yes, I suppose he could have—but St. Paul knew in the core of his being that that was not the path that Jesus wanted for him. That means that sometimes the priest’s journey can be a little rocky.

Perhaps most of all, I am also quite moved by the amazingly kind and patient way that God treated people who did wrong—maybe even committed horrible sins—but whose hearts he knew were in the right place. He didn’t wipe out Adam and Eve and start over. King David committed adultery and murder, yet God forgave him. In fact, David is celebrated by Jews and Christians alike as a great and holy man. The woman caught in adultery was not stoned but forgiven. St. Peter betrayed our Lord just as surely as Judas, yet was forgiven, embraced and exalted by Jesus Christ. In the same way, Christ forgave and blessed thieves, tyrants, and just about every other kind of wrongdoer.

The point is, for those of us seeking to be watchful, amend our lives and get right with God, we are called to search for, recognize, embrace, and live the truth in our life. Jesus says: The truth will set you free.

Ah, truth. Truth is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s absolute. Something is blue or it’s yellow, no matter who’s doing the looking. Even if the thing is blue but it looks yellow to me, no amount of squinting or optical tricks will change the reality that it is indeed blue.

But some truths may be trickier… like when there are various alternatives to choose from that can be equally chosen. Should I be a doctor or should I be a lawyer? Should I get married or should I remain single or should I become a priest? The truth will result from my choice.

Often, it’s these very fundamental choices that give us difficulties—lots of time because our friends, our family, our personal values, our culture seem to put pressure on us to be something or act in a particular way… when, in fact, that may not be the best “truth” for us. If you wonder why people stray in their marriages… or have nervous breakdowns… or hit a “second childhood” and change many things in life… maybe that’s why.

Embracing our best truth may not be easy. I—like perhaps some of you—run away from some truths because to admit to them makes me vulnerable. I want to be strong—or rather, I want to appear strong. I want to be accepted and not rejected or abandoned. I want to be loved and needed, not laughed at or scorned or even hated. I want to be successful—whatever that means.

You can see that truth, even though Jesus promises that it will set us free, can be difficult to arrive it. It is definitely a process—a process that takes a lifetime.

The best way to start is to get on your knees and fight like a man. Prayer. God loves you and will guide you… but you’ve got to open yourself up to him. You’ve got to be able to recognize his voice and listen to him. That takes time, practice and commitment. If your only connection with God is Sunday mass, then you’ve got a stationary bike with dirty laundry hanging on the handlebars.

Be alert. Be watchful. Resolve here and now to revitalize your relationship with Jesus Christ and seek the special truths that will set you free.

God bless you. Come, Lord Jesus!

November 20, 2005: Sharing the Hope of Christ the King

+SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING (Last Sunday of the Church Year)
Today’s Readings: Ezek. 34: 11–17; Ps. 23; 1 Cor. 15: 20–28; Mt. 25: 31–46


A priest I know from back in Ohio told me a beautiful story. A retired teacher in his parish decided to volunteer to tutor kids in the Children’s Hospital in Columbus. One of her first assignments was to work with a nine-year-old boy. The hospital gave her his name and room number, and they left instructions saying that the boy’s class in school was studying nouns and adverbs.

The tutor got together her fourth grade materials and headed over to the hospital. She was shocked to find that the boy was in the burn unit. She almost turned around and went home, but she worked up her courage and went inside.

The boy looked even worse than she feared. “Hi,” she said. “I’ll be your teacher while you’re here. It’s important that you learn about nouns and adverbs.” Then she went right into the lesson. When she was finished, she said that she’d be back the next week. And then she hurried away.

A few days later, the teacher received a call from the boy’s mother asking if she would be coming for a lesson that day. The teacher was afraid that maybe she had done such a poor job with the child that the boy’s mother would rather he be left alone. So she apologized for her nervousness and said that she would certainly understand if the boy’s Mom would rather that she not return.

“Oh, no,” said the Mom. “You have it all wrong. I don’t know what you said to my son, but since your visit he has really been fighting hard to respond to his treatment. It seems that he has finally decided to live.”

So the teacher returned the next day and found the child with a therapist and his mother. He was doing his best to cooperate with the therapist. When the boy saw the teacher, he said to his mother, “I know I’m going to live. They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a kid who’s dying, would they?”

In a very similar way, God gives all of us hope that we will live. After all, the Lord wouldn’t send his Son if we were a lost cause, would he? He wouldn’t make him a King if that King wouldn’t have any subjects. He wouldn’t let him die on the cross if he didn’t realize that some of us would call out to him with our lives, “Jesus, remember us, when you come into your kingdom.”

Modern-day prophets of doom who see negative in everything in life have given up on society. They love to point to the moral decline, the permissiveness of parents, the high divorce rate, abortion, unjust war, unconventional families and marriages, the vulgarity and violence in the media, and on and on and on. Even religious leaders do this. Look at Pat Robertson’s comments a couple of weeks ago over teaching evolution versus intelligent design.

But Jesus Christ has not given up on us—not on any of us. He refuses to write us off. He is the King who loves his subjects. Despite some of the stupid comments that we sometimes hear, Jesus does not send earthquakes or hurricanes or tsunamis or floods or cases of AIDS or avian flu on people that you or I or Pat Robertson may not approve of.

I got a kick out of the Fox Trot comic strip one day this week. The nerdy son asks his Dad, “If God created man in his own image, how come we don’t also have godly powers?” The kid then said, “I want to hurl some planets around!”

Isn’t a good thing that God is a lot wiser, and more loving and patient than we are? I’d hate to think I’d have to dodge lightning bolts every time I did something wrong! I’m really glad, instead, to have confidence and hope in the Lord’s infinite mercy and goodness.

When the little boy in the hospital realized that he too had hope, his goals and dreams changed. “I am going to live!” he realized. And that changed everything.

And the good news is, we can confidently share that same dream. Really, the only goal that matters, the only dream that matters, is the dream of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and our getting a place in that kingdom.

Every other goal and dream is just a passing thing — not even a real thing. All other goals, no matter how important they may seem at the time, will pass away. Think about presidential elections. There’s a big hoopla… and in short order, everyone loses interest. Politicians and political seasons come and go. The old dreams are gone.

Some people’s dreams are caught up in business. They’ll do just about anything to get ahead. Look how the “dot.com” bubble burst… years ago, the company that made the country’s very best buggy whip got wiped out when folks started buying automobiles. Would you want to be in the slide rule business? Ask your kids; they probably don’t even know what that is! You see, in the blink of an eye, the dreams of a lifetime may be wiped out forever.

Some people’s dreams are wrapped up in the good days that lie ahead in retirement. They work hard to save for that glorious time. They might even move to Florida or Arizona. Maybe they sell the house that they raised their children in so they can buy a dream house on the water or the golf course. But before they can feel comfortable in their new homes, sickness and death robs them of their dreams.

This last Sunday of the Church year really challenges us to decide: What are the dreams that really matter? What are the values and principles that we are willing to fight for? What hopes are we willing to believe in enough to sacrifice ourselves for?

Our baptism into the life of Christ was and still is a bold statement to the world: Jesus is Lord and King of our lives. We dream his dreams. We share his hopes. We believe that nothing, not even death, can steal the dream of his kingdom from us.

He has not given up his hope for us. And we cannot give up our participation in his dream.

The Feast of Christ the King is not just the end of the Church year. It is a summary of our lives as Christians.

His dreams are our dreams. His hope is our hope. His present is our future.

November 13, 2005: Looking with New Eyes

+ THE THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s Readings: Prov. 31: 10–31; Ps. 128; 1 Thess. 5: 1–6; Mt. 25: 14–30 (Key reading)


Today we hear the familiar parable about the man who entrusts his three servants with his money for safekeeping while he goes away on a journey. The money he gives them is in the form of talents, a currency of the ancient Roman world.

Over the years, I’ve heard this story countless times—and I know you have, too. I always assumed that a talent was a gold or silver coin… but never gave it much more thought than that.

As I meditated on this week’s Scriptures, though, a stray thought crossed my mind: “What exactly is a talent?” So off I went to do a bit of research.

I was stunned to discover that one talent is roughly 75 pounds of gold. At today’s gold price of about $460 an ounce, that means that in dollars, one talent is worth $552,000.

Wow. So servant number 1 was given $2.8 million. Servant number 2 was given $1.1 million. And even the poor chap who only got one talent wound up with better than half a million dollars. I guess their master really trusted them.

Think about what you would do in that situation. Would you wheel and deal and try to make more money for the boss? Or would you be so gun-shy about losing the money that you’d dig a proverbial hole and bury the treasure?

Actually, a great many of us are like the third servant. God has entrusted us with extraordinary gifts—faith, wisdom, intelligence, skills, talents, freedom, health and all kinds of material things—and yet, we often guard our lives as if we might lose them at any moment instead of using them. We’re so careful not to take risks or break rules. When we don’t know what to do, our tendency is to do nothing. A lot of people do a lot of waiting to see what happens in fear of finding out!

The point of this lesson is that God does not want that. God gives us abundant life plus more talents, chances and opportunities than even the most energetic and adventurous among us can explore in a lifetime. It also seems that God provides amazing protection. We are far more resilient than we think we are, and God’s kingdom is totally so.

Do you remember the old children’s saying, “Step on a crack and break your mother’s back?” God didn’t make that up. In fact, it was God who gave us bones that heal if we happen to stumble and break a leg. It’s not God who cautions us to put our money into federally insured certificates of deposit. No, God urges us to give a feast and invite the poor… or better yet, to sell all our property and give the money to the needy.

The point is, the Lord stresses that life is a precious, joyous opportunity for the living. Jesus said to let the dead bury the dead. We—the living… God’s children—are called to follow him.

The problem is, lots of us are stymied about what to do. OK, here I am. How am I supposed to figure out what to do with the proverbial pile of gold that God has so graciously dumped in my lap?

St. Paul wrote to the Romans (Rom 8: 26) that the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. We don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

We should actually believe this Scripture and let the Spirit guide and prompt us. Our job is to seek, to be open and to cooperate.

Marcel Proust, the great French writer and intellectual, once said that the voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas but in looking with new eyes. News eyes can often be found in very simple ways.

A good exercise is to take ten or fifteen minutes in the evening and review the events of your day. Ask yourself three questions—and better yet, jot down your answers in a little journal or notebook.

The three questions are:

• What surprised me today?

• What moved me or touched me today?

• What inspired me today?

At first, you’ll probably answer the questions this way: nothing, nothing, nothing. But that’s because you’ll still looking at life in old ways. Instead, try looking at the people around you as if you were a novelist, a journalist, or maybe a poet. Better yet, look through the eyes of a humanitarian, a living saint, or even Jesus Christ himself. Look for the stories, the possibilities, the opportunities, the love…

As you practice, you’ll find that you won’t have to stop in the evening and look back at your day over your shoulder. With practice, you’ll begin to see things at the time they are actually happening so you can do something… or say something… or pray something. And all of a sudden, things will start to change. You will be putting your talents to work in extraordinary new ways.

In the parable, Jesus tells the successful servants: Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, come share in your master’s joy.

Wouldn’t it be great to hear those words from the Lord, especially when we stand before his judgment seat? It’s never too late to dig up the talent we’ve buried and start putting it to work. May the Holy Spirit inspire us all to do just that.

November 6, 2005: The Rapture and the End Times

+THE THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s Readings: Wis. 6: 12–16; Ps. 63; 1 Thess. 4: 13–18; Mt. 25: 1–13


As we listen to our second reading today (1 Thess 4: 13–18), we hear a mysterious, and maybe even frightening, description of what it will be like as we come to the end of the world. St. Paul says that the Lord will give the command, God’s trumpet will sound, Jesus will come down from heaven, and those who have died in Christ will be first to rise from the dead. Then, St. Paul continues, those faithful believers who are still alive will be—as it’s translated here—“caught up” into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Not your average day on Van Alstyne Street!

In some fundamentalist and evangelical Protestant churches, this prelude to the end times is known as the “Rapture.” In fact, they teach that if you’re not a “true Christian”—in other words, if you don’t adhere to substantial portions of their own teachings—you won’t be “raptured” with the Lord. Instead, you’ll be left behind to face a terrible seven-year period of tribulation and suffering on earth, graphically described in Chapter 2 of the Book of Revelation, where Satan will be in charge and rule with a rod of iron (Rev 2: 18–29).

In fact, very often, believers in the Rapture cite today’s Gospel about the wise and foolish virgins (Mt 25: 1–13) as a warning: you better get your act together and become a true disciple before it’s too late, because you never know when the trumpet will sound and the Rapture will take place.

According to the fundamentalists and evangelicals who await the Rapture, we Catholics especially better change our ways—because we’re among the ones who will be left behind since we’re not “true Christian believers.” We have many horrible beliefs, they say, and we do unspeakable things, such as use holy water, sing the Ave Maria, and actually believe some of the teachings of St. Augustine! Huh? Well, that’s what they say…

A lot of people believe all this. You may have heard of the novels written by Tim Lahaye, called the Left Behind series. There are a number of these books now, and they’re very popular. At least one took the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. These stories use a lot of emotional appeal and soft-sell to promote the idea of the Rapture.

This Rapture business, though, is a very confusing. The rapturists say that Christ will only come one more time—but their explanation shows that He will actually come a second and a third time! The Rapture is kind of a secret, invisible coming of Christ to “catch up” the select few believers… and then, at the end of the seven years of tribulation, the Lord will be back for a third time to whop the Antichrist.

Oddly enough for fundamentalists and evangelicals, the Bible never speaks of any “rapture.” The rapturists took several Greek words having to do with the end-times—parousia, apokalypsis, epiphaneia—and tried to give them different meanings… but it all quickly unravels and becomes very mixed up. It shows what happens when you take many different kinds of biblical writing and symbols out of context and try to interpret them literally—but only sometimes.

I say sometimes, because the same fundamentalists say that the passages in the Bible about baptism and the Eucharist should be interpreted metaphorically—but we should take literally what it says about dragons, beasts with many horns, locusts, bowls, trumpets, and Jesus with a sword coming out of His mouth!

So, what’s the “real deal” on all this? What does the Catholic Church really believe and teach about the end-times?

For one thing, the Nicene Creed which we recite at every Sunday Mass, teaches that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge and living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.” So we do believe in Christ’s Second Coming—and many rapturists are surprised to hear this! Yes, Christ will come again.

We also believe, as the Bible states and as the Catechism reaffirms, that before Christ’s Second Coming—the only coming left—the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers (CCC 675). It will be a time of great religious deception offering people an apparent solution to their problems at the price of totally defecting from the true faith—in other words, mass apostasy. The leader of this deception is known as the Antichrist, and the sign that he is coming is that people will glorify themselves in the place of God and Christ.

It’s pretty obvious that we already live in this age leading up to the Second Coming—and of course, Scripture also makes clear that nobody knows the “day or the hour” when the Lord will come again—which is why the Church constantly teaches that we better stay alert and be ready, since the Lord might show up at any moment now… the real meaning of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.

At this Second Coming, Christ will judge the living and the dead, and the good—those souls destined for heaven—will be “caught up” to the Lord. So in that sense, you might say that they will be “raptured.” And this is the exact same view that the Orthodox and mainline Protestant churches also hold. Even the founders of the major Protestant traditions—Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley—didn’t believe in a secret rapture.

So how come this Rapture business is so popular? I guess because it seems to give some people hope that they can avoid a lot of suffering, pain, hostility, and even dying. It’s nice to think that God will whisk you away so you can bypass all that.

Yet, even Christ Himself endured much suffering and death in His passion before His resurrection. Our Lord tells us that we, too, must pick up our cross and carry it.

It’s always a dangerous thing to try to remove the cross from Christianity—because then you’ve strayed far from Christ.

There’s no doubt that we are in the last days, and the signs of the end of the age are upon us. What we must do is to be zealous for the faith… to pray every single day… and make our common prayer the words of St. John that he uses to conclude the Book of Revelation (Rev 22: 20): “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”