Am I the underdog?

Homily

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time B1

24 August 2025

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village

AMDG

When it comes to salvation, am I the underdog?  Is anybody here tonight really comfortable with the question, are you saved?  If you died today do you know where you would spend eternity?  

On the one hand, the question should not make us uncomfortable at all.   Jesus has already answered it!  When asked if many or a few will get into heaven, a question everyone always wants to know, Jesus doesn't answer it!  So when I am asked the question, am I saved, I am free to answer as Jesus does.  It's the wrong question!  He simply answers with a verb - strive!  Strive to enter through the narrow gate!  It's the easiest answer, and you can't be wrong, because it's Jesus answer!

On the other hand, though, the question should always make me uncomfortable!  For Jesus says clearly that when it comes to salvation, I am the underdog.  Who could possibly boast that they have already become what heaven is - perfect, consistent, sacrificial, unselfish, merciful, and heroic love that strong as death?  Certainly not me!  Jesus says to never presume on salvation - always act as the underdog!

This does not mean of course that the opposite response of presumption - despair - is the right response to the question.  What can I be certain of?  That God desires my salvation, that I become even now what heaven is, fully alive through perfect love.  For God, 1 person lost is too many and 99 saved is too few!  I am certain that He desires my salvation and all the means are there, for nothing is impossible for God.  The pattern for my salvation is that of the Blessed Virgin, who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!

I can be certain of God's desire that I be saved, but not that I have fully cooperated in this desire!  Even as I have accepted the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation, and the only sacrifice infinitely pleasing to the Father, still my life has to be fully processed within this mystery, this passion of Jesus.  Strive! Strive!  Strive, Jesus says, taking nothing for granted ever!  Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

To put it another way, the process of my salvation is the same as Jesus.  His passion, and my being incorporated into his body through baptism, initiate me into the process, but like Him I am in anguish until it is accomplished!  God desires all people to be saved, but is in anguish until and unless it is accomplished.  Such is my attitude!

While enjoying great protection and the many great things God has done for me, still the Gospel is clear that my entire being must also be processed and reformed through the passion, the paschal mystery, and the heart of Jesus.  Nothing less than heaven gets into heaven, and God is too loving to save me without myself, without my being capable of experiencing what heaven really is!

So Catholics, even and especially as we endure suffering that is unfair and beyond our understanding, and what we least want, always embrace the discipline of the Lord as a key part of the process of working out salvation with fear and trembling.  Training, teaching, suffering, adversity, consequences and punishment, are all part of the necessary way in which love is purified, and made ready to participate in the kingdom of Heaven.

Nothing less than heaven gets into heaven.  That's why we're underdogs, and the only story of salvation is the story of us beating all the odds and allowing our entire being to be processed in the paschal mystery of Jesus.

Am I saved?  Answer it the way Jesus does, as an underdog.  Strive to enter through the narrow gate.

+mj  

 

When's the best time to risk it all?

Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time C1

10 August 2025

St. Ann Church - Prairie Village, Kansas

AMDG

When's the best time to bet it all?

You know from the urgency demanded in the Gospel what the answer is. Don't pretend you don't.

August 10th is the Memorial of St. Lawrence, who knew when to bet it all.  Martyrs are always ready for the moment.  Lawrence witnessed the martyrdom of the Pope and several of his brother deacons under the 3rd Century persecution of the Roman emperor Valerian.  Lawrence's life was spared so that he could gather all the treasure of the Church and hand it over to the Roman authorities.  You may remember what Lawrence did.  He gave anything the Church had to the poor and then presented the poor little ones to the Emperor as the Church's greatest treasure.  For this Lawrence was grilled at the stake, but with his life already given away through supernatural love, courage, faith and hope, he famously said to his persecutors - I'm done on this side, you can turn me over now!  He is the patron saint of barbecue - so feel free to honor him by having some today. 

Lawrence knew when to bet it all?  Do you?  Do I?

The biggest risk I've ever made was deciding to go to seminary.  I was set to go to medical school, and had someone I wanted to marry and have a family with.  I gave those up to go to seminary, and gave them up for good when I promised obedience and celibacy, to conform my life more closely to the one whom I represent in personal Christi capitis.  Not nearly as dramatically as Abraham giving up Isaac, did I sacrifice the chance for my own kids, as a sign of faith in God's ability to raise even from the dead.  It's a test of faith that the Church invites of her priests even today. 

I was asked in my final year of seminary if I thought celibacy would be hard.  It was a trick question, and I failed it miserably.  I thought it wouldn't be that hard, that the risk of faith was more behind me than in front of me.  Most of my classmates answered correctly, that it's a risk of faith that only gets more dramatic over time.  Harder, and yes better, but no less dramatic.  

When's the best time to bet it all?  I think you know the answer. Do I?

This week I faced the question at least 100 times - Father, are you ready for school to start?  I hate the question.  I bet you do too. So why do we keep asking it?  It's because readiness and urgency are proper to one who is good at life.  Are you ready is a favorite question for one who knows the best time to bet it all is right now, in the dramatic moment that is right before us.  Procrastination costs us everything, even the kingdom of heaven.  Life is not to be lived in regret or fantasy, but by faith.

Faith is that readiness to respond to what is being made possible right now.  New and greater things are always opening up before us.  Faith is the exploration of the more that attains to the fullness of life and the kingdom of heaven.  Faith is a readiness to respond to the faith that God has first placed in you. Through the gift of Jesus God has bet it all on you.  God got to Mass before you tonight, ready to serve you at that banquet of charity, believing in the love you are capable of.

Since becoming pastor here you all have challenged me not to be afraid of what is possible, and definitely not to settle for what I can manage or control.  Now is the time for me to bet it all on you, in a more dramatic and compelling way than I have ever risked before.  Now is the time for me to believe that each one of you is made for this moment in time, and to believe that you will all respond to the chance before you to attempt the impossible, suffer and die for what you believe, to believe in the fullness of life available in Christ Jesus, and to play your critical part in His redemptive mission.

When is the time to bet it all in faith?  If you haven't guessed it yet, you better answer now.  It's not in the past.  It's not in the future.  The time is always now.

+mj  

Who knows me?

Homily

4th Sunday of Easter C1

Good Shepherd Sunday and World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Mother's Day

11 May 2024

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

Who really knows me?

I have a ton of fun with the kids who run around St. Ann.  They're always asking if I know their name!  One of them this week asked me if I knew her mom's name, because she saw me talking to her mom!  I teased back at her - did your mom forget her name?  Is that why you're asking me?  If so, I'm so sorry that your mom forget her name.  This teasing escalated the conversation, and the little girl ended up screaming at me to remember her mom's name!

We don't really have a parish here until everyone wants to know everyone. There's no such thing as an anonymous Christianity.  Jesus has called us into intimate communion with Him and each other.  None of us makes sense in isolation; much less so our faith.  The only real chance we have of knowing ourselves is by first being known.   Otherwise, we remain enigmas and mysteries to ourselves and each other.  We don't really have a parish until and unless everyone wants to know everyone.

Our need to be known is immense, as deep as the mystery of a human soul.   When I am interested in God and others, and them in me, life takes on its full excitement and adventure.  When I stop being curious, and conclude that nobody really knows me, nobody cares, and nobody can do anything, despair and death lurk in wait for my soul.

There's someone who says He knows you like no one else.  Those who belong to Him know His voice, the most unique voice in human history, the only voice that leads those who follow it to eternal life.

There can be many powerful voices in our lives. The voice of our mothers is usually one.  Not always, but usually, and it can even be powerful in its absence.  I remember a ton of things my mom said to me. Now that she has been gone almost 25 years, I can't hear her tone anymore in my head.  That makes me sad, and I miss it.  But my mom's voice was unmistakable.  She always believed I was capable of more.  She never wanted me to settle.  She told me not to be a priest if my heart was not in it.  Most of all, she said that I was not myself around any of the girls I brought home to Hoxie, especially the ones who didn't know how to peel carrots or potatoes.   My mom knew me like no one else.  She knew my blind spots.  Her voice is still powerful even in its absence.  It's because she knew me in ways I could never know myself.

There are two ways of knowing things.  There's the factual way and the personal way, the way of ideas and the way of experience.  Guess which way teaches us more?  You know the answer well.  We learn more by experience, and by story, than by facts and ideas.  The latter aren't bad, but we all know ultimately that what matters is not what you know, but who you know.

Most of us have three competing voices in our souls.  The first one is the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of encouragement, inviting us to go where the the brave Shepherd has gone before. For our shepherd, the Lord, is also a sheep who was shorn naked, killed and eaten.  His is the voice of encouragement, that there is no heroic nor sacrificial love that's impossible for you.  It's the voice that echoes the first words of the Risen Christ, and that of Pope Leo XIV - Peace be with you!

The next voice is the voice of discouragement.  You're not good enough, and you never will be, so you might as well not try.  It's the voice of shame that divides us against ourselves.

The third voice is ours, it's the voice that desperately seeks control out of fear of the pain and vulnerability of the human experience.  It's the voice that just wants to be alone, and seeks to avoid, escape and hide.  

Which of these three is the most powerful voice in your life?  Only one leads to true and everlasting life.  It's the voice of encouragement.  You're capable of greater and more heroic love that you think you are.  Peace be with you.  Be not afraid.  Leave your old self behind, pick up your cross, and follow me, for the sake of the joy and new life that lies ahead. Amen.

+mj  

Will I show up to confession?

Homily

2nd Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village

27 April 2025

AMDG

Will I show up to confession?

I know, I know.  Lent is over. The penitential season of Lent has passed over into the graces of Easter, through which we rise with Christ to newness of life.  Still, if we are paying attention , we will notice that the best confessions are not Lenten ones, but Easter ones.

It is the Risen Christ who appears to the scared apostles who is eager to forgive.  The Risen Christ of Easter comes not for revenge, but to show the greatness of the Divine Mercy.  Peace be with you!  I come not for revenge, but for forgiveness.  Then He breathes on them and asks them to be instruments of this divine mercy.  This all happens not during Lent, but in the new days of Easter!

Then we have Thomas' confession. You might notice that he forgets to confess missing Mass on the first day of the Lord's resurrection.  But he doesn't make the same mistake twice.  He shows up on the 8th day of recreation, and confesses that he's scared, and he has doubts.  So do I, Thomas!  Thanks for being my hero and for confessing on my behalf.  I'm not from Missouri, but I'm a show-me kind of guy.  I know believing is seeing, not seeing is believing, but I'm just to scared to believe.  Lord, help my unbelief.

Thomas' Easter confession is received within the embrace of divine mercy.  If you don't trust that there is a love stronger than death, then feel for yourself.  I feel so blessed that Pope Francis, the icon of the Risen Christ, fought like hell to let us see one last time that there is a love stronger than death, as he went through the square on Easter Monday.  Pope John Paul did the same exactly 20 years ago, as he appeared at the window overlooking the square, even though he was completely paralyzed and unable to talk, so that we could see his wounds and feel them, and sense his trust in the divine mercy that begets eternal life.  

What heroes are in our midst, who allow me to place my doubts in a love stronger than death within the wounds of Christ as manifested in his beloved disciples and in his vicars the Holy Fathers of our faith.

I have only to move myself behind the closed door of the confessional, and beg for the mercy to heal my doubts, to confess like Thomas eventually did, so that I can proclaim, even at the cost of my own life, the truth of the Resurrection!

What's my last word?

Homily

Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection 

20 April 2025

St. Ann Parish Prairie Village    

AMDG

If you've been following my pivotal questions during this Triduum, you'll notice they're all ultimate questions tied to the unique liturgical actions of these ultimate holy days.

Holy Thursday - What's your never - tied to the washing of feet.

Good Friday - How would you give your last kiss - tied to the veneration of the cross.

Now to Easter Sunday - What's my last word - tied to the renewal of my baptismal promises.

If I could say only one word for the rest of my life, what would be my final word?

I bet you can guess what mine is.  Risen!  Risen!  Risen!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  He is risen just as He said!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

That's my word, tonight and forever.  Risen! On this word, and on this word alone, I am happy to bet everything I am and all that I ever will be.

Tonight I witness to you that this word -  Risen -is the most mysterious, dramatic, profound and TRUE word that has ever been spoken or could ever be spoken in all of human history.  Tonight I sing this word - Risen - in liturgical concert with the angels, the saints, and yes, the martyrs who died for the truth of this word even today, including Fr. Arul Carasala who died in the line of fire two weeks ago, betting his life on this word - Risen.  Today, I shout into the darkness that threatens so much and so many that this word - Risen - is the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true.  

Risen - that's my word - now and forever.  What's yours

Today my prayer is that you too will dare to shout into the world a word that is your destiny to proclaim.  Today my prayer is that each of us and all of us, led by our catechumens and candidates, and the great risk of faith they speak tonight, will get off the couch!  Today is no time for a virtual Easter.  To hell with that.  I pray that in this Church today there is no sideline, no bench, no bystanders!

You have my answer.  I dare you to proclaim 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 power. 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 Friday afternoon, is powerless in the face of death.  St. Paul said it best - unless Jesus is Risen, all of us here are just a bunch of pathetic losers.

But I don't profess this word tonight because I need it to be true.  My conviction about the empty tomb of Jesus is not a vain wish that justifies my life or helps numb me to the sting of death.  No, this word is the fruit of being a real disciple of Jesus.  Jesus never invites you 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 strong as death.  I pray my discipleship has been a courageous one, filtered through the cross of Jesus where I have learned from Him how to face reality, fear nothing and avoid nothing.

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

The paschal mystery - the passover mystery.  It's real people!  It's the only thing that ultimately works, every time!

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 as a disciple, through the risk of faith, I have discovered to be true.  On this truth - not this wish - but this truth - I am happy to bet everything that I am and ever will be.  Not because I need to, not because I'm afraid not to, but because I want to.

My word is Risen!  You've got next!

You're invited shortly to beat me or to join me.  If you dare join, renew your baptismal promises on Easter Sunday.  If you join, please don't do anything cheap or easy or pitiable.  This is conviction Sunday - the word means 'with victory'.  As our profession goes so goes our participation in the greatest victory of all time!  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 forever the meaning of life and the destiny of man more than any other, to be the word of your life.  On this most holy moment set apart precisely for your risk of faith, I invite you to say the most mysterious, dramatic, profound and yes true word that has ever been or could ever be spoken.

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

+mj  

How would I spend my last kiss?

Homily

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

17 April 2025

St. Ann Church Prairie Village

AMDG

Who's the best kisser here today?  Is it you? Is it me?

Welcome to the Church's annual smackdown, her ultimate kissing contest.

What if I had only one kiss left to give?

Would I give it now?

Would I give it here?

I can tell you for sure how I would NOT spend my last kiss - on the kiss cam!  I hate the kiss cam.  I don't go to sporting events for PDA.  The inventor of the kiss cam should be canceled.  I don't care if everyone but me loves it.  I live in perpetual fear that some cameral operator far far away would think it funny to zoom in on a priest during the kiss cam.  So whenever it comes on, I make a beeline for the beer line.  The kiss cam - it's a hard no for me.

Yet I do have within me one passionate kiss.  I do have an expression of adoration that is ultimate within me.  How will I use the last kiss of my life?  Will I spend it now?  Will I spend it here?

The last kiss in today's Passion story is that of Judas.  It's the kiss of betrayal.  It's the kiss of death.  You just participated in the drama.  Jesus is dead, and you killed him.  You kissed him.  That's where the story is. That's where the story could end - his and yours.

Yet what if you have one kiss left?  Would you spend it now?  Would you spend it here?

The Good Friday liturgy is famous for its liturgical kiss.  When you approach the crucifix in just a few minutes, you get to choose what your kiss means.  Will it be the most passionate kiss of your life?  Will it be the kiss of betrayal, the kiss of death, and where your story will end.  Or will it be a passionate kiss of devotion for a love that dares to die, and where you story truly begins?

The story of God's love for you, and your response, turns on the axis of the cross.  There's an ultimate decision to be made.  The axis of the cross that we hold in veneration can only mean two thing.  It's either the final defeat of love, or the precise place where new and eternal life begins.  

So what if you only had one kiss left to give?  Would you give it now? Would you give it here?

+mj  

What's my superpower?

Homily

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

23 February 2025

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

What's my superpower?

Well, there are a lot of things I'd like to be good at.  I'm sure you know the feeling.  I'd like to be in better shape, to be able to play baseball like Bobby Witt, to know what it takes to get everyone to Mass, to be a world-class organist . . the list is endless.  I'm grateful for all the gifts and talents I have, but never satisfied.  

Yet today's Gospel says that I already possess the greatest superpower the world has ever seen, a superpower that far surpasses any I could ever achieve, hope or ask for. 

I have the superpower of mercy.  I can forgive.  There is nothing greater.  So says Jesus.  Because I have received this superpower, Jesus commands that I use it.  In case you didn't notice. the Gospel of Jesus admits of no exceptions.  As I have been forgiven, so I am to forgive. It's what distinguishes a real Christian from a fake one.  It's the ultimate thing that makes us children of God, not children of this world.  It is what heaven is made of - forgiveness.  It is what hell lacks - forgiveness.  Hell instead is ripe with judgment.  Jesus says to stop it, lest that be my destiny.

Pope Francis, who needs our prayers by the way, reminds us as the world's superpower, the most prosperous and free nation on earth, that our greatest power is not to dominate or control, but to serve and to forgive.  Those without status among us are more than problems or criminals, they are the children of God whom the Lord wants us to redeem with His merciful love.  Pope Francis reminds us that if we ever fail to see God and ourselves in the most desperate and vulnerable, we have lost our souls, and the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven. Even as we can applaud efforts to restore order and end dysfunction, we must grow even more in mercy and compassion, for that is who our Father in heaven is - merciful to all without distinction.

The world is moving fast, and it's only picking up steam.  The Pope is sick, our Bishops are suing the United States for overdue contract funding for the legal settlement of refugees, while reminding the Administration that babies are great, but IVF is immoral, and while applauding efforts to restore the rule of law and ending dysfunction, while urging that all people be treated with dignity and compassion.  The Gospel needs to be applied to the signs of our times, and those times are dramatic and explosive indeed!

Yet the most urgent reminder of today's Gospel is that you and I have been forgiven; therefore, the greatest superpower we ever will have is the capacity to forgive.  To be a real Christian, no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in, is to launch a pre-emptive strike into the world, and to echo the self-sacrificiing and merciful gift of Jesus.  Nobody takes my life from me.  I freely give it.   Those who live the law of the gift know that the grace and mercy of Jesus conquers all things, and there is no fear of any enemy.  For all is already given and forgiven.  

What's my greatest superpower?  It's the supernatural mercy of God that I have received, a mercy that turns the wisdom of the world upside down, the superpower that alone build the kingdom of heaven.

My greatest superpower is to forgiven even when I don't want to or have to.  My greatest superpower is to always forgive, as I have been forgiven.

+mj