notice the little things

Homily
Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time IIB
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
26 November 2018
AMDG +JMJ +m

I get more excited for big gifts than for small ones.  Boy am I wrong.  Jesus notices small gifts, and says that they are more than the large ones.  Smaller gifts are usually given from poverty, whereas large ones come from surplus.  So the small gifts are almost always more generous.

St. Therese of Lisieux had a heart of zeal for the missions, yet she was confined to a cloister her entire life as a Carmelite.  I marvel at how she was able to make more converts than those missionaries who risked life and limb and traveled tens of thousands of miles in search of converts.  How did she do it?  By doing small things with great love.  She did what the widow did. She gave herself without reserve, and this small gift became worth more than any large ones.

Shame on us for thinking only big things matter.  Even moreso, if we think nothing happened today that was very big.  Jesus sees small things.  He prefers small things.  He will make himself smaller and an even more complete gift, than the 2 cents offered by the widow, by placing his entire self in the Blessed Sacrament.  Will we dare to ask for his eyes in place of ours, that we might see His completeness in something so small?

art of invitation

Homily
Tuesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Election Day 2018
6 November 2018
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Votive Mass of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the USA
AMDG +JMJ +m

What invitations do you accept and which do you reject?  Specifically, what is the Lord inviting you to right now?  Whatever it is, we have to make time in our schedules for these invitations.

If we avoid invitations because we are busy, or we bail on our commitments because we don't feel like it or something better comes up, we are not preparing ourselves for accepting the invitation we have from God to be with him forever in heaven.

When is the last time your bailed on somebody or something important, when they were counting on you to come and your presence meant a lot?  It is true the plans can change, but as much as we can, we should make commitments according to God's will, and hold fast to those commitments.  It is good practice for accepting the invitation to eternal life that comes to each of us most personally from Jesus Himself.

When is the last time you rejected or bailed on an invitation that you received directly from God?  Now is a good day to repent and to get ready for the next invitation that will surely come.

compete for last

Homily
Saturday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time IIB
3 November 2018
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Koinonia Retreat 28
AMDG JMJ +m

Chad was my archnemesis as I grew up.  Many of you are familiar with sibling rivalries.  I have 4 brothers and one sister.  My competition was always with the first-born of our family - Chad - who is 11 months older than me.

I shared a room with Chad until he left for college.  It was 17 years of constant competition.  I wanted so badly to beat Chad in things that I even tested out of freshman algebra so I could jump into into my brother's sophomore math class.  I am sure I was super annoying to Chad, the younger brother always nipping at his heels.

My brother Chad is great at almost everything.  I couldn't really beat him in anything.  Most of all, he could always kick my butt physically.

I hope the sibling rivalry brought out some good in both of us.  My calling to the priesthood might be explained by my trying to win the sibling rivalry once and for all. I found something that my brother couldn't do.  In fact I found something that few guys could do - become a priest.  So I did it.  It is part of the competition for a place of honor that Jesus warns about in today's Gospel.

I pray there was also a call from Jesus in the equation as well.  My calling was inspired too though, by my fascination with St. John Paul II, and my wanting to be more like him.  After meeting John Paul II I remember thinking the priesthood is the greatest thing I could do with my life.  Since becoming a priest I find myself comparing my priesthood to superstar priests like Bishop Robert Barron or Fr. Mike Schmitz.  I am competitive to the core, and unfortunately, very attracted to ranking and places of honor.

Jesus says clearly in the Gospel that if we are going to get into comparisons, only one competition matters - taking the lowest place.  While we may never be the best in the universe at any one particular skill, we can and should be the best in the universe at giving our precise life away, a life that will only uniquely exist once in the history of the universe.

I might not be the next St. John Paul II or Bishop Barron or Fr. Mike, but I can give my life away in a place and manner that none of them could.  So Jesus reminds me to quit worrying about comparisons, and to compete in the only thing that matters - taking the lowest place.

St. John Paul II referred often to a passage in Gaudium et Spes.  It says simply that man only finds himself through a sincere gift of himself.  So if you want to be unique and to have honor, then make yourself last, and God will exalt you more than you could ever exalt yourself.  

give your merits away

Homily
Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
2 November 2018
Commemoration of All Souls
AMDG JMJ +m


I've wrecked my Ford Fusion twice in the last 3 years.  Both times I hit an animal.  The first time it was a deer.  This last time a couple weeks ago it was a dog.  Both accidents were at high speed.  The car survived both times.  God's creatures did not, unfortunately.

This last time the accident happened as I was leaving a tour of a maximum security prison in El Dorado, Kansas.  Fortunately, my classmates from Leadership Kansas were right behind me.  Six cars stopped to help me . . and the dog if they could.  It was a flood of instantaneous support.  As I needed a 80 mile tow to Topeka since my radiator was punctured, I was grateful that one of my classmates offered me a ride home to Lawrence, and my delay back home was only 20 minutes at the most.

You're probably like me . . pretty independent and reluctant to ask for help.  But we all know that when unpredictable things happen, and we're in a bind and need help, it stinks when no one is there for us.

Our dear Church reminds us on All Souls Day, and throughout November, that the most important thing we can do for our Catholic family is pray for the dead.  Of all the people in our family who need help right now, our friends making their final journeys to heaven, and unable to help themselves, are most in need.  Our focus on helping our neighbor next to us must never come to the detriment of neglecting those most in need of God's mercy.

Yesterday we celebrated the Church triumphant - the saints in heaven, who are rooting us the Church militant on to victory.  Today the Church militant is urged to do the same for the Church penitent . .the souls in purgatory, and not only today, but everyday, and especially throughout the book of November.  You are invited to place the names of your beloved that you are especially praying for in our Chapel Book of the Dead.

I hope you die a saint.  I hope I do too.  Let's keep working on that.  But in case we one day find ourselves in trouble, and unable to help ourselves, let us remember that we will be completely dependent upon the prayers of the Church that comes after us.  The Church in her piety recommends that we offer any and all merits and graces that we have to the souls in purgatory, or even the most forgotten souls, or to our Blessed Mother, who may dispense these merits to her children most in need.

Only if we give all our merits away to those in need, should we hope that someday a member of the Church militant family will do the same for us.