Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

St. Paul reminds us to compete well for the faith, to be the very best we can be, but never at the expense of putting others down.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary

Today's memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows reminds us that Mary shared intimately in every aspect of the life of Jesus. This means that she shared in many great joys, but it also means that she felt, more than anyone, the sorrows of his life. The Church has traditionally reflected on seven events in the life of Mary that have come to be called the "Seven Sorrows of Mary."

The prophecy of Simeon that a sword would pierce her heart

The flight into Egypt

The finding of the child Jesus in the temple

Mary meets Jesus as he carries his cross

Mary stands at the foot of the cross

The body of Jesus is placed in Mary's arms after being taken down from the cross

The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb

We remember that to be close to Jesus means to share in both the joys and sufferings of his life. No one did this more perfectly than Mary. We ask her to help us to carry our cross well through the difficulties of life that we may share in her joy and the joy of all the saints as we one day behold Jesus face to face. May we always stay close to Jesus as Mary did.

A Heavenly Peace...and Justice

Jesus gives us many difficult examples in the Gospel today. "Turn the other cheek" best sums up all of them. He tells us when someone wrongs you, don't try to get even. Not only are we not supposed to get even, but we're actually supposed to give even more than the person has already unjustly taken. This is a hard teaching indeed. However, I think we tend to focus too much on the "what" of this teaching and miss the "why." Jesus says that if we do these things, "Your reward will be great in heaven." All of these difficult things Jesus asks are ultimately to remind us that we should live with our eyes fixed on the life to come.

Because we believe in life after death and that there is a heaven, we don't have to "get even" in this life. We all long for a justice that ensures that everyone gets what's coming to them. The difference for Christians is that we don't have to get it here and now. If this world were all that existed then Jesus' sayings make no sense. If there is not heaven then when someone wrongs you in this life then you've got to get back right here and now because that's all there is.

Christianity and a "Christian world view" can be a great source of peace in the world. If everyone has to get even right here and now then we are doomed to endless war and violence. "An eye for an eye just makes the whole world blind." Yet, if we as Christians are able to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile with our eyes fixed on a reward that comes later then we have a chance for peace. We still have to work for justice, but we as Christians work for justice in this world knowing that the true and lasting peace and justice we long for will only be experienced in the life to come.

Be Open to Hear the Word of God

We all know that Jesus performed many healings in his public ministry, most of which were not recorded anywhere. Why then, among all these, did St. Mark choose to tell us about the healing of the deaf and mute man in the Gospel today? For one thing, the Greek word for "mute" is used in only two places in all of Scripture, in the Gospel and in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah tells us that when the Messiah comes he will restore sight to the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, and the "mute" will sing. Mark is clearly telling us that Jesus fulfills this passage and is the Messiah.

However, both St. Mark and the early Church often made use of this healing for another reason. It is a symbolic model of the process of evangelization, or spreading the "good news" about Jesus. The apostles heard the Word of God and then went out and spoke about it to everyone. These people heard the apostles preaching and they in turn went and spoke about it to all their friends. Eventually the good news reached the entire world.

Today, however, we are in danger of losing the faith that the apostles gave their lives to hand on. Many people are abandoning the faith. For this reason, John Paul II called us to what he termed a "New Evangelization." We've got to start this process of hearing and speaking all over again. When we hear the term "New Evangelization" we might immediately think about going out and speaking more about the faith. This is backward. The reason we are not speaking the Word of God well is because we are not hearing it well.

It is common that when a man goes deaf he will ultimately develop a speech impediment because he can't hear. The Church is suffering from a sort of spiritual speech impediment and the cure can only come from learning the hear again. Jesus first heals the man's hearing and then frees his tongue. The same will be true for the New Evangelization. The Good News is that God so loved the world that he sent his only son that we might have life. That's really great news, but most of us are not "hearing" it and hence are not sharing it.

In order to heal the deaf and mute man in the Gospel, Jesus had to take him away from the crowd. Maybe God is calling you to come away, to leave what is comfortable so that he can help you to hear the Good News. Jesus could have just willed that the man be healed, but instead he touched him. He put his fingers in his ears and spit on his tongue. He then spoke a seemingly magic word...ephphatha. It means "be open" in Jesus' native Aramaic. Jesus wants to touch each of us as well and allow us to hear clearly so that we may speak clearly. What next step is God asking you to take? Whatever it is, hear Jesus saying ephphatha...that is...be open.

Being With Jesus

In today's Gospel the Pharisees criticize the apostles for picking heads of grain and eating them on the Sabbath. Jesus responds by reminding them of the time that the army of Israel violated the law by eating the bread of the temple that only the priests could eat. What do these stories have in common? In the story of the army eating the temple bread, Jesus reminds them that it was King David himself who led this supposed violation of the law. You can imagine that if some general of the army had showed up at the temple with such a request that he probably wouldn't have gotten very far. Yet, when the king shows up...well who is going to say no to the king?

Obviously, it makes a difference who you are with. David had authority over the laws of the temple and could allow the men who were with him to eat the sacred bread. In just the same way, Jesus claims that he is "lord of the Sabbath" and has the authority to allow the men who are with him to "harvest" grain on the Sabbath. This is an amazing claim if you think about it.

If we remember back to yesterdays' Gospel, the Pharisees wanted to know why the disciples of Jesus didn't fast. He replied that they were "with the bridegroom" and thus it was not the time for fasting. Today, Jesus reminds us of the special privileges of those who were "with King David" and, most significantly, the special privileges of those who are "with him." Do we realize that we too are "with Jesus?" We are his special friends. This allows us the freedom not to arbitrarily violate the Sabbath, but rather to live out what the Sabbath was always meant to be about. We get to spend time resting "with Jesus."

The Image of the Love of God

We often hear that "God is love." Yet, this can be a hard thing to understand in the abstract. Love is a concrete thing manifested by tangible actions. Until the time of Jesus, God revealed himself through sacred words and deeds in history. Yet, the greatest revelation of God was when he became one of us and came in person to show us how much he loves us. St. Paul tells us in the 1st reading this morning that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God." If we want to know what God's love is like, we just look at Jesus and see the way he loved people. Since Jesus is God he shows each of us in person the perfect image of the love of God. The call to us as Christians is that we too are called to be an image of the love of God to our neighbor. How well do we reflect the love of God to others in our daily lives?

Catholic Rapture

Perhaps you've heard various Protestant groups refer to something they call "The Rapture." It can all be rather confusing as they speak of hoping to be "raptured" away from this life and speeded away to heaven. Catholics naturally back away from this idea of "rapture" because it doesn't sound like anything Jesus every talked about nor anything the Fathers of the Church mentioned. While most of the Protestant understanding of rapture is based on misreading the Bible, there is a biblical idea of rapture.

In the first reading today, St. Paul speaks of the final judgement and the last day at the end of time. All those who have died will of course rise from the dead. But what about those who are still alive at the second coming? These, St. Paul says, will be "caught up" (in Greek..."raptured") to meet Jesus in the air. So, yes, Catholics believe in a rapture. The problem is that the Protestant notion takes this idea and combines it with the teaching in Revelation that there will be a "thousand year" period of "tribulation" before the end of the world.

The Protestant belief is that those who are "good" should not have to undergo this tribulation and thus will be "raptured" out of the world ahead of time. Obviously this is not scriptural and denies a key part of Christianity. "In the world you will have tribulation, but have courage, for I have overcome the world." Jesus is not going to save us from this world by preventing our suffering. Rather he gives meaning to our suffering. If we fight the good fight through this life as St. Paul did, then we will indeed be with Jesus on the last day. That will be a truly, and biblically sound, rapturous day.

As the temperature in the pot continues to rise all around us today, we could use a few good prophets like St. John the Baptist.

Learning from the Life of St. Augustine

Today we celebrate a saint that had perhaps the most famous conversion in the history of the Church. Yet, there were many other people that helped St. Augustine to finally turn back to God. First, his mother, Monica, raised him well and taught him the faith from an early age. Second, in adulthood St. Augustine needed another teacher who could help his adult mind to come to a deeper insight into the faith. Augustine found this kind of teacher in St. Ambrose who was instrumental in his conversion. Finally, the thing most responsible for this famous conversion was grace. Augustine went on to to write so much on God's free gift of grace. It is a gift that Augustine knew well in his own life and is God's gift to all of us.

Lessons from the Lunar Landing

[The following homily was given at the opening all-school Mass at Hayden High School in Topeka. It represents a summary of three talks given the they Hayden faculty retreat on August 10th. Those talks can be found at the following links:]

http://www.shawnthebaptist.org/2009/08/hayden-faculty-retreat-2009-talk-1/

http://www.shawnthebaptist.org/2009/08/hayden-faculty-retreat-2009-talk-2/

http://www.shawnthebaptist.org/2009/08/hayden-faculty-retreat-2009-talk-3/

This summer we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first landing of man on the moon. As we recall this event, there are 3 lessons that provide helpful insights as we begin a new school year. First, the entire mission to the moon would have never happened without the vision and leadership of President John F. Kennedy. He set the goal of landing on the moon by the end of 1969 and this goal gave direction to every decision made. We too need to have clear goals. We will never arrive at where we need to be if we don't have a clear picture of where we're going.

Secondly, we shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes. It took many many failures along the path that eventually led to the lunar landing. The rocket scientists had to watch rocket after rocket explode right in front of them in a great ball of fire. Yet, they learned from their mistakes and didn't quit. How many times do we give up because we fail? Perhaps our biggest failure is that we never set challenging goals because we're too afraid we might not reach them. Kennedy's goal was a very challenging one and lots of people could have given up but didn't. We need to have the courage to "fail well" as we risk achieving great things.

Finally, there is an important lesson to be learned from the mission of Apollo 8. This was the first time we ever flew away from the earth and went to the moon. We didn't land of course, but we discovered something very important. The astronauts had trained very hard to learn everything they could about the moon. They had planned every moment of their trip with countless checklists, including every picture they would take. However, they found themselves completely unprepared for the surprise that awaited them when they got to the moon. As they came around the dark side of the moon and into daylight they saw something unexpected...the earth. They had to scramble to find their cameras to take the unexpected prize pictures. Astronaut Bill Anders remarked that they had concentrated all their training on learning about the moon and yet, when they got there, the most important thing they discovered was the earth. In the midst of all our plans and goals, don't be surprised if God gets in there and throws in a few unexpected wrinkles. This is good. There are lots of things to learn this year, but don't be surprised if along the way you learn a few things you hadn't planned on...and those just might turn out to be the most important.