Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Category: Ordinary Time

  • The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    If you’ve been to any number of Church weddings, you have probably heard today’s first reading, and part of the Gospel proclaimed. Obviously we usually leave out the part about divorce, but these readings are quite popular for weddings. The reason, of course, is that the story is about how man and woman were created for each other. The totality of the readings we have today, though, are challenging. We do have that piece about divorce there, and it does present a challenge in these days when so many marriages fail.

    Jesus’ point here is that the Christian disciple is called to a level of faithfulness that transcends the difficulties of life. We can’t just throw in the towel and walk away when things are difficult: marriage vows make demands of people – I say that in every wedding homily I give. In the very same way, ordination promises make demands of priests. We all have to pray for the grace to be faithful in good times and in bad. But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

    That being the case, I want to take this opportunity to provide some catechesis, and make some points and dispel some myths about the Church’s teaching on marriage, divorce, remarriage, and annulment. I do this because I know it is the source of pain for so many people, perhaps some people among us today. It’s important that we all understand these teachings so that we can help one another live faithful lives and avoid making judgments about others which are best left to our Lord.

    The first myth is that divorce is a sin that excommunicates a person from the Church and does not allow them to participate in the life of the Church or receive the sacraments. But divorce is not a sin in and of itself, at least not one that leads to excommunication. It may well, however, be the result of sin, and a consequence of sin. Whatever led to the divorce, on either or both sides, may in fact have been sinful, and absolutely should be addressed in the Sacrament of Penance. Those who are divorced, however, remain Catholics, and are free to receive the sacraments including the Eucharist, sacramental absolution in the sacrament of Penance, and the Anointing of the Sick. However, they remain married to their partner in the eyes of the Church and are not free to remarry, unless they receive an annulment. Those who remarry without an annulment have taken themselves out of communion with the Church and then, and only then, are not free to receive the sacraments.

    The second myth is that an annulment is really just “Catholic Divorce.” Annulment is instead recognition by the Church that a valid marriage, for some reason or another, had never taken place, because, for some reason, one or both of the parties was not free to marry. These reasons may include extreme immaturity, a previous and continuing mental or emotional illness or addiction, a previous and undiscovered prior marriage, or entering marriage with no intention of remaining faithful or of having children. Pope Francis added some other reasons a few years ago, including a fictitious marriage that enabled one of the parties to enter into citizenship, a very brief marriage, stubborn persistence in an extramarital affair, and the procurement of an abortion to avoid procreation. In addition, Pope Francis somewhat simplified the process of an annulment in order to decrease the amount of time it takes to proceed.

    A third myth is that those who are marrying a non-Catholic who had been previously married are automatically free to marry, since the non-Catholic’s marriage did not take place in the Catholic Church. But for the good of all, the Church presumes that marriages between non-Catholics are valid, so their previous marriage would have to be annulled before a Catholic is free to marry them. This is a very often misunderstood principle.

    A fourth myth is that the Church always insists that the parties stay together. Certainly, that is the Church’s preference: today’s readings show that the permanence of the marriage relationship is the intent of God. However, we all understand that there are circumstances in which that may not be possible or even desirable. The Church would never counsel someone to stay together in a relationship that is abusive and puts one of the parties in danger. That is completely unacceptable. So please hear me when I say this: if you are in an abusive relationship, whether the abuse is physical, verbal, or emotional, I want you to seek help and safety. The Church will support you in that decision. If you find yourself in that kind of relationship, whether you are married or not, I want you to see someone on our staff immediately.

    Finally, there are some misconceptions about annulment proceedings that I want to clear up. First, if you do receive an annulment, that does not mean your children are illegitimate. The Church sees children as a gift from God, and thus never takes away their status as sons and daughters of God. Second, people think annulments are too expensive. They are not. The cost of an annulment in our diocese is less than $1000, not the tens of thousands of dollars people had thought was necessary in the past. And, under no circumstances will an annulment be denied if a person cannot meet those expenses; the diocese will always accept whatever you can pay. Now, having said that, I always tell people that there are other costs in an annulment, most of which are emotional. An annulment dredges up all sorts of things that may have been suppressed, and that’s never going to be painless. But that kind of pain is part and parcel of any healing, so when you are in the right place for it, if you think your marriage was invalid, you should speak to someone who can help you begin the process. That person is called a field advocate, and here at Saint Mary’s, that would be me, Father John or Father James, and also Dr. Doug Muir. Please feel free to make an appointment with one of us so that we can help you through the process.

    What it comes down to is this: we must all do what we were created for. Relationships and vocations are opportunities to do that, but to be effective, we must choose to be faithful. And we must choose faithfulness each and every day – maybe even every moment. When life throws stuff at us, as indeed it will, we must choose to be faithful anyway. But if brokenness destroys that grace, we should turn to the Church for guidance, reconciliation, and mercy. Just as man and woman cling to one another and become one flesh, so all of us are called to cling to God and become one with him. The Sacrament of Matrimony foreshadows the relationship that God has with the Church and the world. We are all called to be caught up in God’s life and live forever with him.

  • The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!

    When we think about prophets and prophecy, I think our minds always take us to ancient days. All the prophets we tend to think about lived many centuries ago: Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos and all the rest, right up to John the Baptist who was the last of the prophets of old and the beginning of the prophecy of the new. All of it culminating in the person of Jesus Christ, whose prophecy was the voice of God himself. But I think our readings today call us to look at prophecy in a new light, and to be open to the fact that there are many more prophets than we can think of right away, prophets that are a bit more contemporary than Moses and Elijah and all the others.

    For Moses, prophecy was a huge task. He bore the responsibility of bringing God’s message of salvation to a people who had become used to living without it. He was to inaugurate the covenant between God and a people who had largely forgotten about God, or certainly thought God had forgotten about them. His prophetic burden was great, but God offered to take some of his prophetic spirit and bestow it on the seventy elders. So seventy were chosen, a list was drawn up, and a ceremony was prepared.

    Two of their number – Eldad and Medad – were missing from the group during the ceremony, but the spirit was given to them anyway. But this had Joshua all bent out of shape. How could they be prophesying when they had not taken part in the ritual? So he complains about it to Moses, who clearly does not share his concern. He accuses Joshua of jealousy and says to him, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”

    Moses’ vision for the ministry was bigger than himself, bigger than Joshua, bigger than even the chosen seventy. And he makes a good point here. What if every one of God’s people knew God well enough to prophesy in God’s name? What if all of us who claim to follow God could speak out for God’s concern for the needy, the marginalized and the dispossessed? What if every single one of us, when facing a decision, would immediately consider what God wants in that moment? The world would certainly be a much different place. Joshua’s concern was that the rules be followed. Moses’ concern was that God’s work would be done.

    And so there’s a rather obvious parallel in the first part of today’s Gospel. This time it’s John who is all bent out of shape. Someone was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and even worse, whoever it was was apparently successful! Jesus, of course, does not share John’s concern. Jesus’ vision of salvation was bigger than John’s. If demons are being cast out in Jesus’ name, what does it matter who is doing it? If people are being healed from the grasp of the evil one and brought back to the family of God, well then, praise God!

    I think the point here that we need to get is that true prophecy, and really all ministry, doesn’t always fit into a neat little box, certainly not our neat little box. During the rite of baptism, the person who has just been baptized is anointed with the sacred Chrism oil – the oil that anoints us in the image of Jesus as priest, prophet and king. It is part of our baptismal calling for all of the people of the Lord to be prophets. And so we really ought to be hearing the word of the Lord all the time, from every person in our lives. Not only that, but we should be speaking the word of the Lord in everything we say and do!

    What I got to thinking about as I re-read these scriptures in preparation for preaching today was, what if everyone was a prophet? What would that look like? What would it be like if we were all true to our baptismal call to be a prophet in today’s world? First of all, if we were all used to the fact that even the most ordinary of people could carry the prophetic message, we might not be so offended by it. Just as the prophets of old were ignored, or worse, beaten or killed for their message, that same thing happens all the time today. In some areas of the world, those who prophesy are considered so much of a threat that they are put to death for their beliefs. And even here, where we have those freedoms, people are so offended by true prophecy that they consider it a personal attack and decide that people who bear witness to the truth are considered hateful. Wouldn’t it be nice if that whole situation didn’t exist, because people were used to looking for the prophetic message?

    Then, of course, having heard the prophetic message, all of us prophets would be eager to carry it out. The poor would be taken care of, people would live and do business with integrity, governments would be truly taking care of the common good rather than special interests, human dignity and respect for all life would be accepted as common practice, real peace would be not just a possibility, but a reality.

    Friends, we have to stop being afraid of the prophetic message, because prophets might be everywhere; they should be everywhere! God gives us all people who are prophetic witnesses to us: people who say and live what they believe. They might be our parents or our children, the colleague at work, the person who sits next to us in math class, or even the neighbor who seems to always want to talk our ear off. At the basic level, one of the most important questions that arises in today’s Liturgy of the Word is, who are the prophets among us? Who is it in our lives that has been so gifted with the spirit that they challenge us to be better people and live better lives? I challenge you all to give that some thought and prayer this week; I know I will.

    Prophecy is a huge responsibility, and we are all tasked with it. Being open to that prophecy is a challenge to humility. We might be the prophets, or we might be the ones hearing the prophets, but in either case we have work to do. Prophets need to be faithful to God’s spirit, to be courageous enough to speak the word they have been given by God, and hearers need to be open to the word and ready to act on it. Prophecy nearly always calls us to a radical change. May God help us to recognize the prophets among us, and make us ready to hear the word of the Lord and carry it out. Be the prophecy you want to see in the world.

    Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!

  • Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

    Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Herod had the right idea – well, sort of. He was asking the right question, which is a good start, but he was asking it for all the wrong reasons. Clearly though, it is the right question. And that question is, “Who is Jesus?” It’s a question that has echoed down through the ages; it’s a question we all have to ask at some point in our faith journey, at least it is if we are taking that journey seriously.

    What Herod was hearing about Jesus is pretty much what the disciples told Jesus when Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I am?” Elijah, or one of the prophets, or maybe even John the Baptist. But Herod was the one who killed John so he knew that couldn’t be it, so who is he really? Herod kept trying to see him, and of course, he’d have more than ample opportunity soon enough, after Jesus is arrested.

    So we have the question too. Oh, we know well enough – intellectually – who Jesus is, but we still have to answer that question in our hearts. We can’t let our relationship with our Lord be only an intellectual exercise, or else we won’t have a faith life. So who is Jesus for us? We know he is not just some prophet; that he is not like anyone who lived before or after him. But have we stopped being intrigued by the question, have we lost our fascination with Jesus? Herod kept trying to see Jesus, and it’s the right instinct, or at least it is for us. We have to keep trying to see him too, whether that takes us to a rereading of the Gospels or to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or to contemplative prayer. Whatever the case, fascination with Jesus is the right way to go, and we have to let ourselves be intrigued by the question again. Who is Jesus for us?

  • Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today’s Gospel reminds me of a sound bite for the evening news or a shoddy post on social media. Taken out of context, Jesus is denying his family. And not only that, but Jesus now has “brothers,” so what happened to the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary? Sound bites cause nothing but trouble because you don’t have the context to know what’s really being said. These sound bites take a whole lot of explanation, and the ones we have in today’s Gospel are certainly no exception.

    First of all, let’s tackle the idea of Jesus having brothers. Many ideas surround that issue and have developed over time, as I am sure you can appreciate. One idea says that St. Joseph was an older man, and had sons by a previous wife, now dead. These would be Jesus’ half-brothers. There is no actual evidence for that theory, nor even a tradition of it from the early Church. Another idea comes from the fact that the Greek word translated “brothers” here is general enough that it might also refer to cousins or some other close kindred. So the brothers here would be close family members, not necessarily brothers. This theory is supported by linguistic study and usage, so it’s more accepted. In either case, the Church affirms the perpetual virginity of Mary and this Gospel is not trying to confuse us, but is rather teaching us on another topic.

    The second sound bite is that Jesus seems to turn away from his mother and his relatives and claims that his family is those who hear the word of God and act on it. Well, Jesus certainly wasn’t turning away from his beloved mother or any of his close relatives. We know for a fact that Mary was the first of the disciples. Jesus seems to be more widening his family relationships than restricting them to just those related by blood. Which is good news for all of us who are now included in that family. Giving ourselves to the Word of God, hearing it and living it, we are mother and brother and sister to Christ.

    So I think the call for us disciples as we hear this word proclaimed today is that we are to strive to be in the family of Jesus. We were initiated into that family when we were baptized, and we are called to live that way each day. The family of Jesus hears the word of God and acts on it. That’s what Jesus is teaching us today. So we who would be his brothers and sisters have work to do; amazingly joy-filled work.

  • Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

    Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Simon the Pharisee committed a grave error in hospitality, and a serious error in judgment. In those days, when a guest came to your home, you made sure to provide water for him or her to wash their feet, because the journey on foot was often long and hot and dirty, and it was pretty much always made on foot. But Simon had done no such thing for Jesus.

    Simon’s intentions were not hospitable; rather he intended to confront Jesus on some point of the Law so as to validate his opinion that Jesus was a charlatan. That was the purpose of his dinner invitation. Then, in comes the “sinful woman,” who breaks an alabaster jar full of extremely expensive ointment and anoints the feet of Jesus while she is in tears for love of Jesus and sorrow for her sin. But Simon simply judged the woman to be a sinner, someone to be shunned and ignored, and reckoned Jesus guilty of sin by association. Jesus isn’t having any of that, because Jesus is about forgiveness. He didn’t care about the woman’s past; he already knew it well, but was more concerned that, presently, she had need of mercy. Her act of love and hospitality, her posture of humility, her sorrow for her sin, all of these made it possible for Jesus to heal her.

    But the one who doesn’t think he is in need of healing, symbolized by Simon the Pharisee, can never be healed. And so that’s our examination of conscience today. Are we aware of our need for healing, or have we been thinking we are without sin, without brokenness, without openness to God’s mercy? If so, our moments of reflection today need to guide us to honest and open acceptance of God’s mercy, and a pouring out of the best that we have in thanksgiving. Like the repentant woman, we need to humble ourselves, and pour out sorrow for our sins, and love for Jesus who wants nothing more than to heal us.

    We are offered so much mercy and forgiveness for our many sins. Let us love much so that we might receive the great mercy our Lord wants to give us.

  • The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Special Needs Mass)

    The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Special Needs Mass)

    Today’s readings
    Mass with special needs families.

    The Apostle Saint James in our second reading today attacks what is, to me, a very prevalent attitude that people can often have. “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well” – we see that kind of thing all the time. When a tragedy happens, we will see people offering their “thoughts and prayers.” And not that that is a bad thing: thoughts and prayers are a great start. Certainly, we believe in the power of prayer and would hasten to encourage prayer as a regular habit.

    But Saint James makes it very clear that thoughts and prayers can’t be the end of our compassion and care for others. He says that, if you say that to the person, “but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” Our faith leads us to thoughts and prayers, that’s why it’s the first thing we think of when there is a tragedy, or someone in our community is going through a hard time. But if we don’t live our faith by working to help those in need then, says Saint James, our faith, “if it does not have works, is dead.”

    I had a priest professor in seminary who always used to tell us, “Brothers, the Christian faith looks like something.” And he’s right, people need to see that Jesus is Lord of our lives and sovereign in the world, and the only way they are going to see that is if Christians live their faith by getting out of the comfort zone, by going beyond thoughts and prayers to a living faith that, as Saint James says, is demonstrated from our works. A watching world isn’t going to see our thoughts and prayers; they are going to see what we do. They need to see by what we do that we are who we say we are, that our God is Lord.

    That’s going to call us to be a little uncomfortable sometimes. It’s going to call us to do what Jesus calls us to do in the Gospel today: to take up our crosses and follow him. There is suffering out there in the world, and if we don’t wrap them in our arms and suffer with them, adding works of mercy to our thoughts and prayers, then our faith is meaningless. We can’t be Catholics for just one hour a week. We have to lose our lives in service of our brothers and sisters. That’s a tough thing to do, but it comes with a promise from our Lord:

    For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
    but whoever loses his life for my sake
    and that of the gospel will save it.

    So let’s not stop thinking about and praying for those in need. But let’s stop saying, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well” and then forgetting about our brothers and sisters. Let’s demonstrate our faith by our works, taking up our crosses and following Our Lord, losing ourselves for his sake and that of the Gospel that we might save it for eternity.

  • The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    What feels like a hundred years ago, now, when I was a young adult, I had a membership to a boxing gym that I would go to after work. The gym had a class at that time, and it was a group of people a lot like me, men and women my age who wanted to get some exercise and stress relief after a day of work. One of the things the trainer would do with us was some pad work. He would go around to each of us, and would work with us at our own level, calling out punches and we would have to throw those punches at the pads on his hands. There was a pattern to it, once you learned it, and then the challenge was to keep up with him. But sometimes, we would get ahead of him, and mess things up. Then he’d give us a tap on the arm with the pad, and would say, “You’re way ahead of me!”

    I thought about that with regard to today’s Gospel reading. After professing the fact that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, Saint Peter in classic Saint Peter fashion takes Jesus to task for teaching them that he, the Son of Man, “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” Peter was distressed at hearing that Jesus, the one who he just a few verses ago, said was the Christ, would talk about suffering, because they never expected the Messiah to have to undergo any such thing. Jesus turns around and says to Peter, “Get behind me…” Just like my boxing trainer, he is trying to teach them something, but Peter is way ahead of him.

    And that’s no place for a disciple to be. Because disciples don’t get ahead of their master, they follow him. When you’re ahead of the teacher, you can’t learn anything. When you’re following him, you can see what he does, hear what he’s saying, and learn things that lead to life. This is a very important observation, that I have to tell you, came from praying through the Gospel reading at this week’s staff meeting.

    Here’s why this is so important: because Jesus wants the disciples to follow, wants us to follow. He says quite plainly:

    “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
    take up his cross, and follow me.
    For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
    but whoever loses his life for my sake
    and that of the gospel will save it.”

    He’s making it very clear here that winning the kingdom, saving our lives for eternity, means suffering in this life. He was going to model that for them on the way to the Cross, and into the glory of the Resurrection. But if we are way ahead of him, we are absolutely going to be on the wrong road.

    So we are called, by the very words of our Savior, to take up our cross and follow him. That wasn’t just for Saint Peter and the other Apostles; it is for all Jesus’ disciples, including ourselves. There is no other way to the salvation for which we yearn. Following Jesus will ultimately lead us to glory if we do it faithfully. But following him will also lead us to the Cross. Yesterday we celebrated that mystery in the feast of the Triumph of the Cross. Yes, we will suffer in this life, in all sorts of ways, yes we will die, but that death will release us to the glory of the resurrection, if we embrace it in faith.

    In our world, suffering is looked upon as something to be avoided at all costs. Commercials on television and social media promise all sorts of relief if we will take this or that pill. Worse than that, people are legislating circumstances for when it’s appropriate to kill ourselves through euthanasia so that we won’t have to suffer, and pro-abortion people want to say it’s okay to abort a baby who has the wrong chromosomes or might suffer in any way. We avoid suffering in every way we possibly can, so it might be hard to get behind this Jesus who says that the way to heaven is to take up the cross, to suffer, to die, and to follow his lead.

    The psalmist sums it up for us today. Yes, the suffering in our lives leads us to experience the cords of death that encompass us. We often fall into distress and sorrow. But when we embrace that suffering and call on the Lord, we will find ourselves freed of death and able to walk before the Lord in the land of the living. We who have embraced and remembered and celebrated the mystery of Christ’s presence in our lives, in our Church and in our world, can approach suffering with great faith. Some years ago now, there was a contemporary Christian song that said “sometimes he calms the storm, and other times he calms his child.” God won’t always make our tears and pain go away. But he does promise that we will never go through them alone.

    The real truth of life in this world is that there is suffering, and none of us gets a free pass. Even Mary, full of grace, had to watch her Son suffer and die. Even Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus and he himself suffered a terrible, painful, humiliating death. None of us gets out of this life unscathed. In some crazy sense, we all are united in the fact that we all suffer, some time and for something. And so it is in fact audacious and even offensive that Saint Peter rebukes our Lord for talking about suffering. Peter himself will suffer a similar fate as that of his Lord, being crucified upside-down. Every one of us, in some way, has to take up the cross and walk with it, because it is only in doing that that we can make our way to the Resurrection.

    And we have to acknowledge, friends, is that we have it a lot easier than our Lord did. We just bear our own suffering; he had to take with him the suffering of every person embroiled in sin in all of time. We have him to help us take up our crosses and to help make those crosses lighter; he had no one except for Simon of Cyrene who helped him begrudgingly. His death had to blast open the gates of heaven; we will just get to walk through it, if we follow him and live the gospel.

    And so, we weak ones who don’t love suffering, we must hear the words that Jesus spoke to Simon Peter spoken also to us. Don’t get ahead of me; take up your cross and follow me.

    For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
    but whoever loses his life for my sake
    and that of the gospel will save it.

  • The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Jesus’ ministry on earth was all about healing. Indeed, that’s what he came to do: to heal us, set things right, from the inside out, so that we would be able to enter the Kingdom. In today’s gospel, he heals a man who has been deaf and mute with the word of command: “Ephphatha!” – “Be opened!” I have talked about this kind of thing before. The healing is not here simply for the deaf and mute man. The healing he intends, the command, “Be opened!” is for those who were there with the man in the Decapolis, and for us too. Mark brings us this story in his Gospel because ephphatha is what Jesus is about. He is about healing, and opening up a way for those who have been at odds with God to be back in relationship with him. So whether the obstacle has been a physical illness or a spiritual one, he commands ephphatha, that the way be opened and the obstacle obliterated, and the illness of the broken one bound up and the way made straight for the person to be in communion with God.

    Saint James today invites us to take a look at the issue from another angle. Have we pre-judged people who are not like us when they come to the Church, or who come to us at any other time? Do we look down on those who don’t look like us, dress like us, don’t speak like us, or don’t act like us? Do these people have illness that needs to be healed? Or is it we that have the illness, being unable to see them as Christ does, as brothers and sisters and children of God? Racism, fear of others, and all kinds of stereotypes are such insidious illnesses in our society. We bring that illness, too, to our Lord: whatever the illness is today, whether it is ours or someone else’s, Jesus commands it: ephphatha, be opened, that nothing may be an obstacle to the love of God and the healing of Jesus Christ.

    Since the readings lead us to a place of healing, I want to take this opportunity to speak of one of the sacraments of healing, namely the Anointing of the Sick. I want to do that because I think it’s a sacrament that is misunderstood, one that we don’t think of much, until someone is near death, and that’s not exactly what the Anointing of the Sick is all about. In the days prior to Vatican II, that actually was the understanding of the Sacrament. It was called Extreme Unction, Latin for “Last Anointing.” But Vatican II restored the sacrament to a much earlier practice, in which the sacrament was intended for healing, and not just sending the dying person on their way to eternal life.

    The impetus for the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick comes from another passage in the letter of Saint James. It says: “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15) The sacrament is about healing: physical, sure, but also spiritual. Having God’s presence in the sacrament with us in our time of illness is of great value – just ask anyone who’s been through it! I myself received the sacrament when I was in the hospital for my heart issues last year; even Father needs the ministry of the Church in time of need.

    So I’d like to identify a few times when it would be appropriate to have the Anointing of the Sick. The first is before surgery that is either life threatening itself, or is for the healing of some illness or injury. Very often people will call, and they might come to a daily Mass before their surgery or the weekend before their surgery, and we will anoint them after Mass. This is a wonderful time to receive the sacrament, because they’ve just been to Mass and have received the Eucharist. The combination of those sacraments is a great source of grace and healing.

    Another time someone might be anointed is if they’ve come to the hospital with a life-threatening illness or injury, perhaps even after an accident. Or perhaps a patient is hospitalized for an addiction or mental illness. Very often there’s a priest on call at the hospital who can do that, or if it’s one of the local hospitals here, we will be called to go over. Being anointed at that time of crisis can be a great source of peace to both the patient and their loved ones.

    Another time for the Anointing is when a patient is home bound, or after they’ve come home from having surgery and there is going to be a long time of rehabilitation. Then a priest might come to the person’s home, anoint them, and then we can arrange for a parishioner to come give them Holy Communion each week. We have a number of parishioners who help us with that ministry, and it keeps the patient connected to the parish and to the Lord during difficult days.

    The final time for the Anointing is the one that most people think of, and that is near death. At the time of death, we have what is known as the Last Rites. The Last Rites are a combination of three sacraments: the sacrament of Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum, which is Latin for “bread for the journey,” one’s last Communion. If at all possible, it’s good if the patient is well enough to participate in all three sacraments, but very often that’s not the case. Then we just do what we can of them and entrust them to God’s mercy.

    It’s important that we know about the illness so that we can care for the patient. These days, that means a family member or the patient themselves, must call us. Hospitals can’t do that any more, due to privacy laws. So it’s very important that we know, and know soon enough that we can respond. In a large parish like this, it can be hard for us to respond at the spur of the moment because of other things going on, but we do our best to get there as soon as we can. And if, unfortunately, a patient dies before the priest can get there, there are still prayers we can do. Sometimes we don’t know that the patient is going so quickly. But if your loved one is declining, please call as soon as you can and don’t wait until the last possible moment.

    Here at Saint Mary’s, we also have a periodic celebration of the Anointing of the Sick at our healing prayer service, which is held on the first Sunday of the month, after the 12:15pm Mass. We had that just last Sunday. There are exceptions for times when Easter or another solemnity interferes, but we will tell you about that when it happens. This is a great time for all those who are preparing for surgery, or have a chronic illness, or are going through some worrisome tests or procedures to have the healing of Jesus who wants to walk with us on our difficult journeys.

    The healing that comes about as the result of the Anointing of the Sick isn’t always physical. Indeed, sometimes the illness remains, or the patient passes. But even in those cases, there is healing. That healing may be the forgiveness of sins, or re-connection with loved ones, or a spiritual strengthening that helps the person get through the difficulty of illness or preparation for death. The healing that happens is always up to God, who wants what is best for us. But there is always some healing; in that we can trust.

    The healing work of Christ is what the Church is all about. Today, Jesus continues to work through the Church to bring healing to all those who need it. He cries out “Ephphatha” that we might all be opened up to his healing work and that every obstacle to relationship with him might be broken down.

  • Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

    Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    When I think about this Gospel reading, I wonder what’s really going on.  Were the Pharisees really concerned that the Sabbath was being violated, and that people were not experiencing sabbath rest from their labors so that they could grow in relationship with their God?  Probably not.  Contextually, we can see how the Pharisees were being pharisaical: they were concerned more about the minute aspects of the law than on bringing people to relationship with God.

    For Jesus, there wasn’t such a thing as a Sabbath rest from his mission of healing, and teaching, and bringing people to salvation.  So as he walked along with his disciples, it didn’t bother him that they were “working” by picking heads of grain to eat.  They were hungry.  And Jesus was all about feeding people’s hunger, no matter what kind of hunger it was, and no matter what day it was – Sabbath or not.

    He would be widely criticized for teaching on the Sabbath, but people were hungry for news of salvation.  He would be called blasphemous for calling God his Father on the Sabbath, but people were hungry for relationship with their God.  He would receive death threats for healing on the Sabbath, but people were hungry for wholeness, and relief, and new life.

    Jesus’ point here is that the Sabbath is never important just for itself.  The Sabbath was an opportunity for people to rest in God, and it was God, not the Law, that could decide how that happened.  The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.

  • Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

    Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings
    Mass for the school children:

    New stuff can be fun. We like to have new clothes or new toys. Adults like to have a new car. But some new stuff can be scary. Going to a new school can be scary. Joining a new team or a new activity can be scary. But after we get used to the new school, the new team, the new group of people, usually things work out just fine. Newness can be fun, it’s most often a good thing, but sometimes it might make us worry.

    The scribes and the Pharisees in the Gospel reading were the religious leaders back in Jesus’ time. They were very concerned about their religious traditions. They were so concerned about them, that anytime they saw someone doing something different, they would call them out and correct them. And they weren’t always nice about it.

    In the Gospel reading, they were complaining that their disciples fasted, but the disciples of Jesus did not. And that was true, even the disciples of Saint John the Baptist used to fast all the time. But Jesus points out that people don’t fast at a wedding feast, or any other kind of feast as far as that goes. And Jesus is the bridegroom who has married the world, so to speak. He is the one who, when he is with us, it’s always a feast, always an occasion for joy. But of course, the scribes and Pharisees weren’t feeling so joyful about Jesus being around.

    Jesus goes on to tell a little parable about newness to make this point a little clearer. He says people don’t take new wine and put it into old wine skins. Back in Jesus’ day, wine didn’t come in bottles like it does now. They used wine skins, which were made of animal hide, usually from goats, to store and transport wine. But they always put new wine into new wine skins. Because if they put the new wine into old skins, the skins would often break because they were old, and the wine would be wasted. It just wouldn’t work.

    In the same way, Jesus was doing something new. It wasn’t the same as the old Jewish religion. Jesus was calling people to have concern for the poor and needy, to live good lives, and to love every person in our path. Things needed to change, and he came to change those things. Sins needed to be forgiven, and he came to give his life so that forgiveness could happen. All of this was new, and it was so different from what the scribes and Pharisees had ever known. They wanted what Jesus was doing and saying to fit into their old ideas. Kind of like putting new wine into old wine skins: it just didn’t work.

    The thing is, Jesus never stopped doing new things. He came to make us new through Baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He makes us new every time we participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He gives us new life and new grace every time we receive the Eucharist. Jesus doesn’t want us to to waste away with old ideas and old dusty religion. He wants to make us new every single day so that we can go out and make the whole world new.