Our new church reveals the glory of God

In today’s Gospel, the miraculous transformation of water into wine is certainly an important part of the story.  But there is more.  We should not overlook the fact that there would have been no wine, if Mary, the mother of Jesus, had not acted.  Mary saw the problem, recognized the gift that Jesus had, and said, “Do whatever he tells you.”

By converting the water into wine, Jesus “revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.”  The revealing of Christ’s glory would not have happened without human involvement.  This marvelous sign of Christ’s glory did not take place in a vacuum.  It was precipitated by human action.  It required Mary, of course.  But, the servers also needed to follow Jesus’ direction by filling the water jars and taking some to the head waiter.  I imagine that they felt foolish when they drew from these jars, which they had just filled with water, to give to the headwaiter to taste.  And yet they did it and the glory of Christ was revealed in the excellent wine.

In our lives, our families, our parish, and our community the glory of Christ remains hidden, dormant, unrevealed, unless we become involved.  Grapes would not become wine and wine would not become the blood of Christ without human action.  The glory of Christ revealed in our world today depends upon our actions.

Today we see a visible expression of the glory of Christ being revealed in our beautiful new church.  We have waited a long time for this church.  And, certainly, it was worth the wait.  As many of you know, there have been several false starts over the past fifteen years.  On several occasions, we started the process of building a new church, only to discover that the time was not right for it.  I was on the steering committee in 1998 through 2001 when we made the first attempt.  At that time, our pastor received many of these stained glass windows from Archbishop Pilarczyk.  We proceeded to conduct a survey, hire an architect and develop plans for a church.  But, Father Hohlmayer had to retire due to poor health and the project was shelved.

A few years’ later, a building committee was formed and an architect was hired under the direction of our pastor, Father Schmitz.  But, once again, the timing wasn’t right for building a church or any other structure here.

Father Bernie started the process again a few years’ ago and proceeded through fundraising, hiring an architect and developing plans for the church.  But, when these plans were sent out for bids, all of the bids were much higher than the funds available.   Father Bernie with the assistance of Mike Perkins and Don Hinkle, was able to revise the plans to fit within our budget so our church could finally be built. 

There are several key lessons to be learned from this effort.  First, it teaches us the importance of perseverance.  Although we were disappointed by the first two efforts, our parishioners didn’t give up on the goal to build a new church.

Secondly, it shows us that God is always in charge and that what he wants for us is better than we can imagine.  We could not have built a traditional church like this in either 2000 or 2003.  At that time, all churches were being built in the round and often the tabernacle was located outside of the worship space.  By waiting several years, we were able to build a church which is more traditional with this beautiful tabernacle at its center for all to see. 

Finally, we see the importance of our efforts, working together in revealing the glory of God.  We have been blessed with a pastor, several advisors, and a builder who worked together extremely well to build an attractive, yet economical church.  Also, as a congregation, we responded to the fundraising efforts and pledged the funds necessary to build this church.  And then, when additional funds were needed for the interior furnishings, we again responded generously so that these beautiful statues, stations, organ, piano, and stained glass windows could be purchased or restored.  It has truly been a community effort and we have every reason to be proud. 

So, now and for many years to come, God’s glory will be revealed in this beautiful church.  We will look at the tabernacle and meditate upon the glory of God and the gift of the Eucharist.   We will look at the stained glass windows and reflect upon the glory of God in those events which they represent.  And we will listen to this beautiful organ as it lifts us up in song to experience just a glimpse of the glory of God.   So, we give thanks for all who played a role in making this beautiful church a reality and for their patience, perseverance, faith, and  inspiration in making this possible.  And now it is time to use this church as it is intended to be used – for the glory of God.  It is time to celebrate one of the first of many, many liturgies in this holy place.  We can all look forward to celebrations of baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and of course, Eucharist for many years here. 

Lord, bless us in this beautiful church.  Grant that we may persevere in the teaching of the apostles, in the breaking of the bread, and in unceasing prayer, and so be built into the heavenly Jerusalem. 

Rejoicing with Josie

On this third Sunday of Advent we are urged and even commanded to rejoice.  The first reading from the prophet Zephaniah and the second reading from St Paul both speak of rejoicing.  But we need to ask ourselves honestly:  Have we developed a sort of immunity to rejoicing?  And what keeps us from rejoicing in the Lord always?

 Time is a powerful force in our lives.  It tugs at us constantly, pushing and pulling us, like the movement of a powerful tide, now to the past, then to the future.  The force of time makes it difficult for us to remain in the present, which is where we need to be if we are to rejoice in the Lord.

Sometimes, during Mass my mind wanders.  It may wander to what I will be doing later that day.  Or I may begin thinking about what happened to me the day before.  Let me tell you, this is not a good thing when you are up on the altar.  On more than one occasion I have almost missed saying or doing something because I was daydreaming. 

Does this ever happen to you?  I suspect it does.  It is natural to be reminded of other things that we need to do:  that perfect gift we still have not found, that party we have to prepare for.  Or we may be thinking of something that happened to us.  Maybe we are replaying an event over in our minds and wishing that we had done things differently. 

Right now, nine days before the coming of the Lord on Christmas Day, we need to focus on the present, not the past or the future. This season of Advent is all about staying in the present and waiting.  The people that John the Baptist preached to in today’s Gospel knew all about waiting.  And St Luke says that they were filled with great expectation, thinking that John himself might be the long expected Messiah.  And then Christ did arrive but for many it was as though the waiting had not ended.  And two thousand years later, many still live as though Christ had never come. 

We say that Advent is about the coming of Christ.  And we think that means just the coming of Christ on Christmas Day.  But in truth Advent has more to do with experiencing the reality that Christ has already come.  It is the experience that Christ has been born in us.  For what good is it for the Creator to give birth to his Son, if we don’t also give birth to him in our families, our parish, and our nation?

Last Sunday we had a birthday party for my youngest grandchild, Josie.  Well, Josie was all excited when she was opening the presents.  After she opened each one she would tell us all what it was.  She would say “ a pair of pants” or “ princess doll”.  Then she took one gift from the gift bag and she didn’t know what it was.  She said:  “It’s oh, oh, oh, something!”  And we all laughed at her excitement at receiving something.  Then, Lynn, her mother, told her that it was a jewelry box and she opened it for her.  And Josie was even more excited as she opened the jewelry box and it played a tune.

When it comes to the gifts that we receive from God, we are sort of like Josie.  We know that we are receiving something but we can’t really appreciate it until someone explains it to us.  And even then we can’t fully understand what we have received.

This is why we aren’t as joyful as we should be as we await the coming of the Lord at Christmas.  We may know that we are receiving some great gift, but cannot comprehend how important that gift is for us.  Of course, we have our Church, who can unwrap and explain the gift of the Son of God becoming man to us. 

We can be too busy to find the only gift which really matters this Christmas.  We can be checking our email, texting, Christmas shopping, watching some sporting event on TV, or just getting lost in our day to day tasks.  When that happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to experience the reality of Christ having already come.  We don’t have time to just be, to spend some time in prayer or in reflecting on the many blessings in our lives, or maybe even writing a letter to a family member telling them that we love them. 

There is often increased tension and anxiety in households as we prepare for Christmas. The season of Advent is a beautiful counter to anxiety and busy-ness by providing us an opportunity again each year to make sure we are on the right path to draw closer to God. And it’s also an opportunity to help those most dear to us draw closer to God as well.

 And what do you suppose God is doing during Advent?  The answer is found in the first reading: “The Lord, your God is in your midst, rejoicing over you with gladness, renewing you in his love, singing joyfully because of you.”   Even if we do not have time to rejoice, God does.  Why not rejoice with God this day and just listen to His joyful singing as you patiently wait to unwrap the precious gift of the Baby Jesus?

Pineapples and welcoming

On my birthday today, I gave the homily at the children's mass.  I took a pineapple to the pulpit and explained to the children the importance of welcoming Jesus into our lives.  This is what I said:

I bought this pineapple at Kroger’s so that I could use it during my homily this morning.  And, best of all, after I use it for the homily, I can take it home and eat it.  Has anyone had fresh pineapple?  It’s really good, isn’t it?

When I was growing up, the only pineapple that we had was pineapple from a can.  Now, this is OK, but fresh pineapple is much better.   When I was in the Air Force, we were stationed in Hawaii and lived for one year on the north shore.  I drove through the pineapple fields on my way to and from work.  And we often bought pineapples which had recently been picked.  I developed a love for pineapple and look forward to eating this one. 

Maybe you’ve seen welcome mats with pineapples on them. There’s an interesting story connected with pineapples. Over one hundred years ago, before there were airplanes, most travel was done by great ships that traveled over the sea. When a great sea captain returned from some exotic place, he’d bring home a pineapple and put the pineapple on his front gate. There were two reasons why he did that: first, not many of his neighbors had ever seen a pineapple, and they thought it was really neat-looking; the second reason was so he could let everyone know that he was home and he wanted people to come visit. Back then, if you saw a pineapple on somebody’s front gate, it meant “Welcome! I’d like for you to come visit my house.” Even today, we use the pineapple as a symbol for welcoming people.

Last Sunday was the feast of Christ the King.  Christ wants to welcome each one of us into heaven.  Who knows, there might even be a pineapple on the front gate there to welcome us.  Of course, we weren’t very welcoming to Christ while he was here on earth.  First Herod tried to kill him when he ordered all of the Jewish boys under three to be killed.  Then, thirty years later, Christ was crucified as King of the Jews.  By Jesus accepting this rude welcoming, he shows his great love for us.  We have to choose whether or not we’ll accept his invitation to join him in heaven as we either welcome him into our lives or turn away from him day in and day out.   

How do we welcome Jesus into our lives? By praying to him, by following his commandments, by going to mass, by helping others.  We don’t need to put a pineapple outside our houses, do we?  We have to do is pray to Jesus and to follow his commandments.  Let us pray, “Lord Jesus, I’m so glad you came to earth to tell us about your Father and to show us the way to heaven. I want you to come into my heart, my life, and my home this Christmas.” 

After the election, where do we go from here

Tonight, as we reflect upon our recent election, we might have a sense of despair.  We might have wondered, “what went wrong”, as we watched our fellow Americans including us Ohioans reelect President Obama.  Given the HHS mandate and its attack on religious freedom, how could the majority of Catholics have voted for the president?  Given his strong support of abortion and contraceptives, how could the vast majority of women have voted for him?   Did we just have the wrong candidate or the wrong message?  And where do we, as Catholics committed to life and marriage, go from here?

We must have courage and rejoice as St Peter tells us tonight even though we may have to suffer various trials.  Our objective, the salvation of souls, hasn’t changed.  We may have to work harder to achieve that objective, but the objective remains.  And we still in faith believe that Jesus, through his death on the cross, has already won salvation for us.  So, we may have lost a battle in this war, but we can remain confident, even certain, that ultimately Jesus emerges triumphant. 

I know that some say that “America cannot end.” But that is the first illusion we must put away, because it says that America is eternal, when nothing is eternal but God. Some say “we just need the right message,” but who had a better message than Christ, and the crowd still called for Barabbas. Who was more blessed than the apostles and saints, but they still were set upon and slain.

God’s blessing, if it is truly upon America, does not mean that she survives forever. In fact, if she is truly blessed, it means she gets to suffer for the sake of clarity — to spend some time in the crucible, in order to be refined.   For the road to heaven goes through Calvary for us as individuals and for our nation.

Our job at this point is not to save the nation. Our job now is to save each other; to help spiritually strengthen each other for all that is yet to come.

People of faith, take a good hard look at the new landscape and do not be afraid.  Changes are going to come and they’re going to come quickly, so now is the time to work on strengthening our spiritual lives.  We must make our spiritual lives stronger and healthier through prayer, fasting, and service to others.  And we strengthen our spiritual lives by divesting ourselves of the world and all of its things, its glamor and its empty promises.

We must be ready to help when those who are lost in the glamor and emptiness of this world become lonely.  And they will.  If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

Believers who feel defeated by this election have actually been given a great gift; they’ve been given the opportunity to divest themselves of the sin of idolatry and pride. The battle is not between parties or between liberals and conservatives; it is between things seen and unseen. It is between light and dark.  It plays out ultimately for the profit of our souls, not our retirement accounts. If we are professing Christians, then we understand things are moving forward to a certain conclusion; the pageant of salvation leads, always, to a complete divesting of everything that has come before. The only way to victory, now is to depend strictly upon God. And God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts not our thoughts, his “shining city on a hill” like nothing in our imagining.

There is cause for rejoicing here. I am excited. I am energized. I’m taking God at his word, as I read those inspiring words from St Peter tonight:  “Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.  As the outcome of your faith, you obtain the salvation of your souls.” 

Praise the Lord.  Keep the faith.  There is plenty of work for us to do in this kingdom of God on earth.  As followers of Christ, we have the answer for this broken world.  Do not be afraid to proclaim this truth in love.   

Transforming our suffering

Today’s Gospel ought to make us a bit uncomfortable. It tells us the shocking truth that Jesus came to die for all of us. That’s how much he loves us.  But, it also tells us that he expects us to willingly take up our cross and follow him.

 Several years ago, the Red Cross in a small Oklahoma town posted signs all over town containing these words:

I gave my blood--Christ gave his. I gave a pint--He gave all.

The needle is small and sharp--The nails were large and dull.

The table is soft and restful--The cross was rough and painful.

The nurses are kind and gentle--The soldiers were cruel and mean.

The crowd applauds my sacrifice. The crowd reviled him.

Mine, at best, will prolong a life for a while.

His can save all forever.

          Jesus died for us. What do we do in response to His love?

Peter rebuked Jesus after Jesus told him that he would suffer greatly, be rejected, and be killed.  Peter didn’t understand why Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, must suffer in this way.  He couldn’t see the significance of the cross to our savior.  Jesus response to Peter was short and swift when he said:  “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  We can all relate to Peter in his reaction to suffering.  We want to minimize or eliminate the suffering of those we love.   We certainly don’t want to cause suffering by any of our decisions.   And we struggle to understand the role that suffering plays in our own redemption.

          Often, parents experience difficulties, sacrifices, and suffering in raising their children.  Now, some people would say that avoiding these difficulties is why they have few or no children. They give a lot of reasons why they are nervous about the prospect of raising children. Some worry about being able to pay for college or even groceries. Yet others wonder how they could possibly have enough time for the children in their busy lifestyle. But by far the most common source of concern about having children that I have noticed comes down to one thing: A fear of sacrifice and suffering.

Of course, more life means more suffering; less life means less suffering. Any time we open our lives to new human beings, whether it's through pregnancy or adoption or missionary work or any other kind of intimate service, we're opening ourselves to the possibility of experiencing suffering -- not just our own, but the heartbreak of seeing a loved-one in pain, which is its own kind of torture.

But, suffering plays an important role in our earthly journey.  Because of suffering, our love isn’t just words, its deeds; it’s not just what we say, it’s how we live; no pain, no gain; no cross, no crown.  And through the Eucharist, the sacrament of love, we can transcend our suffering and unite it with the suffering of Christ.

Suffering without love is unendurable, it causes despair.  Love without suffering is just words, a warm-fuzzy feeling.  Love becomes authentic through suffering.  Love purifies and perfects suffering.  Love transforms suffering into sacrifice.  And the Eucharist transforms Jesus’ suffering on the cross into the supreme sacrifice.  The Eucharist gives us the capacity to love.  It enables us to accept our crosses, to endure them, and even to find joy in them. 

          Many beautiful stories came out of the tragedy of the fall of the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001--stories of sacrifice and heroism. None is more impressive than the story of Ron Fazio of Closter, New Jersey.

 

          Fazio was Vice President of a company with offices on the 99th floor of Tower Two. When the plane slammed into Tower One, Ron Fazio made one of the best decisions of his life. He ordered his employees to evacuate the building. Even though their building had not yet been hit by the second plane, he insisted that employees get away from the windows, leave their desks and get out of the building. He stood there and held the door, yelling for everyone to hurry, and held the door open until everyone from his company had started down the stairs. They all made it down. So did he. But he remained outside Tower Two, helping others out of the building. The last anyone saw of him, he was giving his cell phone to someone else, after which the tower collapsed and no one ever heard from Ron Fazio again.

 

          That’s the difference between wearing a cross and bearing a cross--the willingness to give our life for others. Now, wearing a cross is fine if we have thought through the sacrifice represented by that cross. That cross we’re wearing represents Jesus holding the door open so that we can walk through to eternal life.   

 

             Jesus tells us: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Are we opening doors for others?  Are we afraid of life because of the suffering which is involved?  Do we turn to the Eucharist to help us endure and transform our suffering? 

A celebration at St Francis De Sales

Today, I was on the altar as a deacon for the 9 and 11 o'clock masses at St Francis De Sales.  The celebrant for these masses, Father Joe Dygert, was a recently-ordained priest (in 2011) from the diocese of Colorado Springs.  Father Joe graduated from St Francis De Sales grade school in 1995.  He returned to celebrate his first mass at St Francis since his family moved to Colorado Springs in 1996.  Father Benedict, a missionary priest from Tansania, gave the homily.  Father Benedict commented on today's Gospel in which Jesus tells the disciples:  " A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." 

This modern day prophet, Father Joe Dygert, was greeted with enthusiasm and joy at his native place, Lebanon, Ohio.  We rejoice and take pride in the faith of this young priest.  We pray that his vocation to the priesthood will continue to bring him joy and peace and that he will continue to touch the lives of many as he did today.

Joe Dygert attended St Francis De Sales grade school with several of my youngest children.  He is two years' older than my fifth child, Ann and two years older that my fourth child, Mike.  I knew his family well when they were parishioners at St Francis De Sales.  Joe's mother, Christy, started Eucharistic adoration at St Francis De Sales.  I remember them as a strong, loving, faith-filled family.  Today, I rejoice with the other members of St Francis that one of our grade school alumni came home to inspire us and to share his faith with us.     

Listening to prophets

The first reading from the prophet Amos reflects a time when the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two:  Israel in the North and Judah in the south with Jeroboam II was the King of the Northern Kingdom.  Jeroboam was a wicked king and worshipped idols.  Amos came from the Southern kingdom of Judah to warn the people of the consequences of Jeroboam’s actions.  He says:  “Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.”  This prophecy proved to be true about forty years later when the people of Israel were exiled.  But Amaziah, who was the king’s priest, didn’t appreciate Amos or his prophecies.  He said to Amos:  “Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!”  In other words, he told him to go home and mind his own business.  But Amos stood his ground.  He said:  “I am not a professional prophet.  I was just an ordinary farmer.  It was God who called me and sent me to give you this message, whether you decide to listen or not.”

Often people in authority don’t appreciate it when others predict negative consequences from their actions.  We see this in our country today as our bishops tell our nation’s leaders the consequences of their contraception mandate.  Our bishops have said that this violates the religious freedom of the church.  They have said if this mandate stands, then Catholic charities, hospitals and schools will have to choose between following their conscience and continuing to operate. 

When you consider that the Catholic Church is the second largest provider of charitable and hospital services, with the government being the largest, this should cause our leaders to rethink their mandate.  Is providing free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs so important that it is worth forcing some of these agencies to close?   For me, observing this is like watching a train wreck about to happen.  I pray that our nation’s leaders will see the folly of their actions and will change this mandate.  I suspect that many don’t realize how important this issue is to our church.  Based upon all that I have read, I firmly believe that our bishops will not budge on this issue.  And for this I am very proud of them.  Hopefully, our nation’s leaders will reject the advice and influence of Planned Parenthood and others who support this flawed policy and will listen to the voice of reason as provided by our bishops.

I wonder if any of us are being called, like Amos was, to speak out on this issue.  We may say that we aren’t trained speakers or medical doctors or in positions of power.  But if God calls us to speak out against this evil, then we, like Amos, must do our part.  Whether others listen to our message or not is up to them.

I pray that all of us will take some action, however small it may seem to be, against this evil government mandate.  This may involve writing letters, speaking to our friends and neighbors, talking to our politicians, walking the picket line or even just praying.  Like Amos, we may not be able to change our nation’s flawed decision.  But, as a citizen and a Christian, we will have done God’s will.