The Young Church

During these past two weeks, I've been with high-school aged youth from throughout the Diocese of Scranton at several key youth retreats and rallies. It was truly a gift for me to experience the young Church in action!

At the four-day International Student Leadership Institute (ISLI), nearly seventy students were led by their peers in exploring qualities like self-awareness, values, and positive-thinking, all within a faith-based setting. During the three days of Quo Vadis, forty young men open to the life of Christian discipleship gathered to discern which vocational path God had placed in their hearts. These days also included basketball, manhunt, capture the flag, and pizza! Finally, Light the Fire Youth Rally celebrated its 10th anniversary. This day-long event gathered 400+ high-school aged students for inspiring talks and workshops, upbeat praise and worship music, food (of course!), the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation, and a concluding mass with the bishop.

Light the Fire Youth Rally, 2016

The enthusiasm and energy of the youth, (while sometimes draining for this introvert), is a powerful witness of their faith. Their lives of faith are a testimony of the newness and freshness that the Holy Spirit always gifts to the Church! From my time with these joy-filled young people, I have learned three significant lessons about their faith and indeed, my own:

(1) The youth are not the future of the Church; they are the Church now! The young Church is bringing the mission of mercy, love, and peace of Jesus Christ to the world in ways that are new and creative. Our homes, schools, parishes, and society are in desperate need of the Good News. Who better to bring the Gospel than those young men and women who are on fire with their Catholic-Christian faith?

(2) The youth want their voices to be heard. Our youth have many questions and just as many insights. We need to be receptive to the creative energy and ideas of the youth. We must provide a listening ear for our young Church, to hear their hopes, their joys, and their struggles. In turn, our example of listening may help the young Church to develop as a people who can graciously listen to others.

(3) The youth hunger for the transcendent. I noticed during these various retreats and rallies that the young Church, while able to have fun and make a lot of noise, also longs for moments of sacred stillness. The silence during Eucharistic Adoration, the quiet lines of youth waiting to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation, and the ability to ask authentic questions from the heart all reveal a longing for communion with God. The faith of the young Church is not superficial!

Discussion held by one of the small groups at Quo Vadis Days

The young Church continues to inspire me with their love and enthusiasm. I am also challenged to be more authentic, more vulnerable, and perhaps include a little holy recklessness, in my journey of faith. I look forward to more opportunities to be with the young Church, to be with those who serve as salt and light for a world desperately in need of Christ.

Resolute Commitment to Discipleship

(Readings for the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-18; Luke 9:51-62)

Christian discipleship, that is, following Jesus on the Way, is a lifelong commitment. Those of us who have been baptized into the community of faith are called to be the light of Christ in the world. With and through Jesus the Lord, we are to bring peace, mercy, and love to a world that is often in strife. Such a commitment is not easy. Such a commitment requires the daily response of selflessness and sacrifice. Such a commitment is rooted in faith, that our toil as Christians in planting the seeds of the Reign of God will bear great fruit one day.

Today's Sunday Gospel reveals that Jesus was led by the firm conviction that his mission and ministry were of God. Jesus had faith that he was led by the Spirit to do the will of the Father, even if this led to his eventual rejection and execution on a cross in Jerusalem. Regardless of the risk, Jesus "resolutely" moved forward.

Jesus models for us the firmness of his commitment. This commitment, however, is not extremism. Jesus rebukes his own followers when they want to destroy the Samaritans who lack faith and hospitality. Similarly, Jesus' commitment to do the will of God the Father is not a lukewarm or half-hearted endeavor. The disciple is to learn from the example of Jesus. No excuse - not even seemingly legitimate concerns - can stand in the way of our Christian discipleship.

Those of us who are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, sometimes might try to curtail our responsibilities to the life of discipleship. Following Jesus on the Way is not always easy. Yet, when we have encountered the merciful gaze of God through Christ, we become transformed. Gradually, we begin to be able to do the impossible task of following the Lord unreservedly.

Only in God do we become liberated from all that holds us back from committing to a life of Christian discipleship. The Way never becomes easier, but our commitment becomes more resolute.

The Question and the Invitation

(Readings for the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24)

"Who do you say that I am? 

This question, posed by Jesus to his first disciples, becomes the perennial question for all baptized Christians. Inevitably, there continues to be various answers to this central question of faith. The diverse and often fractured Churches give witness to this. Scores of theological texts also attempt to provide an answer. Even films and works of art in popular culture give a semblance of a response to this question.

In our very depths, we are confronted with this intimate question: "Who do you say that I am?"

The response is breathlessly given: "The Christ of God." Peter bravely utters the truth of Jesus' identity. The authenticity and authority of Jesus' mission and ministry rests upon this claim.

However, Peter's proclamation is immediately followed by Jesus' prediction of his own passion and glorification. The Christ is not a triumphant king nor a military warrior. He is the Suffering Servant, the long-awaited One anointed and sent by the Father to bring peace and forgiveness by taking the sins of the world upon his shoulders.

The episode from today's Gospel reading does not end here. Perhaps most shocking is the final invitation that Jesus offers to his disciples: "If anybody wishes to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." Jesus takes up his Cross. And as followers of Christ, we too are called to carry our Cross. Our daily task of taking up our cross is not a solitary burden. Rather, each day, we are called to walk together, to help bear the load of each other. We become selfless in carrying our cross.

In taking up our cross, we trod the same path of our Lord. Our suffering becomes united with that which was endured by Jesus. Moreover, when we take up our cross daily, we begin to walk in solidarity with each other. Taking up our cross means that we experience the weight of our own cross and that of our neighbor's cross. We recognize that we each carry a beam in our own eye and no longer judge those who have a splinter in their eye. Cross-carrying begets mercy. Cross-carrying breaks down barriers.

Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva

When we as Christian disciples take up our cross, we see our oneness in the Cross of Christ, leading us to proclaim as St. Paul did in his Letter to the Galatians that there is no longer any division among us. In Christ, there is neither "Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, woman nor man," All who take up their Cross have been saved and made one in Christ. The question "Who do you say I am?" will always elicit an invitation to take up one's cross and follow the Christ of God.

Pray for Orlando

Tragedy has once again struck our nation, this time at the nightclub Pulse in Orlando. Yet again, we face the loss of life, the evil of religious-political extremism, and the horror of gun violence. Fifty lives have been snuffed out and fifty-three are injured and scarred, with many in critical condition. We mourn alongside our brothers and sisters of the LGBTQ community.

We, as a nation, must take action. First, we pray: for healing, for hope, and for the conversion of hearts. We even pray for those who possess the capacity to inflict such evil, that we might one day be able to forgive the perpetrators of such heinous crimes.

Our prayer, though, must lead us to act. We need to petition our lawmakers, demanding that deadly weapons of war like the AR-15 stay out of the hands of civilians. We need responsible background checks to keep guns away from those who prove to be psychologically unstable and dangerous. We also continue to explore how we, as a nation, can better track those criminal minds who are poisoned by violent religious or political ideologies without compromising basic liberties and rights afforded to all citizens.

One of the most challenging responses I've read in light of Sunday morning's attack in Orlando comes from Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida. See the bishops' thought-provoking blogpost here: http://bishopsblog.dosp.org/?p=6644.
The bishop of St. Petersburg challenges all religious people, particularly Catholic-Christians, to truly care for all men and women, including those who identify as LGBTQ. Our Lord Jesus teaches us to love all. The Church is called to faithfully carry out this command of love. Yet, oftentimes, we have allowed prejudices and contempt to prevent us from seeing the "other" as made in the image and likeness of God. If our faith is not touched by love, then it is possible that our religion can become a polemics that leads to extremism.

In light of such violence and hatred, we must stand together as a people of peace!

Window of Mercy

(Readings for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time: 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3).

St. Matthew's Parish in East Stroudsburg has a beautiful series of stained-glass windows. One of these windows is what I like to call the "Window of Mercy." This particular window has four panes that depict the greatest images of mercy from the Gospel of Luke: the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Good Father of the Prodigal Son, and... the Good Woman of today's Gospel passage.

But how can we consider the woman from today's Gospel to be "good"?! She was a grave sinner, after all. Indeed, this woman's reputation was well-known. Whatever sins she may have committed were publicly known. It would've been quite a scandal, then, when this nameless woman entered the house of Simon the Pharisee in order to wash, dry, and anoint the feet of Jesus! Could such an intimate act of hospitality be performed by such a notorious sinner?

"Anointing His Feet" by Wayne Forte

Yet Jesus does not respond with shock. Jesus does not condemn this woman. Jesus does not fall prey to the judgments that often cloud the human heart. Rather, Jesus welcomes this woman's good, profound gesture of love and repentance. The Good Woman recognized her sins and, more importantly, recognized that in Jesus she could encounter the mercy of God. Jesus reminds Simon, and all of us, that love is the response to forgiveness and mercy: "Her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love."

Our Scripture readings today remind us of this incredible reality: God's forgiveness is freely and abundantly available to us. God not only stands at the threshold to welcome us back home, but pursues us and lovingly runs towards us with arms extended. In the first reading from the Old Testament, the prophet Nathan confronts King David. The sin of David (adultery and murder) was indeed grave. All sin leads to death - sin poisons and kills our relationship with God and with others. But through his admission of guilt and repentant heart, God forgave David of his sin. God showed mercy to David.

 David: The Repentant King

In the second reading, from Paul's Letter to the Galatians, we read how the apostle Paul, though once a violent religious extremist, encountered the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Paul's life was forever changed. Paul gives voice to the experience of conversion, of allowing ourselves to let go of our old ways and embrace Christ as the very center of our being. Only one who has experienced forgiveness and mercy can proclaim, like Paul: "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me."

Mercy, as Pope Francis has reminded us, is about stepping into the chaos of another's life and leading them towards an encounter with Love. Through mercy, God enters into the chaos and darkness of our own lives - not to condemn or punish - but to forgive and to bring newness of life. This is the tenacity of God's mercy.

"Window of Mercy" at St. Matthew's 

In Jesus, we stand before the great Window of Mercy. Through the life, the ministry, the suffering, death and resurrection of the Christ, we peer into the marvels of God's mercy. Jesus is that Window of Mercy through which the warmth of love, forgiveness, and peace shine forth. Through this Window of Mercy, we can gaze into the dynamics of mercy within the life of God. This same mercy penetrates our own lives.

And so, we have a choice to make. During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we can either be like Simon the Pharisee, a closed wall that prevents sinners from encountering God; or we can be like Jesus, the light-filled Window of Mercy.

The Art of Accompaniment

(Readings for Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: 1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17)

I am mindful of the reality of grief and mourning, especially after recently attending a funeral here at St. Matthew's Parish. While funerals can offer momentary comfort and peace, they can also be immensely sorrowful. The ministry of the Church during this time of bereavement is to be a balm of healing and mercy amidst deep mourning and sadness. Still, there seems to be little that can be said or done that will bring complete relief to those who grieve. In the end, all we can do is walk with those who mourn through the patient art of accompaniment.

The first step on the journey of accompaniment is to be prayerfully present to others. We pray for the dead and for those who mourn. We then offer a comforting embrace, a hand to hold, and a shoulder to cry on. Only in this gentle way of accompanying those who mourn and grieve can we then offer a word of hope from the ever-living Word of God. Our words must then be embodied in acts of love.

The Scripture readings from this Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time reveal the power of accompanying those who mourn and weep.

Elijah the Prophet saw firsthand the terrible plight faced by the widow of Zarephath. At this time in the ancient Middle East, many women became destitute without a husband or son to support them. Jesus also knew the tragedy that befell the widow of Nain; she mourned not only for her son, but for herself. Elijah responds to the cries of the widow with his own prayer of hope and trust. And in today's Gospel, Jesus responds to the widow at Nain with a deep, heartfelt pity that moved him to act.

"Jesus Raises the Widow's Son" by Ann Lukesh

While we may not miraculously resuscitate the dead as Elijah or Jesus did, we are still called to be present to those who have been shaken by the sting of death. Through the Spirit of God working within us, we are to cultivate eyes of compassion that see the suffering of others and ears that are able to hear the needs expressed by those who mourn. This journey of accompaniment also leads us to speak words of hope, particularly the promise of everlasting life. We care for those who have been left vulnerable by the death of their loved one. We act. In this way, through our communion with those who mourn, little "miracles" of new life begin to occur: tears are wiped away, grieving becomes acceptance, and the loneliness of despair gives way to solidarity with others.

Through the art of accompaniment, as learned from the Prophet Elijah and perfectly embodied in Jesus the Lord, we can begin to open up pathways of healing and hope. God is present. Hope is rekindled. And in amazement, like the townspeople at Nain, those who mourn may one day be able to proclaim: "God has visited his people!"