Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

Historically, there were two very sad, major splits in Christianity over the centuries.  The first was in 1054, when the Orthodox Christians broke off from Rome.  The second was the Protestant Reformation which began with Martin Luther posting his protests against the pope in 1517.  From these, we sadly have many branches of Christianity, with Roman Catholics being the largest at 1.4 billion members, Protestants 900 million, and Orthodox about 250 million.  One of the big differences between Catholics and Protestants is how we use the word “tradition,” meaning beliefs we have that are not explicitly in the bible but handed down to us from the Early Christians in the first centuries.

For us Catholics we have two categories of tradition.  The first is what we call “capital T” Traditions… about things that will never change like our beliefs on the Blessed Trinity and Mary as the Mother of God.  Many years before the New Testament was even written, the Early Christians held strong beliefs such as the meaning of the Eucharist, that we treasure as “capital T” Traditions.  “Small t” traditions, as described in our Catechism, develop over the years for particular needs in various cultures that can change as needed, but supported and approved by the Church’s “big T” Traditions.  For us Catholics, different from many Protestant denominations, we treasure the close relationship between Scripture and Tradition, since the Early Christians passed on to us many wonderful beliefs that are not in the bible.

Jesus faced a similar challenge in his own day, trying to help his Jewish brothers and sisters to know the difference between ‘small t’ traditions that were added to Jewish rules over the centuries but had gotten ‘side-tracked’ from the more important teaching about love of God and neighbor.  We hear part of this conflict in the Gospel today when Jesus names certain ‘small t’ traditions, like washing of hands and dishes, that had mistakenly got included in the “major sin” category.

The Catholic Church has done its own ‘sorting out’ of traditions over the centuries that confused some people when ‘small t’ traditions were changed, such as eating meat on any Friday which was no longer considered a sin after the 1960’s.  Over 2000 years, many ‘small t’ traditions became universal practice, and some slowly faded away when Mother Church saw them as no longer helping people stay focused on the “bit T” Traditions of knowing and loving God above all things.  One problem with this is that some people start creating their own ‘traditions,’ like mistakenly thinking they can miss Mass on Sunday as an ‘optional tradition,’ rather than realizing it is an actual Commandment from God.  We need to be better as a Church in helping people know the difference ‘T’raditions that never change…compared to ‘small t’ traditions that still have a lot of meaning but are not equal to scripture and official doctrines of the Church.

I want to highlight one teaching of the Church that beautifully connects what we learn from Jesus himself in the Gospel and a Tradition that will never change – and that is our care for the poor and those in need.  Jesus got so frustrated with those who were ‘spying’ on others about scrupulous traditions…while doing little for the marginalized and poor, the central Tenet of our religion…that goes back to Moses!  Jesus even tells several shocking parables about those who think they will get into heaven…but, he says will be “locked out” if they have not given generously to and helped those in need.

We have a wonderful ‘small t’ tradition here at St. Clare of generously donating to our St. Vincent de Paul ministries, Guatemala Parish, and other special collections.  Our donations and volunteer help connect us to global Catholic ministries such as Catholic Relief Services who are right now in the trenches of Haiti helping the poorest of the poor… and working in the neediest villages of Afghanistan. 

As St. James wrote to us in the second reading today, what good is religion if it’s not “caring for the afflicted.”  We primarily do our outreach to the poor based on Jesus’ Commandment to do so; but I also think of helping those in need as a ‘big T’ Tradition since it will always be a part of who we are…and it intimately connects us to the Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit – whose very Essence is to lavishly give love away.

Here at the Altar, we combine ‘small t’ traditions of how the Mass is prayed that has evolved over the years…and our ‘capital T’ Tradition of believing that Jesus is truly Present here in his Body and Blood.  What a treasure and gift the Eucharist is…since it helps us sort out things that we get anxious and upset about…and focus on God’s everlasting Love for us.

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time
LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

One of the great challenges that parents and teachers and every parish face is how to accompany teenagers and young adults with their questions about religion, God, sexuality, and their own self-worth.  We adults have to walk that fine line between teaching them the truth about our faith… while listening to the arguments and doubts of their questioning minds.  Actually, from a spirituality perspective, we ALL live within the spectrum of faith and reason, which Pope Benedict assured us is a healthy place to grow spiritually… as faith and reason do not need to be opposed to one another. 

As Jesus himself was a teacher, he witnessed people’s struggle between wanting to believe what he said...and at the same time finding some of it too hard to accept.  Some of Jesus teachings are so radically different than how we usually think, like “love your enemies” and “this is my Body.” Ultimately, each of us must come to a ‘conversion point’ in our faith journey: we can choose to apathetically ‘shrug our shoulders’ at this Gospel as simply ‘good ideas’…OR we acknowledge that Jesus is God Himself...and realize his teachings are the very Truth we need.

Four weeks ago, we began this 6^th Chapter of John’s Gospel that highlights Jesus’ teachings on the Eucharist as his Real Body and Blood.  He said some really bold things like, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you do not have life within you.” Many people had a difficult time wrapping their heart and mind around such a deep spirituality, so the number of his followers kept shrinking.   At the end of this same chapter just proclaimed, Jesus hears their “murmurings” of skeptical doubt…and instead of ‘softening’ his words to ‘please’ more people, he goes even deeper to describe who He is when he asks, “what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”  Basically, he is saying, “Can’t you see who I am?  If you have hard time believing that the Holy Spirit can change the bread to become my Body, would it help if you could actually SEE me rise as One with God the Father in heaven?  What would it take for you to believe?”  And this is where FAITH intersects with reason.  I think we need to do a better job of helping our young people pray for the gift of FAITH…when their minds only want tangible ‘proofs’ and ‘reasons’ for everything.

Too many Catholics today want to ‘water down’ some of our difficult teachings on either the Eucharist, sexual morality, or marriage.  Many haven’t taken the time to study our beliefs and don’t know how to compassionately explain what we believe and why.  In a culture where many create their own version of ‘church’ at home or on a sports field; and many get their ‘gospel’ from social media, we have an opportunity as Catholics to be prouder than ever that we still hold true to such doctrines as the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the sanctity of Marriage, and the beauty of the Holy Mass that transcends us into heaven with Jesus. 

What all three Scripture readings highlight today is the choice we each must make in terms of what we really believe.  In the first reading Joshua challenged the people to make a choice about what god they will serve.  In our reading from Ephesians, spouses must choose daily to always be loving toward each other; and in the Gospel, Jesus is asking his disciples to choose whether we believe his teachings or not when he asks, “Do you also want to go away?”

There is one word in the Gospel today that I think can be helpful for any who have not made a clear choice to embrace all Jesus’ taught.  The word is ‘accompany.’  The Gospel says that many of the disciples “could no longer accompany” Jesus.  To accompany someone means that you walk with them in their journey and get to know them.  Discipleship is a kind of ‘accompanying’ Jesus… to keep learning from him.  Accompanying Jesus means we want to be schooled in Love.  But love requires faithfulness… and faithfulness requires sacrifice.  Accompanying Jesus will require the sacrifice of reassessing my personal opinions about things... and turning my way into Jesus’ Way.

Parish life is about joining with others who also want to accompany Jesus as the Son of God and believe in his teachings.  A parish... a marriage... and family life is about accompanying one another when faithfulness to his teachings is difficult and the sacrifices it takes are really tough.  The giving of our time and using our talents for the bigger Church and our own parish is one way that we show we are accompanying with our fellow parishioners the life of selfless service as Jesus modeled.  Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to help us admit like Peter did, “Jesus, to whom shall we go?  We have come to believe that YOU are the Holy One from God.”

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Fr. Jim Deiters

This week, Bishop McGovern had a meeting with all of us pastors who also have a Catholic School to give us encouraging support for the challenges of the new school year.  When we talked about the wide spectrum of opinions about Covid and masks, the bishop raised a very important question that I wanted to share with you.  He asked, “Since the mask debate has caused so much anxiety and upset, how can WE as Catholic Christians promote a ‘culture of VIRTUE’ rather than adding to the negativity and divisiveness?”  He asked further, “Is my complaining or blaming adding to goodness and virtue in our community?”  Basically, what I heard him saying was that, of course we can form our own opinions about things, but are my words and actions helping create a culture of virtuous love for others as Jesus taught us?

His question prompted me to go home and re-read the section in the Catechism about our Catholic teaching on “virtue” and the virtuous life, which I encourage you to do as well.  How wonderful if parents would talk to their teenagers going back to school about the four “Cardinal Virtues” of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.   Those four areas cover all the challenges a teenager is going through!  What if we each made a commitment to study, practice, and teach our young people…prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance?  At the same time, we must pray for the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.  If we are not striving for these core virtues in our daily life, then we Christians will spiral down to the ‘muggle’ level of thinking we don’t have any power of how we can choose to live.  As our Catholic Catechism states, “a virtuous person always strives for the greater good. Working on and developing virtues forge character, and God’s Grace helps us persevere in the virtuous life.”  The ultimate goal of practicing virtue is to participate more fully in the life of God, always striving to be more like Jesus.  In simple language, we can think of virtue as “taking the higher road” of always choosing to love and forgive, which can be very difficult when I want to prove I am right.  Do you see the difference…and the humility it takes?

Today’s Gospel reading for our feast of Mary’s Assumption gives us examples of two beautiful women who truly practiced virtues.  Think about the predicaments that Mary and Elizabeth were in: Elizabeth, first judged for not being able to get pregnant; then certainly judged again when getting pregnant at an older age.  And Mary certainly would have been castigated for being pregnant outside of marriage.  What do they do?  They rise to a ‘virtuous approach’ through a meaningful conversation and Visit about how to see their life situation as blessings from God and how to trust that God will use this ‘mess’ for some greater good.  Their Visitation reveals what we call the “Three Theological Virtues” of faith, hope, and love.  They each have FAITH that God is using their lives and their children for some greater purpose.  They practice HOPE by turning their anxiety… into trusting that God WILL provide for all the unknowns of their future.  And they exude the ultimate virtue of LOVE in the way they selflessly reach out and care for the other person and not focus on their own difficulties.  Throughout the Gospels, we hear of how Mary kept practicing these virtues so beautifully…and teaching them to her Son Jesus.  God would eventually reward her… with being completely “Assumed” into heaven at the moment of her death…since her whole being and body was pure virtue!’
Notice the horizontal and vertical movements of grace between this Gospel and our doctrine about Mary’s Assumption.  By Mary’s lifelong practice of virtue toward others (horizontal) in the earthly dimension, she eventually gets “assumed” fully into the life of the Trinity (vertical) in the heavenly dimension!

Part of the reason this Gospel of the Visitation is assigned for the feast of Mary being assumed into heaven, is centered in Elizabeth’s proclamation, “Blessed are you among women.  Blessed are you who believed…”  It is a feast for ALL of us to remember how BLESSED our lives can be when we submit to and practice the virtues that Jesus Christ taught us.  We will hear an ‘echo’ of this faith concept in the Preface Prayer at the Altar in a few minutes with these powerful words, “Mary’s Assumption is the beginning and image of the Church coming to perfection.”
We must never stop striving for the ‘perfection’ of the virtuous life… as modeled by Jesus and Mary.  It adds goodness to this world…and simply leads to one place…heaven with God.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY

Parish Feast of St. Clare of Assisi

Fr. Jim Deiters

Most of what we know about the spirituality of St. Clare of Assisi comes from the letters she wrote to a young princess named Agnes who lived in Prague who started writing to Clare seeking spiritual advice.  In these letters, and lessons she wrote out for her own Poor Clare Nuns, we discover this deep friendship Clare had with Jesus, especially how she trusted that in the Eucharist, God would give her all that she needed.  One of my favorite quotes from St. Clare is on the front of our bulletin this weekend that reads, “Love God.  Serve God.  Everything is in that.”  Even when Clare was suffering terribly during many years of illness, she continually spoke of God’s love… and taught the world about trusting in God even during difficult times.  While Clare started out as a humble woman of faith, gradually more and more women joined her cause for prayer and simplicity of life, as Poor Clare Monasteries spread throughout the world; she had a global effect on encouraging a love and devotion of the Eucharist, seen in the image of her on our Crucifix as she hold a monstrance with Christ in the center.

As we honor our Patroness St. Clare this weekend, the connection I want to make between her faith and the Gospel today is the phrase Jesus uses when he says, “the bread I give is my flesh for the life of the world.”  I want to zero in on the second part of that phrase, “for the life of the world.” Oftentimes I preach about the power of the Eucharist on a personal level…reminding us that when we consume the Body of Christ it fills us with God’s peace, strength, grace, and mercy.

But another dimension of the Eucharist’s power is the universal aspect of how Jesus wanted it to have an impact on the whole human race.  When Jesus says, “I give you this for the life of the world,” it challenges us to realize that the grace and love we receive here in the Eucharist personally, is meant to make us active agents of his love and unity in our world of so much brokenness and division.  When Jesus describes himself as the “Bread of Life” for the “whole world,” he is reminding us that IN HIM, we are now a part of a much bigger community than simply our family, friends, and parishioners.  Jesus Christ is the head of the WHOLE Body of Christ, which is the whole world of humanity.

In a cultural climate that tempts us to think private and selfish…and what is good for me, my political party, and my own interests, Jesus has the gall to say he wants to expand our thinking by feeding us with his “flesh” to know what is best for the “life of the world.”

We know that we can have a powerful effect on things when we work locally for peace, justice, and the dignity of each human life; but those efforts and our thinking must always be connected to the ‘bigger picture’ of how God looks at our tiny planet as One Body of Christ.  Our personal and parish efforts for educating our youth, helping the poor, and works of justice, must always be based on how they contribute to Jesus’ vision for the whole world to share in his Life.

Interestingly, part of the reason the host we use for Mass is a round circle is to symbolize God’s Infinity.  But we can also think of it representing the ‘world’ and Jesus ‘consecrating’ the whole world into his Life.  When the priest breaks the Consecrated Host during the Lamb of God, it represents Jesus ‘breaking’ and giving of Himself for “the life of the world.”  Part of the miracle of the Eucharist is that just as we consume Jesus’ broken Body, at the same time He is consuming our own brokenness and uniting us back together as One Body in Christ!  Our individualism is meant to be ‘transubstantiated’ and radically changed into actions and concern for all God’s children.  We arrive here to receive Jesus “Life” into our own body…to then BE Christ’s life and light for the whole world!

We see an echo of this in the stained-glass window above the tabernacle…as the round host which is broken in two symbolizes Christ’s broken Body and the brokenness of the world; then, notice in the window, the fire of the Spirit…taking it all up to be healed and united by Christ. 

St. Clare had no idea that her vision for gathering a small group of women to pray for God’s broken world would eventually have a global effect of Eucharistic devotion changing hearts around the globe.  We must never take for granted the privilege and responsibility we have when we consume this “Bread from Heaven…” that Jesus gives us “for the life of the world.”

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jim Deiters

Of the many YouTube videos I posted last year about the design of our church, one of them focuses on the overall architectural style, describing how the Gothic-shaped arches connect us to the design of our previous Church in downtown O'Fallon.  Gothic styled churches came out of the Medieval 11th and 12th century and the arches reaching upward represent our prayers rising up to God.  But the arches also represent God reaching his arms down to us, connecting earth with Heaven.  If you can imagine God at the peak and the Spirit descending down the columns, symbolizing, IN Jesus, Divinity coming to mix with our humanity.  This is what happens in the Mass when we reach up to God in worship… and God comes into our midst in the Word and Eucharist.  There is a dynamic flow and exchange that takes us into God’s world for the holy hour that we are here for worship, with angels and saints mingling in our midst for praise of God!

God has been reaching out to us humans since he first created us in the Garden of Eden.  God communicated to humans through the prophets and even sent manna-food from heaven as we heard in the Exodus story today – all signs of God’s intention to have a continual ‘exchange’ between the divine world and our own.  God always wants to be in close relationship with us, but too often we get distracted or too busy to even NOTICE God reaching down from heaven and providing for all our needs on a daily basis.  There are signs of God’s ‘manna’ from heaven still coming down all around us…if we look at life with eyes of faith.

Too often we act like the Israelites, grumbling to God about how he should do things differently, sometimes treating our relationship with God like a one-way cable with cries going upward…, but not paying attention to the ways God is still sending down versions of “manna” to show his care for us.  Did that original ‘manna’ take away the challenges of life in the desert the Israelites were walking through?  No.  The signs of manna God sends into our own daily ‘deserts’ do not take away all suffering… but are meant to remind us of God walks by our side and gives us the strength we need for each new challenge.  But we often want God to just take the ‘desert’ away…and maybe instead give us some kind of tinsel-sparkly “Oz” or Disneyland that could keep us living on some surface of niceties?  As I told the children at Vacation Bible School this week, “each night before you go to bed, write down three things you noticed that day as blessings from God; then add up your list of gratitude for Mass on Sunday!”  Its about training our eyes to become more aware of the ways God still sends down ‘manna’ to help us.

Something very interesting I learned from a family in our parish from Iraq, is that there really is a white ‘substance’ that still forms on the bushes in the Iraqi area, the actual geographical place of Moses and the Israelites stories.  It is a kind of sweet sap that forms on the branches and people collect it to make a creamy, sweet nougat candy they call “mann al-sama.” This fact gives an interesting ‘twist’ on how we think about the connection between the manna given by God to the Israelites…and how we call the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, the new ‘manna’ from heaven.  What if, when we take the host into our mouths, we actually taste a ‘sweetness’ of grace and mercy in the Eucharist?

Jesus refers to himself as the “Bread of Life” sent from God in heaven “to give life to the world.”  The ultimate ‘manna’ that God has sent humanity is the PERSON, Jesus, to feed us with God’s own Self.  The spiritual life is about retraining our thinking and ‘tastes’ to better discern what kind of ‘bread’ my body and soul really need.  That is why we leave it up to God to send us what we truly need when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…”

Like a gothic arch, our prayers reach up to God asking for ‘heavenly bread’ that satisfies our deeper longings for God.  God keeps reaching down from heaven with a ‘menu of manna’ that lists varieties and flavors such as… mercy, love, peace, joy, hope, and faith…true sweet gifts of the Holy Spirit to sustain us through difficult desert days.  Jesus makes it clear that he wants to feed us with his own Self, the “true bread of life that comes from God.”  In our prayer this week, let us ask the Holy Spirit to retrain our eyes as to what we ‘see’ and think we need; and Holy Spirit, retrain our mouths to always hunger for Jesus’s Spirit of Love, fed to us by God…right here in the Eucharist.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

When we were designing our new church building, we worked hard at following the Catholic Church guidelines on making it a prayerful place.  Of the many details, one significant decision, rooted in scripture and tradition, is the placement of the Baptismal Font at the church entrance…and directly in line with the Altar since they are intimately connected.  For us Catholics, we enter into the life of Jesus Christ through baptism… and then process to the Eucharist for the strength needed to live out what it means to ‘say’ that we “belong to Christ.”   Think of the line between the Font and the Altar as a magnetic field of grace…luring us to ‘belong’ to Jesus --- then being fed to become more like Jesus!  “Belong to Jesus…Fed by Jesus…”  All this presided over with the Crucifix and Jesus’ arms stretched out in love!

In that ‘space’ between Font and Altar there are many responsibilities for us who are a part of Christ’s Body.  One particular challenging aspect of being a Christian that Jesus focused on was calling his disciples to be UNITED.  In his final prayer at the Last Supper, he specifically said, “Father, I pray that they may be ONE as you and I are One.”  St. Paul, in his many letters, writes a lot about Jesus’ call for unity… and he reprimands any person who says they follow Christ but cause division.  In our reading from Ephesians today, St. Paul pleads with us “to bear with one another through love, striving for unity through the bond of peace.” This prayer of St. Paul really struck me this week as we know about the kinds of divisions that are taking place not only in our country, but also within our own Catholic Church.  Political ideologies have sadly split us Catholics against one another, and misunderstandings and false rumors about our Holy Father, Pope Francis, have misled good Catholics to ‘give in’ to divisive voices.

It is sad that people will follow some misleading headline in the news or even some self-righteous priest ranting negatively about our pope… while Jesus is praying for unity.  While I want to have an adult education session soon to help people better understand Church teachings and the papacy, the main point that St. Paul prays for us today is that our ‘starting point’ as Christians needs to be a continual working toward a “bond of peace and unity.”  And Paul says that takes “humility, gentleness, and patience…” which are virtues we all need to work on, but especially if we want to contribute to Jesus’ prayer for us to be united as disciples.

I remember one of my professors in the seminary saying to us the week before Ordination, “men, when you promise ‘obedience,’ that means you must for the rest of your life submit your ego and self-righteousness to the teachings of the Gospel, Mother Church and our Holy Father the Pope.”  Maybe it is part of my personality, but I find it actually ‘freeing’ to submit and trust that the Pope knows a million times better than I do…what is best for the Church, to be more united as ONE Body of Christ.  The fact that our Catholic institution has survived for 2000 years is truly a sign that this whole “mother ship” is being led by the Holy Spirit…who can only lead us to unity in Christ. 

St. Paul sets before us a choice to be on Christ’s boat of unity, “urging” us to be “one body, one Spirit” as he reminds us that it is through the waters of the Font that we belong to “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”  Obviously, Jesus knew how difficult it was going to be for all of us to live in peace and unity, so he decides to FEED us with the very substance of UNITY in the Eucharist.  In the sacred Host IS the unity of the Trinity…meant to make us agents of unity ourselves!

When Jesus gathered that large crowd on the mountainside that day and multiplied the loaves to feed everyone, the number 5000 is symbolic of the universal Church spread across our planet.  As the pope has to consider the opinions of 1.3 billion members and another billion Christians of other denominations, St. Paul reminds us that peace and unity start in our own heart.  If St. Paul were here today he would probably boldly ask each of us, “are you contributing to Jesus’ unity in the Church with your words and actions, by what you watch and read?”

In case you haven’t noticed before, listen for the words and phrases in the Eucharistic Prayer and the prayers right before Holy Communion that emphasize Jesus’ prayer for us to know peace and unity.  It is a privilege that God CHOSE you and me…to be a part of God’s Life of unity and peace through Baptism.  When we sometimes doubt if Jesus’ vision and prayer for us to be ONE is a real possibility (?), we can feel like St. Andrew who brings the five loaves of bread but asks, “but what good are these for so many?”  Will my small contribution of peace and unity make a difference?  This miracle story of the multiplication teaches us that we must never tire of bringing our small efforts and acts of peace and unity to Jesus at the Altar…and let Jesus transform and multiply them to help “fill the baskets” toward a universal “bond of peace and unity.”

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jim Deiters

One of the goals of our staff and parish pastoral council is to continue to create new ways of reaching out to parishioners who have not returned to Mass since the onset of Covid.  While we have had a wonderful group of over 150 newly- registered households in the past 18 months who are helping refill our pews, our prayers and concern are for those who tell me they have just “fallen out of the habit” of going to Mass.  For those of us who are here each weekend, it is hard to imagine life without the weekly sustenance of the Eucharist, the True Body of Christ to nourish our heart and soul.  But even before Covid, anytime that I have the opportunity to talk to a Catholic who does not go to Mass, including many in my own family, and ask “why?” the most common response goes something like this: “Our week is so busy and full, we just like to sleep in on Sundays and have a rest day.”  As one who has dedicated his life to the Power of the Eucharist, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around someone thinking they get better “rest” in their home than being fed by the Creator of the Universe here at the Altar.  But that is the reality of where we are at as a culture when statistics show us that nationally, 67 percent Catholics go to Mass just once or twice a year, 20 percent attend once a month, and just 13 percent go weekly.  Before Covid, our parishioner participation was quite higher, with about 40% attending weekly.

I was thinking about these statistics as I prayed over this Gospel in which Jesus recognizes how ‘tired’ his disciples are and assures them that HE is the One who wants to provide the kind of “rest” that we really need.  It is part of our basic human nature to seek out ‘rest’ for our tired bodies and minds.  Everyone, religious or not, needs rest.  But where and to whom we GO for what we THINK is ‘rest’ keeps changing as our culture becomes more secular and self-centered.  We have created for ourselves such a hectic and busy lifestyle that ‘rest’ for many simply means an escape from a constant running around.  “Rest” becomes a ‘pulling back’ from our own created chaos…rather than a going TO Jesus!

And this leads to the key point of all this: the ‘rest’ we really need is not a ‘place’…but a PERSON, Jesus Christ.  As much as we may like our home, our bed, our garden or vacation spot, they can only give us temporary respite or a ‘breather’ from the chaos of life.  There is only One REST, Jesus, who can fully satiate our heart’s deeper restlessness and our body’s exhaustion. 

I love the two opening words of Jesus invitation to his tired disciples, “Come away.”  While Jesus did take them to a place by the water, on a deeper level, he echoes an earlier invitation when he said, “Come to ME, all you are burdened.”  On the surface, the words “come away” seem like we are supposed to go to some ‘place.’  And sometimes, a retreat, a walk, or beach can be the catalyst for the deeper ‘rest’ Jesus wants us to experience IN HIM.  But ultimately, it is only in the Mass, where we are fed with God’s Word and Jesus’ Body…that our body and soul get the replenishment and nourishment we truly need.

This brings us to the type of Shepherd we have in Jesus.  What we learn from today’s Gospel and the one next Sunday is our Good Shepherd Jesus gives us ‘rest’ in two ways: First, the Gospel tells us that when he gathered his disciple-sheep around him, “he taught them.”  Jesus’ Teachings are a key element that the sheep who are creating their own version of ‘rest’ in their homes… are missing!  This WORD of God’s Love and Mercy are Jesus’ way of teaching us what really matters and how to live in this world for the short time we have.  Next Sunday we will hear of the second way we find ‘rest’ in Jesus is through his miraculous feeding of 5000…a precursor to the Eucharist.  Jesus wants to get into our own stomach, flesh, and bones with his own Body in the Sacred Host…so that we literally ingest God’s REST…in what I might call a holy form of ‘opioid’ healing for our troubles and tiredness.

Our Good Shepherd Jesus, looks at us sheep, often worn out and anxious, and invites us to “come away” and find rest IN HIM.  You and I are here today because we believe that Jesus DOES provide what we truly need.  But once he gives us this Holy Hour of ‘rest’ in the Eucharist, he commissions us to go forth from the Mass and actively seek out and invite so many of his other sheep to recognize that the ‘rest’ they thought they could find in other places…will only be found in the Person Jesus, in the Eucharist.  We can inspire others to come back to Mass if they see in our actions and hear in our words just how much ‘rest,’ joy, and love we have received from Jesus here in his Word and Sacrament.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

I finally started delving into a challenging book a friend gave me which is titled, “Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind.”  It is an interesting, but also a very detailed documentary-type overview of how our particular species called ‘sapiens’ developed and survived beyond the other 3 human species such as the ancient Neanderthals that became extinct.  The book is particularly interesting for those who enjoy history, science, or anthropology.  As I’m slowly making my way through its dense, but readable research, of course my strange mind cannot help but read the scientific data through the Christian lens of how the Holy Spirit’s creative hand has been intimately involved in the evolution of our species and all creation.  We adults need to continually help our young people read and listen to stories of history and science with eyes and ears of their Catholic faith so that they learn that God, faith, and science are compatible with each other in their inquisitive minds.

It is important to study and know our personal family of origin history, and the countries and ethnicities of our great-great grandparents that make up our genetics.  It is also interesting to consider that while the books of the bible go back a ‘mere’ 3,500 years, God was already forming homo sapiens some 70,000 years ago!

But, even more powerful… is to have this passage from Ephesians today in which St. Paul takes us back to a time before ‘history’ began…when he uses this spiritual phrase, “before the foundation of the world…God chose you!”  Before the “foundation of the world” was a very, very, very long time ago!  Basically, St. Paul shakes us from our ‘living on the surface’ and is saying, “you are NOT just a blip on the screen of evolution…but an eternal, sacred child of God!”  To think…that you and I were in the mind of God before the “foundation” of it all!

Just in case you arrived here today wondering if God cares about the challenges you are going through, or questioning if your life makes and difference, St. Paul today looks you in the eyes and says, “YOU are sealed with the Holy Spirit,” and “you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,” meaning that you have the Presence and Power of God inside of you!

Since this Ephesians Chapter 1 passage might be one of the most beautiful, encouraging, affirming texts in human literature, we must not let it float over our heads as just another ‘second reading’ on Sunday morning!  I strongly encourage you to mark this passage in your bible, print out the text to have on hand or from the worship aid take a photo of it on your phone after Mass today.  Cut and paste favorite phrases from the passage and place copies of them in several places around your home, memorize it (?), or keep it on your home screen.  Read it throughout the week… perhaps to a teenager who is struggling, to a friend in sadness, to your spouse, or for yourself to bask in for your own quiet prayer time.

My homily is short and simple today, as I am going to close by simply re-reading some short phrases that I chose from this Ephesians passage, this time listening to it as a prayer; I invite us to let these affirming, powerful words of St. Paul guide our hearts into the deeper Mystery of why we are here today to worship and give thanks to God…for creating us into existence.

(close your eyes if you can; or hold your child’s hand and listen with your heart)

You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

You are chosen by God.

You are redeemed from all your sins.

You are lavished with grace.

You are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

You are destined to be with God.

You exist for the praise of God.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

I think there is an irony and a challenge in the fact that, on the same weekend we celebrate the 245th anniversary of our country’s independence from Great Britain, across the other ocean, China is celebrating the 100^th anniversary of communism in their country.  The contrast couldn’t be more stark given our United States founding values of democracy, freedom, and equality.  The difference between democracy and communism has many elements, but a core one is that communism is rooted in FEAR, while democracy is based on freedom. 

The divergence between fear and freedom is actually a choice we have to make daily in the way we view life and other people.  For Christians, every day is “independence day” when we remember that Jesus saved us and calls us to move from fear to freedom, trusting in God’s forgiving love for us.  Especially as followers of Jesus Christ, our first allegiance is to God and his vision for all people to be FREE…seen in the way Jesus forgives people and raises the lowly and poor to new places of dignity.  In his consistent message on love and peace, Jesus taught that no one can have a ‘private’ freedom, if some of God’s children are living in oppression or poverty.  The “Body of Christ” is not fully free when some of God’s children are suffering; thus, we must never tire in working for justice, the dignity of each life, and freedom for everyone.

Since democracy is still a relatively new idea, given the long history of kings, pharaohs, and dictators, perhaps there will always be an element of fear in our country, wondering how long this idea of “dignity and justice for all” will survive.  Especially with some powerful voices continually sowing seeds of fear across our country, our world NEEDS this Word of God and this Sacrament of Love to remind us of our ‘constitution’ of Christianity…with a preamble of peace and justice, the basis for democratic freedoms.

Jesus continually faced some leaders in his own time who observed his teaching voice and healing powers with skeptical fear.  They feared his popularity, his influence, and his new ideas of God’s inclusive love.  Fear blocked them from the freeing love that God wanted to shower upon them.  Fear is a terrible thing…that the healing balm of faith in God can heal.

In this Gospel story, we hear of some people’s fear in the way they couldn’t accept or believe that Jesus, a young man from their own town, could have such power.  The key question they pose to themselves, “Where did he get this power?” is a faith question about Jesus we have to answer for ourselves as well.

Namely, what distinguishes Jesus from all other great prophets or preachers, is that he is completely filled with God’s Holy Spirit!  Jesus is NOT just another man from Galilee, but a human who is also fully GOD!  And once a person accepts that Jesus IS God, and filled with God’s Spirit, then I have no choice but to listen to his teachings and follow his example.  There is a real FREEDOM that comes from submitting my life to a truth that comes from God; there is a freedom from fear when I recognize that Jesus’ teachings and example are the true path to justice and happiness…for myself and others.

It seems that ‘part’ of the increase in fear that is growing across our country, especially our young people, is a misguided search for some other version of truth in the secular ‘gospels’ of YouTube, snapchat, Facebook, or political news channels.  Teaching our young people to screen their ‘searches’ through the lens of Jesus’ teachings…and retraining our own eyes and ears to place this Gospel as our primary platform, will help all of us live in the true FREEDOM and dignity of life that God has in mind for all people.

We need the Holy Spirit for many things, including to help heal us the from the hyperpolarization quagmire we have gotten ourselves into, coming from voices on all sides that elicit fear.  The power of the Eucharist melts any fear…into a faith… that the same Holy Spirit that gave Jesus his powers…now enters into our own heart and soul…to set us free, fill us with God’s Peace, and inspire us to work for justice and freedom for all God’s people.