HOMILY – Divine Mercy 2020

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Isn’t it true?  Don’t we all need to see signs of God’s Divine Mercy to help us with our doubts?  There’s a little Doubting Thomas in all of us.   

          And we usually need hindsight to see these signs and wonders of God’s Divine Mercy. 

          One such sign started to unfold on June 2^nd, 1979.  Anyone remember the significance of that date?

           No, it wasn’t the Seattle Supersonics winning a national championship – although that happened the night before.  In fact, it’s probably the reason many of us here in the Northwest don’t remember the events of June 2^nd, 1979.

           On June 2, 1979, newly elevated Polish Archbishop Karol Wojtyla returned to his homeland for the first time as Pope John Paul II. 

           As he spoke his homily at Victory Square in Old Town Warsaw, the crowd began a chant that would eventually be heard around the world. The Polish people were living under Soviet oppression and they started to shout, “We want God. We want God. We want God.” 

          That moment and Papal visit uplifted a nation’s spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement a few months later. The Solidarity movement eventually blossomed into freedom in Poland and later spread throughout the Eastern Block.

          Historians point to that moment as the day the Berlin Wall began to crumble. Soviet Communism would cease to exist a decade later when the Berlin Wall was knocked down, piece by piece, in a joyous celebration of humanity’s triumph over oppression and tyranny.

This is one of those pieces of the Berlin Wall. 

          You want a tangible sign of God’s Divine Mercy in our lifetime? It’s this little piece of a great wall that was used to crush human dignity.

         God’s Divine Mercy gives us the strength to stand together against evil and oppression, and overcome even the darkest forces in the world – even our doubts. 

          But sometimes our faith is like gold that needs to be tested by fire. We heard about that in today’s second reading. Only when our faith is tested by fire can the light of the Resurrection shine through in our lives. 

           In Christmas 1981, as a show of solidarity to the people of Poland, many families lit a candle and placed it in the windows of their homes.

          President Reagan had asked all Americans to do this during his annual Christmas address. It was our country’s way of showing spiritual unity with people struggling for freedom in Poland.

          At that same moment, a young Pole named Mirek Sztajno was working toward his PhD in Astrophysics and courting a young nurse who would later become his wife, Anna. The two were both caught up in the Solidarity movement and for the first time felt hope for the future. But their faith would be tested by fire, too.   

          Mirek and Anna’s first child, son Michael, was born just a few weeks after the communist government imposed the “Marshall Law” in Poland in 1982.

          Mirek says it was a very difficult time for the family and something they will never forget.

          They could not buy anything since the shops were completely empty and they urgently needed powdered milk for Michael since Anna could not produce enough. Desperate, they went to a nearby parish to ask for help.

          Without any check or extra questioning the nun who ran the food bank gave the family powdered milk. The milk was found in relief supplies sent by the U.S.

          It was a very difficult moment for Anna and Mirek, but God’s Divine Mercy was a light shining in the darkness.

          For five long years, I had the honor of sitting next to Dcn. Mirek Sztajno during our deacon formation weekends.

          Why do I bring up Poland, Solidarity and my dear Polish friend Dcn. Mirek?
          Today we celebrate the solemnity Divine Mercy Sunday, inspired by another Pole Sr. Faustina Kowalska, a nun of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.

          In the 1930s, just before World War Two, Sr. Faustina had visions, visitations and shared conversations with Jesus.  He asked her to create what is now called the Divine Mercy Chaplet and to paint the vision of His Merciful Divinity being poured our t from his sacred heart. 

          Problem was she didn’t know how to paint. It took her three years to find someone who would paint this image under her direction.

          Sr. Faustina wrote in her diary that Jesus told her He wanted the Divine Mercy image to be “solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.”

          Jesus said to Sister Faustina: "Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy."

          Jesus promised Sr. Faustina if you’ve gone to confession recently and take communion on Divine Mercy Sunday “complete forgiveness of sins” will be your reward. In other words, a soul is granted freedom from the oppression of sin and darkness by the light of Christ’s Divine Mercy. 

          The human spirit doesn’t function well when it’s oppressed.  Just ask the people of Poland who endured over 40 years of Soviet oppression.  

          Sister Faustina died at the age of 33 in October 1938 and is buried in what is now known as the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland. 

          Pope John Paul II instituted Divine Mercy Sunday as an annual liturgical celebration in the year 2000, and at the same time he canonized St. Faustina.

          I’m sure some of you remember what happened six years ago this weekend? 

          Pope John Paul II was made Saint John Paul the Great by Pope Francis on Divine Mercy Sunday. Interestingly enough, this famous Polish pope and saint died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.

          The Polish Pontiff made it his mission to see that those living under tyranny, oppression, and doubt experienced the freedom and peace that can only come from Christ’s Divine Mercy.

          So, if you’re experiencing doubt (and aren’t we all in the time of pandemic), you’re in good company this weekend.  

          Jesus calls us all to experience His Divine Mercy, to see it alive in our lives.  And let His Divine Mercy banish all doubt, all fear, all oppression, all darkness, and all guilt from our very souls. 

          Then and only then will His words “Peace be with you” ring true in our hearts.

Holy Thursday Homily

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For centuries before Christ, service was something people were forced to do.  Slavery produced servants who tended to the master’s every need.

But even the lowliest of slaves would never be asked to humiliate himself or herself by washing the dust-covered feet of the Master.  In Jesus’ time, it would be too insulting and too demeaning to make such a request of a slave.

That’s what made Jesus’ action so shocking to his disciples, and especially poor, naïve Peter.  

Peter is so proud and so fiercely loyal to Christ.  Little does he know that he’s about to betray his Master in a self-protecting act of human cowardice. In Jesus’ hour of need, Peter will run and hide and deny he even knows the Messiah.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is lowering himself to a station lower than a slave to teach his followers a powerful lesson of His expectations for discipleship. This is a lesson for us all.

Service out of love is not slavery.  Service out of love is stepping into a new reality demanded of the followers of the Son of God. 

Jesus makes it crystal clear when he gets out ties the towel around his waist and pours water into the basin.

“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”

After washing His disciples’ feet in preparation for their Last Supper together, Jesus delivers His most powerful message to us all. 

“I’ve given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Jesus calls us to become a loving gift of self for others.  This is what he is symbolizing in the washing of the feet.

   Seems easy enough, but it’s really not.  It’s quite hard and demanding to be Christ to others.

How do we do serve others under our current season of self-isolation? A phone call to a loved one or fellow parishioner is a good start. Just providing the ministry of presence to another is the perfect gift of service in these challenging times.

  When we serve others in communion with Christ and communion with our creator, the Holy Spirit, The Helper is unleashed and this communion with the Holy Trinity transforms our lives forever.

    Catholics are called to life in the Sacraments.  From birth to death, Catholics are given by Christ life-giving sacraments:  Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing for the Sick.

   But in receiving these sacraments, we are asked to become what we are given.  We are commanded to be a Sacrament of Service to others. 

   Pope Francis shocked the world on his first Holy Thursday when he washed the feet of criminals, Muslims and women, the same way Jesus shocked his followers with his humiliating acts of service in love today.

  And, like Peter, sometimes we can fail to understand the lesson Jesus is teaching and Pope Francis is imitating here.

The Sacrament of Service is so important that our failure to be Christ to others can impact our eternal inheritance.

But when we step into this new reality offered by Christ, our lives can change forever.

Our lives change forever because we learn the powerful message offered in today’s Gospel:  Only in serving others and denying our own self-interests, can we find the true happiness and peace. 

Yes, we will sometimes encounter Judas’ in our mission of love for others. These people are so consumed with their own personal interests that they betray others instead of serving others. This is a sad reality in all our lives. But we cannot let this deter us from serving others, even those who betray us.

 Jesus’s final hour has come.  His time has run out. 

In the final moments of his life, He points to the cross and reminds us that pouring out ourselves as a sacrifice for others is what he expects out of each and every one of us. 

This is how we gain our eternal Kingdom.  This is the key that unlocks the gates of heaven for us all. 

HOMILY - Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - Passion of Our Times

On this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, I wanted to share with you a profound reflection written by a deacon friend who lives now with his family in Guatemala. Deacon Nate Bacon has become a global leader in the ecumenical Christian movement. He’s even had the honor to meet Pope Francis for his work.

Here are his thoughts on the Passion of Our Times:

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           "What does this moment in time mean for humanity?

The tiniest of invisible things, a virus, can whip through poor and rich, red, yellow, brown, black and white – no respecter of wealth nor power, and bring economies and nations to a halt in day, and soon to our knees in a way that the work-a-day world could never have imagined outside of the reality of horror films, even just a short month ago.

We are watching thousands, and perhaps soon millions die in an instant, in the blink of an eye. And in Lent no less when we remember we are but dust.

The wisdom of the elders is being erased as the virus hungers for them first, and as overburdened systems opt instead to save the younger ones.

Then there are those many nations who will never be able to procure tests before the pestilence has already wrought its havoc and claimed the lives of so many unsuspecting souls.

Then the frivolous, from (world leaders) who claim “it will all be over by spring” and lose precious time, to young spring-breakers who say ‘the hell with it’ and keep partying at the beach in Miami, or those who have no regard for their neighbors, thinking only of themselves, defying all restrictions that might possibly save their life and the lives of many.

The world is in a Lenten fast – for those who heed the experts and the governments who are trying to save their own, our homes become penitential cells of reflection (if we have homes at all).

Yet suddenly we are offered the gift of rediscovering our family within our four walls, if we are blessed enough to be together, and an even greater gift is offered, that we are only just beginning to see: the gift of recognizing that we are one human family, facing the same threats, yet holding the same hopes as well.

Suddenly, material things mean less: entertainment diversions dry up, bars and restaurants close, and perhaps we fill the void with a flurry of online parties and games, yet even that reminds us of how much we need each other.

The younger are tempted towards relief that the disease seems to take the elders, but that mentality only leads to spiritual death. We are our sister’s and brothers’ keepers. No one’s life matters less.

The wealthy economies can somehow muster billions or trillions of dollars to try to keep the capitalist systems alive, while in the garbage dump of Guatemala City (and so many places like it) those at the bottom, who pick through the world’s trash to survive, are left devoid of work, and abandoned by government and NGOs alike.

A perfect storm that reveals how fragile we are; a lesson we should have learned long ago, yet the pride of achievement, and industrial revolution blinded us over time to the dignity of those who were excluded, enslaved, and impoverished by unrestrained greed and power, camaflouged in suits and ties and superficial smiles.

And now those who put their lives on the lines every minute of every day to help save all the lives they can, are left exposed without the protective clothing that might ensure their ability to be there for their own families, as well as the world.

This invisible virus, moving seemingly at the speed of light, is offering us a great, and severe, and costly gift, perhaps our last, if we have eyes to see. To turn again to the things that matter, to the Source of Life, to our neighbor beyond walls and borders, to the very lifeblood of our Sister Mother Earth who cradles and feeds us without complaint, even as we grasp her in a stranglehold, refusing to loosen our grip.

If we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, then this is our moment to awaken from our self-medicated slumber, and begin to ask new questions, and turn to new paradigms, to our Creator, and to our neighbor, and re-build this beautiful, yet tortured world from the bottom up, no longer upon the fragile straws of greed and false comfort, but on the solid pillars of sanity, justice, and love.

Our ancestors, and our descendants are watching this drama unfold. It is for those of us in the ring at this poignant moment, to prove our valor, solidarity, and compassion. The world awaits our response.”

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 En este Domingo de La Pasión del Señor, quería compartir con ustedes una profunda reflexión escrita por un amigo diacono que vive ahora con su familia en Guatemala. El diacono Nate Bacon se ha convertido en un líder mundial en el movimiento ecuménico cristiano. Incluso ha tenido el honor de conocer al Papa Francisco por su trabajo.

Aquí están sus pensamientos sobre la Pasión de Nuestros Tiempos:

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"¿Qué significa este momento en el tiempo de la humanidad?

La más pequeña de las cosas invisibles, un virus, puede azotar a través de pobres y ricos, rojos, amarillos, marrones, negros y blancos - nada respetuoso de la riqueza ni del poder, ni de llevar a las economías y a las naciones a un alto, y pronto de rodillas de una manera que el mundo del trabajo a día a día nunca podría haberlo imaginado fuera de la realidad de las películas de terror, incluso hace pocos meses.

Estamos viendo a miles, y tal vez pronto a millones morir en un instante, en un abrir y cerrar de ojos. Y en Cuaresma no serán menos, cuando recordemos que no somos más que polvo. La sabiduría de los ancianos se está borrando porque el virus los toma primero, y como sistemas sobrecargados optan en su lugar por salvar a los más jóvenes. Luego están esas muchas naciones que nunca podrán hacerse pruebas antes de que la pestilencia ya haya causado estragos y se haya cobrado la vida de tantas almas desprevenidas.

Luego los frívolos, desde (los líderes mundiales) que afirman "todo habrá terminado para la primavera" y pierden un precioso tiempo, hasta los jóvenes que vacacionan en primavera y dicen 'al infierno con el virus' y siguen de fiesta en las playas de Miami, o aquellos que no toman en cuenta a sus vecinos, pensando sólo en ellos mismos, desafiando todas las restricciones que posiblemente podrían salvar su vida y la de muchos.

El mundo está en un ayuno cuaresmal – para aquellos atentos a los expertos y a los gobiernos que están tratando de salvar a los suyos, nuestros hogares se convierten en células penitenciales de reflexión (si tenemos hogares aún).

Sin embargo, de repente se nos ofrece el don de redescubrir nuestra familia dentro de nuestras cuatro paredes, si estamos lo suficientemente bendecidos para estar juntos, y se ofrece un don aún mayor, que apenas estamos empezando a ver: el don de reconocer que somos una sola familia humana, enfrentando las mismas amenazas, pero teniendo las mismas esperanzas también.

De repente, las cosas materiales significan menos: las desviaciones de entretenimiento se secan, los bares y restaurantes se cierran, y tal vez llenamos el vacío con un aluvión de festines y juegos en línea, sin embargo, incluso eso nos recuerda lo mucho que nos necesitamos el uno al otro.

Los más jóvenes son tentados por el alivio de que la enfermedad parece tomar a los ancianos, pero esa mentalidad sólo conduce a la muerte espiritual. Somos los guardianes de nuestros hermanos y hermanas. La vida de nadie importa menos.

Las economías ricas pueden de alguna manera reunir miles de millones o billones de dólares para tratar de mantener vivos los sistemas capitalistas, mientras que en el basurero de la ciudad de Guatemala (y tantos lugares como ese) los que están en el fondo, los que recogen la basura del mundo para sobrevivir, se quedan sin trabajo y abandonados por el gobierno y por las ONGs.

Una tormenta perfecta que revela lo frágiles que somos; una lección que debimos haber aprendido hace mucho tiempo, sin embargo, el orgullo del logro y la revolución industrial nos cegó con el tiempo a la dignidad de aquellos que fueron excluidos, esclavizados y empobrecidos por la codicia y el poder sin restricciones, camuflados en trajes, corbatas y superficiales sonrisas.

Y ahora aquellos que ponen sus vidas en riesgo cada minuto para ayudar a salvar todas las vidas que pueden, se quedan expuestos sin la ropa protectora necesaria que podría asegurar su capacidad de estar para sus propias familias, así como para el mundo.

Este virus invisible, que se mueve aparentemente a la velocidad de la luz, nos ofrece un don grande, severo y costoso, tal vez el último, si tenemos ojos para ver. El voltear nuevamente a las cosas que importan, a la fuente de vida, a nuestro prójimo más allá de los muros y las fronteras, a la propia sangre de nuestra madre Tierra que nos acuna y nos alimenta sin quejarse, aun cuando la estrangulamos reusando a aflojar, a nuestro control.

Si tenemos ojos para ver, y oídos para oír, entonces este es nuestro momento para despertar de nuestro sueño automedicado, y comenzar a hacer nuevas preguntas, y volver a nuevos paradigmas, a nuestro Creador, y a nuestro prójimo, y reconstruir este hermoso, pero torturado mundo de abajo hacia arriba, ya no sobre la frágil paja de la codicia y el falso consuelo, sino sobre los sólidos pilares de la cordura, la justicia y el amor.

Nuestros ancestros y nuestros descendientes están viendo cómo se desarrolla este drama. Es para aquellos de nosotros que estamos en el ring en este momento conmovedor, el demostrar nuestro valor, solidaridad y compasión. El mundo espera nuestra respuesta".