Pentecost Sunday
Most of you know my story of leaving home when I was barely 17 years old. Even though I felt I felt called to be a priest, there was no way to numb the pain of leaving home. I may or may not have told you this, but part of the reason the pain was so intense was because my next opportunity to see my parents would be after two years. When I look back at those two years I am really not sure how I got through them. e-mails, texting, Skype, and Facebook did not exist then. I ached for ‘closeness’ with my family. I still remember that first awful first Christmas without my family. If God has assigned a time for me in purgatory I will remind God of my first two years away from my family. Gosh! How I longed for ‘closeness.’ And I still do. That is why I go home twice a year. Those of you have lost a loved one or have someone you love live far away will understand what it means to long for closeness.
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
The account of the ascension from the gospel of Mark is a very intriguing passage. Just for a moment picture this: These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” If I compare my ministry with this passage there is every reason for me to feel absolutely inadequate. In fact, I may conclude that I am a complete failure.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
One of the greatest challenges of my ministry is funerals. To help families deal with the tragedy, I try my best to make the funeral as meaningful as possible. Especially the homily, I make it an opportunity to let people discover God in the midst of it all. I also focus on celebrating the deceased person’s life by engaging in a conversation with family members about the deceased. Sometimes after the service the family come to tell me how they appreciated what I said about the person and how I connected the scripture to the life of the person. My response often to them is that I did not have anything to do with the homily except to deliver it. I tell them that, the way we live our lives each day, we are writing our funeral homily. The people or the celebrant can only capture the essence of what the deceased person’s life stood for. They can only reflect of how they lived their lives. As the family thanks me, I often ask them to thank their loved ones for the life they lived.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
There is a story my second grade teacher told us in my catechism class that I still remember. One day, Michelangelo walking through a garden in Florence, saw a block of marble in a corner protruding from the earth. It was half covered by grass and mud. He stopped suddenly, as if he had seen someone. Then he said to his friends who were with him, exclaimed: "An angel is imprisoned in that marble; I must get him out." And, armed with a chisel, he began to work on that block until the figure of a beautiful angel emerged. Each of us is a work in progress too. Each of us is a disciple in the making; we are Christians in the making. And today's readings offer us ways that God can make us who are called to be.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
One of the television shows that I have been intrigued by is Shark Tank. The show revolves around four filthy-rich entrepreneurs who at one time were themselves poor. They are the ‘sharks’ in the show. Each week amateur entrepreneurs appear before them with prospective business ideas. The game plan is to get ‘sharks’ to buy shares in their company in exchange for cash. If the sharks think that there is money to be made they negotiate with these amateurs to make a deal. But here is the thing – it is always about the money. For example, one entrepreneur wanted to keep his manufacturing unit in the country. The reason the ‘sharks’ did not invest in that project was because that would mean lower profits. The show in many ways is a reflection of society. I want to say that there is something evil about the dynamic at work. Self-respect, dignity, charity, patriotism, integrity – they are all expendable for money.
Third Sunday of Easter
Last week I preached that the time after Easter is tougher for me than Lent. Whereas Lent focuses me and keeps me disciplined, the time after Easter makes me relax and lose some of that focus. Since I preached that, I cannot tell you how many people came to me and said that they felt the same way. In fact, I met people whose prayer life has gone into total disarray since Easter. This is what is most disheartening for me – that whereas I experience a letdown after Easter, the readings point to a post-resurrection church which is on fire. That bugs me. Why can we not be on fire like the post-resurrection church?
2nd Sunday of Easter
Easter is over and I am wondering how you are. I am asking you this because for me the post Easter season is often more difficult than Lent. This is because Lent focuses me. I have a goal and I have the discipline to get there. After Easter I get triumpalistic, but then exhaustion sets in It and becomes so easy to let the discipline slip away. The Monday after Easter was the hardest day to stay focused in prayer because I felt that it was time to relax after the fourty days of discipline. So I wonder about you… What does your post-Easter scene look like?
Love Wins is a book about God. The author, Rob Bells writes this book for people within and outside the church whose image of God is unhealthy. For example, think of people so unsure about God that they never quite know what to expect when we meet God face to face; or, people who think that God is like a watchful policeman looking out for infringements; or, that God is far beyond our human experiences. Bells writes for people like this. And his point is simple: that Jesus shows us what God is like. And the most significant thing that Jesus showed us about God is that LOVE WINS.
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Suffer... Suffering... I do not like the very sound of these words. I don’t like the thoughts that these words trigger in my mind. I don’t want to imagine or think about it. There is not a single moment that I have spent trying to figure out what like must be if I had a lot of suffering. I have imagined my life without suffering... not ever getting old, not getting a single grey hair, not ever having to deal with wrinkles, not ever having to go the hospital, not ever having misunderstandings... but I try not to spend time imagining suffering. And yet, even as I stand here and preach, there is no denying that for one reason or another, I suffer. And I am aware that each one of you, for one reason or another, in small or greater degree, suffer.
Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year A Scrutinies
Between last weekend and this weekend we have had three funerals. There are many things I could say about each of these funerals. At one of them, the grand-daughter concluded her eulogy by saying what she would say to her grandpa when he was still alive. She said, “See you later, alligator.” Is it not precious that we can say that to each other as bury the people we love? Sometimes I think, though, that sometimes we take the reason for this hope for granted? Why is it that we can say, “See you later,” when people die? What did it take to get us to that hope?
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A Scrutinies
One of the most meaningful parts of my ministry is spending time in conversation with people. On an average I talk to at least five to ten people each week. The conversations revolve around the enormous amounts of PAIN that people carry. And I can identify with every person because I have my own pain. Take for example, talking with a person to whom the doctor has given a limited time to live; think about a family where both the adults are unemployed; think about the person who discovers that the spouse had been secretly unfaithful for months and sometimes years; think about the pain of a family on the verge of breaking up; think about the pain of being misunderstood; think about the pain of emotional, physical and sexual abuse; the pain of addiction and the pain it causes to families; and then there is the pain of sin, guilt and loss of faith. These are all real-life situations that I encounter on a daily basis and I am sure you do too.
Third Sunday of Lent
I have only one niece. And she loves being my only niece. Recently she graduated from medical school and I was telling her how proud I was of her. When she about three years old I would often ask her how much she loved me. When she was mad with me she would hold her two little fingers just a little apart and show me that’s how little she loved me. But this time, she had her arms open wide as she said, “This much.” And I asked her, “Only that much?” She stretched a little more and said, “This much.” This went on for about four or five times until she could not stretch more without hurting. That last time as she said, “This much,” there were tears in her eyes. Of course, I just picked her up and covered her with as much love as possible. That is one time in my life when love – pure, simple, and innocent yet overpowering, overwhelming and indescribable totally overcame me.
Second Sunday of Lent
I have some serious questions for us to think about this week. The first question is, “How deep do you think your relationship with God is?” Let me put this question in other words: “Could God take you for granted?” Now I want you to think about the most precious thing in your life – your marriage, your children, your job, your health, your entire life’s savings. And now think if God said to you what God said to Abraham – “Sacrifice what is most precious to you for my sake” – what would you do? Once God put claim on what is most precious to you, will that change how you feel about God?
I am wondering if we now have a better insight into Abraham’s dilemma.
First Sunday of Lent
A sign on Interstate 75 caught people’s attention this Ash Wednesday: “Drive Through Ashes.” On Ash Wednesday the Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church I Cincinnati offered drive through ashes to somehow accommodate ashes into people’s busy lives. On the one hand this is very creative. On the other hand, Ash Wednesday is really not about the ashes, is it? Ash Wednesday and Lent are really not about finding a way to accommodate God into our busy lives. It is exactly the opposite. It is about bringing God to the center and finding a way to accommodate our lives around God! Christianity is not a drive-through spirituality. It is about pausing, about slowing down, about setting aside time for something very sacred and holy.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
We might be inclined to focus on the story of the paralytic which is a rather impressive story of faith and healing. As I read the reading very carefully, I also realized that there is a theme hidden in the first reading and the gospel reading that can easily get glossed over. The very last sentence of the first reading says, “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.” (Is 43:25) And then in today’s gospel reading, when the paralytic is lowered down from the roof, Jesus’ first response was “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Are the readings really, then, drawing our attention to the concept of sin? I am inclined to think they are.
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a Youtube video that is going viral these days. Jefferson Bethke is a young rap artist who has posted a video called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” Since he posted the video a month ago, it has gotten close to 19 million hits. Only four other videos have been this widely viewed. Bethke arguments are simplistic and we can easily punch holes in them. But the young people particularly are resonating with his trend of thought. Let me share some of the lyrics of his poem with you. He writes:
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I always look forward to going home, and in fact, my tickets for my next trip are already booked. What I do not look forward to is what the travel, the jet lag, and the vacation do to my prayer. Each time I have huge adjustment issue and unless I make heroic efforts my spiritual discipline takes a severe beating. I detest that. When the only thing that is constant in my life is disrupted the rest of life seems scattered and disjointed. The challenge for me is to find ways to stay centered. This week’s reading gave me some insights and I hope it will help you as well.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This homily is based on one word – “authority.” Let me propose my reason for this focus. The last couple of weeks, the readings have focused on the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry. We also know that he called some people to follow him radically and closely as apostles and disciples. Last week, we became familiar with Jesus’ mission and belief statement. He said, “The time of fulfillment is here. The kingdom of God is at hand: Repent and believe in the gospel.” And today’s gospel introduces another important dimension of his ministry. Mark says, “All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him” (Mk 1:27).
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In terms of flights and connections this last vacation was the worst one that I have ever had. My very first flight out of Dayton did not show up in time for me to connect in Washington DC. As a result all my flights had to be rebooked for the next day. I spent fourteen hours in DC before I even got on my 13 hours flight to Delhi. When I got to Delhi, they told me that they could not find my ticket to Bhopal on their computer and that I should go to upstairs to the main check-in counter. With only about fifty minutes to go, I got upstairs in a state of panic. And then… I met God. This mere baggage loader named Ashish (means, blessing) came to me and asked me if he could help. When I told me what had happened, he said to me, “Please do not worry. Just come with me.” He took all my baggage and took me to the appropriate counter. When the person behind the ticketing counter could not help, he took me to the supervisor, got her to get on to the system, found my booking, came back to the counter, got the agent to print my boarding pass, and then accompanied me all the way to the seat on my flight. He actually put me on my seat. Walking to the gate to board the flight, I thanked him profusely. He said to me, “When you came, I saw that you were desperate.” And he said to me, “Sir, this is what I believe. I believe that every person who comes my way at work is like God. When I take care of them, I take care of God.” I looked at him with awe. I could not believe that people like this exist in the world. Before I left the counter with my boarding pass, I had just said to the ticketing agent, “Today, this man came to me like God himself.”
Second Sunday In Ordinary Time
The theme of God’s call is perhaps the most preached about theme. The reason is simple. Stories of God’s call to human beings occur quite frequently in the Scripture. There is the call of Abraham, the call of Moses, the call of Samuel in today’s first reading, the call of David, the call of Isaiah, the call of the Mary and the call of the Apostles in today’s gospel reading. And, if we compare these stories we realize that there are common threads that run through each of these stories.