Friend in High Places (2024-05-12, Ascension / Mother's Day)

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 [ver_04 ]    Homily, Ascension & Mother’s Day , 2024-05-12 (year B)  ●●Acts 1:1-11 ● ●Psalm 47 ● ●Ephesians 4:1-13 or Ephesians 1:17-23 ● ●+Mark 16:15-20 ● ●

[__01__]  On this celebration of the Ascension of our Lord  and of Mother’s Day, I’d like to touch on having friends from whom we receive guidance and the intercession of those who advocate for us in our times of need.

          The Ascension of our Lord and Savior is an event to be commemorated with joy and thanksgiving because, as Saint Paul reported, Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God and makes intercession for us. As we pray in the Creed: “and his kingdom will have no end” (John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, “The Ascension of our Lord”)

          Jesus who intercedes for us before our God and Father is our friend in the highest place. But Jesus’ Ascension to the highest place took place after he had actually condescended to be a divine person with a human nature on earth, vulnerable even unto death.

          Jesus is the ultimate biblical example of the last becoming first. Or, to use a very “slang contemporary” phrase – in the 43 days between Good Friday and Ascension, our Savior goes from “worst to first”.

          Cannot an intercessor be a friend or the bridge over troubled water?

         

[__02__]   In my case, the “troubled water” was not a journey over a river, a but journey out of an airport that was not going well.

          A few months ago, I experienced trouble at the security check point at Newark airport.

          I was and accompanying my parents on a flight to Florida.

          At the official security checkpoint – “TSA” – the guard told us that one of us in  our group - my mother’s name - did not match up correctly in the system.

          Mom, why are you on the FBI no-fly list?

          This was not the case. It was just a bureaucratic error, but it was

distressing because I feared I would either have to call the airline on the phone or stand in a very long line to get this resolved.

Fortunately, we were quickly assisted by an airport hospitality representative who knew exactly what to do. She interceded and took us directly to the United Airlines desk and she went straight to the front of a queue / line of 20+ customers already waiting. And, she talked to the United desk person on our behalf. At least one the 20+ waiting people was displeased. I would have been too!

          Within 2 minutes, the ticket, name, date of birth, everything was straightened out and we resumed our journey. It’s good to have friends who can intercede to get you over the troubled water.

          In biblical history, the people of God were blessed by prophets and intercessors – famously, for example, Moses by whom the waters of the Red Sea were parted in the desert.

          Moses also enable the people to get where they wanted to go.

 

[__03__]  This “interceding” and intercession by a Newark Airport representative gave us what we wanted and needed.

          Is this the only type of intercession or reason to pray before God, to get what we want?

          In our airport example, I knew not what the solution was, only that there was trouble.

          In some situations, we pray to our Savior not only for a solution but also for the virtue to withstand the waiting.

          If we are scared, to pray for courage … if we are uncertain, to pray for wisdom … if we are angry, to pray to be merciful.

          Jesus Himself urges us to become intercessors by, for example, “loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you.”

 

[__04__]   It is also Mother’s day, a day for mothers and children to rejoice in each other.

          We did not choose our mothers and our mothers gave us life in accord with God’s blessing and calling not necessarily in accord with their own selections.

          Did your mother ever give you something you did not really want or expect?

          Or guide you in a direction you did not want to hear.

          Just one example – my mother years ago once overheard me leaving a voice mail – phone message – for someone in a manner in which I thought I was being professional and efficient.

          Not so fast, hombre, my mother said. Slow down.

          My mother has advised me in this and other ways to allow things to unfold or as she would day, make your plans, do not plan your results.

          I often did not want to hear this.

          I’m still trying to slow down.

          When you and I ask for intercession or guidance, we are not simply trying to get what we want to get what God wants for us.

          “Thy kingdom come thy will be done.”

 

[__05__]   Interceding and inntercessory prayer is something we are also called to do for others. We can do this by praying the Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the Our Father or Hail Mary, to pray for example, for

·       Government leaders

·       Priest and missionaries and religious sisters and brothers.

·       Pope Francis

·       The poor and the homeless and hungry

·       Your family and friends.

·       To pray for those who have no one to pray for them.

 

It is also our calling to put the money of our prayer where our mouth is… meaning to connect our prayer to some self-sacrifice or fasting or abstinence.

This fasting is not just for the 40 days of Lent but for anytime we are serious about interceding, we can give “hand over” something good so as to acknowledge our need for something truly of God. What is the good we can give up…

     Maybe the good we hand over 30 minutes or longer of sleep to wake up earlier to pray.

     A dessert or snack or coffee

     Entertainment or media.

Giving up these things and praying for these things is HOW we do it and we become more aware of our need for God’s strength and guidance and his guidance for our loved ones, for those who are with us in church, to pray also for those who do not come to church.

          That’s how we do it… by praying, fasting, petitioning for others.

          But why do we do it? We do so because Jesus gave us the example of this sacrifice, first, and interceding for us before God as he prayed for his disciples and still prays for us.

 

 [__06__]   May we recall that we are all made in God’s image and able to call on his mercy through Jesus Christ his son our Lord, our friend in the high place:   For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

Small Groups of Friends (2024-05-05, 6th Sunday Easter)

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Homily, 6^th Sunday Easter, 2024-05-05 (year B)

●●Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 ● ●Psalm ● ●1 John 4:7-10 ● ●+John 15:9-17 ● ●

 [_01__]    It might have been expected, it might have been expected from our Savior's return after Easter, and on the days thereafter that he would have shown himself to great numbers of people, great crowds of people all at once.

(John Henry Newman, “Witnesses of the Resurrection”, Parochial and Plain Sermons Book I, Sermon 22,  p. 181)

This statement about how we might how Jesus Christ might get maximum publicity is from a sermon called “witnesses to the resurrection” by John Henry Newman. And Newman continues, why did not Jesus show himself to all the people? Why did he only choose numbers of person to give testimony, to be his witnesses? [not to “businesses”… witnesses].

He says, because this is the most effective means of publicity. To start with small groups,

          Jesus invites you and me to follow him and we are still today the witnesses to His resurrection. He still appears to us, speaks to us, not via a computer screen, but via our consciences. We are called to prayer and listening and coming to church on Sundays in order to practice our faith and follow Him and to keep going.

          Do you ever think that your prayer and fasting and coming to church and your moral and religious choices do not matter don't matter to very many people,? Sometimes, I am tempted by this thought.

I need reminders that my faith and my witness matters. And you also need these reminders. I'm not saying I'm going to give you the reminder, I'm saying the reminders come in our own lives by our own experience. And I'd like to share with you my own experience. Some from long ago, one very recently.  

[__02__]  in the beginning,    

Long before it was ordained a priest, I was a college student. And we had the opportunity to go to Catholic mass in our college chapel on a Saturday afternoon. One of my classmates, Victor, would usually go to church as well. He is one of my closest and oldest friends.

          During the time we were together, I also met his father and family many times and his father became a friend and father figure to me.

          So, we had a nice connection, but we were not completely in synch time-wise. Victor was so intensely focused on his studies scientific studies, pre med studies. He is a physician, a doctor now. He actually asked me to come get him so that he would take a break and go to the chapel. He said I won't remember to take a break and go. Please come and get me.

          It was an example that my practice of the Catholic faith mattered to a friend.  Faith and testimony starts in small groups.

 

[_03__] A few years after college, and again, well, before I was ordained a priest, I heard the tragic news that Victor’s father had a terrible fall and was paralyzed. Though they did not live in NJ, the accident happened in NJ and Victor’s father ended up at Kessler Rehabilitation hospital in West Orange for some time.

          If I experienced – and I did experience – any inspiration to visit him -- I pushed it away. I did not want to see his father suffering. I was being very immature and selfish. Yet, I also imagined that he would have been glad to see me. I regret never visiting him. He died a few years later.

          But in a positive way, the regret became part of my own meditations, conversion and consideration of the priesthood and my understanding how important it is to live Jesus’ words: “I was sick and you visited me”. Compassion also starts in small groups and one-on-one!

          So, now I am not perfect, but I understand better.  And, God – having a sense of humor – has assigned me to Our Lady of Lourdes parish near Kessler Rehabilitation - in West Orange, twice !

 

[_04__]       These days, it is common for priests of this area to visit, bring Holy Communion, pray and anoint a person who might be staying and recovering at Kessler in West Orange. I have done this many times.

 

[_05__]       This past Friday, around 4:30 in the afternoon, I visited a man at Kessler in West Orange, to pray with him and bring him Holy Communion.

          As I made my way there, I felt a bit unprepared because I was running out of time and feared I might not have enough time or might not be able to see him at all.

          Fortunately, it all worked out. The timing was actually perfect and I am so glad I met him.

          More often than not, do we not need the Holy Spirit to set the agenda and timeline?

          This past Friday, this man was a witness to me of faith and perseverance.

I walked into his hospital room and he was immediately joyful and articulate, thankful I was there. And he told me about his ongoing extended recovery and life. He has been at Kessler repeatedly over the years. Over the past 20 years. 20 years ago, he barely survived a serious accident, which leaves him with headaches, great difficulty walking, memory loss.

He has a traumatic brain injury. He brought me joy due to his perspective, in great difficulty. He told me how he volunteers to help others with severe head and brain injuries. He was the victim of a collision with a dangerous car and driver while crossing the street as a pedestrian. The accident was not his fault. It should never have happened. He did not dwell on that fact. I asked him if anyone else was hurt or injured in the accident. He told me, “No, no one else was hurt. Because I pushed my wife and my kids out of the way.”  That's joy, amid suffering.

 

[__06__]  We receive we receive Communion at this mass and forgiveness through Jesus Christ because He laid down His life for us. And laid down for you his life for you, Camila, on your 1^st Holy Communion day and for each of us at our next Holy Communion and at every holy communion. And we pray that he will lay down his life at our final Holy Communion that we will be united with Him forever in Heaven in friendship.

          Jesus gives us his life to call and pull us out of the way of evil, sin, and death.

 

[__07__]  To whom does the practice of your faith and my faith matter?

          We might find it only matters to one person or to one person at a time.

          That’s enough of a headcount!

          It matters that you, Camila, and your family practice your faith and that your classmates who will receive Holy Communion next week practice your faith, that you come to church on Sundays.

          You are personal witness to Jesus Christ’s Resurrection so that the Good News can go out to your family, friends, classmates, teammates, neighborhood, front yard and back yard.

          This brings glory to God.

And this brings us into connection and friendship with our Savior and brother who said,

”I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is. I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my father. It was not you who chose me but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you this I command you love one another” (John 15:15-17)  [__end__]