Fr. Matt's Homilies

With a last name like Shireman, you might expect me to be a big Lord of the Rings fan. Actually, I’m not all that versed in it, but I do think it is an epic series that has a deep plot, in thanks to the giftedness of Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien. The hobbit Frodo at one point in the opening book [The Fellowship of the Ring] says, “I miss the Shire.” We might say that to miss our homeland is a very human sentiment, although apparently it is also a very hobbit sentiment.
 
There is something similar going on in today’s feast. After Jesus’ Resurrection and 40 days with His disciples, it is now time for Jesus to return to where He came from—the Father’s House in Heaven.
 
In the reading from Acts, we heard that The Disciples were looking intently at the sky where Jesus had left Earth and entered Heaven. The Disciples have a mixed set of emotions—they are joyful because they believe Jesus’ words that it is better for Him to return to the Father so that they can send the Holy Spirit.  But they are also experiencing grief...that Jesus is no longer located with them. I would venture a guess that they all had the human sentiment in their hearts: “we are going to miss him—his human speech, his human way of acting, of looking, of smiling, of making us feel loved.”

I think we can all relate to this type of very human sentiment during the pandemic because we, too, are experiencing grief and loss.  We are experiencing grief over not being able to be around loved ones. This is intensified if it involves a loved one who is dying or who has died.  We are experiencing grief over things that have been radically changed--whether it be jobs, graduations, Confirmations, 1st Communions.  We are also experiencing grief over not having public Mass and not being able to receive Jesus sacramentally through the Eucharist.

During this pandemic, I have often heard expressed (and felt personally) a rather human desire: “I can’t wait for things to be back to normal.” It’s another similar sentiment to what Frodo had expressed for the Shire. Much later, when Frodo does return to the Shire, however, things are not the same.  Why? Because Frodo has changed and the world has changed.

Even as we prepare to have public Masses resume, things are going to be different, because we have changed...and the world has changed. Since the obligation to attend Mass will continue to be lifted, many of our fellow parishioners won’t be able to join us in-person (like the elderly and those with underlying health issues). In fact, the Masses at care facilities that Father Dave and I celebrated before the pandemic will probably be suspended until a vaccine is developed. At least initially, music will be limited at Mass to reduce the spread of droplets. To help with social distancing before, during, and after Mass, you’ll be spread out in our church so that you probably won’t get to sit in your normal seat. And this might be the most difficult for me and for the kids and kids-at-heart—we won’t be able to have donuts after Mass or socialize on church property.
In the Bible following the Ascension, it is apparent that God’s will for the Disciples is that they don’t return to normalcy...to what things were like during Jesus’ public ministry or during the joyful 40 days after the Resurrection. The Disciples were given 10 short days to prayerfully prepare for the sending of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church at Pentecost. It is easy to see that the Disciples and the world were changed forever on Easter Sunday. It is also true that they are changed again forever on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit filled them with zeal to carry out Jesus’ final orders as we heard in the Gospel: to make it their work to make every person a student in the School of Jesus.

My brothers and sisters, our natural human desires, including the desire to see God face-to-face, will be most perfectly fulfilled in Heaven. Our desire to be with our loved ones without any restrictions—will also be fulfilled in Heaven. Jesus waits for us there.  As does our Blessed Mother, the angels, the saints, and some of our loved ones.  But we have work to do...God is sending us on mission to share Jesus with others in this world that has changed by the pandemic. Two-thirds of Americans say that through the pandemic God is trying to get our attention to change our behavior. God has given us faith and each other, members of Christ’s body, to persevere through this difficult time. But there are so many people broken right now and feeling so helpless...they need us to tell them that God loves them. God loves them so much that Jesus died and rose for them and is now in Heaven waiting for them to make it home. So if “returning to normal” means keeping our faith private, then that is not something we can desire. But if “returning to normal” means going back to our mission of sharing God’s love with others, then that’s something we pray for. We have been filled with the Holy Spirit like the Disciples at Pentecost. And we have been changed forever...to help others’ forevers be changed.
 

Click here for the Sunday Gospel.

We just heard Jesus state in the Gospel, “I am the Gate for the sheep.”  This is one of the lesser known “I am” statements from Jesus. For example, we are a bit more familiar with “I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Way the Truth and the Life,” and “I am the Good Shepherd.”  It is more difficult to get our minds around what Jesus means by “I am the Gate for the sheep.”

The Apostles experienced Jesus as the Gate of their lives when they rested securely in Him. Jesus called them from various walks of life—from professions that were not of high esteem in the eyes of the world—and formed a community with Him at the center and them as the pillars. They first experienced Jesus as the Gate when they were called to be His Disciples, but they would also experience the security of being in Jesus at moments like the Feeding of the Multitudes, the Last Supper, and encountering the Risen Lord after 3 days of extreme anguish surrounding His death.

I think, too, that we all as the Lord’s sheep have also experienced Jesus as the Gate.  Jesus is the Gate of our life when we experience God’s love and grace in deep ways. Jesus is Our Gate when we find true rest in the Lord, when we have all been brought to the peaceful pastures of the Lord.  Some of these times or experiences are none other than the Sacraments: at our Baptism, at our 1st Communion, at our Confirmation, at your Marriage (or in my case, at my Ordination). Other moments of being safe in the Lord follows some not-so-good moments: being restored to our relationship with God through Confession...after our sins had ruptured that relationship.

My brothers and sisters, the Lord is calling us: “come rest in my pastures.” We all have a choice:  either to rest in the Lord’s pastures or to leave the Gate and put ourselves at risk to the world’s temptations. We as Americans focus too much on “doing” rather than “being.” Prior to this pandemic, we all have had the experience of being at a social gathering when we meet someone who says, “Tell me about yourself.” For us adults, we almost at once talk about our occupation.  Now that’s certainly part of who we are. But notice the things we chose not to say in that moment: “I’m a husband” or “I’m a mother” or “I’m a Christian.”

As we continue to be limited in what we can control during this pandemic, one thing we can still control is whether we rest in the Lord. These days, a lot of people (especially dads), who are either working from home or have lost work, are finding more time to spend with their families than they have ever had.  Some doctors, nurses, and others on the frontline turn to prayer before, during, and after their shifts—and they can even experience the Lord’s peace even when death and sickness surrounds them. Consider that outside of the pandemic, many of us find it difficult to budget time for important things like: prayer, a retreat every year or two, or spending time with family. If we have more time in our schedules these days, then this is the best time to develop good habits of prayer and virtue so that we can try to keep those up when life gets busier.

Just as God wants to bring good things out of this pandemic, the Devil wants to bring about evil.  The Devil wants to bring us away from the Gate and to distract us, because when we are distracted, we cannot rest in the Lord.  Sports can be a distraction, although not right now (unless you start watching Korean baseball). Work and kids’ activities can be distractions but probably less-so right now.  Watching shows and using apps on the phone are common modern distractions as are the perennial sins of the passions like over-eating, getting drunk, and using porn. It’s a fact of human life that at times we will feel isolated, bored, stir crazy, or lacking a sense of control.  All of those are heightened during this pandemic. We can either jump away from the gate and go to places that aren’t going to be for our own good. Or we can turn to Jesus, the Gate, who will give us His Peace and His Love and His Rest.

My brothers and sisters, my prayer is that you would relate to Jesus as the Gate—the Gate that leads you to restful pastures and eternal life.
 

Click here for the Sunday Gospel.

We have begun the Holy Triduum—three days that make up one unified liturgy—Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, and the joy of the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.  Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Jesus knew that His death—the New Passover—was quickly approaching and so He imparted to the community of believers some very important words and actions. These words—the legacy that Jesus left us—are known as the Last Supper discourse. They span the Gospel of John from chapters 13 to 17. We can always go deeper with these affirming words of Jesus, so I encourage you to pick up a Bible tonight and hear Jesus speak to you. Just to highlight one sentence of this Discourse, here is something that follows today’s passage: “I give you a new commandment; love one another as I have loved you” (JN 13:34). Jesus loved us by laying down His Life for us; God invites us to lay down our lives for others.

As we heard in Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Jesus’ legacy involves issuing the New Covenant at the Last Supper—He instituted the Holy Eucharist.  He wanted to leave us with His very Presence even after He was to rise from the dead and ascend to the Father in Heaven. Our Lord Jesus is present to us in many ways but most particularly through the Eucharist. Jesus commands us to re-present the institution of the Eucharist at every Mass. Like the Apostles, Jesus desires us to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood regularly (present circumstances notwithstanding).

Today on Holy Thursday, we also celebrate the institution of the Priesthood. Every priest and deacon ordination in the Catholic Church traces its origins to the Lord’s institution of the first priests at that Last Supper. Traditionally, dioceses hold a Chrism Mass on the morning of Holy Thursday at which the bishop consecrates holy oils for use in sacraments at parishes. Also at that Mass, priests (and deacons) renew the vows that they made at their ordinations to serve God’s people. The ordination of priests and deacons, also called Holy Orders, is a sacrament of service. We clergy are here to help get all of you to Heaven.  

This service to God’s people is exemplified in Jesus’ washing of the Apostles’ feet. Travelers during Jesus’ time would get very dirty feet due to the open-toed sandals that they wore.  It was thus an act of hospitality for a host to see to it that their guests’ feet got washed, although this was performed by their servants. The underside of the foot was considered a dishonorable part of the body, so it is shocking to Peter and the Apostles that their master would stoop to wash their feet.

Here is one way we can understand the action of washing feet—it is the removal of our sin and any attachment to worldliness.  Jesus washes the Apostles’ feet—He washes our own feet—for the purpose of bringing us heavenwards. It is easy to forget that for us (as Christians), Earth is not our home. Perhaps this is better appreciated now through this pandemic. We are all on a journey to our Heavenly home. After the Lord has washed the feet of His priests and deacons, we are in-turn to wash your feet. We all still have countless blessings from God during this pandemic, but we also praise

 God that in Heaven, we won’t be affected by things like viruses and having to stay 6 feet apart.

Through the Holy Spirit, the Disciples will understand a fuller meaning of the foot washing—that it is symbolic of Jesus’ death. The way we are to live self-sacrificial love, to go and wash others’ feet is to be ever more united to Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice on the Cross. The Sacraments, especially Baptism, conform us to Jesus’ saving action.

My brothers and sisters, today we thank God for the gifts of the Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders—that God would transform simple bread and wine and imperfect men into instruments of His salvation. Even if you have to hunger for the Eucharist during this time, put your faith in the Lord—His complete love for us is still present to us in a profound way this Triduum.
 

Click here for the Sunday Gospel (MT 26:14—27:66)

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (MT 27:46). This “word” of Jesus left such an impression on its hearers that St. Matthew has recorded it in the language Jesus had spoken—Aramaic:  “Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani?” Jesus is quoting Psalm 22, which in the NAB Bible is titled “The Prayer of an Innocent Person.” Jesus is certainly an innocent person—He never sinned—and yet He faced the greatest injustice in the history of the world: deicide, the murder of God. In His Passion, especially in the Agony in the Garden and on the Cross, Jesus’ humanity is on full display. He is in extreme anguish and pain.  He feels that the presence of the Father has been taken away from Him—he is experiencing what we call spiritual desolation.

By quoting the opening of Psalm 22, Jesus’ intention is to call to mind the whole message of that Psalm. At the end of Psalm 22, the speaker places his absolute trust in God and praises God’s saving help: “For God has not spurned or disdained the misery of this poor wretch, did not turn away from me, but heard me when I cried out” (v. 25). Although Jesus felt that the Father was absent to Him, He, too, placed His trust in the Father that He would be saved.

Perhaps you, like me, can relate to the Psalmist’s (and thus Jesus’) feeling of abandonment during this pandemic. The things that many of us took for granted have all been taken away from us during this time. Things such as going into work and being physically around co-workers and clients, our children (or grandchildren) going to school to receive intellectual formation, leisurely activities such as eating and drinking out/going to the movie theater/watching live sports/celebrating birthdays in-person, but also spiritual consolations like being at a public Mass with family and friends and receiving Holy Communion.  We can unite our own feelings of abandonment to Jesus’ own feeling of abandonment...asking that God would use our troubles for good (and specifically for the end of this pandemic).

Although we may feel that God is far from us, it does not mean, however, that God is not present to us or that we cannot be united with the saints and members of the Church of God.  We put our trust in God like the Psalmist and Jesus did. God has delivered His People throughout history. To call to mind some of these events: God has delivered His people from the slavery to the Egyptians and the 40-year Exodus in the desert, from the 50-year Exile in Babylon, from the wars/plagues/disasters that affected many people. God was with His People, too, in a unique way when Jesus died on the Cross on Good Friday.

It’s the case that almost all of Jesus’ disciples lost faith on Good Friday. But our Blessed Mother did not. She trusted that the Father would raise her Son from the dead. May we turn to our Blessed Mother during this difficult Holy Week and stay with her at the foot of her Son’s Cross. If we trust in God now, when we get to Easter Sunday (as well as the end of this pandemic), we will praise God for His great Love and Mercy.