June 29, 2008 Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul

How many of you here have been to Rome, Italy and seen St. Peter’s Basilica or St. Paul’s Basilica Outside the Walls? Weren’t they simply spectacular? But I want to ask, “Why build such mega-colossal-awesome buildings in honor of mere men?” Answer to this question lies in St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” (1 Cor 6:19) In other words, the beauty and the glory of these physical temples reflect the beauty and the glory of the spiritual temple that God has built in us through our baptism. Although both Peter and Paul are mere humans, they have been transformed completely from their former selves. No longer are they old wine skins; they are new wine skins containing new wine, the Holy Spirit. So the physical architecture and artwork of St. Peters Basilica are reflecting the dignity of who we are. This is the mystery of our baptism and our on-going conversion.

Some of you may have read my vocation story in the June 4^th article in the Catholic Commentator. 17 years ago, I was a New Age believer, a person who erroneously thought that he was a god. Like Adam and Eve who bought the temptation from Satan that they can be like gods, I bought the same temptation. At that time I was closer in relationship to Satan than to God the Almighty. I did not know at that time the beauty and the dignity of who I was as a baptized Catholic. Isn’t it amazing then, that God is able to transform these hands, mind, and heart which were instruments of selfishness into instrument of God’s healing and charity.

You know both Peter and Paul were men of deep flaws in the beginning. One was an uneducated fisherman who flew by the seat of his pants. Another was a real smart cookie who had an ice-cold, judgmental heart, willing to kill for what he believed. Would they have been, then, worthy of such magnificent basilicas? No. But the same God who elevated these ordinary men to sainthood is doing the same with us. This past Friday night and Saturday morning, I was in Houma at the youth conference called Steubenville on the Bayou. I spent about 3-4 hours total hearing confessions of young high school students. What I was so impressed by was that all the young people visiting my confessional were so filled with desire to be holy and to be pure. They understood Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” If there is one great temptation for the young people of this generation is impurity. Yet these young people were desiring to clean out their temple of the Holy Spirit; they came to Jesus asking him to drive out the money changers and all the filth that was occupying their beautiful temple dedicated to God the Father. And isn’t God amazing, using me, an unworthy instrument who was an enemy of God in my earlier years, as instrument of his mercy. He has transformed me so radically that I can now say to these young people, “And I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s God’s power. And today’s feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul is a reminder that God desires to restore us, the temple of the Holy Spirit, to the true glory and true beauty as He intended from the beginning.

12th Sunday Ordinary (A) - June 22, 2008 Sunday

Before getting into my homily, let me introduce myself. I’m originally from South, Korea. My parents immigrated to Dallas, Texas in 1984 when I was 11 years old. How many of you have met a Korean before? I know this parish had previously three priests from India.

Catholic faith entered Korea at the end of 18^th century by way of Korean scholars self-studying literature obtained from missionaries in China. Shortly, Korean kings fearing that European influence is entering the country began waves of persecution. And it produced 8,000 plus known martyrs. And out of them, Pope John Paul II canonized 103 martyrs, priests, and catechists in 1984 in Seoul, Korea, before a crowd of 650,000 people. In his homily at that canonization mass John Paul said “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians…the martyrs who underwent death for Christ won new life for others.” The four children [who will be] baptized here at this mass, in a sense, gained new life in Christ primarily due to Christ’s own death and resurrection on the cross and secondarily due to the sacrifice of the martyrs from all over the world including Korea.

In the face of persecution, all these martyrs had one thing in common. They believed Our Lord’s exhortation in today’s gospel, “Fear no one.” Jesus’ constant cry throughout the gospel was, “Be not afraid.” Why should we not be afraid? It’s because we are loved by God the Father who is the author of all time and all events. As Jesus says, the Father knows even every strand of hair on our head and every event that we will face. It is His Perfect Love that casts out all fear.

Just a week ago I was in South Korea visiting my relatives. And I had a chance to say a mass at a well-known Marian shrine. In the church of the shrine was a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes brought by a French missionary in 1930. Strangely it has 7 bullet holes in the statue. The story is that during the Korean War, the communist North Korean soldiers attempted to destroy the statue with their machine guns. Since this was a simple, hollow statue made of plaster, a single shot of bullet should have shattered it. Seven bullets entered, yet none came out from the back. The North Korean soldiers, who were convinced that the whole church was haunted, evacuated immediately. And the villagers would often hide inside the church knowing that the soldiers would never set their foot inside it again. People since then have flocked to this shrine seeking help with their marriage, illness, and to give thanks for the blessings received. There is no fear when we realize that Our Lord and Blessed Mother is on our side, even when the challenge seems too great.

[These children to be baptized today will begin their new life under the watchful eyes of Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints, and the guardian angels. May we also be aware that all of us are under the same loving gaze as these newly baptized children.]

-for more information about the shrine:
(in Korean) http://www.maegoe.com/
(in English) http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/04/25/koreas-catholic-churches-gamgok-parish-church-yakhyeon-catholic-church/