June 5 2023 - St. Boniface - Axes and idols

 

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Boniface, who is known as the apostle to the Germans. Boniface was born in what is now England in the 7th century, at a time when Western Europe was still rebuilding itself after the fall of Roman Empire.

By the time he was about forty years old, the Benedictine Boniface was known as a gifted scholar and preacher, and was abbot of a Benedictine monastery. But at the request of the Pope, Boniface traveled to mainland Europe to spread the Gospel in places yet unevangelized. He travelled into the wild frontier lands of what are now the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. Even though the Pope had made him Bishop prior to his mission, his initial efforts were unsuccessful.

One of the obstacles Boniface faced was that the German tribes clung to their pagan worship. They believed in Christ to some extent, but they refused to reject the old gods like Odin and Thor. They also refused to give up witchcraft.  

The story goes that Boniface made way to a giant oak tree where the germans gathered to offer false worship to the Thor.  So Boniface, took an axe and he begins chopping down this tree. The pagans cursed Boniface and waited for him to be struck dead by the old gods for his sacrilege.  But, just after chopping a small notch in the tree, God finished the job: the tree was blast apart from above from a bolt from heaven.  And the germans who had before cursed Boniface now began to believe in the one True God.  Moreover, Boniface took the wood of the tree and built an oratory in honor of Saint Peter whose successor had sent him on this mission.  

This is why you’ll often see stained glass windows and statues with St. Boniface in his bishop’s attire, holding an axe, standing on a tree trunk. 

Pagan oaks of error, superstition, and false teaching seem to be sprouting up like weeds all over the place these days. There are gatherings of professed witches in every major city. There are witchcraft stores in Lakewood. The old idols of fame, power, pleasure and wealth take on various forms, and yet, even within the Church, we have prelates and clerics who have made public opinion into idols—allowing public opinion guide church life rather than divine revelation.

Working for the spread of the Gospel in our modern world seems like daunting work, but remember that Boniface only needed to take those first courageous swings with the axe before God did the rest of the work. Boniface’s actions challenged the false beliefs of the society around him, and brought others to Christ.

Perhaps there is a pagan idol that you are called to take a few swings at. Perhaps God might be challenging you to pick up the axe with your fellow Christians. Likely, we all have axes to swing. The least we can do is  pick up the axe of persistent prayer, that our contemporaries may be delivered from their modern idols to belief in Christ.

In a letter written to a Benedictine abbess, Saint Boniface wrote: “Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial…let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.” Christians cannot be silent onlookers as souls are swayed to worship the false idols of the day. 

May we hold firmly to the faith Boniface taught with his lips and sealed with his blood, and confidently profess that faith by our deeds, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Trinity Sunday 2021 - Mysterious Love

 

We have come again to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  I don’t know who dreads this Sunday more, the priests who have to attempt to explain this most mysterious of all Catholic Dogmas in a short homily, or the people, who have to listen to it.  

I think many priests on Trinity Sunday, like Saint Patrick depicted in our stained glass window with the three-leaf clover, try to explain the nature of the Trinity with some analogy: the trinity is like three burning candles twisted together to have one flame, or like a three-stranded piece of rope.  Or the Trinity is like an egg, and the three persons are like the egg shell, an egg white and an egg yolk.  Some have said the Trinity is like Water which can come in three modes: ice, liquid, or steam, or a tree that has branches, leaves, and roots.

The problem with each of these analogies is that they are ultimately wrong, yes, even Saint Patrick’s use of the three-leaf clover.  To say that the Trinity is like some created thing will never fully explain the Trinity.  The three divine persons of the One Supreme Godhead –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not three modes of God, three parts, three divisions, or three different masks that God wears. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three separate entities, like three separate Gods. In a sense, it’s easier to say what the Trinity is not, than what the Trinity is.

In the end, all analogies fail. God is greater than our human comprehension. And I think that’s one of the reasons we celebrate Trinity Sunday: to acknowledge that God is greater than my human comprehension, and I’m okay with it. 

Saint Augustine, who is one of the most profound reflectors on the Trinity said, “Si comprehendis, non est Deus” which means, “If you understand, it’s not God.”  The minute you say, yes, I got it now: that’s not God, says Augustine.  The Trinity is greater than human understanding. 

And that’s a wonderful thing. God is bigger than us. He’s greater than us. He resists being limited by our human categories and prejudices. 

We all know the famous story of the Israelites, after crossing the red sea, they come to mt. sinai. And they fashion for themselves an idol to worship. A hunk of metal. Though their action was way off the mark, and yet, it’s somewhat relatable. It’s a perennial temptation to fashion for ourselves gods which are less mysterious, less demanding, gods that we can see and touch and obtain. Why do people worship money and the accumulation of material things? Because they are right there! Why do people make idols out of athletes and politicians? Because they are right there. Listen to them talk—they’re so charming; they tell me what I want to hear. Watch them play—they’re so talented! It makes me happy.

But we are made for so much more than the happiness offered by the false idols of our own making. We're made for the eternal blessedness of communion with the One True God.

So on one hand, God is mysterious—beyond the comprehension of any created intellect. On the other hand, we were created in order to love God.  And an old proverb says, "You cannot love what you do not know."  God’s nature might be ultimately unknowable, but God has revealed something about Himself--He loves us. 

Catholics don’t believe in some generic faceless nameless divinity like the unitarians because God is not generic—He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Catholic don’t worship some uncaring divine force—but a communion of love whose goodness overflows for us. The Father has a plan for his creation, His Son is sent to enact that plan: to suffer and die for it, the Holy Spirit enflames our hearts and incorporates us into that plan.

While mysterious, the Holy Trinity desires that we seek to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life, that we may be happy with Him in the next. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, the Lord tells us. Okay. How?

Just as you get to know someone by spending time with them and doing work with them, so too, we come to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spending time with them in prayer, by reading what the Scriptures reveal about Them, what the great Church Fathers have written about them, and by spending time in their service.

Why do a growing number of people in this country claim to have no relationship with God? Because they do none of these things. Instead of prayer, they seek the superficial status of social media. Instead of reading the Scriptures, they turn their minds to the perverse entertainments of our day. Instead of engaging in the holy works of mercy, they seek to build up for themselves treasures on earth.

Many people today blame God for their troubles, instead of recognizing God’s desires to help them in their troubles. They say, there is evil in the world, there is evil in my life, therefore God does not exist. In this case, they’ve fashioned such a small, impotent God. Rather, Catholics know, that God is doing something about the evil in the world, he has done something about the evil in the world. The Father has sent the Son to conquer evil and sin and death. And he is victorious. And we can share in that victory by belief in Him, by handing our lives over to Him, by bearing our crosses in union with Him, with the sure and certain Hope, that discipleship leads to resurrection and eternal life.

The Holy Trinity is mysterious, but as we encounter Him in our liturgical worship in our daily prayer, and in our charitable service, we begin to know with our minds and fix in our hearts that the Lord is God. 

In the celebration of Mass, particularly, the Holy Trinity is acting now in history: Father, Son, and Spirit, breathing new life into the Church, nourishing us with the Eucharist, enkindling our hearts for the work of the Gospel. As we continue this sacred celebration and as you go forth from here into the world, let us open our minds, hearts, and souls to the goodness and providence of the Trinity. Let us trust Him, and seek to know Him ever more intimately, and serve Him always and everywhere for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Week of Lent 2019 - Wednesday - Imitators of the Passion

When told they must worship an idol or be put to death, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, chose to remain faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They exhibited tremendous and courageous faith in the face of suffering and death.

The early Christians often faced this same trial.  “Offer sacrifice to the roman emperor and live, refuse, and die.”  Great martyrs like Perpetua and Felicity, Popes like Sixtus and Cornelius, apologists like Justin, refused to offer the pagan sacrifice and were put to death.

The Saints do not compromise their faith for the sake of worldly success.  Jesus asks, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” The saints show us that authentic faith means remaining true to Jesus Christ in the face of temptation, difficulty and trial.  Our own parish patron St. Ignatius of Antioch on his way to martyrdom wrote to the Romans: “It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth…Him I seek, who died for us: him I desire, who rose again for our sake…Permit me to be an imitator of the Passion of my God!”

The prospect of suffering for the Gospel terrifies us. Most of us don’t want to be bothered or distracted from pursuing or own goals, what we think will make us happy. Prayer is considered a waste of time, charity a waste of money, fasting a waste of pleasure. And aren’t those the idols of our own day: my time, my money, my pursuit of pleasure?

Many people reject Catholic Christianity not because they have a distaste for ornate churches, beautiful vestments, or they reject the hierarchical constitution of the Church. It’s that they detect that Catholicism calls them away from the worship of idols to the worship and imitation of Christ, who embraces the cross, who reveals the cross as the royal road to heaven.

The account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace foreshadows a powerful truth of our Christian faith. In the furnace, the three faith boys were not alone, they were joined by one with the “appearance of a son of God.” So too in our suffering we are never alone. Christ is with us, transforming the fire of our suffering into the light of glory.

As Holy Week draws near, let us draw near to Jesus as he suffers for us, let us draw near to Him to console Him who consoles us. May these final days of Lent help us to have courage in the face of suffering and temptation, to know Jesus’ presence with us as we imitate Him in his Passion for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
That the Church will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent.  That we may grow in our eagerness in spreading the Gospel of Christ.
That all Christian families will recommit themselves to putting Christ at the center of their family life, so as to grow in faith, hope, and love.  We pray to the Lord.
For an end to abortion and for the reverence and protection of human life.  We pray to the Lord.
For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of life.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.
For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  We pray to the Lord.
For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

Homily: Thursday - 4th Week of Lent 2017 - Humility is living in the Truth

At the end of the Gospel on Tuesday, we heard how after curing the man born blind, “the Jews tried all the more to kill him”. Jesus, seeming to know their intentions, begins this long testimony, as if he had been put on the stand at a trial.

A successful lawyer was once asked to name the most essential factor for a winning case. He said, more important than a fair judge, a sympathetic jury, or a truthful client, is a credible witness. In the gospel readings yesterday and today, Jesus presents various credible witnesses to the Jews that he is the Son of God.

John the Baptist testifies to His identity, the heavenly father testifies to His identity, Jesus’ works and deeds testify to His identity, the scriptures, the old testament, testify to His identity, and Moses testifies to His identity.

With all of these credible witnesses to Jesus’ identity, why do they not believe? The failure to recognize truth is typically a failure of humility. St. Theresa of Avila said that humility is living in the truth, andar en la verdad, in her Spanish.

Those hostile to Jesus in the Gospel are so often putting themselves in the place of God, they forget the most important truth, that God is God and we are not.

The Lenten journey is one of humility.  We began Lent sprinkling our foreheads with ashes while hearing the words, “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you will return.”  The word humility derives from the word meaning “earth”.  The key to regaining lost humanity is through he humble recognition that we are not God, but that we need God, and must conform ourselves to the words and ways of God.

Theresa of Avila says it is a “cowardly soul” which runs from humility and runs from the truth. I think we see so many people falling away from the Church and resistant to the teaching of the Church, because they fear the change  that Christ demands. They prefer, like the Israelites in the first reading, their golden idols to the living God, because golden idols do not challenge them.

I think even faithful Catholics resist deep conversion because they are afraid to give up worldly attachments, familiar worldly ways of thinking.

Lent is so wonderful because God leads us cowards by the hand, through our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving he leads us to give up the non-essential, to find life in Him. May we trust God on this Lenten journey, to allow God to humble us, to convert us, and to lead us to living truth, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may humble our earthly pride and bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.