Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Times
Being a follower of Jesus requires a radical approach to life. Some of the teachings that Jesus shares are so challenging that they are unattainable without help- His help. The reading today from the Sermon on the Mount is one of those passages. In today’s scripture Jesus calls us beyond revenge and to a life of selfless giving. Jesus does not expect us to easily understand and apply these teachings. He recognizes that because of our human weakness we are unable to live in this way unless we have received His Spirit. Jesus shows us the way, but the Spirit gives us the power to live a life very different from what the world considers the norm. To live radically, the Holy Spirit must be alive in our lives. It is the Spirit that allows us to follow Christ and share His kingdom with the world.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
My last day at home in India before I leave for Dayton is always a very emotional day for all of us. But the last few minutes before I leave the house is even more intense. My parents and I spend these last few minutes together in prayer. The scene is the same each time. We huddle together, with my dad seated on the sofa and my mother standing next to him. My mother is only as tall as my father sitting down. I stand over them, lay my hands on them and pray over them. And then, they place their hands on me and bless me with the sign of the cross. By this time, tears are flowing down our cheeks. We try to smile through the tears suppressing any possibility of simply breaking down. On this last visit, particularly, as we huddled together in prayer, I remember becoming aware of how much love there was as we stood there together. I simply cannot put into words the power of that love. That love gives me the strength to finally walk out of the house and to my parents to anticipate the next visit.
Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
I recall that during my senior year of high school one of the most popular and influential albums was 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin.'" I know, that's a fairly odd antidote by which to begin today's reflection, but hear me out. Selling over 9 million copies to date, it seemed like everyone I knew had a copy of this seemingly must-have hip hop album. And if you didn't have a copy, not to worry, because it was likely that you still knew the words (or at least the edited version of those words) due to its frequent plays on the radio and its quick infiltration into mainstream pop culture. The high degree of profanity found throughout the entire album seemed to be a fair price to pay for impressive rhyming schemes, borderline poetic lyrics, and strong percussion. I even remember one of my close friends getting in trouble for listening to the album at home. Upon hearing some of the album's profanity, his father interjected, asking simply, "How can you listen to that?!" My friend responded by saying, "Dad, yes, I don't appreciate the vulgarity, BUT..." I don't recall if it was the "poetry" or the "beat" that my friend appealed to in order to offset the admitted vulgarity, but I remember agreeing wholeheartedly with my friend's defense.
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua
We probably know Saint Anthony of Padua best as the patron saint of lost things. He's probably the first saint I encountered as a non-Catholic, when I was working in a biology lab and my (Catholic) lab partner and I had misplaced a set of important petri dishes. After turning over the lab several times, my lab partner finally said, "Well, we have to pray to Saint Anthony." I was verrry skeptical, but thought, "Hey, we have nothing to lose." The next day, the missing petri dishes were sitting on the top shelf with the rest of the dishes, right where they belonged - a place that we had, of course, looked at numerous times.
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
I’ve noticed something about my kids’ interactions over the years that I suspect is not uncommon among siblings, close cousins, and even classmates as they spend a lot of time together. I’ve noticed that one of them will say or do something that is insulting or aggravating to the other until the recipient finally retaliates by hitting or yelling, getting themselves in trouble while the instigator appears innocent and victimized by the lashing out (and is usually the one that ends up “tattling”!). Thankfully, I caught on to this pretty quickly (as do astute teachers) and learned to discipline both of the kids in this scenario so as not to inadvertently encourage the one doing the provoking.
Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostles
Scripture Readings
Why are so many people interested in obituaries in the newspaper or online? Do we want to see if we know anyone listed? Or might we be curious to read about a life well lived?
Obituaries often cover the names of the survivors, and many times refer to the deceased as a loving wife or loving husband, a loving sister or loving brother. Is this then the definition of a life well lived? Families left behind struggle with the cost and limitations of a newspaper obituary. They try to capture the life of their loved one in a few words. When reading obituaries, we often glean little about the person and they lived a good life.
Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
In contemporary usage, the term faith is often used to describe a state of mind. For example, critics of religion often point to “faith” as belief without evidence. However, from the Christian view, this assessment is not quite accurate. Not to mix up the scriptural basis for this reflection, the classic scriptural understanding of faith derives from Hebrews 11:1,
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Faith, so understood, is not simply a matter of what one believes in their mind. Instead, it is the “realization” of hope and the “evidence” of things not seen. The point here is not to quibble with the inaccuracies of critics, but to suggest that the realization- the making real of hope- is the evidence of faith. Both of today’s readings suggest this realization, this evidence, of faith.
Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
I cannot imagine how many books have been written on the Sermon on the Mount. Today’s Gospel passage is the very beginning and possibly the most familiar, if not beloved, verses of the Sermon. It also poses, if taken seriously, the highest challenge to a maturing Christian disciple and requires the ‘leaving behind’ all things temporal. A few years ago I was searching for homilies by the Church Fathers dealing with the Beatitudes and was very struck by what St. Augustine wrote. His thoughts still hold great value for me and I would like to share some of his writing on the Beatitudes.
Pentecost Sunday
Every Catholic knows that the Feast of the Pentecost is crucial in the Church’s calendar. This is the day the Church born, this was the day the Church was empowered and this was the day the church began its Christ-given mission to go and make disciples of all nations. In spite of the centrality of the Pentecost and the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church, there seems to be much ambiguity about the role of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives. There is also ambiguity about how the Holy Spirit is active in the church today. Perhaps, that is the reason we pray more easily to Mary and the saints than to the Holy Spirit.
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Have you ever sat around with friends and reminisced about someone? It usually starts with, “Hey, do you remember the time that so & so did this?” An hour later you all have smiles on your faces as you’ve relived every positive memory. Then it comes to a close as someone asks, “Whatever happened to him/her?” Maybe there are vague guesses as to their marital state, the possibility of children, or which “M” state they live in now. I wonder if this scenario ever occurred with Paul and his Roman guard.
Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
So many people do not REALLY have faith in Christ or in his resurrection. They see Jesus as a nice guy who said good things like "Love each other" but the idea that Jesus rose bodily from the dead seems both a figment of imagination as well as an unnecessary part of the gospel story. Today's scriptures ask us to reconsider the significance of Jesus' bodily resurrection.
Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Teaching Children’s Liturgy this past Sunday, one of the children made a very human comment when she shared that if she were one of Jesus’ disciples when he was alive, she would be really sad when he died because he did not get to live his full human life. I was struck by that comment because of its truth. So often we get wrapped up in the later outcome, in the resurrection, that we forget Christ’s humanness and all that accompanies that. There is a sadness that accompanies death, all death.
Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
In the story of Peter and the Wolf, Peter is a little boy who seems a bit naïve, perhaps like a sheep. Beyond the wall of his grandparents yard is a beautiful garden with the pond, but there are hidden dangers, the grandfather warns. Despite his grandparents wishes Peter goes and plays beyond the gate. This story which is wonderfully woven with classical music by Sergei Prokofiev, reminds us that even serene setting can be laden with awaiting traps.
Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
St. Charles Lwanga was burned alive for his faith. He is a Christian martyr. The word martyr means “witness,” and there is a saying that goes, “The Church was built on the blood of the martyrs.” Martyrdom is a difficult topic for us modern people because it deals with death and it is relatively foreign to us. Most of us will never even come close to the experience of martyrdom. But it is deeply imbedded in our lives as members of the Church. St. Charles’ remarkable witness and conviction is a good reminder of this.
Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
I oftentimes find myself saying “everything will work out just fine” when I am faced with a difficult or uncertain situation. Although this is what I say, I recognize that I don’t always really believe what I am saying, since my actions show otherwise. If I truly believed that things were going to work out, then I would not spend hours and days of needless worrying, and I would have peace about the outcome- whatever happens. Today’s gospel reading shows that the apostles also had similar experiences. Jesus reassures both the disciples (and us) that He knows we are human and therefore we will experience difficulties and worries. Jesus reminds us that although we will have struggles in this life, true peace comes from Him. If we both know and believe in our hearts that Jesus has conquered the world then we can lead faith filled lives that remain steadfast and calm even in the face of adversity. Jesus is the source of peace, and His peace is His gift to us. All we need to do is ask Him for this peace and believe in His promises.
The Ascension of the Lord
(Fr. Satish is on vacation visiting his parents in India. This homily was written three years back for the feast of the Ascension).
Of all the feasts in the church, Ascension is my least favorite feast. After all, I am not very fond of goodbyes. It could be because my first real goodbye was also the hardest. I left home when I was barely seventeen. Leaving one’s family to join the seminary is unlike going away to college. There is a finality to that leaving. Ascension reminds me of that finality. No wonder, then, that the excitement that characteristic of the resurrection of Jesus is missing from the disciples at ascension. In fact, they are portrayed staring at the sky, in doubt and questioning. So for me, the meaning of the feast of the Ascension rests less in the fact that Jesus went out of the sight of the world and is now seated at the right hand of God in heaven. For me, the meaning of Easter comes from this one statement, “You will be my witnesses….” In the gospel reading this command reads, “Go and make disciples.” Here lies the meaning of the feast of the ascension. The ascension of Jesus opens a new horizon for those who follow the path laid out by Jesus. The ascension of Jesus offers new possibilities for his disciples. Today I want to explore these new horizons and these new possibilities.
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
I used to work in a bookstore. It was an awesome job that enabled me to be surrounded by both my favorite hobby (reading, organizing, and even smelling old books) and my favorite collectible (Shelves! Well, rather the books that filled the shelves). As I read today’s first reading I was taken back to my bookstore days as I would organize the Self-Help, Relationship, Pets, or many other sections where you could find an unreal number of books claiming to have the 3 easy steps to this, 5 easy steps to that, or 6 Easy Steps to World Peace and Getting your Baby to Sleep Through the Night (those two topics might be more related than I first thought). As I read Paul’s words I first thought, “Wow, this is like Practical Christian Living for Dummies or something.” Then I realized Paul writes about rejoicing in this passage, but says little about joy explicitly. That is when I decided this is Paul’s 20 Impossible Steps, Without the Grace of God, to Joy. This wordy title will be our outline today as we briefly discuss these 20 steps, facing impossibility, and recognizing our Joy.
Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
The Ascension of the Lord
As I reflect on the reading from Acts (1: 1-11) in which we hear about Jesus being taken up into the clouds as the disciples look on, I wonder what the experience was like for them. Jesus promised the disciples he would send the Holy Spirit soon to strengthen them to carry on the work that he has begun in them and has instructed them to continue. But, I wonder what it was like for them to see Jesus leave again after the excitement of him being in their presence post- resurrection. Were they afraid? Were they confused? The author of Acts tells us that at least some of the disciples were still anticipating Jesus taking some political action, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” It seems that they still didn’t quite “get”what Jesus was all about. Were they feeling disappointed or abandoned? Were they hopeful or doubtful of the promise of the Holy Spirit? And what would that be like?
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Today’s readings are pretty intense for significantly different reasons. On one hand, there is the persecution, imprisonment, and liberation of Paul and Silas. On the other hand, there is Christ’s departure and assurance to his disciples. Both attest to the power and presence of God in times of trouble and uncertainty.