Two words jump out at me in these readings: anxieties and authority.  As we heard, Paul wants us to be free of anxiety yet don’t we often feel anxious whenever we have ignored authority in our lives? I think back to instances in my childhood when I disobeyed my parents. Sooner or later, I began to feel anxious, wondering what the punishment would be once they found out that I had ignored their authority. My parents are no longer around, but the occasions for anxiety still remain. They surface when we ignore authentic authority, that is, authority that ultimately has our well-being in mind.

Moses told the people of Israel that someday God would send a prophet with legitimate authority whom the people would be well advised to listen to. “Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it.”  To this day, the Church cautions us that when we ignore Jesus’ authority, the consequence is sin, and the consequence of sin is punishment, if not in this lifetime, then in the lifetime to come.

When Jesus began his public ministry, his reputation for healing became wide spread. Some scripture scholars argue what the gospel writers alluded to whenever they spoke of unclean spirits. Were these people really possessed by the devil or only mentally disturbed? The debate is beside the point. These people were troubled and Jesus healed them.  Perhaps the man with an unclean spirit only had a guilty conscience, and afraid to face up to the wrath of God for his wrong doing. Unbeknownst to him, Jesus came to heal both body and soul and did so with the reprimand, “Quiet! Come out of him!”

Sooner or later, we all experience moments of anxiety.  Pope Benedict spoke recently of anxiety as a natural dimension of life. To defeat this, he tells us, we need Christ’s intervention in our lives, just as he intervened in the life of the man with the unclean spirit.  This was a lesson a certain political prisoner learned unexpectedly.

A Lutheran minister, Richard Wurmbrand, spent 14 years in prison in Romania, three of them in solitary confinement. His cell was a basement room with no windows, illuminated by a bare light bulb.  One night, he was startled by a faint tapping on the wall next to his bed. A new prisoner was signaling him. This prompted a fury of taps. After awhile, Pastor Wurmbrand realized that his neighbor was trying to teach him a simple code.

From this crude beginning, his neighbor, who had been a radio operator, taught him the Morse code. Wurmbrand told him that he was a minister. He then asked the operator if he were a Christian. There was a long silence. Finally, the radio operator tapped back, “I cannot say so.”

Every night the two men spoke through the wall, getting better acquainted. Finally, one night, the radio operator tapped a strange message, “I should like to confess my sins.” Pastor Wurmbrand was deeply moved by his request.

The confession took a long time. It was interrupted by periods of silence and extended far into the night. No detail was left out. Nothing was glossed over. The confession was sincere and from the heart. When the radio operator was done, Wurmbrand was profoundly touched and slowly, he tapped back the words of absolution. It was a dramatic moment for both men. Then the radio operator tapped these beautiful words, “I am happier at this moment than I have been in many years.”

Although he had been baptized, the radio operator did not consider himself a Christian until he took the step to meet Jesus in the person of his representative. What he did in the gospel, Jesus did in that prison cell. He drove out another unclean spirit, this time, through Pastor Wurmbrand’s words of absolution.

What Jesus did in the gospel story and that Romanian prison cell, he does every time the sacrament of reconciliation is celebrated. Perhaps the anxiety of baring one’s soul to a priest is enough to stop you from giving him the chance to cleanse you of your unclean spirit, yet the words of absolution can be so freeing. 

Each of us in this church to some degree has an unclean spirit, which keeps us from being the kind of person we want to be. For example, something may keep us from praying the way we would really like to pray. Or, something in us keeps us from loving the way we would like to love, especially our spouses and other members of our family.

Or perhaps, we may have something in us that keeps us from being as generous as we would like to be. For example, by virtue of our baptism, we all have the responsibility of helping to build up God’s kingdom on earth, yet, how much time, energy or money do we devote to this mission? We spend large amounts of time, energy, and money on ourselves, but not so much on God and God’s work.  

The bottom line is this: Jesus wants to free us from whatever keeps us from being as prayerful, as loving, and as generous as we would like to be. But Jesus can do this only if we approach him and open our hearts to him, which we can do best in the sacrament of reconciliation.

Are you feeling anxious? Then allow Jesus to drive the unclean spirit, the source of your anxiety, replacing it with the wisdom of his Holy Spirit. Instead of destroying us; the Lord wants to replace your anxiety with the wisdom that God is not terrifying, but gentle and loving. That is what makes his authority so real.
 

Our nation will soon witness a moment that few ever thought would happen, the inauguration of our first African-American president. President Obama’s journey to the White House brings to mind another African-American who introduced herself to the student body of a small college in South Carolina in this way.

“I was born to a mother who was deaf and could not speak. I do not know who my father is or was. The first job I ever had was in a cotton field.” The audience was spell-bound. She went on to say, “Nothing has to remain the way it is if that is not the way a person wants it to be. It isn’t luck, and it isn’t circumstances, and it isn’t being born a certain way that causes a person’s future to become what it becomes.” She then softly reiterated her point, “Nothing has to remain the way it is if that is not the way a person wants it to be.”

“All a person has to do to change a situation that brings unhappiness or dissatisfaction is answer the question, ‘How do I want this situation to become?’ Then the person must commit totally to personal actions that carry them there.” Smiling, she then said, “My name is Azie Taylor Morton, I stand before you today as treasurer of the United States of America.”

It is a long way from the cotton fields of the south to Washington, DC yet her origins did not thwart Ms. Morton from becoming the first African American to hold the office of treasurer. She raised a very relevant question that has moved many people, including those whom we encounter in today’s readings.

“How do I want this situation to become?” God knew something needed to be done to change the situation in biblical Israel so he called young Samuel. What we don’t hear is God’s message, “I am about to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone to ring!” God is issuing a wake-up call to the people of Israel. Once Samuel knew that it was the Lord calling him in the dark of the night, he said, “Speak, for your servant is listening!”

God didn’t stop with Samuel. He sent his son, Jesus, to awaken the world around him as to what God wanted their situation to become. Jesus knew he could not achieve this mission single-handedly so he invited two disciples of John the Baptist to spend an afternoon with him that forever changed their situation, their lives, and the lives of many others, including you and me.

God also called on Paul to proclaim the good news. Paul knew the situation of sexual immorality in ancient Corinth had to change so he challenged his listeners to change their ways by letting go of those values which blinded them from experiencing the fullness of God’s grace and love. Yes, his language is tough and hard for many people to accept, but he is right. The body is not for immorality but for glorifying God if we want to experience the situation that God has in store for us.

Jesus posed a relevant question to Andrew. “What are you looking for?” That question is just as real for us today. What are we looking for in life? Do we desire to change the situation we find ourselves in? God hopes that we do. Face it; there is so much misery in the world. The dream for many of us may prompt us to answer Jesus’ question in material ways, such as a better paying job, a loving family, a beautiful home, or good health. Deep down, however, I imagine you are looking for more than that. You are also looking for all the things that life with God offers, not the least of which are peace, life, love, and joy.

No matter what the nature of our faith or lack of faith may be, we yearn to be spiritual, for spirituality is the awareness of something sacred in our lives. God is that something sacred in our lives, and God is calling you just as he once called Samuel. Like Samuel, few people recognize that God is calling them, but God does for he never tires in calling others to share his new vision for the world we live in.

By virtue of your baptism, God is calling you to be a disciple; that means more than a mere acceptance of Jesus Christ. Being a disciple means becoming part of God’s family. That calls for a willingness on our part to follow the example of the apostles and “come and see” God’s vision for our world. We do this by staying in the Lord’s presence through prayer and reflection. Discipleship also means using our God-given talents to do what we can to bring about God’s vision for a new world.

That doesn’t come easy. Consider the message from Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, reminding his listeners that the body is not for immorality but for the Lord. Instead of rejecting Paul’s message, as many are inclined to do, we should see the point he is making. Paul knows the reality of sin prevents us from having the situation that we desire in our lives: a union with God that rids our lives of the despair, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction that affects so many people. His advice is a means for us to change the situation we find ourselves in for the better.

Paul’s message is a wake up call for our country. Think of the price our society has paid for its immorality: sexual abuse, domestic violence, broken homes, drug addiction, AIDS, and countless abortions. Is that the situation we want for ourselves and future generations? I think not. The respect for human life can be restored. That begins in our homes, respecting ourselves, seeing ourselves as temples of the Holy Spirit and respecting our loved ones, then respecting others whom we meet. Our situation will change when we come to see that Paul is right; we belong to God. We must not forget that we are made in the image of God and that without God’s grace we cannot exist. Nothing has to remain the way it is if we enable others to also see that God values all life from the unborn to the dying, including them.
 

The Lord’s Baptism and Ours

The Christmas season comes to an end this weekend with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. On first glance, it would seem this solemnity is ill-suited for its place in the liturgical calendar. For in the Christmas season, Masses are filled with stories of Jesus’ birth and his very early childhood in the case of the Epiphany. Suddenly, today’s Gospel propels us to the beginning of Jesus’ public life.

So what gives here? Well, the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord during the Christmas season reminds us of three important things. First, the birth of Jesus is only the beginning of the story of Jesus’ impact on all human beings from the time of his earthly life to the present. Celebrating this solemnity now reminds us that Jesus was not just born as a man, but was to redeem the world and provide a practical model for how we should live our lives. And so this solemnity helps us to transition from the birth of Jesus to the life of Jesus that we will celebrate the rest of the liturgical year,

Second, something even more important is happening at the Lord’s Baptism. It would seem at one level Jesus asking for Baptism seems rather a waste of time. For Jesus was God, and was incapable of sin. Nonetheless, Jesus did agree to take on a human nature in order to feel the full intimacy of God’s relationship to humans. He would take on people’s fears, doubts, joy, and sorrow, even suffering death on a Cross. So Jesus’ request for Baptism is part of his loving covenant with human beings.

Jesus’ Baptism in our Gospel according to Mark this evening provides the answer to the meaning of the solemnity and its significance for us. The baptism John the Baptist performs unleashes the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. But it gave Jesus’ human nature the ability to do things that no man could otherwise do; to act in a manner beyond human capacity. Our first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah confirms this action of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah tells us that the Holy Spirit will anoint Jesus the servant with power to bring justice on the earth.

Thirdly, the Baptism of the Lord is not just about Jesus. For Jesus not left us with a model for how to live, he sent the Holy Spirit to be with us so that we could indeed live that model of life. The Holy Spirit, through his gifts, fruits and charisms, gives us the same ability that Jesus’ human nature received from that Spirit to also bring justice to the world by the way we live. This is why Baptism is so important to any Christian. For it is the means by which we share in the power and the love of Jesus, and receive the ability to love God and others effectively. Without the sending of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Baptism, we do not have the efficacy of the power of God in our own lives and in those of others. Jesus’ Baptism is joined to ours for the benefit of ourselves and the whole Kingdom of God of which we become a part through Baptism.

One of the main reasons the Church spread so quickly from Palestine throughout the world in the first few centuries after the time of Jesus was the ability of its followers to offer spiritual and physical healing to others. As Christians received Baptism and Confirmation, they were able to address the spiritual and very practical needs of people in a world of great sickness, anxiety, and insecurity.

Over time, we lost touch with our ability to perform such healing as Jesus had taught and empowered his followers to do.  As such, it is good to remember that all of us receive the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. IT IS A MOST UNDERRATED PART OF OUR FAITH. The ways in which we put the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit into action are called charisms. Charisms vary widely in their manifestations. Some can be quite controversial if we do not understand them, like speaking in tongues and performing physical healings. Others like music ministries and skills of administration are far more accepted. But whether we realize it or not, all Catholics, if they practice their faith are charismatics.  We all have the ability to build up the Church and to provide healing, albeit in different forms. 

The late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, and the current one Pope Benedict XVI, neither of whom could be considered blow dry preachers, are both charismatic and spiritual healers.  The very Constitution of the Catholic Church, paragraph 12, says that charismatic gifts “whether they are the more outstanding, or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation, for they are exceedingly suitable and useful to the needs of the Church.”

Now to be sure, there are different kinds of spiritual and physical healers.  Some, like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, combine their spiritual healing with God’s gift of science to perform physical healings.  For others, our abilities may seem less concrete but they can be just as effective, even in professional settings that can hardly be described as religious or spiritual.

Over the past few years, I have tried to show you the power of the Holy Spirit and how it can change lives. I have shared with you the story of a how a small child with 57 cents eventually helped to build a new church, a modern hospital and a research university. Or the story of Rose, the 80-plus year old little lady who went back to school to get her university degree and in the process inspired hundreds of her classmates to live better and more productive lives. The story of a little girl on the beach, who though dying of cancer, inspires a cynical grownup to consider how we are called to love ourselves and others. People contemplating suicide saved by simple acts of caring from others that reminded them that the world was not created to be an evil place. Kindnesses extended to little children that changed their lives and made them loving adults.

Brothers and sisters, I have not brought these stories to you just to make you feel good. The anxieties, challenges, and yes even the sufferings of life are   virulent and strong. There is so much suffering and need. And we can fall prey to indifference.  But every one of us, sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Baptism are given the ability in our homes and workplaces to change people’s lives for the better just as Jesus after his Baptism. God gave us this ability no less in their meaning than that given to the apostles, as Peter talks about in our second reading today.

So start out today by forgiving yourself, your husbands, your wives, your children, your brothers and sisters, your in-laws, your relatives, your co-workers, your neighbors, and anyone else you need to forgive. Ask for their forgiveness. And then, sometime this week, perform a spiritual healing. You won’t need a new hairdo, a fancy suit, or a shrieking voice.  Just ask for the healing powers that God have given all of us to be activated in you. If you do, I promise you; you will feel Jesus’ joy and peace. And you will see the power of the Baptism of the Lord come shining through in your own life.
 

Mary’s New Year’s Resolution Can Be Ours

 Happy New Year to all of you!

I have the somewhat unenviable task this morning of preaching at a morning Mass on New Year’s Day.  So I salute those who are here this morning.  You have decided, on the morning after one of the most intense secular celebrations of the year, to overcome any painful residue of merriment and come and worship the Lord and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary on New Year’s Day. And so as long as you are here, I have decided to reward you by giving you a 45-minute homily this morning! (Just seeing if you are alert!)

As a child, I always wondered why I should have to go to Church on New Year’s Day.  After all, in the midst of all those Christmas cookies, delicious Christmas leftovers, more wonderful New Year’s food to come, and 453 college football bowl games, why did I have to go to Church to honor Mary as the Mother of God.  As a son of devout Catholic parents, there was never an issue of whether we were going.  My father watched all those bowl games, so we usually went to church, oh, about this time of the day. I used to think to myself: of course we like the Blessed Virgin, but why on New Year’s Day?  Couldn’t the Church have found a different day for us to celebrate Mary?  Why not Christmas Eve when she was after all, in Catholic tradition, actually becoming the Mother of God?  But in those days in Catholic families, particularly as a kid, you accepted it because you knew you were exercising one of the few rights of children, the right to remain silent.

Theologically speaking, it turns out my doubts actually had some merit.  In Church history, celebrating Mary as the Mother of God has occurred at many different times during the year. In Orthodox Churches, it is celebrated on December 26, in keeping with the Byzantine liturgical tradition of honoring Mary on days after we honor Jesus. The Coptic Church, a Christian church in union with the Roman Catholic Church, celebrates the feast on January 16.  For centuries in many countries the feast was celebrated at various times. In France, the feast was celebrated on January 18, in Spain on December 18, and in Portugal on October 11. 

In Roman tradition however, the feast was always celebrated a week after Christmas (the so-called octave day, which means eight days; we celebrate it however seven days after Christmas for some reason which even today escapes me; I guess you count Christmas Day when you are counting to January 1). This liturgical decision was put into effect to overcome paganism in the Roman Empire by celebrating Mary as the Mother of God instead of the pagan holiday of New Year, which was dedicated to the god Janus. But while many countries followed the Roman tradition, it was not until 1974 when Pope Paul VI declared that the feast be celebrated universally on January 1.

Despite this chaotic march through Church history concerning the celebration of Mary as the Mother of God, when we separate ourselves from narrow liturgical debate, and think about things with a goodly dose of common sense, celebrating Mary on this day makes a great deal of sense.  For if we are to celebrate anyone on the first day of the calendar year, why wouldn’t it be Mary?

With the exception of the human Jesus, Mary is the most important human figure in our lives and in the lives of everyone throughout the world. Without her discipleship in agreeing to be the Mother of God, our lives would have no meaning.  Each new year would have no meaning.  For it is Jesus’ willingness as God to take human form and die for our sins that redeemed us and opened the gates of heaven for those who wish to follow Jesus. And Jesus’ human form was not possible without the motherhood of Mary.

But Mary was not just a vessel. Mary’s discipleship extended to raising the Son of God as an ordinary human being, to seeing, together with Joseph, to his secular and religious upbringing, to watching over him even he did things like take off and preach in the temple, to enjoying the great honors and great things given and said about her Son and enduring the predictions of his fate, to prodding him to begin his earthly ministry at the wedding of Cana, to enduring the extraordinary pain of watching her Son be declared a criminal and be crucified, to rejoicing at his Resurrection, to accepting John the Evangelist as her adopted son, to strengthening and encouraging the Apostles, before and after Pentecost, to spread the Christian faith throughout the world.

If we think about it further, there is also a distinctively American cultural reason for honoring Mary as the Mother of God on January 1. Americans have a tradition about New Year’s that is widely practiced.  It is the tradition of New Year’s resolutions.  Each year, millions of Americans take stock of their shortcomings and try to improve themselves. We try to lose weight, stop or cut back on drinking, seek to improve relations with family or others we do not like so much, and dedicate ourselves to improving the quality of our work. In my case, I always tell people that my resolution each year is to not only look like Santa Claus, but also act like him!

Most times, these resolutions, despite the best of our intentions, get broken. Even so, the tradition is not really a bad thing.  But we could all save ourselves a lot of time and energy by simply reflecting on Mary’s discipleship on this the first day of the calendar year.  For Mary, as our Gospel according to Luke says this morning, reflected on her motherhood of Jesus in her heart.  It can be said that from the moment the angel Gabriel told her she was to be the mother of God, she made a New Year’s resolution of her own: she would be Jesus’ disciple and be the human model for all who chose to follow Jesus.

And so it is with us, brothers and sisters.  Our reading from the Book of Numbers reminds us that the Lord blesses us and keeps us.  Through Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, his face shines upon us. The Lord gives us the true peace of service-based love to God and one another. St. Paul also reminds us this morning that the God calls us to be his children.

What will be our response?  My suggestion would be to adopt on this New Year’s the resolution of Mary.  Let us be a disciple of Christ every day of our lives.  Let us follow the example of Mary.  God gives us all that we need to follow him.  He instructs through Scripture: love of God and others, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes. God instructs us through the teachings of the Church. And when this special kind of New Year’s resolution in broken, Jesus offers us the cradle to grave health insurance for the soul: the seven sacraments.

And so on this New Year’s morning, let us join Mary in taking a New Year’s Resolution: to be a disciple of Christ every day of this year.  We could even save time and energy.  Let’s make this a resolution not just for 2009, but also for every day of our lives.  For as Mary, the Mother of God understood, it is the only resolution that really matters.   
 

What do you think of when you think of Christmas Eve? Well, I think of trees with lights, stockings above the fireplace (and when I was a kid, I hoped that there would no coal therein the morning!), nativity sets, and sitting around the tree opening presents. Of course, what is Christmas without candy canes?

Some candy stores sell candy sticks in all kinds of flavors like root beer, lemon, grape, and apple. But there is something special about candy canes. They are different from other candy sticks. When we think of candy canes, we don’t think of them as being brown, yellow, purple or green, do we? No, candy canes come in red and white.

But candy canes haven’t always been that way. Years and years ago, before pacifiers were invented, moms used to give unflavored white candy sticks to their babies to suck on. One Christmas hundreds of years ago, a choir director gave out candy sticks bent to look like shepherd staffs to children attending the Midnight Mass. I don’t think Cleveland has any plain candy sticks to hand out to us, do you, Cleveland?

About a hundred years ago, I read that a candy maker created the candy cane. This candy maker decided to use the candy cane to tell the story of Christmas; so for starters, he took a plain white stick to remind us that Jesus never did anything wrong. Unlike you and me, Jesus never sinned. And when he forgives us for our sins, Jesus makes us pure as white snow.

The candy maker thought a white stick would be too plain. It needed color. Of all the many colors he could have used, he decided to use red stripes. Now, why do you suppose he added red stripes and not blue stripes or purple stripes or brown stripes? Maybe red was his favorite color.

The candy maker decided to use red to because he wanted us to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us. The small red stripes are there to remind us of the soldiers’ stripes when they whipped Jesus. Instead of just a white stick, he now had a stick with red stripes. Something wasn’t right because a red and white stick looks like the pole you find in front of any barber shop.

Ah! I know what to do! He bent the stick to look like the letter J, for Jesus. If you turn the J upside down, then it looked like a staff, which shepherds used for watching their sheep. Jesus often called himself the good shepherd, so imagine him watching you every time you eat a candy cane! Also, if you were listening to Deacon Bob, did you notice that shepherds were the first people to visit the baby Jesus?

So, now the candy maker had a candy stick with red stripes, bent to look like the letter J, but the stick had no flavor. What flavor should he give it? Some red candies taste like cherry; others taste like chili peppers. Would you eat a candy cane that tasted like that? I wouldn’t nor would the candy maker.

He decided to make the candy stick taste like peppermint to remind us of the gift of spices that the wise men gave to Jesus so long ago, so the next time you eat a candy cane, think about the special gift of Jesus that God is giving to you tonight.

Now, speaking of presents, I imagine you will get many presents tonight or tomorrow. Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year? Do you still have it? I still have the present that I got for Christmas when I was in third grade, my train set!

Sometimes we lose certain gifts or we outgrow them or we break them, but the gift of Jesus is a gift we can have forever if we want it. Jesus isn’t a present to be put away when Christmas is over. He is a gift for us to share with others everyday. We do that when we pray, when we thank God for all the other gifts we have received, when we love other people, or when we share the things we have with others. Any time we do that, we love others just as Jesus loves us. Unlike any other gift we can find under the Christmas tree, Jesus is the gift that reminds us to never be afraid, for even on the darkest night of the year, God is with us.

Some people say that the story isn’t true. Maybe it isn’t, but the lesson itself is quite true. The candy cane is a good reminder of all that Jesus did for you and me. He grew up to show us how much we are loved. He invites us to do the same, be people of love. May every candy cane you enjoy remind you to love your family and friends as much as Jesus loves you!