Fr. Chuck's Column, March 28, 2021

 

For this Palm Sunday I offer for your reflection a section of a sermon by St. Gregory of Nazianzen. He was Archbishop of Constantinople, (now Istanbul) in the late 300’s, when it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Much of his career was taken up with controversy over the Arian heresy, including an Arian mob attacking and breaking into the church where Gregory was celebrating the Easter Vigil in 379. He was injured in the scuffle but survived. Below is part of one of his sermons, on almsgiving.

 

Blessed are the merciful, because they shall obtain mercy, says the Scripture. Mercy is not the least of the beatitudes. Again: Blessed is he who is considerate to the needy and the poor. Once more: Generous is the man who is merciful and lends. In another place: All day the just man is merciful and lends. Let us lay hold of this blessing, let us earn the name of being considerate, let us be generous.

Not even night should interrupt you in your duty of mercy. Do not say: Come back and I will give you something tomorrow. There should be no delay between your intention and your good deed. Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay.
Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the needy and the homeless into your house, with a joyful and eager heart. He who does acts of mercy should do so with cheerfulness. The grace of a good deed is doubled when it is done with promptness and speed. What is given with a bad grace or against one’s will is distasteful and far from praiseworthy.

When we perform an act of kindness we should rejoice and not be sad about it. If you undo the shackles and the thongs, says Isaiah, that is, if you do away with miserliness and counting the cost, with hesitation and grumbling, what will be the result? Something great and wonderful! What a marvelous reward there will be: Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will rise up quickly. Who would not aspire to light and healing?

If you think that I have something to say, servants of Christ, his brethren and coheirs, let us visit Christ whenever we may; let us care for him, feed him, clothe him, welcome him, honor him, not only at a meal, as some have done, or by anointing him, as Mary did, or only by lending him a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathaea, or by arranging for his burial, like Nicodemus, who loved Christ half-heartedly, or by giving him gold, frankincense and myrrh, like the Magi before all these others.

The Lord of all asks for mercy, not sacrifice, and mercy is greater than myriads of fattened lambs. Let us then show him mercy in the persons of the poor and those who today are lying on the ground, so that when we come to leave this world they may receive us into everlasting dwelling places, in Christ our Lord himself, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

 

HOMILY 5th Sunday of Lent cycle B March 21, 2021

 HOMILY    5^th Sunday of Lent   cycle B    March 21, 2021

           Our second reading today speaks of the ever popular topic of  “obedience”.   We heard: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;”     This is a difficult, if not distasteful, passage.   So let’s talk about suffering and obedience.

          Many of you very well may have suffered over the previous year.  Maybe you yourself got sick with the virus.   Maybe members of your family were ill and this distressed you.   Perhaps you lost family and friends to the virus.  Very likely you know someone who has died.  Maybe you were impacted economically, loosing income or even your job, falling behind in bills, maybe even not having enough to eat.  `

          Or maybe you lost heat and power and water in the big storm a few weeks ago.  Maybe you suffered in the cold and dark, unable to go for help, or for groceries, or even to check on your loved ones. 

          There has been plenty of suffering this past year, and perhaps you have had your share. 

          Did that suffering teach you obedience????   Our second reading today asserts, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”  And we are called to imitate Christ, to follow Jesus’ example.  “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”

//        Texans have many admirable qualities:  of self-reliance, of guts and stick-to-itive-ness, of honesty and straight shooting, of independence and others.   But “obedience” is not a quality I immediately associate with Texans.        So, how are we called to follow Jesus in learning obedience from what we suffer?

           What does that mean?  I find this difficult to grasp and understand.

In the Gospel Jesus gives us a paradox: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.   Amen, amen, I say to you, 
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, 
it remains just a grain of wheat;  but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.”

          Jesus speaks of being glorified even though he is about to be falsely condemned, whipped and then executed by crucifixion.  It doesn’t fit together.   //  Jesus’ obedience is not following commands or rules or laws, but rather is His profound trust that even in the midst ofand through this horrible tragedy, God the Father’s love is still with Him.  That God still cares for Him, that God is with Him.  Acting out of that belief is Jesus’ obedience. 

          In the same way, our obedience is not about following commands and orders, but rather is the profound act of trusting in God’s love and care for us even in the midst of the pandemic, even in the midst of sick and dying relatives and friends, even in the midst of economic disruption and hardship, even in the midst of freezing cold, without power or heat or water, and in spite of all that to continue to believe in God’s goodness and love for each one of us, and to act accordingly. 

          Jesus is glorified in being mocked and debased.  Jesus comes to the fullness of life by being brutally executed.  Jesus shows that He truly is the Son of God by continuing to totally rely on His heavenly Father.

           As members of the Body of Christ, as God’s beloved children, we are called to follow Jesus.  Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered.  We also learn to depend totally on God, which is what biblical obedience really is, by trusting in God and following God’s way even in the midst of sorrow and loss and pain. 

          Concretely that means not trying to escape the pain and sorrow by turning on those around us and trying to push off our hurt on them.  Jesus didn’t do that.   Rather Jesus accepted it and did not curse others, but rather prayed for forgiveness for His persecutors.   In this Jesus showed He was truly the Son of God.  In this He was glorified.

          We are called to follow and imitate Him.  AMEN.

Fr. Chuck's Column, March 21, 2021

 

As you may know, several years ago we had a problem with stones falling off the sides of the church and
rectory. After much study and planning, we undertook a major capital fund drive, added a new lobby with bathrooms, and replaced and repaired a great deal of stone. It was both a necessary and successful project.

However, one of the unintended victims of the project was our parish “bells.” We don’t actually have any physical bells that we ring, but we did have loud speakers and electronic bells that we played at various times and for various occasions, like weddings.

But when the “bell tower” was redone, and the new copper metal paneling was installed on the tower, we lost the opening through which the bells were broadcast. It has taken us a long time to figure out how to bring the bells back. We had to buy new speakers, which you can see from the alley on the top of the church chimney. Once we had the new speakers, we then had to figure out how to affix them. It took a long time to get the brackets for the speakers designed, manufactured and installed. Not many companies do this type of work and it is a long process.

Then we had to get the speakers connected to the control box that actually “plays” the bells. Getting the correct wire, and getting it run from the bells to the control unit in the sacristy, again took a long time.

However, patience and persistence, with some money, has finally made it happen, and I am happy to announce that as of Easter Sunday, we will have the bells of St. Austin ringing out again. YAY!

Our bells are Sonata Electric Carillon bells manufactured by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, OH, a world-renowned, six-generation family manufacturer, pioneer, and innovator of cast bronze bells, electronic carillons, clocks, towers, and organs. The electronic bells were the gift of generous parishioners on their 30th anniversary in May of 2013.

We will test the bells over the next few weeks, and initiate their regular use with Easter Sunday. The bells will ring a few minutes before each of our scheduled Masses. I hope they will toll for funerals, ring for weddings, and play the Angelus daily. It has been a long, long wait to get the bells back, and I am looking forward to hearing them again. I hope you are too. God bless!  

 

Homily for Second Sunday of Lent cycle B Feb 28, 2021

 Homily for Second Sunday of Lent   cycle B      Feb 28, 2021

 

Our First reading today, about Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Isaac, is more than I can handle today, so I am going to focus on the Gospel. 

 

          We are told, “Jesus took Peter, James, and John 
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.”

          What mountain?   Which mountain?  Tradition says it was Mt. Tabor, but Mark doesn’t tell us that.  Neither do Matthew nor Luke name the mountain in their versions of the Transfiguration.

          Were the Evangelists sloppy, poor reporters?   How could they leave out an important fact like on which mountain this occurred?

          Well, the reason they don’t bother to tell us the name is that they are not telling only about an actual historical occurrence, but also a paradigm, a model, of a certain kind of encounter with Jesus.

          You see, what the Gospel writers are really talking about is a certain kind of peak experience, a “mountain top” spiritual experience that could be experienced by many more disciples than just Peter, James and John.  It could even be us.

          Jesus takes the three Apostles apart by themselves.   Anyone here, during this very long and lonely year of Covid have the experience of feeling apart by yourself?   I have.    //

          I think that what Jesus is doing for these three Apostles is taking them on a retreat, a day of recollection and prayer, like you might do up at the Diocesan retreat house Cedarbrake, or Lake George with the Paulists, or somewhere else.  It is an opportunity to disengage from all the normal pursuits that occupy and distract us during normal life, to spend time purposely focusing on our relationship with Jesus.  And that is what happens to the three Apostles.

          The Apostles have an experience.  Not one they sought.  Not one they can control.  And so, they are out of their comfort zone.  We are told they are terrified.  Meeting a strong spiritual force is always very uncomfortable.   And yet it is good.  Peter declares: “Rabbi, it is good that we are here.” 

          Any meaningful and intense experience of prayer is always scary; because we are not in control.  We cannot direct it.  We are not in charge.  We can only go along and allow our selves to be led. 

          The result of this experience is a much deeper and significant understanding of who Jesus is for them.  “from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.”   A very important, indeed life changing, revelation.   “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.”

          Not many of us can afford the time and money to go on a long retreat at some retreat house.  But during this time of Lent, every one of us can find time every day to do what God the Father commands us in this Gospel: “Listen to him.”  Maybe it is ten minutes, or only five.  But learn from this Gospel and start climbing that interior mountain, to be with Jesus, to let go of all the distractions and worries and concerns of daily life, to focus solely on Him, and allow yourself to be lead, to be challenged, even to be blown away.  Don’t talk all the time.  LISTEN to Him!

          What mountain was this?  It is the mountain of your own heart.  This Lent Jesus is inviting you to come along with Him, by yourself, to experience His power, His truth, His love.  He will be Transfigured.