33rd Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - Message to the lukewarm and weak of faith (& St. Albert the Great)

 As I mentioned yesterday, for these final two weeks of the Church year, we read from the final book of the Bible—the book of Revelation. 

The book begins with a series of seven visions and messages to be delivered to seven particular Churches in Asia Minor. Yesterday’s reading ended with a message to the Christians at Ephesus, the place where the Blessed Mother lived before her Assumption into heaven. 

Today’s reading has skipped ahead abit, after all, we have just two weeks to get through the whole book. We heard the messages to the Church in Sardis and the Church in Laodicea, the fifth and seventh churches to be addressed. The messages share many similarities, the primary one being that Jesus Christ is aware of the situation in their communities, and that he offers them words both of comfort and challenge. 

The situation in Sardis was pretty pitiful. The Christians were on the verge of losing their faith entirely. Jesus said, “I know your works, you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” There couldn’t be a stronger rebuke. Could you image? Jesus himself saying to the Church at West Blvd. “You claim to be Christian, you claim to be faithful, but your faith is dead because your works are incomplete in my sight.” So, Jesus urges the Christians at Sardis to fan into flame the little faith they had left. 

Jesus’ message to Laodicea is nearly just as correctional: he says, the Christians there are neither hot nor cold for the faith, simply lukewarm, and it makes him want to spit them out of his mouth. And their lukewarm faith was the result of growing complacent in the mission of the Church, and placing more trust in money and politics than in the teaching of the Church. 

And then came one of the most beautiful passages in all the new testament, at least one of my favorites: Jesus says, "'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” Jesus is knocking on the doors of our hearts, and he is knocking on the doors of the hearts of the lukewarm and those who have grown weak in faith. 

How do we help others open the doors of their hearts to Christ? How do witness how good it is when faith is on fire, when Christ is invited into the home, when intimate friendship with Jesus is developed? 

Today, we honor one of the great saints of the middle ages, who did just that: Saint Albert the Great. The Collect for his feast speaks of how God made Albert great through his joining of wisdom and divine faith. What made Albert Great? He wisely put his life in order, he had his priorities straight. He put God first, he put his tremendous intellectual gifts at the service of the kingdom. He sought to love and serve the Lord with his whole mind, heart, soul, and strength and he taught others to do the same. May St. Albert assist us in our share in the mission, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For blessings upon the Bishops gathered in Baltimore for their annual meeting this week, that their conversations, prayers, and deliberations for the good of the Church may be blessed. 

Through the intercession of St. Albert the Great, patron of philosophers and scientists, that those involved in the sciences may be men and women of faith may glorify God in their learning, research, and work. 

For safety for travelers and for the homeless and destitute affected by cold and inclement weather, and that Christians may be every more attentive to the needs of the poor and the despairing in our midst. 

For the transformation of all attitudes which lead to violence, racial hatred, and religious persecution. For the safety of police and firefighters, for first responders, the underemployed and unemployed, for those struggling with addiction, for those suffering from depression or burn-out, and the healing of all the sick.  

We pray in a special way for all of the faithful departed during this Month of November, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, and all the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this mass is offered. 

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

Homily: Tuesday - 33rd Week in OT 2016 - I stand at the door and knock

As we mentioned yesterday, the Book of Revelation begins with a vision of Christ walking among seven lampstands—which stand for the seven churches of Asia Minor. After that inaugural vision, each of those seven churches are addressed individually. Yesterday’s reading ended, actually, with a message to the Christians at Ephesus, the place where John to the Blessed Mother to live with her before her Assumption into heaven.

Today we heard the messages to the Church in Sardis and the Church in Laodicea, the fifth and seventh churches to be addressed. The messages share many similarities, the primary one being that Jesus Christ is aware of the situation in their communities, and that he offers them words both of comfort and challenge.

As we heard, the situation in Sardis was pitiful. The Christians were on the verge of losing their faith entirely. Jesus said, “I know your works, you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” There couldn’t be a stronger rebuke. Could you image? Jesus himself says to our parish of St. Clare, “You claim to be Christian, you claim to be faithful, but your faith is dead because your works are incomplete in my sight.”

Jesus speaks here to all the Catholics-in-name-only, here. He says, fan into flame what little faith you actually have, or else you will be caught unaware on the day of judgment. Each of us has a responsibility to help those Catholics-in-name-only members of our community. Jesus is saying here, you don’t want to be a Catholic-in-name-only on the day of judgment. A challenge to all of us, to ensure our actions, our choices, are fitting of the name Christian.

Jesus’ message to Laodicea is nearly just as correctional: he says, the Christians there are neither hot nor cold for the faith, simply lukewarm, and it makes him want to spit them out of his mouth. The Christians had become complacent, and had begun to place more trust in money and politics than in the teaching of the Church.

Jesus then exhorts them to repentance and greater zeal for the Gospel, and concludes his message with one of the most beautiful images in the entire book. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. Jesus stands at the door of the hearts of all people. He knocks, calling out to us to open our hearts to him.

Often the doors of our hearts are closed to Jesus out of fear and pride: fear of what Jesus might be calling us to, fear of what worldly behaviors and attitudes he is calling us to give up, and pride because we think we know better than God.

But when we open the door to him, he enters our homes and dines with us, we get to experience the joy of an intimate friendship with Him.

May we respond generously to the Lord’s correction of our faults and our lack of trust, so that we may come to experience more deeply the joy of his friendship for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 29th Sunday in OT 2016 - Perseverance in Spiritual Matters

About 500 years ago, America was just being explored by men like Ponce de Leon and Cortes, Michelangelo was completing the Sistine Chapel, Machiavelli was writing The Prince; it was a time of political, social, religious, and scientific upheaval in Europe. 

There was a 17-year-old girl named Theresa who had felt God’s call to enter the Carmelite monastery in Avila, Spain. She was a physically beautiful girl, talented, outgoing, affectionate, wise, intelligent, and much in tune with her spiritual life.

About six years after entering the monastery, though, prayer became very hard for Theresa. She began to make excuses not to practice daily mental prayer, she became lax in her devotions. Her enthusiasm for her religious vocation began to wane and she grew lukewarm for her faith.

One day, Theresa was given a vision, a supernatural vision—a vision which was terrifying, but afterwards she saw it as a great gift. She was given a vision of hell; souls were falling to hell in great abundance, like snowflakes, she said, because of their faithlessness. But then she saw specifically the very place the devil had prepared for her soul if she continued down the path of lukewarmness.  And then God allowed her to experience some of the pain, despair, and torment of that place. She said the hopelessness of that place was impossible to put into words.  Such would be the consequences if continued to allow lukewarmness to develop in her heart.

She saw this vision as a gift because it helped her realize the consequences of faithlessness. She found renewal in her own faith and even worked to reform the entire Carmelite Order.

What is lukewarmness? Lukewarm faith?  It’s neither hot nor cold.  The lukewarm are neither on fire with enthusiasm for the faith, nor necessarily icy cold in their hostility toward the faith. But because of their lukewarmness they begin to slide…they stop praying, they stop going to Mass, they stop believing that God is more important than earthly pleasure.

Lukewarmness is like a slow-working disease.  Even a once enthusiastic soul, like Theresa’s can be brought to lukewarmness.  It can slowly sap the willpower needed to pursue the the spiritual perfection to which the Lord calls us. 

What causes this spiritual disease of lukewarmness?  Well, just as our bodies can become malnourished when we don’t eat our fruits and vegetables, so our souls can become malnourished by not taking time for meditation, spiritual reading, examination of conscience, and fulfilling the duties of your vocation. 

The other cause for lukewarmness is sin.  Breaking the commandments, acts of pride and lust and greed cause the soul which is fervent for God to grow cold.  Failure to fulfill the obligation to participate at Sunday mass and Holy Days is often the first step of a slippery slope that leads to perdition.  Why are some Catholics who attended twelve years of Catholic school now hostile to the teachings of the Church and practice of the faith?  You can bet money that missing Mass played a part.

Just because food tastes good—like butterfinger bars and oreo cookies—doesn’t mean it’s good for the body.  Likewise, Just because certain television shows or websites or gossipy conversations can bring some enjoyment, they can be quite dangerous for the life of the soul, where love for spiritual heavenly  things can be replaced with love for perverse and worldly things.

I bring up this story of St. Theresa being awakened out of her lukewarmness, one because today is the feast day of St. Theresa of Avila, but also, I think the story fits well with our readings.

In the first reading from Exodus we hear how Moses had to persevere in keeping his hands raised during a battle with the Amalekites. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel was victorious in battle; but when he let his hands down, the Amalekites, Israel’s enemies got the upper hand.

This is a great metaphor for the spiritual life—when we keep our hands raised before God, persevering in prayer, engaging in the works of mercy, victory is won—our souls grow as they are meant to. When we grow lax, lukewarm, and disobedient, our souls diminish.

The battle between Israel and the Amalekites is just one battle in the Bible. Israel had to engage in quite a few battles in order to take possession of the promised land. All those battles remind us that there is a constant battle going on in our own lives—a constant struggle between two forces.  On one hand the forces of peace and goodness and mercy and forgiveness, and on the other hand the forces which seek the ruin of souls--hatred, violence, self-absorption, resentment.  Which forces do we nurture?

In the spiritual life, when we do fall, when we do grow lukewarm, one of the most important and powerful things we can do is to make a good confession. To humbly acknowledge our sin and our need for the Lord’s mercy can truly be a turning point in our own spiritual battles.

Notice, as well, that Moses was only able to keep his hands raised with “a little help from his friends.” Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ hands—they helped him when he began to grow weary. So too, friends, we are not meant to go through the Christian life by ourselves. We need good Christian friends to support us, to encourage us in the faith. As Christians, we aren’t like sports fans who go our separate ways after the game, we are meant to walk with each other, to share our faith with each other and strengthen each other.

Personally, I get together with a group of brother priests on a weekly basis. We share a meal, we pray together, we go for a walk and discuss the challenges of priestly ministry, we discuss books we’ve been reading, lessons from movies we’ve seen, and we encourage each other in our priesthood.

Every Christian needs that. Here at St. Clare we are blessed to have groups of families that encourage each other in the faith, the families in christ jesus groups, and for two years now, we have had the Arise groups. We need each other: to help each other grow in the faith and keep each other from growing lukewarm.

We need God’s help to fight life’s battles, like Moses and the Israelites. We need to persevere in prayer, like the widow in the Gospel, and to remain faithful to God, we need the help of our Christian friends, who keep us accountable to God’s commandments, who encourage us, and challenge us.

Through this celebration of Word and Sacrament, may the Holy Spirit enliven our faith, rekindling the faith of any who have grown lukewarm. May we recommit to daily prayer and meditation, frequent confession of sins, concern for the souls of our fellow Christians, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.