what's too good to be true?

Homily

2nd Sunday of Easter C2

Divine Mercy Sunday

24 April 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

What's too good to be true?

Well, it's the Resurrection, obviously!

Now don't freak out.  I haven't lost my Easter faith in one week.  The Resurrection is the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true.  On this truth I am still happy to bet all that I am and ever will be.

Yet it's also the thing I most doubt.  It's also the thing that's too good to be true.

Is there a contradiction here?  Yea, maybe.  Is there a paradox?  Yes, more likely!  Is there a risk of faith here?  Pray God, I hope so!

It makes sense that your deepest truth will be found where you have made the biggest risk of faith.  Don't take my word for it.  Take the words of the holy martyrs, who are willing to die even today for the truth of the Resurrection.  

Let me say it again.  Your deepest truth will be where you make the biggest risk of faith.  That's what faith is for!  Faith never goes against our reason, but strives beyond it, seeking to receive and understand truths that are beyond what my mind can figure out, manage or control.

That's exactly why my deepest faith in this strange, mysterious, profound, dramatic, and yes most true event of the Resurrection is also the thing I most doubt.

Even more strangely, Jesus is not put off by this!

On Divine Mercy Sunday, the Risen Christ appears in the Gospel to give peace, and to invite his disciples not to put away their fears and doubts, but to let them be penetrated by mercy. The disciples discover that in penetrating the open wounds of Jesus with their own hands, their own wounds, especially their doubts and fears, are also healed.  

This experience had most profoundly by Thomas makes him more than a doubter!  His honesty led Him to the most dramatic encounter with the Resurrection. That makes him my hero.  I dare say he is yours too.

Let's make sure we notice what kind of witnesses the disciples become after their experience of the Lord's mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday!

So it is with a good confession made during this Easter season.  Yes, you heard me right, confession is an Easter sacrament, given by the Risen Christ to the Church on Divine Mercy Sunday.  You can go to confession during Lent all your want, and this is all fine and good, but the best confessions are Easter ones, when we not only have our sins wiped away but the fears and doubts that give rise to sin are healed by a rick experience of God's mercy that makes us new from the inside out.

Jesus is not put off by your doubts.  He invites you into a deeper experience of His mercy.  Through it, the thing that is too good to be true may remain the one thing you know to be true more than anything you know to be true.

Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead, just as He said.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

what's your word?

 

Homily

Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection

17 April 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG 

What's your word?

If you had one word to proclaim to the world, what would it be?

Can you guess what mine is?  I bet you can!

Risen!  Risen! Risen!  He is Risen!  Jesus Christ is Risen.  He is Risen from the dead.  He is Risen just as He said.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

That's my word. That will be my last word tonight and forever.  On this word -  Risen - I bet all that I am and all I ever will be.

What's your word?   Tonight is a night set apart to have this conversation, so let's have it!  What's the word that you were made to shout into the world?

Tonight I witness to you that this word - Risen - is the most mysterious, profound, dramatic and TRUE word that has ever been spoken in human history, or could ever be spoken.  Tonight I sing this word - Risen - in liturgical concert with the angels, the saints, and yes, the martyrs who died for this word even today.  Tonight, I shout into the darkness that this word - Risen - is the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true.

Tonight my prayer is that you too will speak a word.  Tonight my prayer is that each and all of us, led by our catechumens and candidates and the risk of faith they speak tonight, will get off the couch!  Tonight is no time for a virtual Easter!  To hell with that!  Tonight there can be no sideline, no bench, and no room for bystanders.

You have my answer to the one word that I was made to speak into the world!  What's yours?

Why this word for me?  Because without it, even the most heartfelt words of love I ever say, words first spoken by Jesus - this is my body broken for you - lose their meaning.  Without the word Risen even the greatest sign of love I have ever known, the cross on which I gave the most passionate kiss of my life last night, is powerless in the face of death.  St. Paul said it best.  Unless Jesus is Risen, nothing else matters.

But I don't profess this word tonight cause I need it to be true.  My conviction about the empty tom is not a vain wish that justifies my life.  No, this word is the fruit of my being a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus never invites his disciples to a wishful faith. That's weak sauce!  No He invites me to follow Him first to the cross to verify whether there is a love stronger than death.  I pray my discipleship has been a courageous one, filtered through the cross of Jesus where I have learned to fear nothing and avoid nothing.

My conviction comes from the times I actually dared being a real Christian, and I'll be darned if Jesus wasn't right.  Every time I die to sin and myself, I lay hold of a new, different and powerful life that does not fade.  Every time I suffer and die with Him, I rise with Him!

It's real people!

Jesus Christ is Risen!  He is truly Risen!  Shame on me if this is ever something I have to pretend to be true, instead of something that because I am a disciple I have discovered through the risk of faith to be true.

On this truth I am happy to bet everything that I am and every will be.  Not because I need to, or I'm afraid not to, but because I want to.

My word is Risen. You got next!

You're invited to beat me or join me.  If you dare join, renew your baptismal promises.  If you join, please don't do anything cheap, easy or pitiable tonight.  This is conviction night - it means 'with victory!' So let's decide with sharp minds, and pure hearts and courageous wills.

So, I propose to you now, a word that has rocked the history of the world, and changed the meaning of life and the destiny of man, to be the word of your life.  On this most holy night set apart precisely for this decision, I invite you to say the mysterious, dramatic, profound and true word that has ever been or could ever be spoken.

Risen!  Jesus Christ is Risen!  He is Risen!  He is Risen from the dead just as He said.  He is Risen!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  

what if you only had one kiss?

 

What if you only had one kiss?

Homily

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

15 April 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG 

What if you only had one kiss left for the rest of your life?  

How would you spend it?

I can tell you how I wouldn't spend mine!  On the kiss cam!  I hate the kiss cam.  I know I"m the only one, but I hate it.  Whoever invented it should be canceled.  I don't go to games to watch PDA.  I live in constant fear that some cameraman far far away will get a kick out of zooming in on a priest.  When I feel the kiss cam coming on, I make a beeline for the beer line.

So not there. That's a hard no for me.  Still, where?

What if you only had one kiss left?

Until now, the famous kiss of Christ's passion is a kiss of betrayal. Today we stare the result in the face.  God is dead, and I killed him.  A new nothing is the result of that infamous kiss.  The cross - it's so much darker than the darkness before the dawn of creation.  The cross - it's a new nothing so much more hopeless than the absence of that primal abyss.  Back then, evil just wasn't.  Right now, evil conquers all things, even the love of God!  What could possibly be darker than the death of God?  Wherever ground zero is, at Calvary we are way south of there.  God is dead, and I killed him with a kiss.

That's the end of God's love story, and of mine. We can all go home, unless there is another kiss that counts.  Good Friday is pure evil unless my kiss of betrayal gives way to a more passionate kiss.  That kiss can only be where God died, where He emptied Himself, where He became nothing.  This last kiss must mean nothing less than I want to die with Him.  This last kiss can only be  my embrace of the chance to suffer with, and for and in each other.  The kiss must mean that my mission is His, to to swallow up evil and transform it by kissing my cross, embracing what I least want, what I least understand, and what I cannot control or avoid.

Only a kiss like this could turn the tree of nothing into the axis for the recreation of everything.  Only a kiss like this can transform the tree of ultimate death into the tree of eternal life.

You're invited to kiss tonight only if the cross is never again how your story will end, but only and always and forever where you story truly begins.

What if you had one kiss for the rest of your life?

Would you spend it here?

Would you spend it now?

what's my never?

 what's my never?

Homily

Holy Thursday 

14 April 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDg

No no no no no no no . . never!  How many no's did you bring to Mass tonight?  What's your ultimate no? What's your never?  

Mine is easy.  I will never stop trying to figure our life on my own.  I'm too scared to trust Jesus enough to go through life with Him as it really is.

What's your last no?  What's your never?

Peter had multiple nevers!  You will never be crucified on my watch, Jesus!  Wrong! Get behind me Satan.  I will never deny you!  Wrong!  You have said so.  Tonight might be the final final never.  You will never wash my feet!  Ugh . . wrong again.

Whatever no's you brought here tonight, whatever is your never, good luck taking it home with you.  Tonight you're up against a guy who is the absolute worst at taking no for an answer.  Hang on to you never tonight if you can.. I dare you.  In fact, I'm gonna bet against you.

For whenever I tell this guy no, He moves, so that my every step away to escape from Him is transformed into a potential yes that can bring us together again.  And when He moves, He moves dramatically and decisively!

Our first parents said no in the garden.  No, I will not trust.  No I will not follow.  No I will not serve.  In response, He moves!  From the no of the garden He chooses to see the Fiat of the greatest member of our race.  So He moves, dramatically and decisively, from the abundant heart of His Father to the womb of a poor little girl.

What do I say to this baby?  No!  No, I will not hold you.  Don't bother me I'm busy.  Get rid of Him.  Away with Him. Crucify Him!

In response to the no of Calvary, from the denial of Peter who ran away from Him scared, Jesus could see the meager courage of a man like Fr. Dan, and the pathetic yes of a priest like me.  So He moves again!  He moves not only through the yes of the Immaculate Virgin, but even more dramatically and decisively, through my sin-soaked words, to be born on this altar.  Here I am! You thought you got rid of me, didn't you?  But I'm really bad at taking no for an answer. This is my body, broken for you.  This is my blood, poured out for you!

What do I say to the gift of the Eucharist?  I say no!  What will you give me to hand Him over?  Yes, it is one of you eating with me at the table, the one who eats the morsel, who will betray me! Surely, it is not I Lord?  You have said so.

What's your next move, Jesus?  From the no of the ways I abuse and betray Him at the altar, He can still see a yes in you, and He thirst for it.  He can see you little yes, and He won't ever quit on it.  Trust me, the guy is crazy.  Your yes means everything to Him.  As does your contrition.

Lord, I am sorry for hurting you.  I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, but only say the word.  So He moves more dramatically and decisively than ever, from this altar into your body.

Still, the greatest distance remains. Still, Jesus is just getting started.  Unless I wash your feet, you will have no part in me.  No way, Lord!  Never!  I can wash my own feet. Don't be ridiculous.  Leave me alone to figure my life out, to walk my own path.  Don't humiliate me! Never!

Take it from me, the dude will not listen!  Ask Peter if you don't believe me.  Unless I wash your feet, you have no part in me.  Unless I get past your last no, your never, all of this is for nothing, and we have failed.  All of this, His moving from the heart of the Father, through the womb of Mary, through Calvary, to this altar, into the abyss of your body - none of it matters unless you also let Him wash your feet.

So what is your never? Whatever it is, no matter how tightly you cling to it, just know what you're up against tonight.  You're up against the guy who's the absolute worst at taking no for a final answer.

He has come all this way in case any one of us will say yes to His washing our feet.  The sign that He got past my never, is that we will wash each other's feet.

 

does the natty matter?

Homily

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

10 April 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Does the natty matter?

It's madness at KU!  What a week, baby!  Rock stinking Chalk!  Everybody is exhausted.  Nobody knows how to get back to normal, or put the natty into the context of our real lives.  What just happened was awesome, and incredible, and so unbelievable!

So what does it mean, really?  Does the natty matter?

This basketball team inspired so many.  It was next to impossible not to get swept up in the story and adventure of it all.  The party is still going on!  No, the whole world wasn't watching.  No, the whole world is not saying Rock Chalk.  But I don't care.  We won the natty!  Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

But still, how do I put this gift into the context of my normal life?  I'll tell you how.  Let Jesus remember me.  Yes, Jesus saw and cares about what happened.  His Holy Week comes at the perfect time.  If I want the natty to be something I'll never forget, I'll let Jesus remember me.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.  Jesus remember me when you win the ultimate victory!

That's what Holy Week is.  It's our remember what Jesus did, how He conquered the fiercest of enemies, sin and death themselves, by his passion.

Yet much more than my remembering is Jesus' remembering me.  This week is about Him.  It's about His revealing His passion for my story.  It's His remembering me that opens up a sacred space for my story to participate in His.

That's why the natty matters.  Jesus comes to invite what just happened, what is happening, and what will happen, inside of his passion, to win more victories in us, with us and through us.

The natty was a small part of this theodrama, this story of how sacrificial love wins, conquering all things even death itself.

The natty was indeed more than a game.  If Jesus remember it, the natty participates in this colossal struggle between life adn death.  It's always about more than winning and losing.  It's about laying hold of eternal life by trusting there is a love stronger than death.

That's the real story of the natty.  It's the story I'm wrapped up in.  Most of all, it's the story that Jesus remembers to invite me into this week.

+mj  

am I humiliated?

Homily

5th Sunday of Lent C

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG 

Am I humiliated?

It's a hard no for me.  When my sin gets exposed, I think I'm gonna die.  I don't but I think I'm gonna.  I once asked my spiritual director if the only way to humility was through humiliation.  He kicked my butt.  He said for some people yes, but not for me.  If humiliated, I wouldn't face it.  I would run away and quit.  Ouch, dude.

It's all to say that if I can hide and pretend and save face I will.  I can't image being in the position of the woman caught in adultery, my sin in full display.  Even if getting caught would be the best thing for me, I'd rather get away.

Yet Jesus invites me into humiliation, for my own sake. The word is from the Latin humus, literally meaning dirt.  It's where you started Lent, remember?  You let me throw dirt on your forehead and remind you that you will die in your sins.  Humiliating, right?  Yet you lined up and loved every second of it.

It's still where we are now, five weeks later.  At least it's where Jesus is.  There He is, down low, writing the only words He ever writes in the Gospel.  Why down there, Jesus?  You know why.  It's so He can look up at you whenever you are humiliated.

When the Jayhawks play tomorrow night, glory and humiliation will be on stage in equal parts.  One can be the GOAT - the greatest of all time - or the GOAT - meaning the scapegoat. What a stage for our players!  Playing in front of hundreds of millions, exposed and replayed by so many cameras, the results never to be forgotten.  It's why players come to Kansas.

It's also why you are a Christian, for glory and humiliation to be played out on stage in equal parts.  

Instead, if I settle for what is hidden, and what I can get away with in secret, neither humiliation nor glory can result.

The woman caught in adultery has the most humiliating confession, yet she experiences something that the cowardly Pharisees never will.  

I invite you the next time you go to confession to put it all on the line.  Take the lowest place, and see whether Jesus condemns or looks down on you.

Through humiliation, you may encounter a mercy that alone makes all things new.

Am I humiliated?