Why don't I make sense on my own?

Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

25 May 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Why don't I make sense on my own?

Life sure would be easier if I could just figure things out by myself.  Relationships are hard, messy and costly.  There's always the temptation to make things easier for myself, and to go it alone by maximizing my privacy and choice and control, to get life managed to a point where I'm not so afraid of it.

Yet this isn't the path that leads to who God is, and so it's not the path that leads ultimately to life.

From the beginning of my story, I am told that it is not good for me to be alone.  But I'll be damned if it's not tempting.  Jesus is my savior precisely because He won't leave me alone.  He doesn't know how to lose someone, or give up on me.  He comes to restore integrity, unity, relationship and communion to all creation, and most personally to me.  Even when Jesus went to the edge of God-forsakeness to rescue me, He knew his mission was not to end in isolation and death, but in communion and in life.

Today's solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity answers the question of why I don't make sense by myself.  Today's Solemnity is a celebration of ultimate truth, that God in His deepest nature is a communion of persons in love with each other.  Through differentiation, each of the three is free to will the good of another, yet this love is so consistent and complete that it simultaneously and always arrives at a single shared reality, the very source of all unity.  You know the theological formula. God is both three and one, in a complementary way not in a competitive or confounding one.

So what?  What difference does the revelation of this ultimate truth mean for me?  Well, I propose that there can be no more intimate, personal, important and yes, even practical truth for your life, than the definition of the most Holy Trinity. For what is most true of God is precisely the most life-giving and freeing truth for you, for in case you weren't paying attention, you are made in the image of the Most Holy Trinity, and through baptism, you are a child destined to grow in the likeness of these three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I become what I worship. There can be nothing more true of the human experience, even moreso than I become what I eat, or what I choose, or who my friends are.  These other truths of human nature are mere corollaries of the truth of the Most Holy Trinity.  I can make an argument then, and indeed I do, that how I worship today the deepest mystery and truth of our faith, is most determinative of who I am and who I will become.

I become what I worship most of all, and if I dare to worship ultimate truth, I worship precisely what is necessarily and practically and urgently true for me.

What is this most necessary truth that anytime I worship it, sets me free to love and live and fulfill my destiny?  It's as simple as the Trinity.  Just like the Trinity, I do not make sense on my own.  Instead, because I have first been loved into existence, I am gifted with a freedom to consistently will the good of another, and in so doing I enter fully into reality and into a life that cannot and will not be destroyed by death.

You can explore all the self-help and self-care ways to get healthy all you want, and never arrive as a more compelling, life-giving, important and practical truth than the truth of the Most Holy Trinity, a truth that transforms us when we worship it, especially today.

Simple enough, right?  Yet there's a catch.  Because I am also fallen, what I am meant to most put my  faith in, is also the most fearful thing for me and the thing I will most doubt.  Moses described why we have to worship God, because no people or religion has ever had a God reveal so fully who He is by crashing into our history, in the past and even now, through awesome signs and wonders and terrors. When God reveals who He is and who I am, I get scared, and even as I worship, I doubt.

Yet the love that casts our fear is precisely who God is, and precisely what and why I worship today.  In the very face of my doubts, there is the immense freedom available at Mass to imitate God, and by being free to will the good of another, arrive at the grace of a shared communion of love that is the source of eternal life.  No one enters fully into life, except through the mystery of who God is, the mystery that I worship today.

I wouldn't have ever figured out the true meaning of life on my own, and why I don't make sense of my own.  Praise God that through the revelation of this awesome mystery, I don't have to and I no longer want to.

+mj 

Am I passionate?

Homily

Solemnity of Pentecost B2

19 May 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Am I passionate?

If your heart isn't into it, then don't do it.  This is the best advice I ever received from my mom, who passed away when I was 26 in 2001. She noticed I was skipping daily Mass as a seminarian, so she wondered about my heart.  I'll never forget her telling me that if I wasn't passionate about being a priest, then for the sake of everyone, don't do it.

You too are meant to have a heart that burns and bleeds and breaks.  Dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which we will celebrate the Friday and Saturday after Corpus Christi as the ultimate hangover to the Easter celebration that officially ends today on Pentecost, shows that we Christians are fully committed to being alive in the Holy Spirit. To be alive is nothing less than to have a human heart that can burn, and bleed and break.

So, am I passioante?

If I never arrive at a place where my heart can feel and desire beyond my fears and doubts, then the whole Christian project is for nought.  I mean that.  The whole liturgical enterprise, beginning with Advent's hopeful longing for the coming of the Lord, through the penances of Lent when we through mortification try to put to death the sins of the flesh that only kill, through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus by which we lay hold of the truth that only by losing one's life in love will I truly find it for eternal life, through the graces of Holy Easter when we bravely follow the Resurrected Christ into newness of life - all of this is for nought if my heart is not fully animated by the Holy Spirit, if my heart cannot burn, and bleed and break.

Am I passionate?

The Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a passionate Catholic, was invited to speak at Benedictine College on what he is convicted about, what he is willing to suffer and die for.  So many were offended by what he said.  For me, it doesn't matter if I liked the speech or if it fit my brand of Catholicism, nor does it matter whether I think he should have had the platform.  That's all beyond my control, and that's ok.  The reality is that his take on truth and love deserved respect, as it was not inherently hateful or harmful.  His passion has a place in the diverse and rich gifts of the Holy Spirit within our tradition and communion of the Church.

Reactions to the speech are in the realm of the flesh which St. Paul describes well - rivalry, jealousy, competitiveness and the like.  The talk was quickly judged in political terms - who is in or out, right or wrong, accepted or canceled, liberal or conservative.  All this reaction because he is judged like me to be part of a privileged and oppressive class.  

He simply said that it's family that ultimately brings life and happiness.  That's his conviction.

Maybe you're passionate about something else, and that's fine and good, so long as you're passionate about something positive.  To be a child of the Holy Spirit it to have a heart that burns and bleeds and breaks, and to refuse to get stuck in the realm of the flesh, fraught with sin and rash judgments and addiction to privacy and choice.

The only lasting peace and equality comes when people are children of the Spirit, and are willing to give their lives passionately for what they believe, rather than taking life.  Children of the Spirit don't whine or cancel, but imagine how much life there would be if everyone embraced their true nature, and their life as gift with responsibility.  

You are meant to have a heart that bleeds, and burns and breaks. Am I passionate?  Am I a child of the Holy Spirit?

Will you be meaner than hell?

Homily

Nuptial Mass of Mikala Liley and Reagan Dricken

St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas

18 May 2024

Saturday of the 7th Week of Easter

AMDG

Mik and Reagan, are you meaner than hell?

You know exactly where I'm going with this.  You heard this very homily theme just six days ago, at your KU graduation.  It's true that I'm too lazy to come up with a new theme for your wedding homily, but it seemed to work fine last week, so why not run it back?

So are you or aren't you meaner than hell?

You know exactly what I mean by this, having listened to my Catholic Jayhawk homilies for years now.  Yet since I'm quickly running out of chances to preach at my beloved St. Lawrence, I have no problem reminding you once and for all that a Catholic Jayhawk is to be capable of risk, vulnerability, commitment, communion, sacrifice, influence and tenacity. These marks of a great story are not exactly the 7-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit, but in my opinion, they're not that far off.

Mik and Reagan, as your spiritual Father at KU I'm so proud of you on your wedding day because you are precisely the reason that St. Lawrence Center exists.  You are true Jayhawks, meaner than hell, fierce missionary disciples of Jesus Christ and ready to write one of the greatest stories of faith and love of this generation.  More than that, you are determined to defeat the greatest relational, moral and spiritual evils of this age.  Your marriage is a true  participation in the paschal mystery and redemptive mission of our Lord, and destined to bear fruit that lasts. We at SLC are so very proud of your both, and we could not love you any more, nor feel more privileged to support you as you give your life unto death in this sacred space so dear to so many of us.  Congratulations to you and everyone who has believed in you, and thank you for inviting us here for this moment.

Having meant all that, still why does it matter than you are meaner than hell today?  It matters because there truly is an enemy who will try through lies to sow seeds of doubt and fear in your heart as you approach the altar of God. To defeat this enemy, you must be ferocious Jayhawks, meaner than hell.  You may not know this because you don't follow football or TikTok as much as the rest of us, but traditional Catholic marriage, the very kind you desire today, was on trial this week, especially the idea that marriage is worth giving your whole life to.

My dearest Mik, what are you thinking?  Your decision to get married just six days after busting your Jayhawk tail to achieve a hard-won architecture degree, was especially ridiculed this week by a woke mob who esteems privacy and choice as the surest path to equality.  In the face of this, you choose obedience and surrender, and courageously place your entire life and achievements under the mission of your husband, Reagan.  Reagan, really? What are you thinking?

Reagan, your faith is also on trial and is being labeled as toxic and oppressive.  In response, you double down on the words of St. Paul, who even though participating in the misogyny of his time said in Christ the least misogynistic thing ever, telling husbands to love their wives just as Christ loves His bride the Church, bathing her in the truth of His promises and prayer, cleansing Her by the chaste sacrifice of His own body.  You too Reagan, eschew privacy and choice in response to what you understand to be the gift and responsibility of your life.

Yet what makes the two of you more woke than anyone around you, is the attention you each give to perseverance in prayer.  Jesus Himself said the greatest evils can only be defeated by prayer.  So in prayer most of all you have learned that the battle of the sexes is not ultimately a competition for equality and control between you, but a holy obedience to love the good of another more than yourself.  In prayer you have been discerned participation in the eternal marriage of Christ to His Church by echoing His eucharistic words with your vows - this is my body which is 'for you.'  In prayer you have found the nuptial meaning of your body to be your deepest truth and reality, and the gift of yourself to each other as a sign of Christ's love for you, and a true participation in His passion, to be the fulfillment of the deepest desire of your heart.

Praise God that in prayer you've both found something worth fighting for, and even more than that, worth dying for.  Be meaner than hell, my little Jayhawks, in being faithful til death do you part. This is our faith, the true faith, revealed by Jesus Christ, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

+mj  

Why hate golf?

Homily

Funeral Mass for Anthony Craig McCoy

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

Saturday of the 7th Week of Easter B2

18 May 2024

AMDG

Why did Craig hate golf?

I had to start this brief homily by quoting the shortest line from Craig's obituary.  'He hated golf'  Though Craig loved being part of the club, and the people he knew from there, apparently he hated golf.  Smart man, I'd say.  Golf is a  four letter word, and it doesn't often bring people closer to God. Though it's a beautiful pastime and one that should bring glory to God, the holy name of God is rarely invoked in prayer and much more often used in vain on the golf course.  I have a story about that involving Bruce that is not dignified enough for a homily.  

In the end, I don't blame Craig for being like my dad, who thought golf was for sissies, and thought it quite dumb that grown men would try to hit a little white ball out of sight and then go look for it.  

If it wasn't for golf, though, I wouldn't have met my good friend Bruce, for it was through Topeka Country Club and Christ the King that I first met the McCoy's, and subsequently the McPhersons.  I'm grateful to you Cathy and to Craig, for being friends and having friends that I will cherish, and you have my deepest sympathy and prayers, Cathy, on the loss of your son just a short time ago and now your husband.  It is a great honor to pray for their souls and for the mercy and love of God to conquer even death itself, and to invite your beloved into the embrace of eternal life in heaven.

Craig built homes, and we see clearly in John Chapter 14 that this was Jesus' desire as well, to prepare a place for us in heaven, and to invite us into the way of love that builds a new home and a new kingdom that can never be destroyed.  I just returned from a mission trip to Mexico City, where I encountered thousands of homeless, young and old, natives and migrants, men and women, and it was heartbreaking.  It is a consolation that Craig knew the importance of having a home, a place where you can know who you are and who loves you, a place where you can believe that you belong and your life is destined for more.  I praise God for all the good Craig was able to do with his life; most importantly, providing a sense of home for many whom he served and loved.

Now we commend Craig to the 'way' that builds the kingdom of heaven.  The way is very simple, but easy to lose track of.  The way of Jesus is his passion for giving life to others, to being faithful to others, to serving others to the end.  Craig participated in this 'way' of Jesus in his own way, to be sure, but as with all our beloved, we lift up the love Craig was able to receive and give, and we beg mercy for the love that was lacking.  We pray that Craig's life will mysteriously participate in the sacrifice of Jesus which God has promised to use to build the kingdom of heaven.

As we confess the nail in the coffin that is the end of Craig's life here on earth, we remember the nails that fastened Jesus to the cross as He emptied Himself for love of Craig and all of us.  That love is stronger than all things, as is the cross which is not the wood of death, but the wood of new life, and where eternal life truly begins.  Amen.  

What are the sources of unity?

Homily

Thursday of the 7th and Last Week of Easter between the Ascension and Pentecost

16 May 2024

Our Lady of Guadalupe Pilgrimage with the St. Lawrence Center KU

Mexico City, Mexico

AMDG

Jesus prays not for himself the night before He dies on the cross, but for us, his little ones, his missionary disciples, his friends.  This is a reminder to always pray for others more than for ourselves, even as we can ask for whatever we want and need in the Holy Spirit, and it will be done for us.

Jesus gives us everything, always emptying Himself and holding nothing back.  This is true even of His prayer, as He prays grace after grace after grace for his little ones.  Did you hear all the graces He prays for you, his beloved?  He prays for unity in the Church, and that you may have the glory of participating fully in God's love, that you might enjoy the same perfection in unity that is in the Holy Trinity.  There is more. He prays that you will know you are a gift to him, and that He loves you even as the Father loves him.  He prays that you will know that He is with you always through His Spirit, and that His Spirit will tell you everything.  All of this, so that you can fulfill your destiny to be in God, and that those who hear your words will believe in God because of you.

What a prayer for us His little ones, His missionary disciples, and His friends. As we receive the prayer of Jesus for us, let us not be afraid that we lack anything of what we need to fulfill His new commandment of love, so that the world may believe in Him.  

Jesús no ora por sí mismo la noche antes de morir en la cruz, sino por nosotros, sus pequeños, sus discípulos misioneros, sus amigos. Este es un recordatorio de orar siempre por los demás más que por nosotros mismos, así como podemos pedir lo que queramos y necesitemos en el Espíritu Santo, y será hecho por nosotros.

Jesús nos lo da todo, vaciándose siempre y sin guardar nada. Esto es cierto incluso en Su oración, cuando ora gracia tras gracia tras gracia por Sus pequeños. ¿Escuchaste todas las gracias que Él ora por ti, su amada? Ora por la unidad de la Iglesia, y para que tengáis la gloria de participar plenamente del amor de Dios, para que podáis disfrutar de la misma perfección en la unidad que hay en la Santísima Trinidad. Hay más. Él ora para que sepas que eres un regalo para él y que Él te ama así como el Padre lo ama a él. Él ora para que sepas que Él está contigo siempre a través de Su Espíritu, y que Su Espíritu te dirá todo. Todo esto, para que puedas cumplir tu destino de estar en Dios, y que quienes escuchen tus palabras crean en Dios gracias a ti.

Qué oración por nosotros Sus pequeños, Sus discípulos misioneros y Sus amigos. Al recibir la oración de Jesús por nosotros, no tengamos miedo de que nos falte algo de lo que necesitamos para cumplir su nuevo mandamiento de amor, para que el mundo crea en Él.

What is the source of unity?

Homily

Wednesday of the 7th Week of Easter

15 May 2025

Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

+St. Isidore

AMDG

Both St. Paul and the Lord pray fervently for disciples in today's Scriptures.  They know of the 'trouble' that disciples will face in the world in keeping faith, and remaining unified in mission.  The greatest evils are spiritual ones, and can only be case out by prayer.  So St. Paul and the Lord both pray for those they are leaving behind, entrusting them to the greater power of the Holy Spirit which will guide them and keep them in all truth.

Prayer, charity, and truth.  These themes jump out regarding the sources of unity for a church on mission.  The prayer of Christ that His disciples be one is so fervent, for He knows how much the evil one wants to divide the Church by lies, acts against charity, and discouragement in prayer.  Still, even with these dangers lurking, Jesus prays to 'send' his disciples to defeat evil just as He did, through the same spirit of charity and truth and prayer that burned in the Lord's sacred Heart until his mission is accomplished.

Tanto San Pablo como el Señor oran fervientemente por los discípulos en las Escrituras de hoy. Saben del "problema" que los discípulos enfrentarán en el mundo al mantener la fe y permanecer unidos en la misión. Los mayores males son los espirituales y sólo pueden solucionarse mediante la oración. Entonces, tanto San Pablo como el Señor oran por aquellos que dejan atrás, confiándolos al poder mayor del Espíritu Santo que los guiará y guardará en toda verdad.

Oración, caridad y verdad. Estos temas saltan a la vista respecto de las fuentes de unidad de una iglesia en misión. La oración de Cristo para que sus discípulos sean uno es tan ferviente, porque sabe cuánto el maligno quiere dividir a la Iglesia con mentiras, actos contra la caridad y desánimo en la oración. Aún así, incluso con estos peligros al acecho, Jesús ora para "enviar" a sus discípulos a derrotar el mal tal como lo hizo Él, a través del mismo espíritu de caridad, verdad y oración que ardía en el sagrado Corazón del Señor hasta que se cumpliera su misión.

Do Jayhawks fight?

Homily

Solemnity of the Ascension

Graduation Weekend and Mother's Day

12 May 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Do Jayhawks fly?

I've been chaplain at KU for 8 years, and I'm a grad from here, and I still don't know.  Have you ever seen a Jayhawk fly?  Certainly not the dozens of Jayhawks affixed to pedestals all over campus. There are vulgar legends about what it would take for those Jayhawks to fly, that we won't get into here.

On the other hand, Jayhawks sure seem to fly through Allen Fieldhouse.  Johnny Furphy can fly, and he's a Jayhawk, and a kangaroo.  And now that we're a football school, Jason Bean was so fast he seemed close to liftoff, and he's a Jayhawk.

So do Jayhawks fly, or don't they?  Heck if I know.  Maybe it's a question best left to the Aerospace Engineer graduate in our midst.

Actually, there's a more critical question than whether Jayhawks fly. That question is this.  Do Jayhawks fight?  If you know the history of the Jayhawk, our killer mascot was uniquely created to be meaner than hell. The original Jayhawkers were the ruthless fighters who ensured Kansas came into the union in 1865 as a free state, not like Missouri. Two feisty birds, ferocious actually, the blue jay and the sparrow hawk, were combined into a singularly nasty hybrid known worldwide as the Jayhawk.  

Which is why my favorite rendition of our mascot is not the sexy legs Jayhawk or smiling Jayhawk, but the 1947 Warhawk.  Meaner than hell.

So, the best and last pivotal question for your KU graduates this year is not whether you will fly, but whether you are meaner than hell, whether you will fight for human dignity and freedom. You're supposed to be nasty, class of 2024, but in a good way.   Will you be tenacious in fulfilling the gift and responsibility of your life?  Jesus laid it out for you perfectly in your last Gospel at KU. Go into the world and defeat the worst spiritual, moral and relational evils of this age, confirmed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, strengthened by the accompanying signs and mysteries of Christ's sacraments, and fight like hell to fulfill the purpose and destiny of your life.

The Ascension of Jesus is not so much about flying, as the angels attest in today's Gospel, it's about fighting until the love of Christ fills and conquers all things, until all creation participates in the redemption that builds a new dimension of reality, the kingdom of Heaven.  

Your education at KU was meant to give you access to a truth that sets you free to make a sincere and meaningful gift of yourself to something that matters, something bigger than yourself.  Even more, the practice of your Catholic faith precisely at a time when you were surely tempted to ignore it, reject it, or cancel it, has given you an imagination for what your life will ultimately mean, and a capacity to be a singularly tenacious missionary disciple of Jesus Christ who will bear fruit that lasts.

The Church loves you, class of 2024. We believe in you, and we thank you for trusting us to guide your story while at KU.  We will miss you!  Our prayer is that you will fulfill your capacity for risk, vulnerability, commitment, communion, sacrifice, influence, and tenacity, as Catholic Jayhawks.  Full permission to be meaner than hell, and to write the greatest stories of faith of this generation.

Congratulations from all of us at St. Lawrence, class of 2024!  Fly, Jayhawks, fly - if you dare and if you can!  But even more than that, always fight for what you believe in.  Rock Chalk and Amen!

Who is responsible?

Homily

6th Sunday of Easter B2

5 May 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Who is ultimately responsible for my life?

I bet you think you are.  But you're wrong.  God is.

God is necessary. I am not.  He is the source of life. I am not.  Life is never what I make of it, nor whatever I want it to be.  Life is receiving and remaining in the sacred truth that life is a gift.  That makes God ultimately responsible for my life.

Let's ponder deeply tonight how this works. St. John puts it like this:  in this is love, not that I have loved God, but that he first loved me.  Love is not something I generate; quite the opposite, it is first received, as the Father takes the initiative to send His Son to love me where I cannot and would never love myself.

Have you ever considered how crazy this really is?  God takes responsibility for letting me down.  He blames Himself for my sins.  He blames Himself for my lack of trust, accusing Himself of not revealing his love in a more compelling way.  So He takes the initiative.  He takes the responsibility to save my life.

Who is ultimately responsible for your life?  I bet you still think you are, that your life starts and ends with you, but it doesn't.  Now I'm not telling you to be irresponsible for careless, mind you. I'm just asking myself to admit that my perfectionism, my hyper-focus on myself to the neglect of the greater things God is doing, will never work.  There's a reason for that.  I am not God, and I cannot work myself into perfection.  I am first loved before I can do anything, and unless I am first loved I can do nothing.  I cannot perfect myself, but I can only be loved into perfection.

Let's listen to more.  It was not you who chose me, but I who first chose you!  Again God is responsible.  He takes the initiative.

Want more evidence that your life is not about you?  There's plenty more! As the Father loves me, so I love you.  It never works for me to say that as I love God, so God loves me.  That's backward, to start with myself, if only I admit it.

There's still more.  I have called you friends because I have first chosen to tell you everything.  For a fourth time in tonight's Scriptures, Jesus says our relationship starts with Him. It always starts with His desire for me, His revealing all the attention and affection He has for me right not, His emptying Himself until He serves me as His friend, by His choice not mine.

Yet despite all this, I bet you started today like I did, with my ego, trying to generate trust and passion and joy from myself, forgetting that I would have none of these things - no faith, no desire, no happiness, if God didn't first choose to trust me, to suffer for me, and to delight in me.

Still think your life is about you?  You probably do. We all do. Yet it's just not true.

God is necessary today.  I am not.  And it's His great joy to take responsibility for your life.  You only need to receive and remain.

mj