Fr. JC Maximilian

“Make a wish!” How many times have we heard that phrase? Usually it precedes blowing out the candles on our birthday cake, or breaking the wish-bone of the Thanksgiving turkey. Do you remember what you wished for on your seventh birthday? I cannot remember exactly when I wished for this, but when I was around seven I really thought Evel Knievel was cool, and they had this Evel Knievel motorcycle toy that could make jumps. I just thought I would be the happiest kid in the world if I got that motorcycle, and I did get it for Christmas and had a lot of fun with it. But you know what? Even though that toy made me happy, that happiness faded in a few days. Oh, I still had fun with it, well, at least until I was 8 or 9, but I am sure that by Groundhog Day there was something else that I thought would make me really happy.

Wishing seems to be a basic part of our temperament as human beings. It does not matter if we are young or old, an optimist or a pessimist, we all seem to wish for that “something” that will make us happy. The “something” varies depending on our age and background, but there is always something that we are wishing for – maybe it is to win the lottery, to get the perfect job, the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, a new house, a car, or even a motorcycle. Yet we all know the disappointment, not only of not getting what we wish for, but even when we do get it we find that it does not bring us the real, lasting happiness for which we are longing.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus offers us the fulfillment of the deepest wish of our heart. He says that He is the Good Shepherd and He will give His sheep “eternal life” and promises that they will never perish. How many works of literature and film have told a tale of someone looking for the key to eternal life, a way of avoiding death. Death is our deepest fear, so it is only natural that we would want to avoid it.

Jesus has already defeated death by His Resurrection to a new life beyond the grasp of death and decay. Jesus says of His followers, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” As long as we try our very best to live for Him, death can never defeat us, any more than it defeated Jesus. For those who cling to Jesus, giving Him their entire life, the grave will be the gateway to a new life, one infinitely more wonderful than the life we live now.

Sounds pretty wonderful, doesn’t it? So how do we get this eternal life that Jesus offers to us? We must become the friends of Christ Jesus.

You may have heard some Protestants say “once saved, always saved.” The idea is that once you have accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then no matter what you do afterwards you will still go to heaven. This sounds pretty nice, but in fact it is contrary to the Gospel.

Jesus came to set us free from the slavery of sin and death. Why would He make us slaves of another kind? God does not want us to be slaves in heaven. He wants us to be friends, and friendship is never automatic. Our friendship with God starts here on earth with our baptism. It grows as we get to know Christ, discover His plan for our lives, and strive to live, with the help of His grace, as He wants us to live. However, at any point along the way we can break off the relationship with Christ. We call this mortal sin. Because He loves us, Jesus leaves us free to do so. He wants us to love Him as completely, as totally as He loves us, but love must be freely given. It can not be forced.

Any friendship is like that. It can be broken by one terrible act of disloyalty, or it can slowly disintegrate due to a lack of attention. Our friendship with Christ is vulnerable in the same way because it is a REAL friendship. In fact, our friendship with Christ is even more vulnerable because Satan does his best to make it hard for us to stay faithful to Jesus. That is why Sts. Paul and Barnabas, in visiting the Christian communities, “urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.” God is the faithful Good Shepherd, and as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.” God’s grace never fails, but we, stubborn and selfish sheep, are too often lured into temptation. We allow other, lesser but more immediate things, distract us from the deepest desire of our hearts – Heaven.

This is why one of the greatest virtues is perseverance. God wants to grant us the gift of perseverance for He is eager for us to grow in our friendship with Him. He wants us to become the noble, wise and joyful men and women that He created us to be. Surely each of us, deep down, want the same thing.

If we want to make sure that we will always persevere we need to pray each day, to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation frequently and to worthily receive Holy Communion as often as possible. We need to strive every day, no matter how difficult it gets, to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We need to implore the help of our friends in Heaven, the saints, particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary, the refuge of sinners. Most importantly, we must keep our hearts always focused on Christ. No matter what idols try to seduce us – whether they be idols of pleasure, power, success or prestige – we must keep our eyes on Christ Jesus, our destiny, the fulfillment of the deepest longing of our hearts. He will give us eternal life and happiness.

(Image of  The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by CARAVAGGIO)

Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict started a series of talks on each of the twelve Apostles. For the Holy Father, it is through the experience of the Apostles that we can best understand the Church’s relationship with Christ as the “new family” that exists in the people. One of the Apostles which I think most people can associate with is St. Thomas.

Everyone seems to focus on Thomas’ doubting of the Resurrection. Why did Thomas doubt in the Resurrection of Jesus, even after the men with whom he had lived with for three years so joyfully proclaimed it? Thomas was mad at Jesus. He was angry that Jesus had failed, or at least failed in the mission that Thomas thought Jesus had come to accomplish. Thomas wanted to brood over his disappointment; nursing his anger and sorrow in solitude. That is why when he heard the news of the Resurrection he would not accept it, “Unless I see the mark of the nails . . . I will not believe.”

Jesus was not offended by Thomas’ hesitation and resistance. He was just eager to get his faith back. Most likely with a smile on His face, Jesus was happy to oblige Thomas’ stubborn request. And Thomas sees this. He sees that Jesus lowers Himself to his level, and lets him touch Him. In touching Jesus’ wounds, Thomas feels Christ’s real, physical presence. And Thomas falls on his knees and is the first Apostle to proclaim his faith in Christ’s divinity, calling Him, “My Lord and my God,” the very titles given to God throughout the Old Testament. Maybe instead of remembering him as “Doubting Thomas,” we would be better to remember him as “Believing Thomas.”

How alike St. Thomas are we? How often do we, when our hopes seem to be disappointed, do we get angry; especially at God? Often we just want to be left alone with our hurt feelings, and we do not want to hear the good news of others. We rather brood, and we fail to recognize the evidence of the Resurrection that is being presented to us and the grace that it brings.

In this first Easter meeting of Jesus with His Apostles, which we heard in today’s Gospel reading, He gives the Apostles the Holy Spirit, which has a threefold significance – not only for the Apostles, but for us too. First, Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” By His Passion, Death and Resurrection Jesus has once again restored harmony between heaven and earth. As St. Paul puts it, “Christ is our peace,” or at least as Christians He should be our peace. This is not only a vertical peace, between God and humanity, but it is also horizontal – a peace with all of creation, and one we need to live with one another. It is a peace due to sin being banished and grace being restored.

The Spirit’s presence also expresses the forgiveness of sins. This is why we celebrate this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus’ death is atonement for our sins, and atonement means to be at-one-ment with God. While God’s forgiveness is freely given, it does require a change of heart to be received. God’s love is boundless, but it cannot be forced. With a change of heart, it is ours for the asking.

Finally in giving the Apostles the Holy Spirit, Jesus also gives them a mission, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Probably one of the most pondered questions about the Resurrection, though often only in our own minds, is why didn’t Jesus appear to Pilate or Herod or Caiaphas or even the Roman Emperor after His Resurrection? Pope Benedict says, “He can only be seen by the person to whom he reveals himself. And he only reveals himself to the one whom he can entrust with a mission” (Joseph Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above, 1986, Ignatius Press, pp. 64-65). He does not desire to simply ease people’s curiosity. Jesus desires to build His Church, and the Spirit guides the Church so that it continues the work of Christ. In fact, in the Church, Jesus continues to be the incarnate presence of God in the world today.

This mission is not just for the Apostles, nor just for bishops, priests, deacons and religious. As the children of God, all of us, each according to the vocation that God has entrusted to us, should be like God. All of us, I pray, have had the grace to experience the mercy of God in our lives – through the sacraments, particularly Reconciliation, and through prayer. However, there are still many people around us who have not had that grace, or have forgotten about it. We must spread the Good News of God’s Mercy and Love to all the ends of the earth. We must live as the people of the Resurrection. It has to make a difference in our lives, and not be simply relegated to something we are told to believe that happened a long time ago. We need to be excited about the Resurrection, so excited that people can tell we are excited just by looking at us. If you won the Powerball lottery, don’t you think the people around you could tell; wouldn’t they notice a difference in you? Well the new life that the Resurrection gives to us is infinitely better than winning the lottery.

As people of the Resurrection we cannot hold on to resentment, anger and envy. We must forgive. We must have a lively, personal relationship with Jesus, so we can say that wonderful prayer of Divine Mercy: Jesus, I trust in you.

EASTER SUNDAY

“The Lord has indeed risen, alleluia. Glory and kingship be his for ever and ever” (Entrance Antiphon for Easter).

Jesus, the crucified one, has now been raised from the dead. Utter defeat has been transformed into irreversible victory. Satan, and all the powers of evil, did all they could do to breakdown the courage and fidelity of God’s anointed Savior. Satan exhausted his arsenal of hate, injustice, humiliation and pain, and had his way with the Messiah of the world. Despite it all, God’s anointed came out victorious – Christ Jesus Victor!

Many people outside the Christian faith often think that Christmas is the most important of the Christian holidays. Yet we, the Faithful, know that Easter is the holiest of solemnities. The glorious resurrection of Christ Jesus is the key for understanding His entire life, and is the foundation of our Faith. Without the Resurrection, all the other aspects of Jesus’ life would be without meaning. Jesus would have just been recorded in history as a wise teacher, with no more authority over our lives than Socrates or Confucius or the Buddha or Mohammad, or even Dr. Phil. Good Friday, the Crucifixion, would have been the last act of Jesus’ life, hardly “Good News,” just another nice guy, just another dreamer whose dreams were squelched by the harsh reality of real life.

But Jesus did rise from the dead, and His victory over evil, sin, falsehood, injustice, suffering and even death is total and irreversible. As St. Paul writes, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . . You are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15: 14, 17).

It is interesting, however, that this, the most central event in our Christian Faith – the Resurrection – is not described in any of the Gospels. We have careful accounts of so many of Jesus’ miracles, including His raising Lazarus from the dead, yet we have no description of the Resurrection itself. All we have is the account of the empty tomb. Even Mary Magdalene is uncertain as to what the empty tomb really means. She runs to the Apostles and says, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” St. Peter, and the other disciple, run to see the empty tomb. Clearly this was not the work of grave robbers, because the expensive burial linens are still there. The Gospel says they “saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scriptures that he had to rise from the dead.” They had faith and hope.

When I was in Rome, the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was near where I was staying, so I stopped there often to pray. In the church is a small, little known marble sculpture of the resurrected Christ by Michelangelo. The figure of Christ is gloriously sculptured. He is young, muscular, confident and energetic. He stands firm, but not stiff. The risen Lord stands alone, the only other figure in the sculpture is His cross. He holds it in His arm; it is rather puny in size, certainly too small to have been used to crucify Him. It is just a flimsy little wooden cross, and he holds it as easily as we would hold a bouquet of flowers. And that is the whole point that Michelangelo is trying to convey in this work of art. The life-giving power of the Risen Lord has overwhelmed the deathly power of the cross. What Easter Sunday does for us is it makes the light of hope shine so brightly in our lives that it shrinks our crosses down to size. We can bear them now, and with joy, because we know that they are leading us towards the glorious victory of the Resurrection. Just like the disciples standing in the empty tomb, the Resurrection gives us our hope, even if we do not fully understand it.

Today we should relish this joy of Easter, thanking God for letting us share in this victory which gives us hope. However, we should not let it stop there. We should not just enjoy Easter, we should allow the reality of the Resurrection to transform our lives. Christ’s Resurrection is the power of eternal life at work in us. We should do something to plug into that power. All of us made an effort to live Lent in a special way – maybe we gave something up, or we committed to saying some extra prayers. Priests are often amazed at how many more people can find the time to make it to daily Mass during Lent, but not during the rest of the year. Holy Mother Church in her wisdom gives us six weeks of Lent and eight weeks of Easter.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul encourages us to “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Maybe we should make an Easter resolution that will help us do just that, that will help us keep in mind the eternal life in Christ that is waiting for us if we stay faithful to Him. It might be making a commitment to attend daily Mass, or to spend time each day reading the Scriptures. Maybe we could decide to join one of the Bible Studies that we offer here in the parish, or the Communion and Liberation School of Community, or one of the other prayer groups. Maybe we can commit to keeping the Lord’s day more faithfully, not only by participating in Sunday Mass but also planning special, uplifting activities to do as a family. If we ask the Holy Spirit to give us some ideas, He will not be stingy. We just need to decide to let Easter make a difference in our lives, the way it should.

I leave you with these words of Pope Benedict XVI, “All this makes clear what Easter does mean: God has acted. History does not go on aimlessly. Justice, love, truth – these are realities, genuine reality. God loves us; he comes to meet us. The more we go along his path and live in his way, the less we need to fear justice and truth, the more our hearts will be full of Easter joy. Easter is not only a story to be told: it is a signpost on life’s way. It is not an account of a miracle that happened a very long time ago: it is the breakthrough which has determined the meaning of all history. If we grasp this, we too, today can utter the Easter greeting with undiminished joy: Christ is risen; yes, he is risen indeed!” (Joseph Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above, 1986, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, pp. 54-56).

“Now the holy rays of the light of Christ shine forth, the pure stars of the pure Spirit rise, the heavenly treasures of glory and divinity lie open. In this splendor the long dark night has been swallowed up in the dreary shadows of death have vanished. Life is offered to everyone; the whole world is filled with glory. A heavenly light more brilliant than all others sheds its radiance everywhere, and he who was begotten before the morning star and all the stars of heaven, Christ, mighty and immortal, shines upon all creatures more brightly than the sun” (Attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, Easter Homily: SC 27, 116-118. 164-190).

Those beautiful words were preached by St. Hippolytus of Rome, about 1800 years ago, during the Easter Vigil. The image of Christ Jesus as the Light of the world is very ancient, and is beautifully symbolized during the Easter Vigil with the church being all darkened, and then the Paschal Candle, representative of the Risen Christ, enters and casts away the darkness. As we sing, “Christ the Light! — Thanks be to God,” the church brightens as the light of the Paschal Candle is spread to all those in the church who hold candles. All creation rejoices in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The drama of God’s mighty deeds and of salvation history is proclaimed in the Old and New Testament readings. We celebrate that that Light, the Light of Christ, is the deepest yearning of our hearts. He is our destiny, and our hearts will be restless until we rest in Him. In the midsts of the darkness of the world, and false lights, we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI gives us, all of us, our charge this night when he writes, “The world is indeed dark, but even a single candle suffices to bring light into the deepest darkness. Did not God give us a candle at baptism and the means of lighting it? We must be courageous enough to light the candle of our patience, our trust, our love. Instead of bewailing the night, we must dare to light the little lamp that God has loaned us: ‘The light of Christ! — Thanks be to God!’” (Joseph Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, Matthew J. O’Connell, Trans., Chicago, IL: Franciscan Herald Press, 1985).

Today our attention is drawn towards the Cross on which Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world died. The Cross is a dominant image in Christianity. As Catholics, we begin every liturgy and prayer with the Sign of the Cross. We hang crosses in our churches, on the walls of our homes, and many of us wear them around our necks. Despite the image of the Cross being so prevalent in Christianity, how many of us really take time to reflect on what the Cross means for us? How often do we sit before a Cross and contemplate the great mystery that is the Cross?

Pope John XXIII had a Crucifix hanging on his bedroom wall. He would pray in front of his Crucifix every night before retiring, and every morning upon waking. And whenever the cares of the Church awakened him during the night, he would pray before the Crucifix on his bedroom wall. This beloved Pope, of blessed memory, once said, “A cross is the primary symbol of God’s love for us.”

As I reflected on the Cross this week, two words came to mind – trust and generosity. The Cross is the ultimate sign of generosity. One thing that I think we too often forget is that God does not need our love, or our worship, or us for that matter. God is utterly complete in Himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God did not need to create us, but He choose to do so purely out of His generous love. Even more amazing, God continues to be generous towards us despite all of our sinfulness. God is so generous in His love for His creation, that He sent His only begotten Son to us, and Jesus demonstrates this completely generous love of God by offering Himself on the Cross for us. Jesus did nothing wrong, committed no sin, yet He was willing to take on all the sins of the world so that we might have eternal life in a perfect communion of love with the Trinity. Jesus just gives and gives, and all that we need to do is accept the countless graces that He generously offers to us.

The other word that came to mind as I contemplated the Cross this week was trust. In truth we can say that salvation history began with a breakdown of trust. Satan tempted Adam and Eve by making them suspicious of God, by making them start to question whether or not God really was their loving Father. When they stopped trusting God, their relationship with God was shattered, and the human race was cut off from its source of happiness. That is when we started to need a savior.

Jesus’ mission was to reestablish communion between the human race and God, and He did so by totally trusting in God, His Father. Christ’s cross is a bridge of trust that makes it possible for us to return to communion with God, the source of our happiness. On the Cross, Jesus reverses Adam and Eve’s lack of trust, by completely trusting His Father for us.

This is what the mystery of the Cross is all about. Jesus willingly came down to our level, “and the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus embraced His human nature, with all of its limitations. When Satan made it hard for Him to obey His Father’s will, Jesus continued to trust and obey, even in spite of the indescribable suffering that He endured. As the letter to the Hebrews expresses it, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered….”

How was Jesus able to do this? Again, the letter to the Hebrews gives an explanation, “Let us . . . [keep] our eyes fixed on Jesus . . . For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross . . . .” (Hebrews 12: 1-2). He knew that doing His Father’s will was the source of happiness. Christ’s limitless trust in God rebuilt the bridge between us and God that Adam and Eve’s lack of trust destroyed.

Jesus’ total trust in the Father makes it possible for us to totally trust in the Father, and then to take up our crosses. Our crosses are intersections of wills. When our personal preferences contradict what God asks or permits, we are faced with a personal cross. An example that I think most of us can understand is when we face a serious illness. Our initial reaction is that we would rather be healthy, but God has permitted this illness to come to us. This creates an intersection of wills; God’s will is going in one direction, and ours is going in another. If in that moment we turn to Christ’s cross, He will remind us, through His example and through that supreme expression of God’s love for us, that God is trustworthy. In Christ’s cross we can find the strength to trust that God knows what He is doing, and we embrace our cross.

Every cross that we experience in life is a chance to exercise trust in God and thereby rebuild the relationship that sin has ruptured. In fact, this is why God sends and permits crosses in our lives. He wants us to rehabilitate our trust in Him so that we can deepen our communion with Him and experience the fullness of life that He has promised us.

Today, as the Church reminds us of the intensity of Christ’s suffering, which is a sign of the intensity of His love for us, let us renew our trust in God. Let us ask for the strength we need to embrace our crosses out of love, as Christ did. Do not allow the Cross to just become a piece of jewelry or a wall decoration. As the Cross is the primary symbol of God’s love for us, let our embracing of the Cross, however it is manifested in our lives, be the primary symbol of our trusting love for God.

Today we hold in our hands palm branches.  Why?  What is the significance of palm branches?  In the ancient world, palm branches were the symbol of victory.  The elegance, strength and simplicity of this tree became a symbol for the Israelites in the Old Testament of the just person, the one in whom God’s law triumphed.  Palm branches also symbolized victory for the Romans.  Palm trees were not native to Italy, and so, when the Romans started conquering nations in the Mediterranean, the generals brought palm trees back to Rome as souvenirs of their victories.

The crowds waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem, which we heard in today’s first Gospel reading, were declaring His victory – and we join in their celebration.  But what victory did Jesus win, and how did He win it?

Jesus’ victory is over sin, particularly original sin.  What is original sin?  To understand it, we must look at the first few chapters in the Book of Genesis.  After creating the first human beings, Adam and Eve, made in His Divine Image, God placed them in His garden “to till it and to care for it” (Genesis 2:15).  God provided everything for Adam and Eve for them to live a life of perfect happiness.  However, God did place limitations on them.  Of the many trees in the garden, God said that they could eat from any of them except one; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God wanted to give that knowledge as a gift to Adam and Eve, at His good time.   However our first parents rebelled against the limitations that God placed on them.  They chose to believe the devil’s lie, so that they could be “like gods” (Genesis 3:5).  Original sin was mankind’s disobedience to God and obedience to the devil, and it  shattered our relationship with God, let loose the scourge of evil, and gave the devil a certain power over earthly society.

We too find it difficult to accept our human limitations.  We long to be masters of our lives, in full control of our destiny.  When we say that we want to be beautiful, strong and successful, we are really saying that we want to be “like gods.”  Yet nothing we do can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.  Only God, who is infinite, perfect Love, Beauty, Truth, and Justice can fulfill our deepest longings.

Through His passion, death and resurrection, Jesus reversed the disobedience of original sin by obeying His Father’s will in spite of all the devil’s attempts to thwart Him.  In that beautiful hymn that St. Paul gives us in today’s second reading, we hear how Jesus wins His victory for us, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God…Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7).  In other words, Jesus accepted the human condition with all its limitations.  Because of His perfect obedience, even “to the point of death, even death on a cross, … God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name…” (Philippians 2:8-9).

The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.”  By His obedience Jesus establishes a beachhead in this world that is under the devil’s sway.  Jesus’ passion is D-Day for the devil, and liberation for us.  This is the victory we celebrate.

This victory is too wonderful to keep to ourselves.  In addition to giving thanks to God for the great things He has done, we need to bear witness to this victory in the world for there are still people who do not know about it.  They do not know Christ Jesus, or maybe they are afraid to follow Him.  They need to be liberated by Him.  They need to learn that by uniting their sufferings in this fallen world to Christ’s sufferings they can become meaningful and fruitful.

There are two ways that each one of us can make this Holy Week truly holy, not only for ourselves, but for those around us – by our words and our deeds.  We should not be afraid to speak of Christ and the meaning of His passion.  We are His messengers so that others can encounter Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  The Holy Spirit can work through us; we just need to be ready and willing to answer the call.  We can also image Christ’s Passion this week by doing what He did, by sharing our neighbors’ burdens, by taking upon ourselves the crosses of others.  It can be as simple as a phone call to someone feeling lonely, or inviting someone to come and participate in the Holy Week liturgies.

So wave those palm branches.  Celebrate Christ’s victory of love; not only here in church but everywhere we go – even to the ends of the earth.

One of Jesus’ most well-known parables is the one we heard in today’s Gospel reading; the Prodigal Son. However, this name, “The Prodigal Son,” is really something of a misnomer, for the focus of the parable really is not suppose to be on the ne’er-do-well son. Rather the real centerpiece of this beautiful parable of our Lord is on the father, who by his love and forgiveness towers over both of his uncomprehending sons. Maybe a better name for this parable would be “The Merciful Father and His Two Lost Sons.” While so well know, there is always so much we can learn from a closer reflection on this lesson from Jesus.

Let us first look at the Younger Son. He is bore and rebellious. He thinks he understands the world so much better than his father. He is sure that if only he had the freedom to do whatever he wants he would be truly happy. Of course he needs something from his father, namely money, to really be “free” to pursue his happiness, and once he gets the money, his inheritance, he abandons his father to go to a distant country to do his own thing. At first all seems to be proving the younger son right; he is doing his own thing and having a blast. However, soon he has spent all his money, and the hard times really begin. He is starving. Even when he comes to the “light,” his contrition is hardly perfect. His motivation to return to his father seems to come more from seeking his own welfare, and not from sorrow for wounding his father’s love.

The younger son represents one of the most common errors; a false understanding of what freedom is. All sin starts from the idea that MY desires are the most important thing in the world. While it is true that the deepest desires that will bring true and everlasting happiness are found written in our hearts, we must have the humility to recognize that they are not written in our hearts by us or any other human being. Rather they are written in our hearts by God, who made us in His image and likeness. Too often we are like this younger son and think that God is interfering with our freedom with all His “moral rules.” Like the younger son we move from the atmosphere of Love, which is living in God’s grace, to live in a distant country, namely sin. Like the younger son, at first things seem to go well, but in the end, if we are really honest, we realize that none of the material things nor merely human relationships make us truly, eternally happy. We recognize that we are in the pigs’ mire. Like the younger son, our contrition is often far from perfect; motivated more out of fear of going to hell, or just fulfilling a duty to go to Confession at least once a year. Perfect contrition, however, proceeds from the motive of perfect love for God. As the Baltimore Catechism defines it, “Perfect contrition is that which fills us with sorrow and hatred for sin, because it offends God, who is infinitely good in Himself and worthy of all love” (Baltimore Catechism: Volume 3, Lesson 18, answer to question #765).

Now let us turn to the father in the parable. The father is deeply grieved by his younger son’s absence. He daily looks for his son to return to him. When he sees that his younger son is returning to him, the father does not wait for the son to get all the way home. Rather the father RUNS to him with a renewed strength and joy. He gives his son no reproach; in fact he does not even bother to listen to the younger son’s rehearsed speech. The father embraces his younger son with his love, and calls for a celebration.

Too often we look at God as being a stern judge who we must appease with prayers, sacrifices and good works. But God is our loving Father; He is easy to satisfy. St. John Chrysostom, in commenting on this parable, said, “All that God looks for from us is the slightest opening and he forgives a multitude of sins” (On Repentance, Homily 1, 3-4). The parable offers us a beautiful image of God’s grace; to be lovingly embraced by God. Grace is a free gift from God; we do not earn it. In fact we never could earn it. While free, God’s grace of redemption did not come cheaply. St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, from his second letter to the Corinthians, just how costly the grace of redemption was, “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Finally we should turn our attention to the older son. He is filled with indignation, resentment, envy and anger. Why? Because his father is being so generous and forgiving in celebrating the younger son’s return. Notice that the older son does not even want to acknowledge the younger son as his own brother. He refers to his brother as “your son” when expressing his indignation to his father. He points out all his good conduct, and implies that he is owed something. The older son never seems to have noticed his father’s sadness when his younger brother was absent. In a very real way the older son is just as “lost” as his younger brother. While never leaving home, he was also living in a “distant country,” far from his father’s free and generous love.

The older son represents the Scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus is addressing this parable. Remember that the Gospel today started with the Pharisees and scribes complaining because Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Remember in the Jewish culture at that time, pigs were considered one of the most unclean of all animals, so someone who worked in a pig sty would be among the scum of the earth. It would make them indignant to think that God loves the scum of the earth. While they want God to be forgiving, they did not want His forgiving love to be too free, that way they could keep it just for themselves. They were self-righteous in a most literal sense, thinking that it was by their sacrifices of animals and extremely careful following of the Law – not just the Law that God gave them, that which is inscribed in the human heart, but all the laws that they and their ancestors had made – that they would make themselves righteous before God. The problem is that God’s grace of redemption is a totally free gift given by God because there is NOTHING that we mere human beings could do to earn our redemption. God’s love is completely and utterly gratuitous.

Are we sometimes like the older son? Do we sometimes become indignant with people who have been great sinners, who now seem to get good things and are being welcomed into the Church? How often do we sometimes say to ourselves, “Well, I am holier than so-and-so.” When we do that, we are living in a distant country, far from God’s free and generous love, even as we sit in church each weekend.

The parable ends with the father again coming to meet his son, this time the older one, and pleading with him to join in the celebration and to rejoice. We do not know if the older son is persuaded by his father’s loving plea to rejoice and lovingly embrace his brother. Jesus wants us to supply the ending.

Do we just fulfill the obligations and duties of religion, or do we enthusiastically live as a new creation in Christ? Is Mass a celebration of joy each week, or is it a burdensome weekly obligation that we try to finish and get out of as quickly as possible? I urge you to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” and “be reconciled to God” so that as ambassadors of Christ, God will appeal through us to all of our prodigal brothers and sisters.

[Click here to go to a podcast of this homily]

Today’s Gospel reading reminded me of something that happened to me when I was a novice for the Dominicans, more than a dozen years ago. Our novitiate was in Denver, and early in the year, kind of a way to get to know each other, we went hiking in the Rocky Mountains — yes, I was younger and in better shape then. It was beautiful, and pretty amazing to see snow on the ground in August.

As we hiked together, we were chatting and joking on the way; probably not unlike Jesus, Peter, James and John in today’s Gospel. Near the top we sat down and admired the view, took in the fresh air. And of course after the exertion of the climb, we were tired, so I can understand Peter, James and John getting sleepy while they were at the top of the mountain.

In today’s Gospel reading, as Peter, James and John slept, Jesus started to pray, and while doing so He is “transfigured” and upon waking, Peter and his companions see Jesus speaking with Moses and the Prophet Elijah. Only in St. Luke’s account of the Transfiguration do we hear what Jesus, Moses and Elijah were discussing – Jesus’ exodus. The Greek word “exodus” means “departure.”

The background for all the Mass readings this month is Israel’s Exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Exodus was the central event in Israel’s religious history. It was that event which convinced them that they were indeed God’s Chosen People, for what other people could claim that God had personally delivered them in their time of trial? As the Israelites settled into their land inheritance, they also fell into sin. The prophets proclaimed to them that it was their sins that led them into the real captivity, the real slavery. The prophets predicted further that God would again personally intervene on their behalf, and that a Messiah would lead them in a “new Exodus,” sealed with a “New Covenant” (i.e., Jer. 23:7-8; 31:31-33).

St. Paul, in today’s second reading, reminds the Philippians, and us, that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). However, like some of the Philippians, too often our “minds are occupied with earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). The deepest yearning of the human heart is everlasting happiness, and such happiness depends on living in a close relationship with God. Like a plant that never gets sunshine, separated from God the human heart withers.

After Adam and Eve’s Fall in the Garden, staying close to God became impossible. Original Sin causes a loss of grace, and God is too bright for graceless, sin-damaged eyes to see. For souls weakened by sin, God is too far away to find. We would all live in hopeless frustration, unable to embrace God, the only person who can make us truly happy, if it was not for Christ Jesus. He shades the brightness of God, and crosses the distance.

The symbolism of today’s readings reminds us of this dilemma. In the first reading, God makes a covenant with Abram to seal His promise of salvation. By making the covenant God shows that He wants to be close to us, but in fact is still distant. God uses a burning torch and a smoking pot to represent His walking through the sacrificial animals. The smoke of the pot symbolizes God’s mystery. We cannot see God clearly, just as we cannot see through smoke. God’s spiritual purity and brightness are symbolized by the fire. It is too painful to look at directly, and anyone who comes too close will be incinerated.

These two symbols appears in the Gospel’s account of Jesus’ Transfiguration, which is a precursor of the New Covenant He will establish by His sacrifice on the Cross. This time the brightness shines out of Jesus Himself, indicating that God’s spiritual purity is one with Jesus, for Jesus is God. A cloud covers Jesus and a voice from the cloud reveals the mystery of God – in Christ Jesus the distant, mysterious God of the Old Covenant has come to walk with us. It is through and in Jesus that the age of frustration has come to an end. Once again, friendship and closeness with God are made possible.

What should be our response be to this marvelous presence of God in Christ Jesus? We should thank Him for His goodness to us by following His example. By giving us His friendship in Christ, God has bridged the distance between Himself and us in a gentle way. Likewise we should reach out gently to those around us.

Jesus comes down to our level in order to lead us up to His level. He is very patient with us. He even puts up with our tantrums.

Do we treat those around us in such a way? Are we patient with them, even when, especially when, they are throwing tantrums? Do we try to meet people at the level they are at, or do we wait for them to come to our level?

Jesus stills wants to teach the world – the whole world – about God’s goodness and just how much He loves us. Jesus wants to bring every man, woman and child close to God, because He knows that only God can make them truly, eternally happy. While Jesus is the bridge that bridges the gap between God and humankind, we are the stones of that bridge.

I am sure that all of us can think of someone in our lives who we can treat in a more Christ-like way. Maybe they need to hear the Good News. As we receive Holy Communion today, let us ask God to give us the strength to treat that person in a more Christian manner or to share the Gospel with that person who is still living in the darkness and slavery of sin. After we ask for that strength, let us promise to do our best to shine with Christ’s gentle light, bringing happiness to everyone around us [see www.epriest.com, Homily Pack, “Mar 4, 2007, Second Sunday in Lent (C)”].

Shortly after moving my blog to St. Blog’s, the St. Blog’s administrator asked me if I would be interested in recording my homilies, and making them available as a podcast.  I told him that while I would be interested, I did not know how to make a podcast.

Thank goodness for Mac and iLife.  I opened that free program that came with my iBook called GarageBand, and in very little time I had figured out how to make a podcast.  Last night, after finishing my homily for this coming weekend, sat down and recorded my very first podcast.  I even added a little music to the intro.  I am sure it is not the most polished, but I think I will improve as I do more.  In any case, I sent my podcast to the St. Blog’s administrator and he is going to post it this weekend.  You will note on the sidebar of this blog a new section called “My Podcasts.”  You can click on it now, but you will not find my homily podcast there yet.  You will only find the homilies for a Fr. Augustine in St. Louis.  Mine will be added this weekend.

It was fun making my first podcast.  I hope to start another podcast called “School of Community” that will share my thoughts on what I am reading in my Communion and Liberation group.  Right now we are studying Msgr. Luigi Giussani’s recently translated book, The Journey to Truth is an Experience.  Of course pastoral duties will have to take precedent.

The ashes that we use today are meant to remind of some important truths.

First, they remind us that we are sinners. Although we are the children of God, at the same time we are still children of this fallen world. Ashes are lifeless dust. Insofar as we still give in to our tendencies to selfishness and sin, we too are lifeless dust. Sin separates us from God, who is the source of all life. Without God’s redeeming spirit in us, we would have no hope of eternal life.

Second, the ashes reminds us that our sins, cause damage. These ashes are made from the palm branches we used on Palm Sunday last year. We waved the palms as a symbol of Christ’s victory over sin, however our sins forfeit that victory. Our sins destroy the life that God means us to live, just as the palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday were destroyed to make these ashes.

Most importantly, the ashes remind us that in spite of our sins, in spite of our deep-seeded selfishness, God has not given up on us. Christ is our Redeemer! He claims us for his own. We still have a mission in His Kingdom; Jesus still calls us to be His ambassadors.

Yes, we are marked with ashes because we are sinners, but the mark is given in the sign of Christ’s cross, which won for us the grace of a fresh start and a new life. We are marked on our foreheads because Christ Jesus wants us to go boldly into the world as his representatives.

This is what St. Paul is talking about in today’s second reading. The Christians in Corinth had just gone through a crisis which had divided their church community. St. Paul is worried about them, so he encourages them to be generous with Christ, to put their whole lives under His rule. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!”

Each of us needs to hear that call. We must stop resisting Christ, and put our whole lives under His rule. We resist Christ in two ways. First, we take what does not belong to us. These are sins of commission, and includes dishonesty, greed, lust, and gluttony. Second, we keep to ourselves what we should give to others. These are sins of omission; when we hold back help, patience, kindness, and forgiveness, we fail to be like Christ. One sin of omission is so common that we do not even notice it anymore, but it causes untold damage. It consists in failing to be true to our primary mission as Christians, the mission of spreading the faith. As St. Paul put it, “we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.”

As we enter the Lenten Season, let us ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten our consciences so that we become more aware of how we have been resisting God’s call in our lives, and let us be moved to contrition. Let us ponder one of the phrases that can be said when we receive the ashes today, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”

[Due to the short, and busy, time from last Sunday and Ash Wednesday, this homily is largely paraphrased from one of the homilies for Ash Wednesday 2007 on ePriest.com]