Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

Sink Your Roots Deep

Today’s homily was given in the Chapel of the Twelve Apostles on the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation in Osceola, Missouri.

Our young people today have so many options before them. Particularly alluring is the world of sports. It is not uncommon for kids to be playing multiple sports and giving great amounts of time to this. On top of sports there is a multitude of other activities to be involved in and it seems that no one wants to risk “missing out” on anything, so they try to do it all. In this way they seem to be a lot like the situation described in today’s gospel.

The gospel from today’s Mass describes a sower going out to sow. As he goes, it seems that he is throwing seed everywhere. Some lands in rocks, some on the trail, some among thorns, and some on good soil. Like kids who try to do everything, he seems to be casting seed everywhere, much of it having little lasting effect.

There is a notion of freedom today that relishes the ability to do whatever we want. However, I would propose that the true joy in life comes not from doing a great number of things, but rather in being committed to a few important things. The seed that falls on good ground needs time to stop and put down roots. We too need to stop trying to find happiness in the quantity of activities and realize that true joy and freedom will come only from commitment.

What is worthy of the commitment of our lives? For what are we willing to say that we will forgo all these other activities in order to commit to something special. The greatest joy in life comes when we find the special things that are worthy of our commitment, when we stop and put down our roots. While there will be many things along the way that will give great meaning to our life, ultimately only God is worthy of the total commitment of our lives. May we have the strength today to sink our roots deep in something of great meaning, most especially our faith.

The Gift of Freedom

This weekend we celebrate our freedom, our Independence Day. What could be more American than freedom? Yet, have you ever stopped to think about what that freedom really means or where it comes from? Ultimately, our freedom cannot simply be about doing whatever we want and no one stops us. True freedom is the freedom not to do what we want, but to do what we ought. We are most free when we become the people God created us to be.

In our Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers recognized that the right of people to be free comes not from government but from our Creator who has endowed us with "unalienable rights." It was for the same reason that the phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950's. Communism was trying to remove belief in God from public life, leaving only the state as the source of rights and freedom. If the government thinks that it gives us freedom, it can also try to take away our freedom. The recent attempts to remove the "Creator" from the Declaration or "under God" from the Pledge shouldn't just make us sad, it should make us scared.

If we will not be a nation under God, then we will inevitably be a nation under tyranny.

The truth is that freedom comes from God and we are truly free only when we give ourselves completely to God. We have no better example us this than our Blessed Mother. She found great freedom in her complete obedience to God. An even more perfect example of this is God himself. Jesus entrusted himself completely to Mary as a little baby. If Jesus could give himself into Mary's hands this way then we should too. Blessed Pope John Paul II took as his papal motto, Totus Tuus, "totally yours." Everything we have belongs to God. In the great irony of the Christian life, it is when we claim nothing as our own and give ourselves totally to Jesus through Mary that we are able to be truly free.

Help for Failing Senses

At first it might seem strange to celebrate a day in honor of the Eucharist. Don't we do that at every Mass? Of course, but today is a special day to recommit ourselves to our faith in the Eucharist. Sometimes we can let our faith grow weak, not really stopping to think who it is we receive in Holy Communion. It's easy for our senses to be deceived since the Jesus comes to us under the appearance of ordinary bread and wine. We might doubt that this is really Jesus.

This was the case for a priest whose doubt of the Eucharist gave rise to the feast we celebrate today. Today's homily tells the story of Fr. Peter of Prague and the great miracle God worked for him and for the Church in 1263. May we all recognize the great miracle that God works at Mass today and every day.

Fearful Yet Overjoyed

After encountering Jesus after the resurrection, the gospels describe the apostles as being "fearful, yet overjoyed." Perhaps that's the best description we can hope for to describe how we should feel in the presence of God. On today's Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we try to put into technical language what is ultimately a mystery. How do we properly describe God? Is God a powerful force that created everything, the "Lord" who appears to Moses in smoke and fire? Or is God a loving father, who sends his son on a rescue mission to save his beloved children? Yes..."both and."

On this Fathers' Day we are reminded that earthly fathers are meant to be an image of our heavenly Father. Although we should always know that our fathers love us, my experience is that when you've been bad, no words strike more fear than the infamous, "Wait until your father gets home!" Earthly fathers image this "both and" of the Trinity. God loves us, but he also expects certain things. We pray for our fathers today that God will strengthen them to carry out their mission. Through them, may we come to know a little bit better the love of the Holy Trinity.

Do Not Be Afraid

Today is not any ordinary day. Today is Pentecost. It is a day filled with the power of the Spirit. Today the apostles went from being locked in a room in fear to spilling out onto the streets to boldly proclaim the Gospel. The Spirit was present on another fateful Pentecost in Warsaw Poland in 1979. John Paul II returned to Poland for the 1st time as Pope and told the millions gathered, "Do not be afraid." The Catholic Church in Poland came out of their locked rooms and the Spirit sowed the seeds that would lead to the end of atheistic communism in just 10 years.

The Spirit continues to come to us today. Pentecost is a day on which we can change the world...one family at a time. All it takes is one family, one person, to say yes to the Holy Spirit and we can change the world. Let's not try to contain the Holy Spirit. Let's say yes to the Spirit today, and when you do...do not be afraid.

I Am With You Always

There is more to reality than what we experience in the material world. Many things are very real that are beyond our senses. Today we celebrate the day when Jesus Ascended into heaven and left this material world. Yet, as he was leaving, he promised that "I am with you always." As the Church fathers put it, the Christ of history is now present in mystery. Sometimes we think that the apostles had it better because they experienced Christ physically present in the world. The truth is that the presence of Christ which we experience today is every bit as real, more real in fact.

The Second Vatican Council taught that the presence of Christ can be experienced today through the Word of Sacred Scripture, through the Sacraments, the person of priest, and especially through the Eucharist. When we realize that Jesus is with us always, we are no longer tied to just one physical place as the apostles were. Now we are ready for mission. Jesus' last words to the apostles were instructions to "Go!" So at the end of Mass, after we have been filled with the presence of Christ, we too are told to "Go!" As we are sent we hear Jesus say to us as he did to the apostles, "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Reason for Our Hope

St. Peter reminds us in the 2nd reading today to always be ready to give an explanation for the "reason for your hope." Perhaps we don't know the faith as well as we should. Maybe we are afraid when others question or challenge us about teachings of the Church. St. Peter reminds us that the faith is reasonable. Our faith "makes sense" and can be defended. However, our faith is much more than just a reasoned deduction. Hope is not quite as tangible as reason, but is just as real. Our hope points us toward heaven and our relationship with God.

This homily was given at the annual "Sending Forth Mass" to end the school year at Hayden High School. This was also my last Mass there as chaplain as I will be moving to a new assignment over the summer.

To God We Plight Our Troth

In today's gospel Jesus says that he goes to prepare a place for us and will then return to take us to be with him forever. It sounds like the end of the world...and it is. But, the language also tells us something about our relationship with God right now. In the time of Jesus, when a couple became engaged it was known as betrothal. The formal period of betrothal began when the husband paid the father of the bride the "bride-price." The couple was then known as husband and wife. However, they were not yet married. The period of betrothal would last around a year.

During the year of betrothal, the husband had to ensure proper employment such that he could support a family and he had to go and build a home for this new family. Literally, he had to go and prepare a place for his wife and children. After a year, the marriage was sealed when the husband came to the home of the bride and took her in solemn procession into his new home. During this period of betrothal, the couple did not engage in marital relations. Rather, the time of betrothal was meant to prove that the couple could live chastely and were not mere slaves of their passions.

It is in this context that Jesus says in the gospel that he goes to prepare a place for us and will return to bring us to himself. Jesus is saying that he is our bridegroom who has betrothed himself to his bride the Church. This means that in this life we should be waiting expectantly for the coming of Jesus the bridegroom. It also means that during this time of preparation we are called to faithfulness. How are we doing?

We can certainly see that with regard to marriage we could be doing a lot better. Moving in together is no longer seen as the sign of marriage. In fact, couples live together today with almost no commitment at all. It wasn't too long ago that if a boy tried to take some young lady to live with him outside of marriage that the father of the girl would have been there with a shotgun. Where are the fathers today to protect their daughters? Where are the fathers to show their sons how to be real men and care for women?

St. Philip the apostle begs Jesus today, "Show us the father." Indeed, we are in dire need of strong fathers who will protect their families from evil. We also must see in Philip's request the great desire we should all have to be in heaven. During this time of betrothal we pray that we can have the expectant joy of a bride preparing for her husband. We pray that we will be faithful.

Good Shepherd Sunday

We often think of sheep as being cute and fuzzy little creatures that you just want to hug when you see them. However, I was reminded of a different side of sheep recently when I saw a book written by a Protestant pastor entitled, "When Sheep Attack." We often like to think of ourselves as cute little sheep, but the truth is that sometimes we attack. We often find ourselves frustrated with our shepherds. Yet, we need to stop and think about how we got these shepherds leading the Church in the first place.

The Church does not have the leaders she does because our bishops and priests are are so incredibly talented and holy. In fact the Church succeeds in spite of the often obvious unholiness of her leaders. There can only be one reason that the Church is what it is today, and that is because God is holy. He chooses to work through unworthy servants that he calls to be shepherds of his people. If chose the leaders of the Church, we would probably pick different people than what we've got, but then we'd also want to take credit for any success.

Today we thank God that we are not in charge of the Church; he is. If our shepherds are holy men, praise God. If we are frustrated by our shepherds at times, pray for them. Above all, trust that, no matter who the shepherd might be, the voice of the Good Shepherd speaks through them. Learn to hear his voice, no matter how unworthy his instrument may be. May God bless us with holy shepherds...and more of them!