Fourth Sunday of Lent

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031515-fourth-sunday-lent.cfm

I know that I have preached before about how forgiveness and mercy can be very hard to understand and accept.  We don’t always understand how it is that others can forgive us and show us mercy for what we have done.  We may also struggle with how to forgive and show mercy to those who have hurt us in some way.  Forgiveness can be quite difficult.  I am certain that we can all think of times when we have been hurt by others and times when we have hurt others.  Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding.  Perhaps it was an accident.  Then again it may have been their fault, or it could be my fault.  The point is, someone got hurt.  Our Christian faith teaches us that when we are guilty of sinning against another, we are to apologize for what we did and try to make amends if possible.  That same faith teaches us to forgive those have sinned against us.  As I said, this is not always easy and it is easy to question in our minds how we are able to forgive and how others can forgive us.

When I was a child, I got in trouble for various things more often than I care to remember.  I would get into fights with my younger sister and sometimes I would physically hurt her as a result of that fight.  Sometimes I would break something in the house or cause a huge mess.  There was also the occasional report card and test I would bring home from school that showed that I was struggling in a certain subject.  All of these things usually meant some sort of punishment or some other negative reaction from my parents.  Now, this usually meant that I was given a serious lecture about what I did.  I might be sent to my room for a time, or have certain privileges taken away, like time on the computer or TV.  Sometimes the punishment was simply having to get along with my sister (that could be the hardest).  My parents have always been firm, but I would never call them harsh disciplinarians.

That being said, my imagination would often run rampant as I imagined how my parents would react to things I had done and the severe punishments that were certain to follow.  I’m sure at some point I pictured being kept in my room for days at a time and having to do forced labor around the house.  I thought I would have to beg to be shown the love of my parents once more.  Deep down I knew my parents would never stop loving me, but I would still wonder at times if I could still be forgiven for some of the things I had done.

Of course, the actual punishment never came close to what my runaway imagination had concocted.  There was usually a talk from one or both parents about what I did wrong and what I should have done.  If I was punished, it was typically less than I expected.  And my parents were always there to forgive me and love me after it was all over.  In fact, I think many times I felt so guilty that it took me longer to forgive myself than my parents to forgive me.

I hope that all of you have had a similar experience of being forgiven.  If not, I pray that you will.  We might not always understand how it happens, and we might not always feel like we deserve it, but it is important that we experience forgiveness in some form or another.

The overall theme of the readings for today is about the mercy of God.  God’s mercy is all about His never ending love and forgiveness that He has for all His children.  When you read through the Old Testament, it can be tempting to assume that God is more vengeful than merciful and that He takes pleasure in seeing the wicked punished.  Whenever we are tempted to think that, all we have to do is look at a passage like our First Reading from Second Chronicles to bring us back to reality.  The reading starts out by talking about the people of the land of Judah and how they chose to turn away from God.  We are told that again and again God sent His messengers (His prophets) to try to bring their hearts back to God.  “For He had compassion on His people and His dwelling place” the speaker says.  God is compassionate and gives many chances for the people to repent before He punishes.  The people do not listen though and mock those messengers and continue to go against God’s commandments.  As punishment, God allows the Babylonians to destroy the temple and take the people into exile.

Several decades later, a new king comes to power, Cyrus of Persia.  Cyrus is famous in history for allowing the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem.  He even gave the people money to rebuild the Temple.  The writer of Second Chronicles makes sure to explain that the reason King Cyrus is so generous, is because of God mercy.  The people sinned, God punished them, they served their time, and now God has forgiven them and blessed them.  God is merciful.

Of course, the New Testament is full of examples of God’s mercy as well.  In our Second Reading, St. Paul tells the Ephesians (and all of us) that God is rich in mercy and that even though we were dead because of our sins, He raised us up with Jesus Christ and has given us a place in Heaven.  How was God able to give us so great a mercy when through the choice of our own sins, we had already condemned ourselves to eternal death?  How is God able to continue to give us that mercy?  The answer is nothing short of the Cross.

The Gospel Reading today from John gives us that famous dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life”.  Again, we have this great summation of God’s infinite mercy.  This is possible, and only possible, through the Cross of Christ.  “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”

Today is Laetare Sunday.  Laetare means joy.  Even in this penitential season of Lent, we are able to find joy, because God has given us mercy through the Cross of His Son.  Let us not fear punishment or death, but trust in that mercy.

Third Sunday of Lent

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030815-third-sunday-lent.cfm

How do you get yourself to do something you need to do, but you just don’t want to do it? Sure, there is always good ol’ will-power where you just make yourself do it, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier. You still have to do those tasks, but no matter how good you are at ignoring them, they just never seem to go away.

These tasks I am talking about might be the household chores that no one likes to do. Maybe it’s those last few things on the “to-do” list that have managed to survive all your best attempts at procrastination. Perhaps it’s the least popular job at work. It may even involve having to deal with people you would rather not have to deal with. The tasks themselves might not be all that difficult or all that unpleasant, but we could probably think of a long list of things we would rather be doing than that. The point is they need to be done.

When I was growing up, one of my household chores was cleaning the toilets and sinks in the two bathrooms in my parent’s house. Now for the most part, I really didn’t mind doing this chore. In fact, sometimes it even felt good to know I was helping keep our house clean. However, one thing became very clear early on. I could be doing absolutely nothing at the time, but as soon as my parents told me to go clean the bathrooms or do my chores, all I could think of was about a hundred different things I would rather be doing than cleaning a toilet. I eventually figured out that the chore itself was not that bad, but I hated being told I had to do it. I found that it was actually much easier for me to do it if I took some initiative and actually chose to do the chore before I was told to do it. Somehow making my own choice of when I was doing it made all the difference in the world. I think it allowed me to take ownership of the job I was doing, rather than feeling like I was being forced to do it when my parents told me to.

That being said, my own human imperfections still got in the way. I would still forget to do my chores before doing the fun things that I wanted to do. My parents still had to remind me to do my chores sometimes. I still complained about having to do them and would think of my hundreds of things I would much rather be doing than scrubbing toilets and sinks. It was those times I could get it done without being told, without being forced into it that I felt like it was something I had chosen to do, and therefore, something I actually wanted to do.

As Catholics, it can be very easy to get bogged down in all the rules that we have to follow. We have all those rules that are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We have the hundreds of laws in the Code of Canon Law. We have liturgical law that tells us how we are to worship and pray. Within moral theology we have different morals and ethics we have to follow, and we even talk about a thing called “Natural Law”, which God established when He made the world and no human being can change. And of course, we have the Ten Commandments as they are listed out in our First Reading today. This Decalogue, as it is sometimes called, is really the basis for how God wants His people to live a morally good life. All the other laws that are in the Bible and all the other rules that the Church and civil authorities have established throughout history, all stem from these Ten Commandments. Instead of getting bogged down in all the many rules and laws we have today, it is good to start by looking at these first ten.

Some of the commandments are easier to follow than others. We know that it is wrong to kill; we know that it is wrong to commit adultery; and we know that it is wrong to steal. However, it is much easier to covet someone else’s goods. It’s easy to disrespect our parents when we disagree with what we are talking about. We would never dream of murdering a person, but it is easy to stay angry with a person over an argument. We don’t steal from a bank or shoplift at a store, but it can be easy to justify wasting time at work, thus stealing from work. However hard it might be to follow any of these Commandments, they all point back to the very first Commandment that God established and that we are all called to follow: “I the LORD am your God… you shall not have other gods besides me”. God goes on from there to elaborate: we are not to carve any idols for ourselves. God, we are told, is a jealous God, meaning that if we turn from Him and make other things in our life more important than Him, He is not going to be happy. He wants all our focus to be on Him. Isn’t that what all the Commandments and the laws and all the rules are all about? The LORD God is our God. We are to serve Him and honor Him and love Him for our whole lives.

When we sin, we make other things more important than God. We essentially make idols to replace our one true God. Jesus gives us a very profound image to reflect on about this when we read the story of the cleansing of the Temple today. Jesus comes to the Temple and sees all the money changers and all the people selling animals to be sacrificed in the Temple. In a sense all these people served a useful purpose at the Temple. People needed to exchange currencies and they needed to buy animals to sacrifice. Those individuals were also there to make a profit, however, and that is why Jesus takes offense. God is supposed to be the center of our lives, yet in the Temple (God’s own house, of all places) you have people who are more interested in taking advantage of others through monetary gain. So He turns the tables over and drives them out. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

We know what we need to do. We know we must keep God first in our lives. It’s hard. We have many other things in our lives and we are tempted to make those things the most important. How do we get ourselves to do the things we need to do, when we don’t want to? God is telling us what to do with the Commandments, but we need to choose it for ourselves. We need to choose to make God first in our lives. Only then will we no longer worry about doing the right thing. Because by choosing God, how can we go wrong?

Second Sunday of Lent

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030115.cfm
In 1989, an 8.2 earthquake leveled most of Armenia. In about four minutes, somewhere around 30,000 people died. From this tragedy, a true story came out about a father and his search for his son. Soon after the earthquake, this father rushed to his son’s school where he had dropped him off that morning. His heart sank as he saw that the school had completely flattened. He remembered a promise that he had made to his son: “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.” 

  Determined to find his son and keep his promise, the father went to the back of the school where he knew his son’s classroom was located. He began digging through the rubble with his bare hands. As he dug, other grieving parents came by and tried to pull him away from the wreckage. “You’re too late!” “They’re already dead.” Even firemen and police tried to get him to go home, telling him it was too dangerous for him to be there. To all of these people the father would simply say, “Are you going to help me now?” Nobody offered to help, and he just kept digging. 

He dug for 12 hours, and then 24 hours, and then 36 hours. At the 38^th hour, over a day and a half of digging, the man finally heard his son’s voice. The father cried out his son’s name. The son replied: “Dad?! Is that you? It’s me Dad!” Two pieces of the building had wedged together, forming a triangle shaped cave that protected the son and several of his classmates from the collapse. “I told the other kids not to worry,” the boy said. “I told them if you were alive, you’d save me and they’ll be safe. You promised that Dad! ‘No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.’ You kept your promise!”

Just like the father in that story, all fathers know that they have a special duty to care for their sons and daughters. That father knew that no matter what had happened to his son, he needed to be there for him. He worked hard for 38 hours in order to keep his promise. A good father knows that he has to keep his promises to his children and that he has to be there for them. God, our Father in Heaven, also takes his promises very seriously and is always there for His children. He has an undying love for all His children.

The love that God the Father has for His children is best shown in the love that He has for His own Son, Jesus. Notice what He says about Jesus in today’s Gospel reading about the Transfiguration. “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” God wants the disciples and all of us to know that Jesus is His Son, that He loves Him and that we should all listen to Him. Remember, there is a greater purpose to the Transfiguration than a cool sound and lights show that Jesus is putting on for Peter, James, and John. This takes place only a few weeks before the Passion. By hearing God refer to Him as Son and by seeing Him transfigured and standing with Moses and Elijah, those three Apostles were given a big clue into what Jesus was up to. Jesus’ death would not be the end; He will rise again with a resurrected body, not unlike His transfigured body. The fact that the Father calls Jesus His Son also tells us something about God’s love for us. God loves us so much He was willing to sacrifice His Son (whom He loves) for us, so that we too might join Him in Heaven. That is a Father who will be there for us no matter what.

Before the Gospel, we heard about the Sacrifice of Isaac in the Book of Genesis. This Old Testament story is very symbolic of another story about sacrifice: the Passion of Jesus Christ. Abraham as the father is symbolic of God the Father. Abraham certainly did not wish to sacrifice his only son, but he did so out of obedience. Likewise, God the Father sacrificed His only begotten Son because He knew it had to happen in order to save humanity. 

Isaac becomes the symbol for Jesus. It was not a coincidence that God told Abraham to sacrifice his son on a mountain in the land of Moriah. It was on that same mountain that the Temple of Jerusalem was built and where the people of Israel offered their sacrifices. It was a short distance from there that Jesus sacrificed Himself at Calvary. Isaac had to carry the wood for the sacrifice on his back as he climbed up the mountain. Jesus likewise had to carry the Wood of the Cross to Calvary. Isaac was obedient and willing to be the sacrifice. He was somewhere in his twenties or thirties at this time, so he certainly could have gotten away if he had been unwilling. Jesus was obedient to His Father’s will also. At anytime He could have called upon legions of angels to rescue Him and take Him off of the Cross. Yet He knew what had to be done. 

Both Jesus and Isaac were beloved sons, both were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for God, both were obedient until the end, but only Jesus had to actually be sacrificed. The Story of Abraham and Isaac simply foreshadows what will happen later on in Salvation History when God the Father accepted the Sacrifice of His Son as ransom for our sins. God knew that He wasn’t loosing a Son, as Abraham would have with Isaac, but He gained all of us as son and daughters. 

St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “God is for us”. He, “did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all”. He even points out that the Son, who died and was raised for us, intercedes for us. Who could make a charge against us? Who could be against us? We have the love of God. God is the Father who, no matter what, will always be there for us. Remember that fact as we continue our Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, for it is through His love and grace that we will come to eternal life.

The First Sunday of Lent

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022215.cfm

When we look at all the people in the world today and all the actions that those people are capable of doing and choosing to do, it is very easy to get into a mindset of seeing things as being either black or white. That is, we tend to see people as being either totally good or totally evil based on just few of their actions. We label a person as evil because they did a bad thing, but we forget that they did some very good things in their lives as well. It can go the other way too as seemingly good people are capable of deceiving others and causing great pain. In moral theology we say all people are good in the eyes of God since He created us all. However, people are also capable of choosing what is wrong.

Objects and things in this world are often labeled as either good or evil based on the things they are used for or what they do. The truth is, objects are neither good nor bad; they simply exist, and how we use them determines whether our actions are morally good or bad. For instance, the internet is often thought of as bad because it is so often used for morally bad purposes, such as: viewing inappropriate imagery, hacking into other people’s person information and finances, and stocking people. But the internet is also capable of being a great tool for learning and passing on formation. Not only is research made much easier, we are also able to pass on news and information on various topics. Many leaders in the Church, including myself, have found the internet to be very helpful in evangelizing people who may never have otherwise entered a church building or called to ask questions.

Fire is another example of an object in this world that can be used both for good and for bad. Fire has a very obvious destructive nature about it. It can level entire cities and clear acres upon acres of land. The loss of human life as a result of fires is also substantial. We all know that fires can serve a useful purpose as well. For centuries, it was with fires that humans heated their homes and cooked. Wild fires also serve an important role in the environment: they clear out old underbrush and windfalls and allow new plants to grow without being choked out. I’ve even read that there are plants whose seeds won’t germinate unless they are first exposed to intense heat. Those plants actually depend on an occasional fire to help the species survive.

Our readings today take our same discussion and apply it to water. Much like fire, it can bring both destruction and life. A flood, like the one described in the story of Noah, can take countless lives and wipe away many buildings and structures. Hurricanes can cause storm surges and earthquakes can cause tsunamis that are often described as a wall of water the rips large rocks, trees, and even buildings from their foundations. Yet obviously we cannot live without water. It keeps our bodies going and allows us to grow our own food. Even after a flood, the mud that is left behind can be great fertilizer for crops. The benefits of water are clearly great.

The readings take things a step further and point out that not only are there physical benefits to water, as I pointed out, but spiritual as well. We start out with our first reading from Genesis. The Great Flood is over, Noah has open the arch and let out all the animals, and he and his sons have set up an altar to give thanks to God. What we heard were God’s words to Noah and his sons. You may recall that the reason for the flood in the first place was because God saw all the sin that was happening in the world and wished to end it. The flood waters washed away all the evil of the world. Now God is ready to set up a special covenant with Noah and his family. A covenant is like a contract or agreement: Noah agrees to worship God alone, and God agrees not to flood the earth again. To symbolize this covenant, God gives us the rainbow in the sky. God is showing Noah and his family, and all of us, that despite the terrible destruction of the flood, some wonderful things have come about because of it. Sin has been washed away and this clears the way for God to set up a new covenant.

The powerful image of the flood water washing away the sins of the world is a prefiguring of our own Christian baptism when the baptismal waters washed away all our sins. St. Peter talks about this in his first letter today. Christ Jesus wished to take away our sins. He accomplished this through His suffering and death on the Cross. Though His body dies, He rose again to new life: just as God raised Noah and his family from the flood and just as we are raised to new life in baptism. Death is not the end, but the beginning of new life.

And what does this new life lead us to? We see an example of that in our Gospel reading. We are told that “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert”. This is referring to the Holy Spirit. In the verses preceding that quote, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John. The first thing that the Spirit does for Jesus is He sends Him out into the desert. There He is tempted by the devil. After this, He begins His public ministry by preaching and choosing His disciples. His time in the desert is a time of preparation for His ministry. It was difficult. He is tempted by the Satan. Matthew and Luke describe in their account that Jesus fasted during these forty days. Yet we can also see in this a time of prayer in which our Savior readies Himself to start His ministry. All this begins with baptism and the Spirit driving Him out to the desert.

Our baptism does glorious things for us in our spiritual life. Our sins are washed away. Our old way of life is in a sense destroyed in the “flood waters” of baptism. We rise again, like Christ, to new life. From there the Spirit drives us to a spiritual desert, where we prepare for what God calls us to do. Lent is like a desert. Let us use this Lent to make ourselves ready to go where God wishes to lead us.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020115.cfm

All of you who are parents, or grandparents, or aunts, or uncles or anyone else who has had young children around know that kids love to ask questions. These questions can be under a great variety of topics and interests, varying from the mundane of where is my favorite toy, to the scientific of why the sky is blue, to the down right theological of who is God?” However, in my humble opinion, the hardest type of question that I have heard uttered is when a child decides complain about or challenge what a parent or responsible adult has said. This complaint often includes the infamous words: “Why do I have to…?” or “Why can't I...?” Maybe they don't want to go to bed just yet or they're not ready to stop doing whatever it is they're doing. I have been caught in such a barrage of questions like this with my two nieces. I have to admit that I have from time to time uttered the words that probably have come to many an adult: “Because I said so!” My mom once explained to me that when my sister and I were children, she tried to avoid giving such answers to our questions, even if they were annoying. She thought it was more important to actually explain why we had to do this or that or why things were the way they were. I have the greatest gratitude to my mother for being so honest with me, when I'm sure it would have been very easy for her to say “Because I said so” or “because I know what's best for you”. The truth of the matter is, the parent or guardian or adult is in charge of the safety and wellbeing of the child.

A child is expected to listen to and respect the authority of the parent or adult who is in charge of them. In much the same way we are expected to respect the authority of our bosses and government officials and others appointed to lead us, as well as policemen and others assigned to protect us. Unless we are being ordered to do something that would be against our morals or the Natural Law of God, we are expected to listen to and obey the authority of our leaders. As Jesus tells us, “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar”.

We are also meant to listen to and obey Our Father in Heaven. Now, at first glance that might seem like a no-brainer: why wouldn't we want to listen and obey the Creator and Lord of all? Yes, we want to follow what God tells us, yes we know God knows best, and yes we know that it is best if we follow the path that God has laid out for us. However, in real life, we don't always do what we know is best. Thus, temptations come along and we fall into sin, doing what God precisely told us not to do.

To help us work on listening and heading the word of God, God gives us throughout Sacred Scripture little reminders here and there of the authority of God's word. We so rarely look at the Psalm at a Mass, but I want to take some time to look at it right now. The Psalm is from Psalm 95; the refrain is a variation of verse 8: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The main body of the Psalm speaks about how we are to sing and worship the Lord with great joy. In the third stanza we are reminded to hear the voice of God. We are also given a stern warning: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah.” This is referring to an event that takes place in the Book of Exodus. As Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert the were having trouble finding water. They began to complain to Moses, claiming he only brought them to the desert to die of thirst. They doubt that God is taking care of them. God then tells Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water gushes out of the rock for the people. The place is given the name of Meribah which means in Hebrew, the place of quarreling. By bringing up that event, we are reminded not to fall into the same sin again.

Our First Reading and Gospel Reading take things a step further and talks about the authority of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus is referred to as the Word of God. If we are to listen to the voice of God, so too must we listen to the Word of God, when He speaks to us.

The Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy does not mention Jesus by name, but it does refer to Him. Again, we are talking about Moses and an event that took place in Exodus. Moses was the only one allowed to see God face to face on Mt. Horeb, also known as Mt. Sinai. The rest of the people gathered at he base of the mountain to hear what the voice of God said. God's voice was accompanied by thunder and lightening so powerful that the people feared for their lives. They were afraid they would die if they listened to God's voice directly. So they begged Moses to let them stand farther way so they could no longer hear God's voice, and then simply have Moses tell them what God said. In today's reading, Moses explains that God agrees to send a prophet who will tell the people what God want to say to them, without having to hear Him directly. This refers to all the true prophets who spoke for God. It also refers to Jesus, the Word of God, who often tells us all what God the Father has to say. Jesus is given authority to speak on behalf of God the Father, but without the fear of hearing God's voice directly.

If there is still any doubt about the authority that God has given to Jesus, we have only to look at the Gospel passage. The scene we hear from Mark's Gospel must have been an awesome sight to witness! We hear that the people in the synagogue were already impressed with the authority with which Jesus spoke, but as the old saying goes, “They ain't heard nothing yet!” Not only does He silence the demon from speaking further, but He casts it out. Remember, a demon is a fallen angel. So if He can order demons around, that means He has authority over the angels themselves! God's Words means something.

What does this mean for us. It means we must listen up and hear what God has to say to us. We can't just ignore it because we are afraid or because we don't like what God is saying. Trust in God and hear His Word. He will lead us to eternal life.

Baptism of the Lord

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011115.cfm

          We as human beings, learn a lot about many different things during our lifetime. Various psychologists and experts on these matters have pointed out that human beings do not all learn the same way either.  Some are more visual learners, for example.  Others learn more through listening and are called auditory learners.  Still others prefer a kinesthetic learning style, which means they learn through touch or by doing.  In general, however, we tend to learn through a combination of these styles.  Of course this wide variety of learning styles also means that there are a wide variety of teaching styles as well.  Those of you who are teachers know the value of using a variety teaching styles in order to teach a room full of students.  We all teach and learn in different ways. 

          Another method of teaching that we should not discount is teaching by example.  This is often brought up in conjunction with parents teaching their children good manners and how to behave: they try to give a good example of how to do those things.  This can also be effective in helping pass on the importance of faith and religion to others.  Parents who are able to give an example of how their Catholic faith brings them joy and happiness will likely pass along that joy and happiness to their children.  On the flip side, an example of living out the faith like it is a burden or a difficulty that one must endure is likely to give a very negative outlook on religion to the children.  A wide variety of skills in this life can also be taught by simply showing a good example of how to do those skills.

          I remember watching a special done on the news show, “20/20”.  It was made sometime in the 90's and was about a man named William Lishman.  William adopted a gaggle of young Canada Geese who were abandoned by their parents.  William eventually earned the nickname “Father Goose” because these geese followed him around his property like he was a surrogate parent.  All was going well, but William knew that eventually they needed to learn how to fly south or they would freeze to death in the winter.  Apparently, the concept of flying south isn't just done on instinct alone, at least not with Canada Geese.  A parent has to teach it's young how to flap its wings and build up speed in order to fly and then to head south to warmer climates.  Since geese can't talk, the adult geese do this by example.  Despite not having any wings of his own, “Father Goose” came up with an ingenious plan to teach his flock.  He used a homemade ultra-light aircraft to teach the birds how to fly.  As I recall it took several trial runs, but after some time they learned to follow him into the air and to fly with him.  He was finally able to lead them south in his aircraft before winter came.  Not only did he teach them how to fly by example, he even taught them how to migrate. 

          Now obviously, we are not being taught to fly south or migrate for the winter, though I'm sure there are some people who love it if that were the case.  However, we are able to learn quite a bit about other things through the example of others, as I mention before.  Jesus Christ strives to teach us many things through the example of His holy life.  His baptism in the River Jordan is one such example. 

          On the surface, the Baptism of the Lord seems like a pretty straight forward thing: Jesus goes down to the Jordan where His cousin John the Baptist has been baptizing and is baptized.  We see a manifestation of the Holy Trinity as well, with God the Father speaking, the Holy Spirit appearing as a dove, and Jesus the Son of God in the midst of it all.  We can read all of that right in the Gospel reading for today.  This still leaves a question that is still a very important one to ask: Why is Jesus being baptized anyway?  Think about it: We know Jesus is the Son of God, why would He need to get any closer to God.  Also, He is already a part of the Holy Trinity so He has no need to actually receive the Holy Spirit like the rest of us do.  Finally, Jesus was free from sin, so He had no need to be forgiven for any sins.  Why get baptized? 

          I recently read a sermon written by a bishop of the 5^th Century named St. Maximus of Turin.  The sermon is about the mystery of the Lord's baptism and why it is considered so important.  He starts by showing the connection and the similarities that this feast has with Christmas.  He says, “At Christmas he was born a man; today he is reborn sacramentally.  Then he was born from the Virgin; today he born in mystery.  When he was born a man, his mother Mary held him close to her heart; when he is born in mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice when he says: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: listen to him.”   The saint explains that this is why Jesus came to be baptized.  Just as the Season of Christmas makes known who Jesus is as a human being, so also the Feast of the Baptism makes known who Jesus is sacramentally and spiritually.  He does this so that we may be made holy as well.  He continues in his sermon, “Someone might ask, ‘Why would a holy man desire baptism?’  Listen to the answer: Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched.”  Thus, even though Jesus did not need to be baptized, His baptism made our baptism so much more.  Our baptism cleanses us, purifies us, and makes us adopted sons and daughters of the most high God. 

          St. John explains in his first letter that we become children of God by believing in Him and in His Son, Jesus.  It is through our relationship with the Father and the Son that we are able to consider ourselves to be apart of this wonderful family.  It all begins with our own baptism: maybe as an infant, a small child, maybe as an adult who came in a little later.  It doesn’t matter at all when we came in to this family, so long as we did.  We wouldn’t have known to enter in to this wonderful family if we were not first lead by Christ.  He led us by example by being baptized first.  Let us celebrate this great feast in which we were led to our family in Heaven.

Epiphany Sunday

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010415.cfm

          We know the story of the Epiphany and the Three Wise Men so well we could probably all tell the entire story in our sleep.  Magi from eastern lands come to Jerusalem, in search of the newborn King of the Jews.  They have been following a star, which eventually leads them to Bethlehem, where they find the Christ-Child.  They present Him with expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Meanwhile, a troubled and very paranoid King Herod plots what he will do to the infant-king once the magi inform him of his whereabouts.  Thankfully, the plan is foiled by a dream that warns the travelers to go back by another route. 

          I'm sure that there are many elements of this story that we can all pinpoint as being particularly memorable for us.  It could be the long journey that they take from the East, or perhaps it is that wondrous star that sticks in your mind.  Sometimes when I read this story, my thoughts turn to Herod and why he was so troubled by a helpless baby.  I am also thankful for God's providence in protecting the wise men and the Holy Family by leading them away from the king's wrath.   I think for a lot of people, the focus is on the gifts.  There is plenty of awe and admiration at the lavishness of the gifts that are brought, and also questions as to the practicality of the such gifts for a newborn and the ever popular question: what on earth is myrrh anyway?  If you really want to know the answer to that last question you can ask me later or “Google” it on your own.  However, we would be remiss if our entire focus of the feast was only on the gifts or on the star or on the little details of what the different characters said and did.  The real focus is on how all men and women from every land and culture are called to give of themselves and worship our Lord and King.  It doesn't matter where we come from or what we bring with us, so long as we give ourselves over to God.

          There was short story written in 1905 that I hope will help illustrate this.  The story is by O. Henry and is called “The Gift of the Magi”.  I'm sure most of you have heard the story at one time or another, but allow me to summarize.  The story is about James Young and his wife Della.  They live in a modestly furnished apartment and are just barely able to get by on the $20 per week that Jim makes at work.  Despite their modest surroundings, the young couple had two possessions which were of great value to them.  One is Jim's gold watch, which had been passed down from his grandfather, to his father, and then to him.  King Solomon himself with all his treasure would have been envious of such a watch.  The second is Della's hair, beautiful brown locks that fall past her knees.  Any queens jewels would have paled in comparison to such hair.

          It is Christmas Eve, and Della is very distraught.  After scrimping and saving for months she has only $1.87 with which to by her Jim a Christmas present.  After staring at her reflection in a narrow mirror for a moment, she gets an idea and runs out the door with her old coat and hat.  She goes down to a beauty shop, sells her hair for $20 and then searches the shops for the perfect gift.  She finally finds a gold chain that looks to have made just for Jim and his gold watch. 

          Worried of what Jim will think of her haircut, Della hurries home and begins preparing Jim's dinner.  She waits for him at the door to the apartment.  He enters, and then stares at her, but she can't read his expression.  She worries he doesn't approve, and quickly explains that she sold it to pay for his present and reassures him her hair will grow back quickly.  “You cut your hair?” he asks, as if it were hard to comprehend.  She keeps assuring him, saying she did it for love of him and to please say he still loves her.  He finally embraces her and tosses a small package on the table.  He tells her no haircut would ever make him love her less, but asks her to opens the package.  Inside are a set of jeweled combs that she had been admiring in a shop window.  Her joy and surprise quickly turn to sadness as she realizes what has happened.  But then she smiles as she knows her hair will grow back eventually.  Then with excitement, she leaps up and gives Jim his present.  She begs him to take out his watch so she can see how it looks with the chain.  But he simply lays back on the couch and smiles.  “I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs”. 

          O. Henry gives a short moral to the story.  “The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger.  They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.  Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication.  And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.  But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.  Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.  Everywhere they are the wisest.  They are the magi”.

          The magi of the Scriptures came from the east bringing gifts.  The prophet Isaiah describes in the First Reading how people from many different nations will come, also bringing wondrous gifts.  As O. Henry points out, the gifts of the wise men were no doubt very wise, especially in comparison to how Jim and Della foolishly gave away their only treasures.  However, as I said before: we are missing the point if we think it is only about the gifts.  Jim and Della nobly sacrificed their most prized possessions so that the other could have the perfect Christmas gift.  The magi, as well as the visitors described by Isaiah, also sacrificed many comforts as well as time and money and also faced many dangers in order to make the long journey.  They are not just bringing gifts, but also worshiping God and the newborn Christ-child.  Jim, Della, the magi, and all the visitors sacrificed by giving of themselves in their special gifts.  That is why they are all called “The magi”.  That is why we are called to be magi as well.