Month: July 2017

A PEW FULL OF HYPOCRITES – a reflection

My first day as a second grader at St. Andrew’s Catholic School in St. Paul, I, and approximately 29 other classmates were told by Sister Angeline that ten of my classmates were going to go to Hell when we died. That came as no great surprise to me. I personally knew the unfortunate ten, though I must add that my list might not have been consistent with the lists of my other classmates. And there was a distinct possibility that I might be on the “hell bound” list of others in my class.

In the world of a Catholic school second grader in 1959, religious sisters were a kind of human anomaly. Because the religious sisters were covered head to toe, with only their faces and hands showing, I thought there were three different sexes, namely: men, women, and nuns. Because of this anomaly, I believed nuns had special powers not attributed to other human beings, and, the words they spoke carried a lot of weight that was generally reinforced by the 12 inch rulers secretly placed up their sleeves.

Sister Angeline was a kind and compassionate nun, however,  she held to a firm belief that the quickest path to heaven was through the use of fear. If we were not going to heaven willingly, she would do all in her power to scare us there. Hence, we had a full year of stories about Hell, demons, demonic possession, and other paranormal horrors to insure that we would be “good Catholic” boys and girls. What was pounded home time and time again was that we were in desperate need of conversion. I didn’t know that Jesus was loving, kind, and merciful until I took beginning theology courses as an undergraduate in college. Incidentally, this belief was confirmed when the Doobie Brothers made it official in their song, “Jesus Is Just Alright.”

Admittedly, over the years I have had a love/hate relationship of sorts with the memory of Sister Angeline. Her over emphasis on sin and Hell I greatly resent in so much that it prevented me from seeing the tremendous love, compassion and mercy of Jesus. This explains my negative visceral reaction to the heavy handedness of any cleric, particularly Pope John Paul II, and then, Cardinal Ratzinger, who choose to err on the more Pharisaic side of rigidity to rules and a judgmental God rather than focusing on the love and compassion of Jesus.  All that being said, there is no denying that all of us are in need of conversion.

In a world that denies the need for conversion and boasts that there is no such thing as sin, all we need to do is pick up a newspaper, watch the news, and find that sin is very prevalent and is very much alive all around us in the horrible things that people do to one another every day. From mass shootings, to corporate greed, to racist and religious prejudice and persecution, to withholding food and shelter from the poor, oh, yes the world is in much need of conversion.

It is easy to think that of all the human institutions that abound, the only one that is NOT in need of conversion is that of the Catholic Church. One couldn’t be more wrong. The Catholic Church, in so much as it is made up of human beings, is very much in need of conversion, too. Remarkably, the Catholic Church says as much.

In the Introduction to the Rite of Penance¸#3, under the heading “The Church Both Holy and Always in Need of Purification, we find the words, “Whereas Christ, ‘holy, harmless, undefiled’ (Hebrews 7:26), knew no sin but came solely to seek pardon for the sins of his people, the Church, having sinners in its midst, is at the same time holy and in need of cleansing, and so is unceasingly intent on repentance and reform.”

This is an important statement by the Catholic Church. For countless centuries, the Catholic Church taught that the Church was the “Perfect Sinless Society” without flaw. For many of us who have ministered within the Church, we know how flawed an institution it is.

In our Archdiocese for the past 3 years, we have undergone an exposure to the sin perpetuated upon the innocent and the vulnerable, mainly children and adolescents, by ordained clergy, mainly from the past when the Church still considered itself “the Perfect Sinless Society.” Countless number of people were sexually preyed upon by priests and religious in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and now as a Church, we must do penance and compensate those so grievously harmed by not only the sexual predators, but also by a hierarchy who ignored the cries of those victimized, and threatened the victims to remain silent, in order to preserve this illusion of being a “Perfect Sinless Society.”

When I began my ministry in the Church 41 years ago, I had to come to grips with the sinfulness of the Church as a human institution. All the flaws we see in any human organization are present within the institutional Catholic Church. As in any business, there are those attempting to climb the corporate ladder, often priests seeking higher clerical office within the institution. As there is in any human institution those actively seeking higher office have no scruples as to who they step on or destroy in order to attain that higher office. Some of these fail, and others succeed to become bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. The politics of the chancery can rival that of many monarchial dynasty. “Holy Mother Church” as a human institution can be a cold hearted, evil step-mother who uses people and casts them aside as refuse when no longer needed.

On the other hand, I also was exposed to the many men and women, some clerical, some religious, some lay ministers, and some lay volunteers who do remarkable ministry in the Church without seeking any recognition or personal gain. Motivated by the Gospel life of Jesus, they seek to serve rather than be served and work tirelessly to build the Reign of God in our world. I found that there are many more of these selfless people within the Church then the self-seeking religious plutocrats seeking self-advancement.

Very early on, I had to develop a coping mechanism to continue working in the Institutional Church. I did this by using a rather graphic metaphor to separate out the sinfulness of the Institution from the grace-filled Church that Christ intended. The cruel and awful things the Church as an institution did to people went into the “shit” pile. The wonderful ministries to the poor, to the disenfranchised, to those mourning, to those most in need spiritually and temporally, went into the “grace” pile. That which the Church does that builds up the People of God and advances the Reign of God in our world goes into the “grace” pile. That which separates and destroys community goes into the “shit” pile. I continue to use this graphic metaphor today.

When I read the opening statement for the Sacrament of Penance, above,  for the first time, I realized that my observation as a church minister on the sinfulness of the institution was spot on. Comprised of its human membership, all of the Catholic Church, hierarchy, religious and laity are in need of conversion. Only Jesus, the head of the Church, is without sin. All of the institutional Church is in need of metanoi, ongoing, daily conversion, so that we might more ably reflect the love of Jesus, the sinless One, to those we have been called by God to serve. It is only through ongoing conversion to the Gospel of Jesus that the good fruit of the Church can happen in the world. It is only through ongoing conversion to the Gospel of Jesus that the lives of those most in need of love can be healed from their brokenness.

I have been told by people that they no longer go to church anymore because of all the hypocrites sitting in the pews. The people in the pews put on a good show of “holiness and righteousness” within the four walls of the church, but outside the church their values are in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. This is a valid observation and one that has been made for as long as I can remember. My father, prior to the reforms of Vatican II, talked about “Sunday Catholics” who performed their Sunday obligation but were hell-bent on getting out of the parking lot of the church as soon as Mass was over. The only time they were “Catholic” was the 40 minutes or less when they were in church. Outside that time, they got drunk, cheated on their spouses, stole, and lived contrary to the rules of the Church. The hypocrisy of church members was no different then as it is now, the only difference being the Mass was in Latin.

The truth be told, the Catholic Church, and for that matter, all Christian churches, and non-Christian religions can be labeled “hypocritical.” Each and everyone of us, whether we be a Pope, a Bishop, a Iman, a Rabbi, the Dalai Lama, and so on, are hypocrites. We are hypocritical in that we fail to live out the faith, the religious tenets to which we are called and profess. Whether it be the Gospels of the Christian religions, the Torah, the Talmud and Mishna of the Jewish religion, the Koran of the Islamic religion, the Tripitaka and Mahayan Sutras of the Buddhist religion, the four Vedas of the Hindu religion, or any other sacred teachings of any religion, no member of any of these religions faithfully and completely live that which is taught in their sacred texts. So, yes, we are hypocrites. However, this only proves that no matter what religion we profess, we are equally hypocritical.

If those who profess a religious faith are hypocrites, what is the point of worshipping God in community? For Christians and speaking specifically for Catholics, the answer is in the first part of what was said in that Introduction to the Sacrament of Penance. All of the Church is in need of conversion/purification except for one, Jesus, who is sinless and is the head of the Church.

We gather as a miserable, broken, hypocritical bunch of human beings to receive the grace from the One who has not sinned but bore the brokenness of our miserable human condition in his own body. Our brokenness needs healing. We do not possess the ability to heal ourselves. Only Jesus can heal the brokenness in our lives. We need to be made self-aware of our own hypocrisy and to begin to live lives that bring harmony to the world, not disharmony. Whether I am at Mass as an ordained deacon, whether I am at Mass as a liturgical musician, whether I am at Mass as one among many in the pews, I come to receive the grace I need from God to be made whole again for another week. I come to be renewed when my faith is challenged. I come to receive forgiveness for the brokenness I have caused others during the week, and to forgive those who have caused brokenness in my life. I come to Mass to acknowledge that I am one with everyone in the church and in equal need of conversion in my life.

There is no place for an attitude of “holier than thou” in the Catholic Church. To use Jesus’ parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee who went to the Temple to pray, rather than boast with the Pharisee about how self-righteous we are, we must adopt the attitude of the tax collector who bows his head, strikes his breast, and says, “Have mercy on me, Lord. a sinner.”

Sister Angeline was correct on insisting that us Second graders needed to learn the lesson of conversion. Her methodology to reinforce that particular lesson could have been better. It is important that we acknowledge as a community our need for conversion in our lives. It is important that we gather as a community to mutually seek the healing for the brokenness in our lives. We can learn much from the wisdom of 12 step groups that by ourselves, we cannot bring about the conversion that we need in our lives. We need to rely on the love and the grace that we can receive only from Jesus. Why gather to worship at Mass? Why not? It is the only place where we, hypocritical as we are as a community, can receive the grace we so desperately need.

 

The wisdom of being childlike – a homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. (Matthew 11:25-26)

As human beings, we like to think of ourselves as being smart, knowing all the angles so as to keep from being fooled by others. We like to think that our base of knowledge is complete, that we have all the answers to every situation we encounter and every problem that comes our way. We like to think of ourselves as completely self-reliant. And, so believing our own myth of being all wise and all knowing, the sin of pride oozes and drips from our own egos. We suffer so from our own blindness.

This past week the G-20 is meeting in Hamburg, Germany. One of the most highly anticipated events of the G-20 thus far is the meeting between Putin and trump. Putin schemes, plots, and sows discord to consolidate more power for Russia and for himself, as dictator of Russia. And there is, trump, a prisoner of his own narcissism, controlled by his oversize ego, instant gratification in all areas of his life, and an inability to think about anyone but himself. Both of these men believe themselves to be the better and the smarter of the two (Admittedly, Putin has the better brain, the political savvy, and the ability to manipulate and play with trump, as a cat does with a mouse it is about to kill.). They like to think of themselves as all knowing, filled with wisdom, and have hired people to tell them that they are. In spite of the vast wealth and the political power both wield, they equally fail to grasp that which is most important in the world. They are so afflicted with blindness.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes, “We look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”

St. Paul in this simple statement sums up the blindness that afflicts most of humanity. Our own physical senses create an illusion that reality is only that which we can see, hear, touch, smell and taste. Our philosophy of life, the way we order our world, the way we judge happiness is all based only on physical stimuli. St. Paul tells us that all which are senses consider to be real is not real, but is merely temporary and will fade away like mist. Our perceived reality is based on nothing but empty air.

St. Paul’s statement is not just an isolated sentiment in the Christian Testament. Throughout the gospels, Jesus repeatedly tells us that are lives must not be built on the unreliable sources of this earth, but on that of God. For instance, Jesus explains that no one builds their homes on a foundation of sand. Only those homes built on solid rock, that is the word of God, will survive the storms of life. (Matthew 7: 24-29)

In the first letter of Peter, it is written,” Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.”

St. James writes, “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire.”

It is easy for us to make out Putin and trump as quintessential examples of lives built on narcissism and blindness and yet, live in ignorance of our own blindness and our own stupidity. It is not easy to confront our own blindness, and acknowledge our own enslavement to the transitory unreality in which we live. St. Paul observes that it is only in being close to death that we finally see that which is really real. Can we not begin earlier in life to see that which lays just beyond the barrier of our physical senses? Jesus tells us yes, that this is within our capabilities in this life.

We must begin to see the world around us with the eyes of a child. Our eyesight must not be limited to just the physical things that we see, but we must look beyond the physical object to the wonder that lays beyond that object. It is similar to looking at a religious icon. A religious icon is a flat, two-dimensional picture, generally not all that captivating to the eye. Its two-dimensional unattractive state is painted so as to draw our mind’s eye to the multi-dimensional reality of God that lies beyond it.

How do we develop that kind of eyesight to see the multi-dimensions that exist beyond our physical world? Jesus tell us that we must begin to see the world through the lens of a child, the lens of humility. The new born child is well aware that life is dependent on others. The child suckles on the breast of his/her mother to draw not only nourishment from breast milk, but also to draw in the love of his/her mother. The child innately realizes that the ability to live is not based on his/her self-reliance but in relying on the love of his/her mother and father for food, clothing, and protection. The child discovers the world and how to navigate through the world by looking through the eyes of his/her mother and father.

Jesus tells us that true sight, true wisdom and true knowledge is gained by humbling acknowledging that our lives are totally dependent on our God who is Mother and Father to us. We draw upon the breast of God for spiritual nourishment. We draw upon the mind of God for knowledge. We draw upon the love of God for life. It is in doing this that we begin to see with eyes that which is truly real. It is doing this that the barrier of our physical senses create fades away like a mist to reveal that which is truly real and lasts for eternity.

All that which Putin and trump believe important, is, in the end, very transitory and unimportant. Upon that which they base their reality and happiness is nothing more than just empty air. It is important that world nations address the immense evils that pollution, poverty, hunger, and the inequitable distribution of wealth cause the people of our world. It is important that the world nations use the tools which God has entrusted to humanity to address these evils. But, as Jesus points us, we must humbly acknowledge that the only correct way to use the tools given to us is by allowing God to work these tools through us.

St. Peter concludes his second letter with these words.  “According to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity.” (2 Peter 3:13-18)

A continuation of the discussion about patriotic songs in Roman Catholic liturgy …

Yesterday, Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, wrote a very fine editorial on the prohibition of using patriotic songs in liturgy, especially the celebration of the Mass. Informed by the many liturgical classes at had at the St. Paul Seminary, and using the liturgical principles stated in the Church’s liturgical documents, I threw in my own two cents in addition to what Fr Martin expressed.

The celebration of the liturgical rites of the Church, including all sacramental rites, is focused on our relationship with God, NOT our relationship with our country of origin. Roman Catholic liturgy transcends all nations, all nationalities, all cultures, and all races. In fact, the liturgies of the Roman Catholic Church point and lead us to a concept that strikes at the heart of nationalism of any nation. Jesus did not just die for a particular nation, ideology, form of government, or culture. JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR ALL NATIONS, ALL IDEOLOGIES, ALL FORMS OF GOVERNMENTS AND ALL CULTURES. Not one of them was left out of Christ’s sacrificial offering.

Symbols of any nation, whether it be the American flag, the Canadian flag, the Mexican flag, the Vatican flag (the Vatican is recognized as a sovereign nation), or any nation, should be not be displayed in any liturgical space. If a congregation wants to have a flag flying outside the Church, or in the narthex of the Church, fine. But the flag of any nationality must not be within the liturgical space for the simple reason that Jesus did not die to save just the people of that nation. JESUS DIED FOR THE SALVATION OF ALL PEOPLE, INCLUDING THE ENEMIES OF ANY PARTICULAR NATION. This is what our Roman Catholic liturgy expresses in word and sacrament. In the middle of the American Civil War, when a person stated to President Abraham Lincoln that God was on the side of the North. Lincoln responded so very succinctly, “The question is not whether God is on our side. The question is, are we on God’s side?”

Roman Catholic liturgy transcends all the divisions of human language, culture, customs, and nations simply because ALL of humanity are children of God, all of humanity, including our sworn enemies!

If one objects to this by saying, “you are getting too political”, well, the gospel of Jesus Christ is very political. The Great Commandment of Jesus, the Beatitudes, the mandate by Jesus to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, take of the sick, visit the imprisoned and welcome the stranger are very political positions that transcends the ideologies of political parties. No political party is the political party of Jesus. No government, and no ideology is that of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus must be used to evaluate all political party platforms, all ideologies, and all national governments. And, in doing so, all of them will fall woefully short. All the more so political emblems, symbolism and songs must not be part of Roman Catholic liturgy.

If one wants to wrap themselves in the flag, or the political parties they espouse, then they must do it at events that are strictly limited to those kinds of events. There is a time and place for all these things, however, they must not be imposed upon the Mass or any other Roman Catholic liturgy. God has primacy over all these very human creations.

Last, but not least, the Mass and other Roman Catholic liturgies points us to a reality to which God is leading us. When God created the universe, God created all things to be in and live in harmony. Sin, as St. Paul states, drove disharmony into God’s creation. The great sin of humanity was to sow disruption and pain into the harmony God created. From the disharmony that humanity sowed rose greed, violence, war, and destitution. From the disharmony that humanity sowed rose human factions in opposition to one another. From the disharmony that humanity sowed rose persecution, religious intolerance, and genocide.

Jesus came to restore the harmony that humanity destroyed by Sin. In the celebration of the Mass, all of humanity is welcomed around the table of the Lord to join in a common meal. The great eschatological meal envisioned by Isaiah, Chapter 2, of all nations ascending the mountain of God, to feast and drink at the great meal provided to humanity by God, and to feast on the words, the wisdom, and the love of God is present at the celebration of the Mass. This is not the time for symbols and songs of division and disharmony, but, instead, symbols and songs of  harmony and unity. The Mass is the Thanksgiving meal for all of humanity. It is a restoration of that primordial harmony which God intended for creation as the Divine breath of God stirred life within the waters of the Abyss.

Our churches, daresay, our homes must reflect this restoration of the beginning. It is said that Church begins at home. How well do we embrace the harmony God intended for all of creation? While there is no sin in displaying one’s patriotism outside his/her home, I prefer to display in symbol the harmony God intended. Outside our home, we fly the “Earth” flag, in the hope that one day those differences between nations and governments will be destroyed forever, along with all weapons humanity has created to sow disruption and pain into our world. Foregoing all national symbols that illustrate the disconnection of humanity, I encourage all people to focus on symbols that will unite us as a common people of God, whom God loved so much that God sent, Jesus, the Son, the Logos of God, to redeem us.

 

 

 

Praying the Psalms to God in the Second Person

Ah, by the title of this post, one might think, “Oh, he is referring to praying to God through Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, in the Holy Spirit,” as we state in the Doxology in Mass just prior to the Great Amen. Or, again, one might not be thinking that or even considering that. What I am alluding to is in reference to the order of grammar.

Grammatically, first person singular is stated by using the word, “I.” For instance, “I walked to the store.” Second person singular is stated by using the word, “you,” as in, “You went to the store.” Third person singular is stated by using the words, “he” or “she”, as in “He or She went to the store.”

In many of the Psalms, God is addressed in the third person singular as “he.” The difficulty I find with this is not only because the reference is not inclusive of the reality of God in whose image women and men are created.

My primary difficulty is that the third person singular reference to God is too impersonal. Praying to God in the third person singular I find tantamount to praying to an object, like praying to a rock, or a chair, an “it.” The relationship we, as human beings, have with objects is one of ownership, not a personal relationship. Theologically, we, creatures of God, do not “own” God, even though we may try to created God in our own image. The creature does not own the creator.

However, praying to God in the 2nd person singular form, “you”, implies a relationship that is personal and close. This requires a little mental “retranslation” as I pray the psalms during the Liturgy of the Hours. For instance, using the Grail translation of this morning’s psalm, Psalm 24. The Grail translation states, “The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm.” I retranslate this from the third person to the second person in this way. “My Lord, yours are the earth and all its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is you who set it on the seas; on the waters you made it firm.” Is not referring to God in the second person far more personal? Is not referring to God in the second person far more prayerful?

I suggest for those of us who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, especially the psalms, to try using the second person singular in praying to God. It adds a depth to the Psalms that is sorely lacking in the third person singular. In closing, I leave your with a retranslation of the Grail translation of the Morning Canticle, the Canticle of Zachary.

“Blessed be you, my Lord, the God of Israel; you have come to your people and set us free. You have raised up for us a mighty savior; born of the house of your servant, David.  Through your holy prophets you promised of old, that you would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. You promised to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember your holy covenant. This was the oath you swore to our father, Abraham, you would set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship you without fear, holy and righteous  in your sight all the days of our lives. You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way of the Lord, to give the people of God knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. In your tender compassion, our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shone on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Encountering God’s hospitality in giving and receiving – a homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

HOMILY FOR THE 13TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

In today’s gospel, Jesus addresses two important aspects of being a Christian disciple. It involves the act of giving and the act of receiving. First, as Christian disciples, we must give the presence of Christ to others. Secondly, as Christian disciples, we must welcome and receive the presence of Christ given to us by others.

For the last 15 years of my sister’s life, she had at least two major surgeries a year. Ruthie and I were generally at the hospital during those surgeries. One very cold January day back in the 1980’s, Ruthie and I got to St. Joseph Hospital in St. Paul early in the morning as my sister was being prepped for another surgery. It ended up being a very long day of sitting and waiting in the surgery waiting room with my parents. My sister was in surgery for about 7 hours, and another hour and a half in post-op. Like many of her surgeries, it was very touch and go, but, somehow, miraculously, she survived once more. Once she got up to her hospital room, Ruthie and I wearily made it back to our Aerostar parked in the hospital parking lot.

As we drove home, right around the small town of Lydia, my power steering went out. With some difficulty, I steered the car home and as Ruth went into the house to be with our kids, I opened the hood expecting to pull out a broken power steering belt. Instead, I pulled out a tail and then heard a pitiful meow coming from the engine. A cat had crawled on top of the motor in the hospital parking lot to get warm and tragically on the way home got caught in the engines’ pulleys. My nerves were raw from the emotional toll of my sister’s surgery and now there was a poor, suffering, partially dismembered cat in my car’s engine.

I rushed into the house. My son, Andy asked me how Aunt Mary was doing, and I cried out, “Don’t ask me about your Aunt Mary, I’ve got a cat pulled apart in my car engine!” Not quite the answer Andy was anticipating. I called the police and pretty much shouted into the phone what had happened to the hapless dispatcher. She said to me, “Okay, first, you get a garbage bag and then you get a baseball bat. You then pull the cat out of your engine. Next you hit the cat on the head with the baseball bat. Then you throw the cat into the garbage bag.” I could not believe my ears, and, I angrily hung up on the dispatcher. I was desperate. I was beyond distraught. What was I to do? I called up my good friend, Fr. Denny Dempsey, who was the associate pastor at St Wenceslaus.

I said, “Denny, I’ve got a cat pulled apart in my car engine and I don’t know what to do!” Denny was a frequent and welcomed guest at our home, eating with us at least once a week, and, on those nights when he did not have Mass early in the morning, would watch movies on our VCR to the wee hours of the morning. Denny was a welcomed dinner guest at many of the homes of St. Wenceslaus parishioners, so much so, that I think he seldom ate at the rectory. As my friend, Jack McHugh, once observed, when Denny comes to supper, he gets his own loaf of bread. Anyway, Denny calmly listened to me and told me, “I will be right over. This sounds more interesting than the report I am doing for the Archbishop.” He concluded, “Oh, I need you to get a garbage bag, and a baseball bat.” “Okay,” I answered meekly, and went to get a baseball bat and a garbage bag.

Denny pulled up in front of my car, his headlights shining onto the front of my car. He got out of his car, and said to me, “Has your engine lost its purr? Do you no longer have a tiger in your tank?” Still very upset, I just said, “Oh, shut up!” He opened the hood of the car and reached in and pulled out the poor cat. The cat had died. He gently placed the cat in the garbage bag. Then he came inside the house, listened to my day, and helped to calm me down.

Denny Dempsey brought the real presence of Jesus to me that cold January night. It had nothing to do with him being a priest. It was more about Denny being a very concerned friend. He came to my aid when I needed him most desperately. He brought Christ’s calming, healing presence to a situation that was for me chaotically out of control.

Jesus tells his disciples in the gospel, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Today’s gospel is about God’s presence and hospitality to others, and welcoming and receiving God’s presence from others.

Our world today can be best described in the words of Norm Peterson, from the old TV comedy, “Cheers.” “It is a dog eat dog world, and I’m wearing Milkbone underwear.” Our world is as chaotically out of control as was my life that cold January night. These two aspects of being a Christian are vitally important in a world in which personal gain and personal revenge is lived out on the lowest level of human life to the very high levels of government; and, in a world in which humanity is more inclined to shoot one another rather than welcome one another.

In the gospel, Jesus is sending his Apostles out on a mission to bring his healing presence to others. We are the living Apostles whom Jesus sends out on mission to our world today. This mission, as the gospel states, transcends nations, ideologies, career, and, even family. We are to give Christ’s healing presence to others, and to welcome and receive Christ’s healing presence to others. When we give Christ’s healing presence to others, most often we will find that in their receiving us, they, in turn, will give Christ’s living presence to us. In giving Christ abundantly to others, we will, in return, receive Christ in abundance from them.