LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Fr. Jim Deiters

In addition to the Sacred Scriptures giving us hope in times of crisis, we as a Church also have a great treasure in the lives of the saints who model for us how to live steadfastly with faith and trust in God.  We can all use our time well at home by reading or listening online to the stories about some of our great heroes and heroines in the Communion of Saints.  One of these “greats” I have returned to in the past week is St. Augustine of Hippo, who was blessed with incredible intellect and faith way back in the 4^th Century.

One of St. Augustine’s great books is called “City of God” in which he writes about the need to focus on “God’s city” when it can seem like “our city” of the world is falling apart.  Augustine is addressing the fears people felt in his time after the Roman Empire collapsed and it seemed to many like the end times.  Two of his timeless quotes applicable for our own day are these: “Grace is meant to help good people, not to escape their sufferings, but to bear them with a stout heart, with a fortitude that finds its strength in faith.”  Encouraging people to re-evaluate their priorities in times of trouble Augustine writes, “…the earthly city glories in itself, while the Heavenly City glories in God.”  St. Augustine teaches us to use times of distress as an opportunity to do some internal house-cleaning of our soul… and our attachments to things that we use for our securities.  Again, he writes in The City of God, “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.”

I’m not sure what you are doing with your time at home, but one thing I have noticed in myself is that I’ve been experiencing a feeling of ‘self-emptying’ of things that usually keep me ‘busy’ and making me think that I’m important.  Like many of you, my “hands” and life were very full – especially full of all the ‘externals’ that keep us distracted from a real interior life with God.  This forced time to stay home and simplify our daily living challenges us to do an internal search for what’s going on inside…my mind, heart, and soul.  Many people have never experienced just sitting in silence with their thoughts.  We adults aren’t very good at teaching our young people how to be still…since we usually only model keeping busy.

On Ash Wednesday, our very first Gospel of Lent had Jesus talking to us about prayer by telling us to “Go to your inner room” and talk to God there.  During all the restrictions that have been placed on our lives lately, this is also a very BLESSED time to discover, re-visit, or lengthen our time in our “inner room” with God.  I especially want to encourage our teenagers and young adults to use part of every day to simply be quiet… and learn, maybe for the first time… how to just sit with God doing nothing but letting him love you.  In prayer, we have to ‘train’ our bodies to do nothing…but simply BE in the Presence of God.  These days of “self-emptying” can be a holy time to work on this discipline of being still with God.

In our reading today from St. Paul to the Romans, he talks about this by telling us, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  During this time of putting on hold our busy lives, Paul gives us this encouraging reminder, “When you let Christ and His Spirit dwell in you…God will give new life to your mortal bodies.” 

We are two weeks away from Easter, but these scriptures today already invite us to live in the Resurrection and new life that Jesus offers.  Basically, with the weeks we have left of staying home, thoughts about new life and resurrection challenge us to set meaningful goals for our self as to how we will come “out of” this time and experience as a new, more Christ-centered person?  With the image of Lazarus coming out of the tomb, what bindings do I need God to help me leave behind when all this at-home time is over?  What new way will I be more loving and gentler with others?  What things and activities need to be let go of that were keeping me living on the surface of ego-driven importance and pleasure which held me back from my “inner room” time with God?

The Spirit of God DOES dwell within you!  Never forget that.  Spend some time every day with this Holy Spirit of God who is elated to have this sacred time with you.  God’s Spirit is inviting every one of us to come out of this ‘tomb experience’ as new people, living a more meaningful life in Jesus Christ!

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Fr. Jim Deiters

I remember the first time I actually “discovered” the color yellow. I was in first grade and Sister Rosalie brought into the classroom three different flowers from the convent garden....and all the flowers were different shades of yellow.  She spent a whole religion class having us come up close to the flowers and we each had to describe in our own imaginative first-grade words how God created this shade of yellow differently from the others.

It was a simple but profound experience of teaching us to look at life on a deeper level...beyond the surface of the obvious and expected...into the mystery of God's incredible artistic hand at work in every detailed color of creation.  The part of Sr. Rosalie’s lesson that day which stuck with me the most, was when she ended by telling us children that God gave us the color yellow to think about anytime we are afraid.  With two older brothers who loved to scare me and my younger siblings, I had to think about the color yellow a lot in my childhood!

The unimaginable experience of these recent days of dealing with the corona virus has left us somewhat blind...with a sensation that we can't see the best way to live in a world shrouded in fear-filled reports and so many unknowns.  As one lady in a television interview about the virus described her feeling of fear by saying, "the world around me feels very gray."  But most of us are trying hard to look for ‘colors’ of hope through this time of being so isolated from the community.

We each respond to fear differently.  And the fear that many are feeling at this time of uncertainty gives us an opportunity to discover in a new way the diverse ‘colors’ of God's love and care for us.  Since we know that God is always seeking ways to pour his mercy and grace into our lives, every life challenge we face, that can easily evoke fear and anger… is another opportunity for us to LET God show his love for us in new ways...in new color!

Today's gospel story of Jesus healing the man's blindness so beautifully symbolizes the very intimate way that God wants to shine new light to the way we SEE our self, others, and the world around us.  Even the way the healed man TALKS after he was healed by Jesus reveals the connection between how we see and how we respond to life.  As soon as he let Jesus’ healing grace shine through his cornea and onto his retina, not only was his sight changed, his whole vision of his ‘life purpose’ became clearer…as the man began using his life to evangelize and convince others of Jesus’ healing power.

There is something very powerful about having this miracle story of Jesus healing a person’s vision… in this time of world-wide fear and isolation.  The story invites us to take this time of being at home to reflect and pray about our own vision of life; what matters; and how I have been “seeing”…that might need to be corrected by our divine physician, Jesus.  The man born blind thought that his only option was to be a person with a disability.  After a personal encounter with Jesus, he became an evangelizer and WITNESS to the power of God’s Grace in his life!  Moreover, the LIGHT of Christ physically changed the way he saw himself, others, and the world around him.  We have a graced opportunity during this time of being isolated to look deep into and pray about what images and ‘colors’ have been stuck in our eyes and mind that need healed and changed by Jesus.  Will I let the color of fear… blind me to the healing colors of God’s never-ending Grace, love, and mercy? 

I encourage you in your daily prayer this week to simply close your eyes and imagine Jesus touching your eyes – all the way into the inner place of your retina – and let God bring  into your body the calming, hope-filled colors of his Grace and Love.  We all need to let God shine some  new light into our eyes that shows us things are going to be okay. 

I’m not sure where you are watching and praying this Mass with me, but here at St. Clare Church in O’Fallon right now, our long front driveway is lined with bright yellow daffodils in full bloom!  It seems to be God’s way of painting the world with a large swath of color that ‘echoes’ back to the calming Twenty-Third Psalm we prayed together earlier:

 

“The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
beside restful waters he leads me...
Even though I walk in a dark valley…I fear no evil… for You are at my side.
With You Jesus as my Shepherd,
only goodness and kindness will follow me all the
days of my life.”

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
Fr. Jim Deiters

One of my strange forms of entertainment is observing the conversations between parents and children in the grocery store; it covers the spectrum!  In one scene, while the parent was comparing prices of flour, the little girl was using every form of her 5-year-old logic to convince the parent why they needed more cupcake sprinkles to make everyone in the family happier; another time I overheard a little boy reading to his mother from the side of the box of cereal, and with very serious voice, completely making up ingredients that he thought would convince her that the sugar-coated flakes would be good for her.  Little children are hilarious as they are forming their brain synapses of logic.

Depending on if we usually got our way as children or were taught to listen and think about consequences, has a big impact on our adult relationships and how we relate to God.  Overall, most of us like our independence and don’t want others telling us what to do or what is good for us.  And this is a big part of why people turn away from Church teachings or dismiss the bible and God’s Commandments since all three of these tell us to what is best for our life.

For our Second Sunday of Lent, we have these scriptures that describe God in charge and telling us what to do.  Notice four strong verbs in the readings in which God is taking the action; the way these verbs are used challenge us to let God be the guiding force in our life…that we THINK we are in charge of.

While there are many significant elements in the Transfiguration story, what struck me are the verbs that say Jesus “took” the disciples Peter, James, and John…and then “led” them up a high mountain.  Jesus definitely takes the lead in how he forms his disciples.  If you wrote a timeline of your own faith journey, remember the times when Jesus “took” you…and “led” you?  Maybe a time when God led us away from some unhealthy path onto which we had strayed…and then took us to some new possibility?  Do you remember some resistance to God ‘taking’ and “leading” you?  Or maybe you are in the middle of some dark valley and realize how much you really need Jesus to lead you to some new mountaintop?

I remember well the years I was resisting God trying to lead me to the priesthood.  I would let him ‘take’ my hand for a while and then pull back and walk toward a different mountain of what I thought was better.  Looking back, I see how much God led and took me to this vocation that he knew all along was best.  A Christian life of gratitude starts with noticing the times that Jesus “took” and “led” us through life’s uncertainties…to a new mountain we had never imagined for our self.  These two verbs, “took” and “led,” are important parts of our conversion as they require vulnerability and deep faith…to entrust our life each day into the bigger picture of God’s dream for us…that usually is very different from the peer pressures all around us.

The other two verbs in our readings today are commands in the imperative.  In the Genesis reading, God told Abram, “GO forth…” to a place I have in mind for you.  And in the Transfiguration story, it is God’s voice commanding, “LISTEN to my beloved Son.” To follow God’s commands to “Go” and “Listen” raise the obvious questions of “where am I GOING?” and “to whom or what am I LISTENING?” 

There are so many things pushing us to ‘go’ at a frantic pace; but where are we really “going?”  When God tells Abraham to “GO,” it is a call to leave behind what is familiar, what is comfortable and keeps me complacent. Life in God has no room for complacency…since it requires self-sacrifice and always moving toward some unfamiliar land of serving God and others in new ways.  Am I going toward holiness and trusting that the unfamiliar path where God is leading me will take me to some new mountain of being transfigured more and more into Jesus?

It is hard to know which path in life to ‘go’ down if we aren’t practicing the other action of “listening” to the quiet voice of God in the Scriptures and inside of us.  Listening to the voice of Jesus will push our conscience and tug at our heart to keep all our life choices in line with the sound of Jesus’ compassion, non-violence, and generous welcome of the stranger.  Am I really listening to the voice of God’s Son Jesus… about my salvation and how I treat others? 

Coming forward for Com-union with Jesus…means we must be willing to be “led” and “taken” by Jesus to be transfigured and changed into his way of life.  Com-union with Jesus means we will better “listen” to his commands of love…and “go” from a life of familiarity and complacency…to an unfamiliar yet beautiful garden of fuller life in God.

LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Fr. Jim Deiters

This week we Catholics will celebrate the feast day of the amazing St. Katherine Drexel.  She was born in Philadelphia into the very wealthy Drexel family in the late 1800’s.  After her parents died, as a young woman she inherited a mass fortune and felt called to use her wealth to create schools for the poor Native American Indians and blacks she met while traveling in the south, including the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first all-black college in the United States.  What inspires me about Katherine Drexel is that she let God use her life to change how people thought about women, the role of wealth, and the cycle of poverty.

Most injustices stem from some sinful cycle that keeps repeating itself by people who aren’t willing to do the hard work of changing social structures causing the problem.  St. Katherine spent her life trying to break three sinful cycles of… restrictions put on women; the cycle of wealthy people keeping it for themselves; and the cycle of poverty that exists among blacks and Native Americans.  St. Katherine Drexel’s holy example challenges each of us to examine which sinful cycles we sometimes participate in or look the other way.

With St. Katherine in mind, these readings for our First Sunday of Lent call us to look more specifically at the kinds of temptations that can lead to “cycles” of sin.   From a cultural perspective, people often won’t use the word “sin” since it might sound judgmental.  But “sin” IS the reality for anytime we make choices that are against God’s Commandments or act contrary to being our ‘best self’ as made in God’s Image and Likeness.  “Cycles of sin” happen on both a personal level and on a social dimension; and as we just heard in the story of Jesus’ own temptations, the devil is very cunning in trying to deceive us into choices which he makes to appear like they’re good for us.

On a personal level, the cycle of sin begins when we think that one little ‘bite of the fruit’ won’t hurt us.  It quickly becomes a cycle or pattern as the memory of the experience lies to our brain that the second morsel of pleasure won’t do any more harm.  St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that the importance of Jesus himself being tempted by the devil is to show us that there is a WAY to say NO to the temptation.  Jesus BROKE THE CYCLE of ‘giving in’ as our only option.  Before Christ, starting with Adam and Eve, temptation for us humans seemed too powerful to say “no” to.  Aquinas goes on to say that just as Jesus went THROUGH death to show us a new ‘resurrected life’ beyond it, so too, by going THROUGH the temptations and rejecting them, Christ shows us how to break the cycle of sin.

On a social dimension, the cycles of temptation and sin gets even more complicated as we are often not even aware of how our choices…in what we purchase or invest in are contributing to the cycles of poverty or other injustices.  The temptation is to simply buy what the advertisement says we need…and invest in what makes me the most money; and not take the time to see how my choices are impacting others, especially the poor making the clothes, or the investment that might be harming God’s planet earth.

The first “cycle of sin” that Eve and Adam introduced to humanity is that of blaming others.  First Adam blamed God for the woman God put in his life, then he blamed the woman for giving him the fruit.  While the story highlights the origins of sin as selfishness, we often miss the main point of the Creation Story which is the original GOODNESS that God created in us and all around us.  The ‘big bang’ of God’s explosion of love into creation…ALL started out as GOOD!

God’s original ‘cycle’ was to be a world pattern of beauty, love, and goodness.  God breathed life into us…and then placed us in the middle of his beautiful garden of the cosmos.  God meant for beauty and love to be re-generated through us!  “Sin” is when we give in to temptations that are not part of God’s cycle of pure love; and instead we feed the cycle of blame and self-gratifying behaviors.

Sin spreads like a virus, and cycles of selfishness persist, each time we mistakenly think that our small life can’t make a difference or that our choices aren’t affecting anyone.  Part of the devil’s lie is for us to think our sin is private.  Jesus shows us how to recognize sinful temptations as lies against our original goodness and holiness and purpose as God’s son or daughter.  The first step to holiness is to recognize any ‘cycle’ of sin that I’m caught up in that is keeping me from the fullness of life God wants for us.

With St. Katherine Drexel and all the saints around the Altar with us in this Eucharist, we ask for God to breathe new life into our nostrils once again…so that the breath of the Holy Spirit will help to say NO to our cycles of sin…and be more engaged in God’s cycle of love, creativity, and new life in Christ Jesus.

LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Fr. Jim Deiters

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Ireland.  When I asked him about some highlights, of course he had a great pub story.  He saw a shelf above the Guinness tap that was strangely lined with Bud Light bottles and so he asked when the Irish began drinking that?  The bartender said, “Oh, we start serving that in a couple weeks since we only drink it during Lent.”  We Catholics sometimes have a pretty funny list of things to give up for Lent.  Like when one of our 6^th-graders told me last year that he was giving up the video game “Minecraft” for Lent, I gave a dramatic gasp and said, “wow that’s a big sacrifice!” Then he said, “Well, not that big… since I have two other favorite videos I’m NOT giving up.”

Since we begin the holy season of Lent in just a few days, I’m going to use my homily time as sort of a ‘study hall’ since most of us won’t make time to really ‘study’ what we need to do or give up for Lent.  Basically, in these bible passages we just heard are three virtues that provide some GOALS for Lent… and our ultimate goal of being Easter people throughout the year.

Three primary words and ideas that come from these texts today for our pre-Lent ‘study hall’ are these: Holiness, Non-Violence, and Love.  The three are intimately connected.  From Leviticus, the Lord says, “be holy…as I am holy” and St. Paul just reminded us, “Since you are a temple of God, you are holy.” Then from the Gospel, flowing from holiness, Jesus teaches that his disciples must live the two virtues non-violence and love.

Lent is a time to not just make temporary sacrifices, but to create new patterns and habits that help us live these three virtues of Holiness, Non-Violence, and Love.  Our ‘study hall’ today and over the next few days before Ash Wednesday, challenge us to reflect on what needs to change in our life to be better practitioners of these three virtues for which Christ lived and died. 

Study Hall question #1: What’s going on in my life that is not holy?  We know the answer to this, but don’t want to face the problem…as we often justify some behaviors that we know are wrong but keep doing anyway.  It starts with being honest with our self and God; then we need a very specific strategy to make permanent changes in whatever keeps leading me to this unholy habit.  First Lenten virtue to strive for: naming what is not holy and, with prayer, creating new strategies to permanently eliminate it.  “You are a temple of God…be holy.”

Study Hall question #2: In what area of my life do I need to grow in Jesus’ example of non-violence?  Most of us don’t think of our self as ‘violent,’ but often our words or thoughts turn to revenge or hurtful words toward someone who has offended us. This can lead to toxic resentment.  Especially in our divisive political climate where some leaders openly display their revenge, more than ever we Christians must reject that…and cling to our roots in Jesus’ life of radical non-violence… and beware of how vengeance easily slips into our reaction to hurts and hate.  To come out of Lent with a greater “love of our enemies” and “praying for those who hurt us” is no simple giving up chocolate for 40 days!

Study Question #3 for Lent: In what parts of my life do I simply need to be more loving?  Love and forgiveness go together…and require generosity.  Set a Lenten goal of being as magnanimous as God – choosing to live in a state of LOVE in every situation; love means GENEROUSLY making time to be a better listener, generously helping before being asked, and generously forgiving something I hold on to.  Lent Goal #3: Forgive, be generous, and love beyond what you thought you were capable of.  It is so freeing!

Three study questions…and three scriptures to guide us to…holiness, non-violence, and love.  Then Lent becomes what it is meant for: a conversion time to grow in God’s peace, joy, and new life in his abundant grace.  It takes commitment, sacrifice, prayer, and an openness to what the Holy Spirit has in mind for us… in order that the 40-days of Lent don’t become a swapping out one pleasure for a different one.  To grow in holiness, non-violence and love are not easy goals.  But as we make this journey together… INTO the Cross of dying to self…Jesus proves that it leads to a Resurrection into a new life in God that is so much deeper, richer, and more meaningful…which we call Easter!

Let us approach this Eucharist for guidance and strength… to listen and follow through with the changes in our life to which the Holy Spirit is calling us.

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

When I’m in the classroom with my 7^th Grade students for Church History, I’m always trying to help them see the connection between the bible stories and their own life.  As they prepare for Confirmation next year, I especially want them to realize the same Holy Spirit of Pentecost and who has sustained the Church through many difficult times, comes into THEM in the Eucharist to help them with their struggles.  Recently we were talking about St. Paul and how the Holy Spirit used his life to bring Christianity to the Greek Gentiles.  During these weeks of Ordinary Time, we are reading from Paul’s letter he wrote to the community he founded in the town of Corinth, which is about an hour west of Athens.  Paul lived in Corinth for a while as a tentmaker and during his many sojourns to other parts of Greece and present-day Turkey, Syria, Bulgaria, and Albania, he wrote these letters back to the Corinthians, saved as some of our earliest Christian texts.  What is unique in these letters is how God used Paul’s great intelligence and faith to explain ‘who God is’ to the Greeks who were trained in philosophy and mythology.  Paul had to use a different approach and vocabulary than how the other Apostles were explaining the Mystery of Christ as God’s Son to those of Jewish background or those with little education.

And thus we have this rich text of Paul’s letter to the Greek people in Corinth in which he acknowledges the great thinking of philosophers and orators of their day; but then invites those who want to go deeper and seek an even higher level of wisdom…to accept and believe this new way that God has revealed a wisdom beyond this world…in the Person of Jesus Christ.  Basically, Paul is telling us that if we base our choices on the true Wisdom of Jesus, our life will look very different from the world around us.  As Christians, Jesus commands that we think and treat one another very differently than how our world leaders think and act.  This of course puts us in a daily predicament of which ‘wisdom’ we will follow – our culture’s ideas… or Jesus’ commandments of love, forgiveness and inclusion.

I think this is so relevant to our own times, in which young people and people of all ages are getting sucked into ideologies and various “philosophies” that become their god, instead of the real Wisdom of Jesus Christ.  Many good-hearted Christians are caving into what Paul calls “worldly wisdom” in which people in power teach the selfish philosophy of “I can do anything I want, regardless of how it affects others” …and other lies that only think about ME and MY bank account. 

And yet in the Gospel we just heard, we have Jesus himself giving us commandments that specifically call us to base our moral life in relationship to how we treat others…and stop thinking only about our self.  Of course, this contradicts the “worldly wisdom” we breathe into our body and pollutes our lungs, heart and mind… which were consecrated for God in baptism.  We will hear more about this next Sunday when Paul continues by asking us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of God?” And as temples of the Holy Spirit, Paul says that our life and values will probably look foolish to the people around us. 

Basically, at some point in our spiritual journey, we must decide how we will live out our ‘foolishness’ for Christ.  Living by the wisdom of Jesus will seem silly and strange at different times in our life.  A high school or college student choosing to remain chaste and pure will be laughed at; a married couple who designs their home and family around Christ’s teachings won’t ‘fit in’ with many of their peers; a young man who follows a calling to the priesthood will be questioned by many; and a person who chooses to live simply to give more away for the Church and the poor --- are all following a “wisdom” not of this world at all!

As the Book of Sirach challenged us in the first reading, each person must make a CHOICE…daily really, about whether the commandments and teachings of Jesus really are the Truth and Way to happiness and eternal life…or not.  St. Paul tries to help us in this choice we must make by reminding us that everything around is “passing away” and means nothing in comparison to a life in God… which of course, determines what happens and where we go when we take our last breath.

One of the main reasons that Jesus tells us to eat his Body and Blood is that he wants to physically get the Wisdom of his Holy Spirit into our own body and blood to guide us through the many tough choices we must make about what to do with the short life we have.  The first choice we must make is to really BELIEVE that this is Jesus we are about to receive when we take the sacred host into our bodies.  Such a belief and action are certainly NOT a wisdom of this world.   Com-union means we unite our self to Jesus… and commit to making all our choices in life…solely on what Jesus teaches and models for us.  St. Paul basically leaves us with a philosophical and moral question: “whose ‘wisdom’ are you following in your life choices?”

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

The amazing lives of the saints are one of our richest treasures we have as Catholics.  Their stories lead many people to convert to Catholicism and bring back those who have strayed from the sacraments once they read about these incredible witnesses to Christ.  One of these saints we honor this week is St. Josephine Bakhita, who originated from Sudan in Africa in the late 1800’s and suffered greatly once she was sold into slavery at just eight years of age.  She served as a slave girl for five different owners, the last being Northern Italy, where she met some Religious Sisters who taught her for the first time about Jesus and his love for her; she converted to Catholicism and joined those Religious Sisters and began telling her story of slavery and abuse to help others who suffer from what we now call human trafficking.  St. Josephine Bakhita’s feast day is on February 8^th and is the day that Pope Francis set aside for all Catholics to pray for and take action against the horrific sin of human trafficking that has over 25 Million people still living in this modern-day version of slavery that is hidden from our eyes since the victims are forced to live in secrecy from threat of death by the owner.

This horror shockingly exists within the United States, as several hundred thousand people in our country live as hidden slaves, either in forced labor or sexual exploitation in the pornography industry.  Pope Francis’ challenge for us to take this crisis seriously comes to mind for me as I have been reflecting on this Gospel passage in which Jesus tells us to be “salt” and “light” for the world.  Like other times in Jesus’ call for “all-in-discipleship,” we are challenged to think about specific ways we can be God’s salt and light for the world.  Young people will continue to walk away from their Catholic faith if they don’t see us adults living our faith in concrete, passionate ways that stand out from the blurry but flashy selfish culture around us.

Whether our personal passion is for the dignity of migrants, the lives of unborn babies, the poor in our own region, those with addictions, or those trapped in human trafficking, we each have to discern some way that our life will be real ‘salt’ that gives our world a different flavor than the sickening diet of self-gratification. 

The images Jesus uses of salt and light challenge us to remember that our life is always in relationship with the community around us and the world at large…since both salt and light change that to which they are applied!  As a matter of fact, I think the most important part this call from Jesus are the two words that come before the metaphors, when he says “You ARE…”  These are strong words in the imperative to remind us that Jesus is not simply making a ‘suggestion’ of what our life could be about…but rather telling us what we are to BE!  In other words, “BE what you are!”  In this short command, Jesus give a strong blow to any religion that is purely personal and private.  Jesus is telling us that we have a power given to us from God to BE a change agent.  Since we already possess the Spirit’s gifts as Jesus’ disciples, we are not being told to “just try harder to be like salt and light…, but rather, BE the salt and light that you already are!”  Do you see the difference?

Now, since the scriptures throughout the year give us lot of images of being God’s “light,” let’s focus instead on the unique image of “salt” and examine what that looks like in our daily living.  In our prayer this week, we can first give thanks for the ways that God is using our life as ‘salt’ to bless the lives of others; and then pray to get rid of any false ideas, or Satan’s lie, that my life does not have much ‘flavor’ for the world.  Jesus tell you and me today, “You ARE the salt I created for my Kingdom.”

Before Josephine Bakhita discovered that her life had dignity and meant for spreading God’s Joy and Love, she grew up thinking her life was useless and to be abused by others.  It took her many years to really believe that her life had worth and that God needed her to be salt and light for others who suffer abuse.  As a matter of fact, tragically, the only salt that she knew as a young woman was the painful salt rubbed into the many cuts her slave masters slashed all over her body to mark her as a nobody.  With God’s Grace, she turned her humiliation into a life that has blessed and seasoned millions of lives who have sought her intercession to help them see their own life as beautifully created by God and for God. 

Here in the Eucharist, the blood of Christ washes over us and flows into us…in order that we are transformed more and more into Jesus.  And the more we ARE God’s salt and light in the world, more and more people will “see our good works” and join us in “giving Glory to God!”

LISTEN TO THIS HOMILY
PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
Fr. Jim Deiters 

We humans have a very long intimate relationship with bees.  Bees have so much to teach us about living in community, selflessly working together, and spending one’s life for a greater good. Images found in the caves of Spain and Egyptian tombs show humans collecting honey back to 8000 BC.  The Romans started creating candles from beeswax back in 3000 BC.  It is from our Jewish ancestral history that we Christians started using beeswax candles in our worship, as the Jewish rituals included candles to signify the presence of God in their midst.  Early Christians began using candlelight to represent Jesus as God’s Light for the world; and today’s feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple invites us to celebrate the ancient role of candlelight in our prayer and processions.

The link between bees, candles, and Jesus as our Light begins with the beautiful prayer we just heard from our ‘great-great-great-great grandfather’ named Simeon.  The moment he laid eyes on the baby Jesus in the Temple that day, Simeon was inspired to proclaim him as “a light for the Gentiles, and glory for God’s people Israel.” Like all Jews, Simeon had been waiting for a Messiah whom they believed would bring God’s Light to a world of darkness.  I wonder how many times Mary and Joseph retold this story to their child Jesus…reminding him that he is to be God’s Light for others.  Eventually it formed him into how he thought of his life and mission, as many years later he describes himself, “I am the Light of the world; and those who follow me will have the light of life.”

On one level, this beautiful story of Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna and Jesus is a powerful lesson for parents and grandparents…as to what words and images we imbed inside the minds and hearts of our children about who they really ARE and what their purpose in life is all about.  Simeon, and our ‘great-great-great grandmother’ Anna first planted in Jesus’ ears that his life was not his own…but meant for doing God’s work…in bringing God’s light and life to others.  The adults in Jesus’ life made a huge impact on how he thought about himself, others, the poor, and the world.  Every child is a sacred sponge that absorbs tremendous amounts of the words and examples of the adults surrounding them.

In a similar vein, each one of US, is a child of God… as God tries daily to put into our ears and heart His beautiful vision for our life.  Through this sacred Word, the Sacraments, and God’s inspiring creation all around us, God continually implants in us his calling and hope for our life to reflect Jesus’ Light and Life.

Especially in our world with dark voices of hate and lies, dark divisions within humanity, and dark reminders of how climate change is damaging our sacred planet, more than ever we need to gaze into the hopeful LIGHT of Jesus to be our guide through these scary times.  God created us to be a mirror of Jesus’ Light…whose radiant beams of love always seek to end division and exclusion…and draw humanity back together as one Body of Christ.

The Good News is that we already possess Jesus’ Light inside of us through our baptism into his life.  The question is whether I believe that…and realize what I’m supposed to DO with this light of Christ inside of me?  At the end of each day we must examine our conscience and ask our self…where and how I did I reflect Jesus’ Light in my words and actions today?  Did I contribute to darkness and division…or light and life?

From my earliest childhood memories of the Mass, I was fascinated with the candles flickering around the Altar and tabernacle.  I remember the Religious Sisters in school telling us that if we start to get fidgety or bored during Mass, stare into the candlelight and invite Jesus’ light to come inside us.  The Sisters were like the prophetess Anna to me…pointing out ways to continually recognize Jesus’ Light in our self and our world.

Every Mass is a feast of "Presentations;" through the symbols of bread and wine, we present our life, as broken as it is, to God.  Then Jesus takes our life and presents us to God in heaven!   Are you ready to be taken into heaven this morning to be forgiven and fed with the Bread of Life?  Whether we are teachers, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or teenagers in the pew…, like bees busy working for a common goal, collecting and spreading the pollen of God’s Grace, we must continually use our life to BE the Light of Christ in our world…and invite others to know how this Light of Christ can enrich their life beyond measure.