St. John of the Cross said, “God’s first language is silence.” Remember, that the Word of God, Jesus, was with his Father and the Holy Spirit in silence before God ever said the words, “Let there be light.”

The week of love is upon us. As you know, this week we have St. Valentine's Day as well as World Marriage Day. If ever there was a perfect time for a message of love, this week is it. So for this week of love, what does the Church give its preachers to work with? ... Two readings about leprosy ... Apparently, nothing says "I love you" quite like leprosy.

The truth is, in today’s Gospel reading about the man with leprosy, we can discover a great message of love: Jesus fully knows us and fully loves us. This is the deepest desire of our hearts, to be fully known and fully loved. Like Jesus, I have a sweet spot in my heart for the man with leprosy. He’s someone I can identify with. You see, in my family when we gather for prayers at bedtime, all the kids cuddle with my wife, Julie, on her side of the bed, since she is the cuddly one, and I am left all by my lonesome on my side of the bed. Sometimes they jokingly say it looks like I am on leper island, because I am completely removed from where all the love is at.

While this is a joke for my family and I, for the man in the Gospel, leprosy was no joking matter. For this man, leprosy was a death sentence. And while he waited for leprosy to bring him to his inevitable day of death, his daily life was like hell on earth. You see, now that he had leprosy, the rules he had to live his life by meant that everything he had built his life around was taken away.

His nice clothes, hair and beard that had helped cover the sores from his leprosy were all taken away. He was taken away from his Jewish community of believers. He was taken away from the temple, the holy dwelling place of God. He was even taken away from the sanctuary of his own home. He was taken away from his hometown to go to the leper colony. He was taken away from his family. Even his ability to blend in amongst strangers was taken away as he now had to scream “unclean” to notify approaching strangers about his disease. Imagine how completely empty this man’s love tank must have felt. No one to spend time with as a companion, no one to give him a compliment, no one to give him a gift, no one to help care for him and no one to give him a loving touch.

When everything that we’ve built our lives around has been taken away from us, the decision we face is pretty clear: to either let this situation tear us apart from God or to let this situation bring us closer to God. We must realize it is at this very moment when we feel empty inside that room has been freed up in our lives for Jesus to become the center of our lives. It is precisely when we feel like God has placed us on the sidelines of His life that it is most important for us to place Jesus at the center of our lives. Jesus wants each of us to build our lives around Him. This is exactly what the man with leprosy does. This man goes to Jesus, kneels in front of Him and in the bright darkness of faith, he says to Jesus, “if you wish, you can make me clean.”

The next line in the Gospel is arguably the most understated line in the English translation of the Bible. It says Jesus was “moved with pity.” “Moved with pity.” It’s tempting to rush right past these three words to hurry up and get to the miracle. But if we want to understand Jesus and how he fully knows us and loves us, we should stop and spend some time at this place.

To understand what an overwhelming experience of intimacy took place in this moment, we first need to take a step back to remember that the New Testament was not originally written in English, it was originally written in Greek. The original Greek word used here is splagchnizomai. The English language has no perfect translation for this word, so the word gets translated as “moved with pity,” which really misses the profoundly deep physical and emotional flavor of this word. When we hear that Jesus was “moved with pity,” it is saying...

Has there ever been a time in your life where you felt like you just weren’t good enough? Maybe it was when you weren’t picked for a team at school or were bullied or it could have been when you were really into a special girl or a guy, but they just weren’t that into you. Maybe it was when you weren’t accepted into your top choice college or when you didn’t get that dream job. Whatever the situation was, chances are each of us has had a time in our lives when we felt like we just weren’t good enough. That time in our lives could be now or it could have been a long time ago and we’re still left with a residual feeling that we just aren’t good enough.
If we understand the background of what the first four disciples went through leading up to Jesus calling them in today’s Gospel, we would understand that before they encountered Jesus, they probably felt like they just weren’t good enough. You see, as Jewish boys during the time when Jesus walked the earth, Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John would have gone to the Jewish equivalent of elementary school. From there, only the best and the brightest were selected to go onto the Jewish equivalent of middle school and then only the very best and the brightest were picked to go onto the Jewish equivalent of high school. Then, from there, it was only a few of the smartest remaining chosen ones who heard the words of acceptance that every Jewish boy dreamed of hearing. The Jewish school rabbi would turn to these few chosen ones and say, “come after me.” Come after me to become my follower, to become my apprentice, to become my disciple.
For those like Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John who did not make the cut, they would have been told by the rabbi that they just weren’t good enough and had to resign themselves to a working at whatever trade their father did for the rest of their lives. So on that day of rejection, they would have made their walk of shame home from the temple. As they walked home with their heads hung low to take up their family trade of catching fish, I’m sure this sense of feeling like they just weren’t good enough had to seem soul crushing. They each knew that their parents, especially their Dads, would have a look of disappointment in their eyes when they heard this news from their sons. Each day, when these four picked up their fishing nets for work, they were probably reminded that they just weren’t good enough.
Then as they were in their boats one day, a call from a Rabbi named Jesus broke through their fog of despair. The first three words He spoke to them were words they once had dreamed about hearing from a Rabbi but they had long ago given up on the possibility of ever hearing. The three words that meant they were good enough and had been accepted into their dream job of being a follower of a rabbi.
Jesus said, “Come after me.” As they stood in their boats, this call from Jesus changed everything for them. They knew in an instant that they were made for more, so each of them dropped their nets letting the source of their livelihood fall by the wayside. They relinquished their role as captain of their own ships as they got out of their boats. Some of them even left their Dad behind in their boats as they went to go follow Jesus. As they were getting out of their boats, I imagine them catching a glimpse of their Dad’s eyes and for the first time in a long time, they saw Him looking right at them with a sense of pride in his eyes. Imagine what that must have felt like to have the most important person who has ever walked the earth say these three words that let them know they are accepted, that they are good enough, that they have been called to the best job ever.
The good news is we don’t have to imagine what it must have felt like for these disciples. The good news is that Jesus says these three words to each of us, letting us know we are accepted, that we are good enough, that we have been called...

Here it is the darkest week of the year outside, but light and joy are all around us inside. In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist testified about Jesus being the light and words of joy were scattered throughout the other readings. To represent this joy, we see the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath lit. It may also bring some of you joy to see the priest and deacon wearing what some might describe as pink dresses. Sorry, Fr. Jeremy, I mean rose-colored vestments; real men wear rose, right? All this focus on light and joy may seem puzzling with Thursday being the darkest day of the year when the earth is tilted furthest away from the sun. But our light and joy don’t come from the earth’s tilt toward the sun of the sky. Our light and joy come from tilting our lives toward the Son of God.
The path to true joy begins with making room in the inn of our hearts to fully welcome Jesus. God made each of us with room in our hearts perfectly sized to be the dwelling place for Jesus. The problem is we tend to try to fill this space in our hearts with smaller substitutes for Jesus. St. Thomas Aquinas said the four small substitutes for Jesus we use are wealth, power, pleasure and honor. These four small substitutes for Jesus never fill this Jesus-sized room in our hearts, so we are left feeling unfulfilled and frustrated. If we release from our hearts unhealthy attachments to wealth, power, pleasure and honor, we can fully welcome Jesus into the dwelling place of our hearts. Which of these four substitutes for God do we most need to release an unhealthy attachment to in our lives?
For me, sixteen years ago, I was so attached to wealth that I couldn’t bring myself to embrace welcoming a child into my life. When Julie and I got engaged, I told her that after we got married, I wanted 0, 1 or 2 kids. Julie’s wanted 3-5 kids. You see, I viewed welcoming a child into my life as getting in the way of me doing what I wanted to do with “my money.” After we got married, I tried to delay having a child by giving as an excuse that we needed to have the perfect amount of money saved first before we could welcome a child into our lives. The truth is, if we would have waited to have the perfect amount of money saved up before having a child, we would have been waiting forever. Eventually, Julie’s persistence, encouragement and love paid off and I released this unhealthy attachment to money. Because of this, I was able to embrace welcoming our three children into my life. They have helped bring me closer to Jesus and have brought more joy into my life than I could have ever imagined.
The second substitute for God is power. It was one of the darkest days of the year 73 years ago. The year was 1944 and two of the world’s most powerful nations, America and Germany, were on the battlefield during World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. This was one of the costliest battles in American history where 80,000 of the American and allied troops were killed, wounded or captured. However, the light that came into this world with the birth of Christ hadn't lost its ability to overcome even these darkest of days. It was in the heart of this battlefield in the Belgium wilderness on the dark night of Christmas Eve, where American soldiers and enemy soldiers from Germany laid down their guns, gathered together in the home of a civilian family to give thanks to God, to break bread together for Christmas dinner and to sleep in peace under the same roof. The darkness that was all around them in the battlefield that night, couldn't overcome Christ’s light and joy in that little corner of the battlefield.
Soldiers and saints alike have had to let go of substitutes for God. The poster child for an unhealthy attachment to pleasure is St. Augustine. As a lustful younger man, his prayer was “God, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” Over time, he released this unhealthy attachment to pleasure and then he wrote a...

Do we care more about looking good or do we care more about doing good? The two groups in today’s Gospel, cared more about looking good in front of their peers than doing good for God who was right in front of them.
These two groups aimed to ask Jesus a controversial question that would make Jesus look bad so they could look good. Before they ask the question of Jesus, they first try buttering Him up with compliments. One compliment they give Jesus is that He doesn’t care about looking good in front of the people. Once they’ve buttered Jesus up with flattery, they ask Him the controversial question.
To pay the tax or not to pay the tax, that was the controversial question the Pharisees and the Herodians asked Jesus. Both of these groups viewed Jesus as troublesome and they thought that if they could get Jesus to publicly answer this controversial question, it would be Jesus’ downfall at the hands of whichever group Jesus sided against with His answer. By answering the question, they thought Jesus would either be labeled as pro-tax and in turn be seen by the religious Pharisees as selling out His Jewish people or Jesus would be labeled as anti-tax and in turn be seen by the more secular Herodians as a revolutionary threat to the Roman Empire they supported. By taking down Jesus with this verbal trap, the Pharisees and the Herodians believed they would look good to their peers by helping retain or gain power and prestige for their group.
After they asked the question, Jesus responded by taking the coin that is supposed to be used to pay the tax to the Roman government and asked whose inscription and image is on it. They respond that the coin has the inscription of and is made in the image of the Roman governmental leader Caesar. Next Jesus says, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." With this statement, Jesus reminds us that we are doing good when we repay to others what belongs to them. Just as the tax coin has the inscription of the governmental leader who made it, we believe the desire for God is written on the hearts of each of us. Just as the tax coin is made in the image of the governmental leader who made it, scripture tells us that each of us are made in the image of God who made us. God is the one who gave us our first breath of life. When we understand this, we avoid the pitfall others fall into when they try to find their identity and self-worth in looking good for others and we instead find our true identity and self-worth in being a beloved son or daughter of God.
What exactly does it mean for we beloved sons and daughters of God to repay to God what belongs to God? Jesus stops short of spelling out exactly what this means. That’s because Jesus wants each of us to think and pray about what this means. When we think and pray about what it means to repay to God what belongs to God, we are first reminded that everything belongs to God and that we should start living our lives for an audience of one. This audience of one is God who made each of us for friendship with Him and it is time that is the currency of friendship.
We are repaying or giving to God by spending this hour with Him at Mass, but God doesn’t want this one hour to be the end of the time we dedicate to Him this week. God wants this hour to be the start of the time we dedicate to Him this week.
The God who gave us our first breath of life is the same God who paid the ultimate price by giving His very life on the cross for the sins of each one of us. We are going to experience this truth in a very real way in a few moments when we receive the body and blood of Jesus. As we open our mouths to consume the body and blood of Jesus, let us open our hearts so that Jesus may consume our hearts, so that our hearts may become like His heart, so that our hands may become His hands, so that our feet may become His feet, so that our face may become His face, so...

Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.

That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.

Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.

At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’

Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt.

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair.

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?'

Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”


The other night, I asked my wife, Julie, to be the practice audience for my homily. I told her she got to be the first person to fall asleep during one of my homilies. I was amazed when she didn’t fall asleep. That means, one of you could earn the distinction of being the first person to fall asleep during one my homilies. Today could be your lucky day. Now, here comes the homily.
If we don’t know how to forgive, we don’t know how to live. This choice between being someone who is unforgiving to others or being a forgiving person is probably one of the most important decisions we make in our lives. As a married man, I am constantly reminded of my need for forgiveness. The good news is that each of us gathered here today as baptized Christians are recipients of God’s forgiveness and grace. While we may sometimes question if God will really forgive us for what we have done, we must remember that we believe in the same God who forgave Moses the murderer, David the adulterer, Paul the Christian murderer and He will forgive us also. All we have to do is seek His forgiveness and grace, which is God’s free gift to us.
So we brothers and sisters who have received God’s forgiveness and grace, are faced with the question of what are we going to do with the forgiveness and grace God has given us? Will we use God’s forgiveness and grace for our own selfish purpose or will we use God’s forgiveness and grace for His purpose?
In today’s Gospel, we heard about the unforgiving servant who chose to use forgiveness and grace for his own selfish purpose. First, this unforgiving servant was spared having himself and his family being sold into slavery along with his property and he was forgiven what equates to over a billion dollars in debt. What does he choose to do after receiving this forgiveness and grace? He then immediately goes to choke a fellow servant who owes him about $15,000 in today’s dollars. Will we be like this unforgiving servant or are we instead going to use the forgiveness and grace we’ve been given for God’s purpose by sharing it with others who have sinned...