21st Sunday in OT @ Ss. Francis and Clare, Birch Run

HOMILY - 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

AUGUST 21/22, 2021

In his 1964 book Games People Play, psychologist and author Eric Berne introduced a theory examining human interactions. Based on the idea that we are all social beings, and that we relate to people on multiple levels that change depending on who we are interacting with and the circumstances we are in.

He identified three levels, calling them Parent, Adult, and Child – and depending on our role, and the role of the other person . . . Berne claimed that individuals ended up playing different subconscious roles in what he called subconscious games.

Despite his influence on modern psychology and his clinical expertise in relationships, Berne himself was married and divorced three times over the course of almost 30 years.

Nonetheless, it can be helpful to evaluate our own relationships and interactions to see if we might be playing games in certain circumstances and work towards being more sincere and straightforward in how we deal with each other and with ourselves.

Today is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In today’s readings, we see God’s relationship with His holy people played out in various ways.

In the Old Testament reading from the end of the Book of Judges, Joshua gives the Twelve Tribes of Israel a bit of an ultimatum to make a definitive choice to serve the LORD; ending his appeal with his own firm choice, stating:

As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

In the Gospel, those who heard Jesus speaking on the Bread of Life – what we have been reading over the past several weeks – make the observation that:

This . . . is hard; who can accept it?

Indeed, Jesus is calling for a deep spiritual commitment ... a true conversion of heart, mind, and soul that – despite its difficulty – “gives life” . . . and not just life in this world, but rather “eternal life.”

Jesus offers this new life in God . . . this eternal life . . . to all who believe. Yet despite the promise, we are also told that “many of his disciples . . . no longer accompanied him.”

St. Paul further develops this them in his letter to the Ephesians – comparing the relationship of husband and wife to Christ’s relationship with the Church . . . that is, with us. Yet in the end, he still says:

This [too] is a great mystery.

For us to truly live out the Christian life requires a solid commitment from us which very often requires difficult choices between what the world or the culture may offer us on one hand; and what the law of Christ and the Church demand of us on the other. And worldly choices may appear to offer immediate gratification – something appealing which is in fact passing and ephemeral – Jesus Christ offers us life . . . and not just life here . . . Jesus offers us eternal life.

No matter where we may find ourselves, we are called to embrace our daily situations with Christian dignity . . . abiding in Faith, Hope, and Love. While our goal is is the satisfaction of life in abundance with Christ in God’s Heavenly Kingdom – this always requires from us a personal sacrifice if we are to truly receive and engage the sanctifying gifts of grace, mercy, and love that are offered to us through our relationship with God Almighty.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ . . . let us pray that through the mystery of the Eucharist we receive today . . . we might grow deeper in our relationship with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May the sanctifying grace of all the Sacraments we have received strengthen our commitment to God and Christ; and direct us always to follow Jesus Christ ... He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Assumption of the BVM @ Ss. Francis and Clare Parish, Birch Run

HOMILY - ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

AUGUST 14/15, 2021

As a little kid … probably around the age of 3 or 4 … my grandmother gave me a magnifying glass. I’m not sure my mom thought it was the best idea. She was probably concerned about me breaking the lens and hurting myself or one of my siblings with the shards.

For a toddler, a magnifying glass was magic. You could see all sorts of details when you held it up close to your eye. Of course, if you held it away from your eye at a certain distance, it was a view into an upside-down world. 

I would walk around the house with it held out at an arm’s length … watching as it flipped everything around in that little loop.

Which of course meant that at one point in time … I ran into a wall with it.

The lens survived. The handle and the metal loop that held the lens are long gone. Later on in my childhood, it took it’s toll on anthills and burning my name onto leaves.I actually still have the lens stored away somewhere with childhood treasures in a closet at my folks.

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

An important holy day for a couple of reasons. One of which is that it is the patronal feast day of our diocese - the Diocese of Saginaw. It is one of the two churches that make up our parish, and it is the name of our Cathedral in Saginaw.

Secondly, it is one of the four Marian dogmas.

There is a misplaced idea in recent years that somehow anything related to Mary was stealing the show from Jesus. 

Over the past several years as a priest, I’ve worked in schools in both Michigan and California.. And I’ve yet to meet a kid who would think that if his mom were talked about in a good way that he was getting the short end of the stick.

In fact, back in the day - when life was tougher on the playground - many a fistfight was started over a comment or a joke that started or ended with “your mom.”

Nonetheless, for the record, all good theology on Mary - that is, the dogmas, the teachings, the doctrine about Our Lady - all good Mariology is based on good Christology.


And, in case you were wondering, the four Marian dogmas are:

1. Mary’s divine motherhood - which we celebrate on January 1
2. Mary’s perpetual virginity - which we hear every time we call her the “Blessed Virgin Mary.”
3. Mary’s immaculate conception - which we celebrate on December 8
4. Mary’s assumption, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her earthly life: 

    which we celebrate today.

In today’s Gospel, we hear one of the three “New Testament” hymns found in Luke’s Gospel. They are known by the first word or words in Latin, and are a part of the daily prayer of the Church. Their English titles are based on who prayed it in Luke’s Gospel. 

These are:

1. The Canticle of Zechariah
2. The Canticle of Mary
3. The Canticle of Simeon.

Today we heard the Canticle of Mary, known by it’s first Latin word: “Magnificat.”

The word “Magnificat” means “to magnify.”

In older, more literal, English translation of this verse, the first words are “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

Which begs the question: what do our souls magnify?

I would guess that at times, our souls magnify our selves, maybe sometimes our souls magnify our family, sometimes our work, maybe our friends.

Like that magnifying lens I played with as a kid, our souls are meant to be used for amazing things. And perhaps the greatest thing we can do is to magnify God with our souls, and with our hearts, and with our minds.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ - let us pray to be a lens to the world of the grace and mercy and love of God. May our souls magnify the Lord in everything we think, in everything we say, and in everything we do.

19th Sunday in OT @ Ss. Francis and Clare, Birch Run

HOMILY - NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
AUGUST 7/8, 2021

Marcel Marceau was a French actor and mime, most famous for his stage persona “Bip the Clown.” He was born into a Jewish family in 1923, and owing to the Second World War, spent a good portion of his youth in hiding. His father was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and died there. Marceau and his brother Alain joined the French Resistance, and worked to save innumerable children from capture and deportation.

His mime routines, included The Cage, Walking Against the Wind, The Mask Maker, and In The Park. All of these are considered today to be classic routines.

When he was 5 years old, his mother took him to a Charlie Chaplin film, which captivated his imagination, and attracted him to mime and acting.

He called mime, The Art of Silence, explaining in a 1987 interview:

The art of silence speaks to the soul, like music, making comedy and tragedy, involving you and your life. . . . creating character and space, by making a whole show on stage - showing our lives, our dreams, our expectations.

He received world renown and held many high international honors in the arts. He died in 2007 at the age of 84.

Today is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, he exhorts us to “be imitators of God,”

The word St. Paul uses here that is translated “imitators” is μιμητής (mimētḗs) – which is where we get the English words mime, mimic, and mimeograph ... to name a few.

We are to imitate God, however, not just by copying Him or by mimicking Him, but rather – as St. Paul says – “as beloved children, [to] live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”

And so the starting point, is love. And not a gushy modern melodramatic love, but rather a tough love ... a difficult love ... a sacrificial love.

In the Gospel, we continue with John chapter 6, and Jesus continues to expound on what we heard last week, where He told His listeners that He, Himself, is the Bread of Life.

This sets the people off, as they start to run through what they understood of Jesus’ background. They knew Him ... or at least they thought they knew Him.

Yet Jesus repeats Himself, restating, “I am the Bread of Life”, telling them that “whoever believes has eternal life” and whoever “eat[s] it [will] not die.”

And finally today’s passage from the Gospel ends with Jesus saying one more time:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

In the Eucharist, we receive the Body of Christ. Our “Amen” is a profession of our faith in that reality – a reality that transcends the material world.

Three characteristics of the host we receive – visible to all – give us an insight into how we are to imitate God.

The host is small. Reflecting the humility of God – not only in becoming a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ, being born in a stable, and living a relatively obscure life in a small back-water of the Roman Empire ... but also in that He still comes to us under the form of bread and wine. Because His coming is so humble, we can miss it if we are not attentive to the mystery ... the miracle before us. We are called, as well, to humble ourselves ... so that we might not miss God’s presence in our midst.

The host is round. Reflecting the eternity of God. We are called to believe in Jesus Christ, and are to call him Savior, Brother, Son of God. A living faith is our ticket to eternal life ... and so, we too are called to live with Christ in the Kingdom of God ... in eternity.

The host is white. Reflecting the purity of God. At the end of Revelation chapter 21, we are told that “nothing unclean will enter [heaven].” And so, we are called to live our lives in purity and holiness.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for the grace we need to truly imitate God in all that we say and all that we do. And as we receive the Eucharist from this altar today, let us heed the words of the angel to Elijah: “eat, [or] else the journey will be too long.” And as we eat, may we remember that we are called to embrace humility, purity, and eternity – imitating God in all things, but especially in His Love.