Being One Church

My friend Chris wrote me a letter after reading my blog were I mentioned him. He gave me permission to use his letter. (See "I Challenge You, Deacon Bill") In it he wrote:

“I left the Catholic Church when I realized the child sex scandal was real and that the Catholic Church struggled and still struggles with taking full responsibility for this perversion. I am a broken man who sins everyday and as such I could no longer look to the Catholic Church as my moral leader.”

As a minister of the Catholic Church, I deeply regret and apologize for the sins associated with it.  But, these are human failings not the failing of the Church.

We all struggle with sin; the biggest struggle is to recognize our sin. I am a sinner and as I grow in Christ, I recognize my sins even more. I recently visited Chicago. Walking downtown, I was repeatedly asked for a handout. I know that some are frauds, but some need help. I didn't know who to help, so I didn't leave my room the last night in Chicago; and, in this, I sinned.

St. Paul says Philippians 1:15-18

“Some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, others from good will. The latter act out of love …; the former present Christ out of selfish ambition, not from pure motives….  What difference does it make as long as in every way whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice. Indeed I shall continue to rejoice.”

My friend Chris and I have the same beliefs and that was the whole point of that blog. It is not the differences that make us Christian but Christ proclaimed that makes us the same. It is the love and peace that he gives us to share with the world. It is a mission we share to bring Christ to the world.

Chris also says,

“I became a Christian in the fall of 2005.  Before this time I merely attended church services every Sunday in Catholic and Lutheran churches out of obligation in place of desire or purpose.”

“I began to feel a relationship to Jesus and God like never before.  It was a personal relationship.  I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and I realized he died for my sins and on and on and on.  I no longer looked at God as a disciplinary figure but that of a friend, a counselor and someone I can always go to for comfort.  In essence I became a “Born Again” Christian.”

To be "born again" means true conversion. Someone who is truly "born again" in the Holy Spirit as Christ promised under goes true conversion. This baptism in the Holy Spirit allows us to witnesses by our lives. It is not to argue who is right or wrong or what apostle we follow because we follow Christ and realize that in Christ we are all saved.  The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see Christ in every other person, no matter how hidden. However, as St. Paul warns there are those false teachers who corrupt Christ for their own agenda.

I became Roman Catholic through the witness of several very holy men. I studied the Catechism and made my decision to become Catholic as an adult. It is where I heard the whisper that is the voice of God speaking to my heart. After being a passive Christian for years, now I truly feel the Holy Spirit at work in me and I am able to see Christ in those I serve.

This week, a young woman had a baby. There were some problems and the baby was placed in neo-natal ICU. The young woman’s grandmother, a woman of devout faith and a Baptist, asked if she wanted their pastor to visit. She said she wanted Jennifer’s daddy (Deacon Bill) to come and pray with her for her baby. The grandmother asked me to come. Visiting the young woman and baby, I prayed over them and then offered a blessing for both. But really, it was a blessing to me.

There are differences out there that keep us from being one in Christ. This difference does not exist in the Church Christ desires. We are to be Christians, one in Christ and this is our creed, one holy catholic church.

A spiritual director told me once to be a servant and soldier of the Church that is Jesus Christ, the Church of all believers, not a Church of bricks and stone. So to my friend Chris, to myself, and to everyone, let's strive for this.

Reflection 30th Sun: (Love) It Gives You the Strength to Carry On

 Exodus 22:20-26  Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51  1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10   Matthew 22:34-40

There is an old song call “Love, What’s it all about.”  One of the verses is “(Love) It gives you the strength to carry on.” The song is by the “Bar-Kays”.

Carrying-on would have been a concern of mine if I was a Jewish person at the time of Jesus. Christians think of 10 commandments. There are 613 commandments in the Jewish Law.

These 613 commandments, what’s it all about?  No worry, Jesus makes them simple.

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Simple, but, loves complicated? How can something so complicated give me strength to carry-on? Let’s uncomplicated it and look at love simply. 

Bill B. is my boss, mentor, friend, and also a diaconate candidate in the Diocese of Atlanta. My company had a meeting this week; in it we discussed how to improve a company’s driving records; how to make it simple. Bill Boyd explained safe driving like this:

o       Drive the speed limit,

o       Put down the cell phone, and

o       Keep both hands on the wheel.

 I told him I was going to take that and explain love. 

Let’s love simply. Love in what we do and say can be found in three basic things:

o       Is it kind?

o       Is it necessary?

o       Is it true?

Since I borrowed this idea, let’s look at love as being a safe driver.

Love is kind is like driving the speed limit. Speeding does nothing for the other person. It is only for the person speeding. In fact, speeding endangers everyone; the person speeding and all the innocent people around them. It’s not kind.

Exodus does not call it speeding, but we learn about asking the question “Is it kind?” -

o       Don’t oppress the alien in your land,

o       Don’t wrong a widow or orphan,

o       Return the cloak taken as a pledge

Love is necessary is like putting down that cell phone. Is it really necessary to talk on the phone while you’re driving at 70 mph? God created us to love him and love each other. That's the only thing that's necessary. Jesus said it – Love God with all that you are; Love your neighbor as yourself. Too many people love themselves more than they love God and others. That’s like talking on the cell phone, ignoring the world, ignoring traffic; you are the only important thing.

Love is true is keeping both hands on the steering wheel; so your path is true. We can call this true path faithfulness. God’s love is true and faithful to us. This is the love that Jesus taught. To stay on the road, you have to work at it, keep both hands on the wheel. You have to work to stay true to love. It is easy to stray and become unfaithful and you run off the road.

Paul tells the Thessalonians they are true in their faith. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord. With joy from the Holy Spirit; you became a model for all the believers.”

These are simple. There’s more to safe driving than don’t speed, put down the phone, and keep both hands on the wheel; just like there is more to love than: is it kind, is it necessary, and is it true? They are only simple things that can make us better.

So, Love, what’s it all about? Jesus simplifies things – If we love God with all that we are and love our neighbor, then all the other 613 commandments of the law will fall into place. 

In Jesus Christ, love is simple. Before we speak and before we act, ask these questions:  Is it kind?   Is it necessary?   Is it true? Everything else comes from that.

The love that Jesus taught: “It gives you the strength to carry on.”

Christian Flash Fiction: The Credit Card Machine (A Modern Parable)

“Once he was useless to you, now he is useful both to you and to me” (Philemon 1:11)

The warm donut smell escaped past the sign reading:

Credit-Debit Card Machine Broken

Cash or Check Only

The shop owner busily works both the drive up window and counter. With each customer, she pleasantly informs them before they order, “I’m sorry: my credit-debit card machine is down, I can only take cash or check. Is that OK?”

The five people in line and those at the window in turn are told the same, as she fairly alternates between the two. Finally, she tells the person in front of me the same pleasant tale.

The young woman says, “No problem,” and orders eight different things; asking for separate bags and that each be warmed.

To pay for the donuts, she pulls out a card.

The nice donut lady, “I’m sorry, but I can’t take credit-debit cards only cash or check, my machine is broken.”

“Yes, I know; but, this is a check card.”

She left mad and without donuts. 

A beautiful lady smiles at me, “I’m sorry: my credit-debit card machine is down, I can only take cash or check. Is that OK?”

I Challenge You Deacon Bill

When people find out that I am a Catholic Deacon, they want to debate me. It seems to be especially true if they are a fallen away Catholic and attending church in a different denomination. Then they really want to debate me. This week I met a man who had that goal. 

I will not use his name. He said he was raised Catholic. He identified himself as a strict Calvinist. Then he asked me if I knew what that meant. 

“Yes, I was raised Southern Baptist and that is a pretty Calvinist denomination.”

“Well I believe you are saved by faith,” he challenged.

I said, “I do, too, but do you really have a true faith if you do not have works.”

“Where is that in the Bible?”

I said, “James.” 

His answered, “That’s what I thought.”  

I replied, “Yes, it says that in the Bible, but it also says that it is through Christ we are saved.”

I did not want to debate him. I know there is no doctrine in the Catholic Church about working your way into heaven. But sadly, many people believe otherwise and they will argue about it.

In the Bible, the works that Jesus and the writers are speaking against are the works of the Jewish law. One of my favorite works they speak against is circumcision. These people did works of the law not for love of God but for false piousness. These were the works of the scribes and Pharisees. We are to do better. Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom on heaven.” (Mt 5:20)

Works of love and works of faith are good things. They are important.  Works done to glorify God and in the name of Christ Jesus are a natural result of a true conversion of heart and baptism in the Holy Spirit. Our works are not to rob God of his glory but to give God glory. Jesus says, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:16) or Paul tells us “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”(Eph 2:10)  Jesus tells us the importance of works “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 7:21), and “I will give to each of you as your works deserve.” (Rev 2:2)

Works are important, if you disagree which one of the works that Christ asks of us is not important:

• Love, 
• Forgiveness, 
• Obedience, 
• Faithfulness, 
• Evangelization, 
• Witness, 
• Belief.

Or maybe, the works we should forget are these, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’"(Mt 25: 35-37)

Later that day, my friend Chris told me that he was once raised in the Catholic Church but now he considers himself just a Christian. He was excited to tell me about how his Church was trying to bring more men to Christ by focusing ministries specifically for men. That’s works and by the Calvinist definition I was challenged with - Catholic.

I think I can work to glorify God by praying for those who work for Christ like Chris and his church.  I think I can work to glorify God by praying for those who persecute me. These works won’t get me into heaven, but the One who opened my heart to do his work will.

Homiletic Reflection 29th Sunday: Repaying the Gift.

Is 45:1, 4-6;  Ps 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10;  1 Th 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21

(Inspired by Bishop Michael Duca & Fr. John Speekman)

In today’s reading, the Pharisees ask for Jesus’ opinion.

Seriously, are they really asking the Son of God for his opinion?

Jesus never offered an opinion, not a single, solitary one. Jesus is the truth. Even the Pharisees knew that Jesus only spoke God's truth; but, they still only asked his opinion.

Opinions are sometimes human’s most treasured possessions. However, they belong on the others side of the river from absolute truth. 

Opinions can verify our own thoughts. Opinion can warp the truth.

People flaunt them and parade them around because it is what we want to hear. People become rich because their opinion is given great value. 

Opinion is something we have and we offer from our human experience; not something that God offers. Our opinions no way oblige God or hinder the declaration of truth.

Jesus doesn’t give an opinion. He doesn’t attack those who naively asked for his opinion. 

Jesus gives them fact –

You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me?

This was not Jesus condemning or calling the Pharisees bad names. He was sent to save us. Even these words anticipate this loving purpose. 

Then Jesus gives the truth.

Repay (give back) to God what belongs to God.

Let us look at that truth - What are we giving to God? God gave us creation. God gave us life. Most importantly, God gave us Jesus.

Like the coin stamped with the image of Caesar, we are stamped with the image of God on our soul. Isaiah points out that God grasps us by our right hand, all of us.

In his October reflection Be a Witness for Life, Bishop Duca points out how creation and life can given back to God:

“We must unashamedly be witnesses for Life. We are people of the Light and of the Life and that should be evident in our witness.”

Our witness to God’s greatness given in our ordinary and everyday lives is the gift we give back to God. It is the little things we do that defend creation that are a gift to our creator.

We also need to remember that Jesus Christ is God's greatest gift to us.

Jesus Christ is the Light. He is the Father’s gift that promises eternal life.

That is why ‘to give back to God what belongs to God’, is to give back to the Father the totally pleasing gift of his only begotten Son, Jesus.

This gift is made in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are to participate in this gift as often as possible. This is our witness.

Our greatest gift is our witness to the Light and Life given by God.

Our gift is not found in our opinion, but, the truth that Jesus told. Only those who know the truth of Christ’s love can give that love. Only those who know the truth of God’s mercy can give his mercy. God holds our right hand and God is stamped on our soul.

In that truth, think about how we give back to the one who gave us everything.

Friday Daily Mass Reflection: It's Not About Big Screen TVs

Ephesians 1:11-14 / Luke 12:1-7 (Inspired by a Fr. Stephen Yim)

Every year you hear the stories of "Black Friday." The after Thanksgiving sale when people line up to be the first  to try to buy the limited number of big screen TVs on sale. If people fall down or can’t resist the push of the crowd, they are run over. 

I don’t particularly like crowds, especially crowds that are so big you feel like a sardine in a can. That's why I avoid this day. So many people in such a tight spot can be over-whelming. We become just a spot in a mass of humanity.

Think about those who followed Jesus. He fed 5000 and then 4000 and that was just the men. He performed miracles; he healed the sick. He raised the dead. That's better than a big screen TV.

If we were there following Jesus, could we have possibly felt like anymore than leaf on a river? We would have been carried along by the tide of humanity that followed Jesus. Swirling about, all over the place?

So many people in the crowed that followed Jesus must have felt this way. In the gospel, we hear that people gathered by the thousands and were trampling on one another.

The weak were shoved out of the way. They were stepped on by the strong or pushed to the back. The stronger was always pushing forward. Eventually, pushed away, the weak would have no chance of seeing or hearing Jesus; no chance to praise him, ask for his help, or even touch his garment.

No one is forgotten in God's sight, especially the weak. God cares for the least, the last, the lost and the lowly.

Jesus teaches. “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed.” In the 1st reading, we learn that each of us, weak and strong, “exist for the praise of his glory.”   

We don't have to push and shove others out of our way or trample upon them to prove our worth.  “What you have whispered . . . , will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

We are worth more than many sparrows and even big screen TVs. To prove this, Jesus even sacrificed His life on the cross to show us our worth.

Even, when we feel we are lost or the least or the last; let us not be afraid. God will not run over us. He has not forgotten us and He never will.

28th Sunday Homily Reflection: Leisure Suits & Spaghetti Dinner

Isaiah 25:6-10a, Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6, Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22:1-14

A couple of weeks ago, I read the readings. I went and sat in a quite place and asked God to give me a message. 

God spoke to me, “Leisure suits.”

Y’all are looking and me and saying “huh?”  I did too.

But God spoke to me in an image I just couldn’t get out of my head, “leisure suits.” And I said, God I don’t understand; but, I trust you. I just kept asking myself “Why leisure suits?”

The gospel reading is about a wedding feast of the King. The King is God, the first people to be invited represent the people of Israel, but they are too busy. They don’t come to the feast. The King then sends his servants to the marketplace were everyone gathers: Jews, Gentiles, poor, sinners, men, and women. The servants invite everyone to the King’s feast.

We then learn that one of the guests at the feast is without the right garment. The King is offended and the guest is bound and cast out into the darkness.

For a week and a half I’m thinking, God, am I supposed to say you can be thrown out of the feast for wearing a leisure suit.

Then Tuesday morning, I was laying in a bed in a hotel in Nashville Ten; listening to the rain. and God shows me his message. And surprise - it begins with leisure suits.

How many remember leisure suits? Polyester pants with a shirt style jacket put together with a patterned polyester shirt. The shirt collar was wide to cover the jacket collar and the sleeves long enough so the cuffs could be folded back up over the cuffs of the jacket. 

In 1976, if you had a leisure suit, you were cool.  My best friends were Ricky and Mike. We came from similar families. We weren’t rich; our fathers worked hard and our moms took care of us. We had part-time jobs. We hunted together, fished together, ate pizza together, and were in the same classes.

Being football players, we had to dress up and a leisure suit was perfect. And, did I mention; if you had a leisure suit you were cool.

Ricky had a green leisure suit. Mike had a royal blue leisure suit and some of the highest platform shoes you could get. Mine was burnt orange and from the JC Penny catalog. I had a white belt and a pair of three inch white platform shoes from Kmart. 

That year, Mike’s mother became very sick. His parents had to go to the hospital in Houston and he was left in charge of his brothers and sisters. Since Mike’s mother was sick, my mom invited Mike over to eat a pregame meal. If you invited one of us, you usually got all three of us. To this day, I remember Mike pulling up and parking his dad’s work truck on the road. Getting out of the truck was Mike in his blue leisure suit and Ricky in his green leisure suit, my best friends.

It was a feast that could be described like the one in Psalms “a table spread before us in goodness and kindness.” Using Isaiah’s words it was a “feast of juicy rich food.”  It was a feast of healing for Mike who had went so much the two previous weeks.

We had enjoyed the spaghetti and that night, no one else at my house had spaghetti. God had blessed us, we were friends, Mike’s mom was better, and we won the game.

The next morning, I heard a knock at the door. It was the lady who lived next door.  Bless her heart.

She was a widow and the type of person who didn’t like you to walk on her grass. She would come running screaming “get off my grass, your going to kill it.” You did not jump the back fence to get your ball or Frisbee. You had better first knock and get permission. We had lived next door for six years and her dog never liked us.

This Saturday morning, I could hear the fussing at my Dad. “How dare you let that happen?” Thanks to your boys no one is safe any longer. It is all on account of those boy’s. They are a bunch of heathens.

Just the regular stuff she said about us. Bless her heart. 

But this morning, she had something else on her mind. I remember my father asking her what we had done. She said “he’s not white” (and “not white” was not the racial term she used.) “How could you let one of "them" come to your house. You’re supposed to be a Christian; you should be teaching them boys better than that.”

I still remember my father’s answer “I am teaching them better than that!  Good bye”

It is something that has always stuck with me “I am teaching them better than that?”

Soon, my friends and I graduated high school and went our separate ways. One stayed home and became a police officer. One joined the military and retired on the east coast. One is now a Deacon.

Isn't God great? When God invites us to the heavenly feast; we are not going to be judged on our earthly clothes. We could show up dressed in a royal blue leisure suit and matching four inch platform tennis shoes, or a uniform, or a deacon’s robes. Our clothes can come from JC Penny, or Wal-Mart, or Abercrombie and Fitch, or the Goodwill. Our skins can be any shade that God has blessed us with.

None of these earthy human identities are important. 

What is important - Do we dress for the heavenly wedding feast in the love that is Christ? Christ is all that God wants to see us clothed in. All the ugliness of the world is left behind. This is when we will be asked to stay.

This is what God reminded me of in my tale of leisure suits and a spaghetti dinner.

When we clothed ourselves in Christ, we do not see the differences the world puts on us only the sameness that God created in us. Their loving friendship was found in a faith in Christ given to them by their parents; not in the expectations that the world put on them.

We thought we were cool; but really - we were even better than that.

There were times in my life, I would have never expected to be in these Deacon robes.  Times when I was clothed in the ugliness of this world: sin, full of my own ego, and I cared more about my self than others.  We all have been there.

But, I remembered what my Dad said, and I asked myself “Am I better than that?”

I think it’s one of the most important parts of this story. I think its what God wanted me to share.

When you look at all the stuff you put on in this life, no matter how good or how bad you think it is, ask yourself: 

“Am I better than that?” 

Paul tells us how when he writes, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”

Look at ourselves, look at the world – “Are you better than that?”

In Christ, you are.

Reflection 27th Sunday: Perdurance

Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43

I learn a new word this week. 

The word is perdurance. It means permanence. It means lasting forever. Pedurance is being persistent and enduring through time. Something that keeps its identity even though things are working against it.

Why did God give me word?

Maybe it is because; I have so much to do. I read professional business journals and spiritual books.  I try to do what my job expects and what God wants me to do. I didn’t learn that word in a business book; I learned that word in a theology book. But we need perdurance in all parts of our lives.

I was talking to a person about his business practices. As he hires new employees, they bring all their ideas to work with them. Unless he has a persistent and enduring message that he gives in training, discipline, and affirmation, his company will change with the baggage the new employees bring. His company must have perdurance.

Perdurance is what's missing in a couple of our readings today.

Isaiah writes about the vineyard God planted. God planted it and fed it with his presence; but it went wild. The people of Israel looked at the ungodly around them and liked it. They worshiped idols. They didn’t follow God’s direction. Israel wanted to be in God’s vineyard, safe, protected and taken care of by God; but, they wanted to be there by the rules they made up. They abandoned that permanence that God had given them.  Israel didn't persist in what God asked. They didn't endure in their faithfulness. In punishment, God abandoned protection of Israel. Israel was conquered, destroyed, and the people scattered.

Jesus tells a similar parable. To have a good vineyard, the vineyard owner had tenants to take care of the vines. They tenants became greedy and decided they wanted the fruit for themselves. God sent his servant, his prophets, and even his son to set the tenants straight. The rebellious tenants beat them, stoned them, and killed even the son. The people did not endure in what God asked of them. They did not want God’s way; they wanted their own way.

Paul tells the Philippians “Keep on doing what you have learned.” That’s perdurance. They must follow what you have been taught and stay true to the Gospel. If they do this, you will not have to worry. You will have joy and love. You will find the peace of God.

Paul is saying the same thing I told that business owner; but, about faith.

We should listed to these words. The world made up of the “what’s important to me” ideas, ever sinking morals, and influences of the media are wild grapes. Pretty soon, we become like the tenants of the vineyard, not wanting to give God the fruitfulness of our lives. All we know is greediness; what we want. We are not persistent in our faith. We are not enduring in what God asks of us. We loose the permanence.

Through prayer, we are given a better understanding of God’s unchanging truth. But, the Gospel does not change. God has not and does not change, forever.

As I said earlier, I am always busy. Sometimes, my wife says. “You read too much;” or, “You’ve been to four masses this weekend, God would understand if you missed your prayers.”

I say my prayers because a strong loving relationship requires persistence and endurance. It requires that I get rid of all that is not true God. That’s perdurance. It's hard to realize in our humanity; but, it’s a simple request.

After all, God’s love for us has perdurance, forever.