All Souls Day Mass / Road to Emmaus (2021-11-02)

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2021-11-02 _  All Souls Day  (Tuesday Nov. 2, 2021)

 [_01_]     It is unfortunately true that the realization that someone has died doesn't happen mentally or psychologically in one instant but rather is unfolded to us over time.

And, as we might give thanks many times over for a lifetime with a beloved person, we can also experience sorrow and pain, many times over for their passing and for their absence from us.

Sometimes this can even be humorous, there can even be some cause to you know, laugh at ourselves that this happened.

About 6 months or a half a year after my Uncle Joe died, my aunt went to a church social event. I myself was well aware – as were other family members – of my uncle’s death.  I was at his funeral.

          6 months or so later, there was my aunt trying to renew her normal activity socializing, though now on our own. The event turned out to be a moment to cry about with her but also to laugh. After a few hours at this social event, my aunt felt really sorrowful and sad. And then she went outside the front doors of the church hall.

And somebody saw that she was sad and was trying to find out what was the matter. And in her sadness, she tried to explain herself and said, “You know, I just lost my husband.” And the person said to my aunt, you mean in there, like just now you just lost him tonight in this building.

My aunt was so frustrated that she left immediately. We did laugh about this, about the fact that the person who encountered her didn't know what to say. My aunt was not angry, she just needed to get out of that situation and go home.

[_02_]     We've just read the gospel of the road to Emmaus about the disciples who are headed home, they want to get out of Jerusalem, and all they can focus on right now is the death and dying of Jesus. They are in the initial shock stages. If we go by those, you know, stages of grief, they would be in “DENIAL” right now.

What we read in the Gospel that very day, the first day of the week two of Jesus's disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred in Jerusalem.

 [_03_]    I'd like to reflect at this mass about what we can say about the disciples who are troubled. And the demonstration that Jesus makes of who he is

 And the dawning or beginning of faith for the disciples

 [_04_]    [disciples who are troubled  ]

There are 2 disciples in this passage, we read that they're conversing. They're debating in the course of a 7 mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus that would have taken them about 2 to 3 hours.

So they spent hours debating what has happened at the death of Jesus in their shock. They've spent several hours trying to get away from all that has occurred.

And isn't this sometimes what we do with a problem or with a crisis or sometimes even with the death of a loved one, we debate about what has occurred and then we try to get away? Maybe we walk several miles or actually or figuratively just we just try to get away from the situation.

In that encounter my aunt had with somebody was trying to console her she wouldn't shoot wanted to get away from somebody was trying to help her. The disciples have covered a significant distance. And it's of course significant that after all this walking and talking, they do welcome into their company, another a third traveler, this is Jesus, though they do not recognize him.

It says in the Gospels, Jesus Himself through near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

At times of difficulty or sorrow, our eyes will fail us, our own senses will fail us, our own hearing will fail us. Their eyes of the disciples failed when they didn't recognize Jesus, he was right up there close and personal.

[Rhetorical Questions]

Do I sometimes fail to recognize the help being offered me or God's helping offered me so because I don't have my own eyes to rely on, I may need to rely on the eyes of others?

This is why the grieving process is so healthy and good when it is includes a communal and collective aspect. Together. We need to help others to know what we is right in front of us.  

 [_05_]    [demonstration of who Jesus is  ]

Demonstration by accepting an invitation.

What we read is that the disciples on the road urge this unknown traveler to come in and stay with them. And isn't it a blessing to receive a visitor to talk to someone just a sympathetic person?  At a time of sorrow, we beg such people to stay with us. They light the way and the demonstration of Jesus.

And there's a demonstration of who Jesus is because he accepts their invitation. And Jesus does accept your invitation to come into your life and watch over you and your loved ones. This demonstrates who Jesus is. He wants to us to invite Him in. Jesus doesn't impose himself on us. And that table in Luke chapter 24

And at this table at the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Jesus demonstrates who he is by giving up his body and blood. It's ironic that Jesus displays who he is by disappearing, and by vanishing is this for our own good.

And this is the demonstration of who Jesus is.

And the dawning or beginning of faith for the disciples

Now in the beginning of the gospel, the 2 disciples are troubled because Jesus has died and gone away, and they don't know what they are assuming he's simply dead and never coming back.

Now they are rejoicing, yet Jesus has still gone away, he vanishes from their sight, but they're not troubled this time. Because they trust that they are going to follow him into eternal life. They start to understand the gospel, they are rejoicing that he has risen, even though he is not visible to them.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, asks this question, what is eternal life?  (Reference: Spe Salvi, “Saved In Hope” n. 10)

What is eternity? And do we   really want that? Perhaps people reject the faith, he writes, people perhaps reject Christian faith, because they don't really feel the prospect of eternal life is all that attractive,  or what they understand of eternal life, because what they desire and admit, sometimes this is what I desire to, I don't really want eternal life, I want this present life to continue right now. Or in an even more extreme example, I want to go back in the past and limit some previous ideal age,

pick, take your pick 19 years old, 56 years old, 26 years old…, whatever that ideal age is, we may want to go back to where to that place, but on All Souls Day, and really every day, we remember that we cannot eliminate or postpone death indefinitely.

Not only would this place the earth in a precarious position, but it's really by accepting death, that we become a new person, that we accept that we are truly free of this world. In the Beatitudes, we read, Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted. We don't want to simply want to avoid mourning. But we also need help in order to process our own dying experience. Pope Benedict writes that our lives are enriched by the understanding that we are moving towards death

in some way, but we're also moving towards new life. And so the fact that we're going to die isn't simply a blind fate or a random act in the future.

But it's a training in true freedom, a recognition that we're not in charge and that we become a new person, we become a new person, by dying with Christ and rising to new life. And in this regard, we we pray that for all of our loved ones, we pray that we will join them in eternal life as well.

[END]

Love. Declaration. Vocation. Equation (2021-10-31, Sunday - 31)

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Homily –  Oct. 31, 2021  /  31^st Sunday (Year B)

● Deuteronomy 6:2-6   ●   Psalm 18 ●  Hebrews 7:23-28 ●  + Mark 12:28b-34 ●

Title: Love. Declaration. Vocation. Equation

[__00-a_]        One unusual feature of this Gospel of Mark conversation is that Jesus and the scribe are so “simpático” or friendly to each other.

          Usually, a scribe and Jesus are antipático or unfriendly, texting back and forth their critiques.  Here, they are in perfect agreement.

[__00-b_]   The bottom line here, friends, also is that love of neighbor and love of God are necessary partners. They are compatible. Each necessitates the other.  It even asks us to make sacrifices  and not just to be friendly with those who are usually friendly with us.  Jesus gives us an example of sacrificial love, summarized as:

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)

This is what Jesus wants to show the scribe and you and me. In this Gospel passage, we're told about 3 dimensions or demonstrations of love – love of God, love of neighbor, and love of oneself.

It may be helpful to see the three as connected in a way that [ELECTRICITY]  or [power charge] is connected to multiple dimensions of your house or devices in your house all at once.

The [E] runs around to all of the devices. And, when your phone is fully charged, you can do lots of things. The [E] or electricity or [charge] is the love.

I'd like to touch on this in terms of the [declaration] of love, the [vocation] of love and the [equation] of love.

 

 

 

[__01_]   [declaration] of love.

God is love.  That’s the declaration. The theologian Josef Pieper who was very influential on Pope John Paul 2^nd wrote this about love:

“to love another person means that we  state / DECLARE   “‘it is good that you exist, it is good that you are in this world“ (Josef Pieper, Faith Hope Love, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997, pp. 163-164).

In other words, “I love you simply because you are, because exist.” Is this not the love of parents for children even before they're born? I love you simply because you are. And, when the child is small and can neither walk nor talk. The parent loves the child for his existence.

And by the way, the opposite is true. When you and I fall into the temptation of despising somebody else, really not liking somebody else being anxious about somebody else. What do we declare? “I wish the person didn't exist”.  Yes, this is pretty harsh, but have I harbored this thought or been tempted by this thought at times?   Yes. have you?

To love God is to acknowledge his existence, to declare his existence.

Do I thank God for God's existence? For his mercy? Do I acknowledge his existence? That means we love Go.

The first step in loving a person is to acknowledge or to affirm the other. And the same is true when loving God to acknowledge God and as we read in the Gospel:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”  (Mark 12:__)

That's the declaration of love. God’s word is the declaration of love.

[__02_]   [vocation] of love.

What is your vocation or your calling? Often we think of vocation or calling as something very explicit or formal like being married, being a mother being a father, being a religious sister, a nun, being a priest, these are vocations.

But we also have a vocation, a calling, to practice love and charity, “Love thy neighbor”.

And sometimes love is going to ask me to do things that I may not want to do.  Think about the electricity or what you and I are plugged into.

Just because something is plugged in and fully charged, do I have to make use of it? Could I ignore it ?

Love is a vocation and draws us out of ourselves, sometimes to where we do not want to go or we do not think it is possible to go..

   Peter Kreeft, Boston College Philosophy professor, makes this observation, asks this question:

  But how can we love someone if we don't like him (her)?

And he says this there, it's, it's possible to love somebody, even if you don't like him or like her. Because there's somebody that you love right now, who you may not like, or maybe didn't like that person yesterday, or the day before. And that person is you. Or me.

We don't always have tender, sweet, comfortable feelings about ourselves; sometimes we feel foolish, or wicked. But we love ourselves: we seek our own good. Indeed, the only reason why we feel dislike toward ourselves and berate ourselves is precisely because we do love ourselves! We care about our good, so we are impatient with our bad.

And it is important that we also engender this in young people who might despair about their lives or about their existence, or even tempted to anxiety, depression, suicide, because they have experienced “dislike” or displeasure from others.

You can be loved even if you are not liked !   And, your your existence matters. It is good that you exist. Your existence matters to God matters to you, it matters to other people by whom you are loved.

Just because someone has expressed “dislike” it does not mean there is no “love”.

So, we talked about the DECLARATION of love (in God) and the VOCATION to love our neighbor and ourselves.

Now, the EQUATION of love and the EQUATION of love in the Gospel.

 

[__03_]   [equation] of love.

I call this the equation of love because Jesus made himself equal to you and me.  The Incarnation is about an “equation” of his existence in a perfect unity of one person who is fully divine and fully human.

But, the Son of God also made himself equal to every child, every every woman and every man, by becoming the incarnate Son of God.

This equation was demonstrated by his sacrifice and our salvation.  Paul wrote of this as Christ who is perfectly “godly” or divine makes himself equal to you and me who are sinful and not yet “godly”.

We need the electricity of his mercy, love, grace.

“For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.  Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:6-8)

God loved us so much that even when we were sinners, Jesus died for us.   Jesus made himself like a sinner, even though Jesus didn't have any sin.  Loving us, he became our equal.

This equation is Christ’s declaration of love for you.

And isn't this the beauty of giving and receiving love that we experience the equation or equality of of love. Think about someone who really loved you or does love you. Maybe this person is a teacher, a coach, parent, grandparent, someone who was “above” you but loved you as an equal.

Thus, your existence was important and affirmed.  This is the calling of parents for their their children. Parents treat their children as equals. It doesn't mean that the child is identical to the parent or the same as the parent but equal in value.

[__04_]   [conclusion]

In this Gospel passage, we see a relationship developing between a scribe and Christ Himself. This is notable because the average scribe represents the "few" among his leadership / group who did accepted Jesus . So, this “view of the few” - of the 1 scribe - shows “what might have been” – for the “many” other scribes.

It also shows what is still possible for you and me, to be his disciples. We do not have to worry about "what might have been"

God DECLARED and made us in His love, different and diverse, but we're called to be loved and forgiven for who we are even loved by Christ when we have sinned against him

In this regard, you (I) have a VOCATION to love others who are sinning against and trespassing against us.. How can I love somebody who's sinning against me? Because I know that Jesus loved me. Do I always carry it out? No.

To carry this out, I have to keep the electricity charged.  I have to pray for this strength and grace. I have to keep myself plugged into God's love as the origin of love and to remember that our destination is heaven where God is love.  [__fin_]  

Bartimaeus. Crossing Over (2021-10-24, 30th Sunday)

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Homily: Oct.  24, 2021  /  30^th Sunday (Year B)

● Jeremiah 31:7-9  ●   Psalm 126 ●  Hebrews 5:1-6 ●  + Mark 10:46-52 ●

Title:  . Crossing Over

[__00_]   Many years ago, I encountered a blind person at a crosswalk, at the street corner.  I’d like to talk about this encounter, just as an example related to Bartimaeus (the blind man who cannot physically see with his eyes and the Gospel) and the

[ (1^st ) CROSSWALK, the

(2^nd ) CROSSROADS, and the

(3^rd ) CROSS + Christ. ]

[__01_]   [ 1^st . CROSSWALK]

          It was about 7:30 am, it was morning rush hour, in the city, outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

A blind gentleman walked up to me and asked if I would accompany him across the street, in the crosswalk =  the specially paved or marked path for pedestrians crossing a street or road.

This entire task of walking him across the street happened pretty fast and was completed in a lapse of time shorter than it's taking me to tell you this right now.

And, I was apprehensive, nervous. After all, this blind gentleman had been doing fine without me all along. I might mess this up.

          I do recall that my inclination was to talk with him…that I must fill in this moment and create conversation.  By the way - a note to myself --- don’t fill in every moment needs to be filled in with my conversation, with words, James Ferry! That’s true in praying as well…sometimes, it’s OK just to be there and be present and not say anything out loud.

Upon exiting the crosswalk and re-entering the sidewalk, he detached himself from my elbow from my arm, and resumed walking with his cane, and made his way confidently up uptown on 8^th Avenue.

Is there, right now, a difficult task or transition for you to complete or comprehend? Or for you to commence or begin to get started on?

There are things I can think of…”Oh, I don’t even want to start that… or I don’t even want to think about that yet.”

I need help to get started. I need the guidance of friends, neighbors, co-workers, neighbors just to get started.

          But, we are also called not only to seek out personal help from others but the spiritual help of God in our prayer and meditations.

          By the way, that incident with the blind man reminded me at the time that a friend of mine had a similar encounter in which a blind person also asked me friend for guidance across the street. And, the fact that someone had done this before was a help to me.

          But the real example for us is Christ, God’s word and God’s illumination in our blindness.

As we read in the 119^th psalm:

“Your word is be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105)

          That’s the “crosswalk”. Then, there is the “crossroads”

[__02_]   [2^nd The Crossroads]

Practically, this NYC gentleman – blind - needed assistance from someone -- it just happened to be me -- to enter the crosswalk, where there would be traffic and cars and more danger.

But, are we not all – at time – at crossroads and at intersections?

Bartimaeus was at a crossroads – a time of transition – in that he threw aside his cloak (his outer layer of clothing) to go and meet Christ.

There is also a crossroads between Jerusalem and Jericho which I would like to discuss in a moment.

But, Bartimaeus is at a crossroads in his life. He throws aside what is material, he throws off his cloak, in order to get closer to Christ. He does not much in the way of possessions. And, he is blind.

Am I willing – are you willing – to put aside material things in order to draw closer to Christ? What is getting in the way that I could put aside? Or, what material things might be blocking me in my responsibilities of love towards others?

One thing that Bartimaeus puts aside is “rejection”.  Bartimaeus – at least at first – is rejected by the crowd. But he puts that aside as well. Am I willing – are you willing – to put aside experiences of rejection to draw closer to God?  Experiences of rejection can keep us on the sideline or the side of the road.

It’s a paradox in this Gospel that Jesus is recognized as the Messiah – picked out of a line-up - by someone entirely NEW and entirely BLIND. That’s Bartimaeus.

Meanwhile, his disciples, up close and personal, are not so sure.

Are you sure that Jesus is your Lord and Savior? Am I sure? Do I live and act with this certainty, with the enthusiasm of Bartimaeus at a very public intersection, a public crossroads, and in front of a crowd?

That’s the crossroads for Bartimaeus. Now I’d like to talk about the crossroads of Jericho and Jerusalem. Bartimaeus is outside Jericho.

[__02-b_]    [2^nd The Crossroads + Jericho, Geographically]

          It so happens that Bartimaeus is outside the city of Jericho. There is something that we can is significant about Jericho in both its ‘NEARNESS / PROXIMITY to Jerusalem’  and in terms of “DISTANCE from Jerusalem”

          Also, nearness to Jesus.

          [1^st. Nearness]. Jericho is 15 miles from Jerusalem and the last stop of Jesus’ caravan (there are many people near Jesus) before entering Jerusalem, for his suffering, death and resurrection. The crowd surrounding Jesus is not a group of local by-standers, but rather the caravan of disciples, at least some of whom want to keep this show on the road, get to Jerusalem.

          They have heard there is glory in Jerusalem, but they do not know fully know what that means yet. They

– at least at first – want to avoid the poor Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus was an unexpected newly recruited disciple.

          Am I willing to be recruited, to be near Jesus? How do I feel about being recruited, if I am also being asked to experience some suffering, to go along on the way of the Cross?

          Am I willing to recruit others, for service of the Gospel? To invite, for example, someone to come to church, or to know about Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, we are also ONLINE (virtually, YouTube channel) for those who cannot be here!  Or, for those of you who are visiting, to do this for your own parish.

          We hope and pray for those who are not with us physically. We are all called and recruited together.

          But, this is not only about church attendance. Am I willing to recruit others, to help others, not because I exist to share my wisdom, but to share God’s Wisdom?

          This recruitment is not about getting people to have more people in your inner circle or my inner circle…but so that everyone will recognize Christ as our true friend in the interior life.

          In this Gospel episode, Bartimaeus is near to Jesus and in the spotlight, Bartimaeus he is asked, “what do you want me to do for you?”

          This was the exact same question asked by Christ to James and John who ask for “seats at Jesus’ right and left in his kingdom”.  James and John want to be near to Jesus so as to avoid difficulty.

          Bartimaeus’ response is: “I want to see”

          James and John want (desire) what no one else has or is supposed to have and, thus, avoid suffering.

          Bartimaeus is satisfied, grateful, just to be on a level playing field, to have what everyone else has and to give SIGHT this back to God.

Am I happy to have what God has already given me?  Or do I want more than my fair share. Sometimes, I want more than my fair share of the good stuff and less than my fair share of the tough stuff!

Am I happy with gifts similar to what everyone else has?

          Am I happy just to be near Jesus, to be near him in Jericho, to be near Jerusalem and on the way of the cross?

          The nearness of Jericho and Jesus is important.

[2^nd Distance] The distance of Jericho from Jersualem is significant. Jericho is below Jerusalem in altitude, elevation. Jericho is below West Orange in altitude, elevation. Jericho is below everywhere in altitude, elevation!

          Jericho is not the lowest point on earth, but it is the lowest elevation of any inhabited city.  At 800 feet below sea level, Jericho is the lowest inhabited city in the world, that was true in JC’s day and is true today.

          Jerusalem, OTOH, is 2,000 + feet above sea level.

          So, it is a strenuous, steep, treacherous climb, 1,000 meters or 3,000 feet to go up to Jerusalem.

          Bartimeaus is up for the climb. Jesus is up for the climb and goes ahead of us to help us to go the distance and gain eternal life!

          Are you up for it? Am I up for it?

 [__03_]    The blind man of New York City and Bartimaeus are similar to me in this way. They both knew someone else would be their guide to get them to the other side. But for Bartimaeus and for you and for me, this guide in person is not a human being not some random guy on the street like me.

The guide to get us to the other to get to the other side is Jesus Christ who helps us to focus our attention on new life, to make our way to the cross to Jerusalem. Jericho is Jesus's last stop before entering Jerusalem. He's going to Jerusalem to help us to cross to the other side, by giving his life first. Our journey begins now. [__fin_]  

Revival. Survival. Service (2021-10-17, Sunday - 29)

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Homily – Oct.  17, 2021  /  29^th Sunday (Year B)

● Isaiah 53:10-11 ●   Psalm 33 ●  Hebrews 4:14-16 ●  + Mark 10:35-45 ●

Title:  . Revival. Survival. Service.

[__01_]   At Los Angeles Int’l Airport – at LAX –  one day – a few years ago, my sister was returning back home, back east, to the east coast, and she bumped into, saw, someone she knew. And, it’s always great to bump into someone you know far from home, and someone you like.

          This person had no idea who my sister was, but my sister knew him.

          This was Steve Carrell, TV and movie star, Steve Carrell from the TV show, The Office as the fictional “Michael Scott” the outrageous boss.

He was in the LAX terminal and would soon be on the plane with them.   Telling us the story, we were recounting all the coincidences:

1.      Steve C.  went to L.A. (my sister went to L.A.)

2.      Steve C is from the state of MA (my sister is from the state of MA where she now lives).

3.     On the airplane LAX to Boston, Steve C was sitting in 1^st Class (NO MORE COINCIDENCE – my sister and family were not sitting in 1^st Class)

[__02_]  My sister and family didn't expect to be in 1^st class. They didn't expect to be in first class just because they recognized a TV / movie star – Steve Carrell. However, that that would have been nice.   For example, imagine this lottery-prize: “whoever is the first person to recognize Steve Carrell gets to sit in 1^st Class and near him….”

[__03_]  That is similar to the way James and John seem to be thinking.

Why do James and john think that they should be in 1^st class seats in the Christ’s Kingdom?  James and John say this:

 “Lord, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you… grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” (Mark 10:35, 37)

Why do J+J expect this? They expect this because they have had  exceptional access to Jesus. Together with Peter, they have been the inner circle or principal witnesses to certain miracles and Peter-James-John were the only 3 disciples on the mountain of the Transfiguration. They went  up, but not in a plane, and observed Jesus’ glory at the high altitude

J+J expect this access to continue.

Christ, however, speaks to them and to us about 3 phases of their journey to the kingdom. J+J seem not interested in “phases” or waiting.. they are anxious passengers who have run up to the front of the line (queue).

J+J treat Christ not as the Lamb of God and servant of all …but as a celebrity or politician who's going to win everybody over with a smile or a look or a YouTube video, is going to make everything OK. Thus, they do not expect to serve but simply to stand at the gate and wait for priority boarding into their 1^st class seats.

[__04_]  The journey – according the Gospel and to Christ – is something else and involves:

[ 1^st. BAPTISM / our “REVIVAL”

2^nd.  CUP / our  “SURVIVAL”

3^rd.  CROSS / our “SERVICE” ]

 

[__05-01_]  [ 1^st. BAPTISM / our “REVIVAL”]

          Baptism. Revival. Birth

It's ironic that the most important physical event that happened to you, you have no recollection of it.

That is the day or moment you were born, or came into this world.

Also, the moment of our birth and before that being conceived as a new life – is not just a stage of development of new life, but “new” and “binary” from  ZERO to ONE. CREATION from nothingness to something.

Every other “life experience” is a development from something else, such as learning to walk is a development from mobility and balancing. Learning to talk is a progression from hearing and listening.   Learning to talk and walk does not come from nothingness but from something.

But life comes from nothingness.

          And, while our parents gave us life by procreation, before them, were nothing. God creates life out of nothingness. And, with God we are something. With God – who is love – we are truly a child and beloved child.

To be born reminds us that you are one who has never existed before and will never exist again.  For this reason, we mourn very deeply when someone dies. We know that the person will never exist again.

Your baptism is also a moment of birth of being born again. Baptism is our REVIVAL. You are a disciple who will never exist again, you have gifts that no one else has.

What is your understanding of your baptism as  REVIVAL?  It's true that our prayers and celebration of baptism, especially baptism, infants, encompasses so many of our hopes and dreams:  we pray for strength, for health, for prosperity on the day of baptism and afterwards.

Yet baptism is not simply a continuation of life as we know it, but a separation from life as we knew it.  It is about something new.

It is REVIVAL and forgiveness of original sin of personal sin. And remember that Jesus has power over sin and death, over sinfulness and over dying.

In our Catholic tradition of confession, penance, reconciliation, to be forgiven is also to be given a new birth, a new lease on life.  This is REVIVAL.

Mercy brings revival.

And, sin and evil – whether vanity, greed, lustfulness, dishonesty – have a way of drawing us in, being attractive – but after we are done with it, we may feel that we are NOTHING, that we are a ZERO again.

But, it is God’s mercy that pulls us out of nothingness and revives us.

Mercy brings revival.

 

We are also called to instruments of God’s mercy. We cannot do this alone.

When you forgive someone from your heart, someone who has hurt you, you participate – with God’s grace – in this revival.

When someone forgives you for your action – even a willful intentional action – this person helps to participate in a revival for you.

God’s mercy is our REVIVAL.      Baptism is our REVIVAL.

[__05-02_]  [ 2^nd.  CUP / our  “SURVIVAL”]

The cup as our SURVIVAL.

Jesus says to James and John, “can you drink the cup?”

Their response, “Sure, we can drink the cup” as though they are being served something in 1^st Class – champagne, Cabernet Sauvignon, mineral water….

.

Jesus is communicating to James and john that what is being poured into their cops is not fine wine or spring water, but a cup of suffering, similar to the Garden of Gethsemane. Recently, I learned that Gethsemane  means the place where the olives are “pressed” or “crushed” and thus remade. It is an olive press.

Christ is crushed in Gethsemane. And, Christ expresses it this way:  “Father take this cup from me but not my will but thine be done.”

Jesus’ suffering is our SURIVAL.

And, the fact we know we can suffer for Christ and with Christ is also our survival. We are not alone in suffering.

Also, a great service to our children by showing them that we – as grown-up’s – do not avoid all inconveniences. Suffering teaches us something about survival.

 

So we talked about BAPTISM and our REVIVAL, about SUFFERING and SURVIVAL.

Why did Jesus revive us with baptism? Why does Jesus help us to survive with the his death and resurrection?

It is not simply to give us seats in 1^st Class, but to make us his servants.

[__05-03_]   [3^rd.  CROSS / our “SERVICE” ]

When I was in college, I applied for a summer job to wait tables at a fairly expensive restaurant near where I lived. I had never been to this restaurant as a customer. And, given that it was expensive, I thought the tips would be good.

When I met the owner, I recall him telling me that he before he ever worked where the people were eating or went into the kitchen, he was made to polish the silverware for 6 months.  

I was like, “so ..are you giving me the job or not…I was confused by that.”

His “silverware” task seemed an exaggeration. But, I never forgot it. Also, I learned at that restaurant that there was a clear differnce between the real table “waiter” in charge and the person busing tables.  There is nothng wrong with busing the tables.

I was not the waiter. I was just busing tables, bring plates back and forth. I had not then  - and would never during my summer time there – rise to the level of being a real waiter.

It was a sign of experience and competence to be a waiter at this restaurant. I simply did not have that yet.

[__06_]   Jesus is asking us to be his servants. He is not handing out seats in first class like complimentary chocolate or mints on the pillow. That’s too bad (some days!) because way, I really like complimentary chocolate and mints on the pillow. So I will admit that I can sometimes lose focus on Christ’s mission for me., when I am called to suffer and sacrifice.

As Jesus himself said in the Gospel today: “the Son of Many came not to served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:___)

Do you and I want security and stability?  Of course, we want security stability. Maybe we even want 1^st class seats. These are good things. They're not bad.  But, Jesus is asking us not to put those things ahead of him.

When you allow yourself to be least or to be last for the good of a child, you are taking a seat of honor.

It is a seat of honor to care for someone who is will, to be at someone’s bedside, this is a seat of honor. When you are speaking the truth in love to someone who cannot yet hear it, and perhaps also rejects you for speaking the truth, that is a seat of honor.

We are not waiting at the gate for seats in 1^st Class, we are waiting to go unto eternal life. And, that’s not bad … for a servant.

And, it’s not a coincidence. It is Christ’s plan for us.  [__fin_]