Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

The Problem with Prophets

Most people tend to think of prophets as people who foretell the future. The biblical notion of a prophet is much different. A prophet is someone who speaks on behalf of God. Sometimes their messages are about the future, but most of the time they are concerned with talking to people about the present moment. The Old Testament is filled with stories of prophets. One thing they all seem to have in common is that it often doesn't go very well for the prophets. They all end up ridiculed or dead.

The problem with prophets is that God doesn't normally send them when everything is going well. Normally, a prophet is sent to say that God is not happy or that we need to change somehow. Not surprisingly, we tend to shoot the messenger. It's a tough job to be a prophet. The interesting thing about the Christian life is that not only are we called to listen to the prophets that God sends us even today, but we are also called to be prophets. By virtue of our baptism, each of us is a prophet. That means we are to speak about God and bear witness to him by our words and actions, just like the prophets of old.

So how are we doing? What message does your life send? What kind of prophet for God are you?

St. John the Baptist did a lot of strange things. We Boy Scouts are not so different. We do strange things similar to St. John.

Our God Is a Family

God is love. We hear that a lot, but somehow it seems like we need more than just that line. Augustine famously described the love of God as a communion of love that necessarily had to involve more than one person. Lover, beloved, and love are the titles he used. This can help us understand a bit more about the Trinity.

Blessed Pope John Paul II took the understanding of Augustine regarding the Trinity and applied especially to the family. Our God is not a solitary God, but rather a family of persons. We on earth are called to image this love in our families. This is why the Church takes marriage so seriously. Our families are a most precious gift by which can come to know a little bit more about the love of God, even if we do it imperfectly here due to sin. May God bless all families in the mission to be a reflection of the love of the Trinity.

What Drives You?

In today's first reading, the Holy Spirit is described as a "strong driving wind." We're all familiar here in Kansas with just how powerful the wind can be. It can literally push you...or your house...over. On Pentecost, the Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit was a force like this. If we look at our lives, what drives us? Is it the Holy Spirit? Perhaps we're driven by a lot of the things that St. Paul mentions in our second reading...immorality, lust and the like.

The Holy Spirit is also described as being fire. Fire can be destructive but also purifying. If we are driven more by the spirit of the world than the Holy Spirit, then maybe we could use a little purification from the Spirit. Renewing the face of the earth is a big task, but it starts on person at a time. Don't be afraid to unlock the doors and let the Holy Spirit start driving.

Heavenly Help for a Universal Mission

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he did not abandon his apostles. Rather he becomes present in a new and even more powerful way. The divine assistance he gives from heaven will be all the more necessary considering the mission he has given them. He tells them to go to the ends of the earth preaching the Gospel. Their mission is the make the Church "universal" or, in the Greek, Catholic. Today the Church does exist even to the ends of the world. We must carry out this same mission. The good news is that we are not alone. Jesus is with us as well.

All You Need Is Love

In 1967, the theologians Lennon and McCartney pronounced their famous dogma, "All you need is love." It sounds so simple and peaceful. Yet, as another later theologian (and Eurodance phenom) Haddaway asked in 1993, "What is love?" We use the word love to refer to a lot of different things. I "love" everything from my dog, to pizza, to my spouse, to God. Using the same word to refer to such different things has indeed created confusion.

Fortunately, in the original languages of the Bible, there is actually more than just one word to talk about all these different kinds of "love." Today's homily focuses on 3 of those words from the original Greek of the Bible: eros, philos, and agape. If you understand the distinctions between these three, then maybe Lennon and McCartney were right.

What You Need To Know

To the Bishop Miege High School class of 2012. Congratulations on your achievements. Having finished your finals and passed all your classes, it is clear that you know a lot about a lot of things. However, as you leave Bishop Miege, here are just three more things that I hope you will know.

Staying Connected

Jesus tells us today that our mission is to go and bear fruit, much fruit. Yet, in order to achieve this mission he reminds us that we have got to stay connected to him, as branches on a vine. Notice that remaining connected to Jesus, the vine, also means that we must stay connected to all the other branches. We need all those branches. To be united in Jesus is to become a family. This is what we see in the Acts of the Apostles and this is what we are called to be today. It's more challenging with a couple billion of us, but we are truly all brothers and sisters, united in our connection to Jesus.

We normally picture sheep as being cute and fuzzy, like Binkles my little stuffed sheep. Today's homily reveals the true story...the dark side if you will...of sheep.

Called to Witness

The following homily was given at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

What a contrast we see between Peter and the apostles before Pentecost and then the radical change afterward. They get such courage from the Holy Spirit. They are a great example for how each of us is called to give our testimony about Jesus. Peter boldly proclaims, "We are witnesses." The Greek word here is martyroi..."martyrs" in English. We shouldn't expect it to be easy to preach the good news about Jesus. Yet, if we really know what good news it is, then nothing should hold us back. We too are called to be His witnesses.