Category: Homily

If you look at a picture of an iceberg, you will see a small part of the iceberg above the water with the rest of the iceberg beneath the surface of the water, unseen. Today’s Gospel that I just proclaimed can be seen just like that iceberg. We see the surface of the story, Jesus heals a blind man, but beneath the surface there is a vast amount of meaning and depth that is unseen from the surface. Today I hope to break the surface of the water with you and reveal just one main aspect of the hidden depth of this beautiful encounter between Jesus and the man, blind from birth. Read more →

Today we did not hear from the Gospel of Mark like we have been doing for most of this liturgical year. Today we heard from the Gospel of John. We began in the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel and will continue to follow this single chapter for the next four Sundays. This single chapter of John’s Gospel is so important that we devote five Sundays to it, every third year during the summer. The reason for doing so is because John’s Gospel does not have an institution narrative; John does not have a narrative account of the Last Supper, where Jesus institutes the Eucharist, a topic so important to us as Catholics that we refer to the Eucharist as “the source and the summit of the Christian life.” Rather, John chapter six, what we began today, is where John has written a deeply rich teaching on the Eucharist, typically referred to as the “Bread of Life Discourse,” which I hope to start to unpack with you today. Today’s miracle story sets up the teaching that will come in the following weeks. As such, we don’t want to rush through this chapter, but we, as the Catholic Church, want to take 5 whole weeks to go through it so we can pray with it and let John’s teaching move our hearts to a deeper faith and love in Jesus through the Eucharist.

So today’s story we heard with Jesus and his miraculous feeding of the 5,000 is a story already probably familiar to us, but I want to challenge you to look at it deeper with me. St. John puts this story at the beginning of his teaching on the Eucharist and so this story helps not only in understanding the Eucharist but also helps in understanding the Mass. So this morning I am going to walk through this story with you and show how it relates to and reveals the deeper meaning behind the sacrifice of the Mass. The story begins with Jesus going up the mountain. This action of Jesus that has a great significance. It symbolizes an encounter with God, which would recall the events in the Old Testament, in particular that of Moses beholding God on Mt. Sinai, the heart of Old Testament revelation of God. Recall that at that time, Moses, in the book of Exodus, had just led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt when he went up the mountain to encounter God and receive from God the book of The Law, the Ten Commandments. Moses encountered the Lord in a very real way and today John is showing us that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses began. Whereas Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land, Jesus is preparing to lead the people of God out of slavery of sin and death into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus goes up the mountain today not to encounter God, for He is God! Rather his disciples encounter Him when they go up the mountain with Jesus. This is what happens each and every time we come to Mass. We “go up the mountain” so to speak, we go to the Church to encounter God in a very real way, just like Moses did on Mt. Sinai and the disciples did today, trusting that God will lead us out of slavery of sin to the life of grace.

After Jesus goes up the mountain, He sits down with his disciples. This simple gesture also has significance. This gesture is one of a teacher with his students. In the ancient world, a teacher sat and taught rather than stood behind a podium like we would typically think of today. This is still seen today at Masses with the Bishop when he preaches the homily from his chair, not from the ambo. This moment of Jesus with his disciples is symbolic of the Liturgy of the Word. The disciples sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to Him and learn about the kingdom of heaven. So, too, do we when we come to Mass. We begin by sitting, as students and disciples, at Jesus’ feet to hear and learn from Jesus, the teacher, through His Word in the Scriptures. That is what we are doing right at this very moment! We just listened as the Word was proclaimed through the Readings and also through my proclamation of the Gospel. And, through the grace of my own diaconate ordination I am standing before you as minister of Christ Himself teaching you in this homily, just as Jesus taught his disciples.

The Gospel story continues and we hear that Jesus sees the crowd and he knows that they are hungry. But Jesus sees deeper than their physical hunger, He knows that they are also spiritually hungry. They are looking not only for physical nourishment, but also for meaning in their life and are coming to Jesus in search of that meaning. Jesus sets out to feed them and Philip points out that there are so many people and not enough money to feed each just a little. And this is my favorite version of this miracle story because at this point, the apostle whom I am named after, Andrew, gets to play a role in the story. Often I think Andrew is overshadowed by his brother, Simon Peter, but not today! Andrew jumps in and points out a young boy who has some barley loaves and two fish, an amount that is obviously not enough to satisfy 5,000 people and yet Jesus isn’t concerned at all! This directly echoes what we heard in the first reading with the prophet Elisha. Elisha fed a crowd of people with just a few barley loaves as well. The miracle of Elisha directly foreshadows what Jesus did today and the dialogue between Jesus, Philip, and Andrew point out the enormity of the miracle about to occur.

At this point in the story, the events have shifted to reflect the second part of Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Jesus has the crowd recline and then he took the bread, gave thanks, and distributed it to the people until they had their fill. The words and actions of Jesus are a direct allusion to the Last supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist. Each priest at Mass during the Eucharistic prayer follows Jesus’ words and actions seen here and at the Last Supper. The other accounts in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke make the words even more explicitly tied to the narration of the Last Supper, unlike John today. The key point here is this miracle story in all the Gospels directly foreshadow the later institution of the Eucharist. It is intimately connected to what Jesus will do at the Last Supper. Also an interesting note is that in John’s Gospel, Jesus Himself is the only one who distributes the bread to the people, unlike in the other Gospel accounts. St. John does this to highlight Jesus as the ultimate source of that bread from Heaven, Jesus Himself is the bread of life that will be given in the Eucharist, a point that will be expanded on in the rest of this chapter in St. John’s gospel. The people listened and learned from Jesus and are now being physically and spiritually fed by Him as the ultimate source of the life and were satisfied.

The same thing happens to us each and every time we go to Mass. When we gather at Mass each Sunday, like the multitude of people with Jesus, we, too, are hungry. We are looking for meaning in our lives, meaning for our pain and suffering, meaning for our joys. We are looking to be filled with authentic love and fulfillment in the only place it can really be found, in Jesus Christ himself. We are hungry and we come to Mass to be fed by Jesus in Word and in the Eucharist. In the Mass we sit with Jesus and learn from Him as his disciples in the Liturgy of the Word. And like the small boy, we bring what little we have to Jesus, seen in just a little amount of bread and wine that we use in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. And just like in the gospel, that small amount seems too small to feed the amount of people at Mass each day, and yet what happens? Fr. Brian, who is acting in the person of Christ, will take the bread, give thanks, and distribute it to us. That bread will be transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ Himself, not symbolically, but actually. The essence of the bread and wine will change into Christ all the while keeping the physical characteristics of bread and wine. We will then receive the Eucharist and our souls will be completely satisfied because we have received God Himself. The people in the gospel today ate and were satisfied because God Himself nourished their souls, not just their stomachs. Today at Mass, Jesus will do the same for us. The final part of the story tells how after the people ate and were satisfied, the disciples gathered the leftover fragments so none would go to waste. This is also seen in the Mass. After communion we will gather the fragments of the Eucharist and place them in the Tabernacle so they do not go to waste but can be a way of encounter with the Lord. Jesus is brought to the sick and homebound because of this and since Jesus is truly in the tabernacle it is always a good practice to stop by and visit him in the Eucharist as often as we are able.

And so my friends, as we gather here together today, as we climb the mountain for an encounter with the Lord at this Mass, I encourage you to follow the example of the disciples today. Sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him by listening to His Word in scripture each and every day. Acknowledge your hunger for God in every aspect of your life. Life may be extremely challenging right now or perhaps God has blessed you with very few hardships. No matter what situation you have in your life, however, nothing on this earth can ever truly satisfy our hearts except the Lord and His love. So, come receive Him in the sacraments as often as you are able to, in daily Mass in the Eucharist where He will satisfy your spiritual hunger, but also receive Him in the beautiful gift of confession where our sins are forgiven no matter how greatly we have sinned. Only once we have received the Lord in Word and Sacrament will we be able to go forth from Mass to proclaim the Kingdom of God to all those whom we will encounter.

Take a moment to consider this question: Are you an Apostle of Jesus Christ? My hope is that each one of you said “yes” and if you didn’t then I hope that by the end of my homily you will. We are all apostles of Jesus Christ. Now you might pause for a second and say, “Well Deacon Andrew, don’t you know that there were only 12 apostles?” And you’d be right! There were only 12 apostles; in fact the Gospel last Wednesday listed all 12 of them. But I am referring to the broader definition of the word apostle. Let me break down exactly what that means for you.

The word apostle in the original Greek language comes from the verb “apostello” which literally means “to send out.” So “apostles” are those who are “sent out.” With this in mind, we can see that Jesus “sent out” his apostles to proclaim the kingdom of God exactly as he “sends us out” to proclaim the kingdom of God in our world today. And this call to be an apostle comes to each and every one of us not matter what our background is, whether we are ordained clergy or ranchers outside of Sheridan. To understand this call, it is helpful to take a look at the prophet Amos, whom we heard in the first reading today.

Not much is actually known about the man Amos other than what he wrote in his book. As we heard by Amos himself, he was shepherd and he also cultivated sycamore trees, not exactly a lofty career! He definitely was not a well-educated man and yet, God himself called Amos to be a prophet. Amos shows through his call that the spiritual gifts given by God are more important than rigorous academic training. Amos lived in southern Israel during the time period of the split kingdoms, with the kingdom of Israel to the north and the kingdom of Judah to the south. God called Amos to leave his home in the south to prophesy to the people in the north. Many in the northern kingdom were choosing things that went against God’s plan for their lives. Excessive wealth in the northern kingdom led to them living extravagant lifestyles with little to no concern for the poor. Sexual immorality and idolatry were also prevalent. It was to these people that many of Amos’ words were addressed. Amos condemned the exploitation of the poor and defenseless by the rich, additionally condemning their actions of sexual immorality and acts of idolatry.

Amos was an apostle, he was “sent out” by God to preach to the people in the northern kingdom in an attempt to get them to reform their lives. Many did not like it and thought he was prophesying just to receive monetary compensation from the wealth of the North and chose to disregard him. Amos preached not to receive any sort of compensation, but because he knew that following God and doing what God asked led to fulfillment and prosperity and wanted that for the people he prophesied to.

Amos’ situation echoes our current social and cultural situation closer than one might think. Our relativistic society, not unlike the Norther kingdom of Israel at the time, is choosing many things that go against God’s plan for our lives: contraception, abortion, and especially recently, the Supreme Court approval of so called Gay marriage, are just some of the many examples. God is calling each and every one of us to be an apostle, like Amos to preach the Gospel of Truth in love to encourage those in our world to reform their lives, to choose what will lead them to fulfillment in God rather than away from it. And just as Amos didn’t have academic training for his ministry, neither do we necessarily need it, although it most certainly helps. Profession is also irrelevant, Amos was a simple shepherd and still was a prophet. Amos was challenged by the authority of his day, and so will we when we proclaim the Truth. Amos was just a normal guy called by God to be his prophet, so too are each and every one of us called to be God’s apostles in our world.

But how exactly do we do this? Jesus, in the Gospel we heard today, shows us. Today Jesus sent out his apostles two by two to participate in the mission of Jesus. Before he does this, however, it is crucial to note that Jesus didn’t just arbitrarily pick 12 random guys to send out, but He picked those who had already been with him for some time. Before the apostles were sent out, they needed time to be with Jesus first (see Mark 3:14). They needed to listen to him, learn from Him, and love him with their whole hearts before they could then go out to others revealing that same life-changing love found in the encounter with Jesus. It is only after they have spent this time with Jesus does He send them out two by two. This is important as well, they were not called to be apostles alone, but rather are part of a community. Jesus, in sending his apostles out two by two, sent them out as little units of Christian communities where they could support one another and pray for one another and encourage one another. An isolated apostle risks discouragement, danger, and temptation. The apostles were meant to support each other in their ministry.

Jesus then goes on to instruct his apostles to take nothing for journey other than the clothes on their back sandals on their feet, and a walking stick. This is a seemingly weird command, but it shows us the attitude one must have as an apostle. By doing this, the apostles learned to place their trust solely on God for providing for them. They focused on doing God’s work with the promise that God would provide for their daily needs. The apostles didn’t rely on themselves but rather called forth hospitality from the people to whom they ministered, which also serves a purpose. The people themselves were able to grow in charity and hospitality. The poverty of the apostles also meant that they had less distractions and could focus solely on their mission, since they were not concerned with material things. And lastly the lack of material possessions lent credibility to the Gospel that the apostles preached, since this poverty showed that the apostles were preaching out of pure conviction of their faith in Jesus Christ and not for desire of gain, which, if we remember, some accused Amos of doing.

Jesus then instructs his apostles on what to do if the people welcome them or not and equates that welcome as if it were with Christ himself. The stakes of accepting or refusing the gospel are high, eternal life is at stake. If the people welcome the apostles, they welcome Christ. Shaking the dust from one’s feet when the apostle is unwelcome is a solemn warning against that household and a sign of their refusal of the gospel. It is also a reminder for the apostle himself to not be discouraged by the resistance they will face, they shake the dust from their feet and move on.

So what does that mean for us as apostles of Jesus? These same principles are true for us here today. With us too, before we can be sent out to proclaim the Truth, we must first know and love Jesus. Jesus, who is Truth Himself, must first radically change our life and our hearts because we’ve spent time with Him in prayer, the sacraments, and in ministry, growing to love Him above our very lives. This has to happen before we can authentically bring others to Jesus. We cannot give what we do not have, so we must know Jesus personally before we can help others encounter Him personally. So this means spending time with Jesus daily, in prayer, in adoration, in daily Mass if you are able, in the sacraments, in acts of charity towards our co-workers or family, all the while growing deeper in the relationship of love with Jesus. Then will we be sent out as apostles to the world.

But just like the apostles, we are not meant to be alone. We are all part of the Body of Christ here in our local Church community and within the Universal Church throughout the world. The Christian life is always done within this community of believers. And within that community we are called to support one another, pray for one another, love one another, and help each other remain steadfast in the Truth, no matter what opposition from the world we may encounter.

We are also called not to rely on ourselves, but rely on God for everything. Does that mean leave your home and go be a missionary taking no possessions with you? Probably not, but some may be called to that, I know plenty of missionaries that do a similar thing. What it does mean is that everything you do must be firmly rooted in God as your source of strength, not yourself. And as an apostle we will encounter those who welcome us and those who reject us, especially in our culture today. It is important to do like the apostles today and to preach the fullness of the Truth always in love, no matter what. And if they reject the gospel, we will shake the dust from our feet as a sign of their refusal and don’t let their refusal discourage us from preaching the gospel, the gospel will reach more than we think as long as we keep living out the faith.

So today we may feel like Amos, a simple shepherd sent to preach repentance in a hostile world, but that’s ok! Know that we are not alone in the Body of Christ and know that God, in His love, chose each and every one of us specifically for this. We were chosen by Him before the world began to be holy as His apostles, as St. Paul reminds us today. With the gift of the Holy Spirit as our strength and guide we trust in Him and continue to journey toward eternal life as Jesus’ apostles. So as we approach the Eucharist today, pray for the grace of a deeper faith and love in Jesus. Pray for the grace of fortitude, to remain steadfast in the Truth no matter what the opposition. Pray for the grace to be the apostle of Jesus Christ He has chosen you to be!

Yesterday I drove up to YMCA of the Rockies near Estes Park because the junior high kids from my diocese, the Diocese of Cheyenne, WY were on a retreat there and I was able to join them for part of the day including Mass and lunch.  As I was driving up there I saw a sign for the YMCA and it said: “YMCA: Are We There Yet?” and it gave additional driving directions to the YMCA.  The sign got me thinking…Are We There Yet?  At this point in Lent, the 5^thSunday of Lent, I often find myself asking that same question.  Are we there yet?  Is it Easter yet?  Surely Lent must be almost over.  But in even asking that question it implies that I have forgotten why we are even in Lent to begin with.  If Lent is a time simply to endure and get through, then why do we do it?  That attitude implies that Lent has no purpose, which, of course, is false.  And so, my friends, today is a good day to call to mind our destination in Lent, the “why” to Lent.  The destination of Lent is what we approach to celebrate in just a couple weeks, the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, or to put it another way, the institution of the new and eternal covenant between God and man.  And so today we will delve into that mystery and unpack it.

First up, is Jeremiah who helps us begin to understand this mystery.  He prophesies about a “new covenant” that the Lord will make with the house of Israel.  Now those to whom Jeremiah was prophesying would have heard the word “covenant” and they would have immediately thought of the covenants of the Old Testament: the covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, through King David.  And it is important to understand this word, covenant.  A covenant is a formal, solemn, binding pact between two parties.  In many ways, it is similar to a contract.  But the covenants of God are more than that.  God’s covenants are not merely an exchange of goods as if God will give us something in exchange for us giving something back to God, as in a contract.  Rather, God, in making those covenants in the Old Testament wanted to share His life with His people Israel, and Israel was meant to share life with God.  Covenants entail the sharing of life between the two parties; and a marriage covenant is what should come to mind here. Now we all know how the covenants in the Old Testament turned out, Israel kept failing to keep up the promises they made in the covenants; they kept worshiping false Gods and turning away from God with whom they were in this covenant relationship.  Jeremiah is prophesying during this time of Israel repeatedly breaking their covenant with God and Jeremiah says something incredibly profound, he says, “The days are coming, says the lord, when I will make a newcovenant with the house of Israel…it will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers…I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  And this is the covenant that will be fulfilled in Jesus centuries after Jeremiah said these words.  Just think of the words Jesus says during the last supper and the words we hear at each Mass when the priest holds up the chalice:

take this, all of you, and drink from it,
for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

It is through Jesus’ act of sacrifice and shedding of his blood that institute this new covenant with all of humanity.  Through His death, Jesus enacts a new covenant with us that brings all of us back into relationship with God.  Jesus, being fully God and fully Man was the only one to be able to do this perfectly, unlike sinful Israel.  Jesus acted on behalf of mankind in his own humanity and since Jesus is also fully God He is able to keep this covenant perfectly in place of mankind.  And we, by virtue of sharing humanity with Jesus, are brought into the new covenant, we are brought into an exchange of life with God.  And this is the life we enter into through our baptism.  We are all part of the new and eternal covenant.

So what do we do with this truth?  In other words, now what?  Well, we must live out that covenant relationship we have with God.  God loves us by sending His only Son to die for us and we must love him back similarly with our whole being.  And Jesus is the example to follow here in how exactly to do that.  The Letter to the Hebrews tells us about Jesus’ obedience to the Father, which led to His suffering and death.  And his suffering is the source of eternal salvation because it is the institution of the new covenant as I’ve already mentioned.  The key point here is the word obedience.  It comes from two Latin words meaning, “to listen to.”  And listening implies a relationship, as opposed to simply hearing.  I can hear the cars on University Boulevard and it can be completely by accident.  But, listening implies intentionality.  I am intentionally choosing to listen to someone and not just hearing them by accident.  In being obedient to the Father, Jesus was intentionally listening to Him and intentionally choosing to do what the Father asked him, because he was in relationship with Him.  So we, too, are to be “obedient” to God.  This is not something merely external, but we are called to listen to God because we, also, are in a covenant relationship with Him.  We are called not to be obedient to ourselves, but to God, meaning we must die to ourselves and let God be the reason for our actions, not our own whims.  This is what Jesus means when he says today, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”  If we live only for ourselves and don’t live in obedience to God, our lives are ultimately meaningless.  A selfish life does not bear fruit; all we need to do is look at some of the people in Hollywood for examples.  But if we die to self and live for God, we will bear fruit in our lives, as is seen in the lives of the saints.  Now this obedience can be lived in many different ways, and today I’ll offer you only three suggestions.  Firstly, you can only listen to God and be obedient to Him if you actively dialogue with him.  So Sunday Mass should be your top priority because this is a key moment in which we, as Catholics, converse with God each week.  Secondly, you can listen to God speak to you through His Word in the scriptures, so devoting daily time for private prayer with the Bible would be a great way to listen to God in your daily life.  And my third and final suggestion: frequent the sacrament of confession.  We all fall short in our relationship with God, we all choose ourselves over God too often and need the sacrament to restore us in that covenant relationship God desires for us.  We all need help in dying to ourselves.

And so, my friends, as we approach Holy Week, I encourage you not to ask, “Are we there yet?” but rather to recall the awesome gift that Jesus gave us in his sacrifice and death on the cross: a new and eternal covenant for us with God, an eternal exchange of life with God.  Remember that we are living that covenant relationship with God and live these last few weeks of Lent “listening” to God in obedience out of love, through Mass, through prayer and through the sacraments.  Let us embrace these last days of Lent and draw closer to God, and not merely endure these last days of Lent.