Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

What's the most important thing you need right now? Hint... it's more than toilet paper.

Why did Jesus take the apostles up Mt. Tabor in the gospel today? Hiking the mountains of Philmont Scout Ranch has given me some ideas.

In today's gospel, Satan offers Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world" if he will worship him. Jesus won't do it... but we often do.

It's Lent. Time to give some stuff up... and add stuff. What do you need to change to get closer to God this Lent?

"Be holy!" ...well that sounds hard. "You're a temple!" ...that just sounds silly. "Be perfect!" ...that sounds impossible. Yet God tells us all three of these things this weekend. It's helpful to know a bit about what the words actually mean in the context of the Bible.

Holy - This word actually means "set apart." Israel was specially chosen by God to be set apart, to be specially devoted to him. We too have been set apart by our baptism. Holiness is first about who we are before it is about anything we do. We are chosen sons and daughters of God.

Temple - The temple was the most important building ever built. Solomon first built it in Jerusalem to contain the Ark of the Covenant. The very presence of God on earth dwelt in this building. St. Paul is telling us that we are temples because God dwells in us. Even more surely than God dwelt in Jerusalem's temple, the Holy Spirit dwells in you from the moment of your baptism.

Perfect - This is the most misleading of the scriptures today. The world in the original Greek is τέλειος - teleios. It comes from the word τέλος - telos, which refers to the "end" for which something was made. To be teleios is to fulfill the end for which you were made. To be perfect then, is to live in a way that is ordered to your end, to your telos. Our end is eternal life with God. But do we live this way?

If we are set apart, a temple, and living for an end that is not of this world, then our actions should reflect this. The commands of Jesus to turn the other cheek and love our enemies is crazy talk if this world is all there is. But if our telos is with God in heaven, then we don't have to get even now, we don't have to seek complete justice in this world. If our telos is heaven, then it should make a difference in how we live right now. We are meant to become like God. That is our telos and that is why Jesus can remind us to be ordered to this end, to be perfect, teleios.

God really does expect us to follow the law. More than that, he wants are whole heart. In the end we get what we want, God or not God. So what do you want?

Jesus intends that his Church be visible. He expects that the lives of his followers will help shape the culture. We are to be salt and light.

Mass at the Church of the Transfiguration

The following homily was given in the historical town of Emaus at the end of eleven days of pilgrimage through the Holy Land

When Jesus was presented in the Temple it was easy for most people to miss it. Simeon and Anna were waiting and rejoiced at his coming, but probably not many others even noticed the return of God to the temple. On the Mount of the Transfiguration which we just visited, Jesus manifested himself in a way that could not be missed. Peter, James, and John got to see a glimpse of the divinity of Jesus. It was so wonderful that Peter just wanted to say and set up camp.

As we celebrated Mass there, I noticed the four mosaics on the vault of the ceiling. It struck me that the point of these images seemed to be to show other ways in which Jesus is revealed. However, each of these manifestations seemed to me to be almost the opposite of the transfiguration. While the transfiguration is the highlight of clarity, the images on the ceiling seem almost to hide more than they reveal. In the homily today I consider how each of these mosaics reveals Jesus.

Filius Datus Est NobisA Son Has Been Given Us

Ego Sum Panis VitaeI Am the Bread of Life

Fui Mortuus Et Ecce Sum VivensI Was Dead and Behold I Am Living

Surrexit Non Est HicHe Has Risen He Is Not Here

The following homily was given in the church of Dominus Flevit on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, also near the church of St. Mary Magdalene.

This location on the Mount of Olives gives us an opportunity to focus on two parts of evangelization. There is the exterior and then there is the interior. As we look out over the city of Jerusalem, we see where the Temple used to be. It was the center of Jewish life. It was the most important building in the world. And it was destroyed... twice. Now there's a pagan shrine on top of it. the lesson here is that the mission ad extra, to the world, cannot be based on buildings or any other exterior measures. The early church had no buildings. What if all our parishes would suddenly destroyed, like the Temple? What would sustain our faith? How would we evangelize?

The second part of evangelization is interior conversion. Here I turn to my favorite example, St. Mary Magdalene. Mary was passionate. She wasn't afraid to to show emotion and to upset the weak ideas of what was appropriate or normal. As we are right next door to the church of St. Mary Magdalene, this second half of the homily is a tribute to her. Her passion led her to weep at the feet of Jesus as she anointed him. She wept at his feet on Calvary. And her passion drove her to go weep over his dead body on Easter Sunday. Just as Jesus wept on this spot overlooking Jerusalem, so Mary was not afraid to weep. Are you a weeper? You're in good company here.

The key to real relationship is the willingness to be vulnerable. No one showed this more than Baby Jesus in Bethlehem.