Can I see some I.D.?

I got on my Walker's Wandering's page yesterday and I saw that someone had posted a blog for me. It was just a few words with a link to a web site. I looked at what the link was trying to advertise and I was appalled to see that it was to some sort of porn page. I deleted it as soon as I saw it, so that none of you would get sucked in by the hacker's web site. This is the second time this has happened in the last couple of months. I've reported it to Blog Spot, but I don't know what to do to keep creeps from pirating my identity in order that they may try to scam you.

Coincidentally though, "identity" is what this weekend's readings are all about.

In the Acts of the Apostles reading today, St. Peter is on trial for healing a crippled man soon after the Pentecost. He defends himself by identifying the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth as the one who healed the crippled beggar. The God made man, whom the religious leaders had killed, was still healing people by the mere invocation of His name by the brave Apostles. These first disciples were showing the world that Jesus had changed from dead man to Risen Lord, and thus their identity as His followers had changed. They went from admirers and observers of their rabbi and master Jesus to folks who prayed, preached, taught, healed, and loved with His authority and power.

In John's Gospel (chapter 10) Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. While we might think that the name is appropriate for who Jesus is, the folks of Jesus' time would have been thinking that "Good" and "Shepherd" were contradictory labels. Shepherds in the ancient world of Jesus were not allowed to testify in court because they were notorious liars and not to be trusted. They were the wandering gypsies of their time. "Hide your wives, children, money and valuables! Here come the shepherds!" Yet Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd who lives and gives His life for His sheep. Thanks be to God for His willingness to break stereotypes. He helped us to see Him and His Father  as so in love with us that they will stop at nothing to love us. Jesus' willingness to be the Good Shepherd for us is also a call for us to look through our stereotypes of others whom we've judged to see them with the loving eyes of our God.

Finally, the second reading is from the First letter of John. He tells us that God loves us enough to give us His own special identity. We are now God's children. Just as Jesus is the Son of God, we are son's and daughters of the same God. We are loved with the same love. We are given the same intimate relationship and access. We are promised the same hopeful promises. We are destined for the same high destiny. BUT, we are also called to live up to the same holy and sometime painful unselfishness, AND look at ALL others as God's children too.

Any time we are tempted to have an identity crisis we only need to remember who we are and whose we are.

peace,
Fr. Chuck

You are what you eat!

The 1987 Danish film Babette’s Feast tells the story of two sisters in a remote 19th-century Danish village who never marry and live a rigid life dominated by their father, the pleasure-denying pastor of their austere church. Both sisters had opportunities to leave the village. But their father objected and they instead spent their lives caring for him.

Many years later—their father is now deceased—they take in French refugee Babette Hersant, who agrees to work as their servant and cook. After winning the lottery, Babette wants to repay the sisters for their kindness and offers to cook a sumptuous French meal for them and their cold and barren congregation. The lavish feast proves to be an eye-opening, heartwarming experience. Meals can have that kind of power. Think of a meal where you sat down with strangers and departed with new friends. Perhaps that is why a meal—the Eucharist—is at the center of our worship and why meals figure so prominently in the gospels. (from Dan Grippo, as written in "Prepare the Word")

One of the criticisms of Jesus while He lived and moved about Judea and Galilee was that "he ate and drank with sinners". The miracle that is reported by all four of the Gospels is the Feeding of the Multitudes with a few fish and loaves. His first miracle in the Gospel of John is at the Wedding Feast in Cana. The Last Supper is also reported by all four Evangelists. After the Resurrection Jesus makes Himself known to the two disciples on the Road to Emaus at a meal. He fixes a meal for all of the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Today's Gospel has Him sharing a meal in the Upper Room again after the Resurrection. Meals were occasions for Jesus to reveal Himself and His Father's intentions to His disciples both before and after His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

The Eucharist is our meal where He still feeds us with His Presence. Just as meals were important to Him 2000 years ago, this lasting meal is important to Him. In the meal of the Eucharist He feeds us with Himself. He gives us Himself to help us be His Flesh and Blood in the world. He gives us Himself to imitate His forgiveness and compassion for the world so desperately in need of both. He gives us Himself to draw us closer (in Communion) to Him, His Father, His Spirit and His Body (Church). 

Meals do more than feed us nutrition for our bones and organs. Meals make us whole and holy. Appreciate the meal that Christ calls you to.

peace,

Fr. Chuck

No Doubt!

"The story is told about Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist of Princeton University in the early 20th century. Einstein was traveling from Princeton on a train, and when the conductor came down the aisle to punch the passengers’ tickets, Einstein couldn’t find his. He looked in his vest pocket, he looked in his pants pocket, he looked in his briefcase, but there was no ticket. The conductor was gracious; “Not to worry, Dr. Einstein, I know who you are, we all know who you are, and I’m sure you bought a ticket.”

As the conductor moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor returned to Einstein; “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. You don’t need a ticket, I’m sure you bought one.” Einstein arose and said “Young man, I too know who I am; what I don’t know is where I am going.”

And that is the good news of Easter; that we know where we are going. We have been told by the Savior that his life and death has promised us life eternal. And Low Sundays don’t change that promise. And unemployment doesn’t change that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And this, my friends, is faith."
(from Steven Molin, Elated....Deflated)

In this weekend's Gospel from St. John's 20th chapter we hear the story of the Doubting Thomas. After Jesus appears to the other disciples on Easter evening, Thomas doubts. He tells them that he won't believe that Jesus is risen until he sees and touches the Risen Christ. On the following first day of the week Thomas is present when Jesus comes to visit again. When faced with the reality of Christ, Thomas gives the witness that no one before him had ever given. Thomas calls Christ, "My Lord and my God!"

Thomas had every reason to doubt. Dead meant dead. There was no reason to believe otherwise. Jesus is and was the firstborn from the dead. And even given Jesus' promises that in three days he would rise again, the disciples had no reason to believe Him, since it had never happened before in the human experience. I'm sure he thought like many others that death had won another victim. Christ, His life, His ministry, His message, His hope, His truth, His love, everything about Him was defeated. His goofy band of brothers and sisters were full pie eyed visions for thinking and saying anything else. Dead was dead.

Yet Jesus came again! Thomas was invited to see and touch. His hope and Jesus' life was reborn. Faith happened! Thomas is able to call Jesus Christ the names that He wants all of us to confess. "MY Lord and MY God!!" Then Jesus talks to Thomas and US. "You have to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Every time we allow forgiveness to be bigger than our sin or the sins of others, we say loud and clear, "My Lord and my God!" Every time someone rejects us or when we fail in a relationship, and we keep attempting to love we profess, "My Lord and my God!" When people in our lives that we love die, or when we find out that we are mortally ill, and we can still laugh and pray we witness, "My Lord and my God!" When jobs are lost, money gets tight or non-existent, or life disappoints in its myriad ways, and we still trust God's promise, "I am with you until the end of the ages", we will continue to prophecy, "My Lord and my God!"

He lives! Be courageous enough to be His witness today.

peace,
me 

Easter! Thanks be to God!

We can not imagine the surprise, or even the shock, of the first witnesses of Christ's Resurrection as they visited His tomb and found a sight similar to this one. In every cell in their bodies, every brain cell, every emotion in their hearts, Jesus was completely and utterly dead. They hadn't grasped His words of foresight. He had told them many times that he would suffer, die and then RISE from the dead. No comprendo! They started to get "it"  only when they found the tomb empty.

In fact the empty tomb is what all of the New Testament is about. The Gospel writers, St. Paul, and all of the other New Testament writers were so effected by their experience of the Risen Christ that they were inspired to write the life of Christ and the other letters, etc. because of that profoundly life changing event. The same thing with the early martyrs (and eventually every saint since then); how the Risen Christ impacted them is why they lived and gave their lives as they did. The Church and the millions of believers in the world today are a result of the impact of the Resurrection of Christ.

This gift of God that we call the Resurrection is a life altering event. Hopefully we can see that, just like Mary Magdalene, the first evangelists, the early Church martyrs and countless Christians since then, our lives and how we live them is because Christ rose from the grave. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a current event. His Resurrection means that we live knowing that we can be forgiven for any sin. It means that every human life is redeemable and of value to God. It means that no disaster or disease can conquer us; that our God is bigger than every obstacle, mistake, and problem. It means that we can live hoping in promises of a fulfilled and eternal life to come. It means that even death can't hold us hostage.

Christ is risen indeed! Let's look at this gift from God with new eyes this weekend!

Alleluia!
Fr. Chuck

Palm Sunday: The WEEK begins!

Hi Friends!

We begin Holy Week this Sunday. Sometimes it's easy to go through this week with a limited vision. We hear about Jesus' thanksgiving day parade into Jerusalem. We imagine Jesus and His disciples preparing for and then eating the Last Supper. We retell His arrest, trial, torture, Way of the Cross and Crucifixion. Then, next Sunday, we learn of His first Resurrection appearances to Mary, Peter, John, the Apostles, and the two on the way to Emaus. 

I think that seeing and hearing of all of these events as what happened some 2000 years ago limits their impact on us now. Yes, they did happen in a historical time and place. BUT, with all things with God, the things that happened with Jesus in that Holy Week  two millennia ago are way beyond any time and locale. Jesus is the Christ and God's Son and therefore is still walking the Way of the Cross. He is always living, suffering, dying and rising for all of us who still need Him to be our Messiah and the Son of God for us in our time. 

Our spiritual work this Holy Week is to prayerfully discern how He is still walking the Way for you, me and the World. How have my sins and selfishness (and yours) put Him on trial and crucified Him now? How do we reject the violence, grudge holding, hatred and selfishness that keeps us from a full relationship with Him? How do we accept the forgiveness, love, and new life that only He can give us? What is holding me back from being fully alive?

The events of Jesus' life, death and resurrection are current events. The more we let Him be our only Savior and God, the more precious and fruitful this life and His life becomes.

Have a Holy Week!

paz,
me 

Laetare = Rejoice!

This Fourth Sunday of Lent is also called Laetare or Rejoice Sunday.

Are we rejoicing because Lent is half way finished? Because, in a mere three weeks, I can eat chocolate again? Because, at Easter I can stop feeding my Rice Bowl for every word of foul language I use again? Because, why?

Both, today's sections of Paul's letter to the Ephesians and from the Gospel of John we have great reason to rejoice. Here is what they say:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10.)

"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." (John 3:16.)

On this weekend we are shown, in the words of Jesus and St. Paul, God's design for us and all of humanity. God's plan is that we all be saved from eternal death by the gift of His Son's life. The reason that Jesus was born, the reason that He lived, taught and healed, the reason that He endured death by the Cross, the reason He was resurrected was all for our benefit. He lived and He lives so that we may have abundant life now and eternally because of Him.

Lent is our time try to grasp how much God is offering us by our prayer, fasting and works of charity. In our prayerful relationship with God we become intimately aware how much God dearly loves us. By our fasting and denying ourselves stuff, we hopefully learn that only the stuff that God gives us is worth craving for (even White Castle!). It is also the only stuff that is worth living and dying for. Finally, we do deeds of generosity and service to imitate God's all-giving ways. We do none of these activities to EARN God's saving gifts. We do them to get in touch with how generous God must be to give to us so freely. By our mere knowing that we need them, God's gifts of Mercy, Love, and Abundant Eternal Life our ours. Our Lenten practices (and even our failure in our Lenten practices) help us to be aware of how much we need God for all things in life and for Life itself.

We can REJOICE (or LAETARE if you really need to be Latin) because our God loves us enough  to want for us a better life now and a completely blissful life in eternity. I encourage you to meditate or contemplate about what part of that gift from God are you missing from your life. Where is it that you need God's saving graces?

peace,
Fr. Chuck

PS. I have a favor to ask. I have some friends who lost their twenty-four year old son this past week. Please lift them up to God in prayer. Embrace them, their daughter and their son's fiance in God's tender love. I ask for your prayers as well for twenty-five of us who will be leaving UofL on Sunday morning for a week of mission to the Habitat for Humanity Camp in Birmingham, Alabama. Pray for those who are making this service mission and for those whom we'll meet and serve. Thanks! cdw

The Buyers and the Sellers....

I read something recently from a Rabbi who was commenting on sports in our culture. He started out by writing that when historians or sociologists look back at the the buildings that may remain from our era, the most impressive structures will be our sports arenas. The ruins of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome are either government buildings or temples to various gods or rulers whom they thought were gods. The middle ages had huge and glorious churches, basilicas, monasteries and temples like Chartres, St. Peter's and Hagia Sophia. We have Olympic stadiums, AT&T Stadium in Dallas, and our own Yum Center, Keeneland and (co)Rupp(t) Arena.

Sports have become like a religion to many in our time, both in good ways and bad. The good is that sports can teach some very important spiritual and religious values. Team work, how to win and lose gracefully and humbly, how to channel one's enthusiasm and talent toward a goal, the importance of practice and training, and how to treat with respect both those who are team mates and those who are opponents are just a few of some very good ideals that religious folks could learn from the sports world and vice versa. Where sports and athletics get a bad rap are the actions of some fanatics and some losing focus that at the end of the day "it's only a game". In both sports and religion we always are encouraged to remember why we do what we do. "What is the priority?", is the question that all players and prayers; coaches and priests; fans and faithful have to constantly answer.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus comes to the Temple this weekend to show folks that that the focus of their religion has changed in the person of HIM. He chases out money changers and turns over tables of coins and doves. Jesus gets angry (yes, it's okay to get angry, even in Church)! He yells at the folks, accusing them of turning God's house into a din of thieves. Then He tells them the new priority. "Destroy this Temple, and I will rebuild it in three days!" He claims. Few got it then. Maybe none got it then. Two thousand years of hindsight and interpretation have helped us see that Jesus was putting the Temple worshipers on notice. Jesus is the new focus for their (and our) faith and life. Doves, coins, sheep, and bulls have no comparison to the sacrifice of the Son of God of Himself. Nor do our sacrifices of time, talent and treasure. Prayers of praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and forgiveness have only one new direction because of Him. All of the Gospel writers, but especially John, show us that Jesus is the only Lord worth living for and praying to.

So, we need to ask ourselves what our priorities are. Do we give to get a tax right off? Do we use our time, talent and treasure like a vote? Am I more generous with my stuff when I like music, the homilies, the ministries, or if I'm getting some other benefit? If the answer is "Yes!" to any of these, then who are we trying to serve here? AND this goes beyond churchy stuff. Is Christ the focus of everything in our lives? Is He the reason we work, play, live and love? If the answer is "No!" then it's time to upset a few tables in our own temples.

Lent is the time to clean house and fall in love again with the HIM again.

Peace,
me