Religious Freedom and Living Our Faith

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What follows below is the article I wrote for the cover of our parish bulletin last weekend.  I had meant to post it before now but forgot.  I was reminded of it yesterday when I attended our annual diocesan ministerium and the speaker’s first presentation spoke about religious freedom in our country.  Professor Helen Alvaré, Professor of Law at George Mason University was the speaker and she did an excellent job in talking about the importance of religious freedom and that we actually live as witnesses to what we believe.

Here is the article.

Many of the early colonists who came to America did so just to be able to practice their own faith.  Can you imagine migrating thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean just to be able to come to a Catholic Mass?  We can take for granted our right to worship as we want today.

Our Declaration of Independence refers to rights given to us by God.  Yes, God is explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.  I wonder if that would happen today?  The First Amendment of our Constitution specifically guarantees the freedom of religion.

In our country, we generally don’t have to worry about people telling us how to worship at Mass but it is becoming more of a problem where people want to force our Church to go against its beliefs on contraception and marriage as well as some other issues.  There are cases before the Supreme Court about this.  Some laws provide specific religious exemptions for churches but these are becoming more narrowly defined, if allowed at all.

Recognizing the importance of being able to live what our faith teaches, last year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops started a “Fortnight for Freedom Campaign” to run from June 21st to July 4th where we ask for the liberty to practice what our faith teaches.  You can learn more about the campaign at www.fortnight4freedom.org.  In particular you read the document “Our First Most Cherished Freedom” written by the conference of bishops at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/our-first-most-cherished-liberty.cfm as well as some articles describing ways in which people’s religious liberty is being oppressed.

June 22nd is the Memorial of St. John Fisher (patron saint of our diocese) and St. Thomas More.  They both objected when Henry VIII demanded they sign a statement given him control over the church in England.  They held fast to their faith and were martyred.  You can learn more about the martyrdom of St. Thomas More in the movie, A Man for All Seasons.

During the “Fortnight for Freedom” the conference of bishops also offers us daily reflections on religious liberty that can be found in the lists of items near the bottom left of the list on www.fortnight4freedom.org as well as a “Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty”.

How precious is it to you to be able to worship and to actually live your faith without free of punishment or being judged?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

 

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily

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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Job 38:1, 8-10
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-31
June 21, 2015

Job had been a patient person.  By worldly standards he had been a great man with wealth and family but that had been taken from him by the evil one.  His friends thought he must have sinned and that his loss for punishment for his sins.

It’s a simple concept.  Do good and God blesses you.  Do bad and God will punish you.

While Job had great worldly wealth he was also a man of great faith.  He knew he had not sinned but accepted what happened as God’s Will.  If we accept God from God, should we also not accept evil.

Job’s friends continued to tell him to admit his sins and repent.  He maintained his innocence and trusted in God but it was not easy.  Job is known for his patience but even he grew weary of the sufferings.  He did not doubt God but he did begin to wonder why God allowed this suffering. He began to ask why.

Today we hear part of God’s answer to Job.  In very simple terms God says to Job, who are you to question me.  This is not arrogance on God’s part.  When we hear the whole story, we hear God speak of all the wonderful things He has made in creation and that we can’t possibly expect to understand everything.

Job accepts this in faith.  God then gives Job new wealth and a new family.

Job had always been a man of great faith but his suffering led him to question.  For Job, his loss was a terrible storm but God was always with him.

Today Jesus crosses the sea in a boat accompanied by His disciples.  Jesus is asleep when a great storm comes up.  His disciples are scared for their lives and they see Jesus still sleeping. They wondered if He even cared.

In their fear they go to Jesus.  He immediately tells the winds, “Quiet! Be still!” and the storm is over.

When a storm comes up in our lives causing us to suffer, what is our response?  Do we ask God to take it away?  That should always be the starting point of our prayer but what if God doesn’t take it away?  Do we begin to doubt God or do we seek answers?

God made us with the gift of reason.  We are supposed to seek answers. Many times we might find an answer.  Here I tend to always think of my mother.  She died of emphysema and lung cancer.  Why?  Because she smoked for thirty years.

There are also questions I have that I can’t find answers to.  Sometimes it is as simple as feeling there is too much work for me to do and I can’t get all done.  Why is it so hard to be a pastor?

Sometimes the answer might it isn’t time yet or maybe it isn’t for me to do it.  Maybe it belongs to someone else. Maybe I am trying too hard and I need to relax and let God help me.

God gives us the gift of reason but it isn’t always enough.  For the times when reason is not enough, God gives us the gift of faith.

Knowledge is great and it is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit but it is not the only gift.  The Holy Spirit also gives us the gifts of understanding and wisdom to see as God sees.  When we can’t, the Holy Spirit helps us to have faith that God is with us.

When we have storms in our lives that cause us to suffer may we always trust in God who always walks with us.

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily

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11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Ezekiel 17:22-24
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34
June 14, 2015

Ezekiel serves as a prophet of God some six hundred years before the birth of Jesus.  It is a time when the people have turned away from God.  For this God has allowed their enemies from Babylon to defeat them.  Many, Ezekiel among them, are taken away in exile to Babylon.

Israel had thought themselves to be a great people but they failed to recognize God as the source of their greatness.  They fell away in faith.  They realized the error of their ways while in exile but feared it was too late.

It was in their repentance from their sins that God speaks to them through Ezekiel.  He tells them that He will “tear off a tender shoot and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.”

Most immediately this is fulfilled when God brings the Exile to an end and allows the Israelites to return home.  Even for that they people would have to wait as the Exile lasted nearly seventy years but there is a deeper fulfillment.

When God set the Israelites free from the Babylonians and allowed the Israelites to return home, it was a simple “going back” to what was but the Kingdom of Israel was never restored to what it used to be.

Over five centuries later Jesus came to form a new covenant with the people.  He comes to show us what it truly means to be a people of God.

500 or 600 years can seem like a long time to wait.  Obviously, no one person can wait that long but we shouldn’t interpret it as God not doing anything for that time.

God is always at work for our salvation.  God continued to send prophets and inspire people to a great faith.  Through Him, God continues to plant seeds of faith.

Jesus offers us a parable about the farmer plants the seeds and waits.  We like instant results but it isn’t always to be had.  The farmer knew if he waited, the harvest will come.

We need to be working towards a harvest but not simply a harvest of regular grain or fruits.  Our goal should be that at the end of the ages everyone is welcomed into the Heavenly kingdom.

I want to note that I said “working towards.”  I did not say, we just wait for.  In actuality the farmer did not just plant the seeds and wait.  No, there was work to be done.  There was work to be done between the planting and the harvest.  The plants would need to be watered, fertilized, and weeding.

What work is there for us to do?

We need to be planting seeds of faith and to work to provide water and fertilizer for the seeds to grow.  It’s the new evangelization.

This ‘New Evangelization’ as named by Pope Paul VI comes in two parts.  When we hear the word “evangelization” we probably most often think of bringing the faith to people who are not in church.  This is a very important part of the “New Evangelization” but it is not the only part.

The second part is to evangelize ourselves.  Evangelization is not just about the people we don’t see in church.  We need to be deepening our own faith, learning more about Jesus.

Our Evangelization Team plans ways like our Lenten Small Christian Communities and the presentation that Pat Meyer and I do to help us grow in our individual faith with the hope that in turn, you will then share what you have learned with others.

You see, evangelization is not just the work of a committee or the priests.  It is a work that we all have a share in, although in different ways to plant seeds of faith, to open hearts to Jesus.  We open the door and then let Jesus finish the job.

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B – Homily

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The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B
Exodus 24:3-8
Hebrews 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
June 7, 2015

Today we celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  The name is important.  We do not call it the feast of bread and wine.

It still looks like bread and wine but it has changed.  By the power of the Spirit, it is transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus.  At times we still call it bread and wine but it has become so much more.

This feast and what it means for us is essential to understanding what it means to be Catholic, a belief in the real presence.  Some Christian denominations never offer communion while others do it some but when they do, it is just recalling what Jesus did 2,000 years like we can recall any historical event.

To understand what the Eucharist means for us, we need to understand the Real Presence and how the Eucharist we celebrate today is a sacrifice.

Real Presence – Where would we ever get the idea that the bread and wine become Jesus?  We don’t see a change but we believe it in because we have the words of Jesus in the scripture saying this is my body and this is my blood of the covenant.  Jesus is the Son of God and we profess in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is the one whom through all things were made.  Jesus says it is so and so it is.

Recognizing the bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ we know that we are strengthened by it.  We become what we eat.

Sacrifice – The Eucharist is also a sacrifice for us.  Our reading today from Hebrews reminds us of the sacrifices that we find in the Old Testament.  Animals were sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins and as an offering to God. Those animal sacrifices were earthly and thus imperfect.  The sacrifice came as the life of the animal was taken.

Jesus offers us a new sacrifice.  It is not an imperfect human sacrifice.  It is Jesus freely giving His life for us.  The blood of the animals signified the sacrifices of the Old Testament.  It is Jesus’ blood that is at the core of what we sacrifice today.

Jesus’ sacrifice is a one-time event.  It is the sacrifice made on the Cross.  As such, many denominations see it as an event that happened in the past and is done and over with.  They believe that no new sacrifice is needed.

As Catholics, we also believe that Jesus’ Crucifixion is the ultimate sacrifice so that no new sacrifice is needed.  I want to emphasize the word “new” here.  As we celebrate the Eucharist today, no new sacrifice is offered.  However, we do offer a sacrifice here today.  Remember God is beyond time.  God makes present for us today the sacrifice of the Cross.

Jesus united the Eucharist and the sacrifice of His Crucifixion as one when he says that His blood is shed for many.

Recognizing the importance of this sacrifice, we come today to offer our own lives as sacrifices to be united with Jesus.

In thinking about what celebrating the Eucharist means for us, we also need to be mindful of the words in our first reading.  Moses offers the first sacrifice of the Old Covenant that is sealed with the blood of animals.  As he does show he reminds the people of all the words and ordinances of the Lord.  In forming the covenant the people agree to do everything that the Lord has told us.

It is the same for us.  Jesus has inaugurated a new covenant through the sacrifice of the Cross.  In coming here today and receiving the Eucharist we pledge to live as Jesus has taught us.

Today we celebrate the Real Presence, Jesus’ sacrifice, and recommit ourselves to live as Jesus tells us.

 

Trinity Sunday, Year B – Homily

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The Most Holy Trinity, Year B
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20
May 31, 2015

As a group of young children were preparing for Confirmation, the bishop had the opportunity to come and speak with the children.  He was asking them questions about our faith and he came to a young girl who was quietly sitting in the back and asked her to explain the Trinity.  The girl was afraid that if she gave the wrong answer, she might not be allowed to be confirmed.  Nervously, she stood up and said, “No, bishop, I can’t.  You see, it’s a mystery.”

The Trinity truly is a mystery.  It is officially called a “mystery” of the Church.  We struggle to understand the Trinity.  God created us with the use of reason and we like to understand things and when we don’t understand, it can be troubling for us.  We might equate not understanding with doubting.  When we doubt, we might think we have lost our faith.

Today we hear how, when the disciples saw the Risen Jesus, they worshipped, but they doubted.  They had never seen anyone rise from the dead before.  So they wonder if it really was Jesus or were they imagining something?  That’s their doubt but even with wondering how this could be, they realized they were in the presence of something wonderful and so they worshipped.

Today we celebrate “The Most Holy Trinity” but if you think I am going to explain the Trinity to you, I refer you back to the girl’s answer, “I can’t.  You see, it’s a mystery.”

I emphasis “explain” because I don’t understand the details.  I don’t know how the Trinity is one but I know it is one.  I know that God is so awesome that I can’t expect to explain it all but when I recognize how awesome God is, I can believe.

We hear Moses describe some of the “awesomeness” of God.  He speaks of how God spoke from the fire, how God set the Israelites free from the Egyptians.  We can think of Jesus’ death and Resurrection for us.  How could any being except for an awesome God who loves us  enough to do these things?

God gives us the gift of reason to learn things.  God gives us faith to believe in what we cannot understand.  Are we willing to make the leap of faith?

When things are going well, we generally don’t question God.  Say, if a loved one is sick and inexplicably gets better.  We thank God and don’t question why.  However, if instead of getting better our loved one gets worse, we ask why.  That’s based on reason.  Relying on the gift of faith, we find reason to trust in God even when we don’t understand.

Now, before it seems like I am completely avoiding talking about the Trinity, what do we know about the Trinity?

The Bible does not use the word “trinity” because that came later but that doesn’t mean we can’t find the Trinity in the Bible.

We see the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all together as one at Jesus’ baptism.  In Jesus’ farewell discourse in John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus speaks of how He and the Father are one, working together towards the same purpose.  Jesus also speaks of how the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete will be sent by the Father and Him to continue to work of God.  So clearly we hear of how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together.

We hear Jesus tell us of how we need all three as He sends out the disciples, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

The Bible also tells us of how we relate to God in the Trinity.  Paul tells us of how, led by the Spirit of God we are children of God.  As children, we call God Father but it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can know this.

The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge, understanding, and wisdom so that we can know God.  This in turn helps us to see the “awesomeness” of God to make it possible for us to trust Him.  I’ve being saying “awesomeness.”  Another word might be “magnificence.”  Yet another way of looking at it is “fear of the Lord” but it is not fear as to simply be afraid.  It is “fear” in the sense of recognizing how great God is.

The Trinity is about relationship.  First, the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three yet perfectly united as one.  In faith, we enter into relationship and the perfect love of God, three persons yet one God.

Pentecost, Year B – Homily

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Pentecost, Year B
Vigil Readings
Genesis 11:1-9
Romans 8:22-27
John 7:37-39

Morning
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-1
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
May 24, 2015

On Monday we will celebrate an important national holiday, Memorial Day.  This holiday has a local connection in its origins as many credit Waterloo, NY as the first place to celebrate this holiday.  It is a day where we honor those who have given their lives in service for our country.

War is not good and we must always strive to settle disputes by peaceful means but when attacked we give thanks for those who have given their lives to protect us.

In our region Memorial Day has come to be unofficial start to the summer season.  The days have become warmer and that makes us happy.  With the warm weather coming Memorial Day becomes the weekend the day to put out the flower urns at cemeteries on our loved ones graves.  We will be celebrating Mass at Calvary Cemetery on Monday morning.

As we think about our loved ones who have died, we do so knowing the gift of eternal life.  Fifty days ago we celebrated Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, showing us eternal life.  Before He could rise, He first died for us on the Cross.  As Jesus said, no one has greater love than to lay down one’s lives for one’s friends.

We have been celebrating Easter for fifty days but with our celebration this weekend, we end our Easter season.  However, it is not our celebration of Memorial Day that ends our Easter season.

Today we are here to celebrate Pentecost that reveals the beginning of the Church.

We can experience new beginnings throughout our lives.  This weekend marks graduation weekend at Cornell.  Other colleges, like Ithaca, have already celebrated graduation.  Graduation can be a new beginning as the students end one phase of their lives to begin another.

Marriage can be a new beginning.  Starting a new or different job.

Pentecost changes our spiritual life as a people.  Before Pentecost, people had become divided by their sins.  We can think here of the story of the Tower of Babel. The people tried to build a tower to make a name for themselves.  They say as much themselves.  This is pride and pride is a sin.  With sin comes consequences.  The people are scattered.

Pentecost changes that.  We are different people from different languages who look different and work in different jobs and have different talents but through the grace of the Holy Spirit we are united as one Church.

The Holy Spirit first came upon the disciples at Pentecost as a strong driving wind and tongues of fire.  The wind symbolizes how God breathes new life into us.  The fire speaks of how we are to be alive and on fire with our faith.  The red vestments and banners indicate the fire of the Holy Spirit that has come upon us individually in our baptism.

We can see the people coming at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit enables the crowds to each person speaking in their own language.

Last week we heard Jesus pray that we all be one just as the Father and He are one.  Our unity comes through the Holy Spirit.  We profess this unity in our Creed when we say “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”  We see the oneness in the way we celebrate our Mass in the Catholic Church.  No matter what Catholic Church you go to in the world for Sunday Mass, you hear the same prayers and same readings.  They are spoken in different languages but have the same meaning and share the same faith.

Pentecost has been called the birth of the Church.  So, it is a good time to reflect on what it means to be part of the Catholic Church.  On Tuesday night I will be completely my series We Profess, We Believe on the Creed.  This week a significant part of the presentation will focus on what it means for us to say, “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

What does it mean for you?

7th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily

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7th Sunday of Easter, Year B
Acts of the Apostles 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26
1 John 4:11-16
John 17:11b-19
May 17, 2015

Today we hear Jesus praying.  Shortly He will be arrested and crucified.  He is fully aware of this so we might expect Jesus’ prayer to be all about Him.  Jesus could have prayed that He not be arrested and crucified.  He could have prayed for it to be pain free.

He didn’t.

Instead He is praying for us, “so that they be one just as we are one.”  Why would He be praying for us when He is about to die?

The answer is simple – because He loves us!

Jesus is Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father.  He is consubstantial with the Father.  He has nothing to gain from us.  Everything Jesus does is motivated by His love for us.

Jesus is born just like one of us so that we may know God’s love.  That love is ultimately expressed in His Crucifixion for no one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  Jesus’ life is not taken from Him.  He freely gives His life for us out of love.  So when we look at a Crucifix, we see Jesus’ showing His love for us.

Of course, we know that Jesus’ did not “remain dead.”  On Easter Morning He rose from the dead.  No one had risen from the dead before.  The disciples didn’t know what it meant to rise.  Jesus, once again acting out of love, appears to His disciples body and soul so that we all might know what it means to rise.  When it was time for Him to return to Heaven, He allowed His disciples to see Him ascend so that we would know what happened to Him.  All this is in our Creed and all this Jesus does because He loves us.

Going back to Easter, we celebrated a triduum.  That means three days.  We talked about Good Friday and Easter but we also need to talk about Holy Thursday and the love that Jesus showed for us that night.

He washed the feet of His disciples.  He did this because He loved them.  It is also the night Jesus gave us the Eucharist.

The word “Eucharist” is a Greek word that literally means “thanksgiving.”  Certainly, we should be thankful for all that Jesus has done for us.

The word “Eucharist” has also come to signify something very special to us as Catholics.  Jesus takes ordinary bread and ordinary wine and transforms them into His Body and Blood.  We call this transubstantiation.  It’s a word we never hear any other time except with the bread and wine but that’s because there is nothing like it.

In receiving the bread and wine, we are actually receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Some Christians don’t believe this.  We don’t see a change.  It stills looks like bread and wine.   It still tastes like bread and wine.  How do we know it is changed?

Because Jesus said so.

Jesus himself says this is my body, this is my blood which will be poured out for you.  That’s what Jesus does in His Crucifixion.  So each and every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus but we also remember Jesus’ dying on the Cross.

Well, I say remember but what we do today isn’t just “remembering.”  Jesus is all powerful and all-knowing so that in a way we can’t understand, Jesus makes present today what happened almost 2,000 years ago.

So as we celebrate this Eucharist we must remember the love that Jesus has shown for us.

In a few minutes, the bread and wine will be brought forth and I will say the Eucharistic Prayer where the bread and wine will become the Body and Blood of Jesus.  After that, we will receive Communion so that just as the bread is transformed into the Body of Christ, we too are become one body.

The Eucharist gives us strength to live as Jesus teaches.  It makes us one.  Remember Jesus prayer “so that they may be one as we are one”?

Strengthened by what we receive may we truly be one body in Christ.

6th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily

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6th Sunday of Easter, Year B
Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17
May 10, 2015

We pick up where we left off last week, with Jesus speaking to us about remaining in His love.

What does it take to remain in His love?  We must keep His commandments.  Jesus tells us that we are His friends if we keep His commandments.  This might bring up memories of former friends who saw themselves as the center of attention and who always needed to get their way.  Friends like that are not the best of friends.

Jesus is not that type of friend.  Yes, we must follow His commandments but not out of obligation or for Jesus’ good.  Jesus doesn’t give us commandments to serve Him.  The commandments are for our own good.  When we open ourselves to following the commandments, good things happen and we realize that Jesus is motivated purely out of His love for us.

Who does Jesus love?  Is there anyone Jesus doesn’t love?

Peter speaks today of how “God shows no partiality.”  God doesn’t care where we come from or what race we are.  As proof, God sends the Holy Spirit down upon the Gentiles.

What about sinners?  After all, Jesus tells us we remain in His love if we keep His commandments.  So, God doesn’t love sinners, right?

If that were the case, then God would not have sent His Son to die for us.  Jesus dies because He loves even sinners.  God can’t help but love us.  God doesn’t just serve as an example of love.  God is love.

So why then does Jesus say we must keep His commandments if we are to remain in His love?  It’s not that God stops loving us but when we sin, we break our relationship with God and we are no longer “aware” of His love.  We are created in God’s image.  That means we are created to love.  It is in love that we find fulfillment.

Jesus wants our joy to be complete.  I want to emphasize the word “joy”.   Jesus does not say He wants us to be “happy”.  It’s hard to describe what I want to say in human words here.

I see “happy” as meaning we had a good day where nothing bad happened or maybe we got some good news or we are satisfied with things like our job, cars, family, i.e. earthly things.

I see “joy” transcending that and having its origin in God’s love and the love we have for one another.  Happiness is dependent on earthly things while joy transcends the earthly.  This means that when things “don’t go our way” we won’t be happy but even when things go bad we can know God’s love and thus a joy, a peace, that is transcendent.

For example, if you are married and your spouse becomes seriously ill, you aren’t going to be happy they are ill but you can still be joyful to have them as your spouse.

I can also think here of some people I know who lose their job just as a loved one becomes terminally ill.  They are not happy about losing their job but they see the hand of God at work in the timing of it to be able to spend extra time as their loved one dies.

What has happened in your life that you would describe as bad at the time but then led to changes for the better in your life?

We can spend a lot of time trying to make others and/or ourselves “happy”.  What we really need to be looking for is what makes us feel fulfilled.

I liked being an engineer but it wasn’t fulfilling for me.  Life is more than the jobs we do.  Fulfillment is about what we are created for, to love.  For many this comes in marriage and a family while having a job where we work to be the best person we can be.  For me, I find fulfillment in being a priest.

Do you feel fulfilled?  If not, why not?  Maybe you need a different job.  Maybe you just need to shift priorities to put God first and your family above earthly things.  Put God first and God is love.

The Anointing of the Sick

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Each year our parish celebrates a Mass with the Anointing of the Sick and today is the day.  As I prepare my homily here are some thoughts I would like to share with you.

Sacraments are a powerful thing and a gift from God.  In Baptism we receive new life and the Holy Spirit and sealed with the same Spirit in Confirmation.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation where we confess our sins is rooted in the forgiveness Jesus reveals to us in His Crucifixion.  Marriage and Holy Orders strengthen us in our service to God.

In celebrating the Anointing of the Sick within Mass, we receive two sacraments today.  We begin our Mass with the reading of God’s Word.  We need to hear it over and over.  In the Eucharist we celebrate the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the Cross and are strengthened for the ordinary daily events of our lives in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus.

The Anointing of the Sick is a Sacrament of Healing.  To more deeply understand this sacrament let’s take a look at the readings we are using today.

Our first reading today is 1 Kings 19:1-8.  To set the stage, this reading comes right after the defeat of the prophets of Baal through Elijah.  Jezebel the Queen makes plans to have Elijah killed for this.  In fear Elijah flees for his life.  Would we be any different?  When we suffer, isn’t trying to find a way out of the suffering one of the first things we do?  Elijah just wishes he could die to escape.  That is not God’s plan.  Instead of getting rid of Elijah’s enemies, God sends an angel to Elijah with food to strengthen him.  Nourished by this food, Elijah walked for forty days and forty nights to Horeb.

If we become seriously ill, among the first things we do is to pray to God for deliverance from the illness.  We know He has the power to heal.  We hear numerous stories in the gospels of Jesus healing people.  Today it is the Centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13).  In the reading from Acts 4:8-12 we hear how Peter heals the crippled man.

What does it mean to be healed?  We should note that in both of these stories, there is more said about the nature of the healing than the healing itself.  Following a healing, Peter gives a speech to explain that the source of the healing is faith in Jesus Christ.  In Jesus’ conversation with the Centurion we are never even told what illness the servant has.  The story is more about the faith the Centurion has in Jesus than anything physical.

When we come for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, it is because we face a serious illness.  It might be a disease like cancer or an upcoming surgery that causes us to reflect on what might happen.  Sometimes we come simply because of the effects aging has on us.  It is all rooted in some physical illness that affects us in some physical way.

It be great if as a person is anointed they would be healed of all physical illness but that isn’t likely to happen in an instantaneous flash.  It isn’t that God doesn’t work to heal us physically.  It is God who has given the doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, etc. the gifts they need to treat us.  That treatment can take time and doesn’t always mean a cure.

Think back to the story of Elijah.  God did not wipe away Elijah’s enemies but God did send the angel to strengthen Elijah through it.  As you receive the anointing you may not be healed physically but God reaches into your soul to heal you spiritually and to strengthen you against anything you face.  It is a moment to know that God walks with us.

The Anointing of the Sick has its origins in the Bible.  We hear of the many healings done by Jesus and His disciples.  In James 5:14 we hear “Is anyone among you sick?  He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint him with the oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will have sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.”

God loves you and offer you His Grace.  So we celebrate the Grace of the Anointing so you may know that God walks with you, even carrying us when we cannot go it alone.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff