Homily
3rd Sunday of Lent C
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
24 March 2019
AMDG +JMJ +m
My mom died when she was 49 years old. I just turned 45 this last week. If I live as long as my mom, I've only got 4 years left to live. That's kinda scary. On the other hand, if I live as long as my grandpa Jake, I'm not even halfway home. He turned 101 in January and is still kicking strong. He has no idea why he is alive. He should have died with his entire company on Okinawa during World War II. Instead he was shot in the hip and got out. If he hadn't gotten out you'd be listening to a better homily. .
Life is worth living, but it's hardly fair. My mom caught a bad break with cancer. As a priest I've buried lots of people who caught worse breaks, and were younger than her. Life can be hard. On the other hand, my grandpa couldn't die if he tried. Jesus calls out life as it really is in today's Gospel. Life is worth living. But it's not fair. It's good, but beyond our control or understanding. Real life is a crazy mix of urgency, vulnerability and mercy. Is there any way to tell why my mom got 49 years and my grandpa 101 and counting? Jesus says no. There's no way to tell. The news that Jesus is commenting on - towers falling on the innocent and religious persecutions, may just as well have been the plane crashes or terrorist attacks that happened just this last week. Nothing much has changed. All we know is that we have today, and that today matters, and that today is the day for us to bear fruit with our lives.
What word describes you today? What word do you want to describe you tomorrow? On my mom's tombstone are the names of her husband and kids. My favorite word on my mom's tombstone is Mitchel. The names of her family are my mom's final words. What word describes your life? On my mom's tombstone as well is the image of a fisherman. She loved to fish, and I'm hoping she's catching some whoppers in heaven. What image would go on your tombstone?
Do you even know what image and words will go on your KU diploma? I hope you do. Your diploma won't be the final word of your life, but I hope it's an important word, one you're working hard for and one you're proud of. I for one am proud of my KU degree. But at any rate, the seal of your nurturing mother, your alma mater, the University of Kansas, is the scene from today's first reading from Exodus - Moses and the burning bush. Videbo visionem hanc magnam quare non comburatur rubus. (Sorry if I butchered that . . just be glad I'm not saying Mass in Latin.). I will see this great vision of the bush that does not burn. That's right. On your diploma will not be the Jayhawk or the Campanile or Allen Fieldhouse. It's a word and an image from revelation. A theological and supernatural scene. Your Rock Chalk diploma will have a scene from the second book of the Bible.
Does this surprise you? Theology is not an official science at KU. Smith Hall and its statue of Moses and stained glass window of the burning bush is not a prominent building. In fact, KU is officially secular, and describes its own seal not as God visiting his creation and revealing Himself as I AM WHO AM - with all of this phrase's concomitant philosophical depth. No, KU describes the seal pretty tamely, as a student's undying thirst for knowledge. KU, despite the seal, has no official theological stance on whether creation becomes more alive, more fruitful, more on fire, when it is visited by God. In fact, most people assume the opposite, that KU is a is a hill unlike Mt. Horeb, where God does not visit his people. For example, last week we asked what makes it hard to believe in God here at KU. We got plenty of responses on our chalkboard - the most prominent of which were questions about God posed by evil and science. .
Today's scriptures tackle both objections to believing in God. Jesus answers the question of evil in the Gospel. Although life is far from fair, and the reality of the moral and natural evil that God allows makes life vulnerable, the truth is that life is good and worth living. The truth of today's parable is that God visits his creation most often not by allowing evil but with his mercy, and he prefers to give the forgiveness and time we need to write a fruitful story with our lives. Not all of us, but most of us, will get one more year to bear fruit.
The scene from Genesis tackles the question of science. The scene shows God and creation not in conflict, but in harmony. The bush is on fire but not consumed. So when God visits his creation, He does so in a non-competitive way. God comes not to be measured by science, nor to reject the science of creation, but to elevate his creation. The bush and the fire prefigure Pentecost, the end of our Easter journey, when the fearful apostles were elevated not destroyed by the ultimate fire of the Holy Spirit, and sent to go beyond their former limitations.
So your KU diploma will speak of this greater mystery that is accessed through a unified search for truth, and the integration of your faith with your reason. I invite you into this full adventure of faith, then, and into your supernatural destiny that ironically is written if not on the cover, then at the heart of your KU education. St. Lawrence exists to help guide this story that you are writing with your life, and the word that you alone will speak into the story of the world.
So finally, what is this word? Our pivotal question this week is this - what word describes you? I haven't made a complete wreck with my life, I hope you will agree, but I'm afraid that the word that best describes me is coward. I'm scared of what it means to be on fire, and to allow God to call me beyond my control and limitations. Yet I'm hopeful that 'coward' is not the final word I will write with my life. I may not live as long as my grandpa Jake, but I'm grateful that I get one more year to write a new word.
What word describes you today? If you are given another year to grow and bear fruit, and to be visited by the fire of the Holy Spirit, what word will describe you tomorrow?
3rd Sunday of Lent C
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
24 March 2019
AMDG +JMJ +m
My mom died when she was 49 years old. I just turned 45 this last week. If I live as long as my mom, I've only got 4 years left to live. That's kinda scary. On the other hand, if I live as long as my grandpa Jake, I'm not even halfway home. He turned 101 in January and is still kicking strong. He has no idea why he is alive. He should have died with his entire company on Okinawa during World War II. Instead he was shot in the hip and got out. If he hadn't gotten out you'd be listening to a better homily. .
Life is worth living, but it's hardly fair. My mom caught a bad break with cancer. As a priest I've buried lots of people who caught worse breaks, and were younger than her. Life can be hard. On the other hand, my grandpa couldn't die if he tried. Jesus calls out life as it really is in today's Gospel. Life is worth living. But it's not fair. It's good, but beyond our control or understanding. Real life is a crazy mix of urgency, vulnerability and mercy. Is there any way to tell why my mom got 49 years and my grandpa 101 and counting? Jesus says no. There's no way to tell. The news that Jesus is commenting on - towers falling on the innocent and religious persecutions, may just as well have been the plane crashes or terrorist attacks that happened just this last week. Nothing much has changed. All we know is that we have today, and that today matters, and that today is the day for us to bear fruit with our lives.
What word describes you today? What word do you want to describe you tomorrow? On my mom's tombstone are the names of her husband and kids. My favorite word on my mom's tombstone is Mitchel. The names of her family are my mom's final words. What word describes your life? On my mom's tombstone as well is the image of a fisherman. She loved to fish, and I'm hoping she's catching some whoppers in heaven. What image would go on your tombstone?
Do you even know what image and words will go on your KU diploma? I hope you do. Your diploma won't be the final word of your life, but I hope it's an important word, one you're working hard for and one you're proud of. I for one am proud of my KU degree. But at any rate, the seal of your nurturing mother, your alma mater, the University of Kansas, is the scene from today's first reading from Exodus - Moses and the burning bush. Videbo visionem hanc magnam quare non comburatur rubus. (Sorry if I butchered that . . just be glad I'm not saying Mass in Latin.). I will see this great vision of the bush that does not burn. That's right. On your diploma will not be the Jayhawk or the Campanile or Allen Fieldhouse. It's a word and an image from revelation. A theological and supernatural scene. Your Rock Chalk diploma will have a scene from the second book of the Bible.
Does this surprise you? Theology is not an official science at KU. Smith Hall and its statue of Moses and stained glass window of the burning bush is not a prominent building. In fact, KU is officially secular, and describes its own seal not as God visiting his creation and revealing Himself as I AM WHO AM - with all of this phrase's concomitant philosophical depth. No, KU describes the seal pretty tamely, as a student's undying thirst for knowledge. KU, despite the seal, has no official theological stance on whether creation becomes more alive, more fruitful, more on fire, when it is visited by God. In fact, most people assume the opposite, that KU is a is a hill unlike Mt. Horeb, where God does not visit his people. For example, last week we asked what makes it hard to believe in God here at KU. We got plenty of responses on our chalkboard - the most prominent of which were questions about God posed by evil and science. .
Today's scriptures tackle both objections to believing in God. Jesus answers the question of evil in the Gospel. Although life is far from fair, and the reality of the moral and natural evil that God allows makes life vulnerable, the truth is that life is good and worth living. The truth of today's parable is that God visits his creation most often not by allowing evil but with his mercy, and he prefers to give the forgiveness and time we need to write a fruitful story with our lives. Not all of us, but most of us, will get one more year to bear fruit.
The scene from Genesis tackles the question of science. The scene shows God and creation not in conflict, but in harmony. The bush is on fire but not consumed. So when God visits his creation, He does so in a non-competitive way. God comes not to be measured by science, nor to reject the science of creation, but to elevate his creation. The bush and the fire prefigure Pentecost, the end of our Easter journey, when the fearful apostles were elevated not destroyed by the ultimate fire of the Holy Spirit, and sent to go beyond their former limitations.
So your KU diploma will speak of this greater mystery that is accessed through a unified search for truth, and the integration of your faith with your reason. I invite you into this full adventure of faith, then, and into your supernatural destiny that ironically is written if not on the cover, then at the heart of your KU education. St. Lawrence exists to help guide this story that you are writing with your life, and the word that you alone will speak into the story of the world.
So finally, what is this word? Our pivotal question this week is this - what word describes you? I haven't made a complete wreck with my life, I hope you will agree, but I'm afraid that the word that best describes me is coward. I'm scared of what it means to be on fire, and to allow God to call me beyond my control and limitations. Yet I'm hopeful that 'coward' is not the final word I will write with my life. I may not live as long as my grandpa Jake, but I'm grateful that I get one more year to write a new word.
What word describes you today? If you are given another year to grow and bear fruit, and to be visited by the fire of the Holy Spirit, what word will describe you tomorrow?
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