Just a few thoughts since Baltimore vs. New England doesn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat right now. Baltimore 27 NE 7. At New England. Ouch! Can you say dynasty over? Way over?
We had a pretty good crowd last night for the St. Lawrence Center Mass at 4pm. Quite a few confessions, but not as packed as usual. This weekend Archbishop Naumann has the homily, and we played his cd at the Masses last night and this morning. Nice Zack Greinke reference by the Archbishop to start! I pray for the success of Call to Share. Last year it raised $4 million. Our Vocations office is funded by Call to Share, and our campus ministries like St. Lawrence also get a subsidy from this important collection.
Last night I went to a gym to spend some time with homeschool dads and their sons. It was a great turnout. I decided not to swim, but got in on the dodgeball a little bit at the end of the night. I gave a short meditation on vocations, focusing on Jesus being found in the temple, the calling of the first apostles, and the gift of Samuel to his mother Hannah. I just used the scriptures the Church is meditating on this week. I think it went pretty well. They are always so nice to pray a rosary for me and to give me a small gift. I was privilege to be there.
Didn't get to see the end of the KSU/Mizzou game. I actually think I was pulling for Mizzou. That is weird. Maybe I think KSU is a bigger threat to KU for the Big 12 title. Maybe I still feel like we played terrible at KState this year in football, and I had gotten used to beating them. Maybe I just don't like the attitude of KSU basketball. Who knows. I can't believe I felt myself pulling for Mizzou. But only slightly. It is a long 16 game Big 12 season. The game really wasn't that important. KU gets into the Big 12 mix on Wednesday after finishing the noncon at Tennesse today. Rock Chalk.
I think the thaw is on. The sun is beautiful today, and I see a few spots attracting enough heat to melt just a little of the snow. The cars will be ugly as this stuff starts to melt off this week. I think it has been pretty. Definitely more interesting than most winters we have had the last decade. We don't really need another cold blast like this one. It takes too much energy to heat everything!
Friends coming over for the KU game, then I hope to get out to downtown Lawrence where I haven't been in awhile to have a beer and a burger or pizza. It is embarrassing how little I get to downtown Lawrence. I need to buy a new watch at Weaver's but they won't be open tonight I suppose.
Late tonight maybe the Christmas tree will come down. I will let the St. Lawrence staff tackle the chapel tomorrow, which looked great, of course, for Christmas. I feel like I never strayed from Christmas this year. It still feels like Christmas. Maybe the weather is more of a gift than I thought. Fr. Steve gets back this week from Rome, and said on his facebook this morning that he was able to greet Pope Benedict XVI personally at a private audience. Good for him. I wonder if he put in a good word for me, since my last name is German!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Pope Benedict baptizes in Sistine Chapel
For some reason this really touches me. I like it when the Pope baptizes. Maybe I think this has to be refreshing for him. Baptizing babies is something that you can't do wrong. You're not going to be criticized for saying this or not saying that, or being here and not being there. The baptism of infants is such a disarming sacrament. God shines his face on a new child. He shares his divine life. There is hope as we see the promise of divine life shine on these new children. The children and the parents and godparents really preach the sacrament. They have brought these children for baptism, and it is their faith that they profess on behalf of the Church, that is the faith in which these children are baptized. The pope is just the humble minister, the privileged minister of this great sacrament. Seeing this really melts your heart. I've included a photo of when John Paul II baptized. Great memories for me. What a beautiful end to the Christmas season. Back to the grind of Ordinary Time, before getting out the ashes February 17th.
I had to go back over to the Center to greet folks and to take care of the building, but I was hoping to watch Pope Benedict celebrate the Mass ad orientem in the Sistine Chapel, where there is no freestanding altar for him to use. I need a dvr. When I got back, the Mass was over. I just got to see the baptisms. I haven't watched him do this before, and I have not celebrated such a public Mass myself, but I wanted to see the pope do it. I've been to some extraordinary form Masses at seminary, and I don't suppose I will learn the extraordinary form anytime soon, but I wanted to see how the pope celebrated the ordinary form of the Mass in the sistine chapel. Actually, truth be told, I was unprepared for the one time that I celebrated the ordinary form with other people in a chapel at St. Peter's that did not have a freestanding altar. Even though I was unprepared, the Mass went pretty well. Long story short, I don't think I will celebrate the Mass ad orientem, but watching others do it does help me to pray the Mass facing the people better.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Giving children to God
Homily
Tuesday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time
Year II
For daily readings, click here
Abraham and Isaac on the mountain. Jesus and Mary at the cross. The scriptures are full of stories of children being given by their parents back to God. Christian parents usually bring their children at the very beginning of their lives to the temple to dedicate them to God. Through baptism, parents give back to God the gift that they have received, wanting God to claim their child as His own, knowing that God alone can take care of their child after all their efforts as parents have been exhausted. In the short term, however, dedicating your child to God, and encouraging your child to seek first the will of God, is quite a risky and dangerous enterprise. Few parents actually try what Hannah prays for in today's first reading. She says that if she is gifted with a child, as the fruit of her marriage to Elkanah, that she will make sure that this son of hers is especially well prepared to do the will of God. Maybe Hannah doesn't really know what she is saying or what she is praying for. Those chosen to be God's prophets are often scorned and rejected. They endure loneliness and persecution. Yet Hannah promises God that she will not stand in the way of the Lord's will for this child He will give her. She will bring him up especially focused on doing the Lord's will.
Simeon tells Mary at the presentation of Jesus that a sword will pierce her heart. This is the risk of parenting, at least parenting in the way that Hannah presents it to us. Hannah begins before she even conceives her child, to promise God that although she would want to possess and protect this boy that might be given Her, that the best gift she can give this boy is to teach him how to hear the Lord's will and how to respond to it, no matter what. Samuel as we know will become a great prophet, which means he will undergo intense suffering, in order to make the word of the Lord known. It would be natural for a parent to want to protect her son from this, or to discourage him from such a vocation, but Hannah does just the opposite. She pleads with God for the opportunity to raise a child who will bear abundant fruit with his life. Hannah teaches us that it is not enough to teach our kids just to do whatever makes them happy. We can do better. Rare indeed is the parent today who is effective in teaching her children to seek and to love the will of God above all things. +m
Tuesday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time
Year II
For daily readings, click here
Abraham and Isaac on the mountain. Jesus and Mary at the cross. The scriptures are full of stories of children being given by their parents back to God. Christian parents usually bring their children at the very beginning of their lives to the temple to dedicate them to God. Through baptism, parents give back to God the gift that they have received, wanting God to claim their child as His own, knowing that God alone can take care of their child after all their efforts as parents have been exhausted. In the short term, however, dedicating your child to God, and encouraging your child to seek first the will of God, is quite a risky and dangerous enterprise. Few parents actually try what Hannah prays for in today's first reading. She says that if she is gifted with a child, as the fruit of her marriage to Elkanah, that she will make sure that this son of hers is especially well prepared to do the will of God. Maybe Hannah doesn't really know what she is saying or what she is praying for. Those chosen to be God's prophets are often scorned and rejected. They endure loneliness and persecution. Yet Hannah promises God that she will not stand in the way of the Lord's will for this child He will give her. She will bring him up especially focused on doing the Lord's will.
Simeon tells Mary at the presentation of Jesus that a sword will pierce her heart. This is the risk of parenting, at least parenting in the way that Hannah presents it to us. Hannah begins before she even conceives her child, to promise God that although she would want to possess and protect this boy that might be given Her, that the best gift she can give this boy is to teach him how to hear the Lord's will and how to respond to it, no matter what. Samuel as we know will become a great prophet, which means he will undergo intense suffering, in order to make the word of the Lord known. It would be natural for a parent to want to protect her son from this, or to discourage him from such a vocation, but Hannah does just the opposite. She pleads with God for the opportunity to raise a child who will bear abundant fruit with his life. Hannah teaches us that it is not enough to teach our kids just to do whatever makes them happy. We can do better. Rare indeed is the parent today who is effective in teaching her children to seek and to love the will of God above all things. +m
Jesus not a one-man show
Homily for Monday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time
Year II
Year for Priests
For daily readings, click here
This year we have 6 weeks of ordinary time before Ash Wednesday. There will be 28 weeks of Ordinary Time after Easter. We begin reading today from the very first Gospel to be written, and the shortest Gospel, the Gospel of Mark. Mark gets right to the point, and his narrative of the calling of the first apostles is very simple. Jesus calls. Simon and Andrew, James and John respond. Jesus has his first apostles very directly. He does not have to talk them into it. It is more like a draft than a process of discernment. Of course, if the apostles knew exactly what they were getting themselves into, they would have ran away as fast as they could, as they eventually did at Calvary. But for now, a great teacher, with authority, is asking them to come along for a great adventure. And they are willing. Like a new seminarian who is responding enthusiastically to a feeling that he is called to do something extraordinary with his life, this is how we see the first four apostles respond to the voice of Jesus. They will have second thoughts soon enough. As vocation director, it sure would be great if more guys would respond simply to the Lord's call to be his priests. Lots of guys should be entering seminary. It is a way of following Jesus very closely, and a privileged place to do so. Not everyone will be ordained a priest, but almost all guys make the mistake of over-discerning the priesthood before they have a chance to get close to it, or to know what it really is. The Apostles took the step that was right in front of them. They stopped what they were doing to follow Jesus. They did not try to predict tomorrow. They responded today.
It is important for us to pay attention to what Jesus does in the very first days of his public ministry. In today's Gospel, he makes it clear that he is not going to be a lone ranger. His mission is not to do everything himself. Jesus asks for help. He asks for companions. He knows that his mission is to one day ascend back to His heavenly Father, so he gathers men for formation, men to whom he will one day entrust the mission He has received. That Jesus calls apostles at the very beginning of his ministry shows that His intention to establish a Church that will continue his mission is foremost in His mind and in His plans. It is silly to say that Jesus only came to teach us principles, not to establish a Church. The witness of the Gospels shows just the opposite. May the young people that He is calling today to leave everything to take up His mission within His Church, respond as generously as did those first apostles. Peter and Andrew, James and John, pray for us! +m
The Leaven features seminarians and retreatants!
Our Archdiocesan paper, the Leaven, featured this week the annual photo of our seminarians, along with stories about the recent Quo Vadis retreat hosted by the Archbishop, and the parent luncheon hosted by the Serrans. This is such a gift from our archdiocesan paper, and it is fantastic to receive their support.
Check them out at http://www.theleaven.com/a good Saturday, so far!
Despite the bitterly cold temperatures, things are beautiful at least to the eye. The snow is falling very lightly again this morning. All the white sure beats the ugly brown that usually dominates the Kansas landscape this time of year.
This morning I was able to pray and celebrate a private Mass. This afternoon I have Mass and confessions and St. Lawrence Center. I expect a pretty small crowd because the high today will probably be about 7 degrees. Fr. Steve is away this week, so the rectory is especially quiet.
Tonight I'll head to Kansas City to spend some time with the fathers and sons of homeschool families in Kansas City. Some swimming, a quick talk by me, and then some basketball! Going to keep an eye today on the KSU/Mizzou game kicking off the Big 12 season and perhaps will get home tonight in time to see the Cowboys and Eagles. I have watched less sports in the last month than I can remember in a long time.
The Royals have signed a couple of light-hitting speedsters. Maybe we can get some mojo going this year. I'm not going to worry about it much before April.
Tomorrow I have 9am and 11am Masses at St. Lawrence, then getting together with friends before the KU v. Tennessee game. Rock Chalk!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Baptism of the Lord
Homily for the Baptism of the Lord
9/10 January 2010
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center
Year for Priests
For daily readings, click here.
I could have skipped writing a homily for this Sunday. Archbishop Naumann has it covered with his annual Call to Share homily. It's his pulpit, so this homily is not one that I will actually deliver. Still, with the cold weather, I have a few minutes to reflect. Maybe I can get down an idea that will help next year, or the year after, or the year after.
The first luminous mystery is the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan by John. This is his first public act. It is not something he does really, but something that is done to Christ. It is a preview of what will eventually be done to him on the cross. Indeed, Jesus' first act is to be baptized by John. Only after he is baptized do we see him start doing things - healing and teaching. His baptism marks the beginning of his public life. Jesus does not start with a bang, but with a whisper, allowing one inferior to him, John, to baptize him. In allowing himself to be baptized, Jesus does not become holy. He is already holy. But as the Church fathers have told us, Jesus makes the waters by which he is baptized holy, so that from the time of Jesus' baptism on, baptism is not only a baptism of repentance, but a baptism with Holy Spirit and fire. It is not just to slow the bleeding caused by sin. Baptism is also a new beginning of goodness, a beginning of sharing in the eternal life that sin and death do not have the power to destroy. So Jesus does not become holy by his baptism. He makes the waters holy for the first time.
By making his first public act something that is done to Him, Jesus foreshadows that his greatest public act will not be what he says and does, although he will do and say alot, but will be what he allows to be done to him. Jesus' greatest public act will not be a miracle he performs. His greatest sign will be allowing himself to be crucified on the cross. In this, Jesus is truly the son of Mary, whose greatest act was not something she did, but something that she let be done unto her. It was the Father's will that Jesus be baptized, that he from the first moment of his public ministry, before he cured a single person, or preached a sermon, or forgave a sin, to identify himself first with sinners. Who were the people going out to be baptized? Not those who considered themselves to be righteous. They did not come out to be baptized. No, it was those who knew themselves to be sinners. So we must meditate on why the person who was the most righteous, the one who least needed to be baptized, made this his first public act. It was a foreshadowing of his last and greatest public act, allowing himself to be identified with sinners. Jesus suffered because He was accused as a criminal, as the greatest of sinners, although He had done nothing wrong. His baptism is a much more pleasant experience, but it is a foreshadowing of what would happen at Calvary.
Jesus in identifying Himself with sinners at His baptism truly fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that we hear proclaimed, that the servant with whom God is well pleased, the one on whom God has placed His spirit, is one who will restore justice not by shouting, but will come with such humility that He will not bruise a single reed or smolder a single wick, but has come that even the most pitiful of sinners may not be afraid of his justice, but may turn to Him for hope. Jesus is truly God with us, and at His baptism He shows us that He will even allow Himself to be considered a sinner, in our place if He has to, so much does He love us and so much does He want to be close to us.
Of course, our Christian story has a happy ending. It has a most happy ending. In the baptism of Jesus we see not only the foreshadowing of Calvary, but also the foreshadowing of the resurrection. Right after the baptism, the same Holy Spirit that will eventually raise Jesus from the dead, appears as a dove to announce that even though this Son of Man will go so far away from Heaven that it seems like evil and death will overcome Him, He will never stop being the beloved Son of God, who will one day return to heaven just as surely as He came down from heaven! May our celebration of the Lord's baptism today give us the same hope, that we who have been baptized into the death of Christ, have also be baptized into the glory of His resurrection! +m
9/10 January 2010
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center
Year for Priests
For daily readings, click here.
I could have skipped writing a homily for this Sunday. Archbishop Naumann has it covered with his annual Call to Share homily. It's his pulpit, so this homily is not one that I will actually deliver. Still, with the cold weather, I have a few minutes to reflect. Maybe I can get down an idea that will help next year, or the year after, or the year after.
The first luminous mystery is the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan by John. This is his first public act. It is not something he does really, but something that is done to Christ. It is a preview of what will eventually be done to him on the cross. Indeed, Jesus' first act is to be baptized by John. Only after he is baptized do we see him start doing things - healing and teaching. His baptism marks the beginning of his public life. Jesus does not start with a bang, but with a whisper, allowing one inferior to him, John, to baptize him. In allowing himself to be baptized, Jesus does not become holy. He is already holy. But as the Church fathers have told us, Jesus makes the waters by which he is baptized holy, so that from the time of Jesus' baptism on, baptism is not only a baptism of repentance, but a baptism with Holy Spirit and fire. It is not just to slow the bleeding caused by sin. Baptism is also a new beginning of goodness, a beginning of sharing in the eternal life that sin and death do not have the power to destroy. So Jesus does not become holy by his baptism. He makes the waters holy for the first time.
By making his first public act something that is done to Him, Jesus foreshadows that his greatest public act will not be what he says and does, although he will do and say alot, but will be what he allows to be done to him. Jesus' greatest public act will not be a miracle he performs. His greatest sign will be allowing himself to be crucified on the cross. In this, Jesus is truly the son of Mary, whose greatest act was not something she did, but something that she let be done unto her. It was the Father's will that Jesus be baptized, that he from the first moment of his public ministry, before he cured a single person, or preached a sermon, or forgave a sin, to identify himself first with sinners. Who were the people going out to be baptized? Not those who considered themselves to be righteous. They did not come out to be baptized. No, it was those who knew themselves to be sinners. So we must meditate on why the person who was the most righteous, the one who least needed to be baptized, made this his first public act. It was a foreshadowing of his last and greatest public act, allowing himself to be identified with sinners. Jesus suffered because He was accused as a criminal, as the greatest of sinners, although He had done nothing wrong. His baptism is a much more pleasant experience, but it is a foreshadowing of what would happen at Calvary.
Jesus in identifying Himself with sinners at His baptism truly fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that we hear proclaimed, that the servant with whom God is well pleased, the one on whom God has placed His spirit, is one who will restore justice not by shouting, but will come with such humility that He will not bruise a single reed or smolder a single wick, but has come that even the most pitiful of sinners may not be afraid of his justice, but may turn to Him for hope. Jesus is truly God with us, and at His baptism He shows us that He will even allow Himself to be considered a sinner, in our place if He has to, so much does He love us and so much does He want to be close to us.
Of course, our Christian story has a happy ending. It has a most happy ending. In the baptism of Jesus we see not only the foreshadowing of Calvary, but also the foreshadowing of the resurrection. Right after the baptism, the same Holy Spirit that will eventually raise Jesus from the dead, appears as a dove to announce that even though this Son of Man will go so far away from Heaven that it seems like evil and death will overcome Him, He will never stop being the beloved Son of God, who will one day return to heaven just as surely as He came down from heaven! May our celebration of the Lord's baptism today give us the same hope, that we who have been baptized into the death of Christ, have also be baptized into the glory of His resurrection! +m
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