Apocalypse Now

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

DN 12:1-3

Heb 10:11-14, 18

Mk 13:24-32

We are nearing the end of the liturgical year, and so our readings take a turn to the future. At the end, we focus on the end. Jesus spoke so many times of the end times, of the second coming of the Son of Man. And to the Jews of the first century, this made perfect sense, because they were people looking for deliverance. They were actively searching for a messiah, someone who would deliver them from Roman oppression. One reason the disciples believed Jesus to be the promised messiah was his constant references to and predictions of the coming judgement. And that judgement was not one of punishment but of restoring justice to the world. The judgement of the Son of Man was the restoration of what once was, of setting things right.

Books like the Prophet Daniel and Revelation were written during times of great persecution and distress. They use very symbolic language not necessarily to explain what was happening to the people at that time but to give them hope. Their distress was being caused by powerful political forces, by the superpowers of their time. What the authors of these books were trying to convey was the fact that no matter how mighty earthly powers may be, God is more powerful. No matter how much the rulers of this world think they are in control, God is actually the one calling the shots.

Take the first reading for today, from the Book of Daniel. We heard about a time unsurpassed in distress. We heard that Michael, our prince, the great archangel, joins us in the battle against evil. The name Michael comes from three short Hebrew words: Mi-Ka-El: Who Like God?  The ancient kings who ruled when Daniel was written were considered to be gods. So the prophet’s response is Mi-Ka-El? Who is like God? The answer, of course, is no one. God is the Source who has no source. He is the Light all light comes from. He is the one in charge.

The reading speaks about the end of time and the final judgement of the world. We heard that those whose names are written in God's book will escape the destruction coming upon mankind. We learned that the wise shall shine brightly and those who lead many to justice will be like the stars forever.

Those who lead many to justice will shine like the stars forever. This is where the readings about the end of time become less about something we hope will be in the far future and more about the way that we are living our faith now. We need to lead the many to justice. Biblical justice is more than fair treatment in a courtroom. In the bible, justice means living so united to God that our decisions reflect his presence.

We are called to lead others to justice. We are called to help them see his presence in our actions, our care for the poor, the struggling, the sick, and all who are dependent on our compassion. Pope St. Paul VI, proclaimed, "If you want peace, work for justice." This message has animated many areas of the Catholic Church, particularly the Catholic Campaign for Human Development here in the United States. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Relief Services, the Diocesan Development Drive, missions in Haiti, Africa and throughout the world, the Peace Corps, Doctors Without Borders, and so many other charitable organizations are examples of the wise shining brightly. These organizations of charity exist because there are people of faith in the world, people whose faith is so strong that no matter what horrors have been or are being thrust upon the world, they firmly believe that God will win the final battle against evil. 

Pope Benedict said, "the question of justice constitutes the essential argument - or in any case the strongest argument - in favor of faith in eternal life." True justice may be rare in this life, but eternal life is justice itself. Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. In today's Gospel we see that after judgment Jesus will gather his elect. If we begin with that end in mind, then wouldn’t we want to know how we become part of the elect? That's the big question. In some ways, the only question. We should want to live as children of the light. Turn to God and renounce those things people do under the cover of darkness. We all bear a burden of shame. Don't run from it; take it to Jesus. Turn to him. As we hear in the second reading, he has offered one sacrifice for sin. In Jesus we can make a new beginning.

The disciples were very concerned about the end times. Mark’s gospel was the first written and that generation took Jesus at his word that he would return before some of them had even died. When the apostles started dying off they had to re-think Jesus’ words to see how they applied to them in particular.

Of course, two thousand years on, the people of today don't think like those early disciples. We tend to have the opposite problem; our temptation today is to think that the world will exist for thousands more years. Believing this we tend not to think too much about the end of the world or even for that matter about the end of our own lives. Like the disciples, we need to re-think Jesus’ words to see how they apply to us in particular.

But we need to prepare for our death, we need to put our lives in order, we need to confess our sins, we need to get ourselves in shape from a spiritual point of view so that we are ready to meet our maker whenever that day comes. But our death and the Final Judgement, while it is something we need to prepare for, is not something that we should be afraid of. Indeed, it is the very opposite, it is something we should hope for, something we should rejoice in. Pessimism is not the Christian attitude. Christians are optimists. Jesus Christ became one of us, died for us, gave us his life, and offers a personal relationship to each of us. He actually came so that we could be part of the elect.

This generation may or may not be around for the second coming of Christ. However, we can experience the second coming in our current life by keeping our eyes open and being aware of Jesus’ presence in our lives each and every day. By living lives of justice we can bring the hope of Jesus’ actual second coming to all those we come in contact with. That is the role of a disciple, that is the good news of the gospel.

This Thanksgiving be grateful for the gift of justice. This Advent and Christmas season commit yourself to performing works of justice. Go to confession and be at peace. Give a little bit more to church and charity. Surprise the people around you with simple gifts – a smile, a touch, an unexpected phone call. Reconcile with an estranged friend or family member. In a word, be the second coming of Jesus in their lives…for now.

Servant Leadership

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

IS 53:10-11

Heb 4:14-16

Mk 10:35-45

There is a principle of leadership that is popular today called servant leadership. Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the phrase in his 1970 essay, "The Servant as a Leader." As a servant leader, you're a "servant first" – you focus on the needs of others, especially team members, before you consider your own. It is a management style that, while it does have a kinder, more moral focus, is still ultimately intended to get better results from managing people. The focus is still on the bottom line, not necessarily the well being of the employees. There are entire institutes and training programs that people pay thousands of dollars to attend to learn the simple principle that people follow leaders who do not lord it over them, who put their interests ahead of their own.

I find it funny and a bit ironic that all the references I’ve read on servant leadership make it seem like it is a new innovation, almost revolutionary, when the idea goes back 2000 years. Jesus was the ultimate people leader, after all. He stated many times that the Son of Man came to serve, not to be serve. He said that the first among you must serve the rest. He washed his disciples’ feet at the last supper and told them to do the same to one another.

There’s a lot of talk these days in the Church about clericalism. Pope Francis keeps talking about it as being at the core of the crisis in the church today. He talks a lot about leaders being too interested in power and prestige, in enforcing strict rules on their people rather than humbly meeting their everyday needs with compassion and understanding. They need to get out of their nice houses and smell like the sheep. Francis thinks that clerics at all levels have lost sight of the type of servant leadership Jesus talks about in today’s gospel. This has led them to believe the rules don’t apply to them, that they can do horrendous acts without consequences, and that this attitude is what has been at the center of the scandals that surround us.

I have a bit of experience in this. It’s hard sometimes to remain humble as a cleric in the Catholic Church. People tend to put clerics on a pedestal. Luckily, permanent deacons aren’t thought of the same way priests and bishops are. I think many people are still trying to figure out who we are and what we do. But still, people defer to us. They call us by our titles and see us serving at the altar, preaching and working with the poor and the sick, and so we are given a certain level of respect that I didn’t get before I was ordained.

Priests are given even more deference. Maybe it comes from the respect that was drummed into us as children. When I was in grade school the pastor would come by our classroom once a week, and we all had to stand up when he entered the room and politely listen to him. Our parents spoke of the priests respectfully, and we all seemed to recognize that these guys in black were special in some way. Some seemed grave and serious, others had a sense of peace surrounding them. There were so few of them compared to us, they dressed differently, and at Mass, they were up there and we were down here. The awesome ability to transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ gave them an aura of the divine.

So, I think we the people have something to do with clericalism, too. It’s we who set up those pedestals oftentimes, and put our priests and bishops on them whether they like it or not. It can be hard to remain humble when people treat you as being special. Just like celebrities start to believe their own publicity, clerics can get caught up in the prestige and trappings of the vocation at the expense of smelling like the sheep.

The way the church is organized has a lot to do with the style of leadership priests have, I think. The pastor of the parish really has a heck of a lot of autonomy. He is the ultimate decision maker, the one with all the authority and responsibility. And just like in the business world, it is easy to become autocratic when given all that power. I think also the frustrations of leading a parish, trying to get things done through so many volunteers, many of whom seem to do nothing but complain, can lead to a more dictatorial style of leadership.

And it is even more difficult for the bishops. Bishops have all the authority and responsibility in the diocese. They are very visible, they preside at all the major liturgies and functions, they’re quoted in the press. And in most dioceses, the people rarely meet or spend time with their bishop outside of the confirmations he performs. We view them oftentimes more like politicians than shepherds, and sometimes they act like it, too.

I believe that most clerics feel called to servant leadership and truly strive to serve rather than dictate, but just like James and John in today’s gospel, we sometimes seek power rather than service.

Poor James and John, they go to Jesus asking for positions of power and they get suffering instead. They practically demand that Jesus give them the most prestigious positions among not just the apostles but all of humanity. What hubris. And instead Jesus gives them a choice. Can they accept the baptism of suffering and death that Jesus has accepted for himself? They have no idea what he is really referring to. They do not know what this baptism is, but they figure, if they say yes they’ll get what they want, so they agree. So Jesus says, ok, you’ve got it, but sorry, you don’t get the good stuff you asked for. You really aren’t as important as you think you are.

But then, if you think about it, Jesus did give them what they asked for, because he gave them the same thing he had. Jesus, the greatest servant of them all, was willing to give so totally of himself that he would take the sins of all humanity upon himself, and suffer and die to wipe them out. His total emptying of himself, accepting the ultimate humiliation of dying on a cross for the salvation of the world, actually made him the greatest person who ever lived. By accepting weakness he was made so powerful that he triumphed even over death itself. He was offering James and John that same power. By humbling themselves they would gain eternal life.

Jesus smacked James and John pretty hard, and their fellow apostles didn’t like their attitude much either. But he did it out of love. He used their arrogance as a chance to instruct them in how they should all behave. We are called to do the same with one another. It has been my experience that whenever I get a bit arrogant and self-important, God sends something my way to knock me down a peg or two. It may be the loss of some important position I was expecting to receive, or the failure of one of my initiatives. Many times it is one of you taking it to me, sometimes none too gently.

Clericalism isn’t just for clerics. The people can also be arrogant and condescending to their clerics and to one another. This group feels they know the really proper and true way to worship. That group thinks they know more theology than the priest or deacon, and they tell him so. Most don’t give the priest a thought other than when they see him on Sunday. They are quick to complain and gossip but rarely try to get to know him or ask him what his intent was behind what he said or did. When was the last time you thanked your priest for his dedication to your wellbeing and salvation? When was the last time you told him you were moved by his homily rather than write a nasty letter to the bishop about one you didn’t agree with? When was the last time you invited him over to your house for dinner to get to know him?

We are all called to be servants to one another. Just as our leaders are called to serve us, we are called to serve them. Not out of some misplaced awe of the hierarchy but out of love for them and appreciation for what they do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every member of the church truly lived the life of a servant? Wouldn’t it be great if we could put aside all the power trips and prestige-seeking and condescension towards those we disagree with and just concentrate on modeling Jesus? What would the world be like if we could all forgive one another as we have been forgiven?

As St. Paul said, it is when I am weak that I am the strongest. The most influential and revered saints in history have been the most humble. And throughout our history, whenever the Church has been in crisis, that’s when we see our greatest saints. We just celebrated the feast of one of them, St. Francis of Assisi. As it says in the prayer attributed to him:

O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

Just Do It!

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

Just Do It!

There is a great controversy raging these days over the new Nike ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. The tag line is “Believe in Something. Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything”. So, right now about half of you are thinking, “Uh oh, is he really going there? Will I have to write another letter to the bishop?” The other half have just completely turned me off, and a few of you are thinking, “Oh yeah, the Niners are playing this afternoon.”

Take off your political hat for a moment and consider not the controversy but the tag line. “Believe in Something, Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything .” Is that something to strive for, something to stand for? Is it noble? Is just believing in something a good reason to sacrifice everything? You can believe in anything; that doesn’t mean it is noble or good. Hitler believed that Jews were subhuman and deserved extermination. And he “Just Did It”. Is that right? I might believe that I am the reincarnation of Napoleon, and I could sacrifice everything by proclaiming that to the world, but is that rational?

For Christians, how should it read? For us, does believing in Jesus mean that we risk losing everything? Does deep belief always include sacrifice? Is that what Jesus asks of us in today’s gospel?

It makes a difference what we believe in because that drives our view of the world, our behavior, and our actions. But what is worth sacrificing everything for? Is it Jesus? Why? What is it about Jesus that would make you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow his footsteps? Why would or should you open yourself up to ridicule, deny yourself worldly goods and comforts and maybe even your livelihood, and proclaim yourself a disciple?

Who do you say that Jesus is? That is the key to everything, isn’t it? If you believe he is a great prophet who taught some wonderful things, and was sort of a super social worker, then why would you sacrifice everything to follow him? That is not particularly unique. Even if you believe he is the greatest, most influential man that ever walked the earth, why would you sacrifice everything to follow him? But if we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is who he says he is, if we believe he is God incarnate come to earth to bring us to heaven, then what sacrifice is too great to make to be with him?

Jesus says today that in order to be his followers we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him. Jesus suffered, and his way of the cross was brutal and painful. But I don’t think Jesus said that we all have to go out of our way to find that path or endure such suffering. I think he was saying that if we truly do become his disciples suffering will follow in some way or other, just because his message and the life of a disciple are threatening to the way of the world.

Christianity pushes society, and society pushes back. For some it will be physical suffering, for others social ostracization or loss of position and goods. Some will die. For some it will be the painful realization that we truly are not in control and must therefore submit our will to something greater. Change itself can often be a cross to bear.

We sacrifice ourselves when we deny ourselves, but we do not sacrifice everything because of what we believe. We never give up what is truly real and important. Instead, we actually gain everything. We deny our very selves, subjugating our own wills to that of God, so that we can gain the ultimate prize – eternal life.

This passage from James has caused great division in the Church since the Protestant Reformation. It was the great question that Martin Luther raised. How are we saved? Is it through faith alone or through works? Luther was pushing back against the belief that we can earn our way to heaven by doing things. If only we pray the right way, worship the right way, do the right penances and righteous acts, we could win heaven.

Luther was right, salvation is not a game show. It is not a sporting event. There are no winners or losers, just recipients of the grace of God. We can never earn our way to heaven. We can never make ourselves worthy of salvation. Only God can make us worthy. That is the gift of grace. But Luther went a bit too far in believing that grace is all that is necessary. Jesus does not say that we will be judged by the level of our faith but by how we have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison. We will be judged for what we have done with the faith we have been given. As St. James says today, faith without works is dead.

We are all given faith to some degree or other, and faith can be increased if we desire and pray for it. We can also abandon it. I don’t think we lose our faith like we lose our car keys, and it can’t be taken away from us against our will. We can decide to believe or not because God has given us free will. But ultimately, we would not even have the ability to know God exists, to believe in Him, unless he gives us that ability. We are all given the gift of faith, how we act out that gift is called religion. You cannot have one without the other. You really can’t be spiritual but not religious. Once you believe you have to “Just Do It”.

Faith must go with works, and vice versa. Even if someone fails to act, there is still a belief behind that lack of action. If I fail to act it is because I do not believe there is a strong enough motivation for me to act. Believing that Jesus is the Christ is the starting point, but in order to follow him truly we must be like him, and he was a man of action.

Jesus didn’t just preach and teach, he fed the hungry, healed the sick, took care of the physical needs of people as well as the spiritual. His actions backed up his preaching. He didn’t just sympathize with people, he did something to positively affect their lives. I think we can all spot a phony a mile away, and if all we ever hear is the same old tired rhetoric and sermonizing without seeing any concrete action being taken, we lose faith in that person. How many times do we just want to shout “Enough talk, just do it! Enough talking about empathy and love and healing, why don’t you just do something about it?”

The great commandment is to love God with you whole heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself. You cannot separate the two. You cannot love your neighbor without loving God, because God is love. And you cannot love God without loving your neighbor, because again, God is love. If you have faith in God you have faith in love. And if you believe that love exists, that it is real and concrete and not just a concept, then you also believe in God, whether or not you name him. Because God is love.

Love by its very nature is an action. Love is compelled to go beyond itself to others, or it’s not love. Love is the creative force that drives all human endeavor. I love my job so I want to go to work. I love my family so I will sacrifice everything for their wellbeing. And love is never evil. It is never directed to harming anyone or anything. So, for we Christians, we sacrifice everything for a belief in the ultimate good – love – God. That is something worth believing in and something worth sacrificing everything for. Not because it is a heavy cross to bear, even though at times it may be. But because of what the way of the cross ultimately leads to. Not glory on a sporting field but eternal glory in heaven.

The way of the cross is like that. Not only do we help others along the way, we help each other. In all the gospels but John’s, Jesus did not carry the cross himself; he had the help of someone else, a complete stranger who was not even one of his disciples. Simon of Cerene did not believe, and yet he took up Jesus’ cross and helped him to Calvary. He did not have faith, but he had works. Which was the more necessary in that situation? And did he come to faith later on because of his works? I would assume that he did.

You know, ad campaigns are not supposed to be profound or complicated. They are supposed to sell something. Religion, however, is profound and complicated. And it is supposed to help guide us and focus us on what is really worth believing in and sacrificing for. An athlete does not just get up one day and decide to run a race or play a game. He or she spends countless hours beforehand training, preparing themselves mentally, eating right, practicing their faith I guess you could say.

Religion is our way of training, preparing ourselves mentally and spiritually for our event, our way of the cross. So that if and when we are called to the cross we are ready for it. Not to go the way alone, but with other disciples, all lifting each other up from the dust and carrying each other over the goal line.