April 1st - 5th Sunday of  Lent  (English)

April 8th - Palm Sunday 1st Homily (outside before procession)  (English)

April 8th - Palm Sunday (during mass after the Gospel) (English)

April 12th - Holy Thursday (English)

April 13th - Good Friday (English)

April 14th & 15th - Easter (English)

April 22nd - 2nd Sunday of Easter (English)

April 29th - 3rd  Sunday of Easter (English)
 

5th Sunday of Lent 
 Today we begin Daylight Savings Time.  As you know we lost an hour last night?  What happened to that hour?  Yes, I know that we have an extra hour in the fall.  Time can be difficult, especially if we are waiting for something.  It is even more difficult if we are waiting on God.  I’ve always wondered about the two days that Jesus waited before heading to Bethany.  He heard about his beloved friend, Lazarus, who was deathly ill.  Yet, he waited two more days!  That seems so strange.
 Waiting is part and parcel of being human.  Faith is trusting that our waiting is not futile.  God never forgets about us.  That sometimes takes great faith.  Think in the scripture of some of the people that Jesus healed.  There was the woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years.  I am certain she must have prayed for God’s help, but it took twelve years.  Then there is the man who we heard of last week who is an adult and had been born blind.  How many years did he have to endure his infirmity, yet now God gave him sight?  There was the woman who was stooped over for 18 years that Jesus cured on a Sabbath.  How about the lepers?  They were as good as dead.  They couldn’t associate with others.  They had to stay outside of town and ring a bell telling everyone they were unclean.  Sometimes those who were said to have leprosy could have had eczema and not leprosy.  That didn’t matter.  They were now deemed unclean.  They could have been living like that for years before Jesus came into their life.  All of these people had to wait on God for healing.
 You and I have had to wait on God too.  Sometimes it is waiting for something good to happen.  We wait to hear about a job we interviewed for or for a college application acceptance.  Sometimes it’s waiting for news that may be bad from a doctor that said further tests had to be done because something showed up.  But most of the time we simply have to wait for understanding and peace.  When something bad occurs it isn’t immediately apparent how it fits into life.  When our dreams or ideals change we wonder if God is really present.
 Jesus made Martha and Mary wait two days.  He did so only to prove that he was truly the source of resurrection.  For when someone died in the time of Jesus, without monitoring devices they thought the spirit hovered around the body up to three days.  After that they were certainly dead.  If Jesus had come and Lazarus had only been dead two days they might have said that Jesus didn’t really raise him from the dead, but simply gave him a miraculous healing.  That would still be pretty fantastic, but he knew that the people would soon face an even greater challenge.  Could they accept the one they loved and trusted as Messiah and teacher be crucified on a cross?  Could they trust that Jesus would be raised up?  Martha and Mary got a glimpse of resurrection in their brother.  Yet, they too would still be challenged to believe.  Martha had begun to trust in the power of God even when it wasn’t apparent.  That would be tested further in the death of Jesus.
 In our lives we often discover that the waiting is necessary.  It is necessary to put things in proper perspective.  When someone dies it takes time to grieve.  When we lose a job it takes time to figure out what to do next.  When we ask God for help God responds but often not in the timeframe that we would like.  Many times when time has passed we realize why that is necessary.  But at the time it sure seems lonely and frustrating.
 Today we are asked to have the same faith of Martha.  Do you believe even when you can’t see?  Do you believe even when it looks as bleak as a tomb with a stone laid across it?  Do you believe like the prophet Ezekiel that God could turn dry bones into a living being or raise the dead from their graves?  Whatever seems too hard to imagine we are asked to believe and trust.  Next week we will be challenged even further to trust and believe in a God who is willing to die for us.  Pray for trust and faith that God can do great things even when it isn’t apparent.  Amen.
 

Palm Sunday - Homily One Outside before the procession into the church 
Today we enter into the mystery of Christ’s death.  There is irony in this day.  It begins with glory.  Jesus never wanted to be known as a king.  He never told people to worship him.  Just the opposite is true.  Jesus wanted all people to know that He came from the Father to serve.  Yet, today the crowds hail Jesus as their king.  They raise palm branches in glorious exaltation to the Son of David.  But there is a funny thing about kings.  They have to keep proving themselves.  There must always be new victories, more prosperity, and greater glory.  But life isn’t that way.  Often, when the king doesn’t come through he is toppled by another who promises a brighter future.  Life is a series of moments where some are good and some are bad.  To take a single slice of life without looking at the whole is shortsighted.  Jesus will be offered up for the people because he didn’t lie to them.  Let us come to celebrate that we might suffer with the Lord.
 

Palm Sunday  - Homily Two At mass after the Gospel 
 If you are like me you are disturbed to watch scenes on TV of children in Africa starving.  It bothers me to see women and children in Latin America living on garbage dumps searching for scraps of food.  I think to myself this should not be.  There should not be this kind of suffering.  We are right in saying so.  We wonder if God understands.  We wonder why God doesn’t change this.
 Today we recall the death of Christ, the innocent one.  The Son of God never harmed anyone.  He offered hope and healing to all.  He wanted tax collectors and sinners to know that they were not forgotten.  He even wanted the Scribes and Pharisees to know that their status would not be threatened by a God who loves all people.  But that is not the way of the world.
 The world prefers to have people in power over others.  The way of the world understands haves and have-nots.  Even if it isn’t fair, it’s understandable.  Jesus came to this world to show us another way.  He came to tell us that God does not desire suffering and pain.  Yet, he also came to show us that he is with us even when it occurs unjustly.  Jesus’ suffering and death reminds us that we are never alone, especially in our pain and loss.  The Lord is with those children in the Third World.  He is with us when we suffer the loss of a loved one and the days seem so bleak and lonely.  He is with us when we are passed over for a job or discriminated against because of our age or the way we speak English.  He is with us when we struggle for justice and try to overturn the structures that oppress.  Jesus’ life and teaching reminds us that it is worthwhile to bring forth the Kingdom.  It is God’s design for this earth.  But Jesus’ death and resurrection reminds us that even when it appears that we fail, we do not.  God is more powerful than all the sin and injustice in the world.  God is victorious even in the humiliation of the cross.  That is the irony of this day.

Holy Thursday 

 I sometimes think that I must be the messiest person around.  No matter how careful I try it seems that I get dirty.  It might be coffee spilled on the floor or on me.  It might be something I eat that drips on my shirt.  It could be something I pick up on my feet as I walk.  It always seems that I am getting dirt on me.  I used to think that only happened to me.  What I have discovered is that happens to everyone.  Now maybe you might be a little neater or cleaner than I am, but you probably have noticed that no matter how hard you try you get dirty too.
 I wish it weren’t so.  Can you imagine how much time and energy we could save if we didn’t get dirty?  No more showers, doing laundry, cleaning dishes, washing our car.  Wow!  That would be great.  However, that is not realistic.  Life is about getting dirty and then getting cleaned up and then doing it all again.  Jesus knew this.  He wanted to make sure that Peter and the other apostles realized this too.
 Jesus’ entire ministry was about showing people that God loves us in our humanness.  Jesus was not afraid to be born in a stable among farm animals.  He didn’t think it beneath him to stand in a boat filled with fish.  He touched lepers even when everyone thought it disgusting.  Jesus also touched children who had died or who were sick.  He expelled demons from people who foamed at the mouth and threw their victim into the fire.  Jesus did all of this.  Soon Jesus was going to the cross.  He would be beaten, mocked, spit upon, and bleed to death.  He would be dirty and die on a dusty hill called Calvary.
 Now Jesus was going to leave his apostles a perpetual memorial.  He wanted them to remember him not only in their minds or their memories.  He told them to eat and drink.  They were to take bread, with all of its imperfections and messiness and break it among themselves.  Then they would take a cup of wine that could spill or might have a funny taste and share that.  In those very earthy, simple, human substances Jesus would be present.  This was the promise he was making.  Then to seal the deal Jesus showed them what this meal would really mean.  He stripped himself, knelt to the ground, and washed their dirty feet.
 On top of that, Jesus told his apostles that they should do the same.  He wanted them to remember that God came to earth to bring all people to Himself not with an army or on a royal throne.  Instead, He came down and lived with us in our day to day existence.  Jesus came to reconcile all people by being with them in the dirtiness of everyday human life.
 Peter was like you and I.  He didn’t like the notion of Jesus groveling in the dust washing his dirty feet.  This didn’t seem right.  He tried to refuse Christ.  Jesus reminded him that if he didn’t get his feet washed he could have no part in the Kingdom.  Why?  Because if Peter could not accept the Lord’s loving him how could Peter ever love others who didn’t deserve it?  Peter and the Church should never be above reaching people in the midst of their dirtiness.
 If you can accept a God who can love you despite your dirtiness and sins come forward to have your feet washed.  Then, if you are willing to commit to your brothers and sisters that you will love and serve them in their humanness, wash their feet.  Then, every time you receive Eucharist remember this night.  Burn it into your memory.  For to partake in the Eucharist means that we pledge that we will love God’s people in their imperfections and sins.  Will you say yes to the Lord?

Good Friday 2001 

 This day we are left with emptiness and sadness.  When we look upon the cross we see the pain that Christ endured.  We see the nails that pierced his hands and feet.  We think of those loving hands that were only outstretched in love and forgiveness now nailed to a tree.  Jesus’ feet that took him into the homes and villages of those who were sick or dying now are twisted in pain.  The gaping wound in the side of Christ made by the soldier’s lance caused Jesus’ heart to pour out whatever remaining blood was left upon the dirt and cross.  The crown of thorns that must have caused such tremendous pain as it was pushed into Jesus’ skull.  Then as he was hit by the soldiers or fell the thorns would again do their damage.  Jesus went to his crucifixion first having been flogged by the guards.  This whipping would have weakened Christ and made him bleed.
 Those are the wounds that we see.  Then we know of the pain of betrayal by Judas and Peter.  We can imagine how lonely it must have felt knowing the disciples that Jesus had entrusted everything were no where to be found.  Jesus would have felt the ringing in his ears of the crowd preferring a man accused of murder rather than the one who gave himself in humble service.  The mocking and abuse heaped upon him by the crowds as he made his way from Pilate’s court to Calvary by the people who didn’t even know him, but knew that he must have done something terrible to warrant the death penalty.
 All of this suffering was done for our sake.  Jesus could have avoided it.  He could have disappeared before he was arrested.  He could have called down angels to assist him against his accusers.  He could have performed a miracle that might have saved his life.  Jesus could have done many things to avoid what they wanted to do to him.  But he didn’t.  Instead he trusted in the love of the Father and in His protection even when that wasn’t apparent.  He knew that somehow this would be made right.
 You and I often pray that we might accept the cross that we have to bear.  Our crosses are never like those of Christ.  Yet, whenever we are rejected or hurt by someone we find it hard to be silent and trust in God.  We find it hard not to give into revenge or abuse ourselves when we are treated unfairly.
 When we are sick or injured no one would accuse us of being uncharitable if we said harsh words to someone.  Most people would understand.  It would seem normal.  Yet, Christ did none of that.  He didn’t let his pain be an excuse to heap abuse on his captors.  Instead he chose to forgive them from the cross.  He must have known that even this was part of the Father’s plan, even if he wasn’t sure how.
 Today reminds us that we have far to go before we can really walk in the footsteps of Christ.  We have in so many ways fallen short of what God wants from us.  Today is not a day to grieve over our sins.  It isn’t even a day to weep for Christ.  Instead it is a day to be reminded that we are not held bound by our sins.  Christ has freed us.  It is as if we were sentenced to death and Christ went to the electric chair instead of us.  It is a day of thanksgiving that Christ didn’t lose faith in his darkest hour.  Because of that we have been saved.  Perhaps that freedom will allow us to live differently today and everyday.

Easter 2001   

During this Holy Week and throughout the season of Lent, we have spent a lot of time recounting the story of Jesus and especially as it pertains to the last days of his life. But on the night of the Easter Vigil, the story we tell stretches back to the dawn of creation and fast-forwards through to the resurrection and beyond. This is not only a story of what happened to Israel long ago.  We have made a covenant with the Lord.  We have been rescued from sin and slavery.  We have prayed throughout Lent to be made whole and with our catechumens to be free from the influences of sin.  Yet, we stand before the Lord knowing that we are only partially successful.  We know that we still have come up short.  We look to Christ and to his glorious resurrection for hope.
All of us stand at the entrance of the tomb this day, like the three women and Peter, trying to make sense of what we see. Some of us stand here for the first time as those newly embracing the faith, peering into a surprisingly empty place and saying, "Should I even believe this news?"  Some are new only to this parish community and stare into the commitment they have made and wonder, "What will I find here when the morning comes?"  For most of us, who have stood here again and again over many years, the darkness of the cave may hold less terror, but no less wonder. After all these years, the tomb is still full of unanswered questions, doubts, and mystery.
What will we find when we come looking for Jesus?  Imagine what each of the characters of the gospel story found. Mary Magdalene had known Jesus, first as the man who freed her from her demons, and later as her Lord and friend.  When she went with her friends carrying spices to the tomb at dawn, she hoped only to return a favor to one whom she loved. But she got more than she ever bargained for. She got an empty tomb. She got angels in dazzling robes. She got a gospel of resurrection and a commission to proclaim it!
Joanna had made an investment in the ministry of Jesus. Literally an investment: she was one of the women whose resources funded the out-of-pocket expenses of Jesus and his mission. She was the wife of King Herod's steward, and as such an unlikely candidate for discipleship. One must wonder what it did for her marriage to be a known supporter of a rival king.  Joanna made her choices, and they brought her all the way to the empty tomb.  Her husband may have banked his future on Herod's court, but she was speculating in another kind of kingdom.
Mary, the mother of James, is the mother of James, son of Alphaeus.  Though her son will one day be the leader of the Jerusalem community, at the moment he is cowering afraid in an upper room in town with the rest of the apostles.  That doesn’t matter now.  She has made the choice to take the risk and be here.  She wants what is best for her son.  But she also is a disciple of Jesus.  She comes believing that God will give her direction now that Jesus is gone.  She has come not expecting much and she receives a huge return.
Peter is the latecomer who finally comes to the tomb.  He has the same doubts and wonders that the women do.  But he is willing to seek the truth of their story.  He sees the tomb, the stone, the cloths, and the kernel of faith is planted through his efforts.  Still much more will be needed.  He realizes that he should have gone to the cross with Christ.  Instead he lied that he even knew Jesus.  He ran and hid with the others.  He is ashamed with himself, but wants to believe that Christ can redeem even someone as weak as he is.
We all come to the tomb today.  We are the sinners who don’t know if we should be here, but are here anyway.  We are the investors, the ones who have been faithful to Christ year in and year out.  We come looking for verification that our lives have meaning and purpose.  We want to know if Christ can move and change us.  We are the latecomers.  We have come knowing that we have denied the Lord in small and large ways.  We haven’t been faithful to what the Lord wants from us, and yet we are here.  Each of us arrives with a dream.  Each of us comes here seeking the Lord and finding an empty tomb.  What will we each leave with?  We leave confident that our wildest hopes will be fulfilled.  We leave believing that Christ will make a difference in our lives
 

2nd Sunday of Easter 

 Every year we listen to this Gospel.  We hear of “doubting Thomas.”  We can imagine that Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection.  Who could have believed that Jesus would have been raised from the dead after seeing the horror of the crucifixion?  So, it is reasonable to think that Thomas would have doubted that.  But why, do you suppose, did Thomas not believe the other disciples?  They all tell him that they have experienced the risen Lord.  Yet, he fails to believe.  Why wouldn’t he have trusted their testimony?
 I wonder if his doubts came from the fact that the disciples were still in the upper room.  If Jesus had been raised what are they still doing there?  Wouldn’t it seem more natural for them to be out sharing this news?  Yet, here they are still gathered together.  Maybe Thomas doubted because he didn’t see any change in the other apostles.
 Is that also where our doubts come from?  I think that we have no trouble believing that Jesus rose from the dead.  Our doubts don’t come from that.  They come from the fact that if every Christian believes this why isn’t the world a different place?  Why do we still face so many difficult things?  Don’t you wonder sometimes whether the resurrection has made any difference in the world?  Sometimes it doesn’t appear so.
 Secondly, we have the inner doubts and fears.  Even though Jesus has been raised it seems that we have to battle a lot of fears.  We don’t fear persecution for being a Christian.  Our fears center around our day to day living.  We fear getting sick or incapacitated and not being able to care for our families and ourselves.  Many people have begun to fear the economic future.  Will you lose your job?  Will you be able to pay the bills and provide properly for your family?  Some of us fear the international tensions in the Middle East, China, the Balkans, and elsewhere.  Will this team over to the US?  Will we be drawn into a war on some foreign soil?  Perhaps your fears concern your personal safety.  Many people fear being robbed or mugged, having the car stolen or home broken into.
 To alleviate all of these fears we try to insulate ourselves from problems.  We hope that with insurance, medical technology, and living in a locked home all of these fears will go away.  Maybe they don’t bother us all of the time, but they never go away completely.  So, we doubt.  Why should we have to fear so many things?  Maybe we are looking for an answer in the wrong place.
 Thomas came to believe when he touched the wounds of Christ.  In seeing Christ alive despite the pain and terrible death he had to endure convinced Thomas beyond a doubt.  He and the other apostles would then go out into the whole world and begin to proclaim this Good News to everyone they met.  With that faith they could do tremendous things.
 What tremendous things will we do knowing that Christ has been raised?  Maybe the crippled or blind will not recover from our touch, but maybe the world will be a better place when they see the wounded Christ in us.  Maybe those who are sick or dying will know they are not alone when they see us.  Maybe children will know hope and forgiveness when they see it in the way we deal with others.  It might be that we are available to address those systemic problems in our society that seem so big.  I believe that is true.  That is what the FAITH organization is all about.  We say that we might not be able to do it alone, but with others in the Body of Christ all things are possible.
 Living resurrection faith doesn’t mean that we will be insulated from all problems or conflicts.  But what it does mean is that we will have the power to change those things.  We will have the ability to make a difference because of Christ.  The world doesn’t need to live in doubt or fear any longer.  Blessed are they who now believe because they have seen Christ in us.

3rd Sunday of Easter 

 Jesus shared many meals with his apostles.  They were with him at the wedding feast in Cana.  There they saw him turn water into wine.  At that miracle they began to see that Jesus was different from the other teachers and rabbis they knew.  Another miracle that involved food was on the hillside.  The crowds came but they were in the wilderness without any food.  Jesus asks the apostles where they can get food for everyone.  Philip responds that it would be impossible with a year's worth of wages to feed all of these people.  Yet, with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish the apostles were able to feed thousands.  Then, at the Last Supper Jesus shared a Passover meal with his disciples.  At that meal Jesus washed their feet and told them to do the same thing to others.  They were to be of service.  Then he took bread and wine and told them that if they gathered together and shared in this meal he would be present.  He would always be with them.
 The disciples didn’t know what Jesus meant at the Last Supper.  They figured that they would be together for a very long time.  Jesus was only in his thirties.  The apostles were probably of a similar age.  Yet, on that night they would see their hopes and dreams disappear.  Jesus would be arrested, beaten, and on the next day crucified.  It appeared that the promise of the Last Supper would never be realized.
 Then we hear of Jesus being raised back to life.  The apostles don’t want to believe it at first.  We heard about Peter not believing it at first.  Thomas wouldn’t believe until he had an opportunity to touch Jesus and place his finger into the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and feet.
In today’s Gospel we have another meal.  This time the apostles are fishing throughout the night.  Yet, despite their best efforts they catch nothing.  At dawn, Jesus appears to them and tells them to fish from the other side of the boat.  Despite their doubts they listen to Jesus and find that they take in a huge amount of fish.  Then, when they get the boats back to the shore Jesus has prepared a charcoal fire with some bread and fish ready for them to have breakfast.  The apostles don’t know what to make of this.  But mostly Peter doesn’t know what to make of this.
Peter had denied knowing Christ three times.  It was this same Peter who said that he would be willing to die for Christ and yet when pushed a little, denied him.  Now Jesus was alive.  What would he say to Peter?  Would he tell him how angry he was with him or disappointed?  Would he tell Peter that he lost his chance at leading the apostles because of his denials?  Jesus does none of that.  Instead he asks Peter if he loves him, not once but three times.  As much as Peter would deny Christ three times, now he would profess his love for Christ three times.
Jesus entrusted Peter with the Church not because he was perfect, but because he was humble enough to recognize that he wasn’t.  Jesus knew that Peter could let him down again, yet he trusted him.  He knew that Peter might be fearful or sinful, yet he wanted him to take care of the sheep Jesus was leaving in his care.  Peter said yes.
You and I have been entrusted with the Church of our day.  Jesus loves and trusts us not because we are perfect, but because we desire perfection and are willing to work at it.  Each day we receive the power of the Eucharist, our meal of grace, to live more holy lives.  We come here each day to be renewed in Spirit and strengthened to do Christ’s work in the world.  Christ asks each of us today, “Do you love me?”
How will you respond to Jesus’ question?  Most of us would instinctively say, “Of course I love you, Lord.”  Then Jesus tells us to feed his sheep.  That might mean literally to feed the sheep of your family.  Teach your children the faith.  Provide for their physical and spiritual needs.  It might mean that the sheep you are to feed are here in the Church.  You are called to ministry and service as a Eucharistic Minister or within one of the other ministries of the Church.  The sheep that you must feed could be in the world.  You are being called to love and forgive someone at work or in the neighborhood.  You are being asked to stand up for justice and proclaim life in our culture.  There are many possibilities.  Maybe, God is calling you into religious life or priesthood.
Where do you hear the Lord calling you?  Do you love the Lord?  Then feed his sheep.