(A timely meditation on marriage)

Homily – 2nd Sunday OT C 1/20/13

 There was a wedding . . . . (Jn. 2:1)

The teaching of the Church on Marriage is so foundational, and so deep, that the entire Catholic Faith can be summed up in those four words from today’s Gospel: There was a wedding. . . .

. . . .Once upon a time, in a far off land called Heaven, there was a Son who lived with His Father.  And one day this Son left His Father’s house and journeyed to a far distant land, called Earth, to look for a Bride to marry.

And just as Moses, Isaac, Jacob, and Tobias of the Old Testament did, in that far distant land the Son found the girl of His dreams: Our Holy Mother the Church.

On the banks of the Jordan River, with his best man, John the Baptist, at His side, Christ proposed to her, pledging his love to her publicly for the first time, and the Father gave His blessing on this union that day.

There next followed a three year engagement period, where Jesus the Bridegroom and His Bride got to know each other better.  During the engagement period, many objected to this upcoming marriage – the Devil, the Pharisees, the rich young man, Judas Iscariot, even Peter at times – but nothing was going to stop these two foolish young lovers from becoming one.

Finally, at the Last Supper, the vows were exchanged. This is my body, given for you. This is my blood, my heart, poured out totally for you, as an eternal covenant of my unconditional, indissoluble love.

And, as it truly right and just, after those vows were taken, after the engagement period was finished, the marriage was consummated on the Cross the next day. “Consummatum est – It is consummated.”

Three Days later, on Easter Sunday, Christ came forth from tomb as a Bridegroom coming from his bridal chamber, and a 40 Day Honeymoon ensued.

During that time, it appeared to all eyes that the Bride was “expecting”, and on Pentecost Sunday, the Bride of Christ, our Mother the Church gave birth to the first of many Children, as 3000 were born again of water and the Holy Spirit that day.

A man shall leave his Father and his Mother, and be united to His wife, and the two shall become one Flesh. What God has joined, let no one separate.

Jesus left His Father’s throne in Heaven, and His Mother Mary’s home in Nazareth, and was joined to His Bride the Church, and the two have become One Body of Christ. And what God has joined, no one can separate.

And at the end of time, Christ the Bridegroom will take His beloved Bride to His Father’s House in Heaven, and then, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and His beautiful Bride will begin.

Blessed are those who are called to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, where the wine never runs out, where the best is always yet to come.

Yes, there was a wedding, the marriage of the One God-Man Jesus Christ with His one woman, His Bride the Church. The couple just celebrated their 2013th Anniversary.

And even in those bad times, when His Bride is unfaithful to Him, even when she in her sinful members betrays Him and denies Him and nails Him anew to a Cross, even then Christ the Bridegroom forgives her, and remains faithful to her, and will not ever think of ever divorcing His beloved Spouse. No, He will love her and honor her all the days of His Risen Life.

And as our faith is Incarnational, which means that with the birth of Christ the Divine now comes to us through the human, if we accept Christ’s vision of Heavenly Marriage, we must also accept His vision of Earthly Marriage, as being a life long union of one man and one woman, oriented to the procreation and raising of children, a visible sign of Jesus’ indissoluble, fruitful love for His Bride the Church. For the Christian, this and only this can be called a true marriage.

The Church has always seen Jesus’ teaching on marriage to be a most integral part of the Good News Christ came to bring to people of all nations and times and cultures.

St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded for defending the sanctity of marriage;

Pope St. Calistus in the 3rd century declared that male slaves had the right to marry free women, even though centuries old Roman law declared such marriages illegal, and even though this led to the first major schism in the Church, and the first Anti-Pope in Church History.

In the 9th Century, Pope St. Nicholas (known as Nicholas the Great), declared that a daughter was free to marry a man even against the will of her father, even if her father was the emperor (which was the case at the time).

And in the 16th Century, the Church in England broke away from the Catholic Church, and Chancellor St. Thomas More and Bishop St. John the Baptist Fisher both lost their heads, all because Henry VIII was refused an annulment to his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Finally, the Church has never been opposed to inter-racial marriages, and has never in her official Canon Laws held mixed race to be an impediment to marry.

Given her track record, there should be little surprise that the Catholic Church continues today to proclaim the good news of Christ’s teaching on marriage as a life-long union of one man and one woman, oriented to children.

May we be faithful to Christ, and to His Bride the Church, in esteeming and defending this institution as the saints of old did, and as we approach Jesus, the Bridegroom of our soul, in Holy Communion today, may we say to him, freely and without reservation, “Jesus, I take you to be my Lord. I promise to be true to you and all your teachings, and all the teachings of your Bride the Church, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you Jesus, and honor you, all the days of my life. Amen.”

This was the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

Last Sunday, we read in the Gospel about the second appearance of the Risen Jesus to a gathering of his disciples. That appearance took place the Sunday night after Easter Sunday, when Jesus appeared to doubting Thomas and the other Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.

The Risen Lord appeared suddenly to the Apostles – and then disappeared just as suddenly it seems.  The Risen Jesus never says “I will see you guys next Tuesday at such and such a place at such and such a time.” He shows up when they least expect it, and leaves when they least expect it as well.  Perhaps Jesus wants to give them time to process everything, let it sink in.

“So now what do we do?” the apostles must have asked themselves those first few weeks after Easter.  “Well, both Jesus and the Angel told the women to tell the brothers to go to Galilee, where they will see Him.”  So the Apostles leave Jerusalem and head back to the region of Galilee, 80 miles or so to the North.

They must have visited their old haunts, maybe going to Capernaum where Jesus lived and preached for quite some time, maybe also going to Nazareth where Mary still had her home, maybe even stopping by Cana to see that married couple Jesus was friends with, and having a glass of wine or two with them!

But Jesus is nowhere to be found; nor has he appeared to anyone in all of Galilee.

The days go by, and Peter, getting a little antsy hanging around the house with his mother-in-law, decides to go fishing.  (Maybe it was opening day that day, like it is this weekend!)

So Peter and six other Apostles cast off in a boat on the Sea of Galilee.  How many great memories must have flooded through their heads that night!  How they first met Jesus on this lake, how Jesus preached to the crowds on the shore from this very boat, how they would sail from port to port with Jesus, proclaiming the Kingdom with Him, how Jesus more than once calmed the stormy seas before their very eyes.

A lot had changed since last they sailed these waters, but one thing hadn’t changed – the fishing stunk then and it stunk now.   Don’t they stock this Lake?

As the night wears on, the Apostles one by one begin to doze off, but Peter’s unable to sleep.  As the boat gently rocks back and forth, Peter’s failure to catch any fish calls to his mind an even greater failure that he can’t get over – his failure as a disciple, his failure as a friend to Jesus.

And maybe Peter was even thinking of his failure to really be that leader Jesus was calling him to be.    Only six of the ten other Apostles went fishing with him. Maybe the other four, almost half of them, had already lost confidence in Peter’s leadership.  And maybe some of those six who did follow him were starting to have their doubts.

As the night wore on, such discouraging thoughts began to play on him more and more, seem more and more plausible.  “Maybe I should just throw in the towel,” he thought, “just go back to living the life of a common fisherman.

“Maybe James could take my place, or his brother John.  They both once told Jesus they wanted my position, and John especially deserves it more than me anyway – he didn’t deny and abandon Jesus like I did.

“’Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.’  I said that to Him. And I meant it, Jesus, at that moment at least.  I felt so strong at that Supper Table with you that night, surrounded by my brothers in the faith.  My spirit was willing to die for you; but later when I was by that charcoal fire, around that hostile crowd, my flesh became weak and I denied you! I haven’t stopped crying over it since it happened!”

The night wore on, the boat rocked back and forth, the net remained empty, and Peter continued to turn things over and over in his mind.

” I’ve seen him three times so far, and he hasn’t brought it up.  He appeared to me Easter Sunday morning, after I had left the empty tomb.  I was alone, weeping like a baby, and suddenly there he was standing before me.  He didn’t say anything, he just looked at me, then, He was gone.

“And then, in the Upper Room, later that night, and again the following Sunday night.  I was so glad to see him, I wanted to pull him aside, be alone with him again, to tell him . . . but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Oh, Jesus, if you can hear me now, please give me a chance to say I’m sorry! Please give me a chance to show you I do still love you, and still want to live and die for you!”

With those hope filled thoughts, Simon Peter drifted off to sleep . . . . when suddenly he was woken up by some commotion on the boat. In the dim light of dawn, Peter opens his eyes and sees the other six apostles pulling hard on the net.

As he rises and walks over to them, John sees him approach, runs up, points to the man on the shore, and says to Peter “It is the Lord!”

Peter’s dark night of the soul is over, he puts on his clothes and jumps into the sea, running over the waters and onto the shore, to affirm, three times, before a charcoal fire, that he loves the Lord, that he will feed and tend Christ’s sheep, that he will gladly stretch out his hands and go wherever Christ wants him to go, that he will, by the power of the Resurrection, follow Jesus, even to the Cross, knowing that all the dark nights of life will give way to the bright dawn of Christ’s Resurrection.

Now it’s time to play “name that musical”! Ready:

The Constables sing:
Tell his reverence your story/Let us see if he’s impressed
You were lodging there last night/You were the honest Bishop’s guest.
And then, out of Christian goodness/When he learned about your plight
You maintain he made a present of this silver–

Then the Bishop says:
That is right.   (and holding up two silver candlesticks he continues)

But my friend you left so early/Surely something slipped your mind
You forgot I gave these also/Would you leave the best behind?

So Messieurs you may release him/For this man has spoken true
I commend you for your duty/May God’s blessing go with you.

But remember this, my brother/See in this some higher plan
You must use this precious silver/To become an honest man
By the witness of the martyrs/By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness/I have bought your soul for God!

If you haven’t seen the recent movie version of Les Miserables I highly recommend you do, but 1 leave your children home as its appropriate for teens and up, and 2 bring kleenex.

Les Miserables would actually be a great movie to see today, Divine Mercy Sunday. The title could even be translated “The People in Need of Mercy”.

The Film Makers could have put at the beginning of the Movie “Based on a True Story”.  Because ultimately it is based on the scene in today’s Gospel.    The Apostles are the original Jean Valjean.  By their sinfulness and weakness, they robbed Jesus not of his silver and gold, but robbed him of his very life.    And three days after they had abandoned him and denied publically they ever knew him, causing him to be scourged and crucified and killed, the Risen Lord appears to them.

Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes.  If you or I were betrayed by our best friends, and lost all that we had because of their betrayal and abandoning us, what would you or I say to those friends of ours if we were in a closed room with them three days later?  What would they say to us?

When Jesus walked through that locked door, those Apostles must have felt like Jean Valjean standing there red handed before the Bishop.  We are gonna get it now, they must have said.  Judgment Day has arrived.

But Jesus, like the Bishop in the musical, doesn’t say “I am extremely disappointed with you guys.” He doesn’t say “How could you do this, I thought you were my friends!”   Jesus doesn’t even say “Well, I guess my Father wants me to forgive you, so I guess I will”

Instead, Jesus, Mercy Incarnate, says to them “Peace be with you”.  Not only do I forgive you for being unfaithful to me, and for denying and abandoning me, and for crucifying me, I’m giving you the Candlestick as well:  Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven!

Tonight I, who as the second reading says walk among the Seven Candlesticks, a symbol of the Seven Sacraments, give you the Bright Shiny Candlestick which is Sacrament of Confession, so that if you sin and crucify me yet again in the future, your sins can always be forgiven and your soul can be always bright with the Glory of My Resurrection.

Certainly the Apostles must have then felt like Valjean did after the Bishop forgave him.  No wonder John says “The Disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord”

Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Mercy, Confession, on Easter Sunday Night, in the same Upper Room that He gave us the Eucharist.    Every time we receive Holy Communion, we experience the same intimacy and love the Apostles experienced at the Last Supper in the Upper Room.  In the same way, every time we go to confession to a priest, we experience the same joy and peace and mercy the Apostles experienced that First Easter Sunday night in the upper room.

After Jean Valjean was treated mercifully by the Bishop, he was then able to start treating others mercifully himself.   And it is only when we start realizing how in need of mercy we are, that we will then start being truly merciful and loving towards others.

In the words of one spiritual writer: Jesus came not for the righteous but for sinners, and those who do not recognize how they belong in the category of sinners cannot connect with Jesus.

We seem to have a great example of Mercy in our New Holy Father,  Pope Francis.    Mercy is certainly going to be a major theme in his pontificate.  In one of his first homilies on the Woman Caught in Adultery, the Pope said that “God never tires of forgiving us, it is we who get tired of asking God for forgiveness.”     How true that is, how often do we rationalize away our sins in our society today, or try to get our sins accepted by society, instead of just coming to grips with the fact that “Hey, I’m a sinner just like every other human being, but praise God, because Jesus came to save sinners like me from my sins!”

Lastly, Pope Francis’ Motto on His Papal Coat of Arms is “Miserando atque Eligendo”.  It is actually quote from a Sermon on the Call of St. Matthew the Tax Collector by the 11th Century English Monk St. Bede the Venerable.    The Pope’s Motto is best translated as “Jesus looked on him with eyes of Mercy, and He chose him.”  And this is what Jesus does to all of us, He looks on us, sees that we are weak and only human, yet He has mercy on us, and chooses us to be missionaries of His Mercy in the World.

May we like Valjean, like the Apostles, rejoice that Christ is Risen, and has mercifully forgiven us.  May we receive his mercy, and then bring that mercy to others, for “to love another person is to see the face of God”

During the Washing of the Feet at the Holy Thursday Mass, the rubrics of the Roman Missal state that certain chants or other suitable hymns are to be sung while the priest washes the feet.

One of the centuries old antiphons that are found in the Missal is the following:

Let faith, hope and charity, these three, remain among you,
    but the great of these is charity.

And that antiphon pretty much sums up what we celebrate this night.

Jesus wants his Church as a whole, and his disciples who follow him as individuals, to cherish nothing in this life, to have nothing in this life, and to hold on to nothing in this life, except those three things:   faith, hope and charity.

When the Church makes those three things central, Christianity flourishes, conversions abound, and the Gospel takes firm root in our culture.    But when the Church fails to do so, Christianity withers, people abandon the True Faith and are swept away by the latest ideology, and a Catholic Culture is replaced more and more by a secular, anti-Catholic one.

But tonight, Jesus, who does not leave us orphans, gives the Church Three Gifts which help her keep Faith, Hope and Charity Central in her life and the life of each disciple:    The Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the New Commandment

First, the Eucharist:   We call it not The Sacrament, not even The Blessed Sacrament, but rather The Most Blessed Sacrament

We believe it to be Jesus Himself, the God Man, the Son of Mary, the Lord, here with us, 24/7, as Present to us in the Host as he was present to the disciples when he walked the streets of Galilee, healing, delivering from demons, teaching and converting hearts.

And really, it is the Eucharist, and nothing else, that glues the Church together, that should glue our parish and every parish together.   We come here as Catholics, not for a Spiritual Experience – although we probably should get that; not for inspiring liturgies, sermons and music – although we should strive for both of  those things; not out of the social custom that good Americans should be church goers, or because the Third Commandment and Church law binds us to do so – although if that helps us get out of bed on Sunday to get here, that’s fine;

No, we come here as Catholics first and foremost to meet Jesus Christ, who each Sunday looks forward so much to see us, who weeps and is broken hearted when we don’t show up for no good reason, but who lavishes his love and blessings on us every single time we attend Mass, even if we don’t or can’t receive.

Let faith, hope and charity, these three, remain among you . . . . and when it comes to the Eucharist, all one can have before it is Faith, Hope and Charity.   We have only Faith that tells us it is Jesus, true God and true Man. Doesn’t look like God or Man, looks like bread and wine.  Physical science would tell us it still is bread and wine.

Why on earth should we believe it becomes Jesus? Because He said it: This is my Body. Not this symbolizes my Body. As one of the greatest fiction writers of the 20th Century Flannery O’Connor, said, “if its just a symbol, to hell with it.”    O’Connor went on to say “this is all I will ever be able to say about (the Eucharist) .  .  . except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

And so we, like her, have Faith and only Faith that the Eucharist is truly Jesus alive and present among us, we have Hope that the graces we get from the Eucharist will give us the spiritual strength we need to persevere in faith each day until we die and Jesus brings us to Heaven,  and most importantly, we Love Jesus here and now in the Eucharist, we give ourselves, heart, mind, body and soul, totally and unreservedly to Jesus and His Bride, the Holy Catholic Church, surrendering our wills to His will, leaving all and following him out of love for him who so loved us.

And by the strength we get from the Eucharist we also are enabled to show true Love and Charity to our neighbors, especially to the most insignificant members of society such as the poor, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned, the unborn in the womb, the newly conceived human being, and the dying, and even to love and forgive our enemies.

To give us this Greatest of Gifts until the end of time, Jesus tonight also gives us the Gift of the Priesthood.  Do this, you Twelve Men whom I have chosen, in memory of me.

You say This is my Body, this is my Blood.  At that moment your body will be my body, your blood my blood, your words my words . . . . Mysterium Fidei, the Mystery of Faith.

Priests are the guardians and ministers of the Eucharist, and therefore Priests are the guardians and ministers of Faith, Hope and Love in this world.   A Priest much each day make the words of Christ his own: Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.

A priest must say “As much as I would naturally desire a spouse, my own children and grandchildren, my own home, a private life, a fulfilling career in whatever I am naturally good at, each day, and in each phase of my life, I as a priest must hear Christ’s call to freely and whole-heartedly sacrifice all those things, and replace them solely with Faith, Hope and Love, and in them and in them alone will I find my Peace and Joy and Fulfillment”

Boy, and all I can say to you is, some times, that’s not easy. We priests all need your prayers and support as much as you need ours.  And I want to thank everyone tonight for all the prayers and support you have given me these past ten years.  Yes, I’ve been here going on ten years – time flies!  Some of you are saying “When will he ever leave?”

Finally, Jesus tonight gives us the New Commandment, Love one another as I have loved you.

At the beginning of the Year of Faith last October, Pope Benedict issued a Letter called Porta Fidei, the Door of Faith.   In the letter he said ‘Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Faith and charity each require the other; in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path.’

And therefore it seems that our Catholic Church is greatly blessed to have Pope Francis, a man solidly Catholic in his Faith, and at the same time a man of great charity to the poor and to the common man and woman.

He truly is the Pope we need at this time.  The past two Popes needed to focus on relaying the foundations of our Catholic faith after the upheaval of Vatican II.  But now that the dust has settled and the Faith has been again firmly planted so that everyone knows just what the Catholic Church believes and hopes, now is the time we show the world how the Catholic Church loves.

May those three gifts given to us tonight, The Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the New Commandment, help us who are called to be the Church, to be the Light of the World and Salt of the Earth, to  Let faith, hope and charity, these three, and only these three remain among you, but the great of these is charity.

And so we begin Holy Week 2013, in this Year of Faith.

And if we look with eyes of faith at the world we live in, and if we look with eyes of faith into our own souls, we see that Holy Week 2013 isn’t at all different from that first Holy Week we have just heard proclaimed in the Gospel.

Jesus again comes riding into town this week, riding into our world,to once more show us True Love;to once more show us Mercy;  and to once more be by and large rejected by the world he came to save.

Once more, we see the vast majority of us, his own disciples, flee Jesus out of weakness at the Hour of Darkness.

 Once more in our world today, we see us hardened, proud, blind hypocrites of the world patting themselves on the back as they bring down, crucify, and bury Truth and Love Incarnate.

 Once more in our world today, we see government leaders and judges caving to powerful special interest groups and the fickle will of we the people, condemning the Prince of Peace who would bring true freedom and justice to the world,while at the same time setting free the sham, charismatic Barabbas, who brings destruction and a culture of death to society while our news media makes it all look so cool and enlightening.

 Once more, we see us who hammered the nails in say we are just following orders, the worlds a tough place and we don’t want to rock the boat, we might lose our job or our prestige in society if we speak out.

Once more, us good men and women of the world fail to keep vigilant, and in our modern laziness and comfort fall asleep, while evil, corrupt and misguided men are wide awake, organizing, and preparing to successfully bring down Jesus and His Kingdom.

Once more, the majority of us go about our self centered business, while Love and Truth Incarnate is banished from the public square, pushed to the fringes, outside the walls of society, and left to die on a tree with only a handful of faithful believers by his side.

Jesus once again gets all the same treatment from us in 2013 that he got that first time he came riding into our world.

But at the same time, His response to our rejection is also the same:

Once again, from outside the walls on the margins of society, from the Cross Jesus says to us his crucifiers: “Father, forgive them, have mercy on them, they know not what they do”

Once again, he said to the Good Thieves and Big Sinners of the World, who after hitting rock bottom, finally give their lives to Christ, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”

Once again, Jesus says to the Beloved Disciple, who was close to Jesus in the Eucharist and didn’t run from the Cross: “Here is your Mother, she will provide for you from now on”

Once again, we see people who, like the soldier who pierced Jesus side, realize afterwards that they crucified the Son of God by their actions, and become believers then.

 Once again, we see the Josephs and Nicodemus’, former pharisees, break from their peers, and join the small band of disciples in mourning Christ’s death.

Once again, the Peters of the world weep bitterly this week after reflecting deeply on how they have denied Jesus time and again before men.

And once again, Jesus Christ willing goes to offer his body and blood, to suffer and die, to show the depth of his love for His one and only bride, His Body the Church.

May we accompany Jesus on His journey to the Cross this week, mourning over our sins that nailed him there, so that we may also rejoice with Him when He rises gloriously on the Third Day.

 Its a blizzard outside, but the Gospel invites us to imagine we are out on the water on a hot summer day!

 Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.

 After the miraculous catch of fish, Simon Peter for some reason suddenly becomes acutely aware of his weaknesses and limitations, to the point where he can’t bear to be in Christ’s presence.

 What made Peter react that way? When Jesus turned 180 gallons of water into wine, or when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, we don’t see anyone at the wedding party or in the crowd start reflecting on their sinfulness. What was it about this miracle that struck such a chord in Peter’s heart?

  A closer reflection on the miracle itself can supply us the answer. How exactly did Jesus work the miracle? As one biblical commentator points out, Jesus did one of three things.

 He either one, suddenly created all those fish to be caught, or two, he miraculously knew that all those fish would be naturally there at that time, or three, Jesus miraculously summoned all the fish from around the area to come and congregate in that spot.

Of those three alternatives, the last one is the most likely way the miracle happened: Jesus gathered the fish at that spot. They were all swimming about the sea aimlessly at various depths and locations, when suddenly, drawn by a supernatural force, they were all led like the Magi were to that one location.

 And there, all those various types of fish (supposedly there are about 24 different species in the Sea of Galilee), who normally would be repelled by each other, or be afraid of each other, or would kill and eat each other, all those different types of fish are by God’s grace gathered peacefully together, swimming around as one body.

Simon Peter is the leader of the fleet of ships that catches all these fish. And as one by one, the fish are taken out of the net and land on the deck, Peter realizes that Jesus has drawn all these various types of fish together, and he realizes that he like those fish has been drawn to Jesus by some supernatural grace.

 And then, even before Jesus speaks those famous words to him, Peter understands what this miracle means: the catch is symbolic of the future catches of men Jesus will have Peter make. Men and women of different races, rich and poor, educated and unlearned, some who naturally hate each other, will all be drawn to Christ, and Peter will bring them all together into the Church.

 Peter sees the vision, and says depart from me Lord, I am a sinful man. No, not me Jesus, I will screw things up. I’m impulsive, I’m not that smart, I’m a coward deep down, quick tempered, over confident and proud, I get overly emotional, and I worry too much about what others might think; I crack under pressure. Even now, I barely obeyed you, and totally doubted your command would work.

 Pick me Jesus as an apostle, and I will just fail miserably and most probably end up abandoning you in time of need, and denying that I ever knew you afterwards.

But after that heart felt confession, after asking Jesus to leave him, Simon Peter didn’t leave; he still lay there clinging to the feet of Jesus, immovable as a Rock.

 Jesus said to him “Yes Simon, I know you are a sinful man, and I’m glad you know it also. But come follow me and I will make you a fisher of men. Not always a catcher of men, for some will get away, some will refuse to be caught, and some will be for other fishermen to reel in at a later time. Some days you will be at it all night and catch nothing. But be not afraid, you will be many days catching a miraculous amount of men who will be drawn to me through you, despite your sinfulness. For my grace will be working through you.”

My brothers and sisters, may we know that like Simon, like Isaiah, like St. Paul, Jesus calls us, despite our weaknesses, to follow him and do great things for him.

May we like them have a healthy and humble awareness of our faults, but still cling to Jesus and follow him as best we can, knowing that by His grace, all things are possible.

 What’s not to love about Love?

 All patient, all kind, not jealous or pompous; totally selfless and forgiving; weeping over wrongdoing and rejoicing over truth; bearing, hoping, enduring all things; believing all things are possible; stronger and clearer and more truthful than any knowledge or language or vision:  What’s not to love about Love?

 Nothing at all – when we admire Love from afar.  Love is great when we read about it, or gaze at it over there on a pedestal, or hear of Love doing great things in other, nearby communities.

But when Love comes into town, into our lives, when Love gets close, and holds up a mirror to our souls, and shows us our impatience, our unkindness, our envy, empty show, selfishness, our anger and brooding and unforgiveness over petty offenses; when Love shows us how we so often delight in wrongdoing and reject the truth; when Love points out our lack of real faith, our lack of endurance; when it bursts the bubble of our sham hopes and dreams, and exposes our great ignorance and lack of real communion with God and others;

 When Love shows to us our great and desperate need for Love, then we rise up, drive Love out of town, and push Love as far out of our lives as possible, just as the townspeople in today’s Gospel did when Jesus pointed out to them their great need for Love to save them from their pride which was blinding them from their sins.

 Then we, like them, try to kill Love, for having the audacity to say we need to change and be more loving.

 But Love cannot be killed; Love passes through the midst of our pride and impatience and selfishness and doubt and hopelessness, and goes away – for a time – only to try again, maybe years later, to offer us an opportunity to learn to Love.

And one day, please God, Love will break us down, Love will conquer us;

Then we will put aside childish ways and become grown men and women, fortified cities, walls of brass, not prevailed over or crushed on account of any trials;  not admiring Love from afar, but fully knowing Love as Love has fully known and tried and tested and perfected us.

 There was a wedding . . . . (Jn. 2:1)

The teaching of the Church on Marriage is so foundational, and so deep, that the entire Catholic Faith can be summed up in those four words from today’s Gospel: There was a wedding.

Once upon a time, in a far off land called Heaven, there was a Son who lived with His Father.  And one day this Son left His Father’s house and journeyed to a far distant land, called Earth, to look for a Bride to marry.

And just as Moses, Isaac, Jacob, and Tobias of the Old Testament did, in that far distant land the Son found the girl of His dreams: Our Holy Mother the Church.

On the banks of the Jordan River, with his best man, John the Baptist, at His side, Christ proposed to her, pledging his love to her publicly for the first time, and the Father gave His blessing on this union that day.

There next followed a three year engagement period, where Jesus the Bridegroom and His Bride got to know each other better.  During the engagement period, many objected to this upcoming marriage – the Devil, the Pharisees, the rich young man, Judas Iscariot, even Peter at times – but nothing was going to stop these two foolish young lovers from becoming one.

Finally, at the Last Supper, the vows were exchanged. This is my body, given for you. This is my blood, my heart, poured out totally for you, as an eternal covenant of my unconditional, indissoluble love.

And, as it truly right and just, after those vows were taken, after the engagement period was finished, the marriage was consummated on the Cross the next day. “Consummatum est – It is consummated.”

Three Days later, on Easter Sunday, Christ came forth from tomb as a Bridegroom coming from his bridal chamber, and a 40 Day Honeymoon ensued.

During that time, it appeared to all eyes that the Bride was “expecting”, and on Pentecost Sunday, the Bride of Christ, our Mother the Church gave birth to the first of many Children, as 3000 were born again of water and the Holy Spirit that day.

A man shall leave his Father and his Mother, and be united to His wife, and the two shall become one Flesh. What God has joined, let no one separate.

Jesus left His Father’s throne in Heaven, and His Mother Mary’s home in Nazareth, and was joined to His Bride the Church, and the two have become One Body of Christ. And what God has joined, no one can separate.

And at the end of time, Christ the Bridegroom will take His beloved Bride to His Father’s House in Heaven, and then, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and His beautiful Bride will begin.

Blessed are those who are called to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, where the wine never runs out, where the best is always yet to come.

Yes, there was a wedding, the marriage of the One God-Man Jesus Christ with His one woman, His Bride the Church. The couple just celebrated their 2013th Anniversary.

And even in those bad times, when His Bride is unfaithful to Him, even when she in her sinful members betrays Him and denies Him and nails Him anew to a Cross, even then Christ the Bridegroom forgives her, and remains faithful to her, and will not ever think of ever divorcing His beloved Spouse. No, He will love her and honor her all the days of His Risen Life.

And as our faith is Incarnational, which means that with the birth of Christ the Divine now comes to us through the human, if we accept Christ’s vision of Heavenly Marriage, we must also accept His vision of Earthly Marriage, as being a life long union of one man and one woman, oriented to the procreation and raising of children, a visible sign of Jesus’ indissoluble, fruitful love for His Bride the Church. For the Christian, this and only this can be called a true marriage.

The Church has always seen Jesus’ teaching on marriage to be a most integral part of the Good News Christ came to bring to people of all nations and times and cultures.

St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded for defending the sanctity of marriage;

Pope St. Calistus in the 3rd century declared that male slaves had the right to marry free women, even though centuries old Roman law declared such marriages illegal, and even though this led to the first major schism in the Church, and the first Anti-Pope in Church History.

In the 9th Century, Pope St. Nicholas (known as Nicholas the Great), declared that a daughter was free to marry a man even against the will of her father, even if her father was the emperor (which was the case at the time).

And in the 16th Century, the Church in England broke away from the Catholic Church, and Chancellor St. Thomas More and Bishop St. John the Baptist Fisher both lost their heads, all because Henry VIII was refused an annulment to his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Finally, the Church has never been opposed to inter-racial marriages, and has never in her official Canon Laws held mixed race to be an impediment to marry.

Given her track record, there should be little surprise that the Catholic Church continues today to proclaim the good news of Christ’s teaching on marriage as a life-long union of one man and one woman, oriented to children.

May we be faithful to Christ, and to His Bride the Church, in esteeming and defending this institution as the saints of old did, and as we approach Jesus, the Bridegroom of our soul, in Holy Communion today, may we say to him, freely and without reservation, “Jesus, I take you to be my Lord. I promise to be true to you and all your teachings, and all the teachings of your Bride the Church, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you Jesus, and honor you, all the days of my life. Amen.”

Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.

There was a lot for Mary to process as we would say today, a lot for her to reflect on, as God had done so much in her life over the past year.    May we too, like Mary, take time to reflect on all the ways God touched our lives in 2012.

One of the major events in our Church this past year was the opening of the Year of Faith, which began October 11, 2012, and will end November 24, 2013 on the Feast of Christ the King.

So this New Year’s Day, as we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, I thought I would speak a bit on Mary’s great Faith and how she can inspire us to grow in our Faith.

We all of course need faith in God in order to be saved and get to Heaven. But in God’s mysterious plan, God calls some of us to have more faith than others, the greater the persons vocation.
And when we read the Gospels, we see that Mary needed to have more faith than any other human being.

Mary’s faith in Christ began of course at the Annunciation.  In many way’s the Annunciation is like the story of Joan of Arc. When Joan was just a young peasant girl, living in a small village of France, the Archangel St. Michael appeared to her and told her to lead the French Army to victory over the British, who for almost 100 years had devastated France. The 17 year old Joan, acting on faith, went and did just that.

But Mary’s story is even more incredible: like Joan of Arc, she is this young woman in a tiny backwater town in northern Israel, when an Angel appears to her and announces that God wants her, not to save France, but the save the human race by becoming the mother of His only Son.

And as the saints tell us, Mary believed the Word in her heart before she conceived the Word in her womb.

Gabriel wasn’t only asking Mary “Will you do this?” He was also asking her “Do you believe God can do this?” Not only do you believe God can make a Virgin conceive, but more importantly, do you believe God will work through you?  Do you believe with all your heart that your Son Jesus will be the All Powerful God come to earth to save all people from their sins?”

Mary said that day to the Angel, and every day after that: “I do believe it: Be it done to me according to your word” And  once the Angel left, Mary didn’t need a pregnancy test, Mary had total faith that God’s Son was growing within her, and one day He would save the world, all because of her faith-filled “yes I believe” to God.

How about us: do you and I, like Mary, believe that God will work powerfully in and through us ordinary people living in this small city of Woonsocket, RI? Do we believe that if we have faith, Jesus will grow stronger within us with each passing day, and that this faith of ours will help reconcile people to God, even save people from eternal death?

But Mary’s faith journey, and her need for faith, was only just beginning at the Annunciation. Right from the start, her faith led her into trial after trial.

How much faith did Mary need when it appeared that Joseph was going to leave her? Or when, 9 months pregnant, she had to travel 75 miles by donkey to a strange, unfriendly town of Bethlehem?

Or how much faith did Mary need when she started going into labor in a cattle barn in the middle of the night? Or when Jesus is not even a few months born, and her family must flee into Egypt? And all the while, Mary is reflecting deeply on Simeon telling her that her son would cause her great heartache in life, and the gift of Myrhh, embalming spices given by the Magi.

Then in Egypt, Mary hears the terrible, shocking news that dozens of babies and children in Bethlehem had been slaughtered, all because of her Son, all because of her “yes” to God – the first glimpse at the Satanic hatred Jesus’ presence in the world would stir up.  What had Mary gotten herself into?

But throughout it all, even when she couldn’t understand, Mary never regretted embracing the faith, but knew all the trials and hardships were worth it to have Jesus in her life, and that God would somehow bring good even out of the senseless tragedies of life. May we imitate Mary in also embracing the trials and hardships that come from living by faith.

But probably an even greater test of faith confronted Mary on her return from Egypt.  After two years of great signs and wonders and high drama at Jesus’ birth, there follows thirty long monotonous years of ordinary, daily living in Nazareth.

For thirty years, Jesus lived and prayed and worked, day in and day out, in the same house as Mary. But except for that one isolated incident in the Temple at age 12, Jesus seemed in her eyes and everyone else’s eyes, to be just another good but ordinary Hebrew boy from Nazareth, destined to be a simple carpenter to the end of his life.

But throughout all those long mundane years, and even when her husband Joseph died in her and Jesus’ arms, Mary never doubted that Jesus her son was the all powerful God become man to save us from our sins.

Once again, how about you and I? Jesus, the All Powerful God, is with us, day in and day out, here in the Blessed Sacrament. Do we, like Mary, believe he is here with us, even in the ordinary events of our life?

And then, one day, when she least expected it, Mary arises one morning, and Jesus has his bags packed.  “where are you going, Jesus?” “Jordan River. Goodbye, Mother.”

And – He’s gone. From this point on, Jesus physically and emotionally detaches Himself more and more from Mary, and Mary more and more spiritually attaches herself to Jesus through her greater and greater faith in him.

She sees him next just briefly at Cana, at the wedding banquet. And from her home in Nazareth, she begins to hear people talking about all he is doing in the towns of Galilee, and reflects on what he is doing and saying in her heart.

He comes back once to his hometown to visit, and the people he grew up with try to kill him; and he never goes back again. Mary lives on alone for the next two years in Nazareth, now hostile to her and her son, with greater faith in Him than ever.

She and her relatives go visit him one day in Capernaum, and he says in front of everyone “Who is my mother? Those who follow God are my mother and sister and brother!” Words which certainly must have stung her emotionally, while at the same time increasing her faith in Him spiritually.

And then, the Passover comes around, and Mary as was her custom went down to Jerusalem to celebrate it. Her maternal instinct tells her that things are coming to a head.    And in the middle of the night, she gets the call that all parents dread, that her only Son has been arrested.

And as the morning comes, she learns that Jesus has been condemned to death.

Like Abraham, Mary’s faith didn’t waver as she walks up the hill of Calvary with her Son carrying the Wood he will be sacrificed on.

But unlike Abraham, whose test of faith ended when he received back his living, unharmed son that day on Mt. Moriah, Mary receives back the lifeless, bloody body of her son that Good Friday on Mt. Calvary.

Her Child of the Promise lay dead in a cold tomb; and his last words to her weren’t “I love you mom” or “Don’t worry, I’ll rise again” but rather his last words were “There is your son, he will take care of you now.”

But even in this final earthly detachment, this final crushing test of faith, Mary does not doubt or lose faith.  Her  faith instead rises higher than any human being has to that occasion, and clings closer than ever to Jesus in his suffering and death for the redemption of the world.

And when Jesus rises from the dead on Easter Sunday, Mary’s faith is so strong that she believes Christ is risen even before she sees him.

As a matter of fact, the Gospels don’t record any appearance of the Risen Christ to His Mother. St. Ignatius said it wasn’t recorded because it was obvious Jesus would have appeared to her, and therefore it didn’t need to be recorded. But maybe there’s no record because Jesus didn’t appear to her, because His Mother’s faith was so strong He didn’t need to appear risen for her to be full of joy and total faith that He had Risen!

My brothers and sisters, as we begin this Year of Our Lord 2013 during this Year of Faith, may we entrust ourselves and our country to our Blessed Mother Mary.

It may well be that God will require more faith than ever from you and I and our whole world this New Year. It could be that this Year of Faith is providential, given to us by God to “get ready” cause we’re gonna need all the faith we can get.

May we, like Mary, rise to the occasion, and approach all the challenges this new year holds with firm Faith in Christ Her Son, so that we like Mary will rejoice when, after the trial of faith is over, Christ Rises more glorious than ever in our hearts and in our world.

During the Christmas Season, we are reminded that God, who is Love, became Incarnate in the Holy Family.

Just as Jesus, Love incarnate, is at the center of that first Holy Family of Mary and Joseph’s, and also at the center of their marriage, so Love incarnate should be at the center of every Holy Family of believers and every Christian marriage union.

But sometimes, even in the best of families, even in the best of marriages, Love can get lost.

Time goes by, we are preoccupied with other things, and all of a sudden we look around and say “wait a minute, where did the Love that was so central to our family relationships, so central to our marriage, where did that Love go?”
And as with Mary and Joseph, great anxiety and sorrow sets into our family life.

We search everywhere, make every effort, but Love is nowhere to be found, to the point where it seems we have lost the Love we once cherished, have lost the Love that was once so alive in our family relationships, for good.

But that first Holy Family didn’t call off the search for that lost Love, Mary and Joseph kept seeking, kept working at it, until they found that Love again.

And when the crises was over, and they again found that Love that was central to their family again, Jesus said to them, according to a well known, different translation than the one we just read, Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?

It is in times when love seems lost, when even God seems lost in our family relations, it is in those times that Jesus is most about His Father’s business. Its in the times when our families are going through great sorrow or stressful trials that Jesus is working behind the scenes in ways we are not privileged to see.
If families and married couples persevere through trials and sorrows, persevere through those dark times when Love seems to be hopelessly lost, they, like Mary and Joseph, will find Love again.

But the Love Mary and Joseph found was no longer the same, it had forever changed.  Mary and Joseph lost the child Jesus, but they found the young adult Jesus. They found a stronger, wiser Love than they had had before; a more mature Love.

Love for the Christian Family, for the Christian Marriage, is forever growing in age and wisdom and grace, at times dying to the old only to rise again to a new and better and stronger Love.

This is why the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple is both one of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, and one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary and Joseph.

May we make Jesus, Love incarnate, the center of our family bonds. May we have faith in times of family crises, that Jesus is about His Father’s business, working behind the scenes in our families, in ways we can’t understand now but will joyfully understand later, if we persevere in seeking Him.

And may the Most Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, bless all the families of St. Joseph’s Parish as well as our Parish Family of St. Joseph’s, this Christmas Season and upcoming New Year.