HOMILY – 6th Sunday of Easter – The Power of Love

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Today Jesus is talking about the transformative power of love.

In his farewell speech to his disciples, Jesus is reminding them to love as he loved, but most importantly, to love each other as he loved each one of them.

This love creates a union, a bond that is hard to break.

Scripture scholars say, “the real proof of that union of wills which is called love… will ensure the permanence of Christ’s (love)”^[1] dwelling within them.

This union between Christ and his disciples is the point of the Vine and Branches metaphor Jesus is using to make his point.

Without this union of wills there would be no way for the ministry of Jesus to grow once he is gone.

This entire conversation comes immediately before Jesus talks about the hostile world the disciples will be facing. The first hearers of John’s Gospel understood this hostile world well. They had lived through the persecutions and public executions.

The disciples had only a glimpse of it, and better understood once Jesus was taken away to be crucified.

           What creates this union of wills and the connection to Christ is to keep his commandments of loving God and loving others. In loving God and others, we enter into a friendship with Christ that can powerfully shape how we live our lives if we choose to let it.

           “The friendship between Christ and every Christian, which our Lord expresses so clearly in this passage, led St John of the Cross to write: ‘Call him Beloved to spur him to answer your prayers, for when God is loved he is not slow to respond to the petitions of the one who loves him. […] The Christian soul can truly call him Beloved when his mind and heart are set on him alone’ (Spiritual Canticle, 1, 13).”^[2]

           Remaining in Jesus’ love is what his homily is all about. Because when we remain in his love our love will bear much fruit in spreading the Gospel.

“The Greek word for ‘remain,’ menō, occurs eleven times in these few verses, a repeated insistence on the return of Jesus by indwelling (in us).”^[3]

           I’ve seen how remaining in Christ’s love bears much fruit firsthand. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Our MercyWatch team in Snohomish County grew from a handful to hundreds in our first year in 2016.

Recently, a newly retired team member raised 100-thousand dollars for a medical van in just a few short months during the pandemic. 

Earlier this year, our team was tasked by the Snohomish County Health District to vaccinate the homeless population with the COVID 19 vaccine. Our efforts are well underway as we participate in what Pope Francis calls a culture of encounter on the peripheries. This is where love is put into action. This is all thanks to the transformative power of Jesus’ love flowing through his ministries.

We know the spirit is alive and well in our homeless outreach and street medicine ministry. We know Jesus is present every time our team goes out. And because our branches are connected to Jesus’ vine we are able to produce abundant fruit.

(St. Patrick Version)

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(Christ Our Hope Version - additional content)

Here’s another important passage of the Gospel to unpack. Jesus said:  

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.”

Bishop Robert Barron says there is something powerful about this line in that within it is the spiritual life we are all called to. 

Then he goes on to say, “The sheerest sign that someone is not living the spiritual life correctly is… a deeply unhappy attitude. That’s the sign that you don’t have the spirit in you. The flag of the Holy Spirit is joy… If we’re missing that we’re missing the entire program. If you’re living your spiritual life thinking, we’ll I’ve got.. my ethical life… my liturgical life and my moral life (all together), but I’m this kind of crabby, unhappy, miserable person, well then I’m missing the whole point.” 

In St. John’s First Letter we hear that the source of this powerful love is God. In other words, God is love – the source of all love.

How do we show God is love here at Christ Our Hope?

 

-          Sacred Encounters, our street ministry team goes out every Wednesday to minister to the unhoused living on the streets of downtown Seattle

-          Thanks to a generous benefactor, we now offer weekly catered dinners to Josephinum residents

 

-          The parish donated 100K to five agencies working with those on the margins last December as our Christmas gift to Seattle

 

This is how we put the transformative power of love into action in our world. 

This is how we remain in Christ’s love and bear much fruit. 

This is how our joy is complete.

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^[1] Leonard, W. (1953). The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St John. In B. Orchard & E. F. Sutcliffe (Eds.), A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (p. 1007). Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson.

^[2] The Navarre Bible: New Testament. (2008). (pp. 425–426). Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers.

^[3] Bergant, D., & Karris, R. J. (1989). The Collegeville Bible commentary: based on the New American Bible with revised New Testament (p. 1006). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. 

HOMILY – 4th Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd

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Today, we are reading what is called the Good Shepherd discourse found in John’s Gospel.

We hear the powerful words from Jesus, “My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd as witnessed by his ministry.

But there is another Good Shepherd roaming the earth today: Pope Francis.

Pope Francis’ pectoral cross is this symbol of Christ the Good Shepherd. And the Holy Father has been tending his flock since March 2013 by his words and his actions.

We see the Good Shepherd and hear his voice in everything Pope Francis does.

On the day of his ascension to the Chair of St. Peter, he humbly appeared before a crowd in St. Peter’s Square and asked for the crowd’s blessing.

Then he rode in a bus with his fellow Cardinals back to the hotel to gather his things after his election instead of riding in a limo. He rejected living in the palatial suites at the Vatican, and instead chose a residence at a retreat house with a bedroom and simple living room. His limousine is NOW a tiny, modest Fiat.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolio even chose a humble name as Pope, becoming the first Francis, a name prompted by a comment from a friend immediately upon his election as Pope.

As he was receiving more and more votes in the conclave, the cardinal sitting next to him, Brazil’s Claudio Hummes, tried to comfort his nervous friend.

After the voting reached the two-thirds majority that elected him, applause broke out. Cardinal Hummes then hugged and kissed him and told him these prophetic words: “Don’t forget the poor.”

That moment, that gesture is what inspired Bergolio to choose the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, the saint known for rejecting opulence and comfort, and embracing poverty; the saint who proclaimed the Gospel to all creatures; the saint who was never a priest, only a humble deacon.

In one of his first addresses, Pope Francis was asked by a reporter, “What kind of Church do you want?” 

He said, I want a “poor church, for the poor.”

One of Pope Francis’ most powerful directives to the Church came in December 2015 when he launched the jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy.

Mercy is shocking. Mercy is beautiful. Mercy takes your breath away. And mercy is the trademark characteristic of the Good Shepherd.

CNN news anchor Carol Costello had her faith reawakened by the Good Shepherd Pope Francis and his call of mercy. She shared her story several years ago about how the doors closed on her faith.

“I remember the day I stopped praying. It was the day after my little brother, Jimmy, died of cancer. He was 25. I was so angry at God. 

I was 27 at the time, and, like most young people I had stopped going to church. But, on that day -- that terrible day -- I desperately needed to understand why God took my brother. I called the nearest Catholic church, looking for a priest. A lady picked up the phone. ‘Can I talk with Father?’ I asked.

I wish I could say her answer was ‘yes.’

Instead, she asked me if I was a member of that particular parish. ‘Does it matter?’ I asked (At the time I lived far from my home parish). I don't remember how she responded, but the answer about my being able to see Father was clearly no.

I cried for a bit, then decided I would never ask God for anything. Clearly, his conduits on Earth did not have time for me -- a lifelong Catholic -- and sinner -- so why would he?”

But it was a conversation with a Catholic Cardinal about people who may feel outside of the church, and the actions of Pope Francis, that changed everything for Costello.

“’There is room for everyone,’ Canadian Cardinal Gerald Lacroix insisted. (The Cardinal says there are hard truths in the Gospel and in Church teaching) But that doesn't mean we reject.’”

Costello said, “That last sentiment – ‘that doesn't mean we reject.’ -- did it for me.

I finally understood why Pope Francis reawakened my faith. I always felt my church would reject me for committing the smallest of sins. Like calling a priest at a church that was not my home parish. Like NOT covering my head with a traditional veil at Easter. Like accidentally eating meat on Holy Friday…

(Cardinal) Lacroix likened … Pope (Francis)'s approach to Jesus. ‘Jesus didn't judge. Jesus did not come as a judge. He came as someone who preached and talked about the love of God… Jesus walked with sinners until the very end. He did not banish them to fires of hell, for He refused to give up on anyone.’

As the journalist said, “I can't wait to go church next Sunday. And, yes, I will bow my head and pray for forgiveness, and if I'm worthy, Christ's love.”  

The words of a CNN news anchor Carol Costello.

So, how is our Church showing the Mercy?

Each of us can make our parish a more welcoming place to newcomers.

If you see a parent struggling with a child’s behavior, offer a friendly smile, a sympathetic nod, or a helping hand. 

If you see a person exhibiting unusual behavior, understand it might be a sign of a disability or a sign of mental health distress. Embrace the person as a child of God and understand that each of us has different ways of receiving and communicating love.

If you see someone who is disheveled or out of sorts, consider that he or she might be in dire straits. Act with compassion.

And always remember, a warm smile, a nod, or a small kindness can make all the difference.

This is the behavior of the Good Shepherd. This is the behavior our Holy Father. This is the behavior he is calling us to show as we follow the Good Shepherd as a welcoming, non-judging, non-condemning Church.

Pope Francis says the Church’s “very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love” to all the world.

As we say at Christ Our Hope (St. Patrick), all are welcome.

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Today we are Anointing of the Sick.

This Sacrament provides healing and the forgiveness of sins.  It is an extraordinary sign of God’s MERCY in our lives. Our Good Shepherd today is Fr. Bryan Hersey, whose healing hands tend the flock at the First Hill Hospital ministry as chaplain.

As the Catechism states: “This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament.”

          I invite you to partake in this merciful sacrament of love today. 

HOMILY – 2nd Sunday of Easter – Go!

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Jesus is commissioning his disciples this weekend to Go!

In this Gospel passage, we find the disciples hiding out in the upper room from those who killed Jesus, afraid of their own fates, when Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.”  And everything changes.

This is the launching of the Great Commission in John’s Gospel. The Great Commission is as important to our faith now as it was then or is to our future, because without it our faith would wither and die, instead of thriving and blossoming as it has for nearly two thousand years.

Just what is the Great Commission?

It’s OK if you don’t know. A survey in 2019 found a majority of Church going Christians in the U.S. were unfamiliar with the term. Even those who knew the term, only a small percentage could explain it.

The Great Commission is not about proselytizing, but about evangelizing – preaching more with our actions as Christians than with our words.

The Great Commission is found in all four Gospels and even has a place in Acts of the Apostles.

           This version in John’s Gospel doesn’t have the same impact as ones found in Mark’s or Matthew’s Gospels.

In John, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  

That’s not as strong a definition as is found in Mark’s Gospel, “as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

          But the best version (the Hollywood movie-ending version) is found at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

In essence, Jesus is saying, “You, me, let’s go! We have work to do, and it’s urgent! Join me!”

How many of us live this Great Commission daily?

So, what exactly are we called to do?  I love what New Testament scholar and former Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright said about the mission at the heart of the Great Commission.

 “Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; … every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the Gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world — all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. This is the logic of the mission of God.”

We, my sisters and brothers, are co-missioned in this mission of love from God. That is the Great Commission.

How appropriate this passage comes as we begin baptizing new members of the Church during the Easter season after a short Lenten break.

It all started with our baptism. Through water and the spirit, we were commissioned to join Jesus is this mission of love in the world. We were sealed with Sacred Chrism to become priests, prophets and kings, sharing Jesus with the world.

In many ways, what we do today is different than what the apostles did. Or the early Christian disciples.

After their encounter with the Risen Jesus, the apostles gave up everything and walked to far way lands to share the message of the resurrection of Jesus. Most lost their lives during their Great Commission.

The early Christian disciples pooled their resources together to build up a community of followers of Jesus who daily joined in the Great Commission.

We hear how they lived in today’s first reading from Acts of the Apostles:

“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common… There was no needy person among them…”

In our culture today, some would decry, “That’s Socialism!” But that is how the early Christians lived, endured, even thrived during a time of great oppression and persecution.

How many of us could live like that today? How many of us are brave enough and committed enough to follow Jesus in this way? How many of us are that generous? Something to ponder in the coming week.

I have a new ear worm. That’s what the young people call a song that gets stuck in your head. My new favorite song is from singer Bruce Springsteen, called, “There Goes My Miracle.”

In it, he sings,

“Heartache, heartbreak

Love gives, love takes

The book of love holds its rules

Disobeyed by fools

Disobeyed by fools

There goes my miracle

Walking away, walking away”

So, do we let our miracle, Jesus Christ, just walk away?

           Or do we go! And follow him in the Great Commission?