Sunday, October 21, 2018

HOMILIA–29th Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario–Misioneros

             (See translated version below)

"Yo soy una misión en esta tierra y para eso estoy en este mundo." Las palabras del Papa Francisco.
               Hace cien años, esta semana, la sociedad misionera estadounidense Maryknoll comenzó a enviar sacerdotes al mundo.
Muchos de ellos vinieron a América Central y llevaron a la Iglesia Católica a áreas donde la Iglesia no existía.
Tal vez algunos de ustedes conozcan a un sacerdote de Maryknoll?
El propósito de estos primeros encuentros era traer la Buena Nueva de Jesucristo con el objetivo de convertir a las personas al cristianismo.
Rápidamente, los sacerdotes misioneros de Maryknoll se dieron cuenta de que también estaban siendo transformados por estos encuentros.
               A través de estos encuentros se dieron cuenta de que Dios ya está presente en varias personas y culturas. Esto cambió la comprensión de la misión de Maryknoll.
               Cuando los obispos se reunieron en el Segundo Concilio Vaticano, dijeron en Ad Gentes que estamos invitados a participar en la misión de amor de Dios, y que es a través del encuentro con otros, particularmente con los marginados, que somos mutuamente transformados.
Los obispos también afirmaron que todos los fieles son llamados a través del bautismo para participar en esta gran aventura de misión.
El Papa Francisco nos dio un mapa de la ruta para el discipulado misionero en su primera Exhortación Apostólica Evangelii Gaudium (La Alegría del Evangelio).
               Cuando llevamos la misión de amor de Dios a las periferias de nuestra fe, aprendemos a estar cómodos estando incómodos. Esto no es fácil, pero si permitimos que la experiencia nos transforme, podemos encontrar a Cristo en nuestro encuentro.
               En la primera lectura de hoy escuchamos a los apóstoles discutiendo sobre quién será el primero en el Reino. Jesús les dice que el primero será el esclavo de todos, el que sirve a los demás. De esto se trata la misión.
Este fin de semana es el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones en la Iglesia Católica.
Un discípulo misionero es aquel que hace la transición de un
mundo a otro mundo y, a través de este encuentro, se transforma y transforma a los demás por lo que aportan a la nueva relación.
Probablemente todos comprendan la migración de un mundo a otro, mejor que otros en nuestra comunidad parroquial. Has vivido esta experiencia y puedes entender lo difícil que es hacer esta transición. Has aprendido a estar cómodo estando incómodo.
Has aprendido un nuevo idioma y cultura. Son una familia de discípulos misioneros transformados por sus experiencias y transformando a otros por tu testimonio.
               Además de ser el diácono asignado a esta comunidad parroquial, también trabajó para Maryknoll liderando a los diáconos a la misión. Cada año, vamos de misión a El Salvador, El Paso, Ciudad Juárez, Jamaica y África.
               Nuestros viajes de inmersión misionera nos permiten experimentar la Iglesia fuera de nuestro país y aprender de los discípulos misioneros en estos países, especialmente de aquellos que son pobres y marginados.
               Mi hermano Diácono Leonel Yoque y su equipo en Discípulos Misioneros están trabajando con la comunidad de habla española en los Estados Unidos haciendo lo mismo, llamándonos a todos a la misión.
Traje conmigo la nueva revista Misioneros de Maryknoll y tendré copias conmigo después de la misa. Si está interesado en aprender más sobre la misión, este es un buen recurso sobre cómo convertirse en un mejor discípulo misionero.
La misión sucede cuando salimos de nuestra zona de confort y aprendemos a estar cómodos estando incómodos.  
Te invito a que te unas a mí en la misión y te dejes transformar por la experiencia.
               Ahora, debo confesar que mi español no es muy bueno. Entonces, mi español conversacional es muy limitado.
               Gracias por permitirme servir a nuestra comunidad de habla española en Inmaculada Concepción como su diácono.
               El padre Jose me ha pedido que predique una vez al mes en español.
               Gracias por su paciencia (con mi español y con mi predicación) mientras paso a este nuevo papel en nuestra comunidad parroquial. Yo también debo estar cómodo estando incómodo.
               Dios los bendiga a ustedes y a sus familias. Y gracias por toda la belleza y las bendiciones que traen a nuestra comunidad parroquial.
Te dejo con la oración misionera de Maryknoll:
"Que seamos profetas Proclamando el Reino de Dios en todas las cosas.
Que seamos místicos experimentando un verdadero sentido de unidad con Dios, Con toda la humanidad y toda la creación.
La misión es ir a un no-lugar, servir a los don nadie de Dios y (a los ojos del mundo) no lograr nada.
En esto que podamos darnos cuenta que estamos en el centro de lo que la hora, significado e historia se tratan.
Oh Dios, danos el coraje para soñar nuevos sueños, pensar nuevos pensamientos y avanzar hacia el futuro con el Espíritu.
Oh Dios, llénanos con la alegría del Evangelio y que podamos pasarlo a otros, pulsado, fluyendo sobre, a medida completa, por encima y más allá. Amén."
 ______________________________________________________
“I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world.”  The words of Pope Francis. 
One hundred years ago this week the American mission society Maryknoll began sending priests into the world.
Many of them came to Central America and brought the Catholic Church to areas where the Church did not exist.
Maybe some of you know Maryknoll priest?
The purpose of these early encounters was to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ with the goal of converting people to Christianity.
Quickly, Maryknoll missionary priests realized they also were being transformed by these encounters.
Through these encounters they realized God is already present in various people and cultures. This changed the Maryknoll understanding of mission.
When the bishops met at the Second Vatican Council, they said in Ad Gentes it is God’s mission of love that we are invited to participate in, and that it is through encounter with others--particularly those on the margins--that we are mutually transformed.
The bishops also affirmed that all the faithful are called through baptism to participate in this grand adventure of mission.
Pope Francis gave us a road map for missionary discipleship in his first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). 
When we take God’s mission of love to the peripheries of our faith we learn to become comfortable being uncomfortable. This is not easy, but if we allow the experience to transform us we can find Christ in our encounter.
In today’s first reading we hear the apostles arguing over who is going to be first in the Kingdom. Jesus tells them the one who is first will be the one who is a slave to all, the one who serves others.  This is what mission is all about.
This weekend is World Mission Sunday in the Catholic Church.
A missionary disciple is one who transitions from one world to another world and through this encounter is transformed, and transforms others by what they bring to the new relationship.
You all probably understand the migration from one world to another better than others in our parish community. You’ve lived this experience and can understand how difficult it is to make this transition.  You’ve learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
You’ve learned a new language and culture. You’re a family of missionary disciples transformed by your experiences and transforming others by your witness. 
In addition to being the deacon assigned to this parish community, I also work for Maryknoll leading deacons into mission.  Every year, we go on mission to El Salvador, El Paso y Ciudad Juarez, Jamaica and Africa.
Our mission immersion trips allow us to experience Church outside our country and learn from missionary disciples in these countries, especially from those who are poor and marginalized. 
My brother deacon Leonel Yoque and his team in Discipulos Misioneros are working with the Spanish community in the United States doing the same thing, calling us all into mission.
I brought with me the new Maryknoll magazine Misioneros and will have copies with me after Mass.  If you are interested in learning more about mission, this is a good resource on how to better become a missionary disciple.
Mission happens when we step out of our comfort zone and learn to become comfortable being uncomfortable. 
            I invite you to join me in mission and allow yourself to be transformed by the experience.
Now, I must confess my Spanish is not very good.  So, my conversational Spanish is very limited. 
Thank you for allowing me to serve our Spanish community at Immaculate Conception as your deacon. 
Father Joseph has asked me to preach once a month in Spanish. 
Thank you for your patience (with my Spanish and with my preaching) as I step into this new role in our parish community. I too must become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
God bless you and your families.  And thank you for all the beauty and blessings you bring to our parish community.
I’ll leave you with Maryknoll’s missionary prayer:
 “May we be prophets
proclaiming the Reign of God in all things.
May we be mystics
experiencing a real sense of at-one-ness with God,
With all humanity and all of creation.
Mission is to go to a no-place, serve God’s nobodies
and (in the eyes of the world) accomplish no-thing.
In this may we realize we are at the center
of what time, meaning and history are all about.
O God, give us the courage to dream new dreams,
think new thoughts and go forward into the future
with the Spirit.
O God, fill us with the joy of the Gospel
and may we pass it on to others, pressed down, flowing
over, full measure, above and beyond. 

Amen.”

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Homily – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Safety Bubble

Wisdom 7:7-11
Hebrews 4:12-13
Mark 10:17-30
        ______________________________________________________________________
Jesus has just burst the bubble of a rich young man who thinks he’s doing everything right. He’s following the Law of the Church. He gives to the poor. But Jesus expects more of us.  Much more.    
           Remember the story years ago about the Bubble Boy?
Young American boy David Vetter suffered from a severe immunodeficiency disease. It required him to live inside a bubble, a sterile chamber where his parents could only touch him through the use of plastic gloves attached to the chamber walls. 
Bubble boy was such an intriguing news story that it was featured in a memorable 70’s movie starring John Travolta, in a popular 80s song by musician Paul Simon, and was even part of a popular episode on the TV show Seinfeld in the 90s.
            Isn’t it true that we all tend to live inside our own safety bubbles?  These are physical, psychological and spiritual bubbles of security. 
Jesus is here to pop our bubbles.
For some, our safety bubble is the size of our 401K or retirement pension. For others, our safety bubble is our nice home or fancy car. For others, our safety bubble is our circle of like-minded friends or our political persuasion.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is focused on the rich young man and his inordinate attachment to his wealth. The man has put his faith and trust in his riches, not in Jesus.

Jesus knows “security in possessions and in money can pull people away from depending on God as the true source of (our) lives, here and hereafter.”
In Jesus’ day, riches were seen as a sign of God’s favor, blessing and right relation.
 Do we sometimes think the same thing today?
            Jesus is telling us there’s so much more to life if we just allow him to pop our bubbles, put our trust solely in Him, and follow Him into the Kingdom, and to the poor.  This is God's mission of love for us. 
            I was reminded of these bubbles we tend to live in during a recent Maryknoll mission immersion trip to Jamaica.  For most Americans, Montego Bay, Jamaica, is the place of white sandy beaches and all-inclusive luxury resorts. This is the safety bubble most live in when visiting Jamaica.
            But this is not where the real beauty of Jamaica is found.
            We found that beauty working with a group of Korean nuns, serving in the barrios of Montego Bay, handing out bags of groceries and school supplies to those living in shacks in the poorest part of town. The smiles on the faces of the adults and children were a just glimpse at the expected smiles to be found in Heaven.

            We found that beauty spending the day with physically and intellectually disabled young people at a place called Blessed Assurance located in a mountainous area just outside town. There we experienced joy and laughter like never before.  Our presence was met with an abundance of happiness and love, as we helped these young people with their art projects, told jokes, played, and at lunchtime helped to feed those who could not feed themselves.
                
             
          We found that beauty visiting a Catholic hospice where we met Jesus. His real name was Renville.  He fell out of a bread fruit tree nine years ago and is permanently confined to a bed due to a broken back. He lost the use of his lower body and has only partial use of his upper body. But Renville proceeded to share with us his own love of Jesus, a joy for living, and proclaimed a homily that would put any homily to shame.  We spoke for a long time, and at the end of our chat, he drew me in close for a big hug, and whispered in my ear, “If I get to heaven first, I’ll save you a seat next to me. I’ll be the first to welcome you home.”
My brothers and sisters, this is the real beauty of the Kingdom of God. This was the real beauty on our mission trip to Jamaica. Not the artificial beauty found at luxury resorts, behind locked security gates and all-you-can-eat gourmet restaurants. 
When Jesus pops our safety bubbles, we enter into the Kingdom. And in these encounters we find more beauty than is found at any beach resort.
The bubbles we live in even extend to how we see the world.
            Catholic blogger Elizabeth Scalia recently wrote on Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire website, “Informationally, the world is ever-broadening, but our interests continue to shrink as we close in on ourselves. In our reading, our entertainment, our news venues, our social media, our political involvements, we seek out echo chambers we may depend upon to repeat US back to ourselves in a reassuring loop, with dissenting ideas continually pruned away for the sake of purity. Settled within virtual enclaves of the like-minded, we bask in an illusion that most sensible people think as we do, and when we are forced to venture out beyond our unsullied orthodoxies and ideologies the world feels increasingly dangerous and disordered. We cannot wait to get back to our ‘safe zones’ which are really just aspects of ourselves reflected back to US.”
            She goes on to say, “We used to read about ‘the boy in the bubble’ and feel sorry for him. He was trapped within a limited world free of exposure to even the ‘good’ germs and bacteria that keep our immune systems adept, functional, and ready to withstand and beat back infection. Now, we have become him. Though our bodies may wander freely, we keep our minds and spirits tethered to what is comfortable, unchallenging, and pristine, until our mental and spiritual immune systems become so weakened that a mere difference of opinion feels like an assault.”
            These are just a sampling of safety bubbles Jesus wants to pop in our lives.
            So, what bubble do you need Jesus to pop in your life?
Jesus is calling us all to greater encounters and relationship-building far beyond our comfort zones.
But will we walk away like the rich young man, or join Jesus in serving the Kingdom?