Faith Amidst the Storm--And Given ISIS in Iraq, the Storm is Certainly Brewing

Faith requires us to step out into the storm.

There was a storm gathering around the disciples.  They must have seen it.  For Jesus seemed to attract a storm.  Like clouds gathering on the horizon people gathered around him.  As they gathered they brought their needs: food, water, healing, forgiveness, wholeness, life and peace.  Like strong winds their needs were overwhelming.  But Jesus responded to them. 

As his popularity grew so did the rumble of thunder: thunder from the religious leaders of his day.  Thunder of skepticism, disbelief, jealousy and envy.  Rumbles of rejection even from his own people.  For Jesus was gaining popularity and making claims that seemed to be simply blasphemous.  How could they be true?  And so the storm started to gather and pick up strength. 

Lightening also struck.  Lightening that took the life of his cousin, John.  Lightening that seemed to strike pretty close to the other disciples, too.  For if John could lose his life, why should they be kept safe?  And so the storm gathered. 

But they said yes to follow him.  That day on the seashore when he asked them to leave everything and follow, they said yes.  It seemed that faith required them to say yes to step out into the storm.

It was no different that night on the boat.  The storms had gathered around the disciples and they were scared.  Scared of capsizing; scared of drowning and of death.  Their fear only grew when they saw the man approach on the water.  Was it a dream? A nightmare? Was it a ghost?  They cowered in fear for it was too much for them.  But that beautiful voice broke through the winds.  That voice they had come to trust.  That voice that whispered to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  They knew that voice.  They knew what it meant. 

So Peter in his glory, in his attempts at being a leader, remembering his first call on that seashore asks Jesus if he can still follow.  For he knows what faith requires.  Faith required him to step out into the storm. 

I don’t think that our situation today is much different than that which is described in the Gospel.  For the storm continues to build around us too.  The thunder rolls and lightening strikes in Iraq and so many other parts of the world where converts to Christianity, and really many of the faithful, are persecuted and crucified in the heat of the desert sun.  Their bodies hang on trees much like that of their founder. They are evidence that the storm still rolls on.

The earth also cracks and shakes as deeper divisions happen in our church: divisions of ideology; divisions of power, divisions of class. These divisions threaten to tear our own temple asunder.  

And there are the rains of skepticism and atheism that seem to flood our faith.  They accompany winds that blow fiercely against the shelter of our own Christian lives as we attempt to live our faith in a place where it is not always so easy to do. 

But in the midst of the storm Jesus says the same thing to us.  He whispers to us: Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.  Come, and follow me.    For faith requires us to step out into the storm. 

And many have stepped out into the storm.  No matter how dark or scary it had been, they were brave and courageous.  Their witness assures us that there are followers of Christ who are willing to step out of the boat.  From St. Peter to St. Mary, St. Kwinten to the martyrs of our own day, many have heeded the call of the Lord—they understood that faith required them to step out into the storm. And these brave witnesses are all around us, too.

The couple that remains open to having children and raising them in the faith steps out onto the water in the midst of the storm.

The student who decides to leave her own country to pursue a degree in a foreign land amid a foreign language in order to better her country and her family steps out onto the water in the midst of the storm.

The theologian who attempts to think with the church even though it is not always the most popular thing to do steps out onto the water in the midst of the storm.

The community that gathers for Mass as the church bells ring, bells whose symbols have lost their meaning in the present culture, when they gather they step out onto the water in the midst of the storm.

Over and over again disciples throughout the ages have headed the call of Christ—even in the midst of the most tumultuous storms—and been courageous enough to step out onto the water and follow him. 

But.  But my brothers and sisters I believe we must also be aware of what happens next in today’s gospel.  For most likely, if we step out into the storm to follow Christ, we may inevitably begin to sink.  Perhaps we even need to sink.

Peter was certainly confident in his will to follow Christ.  But he began to sink.  And this would not be his only moment of weakness.  And down through the ages the greatest of saints stepped out onto the water and began to sink.  For sometimes the storm is too much.  Sometimes our faith is just not that strong 

In our own time we will probably begin to sink, too.  In the midst of cancer we will curse God and wonder where he is.  Waking up to attend to our children for the third time in one night we will wonder if the sacrifice was worth it.  Having the opportunity to stand up for our faith we will hide safely in the background, blending into the crowd.  Overcome by the lure of an overly sexualized culture, we will have our moments of weakness.  Overwhelmed from leaving the familiar we will cry tears at night thinking that it is simply too much.  We too will sink.  For our faith sometimes just isn’t strong enough.

But we can be assured, that in our darkest hour, in our greatest moment of despair, in our most shameful self, he will be there.  His hand will grab us.  He will lift us up.  He will bring us to safety.  His voice will whisper in our ear that it is him.

And with faith like a child let us hope that we too might be able to say on that day, and every day until we see him face to face: 

Truly, you are the Son of God.

Video on Our Missions by Scott Maentz and the Diocese of Knoxville

http://vimeo.com/89086102

LA Religious Education Congress

The Holy Spirit is really working!

I spent some of the morning and all of the afternoon staffing Glenmary's vocation booth at the LA Religious Education Congress.  Hundreds of people stopped at our booth.  Thousands more passed by--somewhere in the area of 30,000+.  People of every color and race.  People of many languages.  People interested in Glenmary.  Many more just simply interested in securing a free flashlight with Glenmary's logo on it!

With all of these visits, though, one thing stood out the most:  the Holy Spirit continues to work in people's lives.

There were people passionate about educating young people.  There were people excited to learn about mission.  There were people hopeful for what the church is doing.  There were people enthusiastic at the work being done in their diocese.  People young and old, one cannot deny the working of the Holy Spirit driving the People of God to be involved in mission.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of  your love.  Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.  And you shall renew the face of the earth.

Pope Francis and Mission at the Periphery

Author's note:  This is a talk I have prepared for a Lenten Retreat to be held in Erwin, TN on March 21 and 22.

 

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Well, if you were around in the 1980s then these words probably spark movement in your memory.  They are words that scrolled up the screen of probably the most popular science fiction movies ever created: they are from Star Wars.  Beginning each movie these words were an invitation to the movie-goer to go on a journey: a journey to a new place; a journey to a new world; a journey to encounter something never encountered.  A journey to visit a destination never thought of and to be transformed through the experience. 

 

With the election of Jorge Cardinal Bergolio as the 265 successor of St. Peter, the church has been invited to go on a similar journey. But rather than being invited to a galaxy far, far away, we are being invited to a different reality.  We are being invited to the periphery:  the periphery of faith, the periphery of people, the periphery of ourselves, the periphery of life.  Just as Star Wars provided for us new encounters that in many ways changed our lives, this journey has potential to do even more.  This journey has the potential for us to be eternally changed.

 

In his address to the bishops of Latin America Pope Francis wrote: “That is why I like saying that the position of missionary disciples is not in the centre but at the periphery: they live poised towards the peripheries… including the peripheries of eternity, in the encounter with Jesus Christ…The disciple is sent to the existential peripheries.”[i] 

 

Still more, in his recent Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium Francis writes: “The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him “to go forth”. Abraham received the call to set out for a new land (cf. Gen 12:1-3). Moses heard God’s call: “Go, I send you” (Ex 3:10) and led the people towards the Promised Land (cf. Ex 3:17). To Jeremiah God says: “To all whom I send you, you shall go” (Jer 1:7). In our day Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” echoes in the changing scenarios and ever new challenges to the Church’s mission of evangelization, and all of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.”[ii]

 

Historically, whenever a Pope addresses the faithful in an exhortation, he usually does so in a way to correct something that has been lacking or waning in the church.  It seems, then, that Francis is pinpointing that a vital struggle in the church this day is the church’s lack of missionary zeal: that zeal which shakes us up, that zeal which sends us off. 

And so he is calling the church back to her fundamental reason for existence: to be missionary.  But he does not stop by just calling the church to mission.  He says that missionary activity must be focused on the periphery of life.  Going to the periphery of life, I would maintain, means for us two things: 1.)  to be shaken out of our comfort zones by a profound experience with Christ,  and 2.) to be sent out to people with whom we normally think don’t deserve to hear the good news.

 

It is to these two ideas, being shaken out of our comfort zones, and to go out to those on the edge that I would like to now elaborate.  In order to do so, I am going to the very teacher himself, Jesus Christ.  It was Jesus who modeled this kind of missionary Spirit: for he lived on the periphery of life.  And he is the one who has called each of us to be with him, and has sent us out with his Spirit to carry his work out on the peripheries. 

 

In order to illustrate how Jesus models this type of missionary work I would like us to visit the calling of St. Matthew.  As we all know Matthew himself was a tax collector, who after being called by Jesus immediately left everything to follow him, becoming an apostle and also providing for us one of our four Gospels.

 

Now we all know a little bit about tax collectors during the time of Jesus.  They were hated, despised and had few friends.  They were charged by the Roman government, the oppressors in the eyes of the Jews, to collect a certain amount of money from taxpayers.  However, that amount was never clearly known to taxpayers, and the tax collector could easily abuse the system by asking for more than was required, and pocketing the rest.  And so they were hated.  They were on the periphery of society.

 

We can imagine how much the Jewish people of Jesus’ time would have hated a person like Matthew.  Every time he came around to collect money, the people not only had to fork it over.  They knew that most likely he was ripping them off for his own benefit. Still more he was a terrible reminder that they were occupied by the Romans.  They were controlled.  Their freedom was limited.  And that for all intents and purposes, God had not upheld his bargain of sending them a messiah to liberate them from oppression. 

 

But Matthew did not bother Jesus at all.  Being a missionary to those on the periphery Jesus saw Matthew as the very person with whom his mission was directed.  And so the story goes:

 

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

 

Matthew was on the periphery of life.  Yet Jesus went unflinchingly to his side.  When the Pharisees so easily wrote Matthew off, Jesus saw him as a person in need of his love.  For us to grow as missioners, we need to reflect more deeply on why it was so easy for Jesus to approach a person like Matthew when so many others would have passed him by.

 

We know that Jesus himself was the Son of God.  Being God’s only Son the divine will of the Father flooded every part of his being. The will of the Father has always been that all people experience his love:  especially those in the periphery.  So for Jesus every part of himself was directed at going to the periphery.  There was no tension in Jesus between what God’s will was and what he did.  God’s will flowed from his life, and so he was always going toward the periphery.

 

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Pharisees, and the same probably cannot be said of us.  Divinity had not reached the periphery of the lives of the Pharisees.  They made judgments.  They held grudges.  Their eyes were blinded by pride and by a misunderstanding of God.  In other words, they had not allowed the Spirit of God to penetrate to the very periphery of their own souls.  They were holdings things back from God.  They could not realize that they were the ones in need of the physician.  And because of this, they could not be disciples to the periphery. 

 

If we want to be disciples of Jesus who go to the peripheries of mission, we must allow Jesus Christ to visit the peripheries of our very beings.  We must let him into every part of our lives.  We must not hold back.  In other words, we must let grace into the peripheries of our souls.  If there is a deep-seated past wound in our lives, we must let the physician enter.  If there is some sin in our life that haunts us, we must let the healer in.  If there is an ugliness that keeps us up at night, we must find comfort in the Lord. 

 

There is tremendous freedom in recognizing that we are the ones in need of physicians.  We are the sinners.  We are the tax collectors.  We are the ones that without God’s forgiveness we would have no hope.  This is what it means to have a profound encounter with Christ.  This is what it means to be shaken from our center.  This is where we will be moved from our comfort zones and be able to then carry the message of Christ to the peripheries.  This is why it was so easy for Matthew to follow Christ: he knew he needed a physician.  He knew he was on the periphery in need of God’s grace.

 

Once God’s Spirit begins to flow to the peripheries of our own life, we begin to see how necessary it was for Jesus to visit people like Matthew.  We begin to see how necessary it is for us to go to the peripheries, too.  If God was willing to forgive, save and sanctify us, then all people, whether we like them or not, deserve to know Christ, too.  So we begin to look for the people on our own peripheries: 

 

Do we hold biases against certain groups of people?  Are we racist or sexist in any way?  Are there certain people in our lives that we simply can’t seem to forgive or that make our blood boil?  Is there a certain political party that we just simply hate?  Are there certain sins that when a person has committed them we write them off as being outside of God’s love, and with whom we find ourselves not wanting to associate?

 

All of these questions are dangerous questions. Because if we can answer any of these questions, and I know we can, myself included, then these are the people on the periphery for us.  These are the people we are called to love, to show mercy to, and to invite to follow Jesus in a profound way.  It takes every effort in our being to accomplish this task.  But that is why to serve on the periphery we must let God transform the peripheries of our lives.

 

We all want the Catholic Church to grow.  We all want our missions to expand and develop.  The desire we have is the desire of our Pope, too.  The only way to see this happen though is if we take up the radical call of Christ to be people of the periphery.  We are being invited to a new world, on a journey where we will not necessarily know the outcome.  But let us go to the peripheries together.  And may God bring to fulfillment this good work he has already begun in us!

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[i] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130728_gmg-celam-rio_en.html

[ii] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html

Shipwrecked….in Appalachia?

The sky is clear and blue. The leaves are just starting to bud on the trees. The mountains of Appalachia are filled with new life as I make my way home from a glorious Holy Week in the missions of North Carolina. As I start my descent down one mountain, signs on the shoulder indicate that there will be construction. I navigate one steep corner and have to slam on my breaks: traffic is backed up as two lanes are being made into one.

Instantaneously in my rear view mirror I see smoke, metal and plastic blasted through the air. And there it is: a massive logging truck out of control, on top of a Chevy Equinox, dragging it down the shoulder of the interstate. It careens off of several other vehicles, one of which goes flying past me in the left lane. The truck and demolished car are barreling on top of me. They are right next to me. I try helplessly to maneuver my car between these two out of control vehicles. Guardian angels must be real!

We come to a stop. My little Civic was spared of any contact. I pull my car over and rush to the scene of the accident. I could find anything…anything in these vehicles. I go straight to the pancake of an Equinox…four people occupy it—four people who are still alive!

Gasoline, oil, antifreeze and glass litter the interstate. It is not safe for these folks to be in the car. They indicate to me that they are ok. They must get out. A fire, or even worse, an explosion is possible. I help a little 8 year old girl out. She immediately is bawling uncontrollably. Then the mother; then a little boy, bloodied and bruised. Finally, the father who was driving.

The cops show up. The ambulance. The fire trucks. How did I ever make it through this one? Thank you Lord.

On his way to Italy, the Apostle Paul found himself in a ship overtaken by wind, rain and waves. The destruction was great. Lives were lost. Miraculously, his life was spared. The mission could continue. More people would hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Glenmarians really have to prepare for anything. The missionary work of the Church is alive and well today just as it was during the time of the Apostle Paul. Great adventures, and yes, many perils lay ahead for those who are willing to take up the task of bringing the message of love, forgiveness and life to a world in need.

St. Paul, pray for us.

The Beauty and Needs of the Missions

The aroma of their food fills the air, exciting the senses and inviting the stomach to express its emptiness. The conversations are filled with laugher, inquisitiveness and energy, where the meeting of minds and hearts takes place amongst people from different backgrounds and cultures. Mass begins and is filled with songs indicative of the five hours of preparation completed in order to rightfully praise the Lord. Eyes are closed, mouths are moving, bodies sway and hearts are lifted to a God who loves his children so immensely that he would allow his only Son to die a horrific death on a cross in order to truly set people free. The host is raised, recognition of sin is made, and the procession begins as hands and mouths await the reception of our Lord Jesus Christ in the heart of ‘mission land USA.’

Just a few miles down the road…

Centered between gang violence and drug deals rests a house of peace and prayer. The time for Mass has come, yet the people continue to file in. Children are forced to sit on the floor in front of the altar so that everyone can fit. The smell of lilies fills the air while the risen Lord hangs watching over the masses. The furniture and decorations in the church are truly a universal representation, the products of donations from places where something newer and more developed is needed. In this tiny country parish the rituals of 2000 years are celebrated and the Lord of eternity is made present on the altar, calming the violence, destroying the addictions, healing the divisions, and renewing the faint of heart.

But who will continue on this work that God has begun???

Both of these churches are examples of the many mission areas in the United States that are without a resident priest. Lay and religious leadership continue to catechize, gather, and unite the people, but the priest is no where to be found. Sometimes courageous, retired priests drive long distances to provide the sacraments to the people, but the parishioners are left wondering how long this will really be possible. If these churches are closed down, the people are left with no other options. It is not like in a city where one can choose from any number of Catholic churches if the sad situation occurs where a church must be closed or merged; no, all that is left for these people is to wait, pray and hope.

Who will answer the call to bring the Gospel of Christ to these areas? Who will have the courage to go where others cannot go, or simply do not want to go? Who will receive the gift of serving the people of these areas—beautiful people from diverse backgrounds, with wonderful gifts and hearts longing to remain in the grace and presence of the Lord?

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”