Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

Unfortunately, the world does not view Abram in the same way. Abram’s faith, Abram’s commitment to live in accord with God’s promise is seen as foolishness. The world credits Abram with an act of foolishness.

Well, Abram had more than just a promise; Abram had God’s contract.

In Abram’s time people didn’t enter into contracts like we do. No one got a lawyer, drew up papers, got an insurance rider, and signed-off in front of a notary. Paper, or papyrus at the time, was for the Pharaoh, not a wandering shepherd from Ur of Chaldeans.

To make a contract people performed a sacrifice. They took an animal, slaughtered it, cut it in two, laid the two halves across from each other, and walked between the two halves.

Listen to what Abram did at God’s command:

Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;

Then something amazing happened.

When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.

So we have all that is necessary for a contract. What’s missing?

In case you missed it, only God passed through the halves of the slaughtered animals. He passed through them as —a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch.— God made a contract, not with Abram, but with Himself. He promised, by His very self, to fulfill His pledge to Abram.

It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram

So Abram had proof in the form of a contract.

We come to this church each week in faith. Because of our faith God credits us with righteousness. But we too have more than faith. We have a new covenant with God, sealed in the blood of His Son on the cross. God sealed the new covenant in His own blood. He swore again, by Himself, this time to save us. He gave us more than the land “from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.” He gave us eternal life.

Besides this new contract with God we have the witness of the Church, starting with the Apostles and disciples. They proclaimed the truth of these events, and sealed them in the blood of martyrdom.

Brethren,

Tonight, Hollywood will attempt to credit our faith as foolishness. Hollywood will drag out the bones of Jesus, son of Joseph, along with Mary.

They will drop their tombs on a table, dramatize their findings, analyze and dissect their bones, test the dust from their tombs, and make awe inspiring pronouncements.

Faith is foolish. The resurrection is a sham.

St. Paul reminds us:

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Brothers and sisters,

I’m not going to waste your time or mine in debating this show, the publicity stunt that’s about to occur. What I want to point out is this:

I feel sorry for Jesus, son of Joseph, Joseph, Mary, the other Mary, Matthew, and the others whose tombs are being trafficked like cheap drugs.

That, my friends, is the real sin, the true outrage.

As Christians, as people whose faith tells us that all will rise again, as people who are blessed because Jesus said:

—Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

…we have an obligation to be outraged at what is being done.

Faith and the Church’s witness tell us that our mortal bodies will rise again. Therefore, the desecration of any person’s remains, whether it be for archeology or for profit, as in the present case, is a sin.

The Catholic faith and the Jewish faith both consider the burial of the dead to be an obligation. The faithful are to treat the remains of the deceased with proper dignity and accord. This is essential, because the wholeness of the person, their entirety, will stand before God on the last day. The body is not just a shell or a husk, something to be tossed in the dumpster when we’re done with it, it is the temple in which the soul lived, and will live again.

Those bodies will rise again, called to glory in the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, Jesus, son of Joseph and the approximately thirty-five others buried there deserve our respect. They deserve dignity. They deserve better than Hollywood.

Of course, if a person has no faith, if a person simply thinks that at death existence stops, none of this matters. But to Christians who proclaim the resurrection, this matters a great deal. To us, we simply listen to the Father in faith and we believe in accord with St. Paul who tells us:

our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body

—It is written, One does not live on bread alone.—

It’s always something about food isn’t it? God seems to like to use food as symbol and metaphor. He’s even gone so far as to use food as the means of conveying Himself to us.

In reading over the scriptures for this Sunday I couldn’t help but focus on food.

As many of you know, I am the cook in my family. I love cooking for my family and for relatives and friends.

The whole concept of cooking is multi-faceted. It’s the joining together of tastes, textures, and atmosphere into something that delights the senses, awakens memories, and ingrains new memories.

Cooking has become one of the trendiest activities out there. We have a television network dedicated to food with Iron Chefs, mega-chefs, CIA chefs, and down-home chefs. We have celebrities like the ubiquitous Emeril, BAM!, Nigella, and local celeb, Rachel Ray. I still remember the days of the Galloping Gourmet.

Moses stressed the importance of food —“ as a gift to God —“ long before there were Iron Chefs:

Moses spoke to the people, saying:
—The priest shall receive the basket from you
and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.

Not any food of course, but the firstfruits of a person’s labor were for God. The people were to say:

Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits
of the products of the soil
which you, O LORD, have given me.

They were to give from the top, the best stuff to be burned-up as an offering to God. The best is for God, because God provides all.

In his second epistle St. Clements says:

What return, then, shall we make to Him, or what fruit that shall be worthy of that which He has given to us? For, indeed, how great are the benefits which we owe to Him! He has graciously given us light; as a Father, He has called us sons; He has saved us when we were ready to perish. What praise, then, shall we give to Him, or what return shall we make for the things which we have received?

Cooking is very much like our Lenten journey.

The process of cooking starts with thought and preparation. Cooking challenges a person on many levels, combining timing, temperature, mixing, and artistry.

I looked at a particular incident that happened in the course of cooking this week, and this happens to me a lot. I want to talk about, and I want you to think about spillage —“ that’s right, spilling things.

Have you ever tried to transfer things from one container to another? Perhaps you’re combining flour or sugar into one canister. For my part I can never seem to pour the ingredients safely from one canister into another. Some always goes over the edge and spills out.

This week I would like you to consider how God spills His gifts out before us. Malachi 3:10 is very famous and is very pertinent:

—Bring your whole tithes to the storehouse.
And trust me in this. I will pour out such a blessing upon you
Your storehouses will not be able to contain it.—

What we bring to God during Lent is ourselves, and if we are sincere and humble enough we bring the firstfruits of our lives before God during Lent. We bring God our all and everything, and we lay it before Him as a sacrifice. We literally empty ourselves out, and like an empty canister, God will fill us, fill us to overflowing.

God’s love and grace will fill us to the point of overflow.

That overflow will be evident in our actions towards and with each other. That person next to you and me, our spouse, our friends, our children, our buddy at bingo or at the club will be affected by God’s outpouring. Our enemies, those right here in the Capital District who hate our Church, will be won over.

In Malachi God challenges us to trust Him. He literally says:

And trust me in this.

Test Me, Check Me out, put Me to the test. If we bring our all, our tithe, our firstfruits into the storehouse of God, if we place our lives in God’s hands, He will pour out such a blessing upon us that our storehouses will not be able to contain it.

We will be changed, and because of the change in us, the world will be changed, one person at a time.

This is what we are to believe, ponder, and live. That by our acceptance of God in faith, by our Lenten humility and penance, by our heartfelt commitment to emptying ourselves out, we will be changed, and as Paul says:

For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.

Who or what is God? How do we define Him? How do we get our minds around a being who is not a being, a power that is not power, a magnificence that is not magnificence.

What I mean is this, how can mere words explain something that is completely foreign and other to us.

Theologians have tried to explain and define God. They have tackled the problems of God —“ putting God on the analyst’s couch. If you were to delve into theologian’s explanations for God you would be just as confounded as if you were to delve into theoretical mathematics.

The point is that God can only be approached through faith. Study is important, but it will not answer the essential questions of: Who is God and who am I in relation to Him?

What we can know of God is in His self revelation, through scripture, through the revelation of His Son, and through His legacy —“ the Holy Church.

gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.

John makes it even simpler:

God is love.

That is what we must preach.

Brothers and sisters,

Tonight we enter into Lent. We enter into a special time, a time of travel into the depths of our own lives, a time of reflection, and a time to pass through the curtain —“ deep into the mystery of God.

We cannot enter into this mystery through analysis, of God, or of ourselves, but only through total commitment in love.

That commitment means making love our own, making the cross our own.

Bishop Hodur quoted from The Realm of God, a book by L.E. Bennet, in a speech he gave:

The Kingdom of God comes not with observation; it does not promise to renew the earth in a day; silently but deeply it enters the souls of men; in a still moment when all the world is hushed, in a quiet atmosphere of a church, in the devoted life of the confessors of the religion of Christ

Passing into the mystery of God is passing into the mystery of true and pure love, love that gives us the life we have always desired, but cannot reach on our own. It is the silent and deep entry of God into us because He desires it and because we accept and allow it. We become enveloped in the mystery of love which drives out all else, perfecting our lives.

What does this love drive out?

It drives out hopelessness because:

Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ

We bear Christ to the world by our accepted name —“ Christian – and through that name we drive out hopelessness.

It drives out darkness because we see the only light that matters.

Do financial problems, marital problems, business problems, or interpersonal squabbles matter? Do personal opinions as to who should do this and who should do that count for anything? Does our rendering of judgment on others make one iota of difference in getting us deeper into the mystery of God?

No, because all else is driven out by love.

Take the ashes you are to receive and ponder them. Does anything else matter if we are joined in love to Christ —“ and His body among whom we sit. All that matters is that we act together in accord, in love, not counting the cost, not counting the sacrifice.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters

This Sunday is a Sunday of contrasts. Throughout the readings, psalm, and Gospel the contrasts between those who walk with the Lord and those who walk apart are made very clear.

Blessed are you who are this. Woe to you who are that.

God knows what He’s doing. He created us and fully understands that we are faced with a life full of contrasts, contrasts that range from days of warmth, not too long ago, to blizzards. We are faced with a life of choices, choices in our marriages, our jobs, our families, our ministry, and our personal moments.

The prophets, speaking for God, and Jesus —“ God Himself —“ tell us that all the choices, all the contrasts lead either to a walk with God, or a walk alone.

While the choice to follow Jesus ultimately falls to us, we must also remember Jesus’ words:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.

In other words, Jesus has called us and chosen us. For our part we are called to believe and believe in full. We must have faith in full, otherwise that faith, the very time we spend here is, as Paul says, in vain.

Our part in the choice is clear, and the Church is here to help us in our choosing. The Church is here, not for the purpose of condemnation, but for the purpose of light, light that will move us from the act of choosing and cooperating to the full realization of God’s kingdom.

Bishop Hodur, who we honor this week on the 54th anniversary of his entry onto eternal life, understood that we have to make those choices.

Bishop Hodur’s faith, learning, and experiences brought him to the realization that the Catholic Church must proclaim not only the choice, but the fact that choice for God is compelling. He wanted us to understand that that compelling choice leads to a life that is fuller, richer, and more joyful. Because of our choosing and cooperation our work is better, our athletic abilities are enhanced, our marriages are stronger, and our communities are improved. Every aspect of life is touched by our choosing.

Bishop Hodur desired that the Catholic Church be known as what it is, namely the Church of ultimate hope and joy; the Catholic Church which proclaims the fact that man is regenerated in Christ Jesus. He understood the Catholic Church as the one that proclaims God’s light, and the positive affect sharing in God’s life has in our world.

For us this means that the Church we follow does not preach hellfire, but rather our need to cooperate in our salvation. The Church we follow does not put an end to God’s grace at death, but proclaims that God’s love, grace, and mercy are eternal. The Church we follow tells us to come to communion from where we are, so that by God’s grace we may be changed.

Do not stand apart. Choose to join with us, and do what Jesus asked:

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

The Church we follow tells us that we must not be dismal and sad, looking like sin has won. We must come in joy, knowing that our choice for Jesus has won us eternal life. It has won us a likeness to Jesus of Whom Paul says:

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For us it comes down to choices.

Will we be hungry or full, thirsty or quenched, poor or rich, sorrowful or joyful, persecuted and derided or spoken well of? Certainly! Will we be those things and sin because of them? Certainly! Will we try to be what Jesus asks, yet fall short of the mark Jesus set? Again, certainly! Will we be able to enumerate every sinful moment and choice in our marriages, our jobs, our families, and our personal moments? Yes!

And through it all, no matter the level of guilt, poor self-esteem, self-loathing, temptation, and sorrow —“ we must be joyful for the good news is that we will be blessed, on account of our choice for the Son of Man.

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.

My brothers and sisters,

We are those fish. We are the people taken up in the nets of the Holy Church, the nets that pull us toward salvation.

While we’re sitting here in the nets, let’s consider what might happen to us.

Many are content to sit in the nets of the Church. They are protected, fed by the Church, and as long as they do not fight against the nets, they are drawn inexorably closer to the heavenly kingdom. They are models of content cooperation.

While that’s not a terribly bad way to live, it is a little passive.

Transformation occurs when the fish become the fishermen.

Each of today’s readings and the Gospel speak of the apprehension and the issues encountered before such a momentous transformation takes place.

Listen to Isaiah’s lament:

Then I said, —Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!—

Isaiah stood before the throne of God knowing that he was to be sent. Isaiah was to prophesy before Israel, encouraging them to follow in the way of God.

God asked from the throne:

—Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?—

To which Isaiah replied:

—Here I am,— I said; —send me!—

Isaiah started out in fear and trembling, and ended up affirming his willingness to take on the job God required.

Like some of us, Isaiah started out as fearful fish caught up in God’s net. He left the net to do God’s work and bring his people back.

Paul recognized his sinfulness in light of the hope and glory of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Paul says:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
He appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.

…and he too affirms

But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and His grace to me has not been ineffective.

Paul, like many of the fish in the net, felt unworthy.

But Paul was born into new life in Christ. He recognized the most important thing. He could not do anything by himself. His preaching would be worthless, his message would fall like a stone, all except for the fact that he was reborn, regenerated in the Holy Spirit.

Like a fish, caught up in self loathing, Paul could have stayed down. But because he had faith, and because he saw what the Lord had accomplished, he was able to say:

Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul was transformed from fish to fisherman by the grace of God. That grace is within all of us, calling us to be fishers of men.

Jesus put a very fine point on the whole matter.

The Apostles worked all night. They were exhausted. They, and their business partners, needed to get the nets clean and ready. They needed to get home, eat, rest, and prepare for the next day.

Along comes Jesus:

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

Can you imagine Peter’s thoughts? Maybe Peter was being polite, but inside he may have been aggravated. There’s this guy standing in my boat preaching and I need to get home. Jesus was like the guest who wouldn’t leave.

Then Jesus turns around and says:

—Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.—

Ummmm, yup, ok… Peter must have been flabbergasted.

But the Holy Spirit was at work. Peter replies:

—Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.—

We know the rest, a huge draught of fish, almost too much for two boats.

Do you think Peter understood?

I think he understood very well, and tried one last time to stay with the fish.

—Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.—

I’m not worthy, like Paul, like Isaiah, I’m not worthy.

To which Jesus replied:

—Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.—

That’s our mission. We are to transform ourselves from faithful fish, being pulled along in the nets of the Church, to faithful fishers of men.

We are to be the priests, the deacons, the evangelists, the public witnesses to all that Jesus said and did. We are to fill the nets of the Church. Only we, inspired by the Holy Spirit, can do it.

Ref. Common of Martyrs: Romans 8:31-39, Psalm 34, John 12:24-26

Can any of you tell me how we show our love?

— One way, and what we consider a very important and essential way to show love, is that we give ourselves completely to the those we love.

Can any of you think of ways to do this?

— Today we celebrate the Commemoration of St. Valentine, a Christian who gave himself completely to his brothers and sisters and to God. He was a martyr, which means that even under tremendous pressure, even under tremendous torture, he refused to reject God, to reject God’s ways and teachings. He stood by Jesus always and forever.

He gave himself completely to God, out of love.

Now for another important question: Do you have to be perfect to love someone?

I can rephrase that: Do you have to try to be perfect around the people you love?

— The answer is no.

Have any of you ever heard the saying I’m ok, you’re ok?

— It’s a very popular saying. It comes from a book published in 1969 by Thomas Harris. It was one of the most successful self-help books ever published, selling over 15 million copies. People still buy it.

The phrase relates to the way we deal with other people. We’re supposed to think that everything about ourselves is OK and everything about everyone else is OK too.

Do you think that’s true?

–The honest answer is that I am not OK and you are not OK. We are all broken. We are all sinful. We are all imperfect.

The amazing thing about God, about Jesus, is that He loves us even though we are not OK. He loves us even though we sin, make mistakes, and are not perfect. He loves us no matter what.

God loves us so much that He died on a cross for us —“ to take our sins — our not being ok —“ away.

The message for St. Valentine’s Day is a message of love. God’s love overcomes our not being perfect. Once we realize that God loves us no matter what, we can set to doing what He asks of us.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us:

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.

Like St. Valentine we are to stand by Jesus, even when it gets very hard to stand by Him, even if it means giving ourselves completely.

Remember, Jesus told us:

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

He asks us to love one another. He asks us to love each other even though we are not perfect and those around us are not perfect. He asks us to look past the imperfections, the annoying things, the way people look, act, talk, and think, to see that He loves them and that we must love them, no matter what.

—Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.—

The Holy Church prays the Canticle of Simeon every night, a prayer before we sleep.

Simeon was ready to rest in the Lord. After all, he had lived a long life in hope and expectation.

This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord.

Simeon experienced firsthand what had been promised for ages upon ages. He came to the Temple and met his Messiah, the Christ, Jesus.

Ages before Simeon, Malachi was excited. He was eager with anticipation:

And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

We are at the opposite end of the spectrum. We are fully aware that Jesus has come as man, that He suffered, died, and rose again. We are aware of His promise —“ eternal life in Him. A promise He gave and a commitment He delivered.

How do we make sense of that difference, the difference between anticipation and fulfillment? The difference between Simeon and St. Paul for example. How do we maintain perspective over the fact that we are living in the age of fulfillment? Paul speaks to the Galatians about the age of fulfillment:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.
As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Today we receive candles to take home with us. We are surrounded by candles to remind us that Jesus Christ is the light. That He is the revelation of God, not just to us, but among us. We, gentiles each one of us, have been made co-heirs and have been adopted into God’s promise. We cry out to God as Father. As heirs we are now the bearers of the light. We are the different ones. As the Jewish people were set apart in the old covenant, we are set apart in the new.

What we have right in our hands and in our hearts is God’s promise fulfilled, God’s light within us. There is no more waiting, excepting for the complete fulfillment of time. We can no longer claim that we are waiting for something to happen. The time is now, the light is among us. It is time for doing.

What do we do with this light?

Have you even encountered one of those relatives or friends who so anticipate receiving a gift that they can’t wait to tell you exactly what they want? Those folks can be annoying. We think of them as presumptive.

That person is a combination of the eagerly anticipating and the knowing. They know that their special day is coming; they know that you will be buying them a gift, they anticipate it and presume it and they want to make sure you get it right. They even assume that they will live until their special day.

That annoying, presumptive person is us. He or she is the ideal Christian.

We all know that our special day is coming, the day when we will be born into eternal life. We also know that God has a gift awaiting us; His Son’s incarnation is proof enough of that. We anticipate heaven and we know we are destined for heaven.

We also know that we will live forever; from our conception in the womb, where God fashions and makes us, to our special day and on into eternity, where every day, every moment will be special.

Malachi and Simeon anticipated the light. Simeon got to see the light. Now we have the light and are to take that light, letting it shine with the full knowledge that we are renewed in Christ Jesus.

Take it home and show it to your grumpy husband or wife, your inpatient friend, your obnoxious co-worker. Show that light knowing what has happened, and use it in the way Jesus asks. Let us live in the light, the light that leads to our new birth into His eternal kingdom.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

I am going to speak today from the first person singular, for I have something I need to say to all of you.

I was asked to prepare several reports for the recent annual meeting. In preparing those reports I sinned.

Those reports were prepared with a stunning lack of charity. They were polemics, they were diatribes, they were uncharitable, they were inappropriate, and they were unfitting for a man who is ordained to the ministry of service.

These reports were not reports. They aren’t an abstract concept. I cannot say that I prepared a report and the report is wrong. No, I prepared the reports and I was wrong.

I have given grave offense to many, and I am deeply and truly sorry.

This issue, this sin of mine has borne down upon me. In reflecting on this sin I recalled the words from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

In translating scripture the word love, as used by Paul in this passage, is interchangeable with charity, so:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And Paul goes on to remind us:

So faith, hope, charity abide, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

In recalling those words I found that I was not filled with faith, hope, or charity —“ but only with myself.

I want to thank those who have confronted me about this. One family in particular gave the greatest example of living by biblical principals. They followed Jesus’ method in correcting me. In Matthew 18 Jesus says:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.—

I have listened to my brother and sister. I have heard their words. I have taken them to heart.

In their words they pointed out that having my name on the reports was a non-issue. They would have known who had written them simply by the tone and tenor of what was said. It was 100% me.

I’ve created quite a public and private persona. I am harsh, demanding, judgmental, and most of all uncharitable.

The words of Psalm 51 apply:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

My problem is exactly this. The exterior harshness of my personality is a shadow of the interior harshness with which I treat myself. When I sin, when I continually fall into the same sins, I am tempted to give up hope, to resign myself to my own evil, to loose faith completely and in doing so to reject God.

I was recently told that the cure for this type of giving up, this personality disorder, is to tie oneself ever closer to the crucified one. My sin is great, His love is greater.

Ezra echoes that in today’s first reading:

Do not be saddened this day,
for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!—

The Lord must be my hope and strength.

David goes on in Psalm 51, which we sing at the beginning of most Holy Masses

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

I ask the Lord for a new and right spirit. I trust and hope in Him. I beg you for your forgiveness and your continuing fraternal correction.

It will not be easy for me to turn harshness to charity, but with God’s grace, the love of the Church, and your love everything is possible.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God, the Gospel plays a special role in the Polish National Catholic Church. Some would call it a unique role.

We believe that the hearing of the Gospel, in conjunction with its interpretation in the homily bestows sacramental grace —“ sanctifying grace. By this grace God calls us and leads us to change.

The verse, which is today’s alleluia verse, comes from 2 Thessalonians. The fuller context is this:

But we ought to give thanks to God for you always, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth. To this end he has (also) called you through our gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

From St. Paul’s letter we understand that we are the firstfruits of salvation. We are the chosen, sanctified by the Holy Spirit by our Baptism and Confirmation, and living together in truth.

Because we open ourselves to hear God’s call in the Gospel, we will possess the glory of Jesus Christ. That is, the glory of His resurrection and life in heaven with Him forever.

There is yet another requirement. It is not just the choosing, the sanctifying, and the hearing, but that we stand firm and hold fast to what we have been taught, the Church’s sacred tradition as passed on to us through the Apostles and Fathers.

Right now you’ve about fallen asleep. Another ‘sermon’ on sacraments and what we must do, all couched in theological and biblical language.

I know that I receive God’s grace at Holy Mass —“ that’s why I’m here. I know God has requirements and that the Church has demands. Blah, blah, tradition, piety, blah blah…

So reflect on the words from today’s reading from Corinthians in which we hear:

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.

Does anyone watch American Idol? Can I see a show of hands?

It’s been pretty brutal. The people that were auditioning were for the most part horrible. They embarrassed themselves, and they got mocked…

Did anyone of us hear Paul’s message while we were watching? Did we view these folks as having gifts? Or did we get a chuckle out of them, and their miserable attempts at fame?

Remember, Paul said we are to stand firm and hold fast to what we were taught.

I think it is exceedingly difficult for you and I to buy into that message. In the face of daily entertainment, cynicism, and sarcasm the message passed down to us gets lost. The humiliation of those individuals on American Idol becomes the idol that displaces the Gospel.

So we will watch, many of us for sure. We’ll be unable to break away from the laughs and the dressing down others will receive.

We will forget, at least for that hour, that Jesus came to reveal Himself, not to hide. He revealed himself to the Jewish people and their Pharisees and Scribes dressed Him down like Simon Cowell would any rank amateur on American Idol.

When you watch next time think of Jesus’ dressing down. See the Sanhedrin in the front of the room, hey Jesus, you’re an amateur Rabbi and would be prophet —“ you don’t cut it, sorry, no.

When you watch think of Jesus, then see Jesus in that performer, that fearful person, that person being told no. Recognize Jesus in yourself when you are in the midst of pain and sadness.

So God has called us as His firstfruits, sanctified us in the Holy Spirit, made us members of His body and heirs to His kingdom. He’s given us the Apostles and Fathers to teach us and the Holy Church to guide us. We’ve received God’s gifts, His sacraments. He’s filled us with the graces received in three sacraments at Holy Mass, Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist. But, have we changed? Do we see Him everyday, in that —“ that brother or sister? Have we even begun to believe in Him?

Through Isaiah God says:

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet

He keeps calling us to be His firstfruits for the salvation of the world. He will not be silent or quiet. We must respond. Believe, act, and see in accord with the Gospel – with Jesus.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John knew. The Lord is powerful, mighty, and He comes to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He comes to call all to a change of heart.

What does that really mean for us, you, me, the folks up front and out back. It seems all so, well, cryptic.

What the Holy Spirit and fire means is change.

How often will our rationalizations, our daily compromises overcome change? How often will we allow our weakness to overcome the Holy Spirit and fire?

Let’s look at our lives.

Husbands, been a little demanding lately? Are you coming home filled with expectations and when you find them unmet, you feel free to let go with a cutting remark or a diatribe, an expression of the wrong kind of fire —“ the fire of jealousy, meanness, and selfishness?

Wives, the same goes for you. Many of you work, some are engaged in work and/or hobbies. Work and hobbies in perspective are fine. But, are they an all consuming fire leading you to neglect, meanness, and selfishness.

Selfishness, self-centeredness is a fire, an evil fire, a sinful fire that gets in the way of the love we must carry for each other.

Those are just two examples. Examples from our daily lives that speak to the kinds of fire that burn so hot within us that we can’t see, much less experience, the Holy Spirit and fire Jesus brings.

Look at the person next to you. Do you know them? How well?

I tell you, you know them perfectly well. They are you and you are them. We are all joined together, in the body of Christ, the Holy Church, by the baptism Jesus sanctifies today.

Husbands! Your wife is your sister in Christ. She carries His mark within her. You had better learn to love her as your sister in Christ before you look at her in any other way.

Wives! Your husband is your brother in Christ. He carries His mark within him. You had better learn to love him as your brother in Christ before you look at him as anything other.

All of us! The person next to us is not meat, a stranger, an accident. They carry His mark within them. We had better learn to love them as our brothers or sisters in Christ before we look at them as anything other.

We’ve heard about love for our brothers and sisters over and over. We think about the poor, the far off, the destitute, and those ravaged by tragedy. I’m giving to the Red Cross; I’m helping my brothers and sisters.

Those brothers and sisters deserve that help. Unfortunately they are a convenience for us. We wash them out of our minds and hearts as soon as we write the check. I think we do the same with the people right next to us. They are a convenience, something easily washed away in the daily noise we put first.

Look again at that person next to you. That’s right; he or she is your brother or sister in Christ, by baptism part of Christ’s mystical body, by the power of the Holy Spirit born unto new life.

Jesus has come with the Holy Spirit and fire to change hearts. We must STOP everything immediately, kneel, and commit to giving our all for the spiritual, physical, and mental good of our brothers and sisters; those far off, those next to us. We must commit to keeping them in the front of our minds each moment of the day. We must pray for them, love them, and sacrifice everything we want, desire, need, and care about. We must put their welfare first and full-time, even ahead of our own lives.

I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Jesus has come and has baptized us with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Now is the time. Lord, open our eyes. As You have done for us, so we must do for each other.

Be changed, let us open our eyes. Lord, change our hearts, bring us out from the darkness. Let us live full time in Your one body, fully committed to You, Your Church, and our brothers and sisters in You.

Amen.