What's a Holy Family?

Homily

Solemnity of the Holy Family

31 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

What's a Holy Family?

As far as I can tell, it's a family that stays fights for the will of God, and makes the risk of faith.

To live our faith is to take great risks.  Our faith is a passion for the impossible, and a trust in what lies beyond what I can control or understand.  Abraham is our father in faith, as is well attested in today's readings.  He travels to an unknown place by faith.  He receives a miraculous son by faith, along with the promise of countless descendants.  He is willing to sacrifice that same son Isaac, IN FAITH, trusting that God creates even from the dead.

That's crazy faith.  Abraham takes the risk, and is thus the father of a holy family.

The Holy Family of Mary, Jesus and Joseph also took great risks!  It does us not good today to idolize or idealize them, placing them on a shelf only to admire them, knowing deep down that my family will never be like that.  Quite the opposite, we invite this family in our Christmas experience, asking them to help us stay in the fight to love God's will, and to show us how God can bring holiness from the mess of our family life.

Yes, we have an idyllic scene of Jesus's consecration in the temple today, and we do well to remember that a family that worships together, stays together.  Yet we shouldn't for a second forget that this same family was once homeless refugees, setting off amber alerts as they went.  Jesus' ancestors and cousins were every bit as sinful and dysfunctional as my family is.  His family was destined to have their hearts ripped open by a sword, as they risked living vertically so that we could relate our human experience to theirs.

Yes, there was great care, silence, prayer and learning in the Holy Family, no doubt.  There was also great risk from a family that by faith dared to fight for the will of God.

If your family is toxic or abusive, by all means set the boundaries that you need to.  Yet to quit on family altogether is to quit on ourselves, for the risk of faith is meant to run through the family, as does the salvation of the world.  To trade family for tribalism, loving only those that affirm us, is a betrayal of Jesus' family example and the path of holiness He set for us.

What's a Holy Family?

It's a lot of things, but most of all, it's a family that fights for the will of God, and makes the risk of faith.

+mj

Why a bloody Christmas?

Homily

4th Day in the Octave of Christmas

28 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Why such a bloody Christmas?  Isn't is supposed to be Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright?  The lovely carol notwithstanding, the Christmas message was not just proclaimed gloriously by the angels on high.  It was made known as well by blood-curdling screams as the Holy Infants too gave witness to the presence of the newborn King.

Jesus was born to shed his blood for us, and to die.  That's a fact, not only for Him, but as predicted, so too for  his disciples.  For those in our world who do not belong to Christ, who perceive Him as a threat to privacy, choice and control, will try to cancel Him, and anyone who belongs to Him. Terribly, this has always been true.  The sacred dignity of children was elevated through the appearance of God as a helpless baby. So those who kill innocent, vulnerable, children even today are those who have rejected the Christmas message.

Yet we rejoice on this bloody Christmas day, for Jesus through the shedding of his blood manifested a love stronger than death.  To God who is love, all are alive, most especially these Holy Innocents who testified to the real presence of the love of God, by  being the only martyrs who died in Christ's stead.

 

What does Jesus want for Christmas?

Homily

Solemnity of Christmas

25 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

What do I want for Christmas?

Well it's equal parts scandalous and pitiful to say.  For the fourth year in a row, I want someone to hold me.  When I first confessed this desire during COVID, people assumed social distancing has gotten to me.  I got more than a few pity hugs.

But I'm not ready to give up on this Christmas wish, at least not yet.  It's still what I want.  It's a primal need and desire for every baby born into the world.  I'm still a baby, maybe we all are.  I can't live without love, without someone to hold me.  It's what makes me most human. Maybe it's what you want too.

More importantly, I dare say it's what Jesus wants for Christmas.  His pivotal question is the best one for Christmas.  He appears most intimately as a baby on Christmas night to ask you a deeply personal question. Will you hold me?

For a baby, need and desire are blurred.  At Christmas, Jesus dons the disguise, inviting you into the paradox of this strangest of nights.  Jesus disguises His desire for you, as need.  He helps you by being helpless.  He loves you by begging your love.  On this ridiculous night, when everything is turned upside down, He doesn't stop there.  He feeds you by being consumed.  He finds you by hiding, betting on your faith to search for Him.  He restores life by getting killed.  He crushes enemies through the defeat of poverty, nakedness, homelessness and rejection.  Jesus makes sense of you by becoming an absolute joke.

Yet the already too foolish scene of Bethlehem is about to give way to Jesus' most surprising disguise.  How will He ask you the ultimate Christmas question - will you hold me?  In just moments, the cave gives way to this altar, and the manger to that place in your soul where only Jesus in the Eucharist can reach.  You're about to put the Mass in Christ's Mass, you see, for the original and precise and only meaning of Christmas is what you let happen when Jesus asks you through the gift of his body to the very depths of yours - will you hold me?

I have no idea how your touch and your answer will save the world.  I just know that's what Jesus wants for Christmas.  His whole trick tonight is designed to slip by your defenses to reach that place where you're still afraid, alone or stuck.  If He asked you what you wanted for Christmas, you might get scared and say I'm fine. Don't worry about me. So instead he asks for what He wants, and begs you to hold him.

The fate of Christmas turns on your answer, and your touch. That's His decision to bet it all on you, not mine.  So He is born for you tonight, just in case any or each of us may dare to say yes, Lord.  I will hold you.  On this strangest of nights, my yes might be flipped into the discovery that I'm the one being held. The dream of what Jesus and I both want for Christmas, might really come true.

+mj 

Do I expect surprises?

Homily

23 December 2023

Late Advent Weekday

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Do I expect surprises?  Do I live for them?

I can find myself too often guarding against surprises.  Out of fear of new things, things beyond my control, I tend to play things too safe, constantly falling back to self-reliance on the familiar.  

Lots of surprises are exploding in the hill country in today's Gospel.  Amazement and fear attend these events in tandem.  What will this child be?  Such surprising signs accompany the birth of John the Baptist.  

It's said that whenever a child is born, it's a sign that God won't give up on the world.  Upon seeing a new face enter the world, wonder at the love story that is possible for this young one touches us all.  It's a source of great hope.   

Christmas belongs to children and the rebirth of those of us grown too attached to the careful.  Christmas is a plunge into the faith that expects surprises, and welcomes them.     

Any chance God could surprise me this Christmas?   

+mj

Am i afraid of what's about to happen to me?

Homily 

4th Sunday of Advent B

24 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Am I afraid of what's about to happen to me?

Two key phrases leap out from the Gospel of the Annunciation.  Do not be afraid!  Let it be done! The first is spoken by a fearsome Archangel; the second by a fearless maiden.

From this Gospel emerges my final question of Advent.  Am I afraid of what's about to happen to me?

I'll admit.  I'm quite afraid of Christmas.  I always have been.  I'm afraid of not being ready, of missing it.  Nothing turns me into a grinch faster than asking me this - Father, are you ready for Christmas?  What am I most scared of?  That is my heart isn't changed this Christmas, it never will be.

Yet it's backward to think this way, as if it's within my power to prepare perfectly for Christmas.  I can't build a place in my soul for Christ to be born, any more than David could build the Lord a worthy temple.  I'm not ready, and I'm not worthy. There I said it.

Even Mary couldn't build a worthy place for Christ.  The difference is that she was ready to admit this.  Mary fearlessly gives permission to let it be done, and so has the best response to our Advent question.

I'm terrified of what's about to happen to me this Christmas.  Yet Mary isn't afraid.  Which is why I must turn to her, the savior of my Advent, at this final hour, and permit her to say fiat for me.

She's my only hope to not be afraid of what's about to happen.  

What does God think I'm capable of?

Homily

Late Advent Week Day 

Dec 22 - O Keystone

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

What does God think I'm capable of?

This is perhaps the scariest thing of all.  God thinks I'm worth putting great faith in.  He is happy to bet it all on me, which has to be the worst plan ever concocted.  Yet God is pleased to let the world turn on my faith.

This is the season of miraculous babies!  We encounter a litany of them.  Today's scripture features Hannah's boy Samuel's dedication to the Lord. Samuel will pick David to be the anointed king of Israel.    Elizabeth's boy John, also a miracle baby, will point to the new anointed one, who is Jesus.  Mary sings her Magnificat in response to God putting His faith in her, and doing the impossible through her.

The whole story moves toward fulfillment through God placing his faith in the capacity of women to believe in the impossible.  Does God want to advance the story of salvation by placing faith in me, if only I don't get scared of the impossible? 

What does God think I'm capable of?

How can this be?

Homily

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent B2

21 December 2023 Late Advent Weekday

AMDG

How can this be?

This question keeps popping up in the early chapters of Luke. First Zechariah, then Mary, and now Elizabeth.  The latter two ask the question in faith.  Zechariah asked in doubt.

How can this be?

True faith is an openness to what is beyond our understanding.  It's a passion for the impossible, and a desire to explore the unknown.  As the story of the incarnation develops in these Advent Gospels, we encounter God's desire to redeem and renew starting with our faith.

As I approach Christmas, is my heart open to what is unfamiliar, and beyond my control?

Do I have the faith to receive something new, and to say with wonder - how can this be?

+mj

Am I skeptical?

Homily

Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Advent B2

19 December Late Advent Weekday - O Root of Jesse's Stem

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Am I skeptical?

Zechariah was, and suffered the consequence of being mute.  Mary believed, and thus sang of the greatness of the Lord!  They both received similar messages regarding a miraculous conception.  They were both told by the same angel not to be afraid.  Yet Mary responded with the readiness of faith.  She knew that nothing is impossible for God.

It is easy enough to be skeptical of Pope Francis.  Today he approved a spontaneous blessing on same-sex couples, risking further confusion regarding the meaning of marriage.  Marriage has been consistently understood to be between a biological man and woman, promised to each other for life and open to conceiving children in a natural way, and raising them.  Marriage is elevated by our Lord to a sacrament, a participation in and and sign of His marriage to the Church.  No other human relationship can be equivocated to marriage.  Pope Francis cannot change this truth, nor would he.  Yet he recognizes that those not called to marriage are also responsible for entering into relationships that give life by serving God and neighbor. Though the Church cannot endorse sex outside of marriage, she can recognize that unmarried persons need encouragement to fulfill their purpose in life.  Hence his approval of spontaneous, non-liturgical or sacramental blessings, similar to those given regularly to persons in every state in life.

This is why we need not view his decision today with skepticism.  Pope Francis's pastoral program will always reach out in compassion to those who feel excluded from the family of God, the Church.  He will always work on the margins, oftentimes to the consternation of those insiders who yearn for more clarity, not less, regarding the Church's unified teaching on faith and morals.  Pope Francis is not threatening this unity.  He simply reminds us that the Church prays for and blesses people all the time, no matter their state in life, to encourage each and all.  The Pope desires that we pursue the fullness of life and love together, not separately.

Am I skeptical?

+mj

What do you have to say for yourself?

Homily

3rd Sunday of Advent B2

17 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

What do you have to say for yourself?  

John the Baptist gets peppered with questions today, one after another.  He's asked - who, what, why - in rapid succession.  I just picked one for our pivotal question for the 3rd Sunday of Advent. 

What do you have to say for yourself?

John's answer is nothing, at least he says nothing for himself.   Imagine that, the greatest man born of women, according to Jesus, has nothing to say for himself.  We're always debating who's the greatest of all time, who's the true GOAT.  Jesus says John is.  Yet John, filled with the Holy Spirit, as the greatest of prophets, has full knowledge that it's not about him.  

What does John say for himself?  I am not worthy.  He says the same thing you will say as you approach Jesus, today in the Eucharist, and next week at Christmas.  I am not worthy.

John points only to Jesus.  So does Mary, in her gorgeous Magnificat that serves as today's psalm.  She says not one thing about herself, not one.  My spirit rejoices only in God my Savior, for He has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid, and done great things for me.  

Do I want the joy of Gaudete Sunday, the grace of rejoicing always, praying without ceasing and in all things giving thanks?  It's easy.  Just say I'm not worthy.  You'll receive the grace of living for someone besides yourself.  You'll be out of the way to receive a visit from Him who alone brings true joy to the world.

+mj

How do I patiently hurry up?

Homily

2nd Sunday of Advent

10 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

How do I patiently hurry up?  It sounds impossible, yet the scriptures this weekend require it.  To do Advent well, I must patiently hurry up.

Once again this weekend, my faith leads me into a mysterious paradox.  It ought to feel familiar by now, so I may as well embrace it.  God is rarely an either/or, but most always a both/and.  He leads us into mysterious paradoxes that unlock the fullness of reality.  He loves us too much to invite us to anything less.  So this weekend, I am invited to patiently hurry up.  What does this even mean?

St. Peter is our second reading is the one who lays it out.  He says that to God a thousand years are as a day, and a day is as a thousand years.  St. Peter names the life of faith accurately, it is a patient process that is full of surprising, disruptive moments.  It's a both/and.  St. Peter reminds us that God is never distant nor delayed, but He is patient.  Yet at the same time the coming of the Lord is like a thief in the night, a sudden and pivotal disruption that requires the utmost readiness.

Patience is not sleepiness. No, it is long-suffering with attention and sensitivity.  St. Peter puts it another way, that I should be a person who simultaneously waits for and hastens the coming of the Lord! What, St. Peter? Are you crazy?  Aren't those things opposites - waiting and hastening?  Yet as I look at my life, and the life of those around me, I see what he is saying.  To be really good at life is to embrace that it is a patient process that is full of surprising, disruptive moments.  It's not an either/or, but a both/and.

John the Baptist appears this weekend kicking and screaming as only He can to awaken us to this same reality!  He dresses me down because He announces not just a word, but THE WORD that will change all of history.  He introduces not just a person but THE PERSON who alone can save us.  He readies us not just for a pivotal moment but THE MOMENT at which the world will receive its savior.  He kicks my rear end because he knows that the likelihood that I will miss the true meaning of Christmas this year is very high.

John the Baptist tells us to repent.  I will be repenting of two things this week.  The first is anything that makes me less patient.  The other is anything that makes me less sensitive.  For if I'm going to have my best Christmas, I have to figure out a way to patiently hurry up.

Who really wants a Savior?

Homily

1st Sunday of Advent B

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

3 December 2023

AMDG

Who really wants a Savior?

This pivotal question is easy - it's hostages!

Can you imagine for one second being a hostage?  Being held against your will, with no means of escape, with your only hope being if someone can negotiate your freedom or miraculously rescue you?  It's the most hopeless of circumstances, one in need of a Christmas miracle, a terrible reality that some people are in right now.

Can you imagine praying as a hostage for anything other than a Savior?  Can you imagine praying instead - don't come rescue me, I'll figure this out on my own?  

Yet this is how most of us approach Advent.  Lord, don't rescue me - at least not yet.  I'll solve this problem by myself.  Don't worry about me.  I don't want to bother you or ask for help.

Such a prayer is sheer madness, isn't it?  Especially for those of us who are hostages.  If I am honest about my human condition, I am a hostage.  Life is hard for everyone, and we are all enslaved to something.  I'm kidding myself if I pretend any differently, that I can solve my deepest problem through self-reliance.

Yet believe it or not, it's good news to be a hostage. If I was ok and able to rescue myself, I wouldn't need you, much less would I need God.  Being limited to what I can fix myself is a boring story. A great story is being rescued from my hostage situation, against all odds.  Great stories need not do-it-yourselfers, but heroic miracles. What's my prayer gonna be this Advent?

The Good News is that the One who alone can rescue me is near.  I need only admit that I'm a hostage. Who screams at God to come closer, and to come sooner, and actually means it?  That's right, only hostages do, and only hostages dare the real prayer of Advent.  

What's holding me hostage?  It's the same old thing for me. I still think there's a way to have it all. It's all I know and trust, and I'm helpless to change it, but it's never worked.  As my spiritual director tells me all the time, to try to choose everything is to choose nothing.  I'm addicted to trying to have it all, but I won't be free until I am able to choose one thing.  

What's holding you hostage?  In answering this question, I dare you to have the guts to have a real Advent.  Do not repeat what has not worked in the past!  Do not ask God for more time, more distance, more privacy or more control.  Tell God instead this Advent that you need Him.  Tell Him you're a hostage.  He has promised to be motivated by your prayer, and come to your rescue.  It begins with my facing what's holding me hostage.  Only then will I dare God to come closer, and to come sooner, and actually mean it.