30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - Blind Bartimaeus and Priesthood Sunday

 

Since 2003, the last Sunday of October is designated as Priesthood Sunday— an opportunity for us to reflect upon the role of the ordained priesthood in the life of the Church.  

Today we welcome Tate Johnson, a second year seminarian at Borromeo Seminary here in Cleveland, who will speak to us after communion about his own discernment and formation for the priesthood.

For the homily today, I’d like to consider the role of the priest in light of our Gospel reading---the story of Bartimaeus.  The story offers several meaningful insights relevant to Priesthood Sunday and the priestly vocation and our own call to holiness.

The story begins with blind Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus. In the course of his ministry, the priest encounters countless people who are crying out to Jesus. Many of them, like Bartimaeus, have a hard time seeing Jesus due to the challenging circumstances of their life—a crisis, an illness, a unique encounter with the evils of the world or in their own heart. 

The priest helps people see Jesus. Particularly at Mass, right? The priest has a unique role in the Church to help others see Jesus. Through the celebration of the sacraments—the priest makes Jesus present through the sacramental rituals, particularly in the changing of bread and wine into the Lord’s Body and Blood so we can see Him present in our midst. Also in the homily, hopefully, each week, I help you see Jesus in the concrete details of your life. 

One of my favorite functions in the priestly ministry is to teach OCIA. I’m always pleased to meet those souls hungering, longing to see Jesus. And in those sessions their eyes become more and more attuned to Jesus present in the Catholic Church and come to understand the invitation Jesus makes to them—to come and be changed and transformed. 

Consider another detail in the Bartimeus story. Bartimaeus longs for Jesus, but many in the crowd make it difficult for him—they tell him that he is wasting his time. Similarly, there are many forces in the world today which tell us that we are wasting our time turning to the Lord and seeking to follow Him. The priest has a role in helping members of the Church to take courage in standing up against the worldly forces that seek to silence the Church and to ensure that we never ally ourselves with those terrible powers.

As many of you know, I was appointed by Bishop Malesic as Chaplain for an apostolate called Courage International which helps men and women with same-sex attraction live faithfully the Lord’s call to follow him. Now the world tells them, ah, just give in to your impulses. But, Christians recognize that not every impulse leads to Jesus. Rather, we need to restrain and discipline those impulses that are misaligned. And priests help others break through those wordly voices. Thanks be to God for those priests who tell us the truth and encourage us. 

Next in the story, Bartimaeus runs to Jesus, and Jesus surprisingly asks, “what do you want?” It’s surprising because Jesus already knows what Bartimaeus wants and needs. Jesus can read his heart, he made him. But Jesus asks, and listens. This reflects a very important aspect of priestly ministry. Listening. Before a priest can offer words of advice, or spiritual guidance, or make decisions regarding the life of a parish, he needs to listen. I hope that when you have brought your concerns to me, you have felt listened to. 

You might not have received the answer you liked, I can’t promise that all the time, but I hope that you’ve felt that your concern was taken seriously and it was given the attention it deserved. 

But moreso, we’re not just talking about decisions about clambakes here. The priest takes concerns of the soul with profound seriousness. If you are seeking to follow Jesus more faithfully, more deeply, the priest will listen and pray for you and with you and bring your concerns to the Lord.

Finally, in the story, Jesus heals Bartimaeus.

The ministry of the priest certainly has a healing dimension. Every priest is called to dispense the healing of Jesus Christ primarily in the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

The Confessional is a place of the most profound healing, a healing of those wounds we inflict on our relationship with God and our fellow man through sin. Now yes, some of our spiritual wounds can be healed in other ways—our venial sins can be healed through repentance and reception of the Eucharist. But our most serious sins, our grave sins, our mortal sins, can those mortal wounds can be healed only in the Sacrament of Confession. 

When we confess our sins to a priest and receive absolution we know that a profound healing occurs at that moment—we feel lighter, we feel the weight of guilt relieved, we feel peace. And I hope that no one here is depriving themselves of the healing that Jesus is waiting to dispense to you through his priests. I hope that neither pride, nor shame, nor embarrassment is keeping you from crying out like Bartimaeus for healing. If you can ‘t get to confession on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings, give me a call, we can schedule something. I’m not too busy to hear your confessions, that’s why I’m here. 

Similarly, with the Sacrament of Anointing. If you are going in for serious surgery, or you’ve gotten a serious diagnosis, or you feel the effects of old age or declining health really taking its toll, all you have to do is call, and say, Father, I’d like to receive the Anointing of the Sick. For through that Sacrament Jesus gives powerful spiritual healing and spiritual strength to bear our afflictions with grace.

Recall, that every priest is also Bartimaeus, with his own blindnesses. So always please be patient with your priests, with the same patience you would want for yourself.

And recall too that every member of the Church has a priestly role, of bringing souls to Jesus, of listening to the afflicted and offering wise counsel and comfort, and seeking as best we can to be instruments of the Lord’s healing. Every soul we encounter is another Bartimaeus, who deep down longs to see the Lord.

May all priests and all the priestly people of God be strengthened in their vocations of service and holiness for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

October 18 2018 - St. Luke - Christian ministry to the sick

During the month of October, many parishes offer extra opportunities for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Next weekend (Oct 28) at our 11:30am Sunday mass, for example, we will celebrate anointing for those whose illnesses are severe and for the elderly who have grown weak under the burden of years. Fr. Evans, Fr. Schwet, and I have also been anointing all of the Catholics  in the seven nursing homes in our parish boundaries. This is a good time of year to celebrate anointing as the weather turns to chill and winter looms near. Yet, it is also traditional to celebrate the anointing of the sick because of today’s saint, Saint Luke, who was not only the author of the third Gospel, but also a physician.

Each of the Gospel writers has a particular insight into the personality of Jesus, and Luke presents Our Lord as the Great Physician, healer of bodies and souls.  This emphasis was perhaps natural to Luke because of his own medical expertise.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of the Lord sending out disciples to expel demons and to cure the sick. The Lord’s commission to go and to heal the sick is certainly continued in the priest’s ministry to anoint the sick, and certainly in our prayers and care for sick family members, by doctors and nurses, in the many who visit the sick and bring holy communion and simply visit the sick in their loneliness and suffering. I know our local hospital has many good Catholic volunteers who visit the sick daily, who are such a source of comfort, who bring Christ to the sick in the Blessed Sacrament and also in their kind words.

Illness is often anguishing, and can also lead to despair, a sense that God has abandoned the sick. So Christians have a special care for those who are sick, to bring God’s healing word to them.

St. Luke, Physician and Evangelist, brought Christ’s healing through his medical care and also through his writing of the Gospel. For those who read and meditate on the Gospel open themselves to the Divine Physicians healing graces.

Medical science has made rapid advancements in recent decades, yet society seems to be spiritually sick as ever. And so, we renew our commitment to pray and to be open to bring Christ’s healing to the physically sick and the spiritually sick, those who have fallen away from God and have been diseased by the values and errors of the world. By meditating on the words of Luke's Gospel and his holy example and by heavenly intercession, may St. Luke aid us in our great commission for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For healing of all sin and division in the Church. We pray to the Lord.

That all those who suffer may be filled with strength and hope. We pray to the Lord.

For all those dedicated to the care of the sick, especially all doctors. We pray to the Lord.

In thanksgiving for all those who visit the sick, bringing them the Sacraments and the consolation of the Word of God. We pray to the Lord.

For all those in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice care, for all those who will die today, for their consolation and that of their families.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the deceased clergy and religious of our diocese, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

God of mercy, hear our prayers, ease the sufferings and comfort the weakness of your servants, and bring us to eternal life, through Christ our Lord.

14th Sunday of OT 2017 - "Come to me...and I will give you rest"

Amidst all the burdens, hardships, illnesses, setbacks, and tragedies of life: are there any words in the Scriptures more comforting than those we heard today: “come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest…for I am gentle, and humble of heart.”

This Gospel passage is often chosen for the Catholic funeral rites. Family members often choose this Gospel for the funeral of a loved one who passed after a long illness: in death, earthly suffering comes to an end; and the Christian soul who dies with Christ as their Lord rests as they await the resurrection.

This Gospel is also used for the celebration of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is surely a sacrament of comfort. In serious illness we experience powerlessness, limitation, suffering, and often fear. And through this great Sacrament Jesus, makes his comforting presence known, the divine physician comes to the bedside of his faithful ones, to bring the comforting knowledge of his presence and his grace to help us bear our serious illnesses.

Some of you may remember that before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, this Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was often called “last rites” or “extreme unction” as the sacrament would be celebrated as close to the time of death as possible. With Vatican II came a renewed understanding: this Sacrament is to be received, not just near death, but any time our health is seriously impaired by sickness or old age. We should really seek this Sacrament at the beginning of a serious illness.

Our Catholic hospitals have a priest chaplain who is able to celebrate this sacrament with you, and arrangements can be made with those hospitals. If you are going to be undergoing serious surgery, we can schedule to celebrate this sacrament a few days prior. If you have a family member who has fallen away from the Church who has taken seriously ill, you should pray for them and encourage them to send for a priest.

Throughout the Gospels, the sick came to Jesus for healing, he sent his apostles to heal the sick, to anoint the sick and lay hands on them. And St. James even writes, “let the sick send for the priests of the Church, and let the priests pray over them, anointing them with oil”

God has brought about miraculous healing through Holy Anointing, but particularly in cases of terminal illness, the Lord certainly brings about spiritual strengthening and comfort through this Sacrament. So, if you or a family are diagnosed with a serious illness, call the priests early on, the Sacraments can be celebrated to bring healing, comfort and peace.

Not just through Holy Anointing, but in all the Sacraments Jesus brings comfort. Through baptism we gain the peace of knowing that we belong to God. Through Eucharist, the peace of knowing that we remain in communion with God, and God loves us and feeds us with what our souls most desperately need. Through Confession we hear some of the most comforting words that can ever be spoken in this life: “Your sins are forgiven”.

We do not have a God who remains distant. The Gospel today is clear, Jesus invites us close to Himself. Every Sacrament is an encounter with Christ who lives, who has conquered sin and death, who loves us, and wants to help us become the people God made us to be.

Whether you haven’t prayed in years, have fallen away from the practice of weekly mass, if you’ve skipped out on your catechism classes, or have committed sins that are gravely embarrassing, if you are Jewish, Muslim, or struggling with Atheism, Jesus makes that invitation to each of us: “Come to me, come to me” He’s not speaking to some else, he’s speaking to you. So many of us, are so exhausted and unhappy because we fail to go to Jesus when we should. We fail to develop the sort of prayer life that truly nourishes because we think we can handle the difficulties of life on our own.

Jesus invites us to turn away from our self-importance and walk to into the embrace of his arms, to turn from our sins and walk toward his mercy, to turn away from our doubts and to walk toward the Truth, to turn away from our fears and to walk toward the source of all courage and strength.

Jesus’ words today are certainly words of comfort and invitation, but they are also words of challenge. To whom do you go for refreshment, to whom do you go peace, where do you really place your trust?

Do you go to the bottle, or do you go to Him? Do you go to your credit cards, or do you go to Him? Do you go to the gossip circle, to the perverted internet sites, or to Him? Do you seek follow to the lame examples of professional athletes and Hollywood elites, or seek to follow Him?

Not all that glitters is gold, not all that promises rest and peace, can actually provide it.

Our secular culture offers a million and one alternatives to Jesus.  But Jesus says, come to ME.  Don’t turn to overindulging in food, in drink, don’t go to sexual perversion, or take out your frustrations and anger against your family or neighbor, don’t turn to those million OTHER things, come to ME, Jesus says.

Sometimes temptation comes in the form of a little voice urging us to seek consolation in one of those million other things, THAT’S NOT THE VOICE OF GOD.  There is an enemy who speaks with a persuasive tongue, who does not want us to turn to Jesus in prayer and obey our True Lord.  It’s the voice that says, you don’t need to pray, what you really need is the pill, the drink, the website, or the entire carton of chocolate ice cream.

Every Christian is engaged in spiritual warfare, and the enemy will use all the means at his disposal, including the goods of the earth, to lead us away from Christ, who desires to keep us from entering in Christ’s eternal rest.

Today, Jesus invites us to come to Him once again, amidst all the competing voices. At this Holy Eucharist let us renew our trust and faith in him, to recommit to the healthy spiritual practices, prayer, fasting, right judgment and discernment, that we may live this week in his peace that we may live with Him in eternally for the glory of God and salvation of souls.