Am I scared of heights?

Homily

Solemnity of the Ascension

17 May 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village

AMDG

Am I scared of heights?

You bet I am.  It's probably my #1 fear.  Most of my nightmares end with me falling!  Thank God I sleep alone, so no one else hears my screaming!  Airplanes are fine.  Hiking 14ers is ok - unless there are ledges and high winds.  But cliffs?  Hate 'em.  Bungee jumping - negative!  Skydiving?  No way in hell.  Rock Climbing - no thanks.  I watched Alex Honnold, the famous free solo climber, in preparation for this homily.  Are you kidding me?  That guy is insane!  I'm too chicken even for trampolines.  This white man does not dunk.  

Am I afraid of heights?  It's the pivotal question of the Ascension.  You bet I am.  Aren't you?

They worshipped on the mountain, but they doubted!  Sounds like me.  I trust the rule of gravity more than the rule of the Ascension.  Everything that goes up, must come down.  I worship, raising my heart and soul to God, but then I come down.  I doubt.  Yet the rule of the Ascension is just the opposite, and it is more true than gravity.  What is the rule of the Ascension? Whatever goes down, must go up!

Jesus has completed for us the greatest free fall of all time.  From the heights of heaven, crashing down to his own death, descending even to the gates of hell.  His ridiculous condescension of mercy to save us in unbelievable.  Jesus knows how to take a dive for someone He loves.

Yet today He shows that He's even better at going up . . at climbing.  He told us before it happened so that when it happens we would believe.  The Son of Man must suffer and die, and then rise and be lifted up!  Today Jesus takes everything encompassed in his free fall of mercy  - every second of salvation history and ever ounce of his saving mysteries - he takes it all UP in his glorified and redeemed human body to where He started, to the heights of heaven.

Man did you and I make out good on this deal!  At the Ascension, my humanity which at first was only an outer glimpse of the glory of God, now has a new home and destiny in the inner heart of God, on the throne of His glorious Kingdom, in the fullness of relationship and love that is greater than anything I could imagine.  

Jesus now works from home - but not only his, but from mine.  He dares me to follow, to climb, and to ascend in the Holy Spirit to my true home.  He who once was happy to descend to where I am now, dares me to climb through His Spirit to where He is.

Mind you, it's not in a galaxy far, far away.  Don't stare at the sky, the angel says!  Jesus promises He will come to us again in an even more dramatic free fall that is the descent of the Holy Spirit.  It is through this power from on high that I will know and observe all His commandments which are victorious over death, until He comes again in glory!

Jesus works from home, but home is not in a galaxy far, far away.  Home is right here, in the heart of this liturgy, where earth is taken up into a new dimension in a greater ascent that our first fall from Eden.

In the Ascension, we see how love and life work.  For death, what goes up must come down.  For love and life, what goes down must go up.  Love is not only a condescending compassion and mercy strong as death, love heals, lifts up, inspires, enlivens, ennobles and elevates the beloved.  The law of the Resurrection and Ascension is what prevails.  Life is stronger than death.  What goes down, must by lifted up!

So, am I afraid of heights?  I've had the worst Easter if the answer is yes.  For today's liturgy dares me to conquer my fears through love and to attempt the most dangerous climb of my life.  It's my ascent through the Holy Spirit to the very heart of God, into the fullness of relationship.  For the Ascension has more to do with a person than a destination.  

This fearless climb marks the life of a real hero, and a real disciple of Jesus.  To live less by fear and doubt, that what goes up must come down, and more by the Holy Spirit, who commands the rules of the Resurrection and Ascension to prevail, that what goes down must go up!

The great solemnity of Ascension near the end of Easter dares us to answer the pivotal question. Am I afraid of heights?  

Where do I go with my doubts?

Homily

2nd Sunday of Easter A2

Divine Mercy Sunday

12 April 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village 

AMDG

Where do I go with my doubts?

I had the chance to take some hard-hitting questions from our 7th graders this week.  I was impressed with the courage and honesty.  They weren't being brats, cleverly doubting their faith just to be cool.  They listened as I tried to give real responses to real doubts about God's existence and goodness.  There's great hope in these young people. Believe me.

Now a couple of their questions weren't that great. Where did God come from?  Do pets get to heaven?  Those weren't the best.  The better ones centered around whether abortion is ever necessary to save the life of a mother.  And why did God make human freedom if he could foresee the abuse, torture and unfair suffering of innocent children?  

I told them it was up to them as to whether the reality of human freedom is worth the price of human suffering.  Without human freedom there is no drama, no story, no glory, no struggle, no purpose, no victories or defeat, no consequences. There's just the resignation that it is what it is.  So most people say the interplay of freedom and suffering is worth it.  The ultimate answer is not whether life is fair, but whether Jesus is doing anything about it, and whether He has invited me to play a part.

Jesus welcomed the doubts of Thomas.  He welcomes the questions of our 7th graders. He welcomes your fears.  He asks you to probe your questions within His glorious wounds, so that you can say whether the love of Christ really does overcome all evils; whether believing in the Resurrection makes any difference.  

The early Church entered into a voluntary communism, just like families and monasteries and churches do, so we can explore our doubts together.  The first Christians showed up for each other, for the koinonia, the breaking of the bread, the teaching and the prayers, and were overjoyed to explore a love stronger than death together.  They put their lives within the wounds and paschal mystery of the Risen Christ, and found encouragement to suffer courageously for their faith.

The decision of you to show up today, the passing of the offertory as a sign of the life we share, and the sacrament of reconciliation that keeps us accountable to our common rule of life, our religion, and of our commitment to put our doubts and fears in the wounds of Christ, in the paschal mystery of our Lord, encouraging one another to grow stronger in that love that is greater than suffering, and that redeems everything it touches.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.  Only you can say whether showing up here is worth it, whether his Divine Mercy endures forever, and whether we all have a part of play in the glorious victory of life over death.

+mj  

What does my heart break for?

Homily

5th Sunday of Lent A

March 22, 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

Would you rather experience a confession or a resuscitation?  Most of us would say the latter.  I avoid confession but would love to see a loved one come back from the dead.  My mom will have been gone 25 years this March 30th.  It still breaks my heart.

I don't really want to hear 1000 confessions this week.  It's hell week for priests.  Penance services non-stop.  It could easily be 1000 confessions by Easter.  I'm not complaining.  I have the best job in the world.  But there's 5000 of you.  Hearing 1000 confession would only be 20%.

What would Jesus rather see?  A resuscitation or a confession?  You know the answer.  It's written all over today's Gospel.  

It breaks his heart that his friend Lazarus experienced physical death.  It breaks his heart 1000x more when I don't use confession.  

Physical death is not supposed to be that scary or threatening to faith.  But it is, for all of us.  Take it from two saints, Mary and Martha, who give voice to my experience of death.  Lord, you could have done something.  Why do you stay distant is the face of physical death.  If you had been here, my mother would not have died.   Jesus is the worst first responder in history.  When he finds out that his best friend is dead, he freezes.  He remained where he was for two days.

But physical death is not threatening to God.  He can make something from nothing.  He can create from dust.  It's nothing for him to resuscitate or resurrect.  He was ridiculed for saying the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow in Nain were merely sleeping.  He gets perturbed when people are so fearful of death.  He is the resurrection and the life.  For him physical death is nothing.  He asks the Marys if they trust this.  If they believe it.

So why does Jesus weep?  Why does he let his heart break?  It's to show how devastated He would be if my life ended in spiritual death.  It's to show what it will cost Him to forgive my sins.  It's because of my stubbornness of heart and slowness to believe that His heart is broken.

Which is to say he weeps when I don't go to confession.  Which is the converse of His rejoicing more over one sinner who repents than over 99 people who skip confession.  He cries that I try to hold on stubbornly to my bios when He wants only to restore my zoe, the Spirit of God dwelling in me.  

As a sign of how much He wants to forgive my sins, He call Lazarus out of the tomb.  This sixth and penultimate sign in John's Gospel is about the forgiveness of my sins.  Lazarus goes into the confessional stinky dead; he emerges from the tomb alive again in the Holy Spirit.

My heart breaks for what breaks Jesus heart.  When you settle for bios when you are meant for zoe.  

Which means I'll see you in confession this week.  It's not really hell week, but confess to beat hell week.  

What does your heart break for?  Is it for your friends who have lost their bios or their zoe?  Would you rather see a resuscitation or a confession?

+mj  

Why do you exist?

Homily

4th Sunday of Lent A2

15 March 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village

AMDG

Do you need to have your eyes checked?  The Jayhawks certainly do after shooting an ungodly 24% last night in the Big 12 tournament.  

I certainly do as well. I've had bad nearsightedness my whole life.  I live in fear of a detached retina from my eyes being so drastically corrected so many times. In the area of visual intelligence, I am special needs.  My mind doesn't take pictures and it's hard for me to remember faces.  I would be the worst witness to a crime. I'm the worst at spatial relations and seeing how things like puzzles fit together.  It's torture for me.  

I need to have my eyes checked.  How about you?

How about the meaning of my life?  Do I see it clearly? Let's see. 

Why did God make me?

The Baltimore Catechism took a good crack at it.  God made me to know, love and serve Him in this life and to be together with Him in the next.  

Today's Gospel has a better answer I dare say.  Why do you exist?  You exist for the glory of God. You exist to be transfigured by His light.  You exist to make God visible!

It's why the man in today's long Gospel was born blind.  It's the reason you were born blind, without the light of faith in you. It's so that the glorious works of God might become visible in you!

The glory of God is you being fully alive.  The shame of God is you remaining dead in your sins.  Whoever has the light of Christ given in baptism, deepened by Confirmation, fed by the Eucharist and restored by confession is a new creation.  Which means you are a unique and unrepeatable star in the constellation of heaven, a reflection of the invisible glory of God that can only be visible in you.  

You are an image of God, destined to grow in His likeness.  That's why you exist.  To make God visible.

Whoever sees this in faith sees the most dramatic and glorious thing that has ever transpired in human history, you being reborn in baptism and coming back from the dead to new life.  Whoever does not see this is blind.

Why do I encourage everyone to have their babies baptized at Mass?  It's so we have a chance to know each other, in a spousal way, as those who become the intimate adopted family of God by baptism.    

But there's another reason.  It's because you keep forgetting the dignity of your baptism, and why you exist, and the most dramatic thing that has ever happened to you and is being made more visible at this very liturgy.  

If you don't see the glory of your baptism being illumined by the light of the Gospel and fed with the food of the Eucharist, you are blind.  You need to get your eyes checked.  My sight on its own is very limited in its perspective.  Yet I walk by faith and not merely by human sight.  If I walk in the bright light of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, I see the big picture, and my place in the most brilliant story ever written.

We baptize children so that we can see clearly that unless the light of the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we are simply existing not living.  We put ashes on our forehead to make visible that unless we walk by faith not by sight, we are dead men walking.

Why do you exist?  To reflect the glory of God!

The devil tempts in threes

Homily

1st Sunday of Lent A

22 February 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church

AMDG

Why does the devil tempt us in threes?

It's because to divorce us from God and to kill us, he has to attack the unity that God is, as a communion of three persons.  God is a unity of three.  We are meant to grow in his likeness.  We relate and are joined to God most directly by the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love.  So Satan devises a threefold attack against us, as clearly seen on the first Sunday of Lent, when he tempts the new Adam the Son of God in the desert.

Watch out.  Be on your guard. For the evil one, the most cunning of all creatures, will attack you as he attacked our first parents, and tempt you as he tempted our Lord, in threes.

You know how it works.  Satan appeals to your individual ego, your identity apart from God, through the deadly sins of pride, greed and lust.  He will tempt you with ways to escape, avoid and hide.  He will throw things that are quick, cheap and easy in the form of shortcuts, hacks and cheat codes.  He will tell you that if you can only get away, get along and get by, through your privacy, choice and control, that you will be happy.  He will appeal to your desire for power, pleasure and honor through by asking you to steal from what your heavenly Father is already waiting to give you.  

Beware of the threes!

In letting himself be tempted in the desert, Jesus shows us that these temptations can be overcome by patience, perseverance and prayer.  Only after forty days of fasting, only when His power has been made perfect through weakness, does He readily engage the personal attacks of the evil one.  Because of his patience, because He knows sin is found in the quick, cheap and easy, He is able to recognize the lie of the evil one immediately and to reject it easily.  

How are the three fold attacks of the evil one overcome?  Through the weapons of self-restraint  Through sincere prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and through the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.  This is the way to conquer sin that Jesus accomplishes not merely for us, but through us, with us and in us.

Sincerely deny yourself what is quick, cheap and easy.  Go for the more.  Don't trust me, look at the example of Jesus.  It's worth it.

+mj  

Can my life be lightly salted?

Homily

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time AII

8 February 2025

AMDG

Am I lightly salted?

I got away for a couple of days this week.  Two conversations stood out.  Both were about the church and money.  One was an Uber driver, the other a good friend.  Both of them had the impression that the Catholic Church hoards lots of money.  I tried to dissuade them, but noted that for them this is what the church is most known for.  

What do I want the church to be known for?  Whatever it is, I have to become this myself, for I am a living stone on the church and so are you.  As much as I'd like to complain about others in the church, the reality is that I need to be the change that I want to see. 

Jesus gives me no other option.  You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  So what would others say about your Christian faith?  Are you lightly salted?

Salt and light don't exist for themselves.  They exist to enhance something else.  Salt and light are reminders to me that my true life exists in gift form.  Whoever hoards this gift loses it, and whoever loses the gift saves it for eternal life.  

St. Paul and the psalmist talk about the foolishness of lavishly giving to the poor.  Yet this is what reflects the glory of God, who always gives more than is required and deserved.  This is the foolishness of the cross, which is the wisdom and power and glory of God.

If salt doesn't enhance the flavor of other food it is worthless.  If light fails to reveal something hidden, it is worthless.  In the same way, if you're a hoarder, you're worthless. If the Church is known for hoarding, it is worthless.

The most powerful and wise thing you can do is to give your life to enhance others, especially those who can't pay you back. 

If you do this, you are wise and powerful. You are salt and light.  You are what the Church is meant to be known for.  You reflect the glory of God.

Are you known for being lightly salted?

+mj  

What if you knew the cheat code?

Homily

4th Sunday of Advent A2

1 February 2025

St. Ann Catholic Church  - Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

What if I handed you the winning ticket to the Powerball?  Would you accept it?

I would if it were handed to me.  Even knowing the Gospel, and knowing that taking that ticket could cost me my soul, I would grab it.  I would grab it in a second.  How about you?

You know who wouldn't grab it?  My archnemesis, the Little Sisters of the Lamb.  You would think that religious sisters would be my friends, not my enemies.  But they make me uncomfortable, and I avoid them as much as possible.  

My love has a price.  My faith can be bought. Theirs can't.  They beg from the violent and poor everyday. They are true peacemakers.  They have the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and they wouldn't sell it for anything.  

They know they are not the exception to the rule.  I think I am.  Because of that, they are happier than me.  And there's something that I just can't stand about that.  In fact, I despise it.  

The reality is that the winning combination to true happiness is right in front of us.  We just heard the Beatitudes anew at this very point of our lives.  The Beatitudes are the cheat code to happiness.  They are the secret recipe, playbook and script for someone who desires a happiness that cannot fade.  

It's as simple as this.  If you have a choice of being hungry or satisfied, choose hunger.  To be poor or rich, choose poverty.  To be in pain or in comfort, choose pain.  To lose or to win, choose loss.  To be empty or full, choose emptiness.  To be a sinner or righteous, be a sinner.  To have little sex or a lot of sex, choose little.  To be in danger or safe, choose danger.  To be rejected or chosen, choose rejection.  To be hated or loved, choose to be hated.  To be humble or proud, be humble.  To fast or to party, choose to fast.  

There it is.  Plain and simple.  You have the cheat code to happiness more than money can buy.  

If only you don't think you're the exception to the rule.

+mj