Aug. 31, 2008: 22nd Sunday Ordinary (A)

What do you think is the top job that kids want when they grow up? In other words, what do kids want to be when they grow up? Let's do an informal poll. Among you young people, who wants to be a firefighter, police officer, doctor, nurse, accountant, lawyer, actor/actress, and lastly video game tester? They say that young people gravitate toward the role of heroes, helping and saving others. Isn't it interesting that even at an young age, we tend to identify work with helping others. And also isn't it interesting that we put two things together--to work and to be. A child saying 'I want to be a firefighter' is saying more than desire to do the things that firefighters do; a child is also saying that he wants to be a person who will risk their own life to save the lives of others.

I'm sure your own children have asked this question: daddy and mommy, why do you go to work? How do you answer that question? Honey it's because it pays the bills. But putting dollar value on our work does not satisfy the curiosity of the little ones. For children, money may not be a good reason for mommy and daddy to be away from them the whole day. Is there an answer that is simple enough for children to understand yet it is profoundly truthful? I think there is. And many of us here may already have memorized that answer long time ago when we were kids. In the Baltimore Catechism, one of the first things to memorize was the following. Why did God make you? The answer is, "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in heaven." In this short one sentence lies our purpose and mission for being who we are and what we are to do.

Sometimes we can forget who we are and our own mission in our work. Who are we? We are made in the image and likeness of God, reborn in the image of Christ through our baptism--worthy to be called a son or a daughter of God the Father, the Creator of the Universe. Our hands, our minds, and our feet are to be carrier of God's grace and love wherever we are, whatever we do. As Mother Teresa says we are to be a pencil in God's hands. So we are not made for work. We work because work is only a means to fulfill our unique mission that God gives us. But in our culture, work can become the goal. Let me give you an example. I was a hospital chaplain at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama over a summer period. On the wall of nurse's station on one floor there were numerous charts and statistics. These weren't charts of the patients, but they were charts measuring how productive each nurse was. The number compared one nurse against another on that floor; this index showed how many patients were served by each nurse per hour. And this index was compared to other floors. This kind of emphasis of productivity and statistics happens in all other fields as well. In and of themselves, they are tools for keeping us on task and to improve the way we work. However, in keeping up the scores and statistics, the unique human person who does the work to serve another human person gets lost. What's left are numbers on spreadsheet to be pushed around from email to email, from powerpoint to powerpoint slides.

In contrast, when a young woman arrives at the door of Mother Teresa's convent to join the Missionary of Charity, she is told from day one that the sisters are not there to be numbers. As much as Mother Teresa saw great increase in vocations to her order, she said, "none of us has joined Missionary of Charity to become a number. There are much work to be done, but still I don't need numbers. We are Missionary of Charity, carriers of God's love." She says, "Our work is not our vocation. Our vocation is to belong to Jesus."

In today's gospel, Peter is reprimanded for mistaking work as his vocation. Jesus mentions to Peter his mission received from the Father, to be crucified and to rise again. But Peter would rather see Jesus continue his successful evangelization tour, drawing more people and more fame. To this thinking Jesus tells Peter, "You are not thinking as God does but as human beings do." It's easy for us to be like Peter, to want to see great results of our work, to be productive, to be praised and liked for our work. Who does not mind seeing great miracles, people being healed, great number of fans, and bread multiplied to feed 5,000? But Jesus tells Peter that his own vocation is not the miraculous work, but to carry the cross. St. Paul reminds us in our Second Reading that our vocation is to belong to Jesus, to offer ourselves to Jesus. "I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." So why do we go to work? We can show our children that we go to work to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him by daily carrying of our cross in our service for one another.

Aug. 17, 2008: 20th Sunday Ordinary (A) - Focus on Stewardship of Ministry "Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord"

I have a question for the young people here, particularly those of you who are under 14 years old. How many of you take out the trash? How many of you do it because you were asked to? Of those who have raised your hand, how many times does your parents have to ask you before you actually do it? Once, twice, or three times? How many of you do it because you simply want to? In both cases--whether we were asked to or whether we want to on our own--there is a need: a full garbage whose smell is odoriferous and it's affecting our family, and the loving thing to do is to take it out. But until we are convinced that taking out trash is a love in action, we do it grudgingly or we look for a reward like an allowance.

Well, doing things for God is something like taking out the trash. There is a need, and God the Father wants that need to be filled by us. He will do this in two ways. He will ask someone to ask us, or He will inspire that person to be able to see the need as He sees. Now, I'm going to tell a you a story of Steve Bollman who lives in Texas. He was asked by God to fill in a great need--to help renew the mind and hearts of men who are single, husbands, and fathers. And Steve's 'yes' to God affected not only men in Houston but men in Baton Rouge. Steve was an accomplished energy derivatives trader in early 2000 well earning several six figures salary. He had a first hand experience of the pressures that were placed on men and their families. He noticed that among his fellow traders, God and family life were far below their priority. He recognized a need--men who were and were going to be fathers and husbands needed renewal of mind and hearts--to learn how to be again leaders in their household and in their workplace with the heart of God. Jesus was calling these men, and Jesus needed someone to take his message to these men. In 2002, Steve left work, and along with few lay Catholic men formed an organization dedicated to renewal of marriage and family life. They created a men's leadership and spirituality program called "That Man is You."
They began a pilot program at a Houston parish, and quickly the word spread, and more than 200 men began to attend. That program has landed in Baton Rouge three years ago at Our Lady of Mercy parish, and within three years the program has spread to St. George parish, Immaculate Conception in Denham Springs, St. John the Evangelist in Plaquemine, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in St. Francisville. Our Lady of Mercy's program is starting Wednesday, September 3rd at 6AM at their parish activity center. It begins with breakfast, followed by a presentation, and a small group sharing. Regularly more than 100 men attend both Our Lady of Mercy and St. George's programs.

In our own St. Aloysius parish, Jesus is asking us to be "Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord." Shortly after this homily you'll hear a presentation by 2008 Stewardship of Ministry team. Jesus calls us to respond to his needs through this parish. What Jesus may be asking us may be as simple as taking out the trash, but the effect of our 'yes' may be as far reaching as what Steve Bollman did with "That Man is You."

Aug. 15, 2008: Feast of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

One of the blessings of being a priest is that I get to be at many funerals. I'm not joking. I enjoy being at funerals. I'll tell you why in a little bit. As a kid, I did not want to see a body of a deceased person. Perhaps it's cultural, too. Koreans do not display body at a wake or at the funeral. They close the casket and place a photo of the person on top. Why do we in the West display the body of the deceased? In fact, we are not fearful for our children to come and see the body of the deceased. Do we not tell our children that uncle Buck or mamon Betsy is in a better place? I encounter at funerals estranged family members who wandered far from their faith or even perhaps have become atheists who say to me at the funeral that their mom or dad was now in a good place. So there is something about us that we inherently believe that our spirit lives on beyond our body. And because of that conviction we keep something of that person with us, like their hair, their clothing, or their favorite item. These things or relics serve as a reminder that our loved one is still with us on the earth even when that person is in heaven.

In Catholic Church, we are especially fond of things that belonged to a saint. For example, in most Catholic Churches, the altar usually have a piece of bone or 1st Class relic of a martyr or a patron saint of the parish. We have the relic or the bone of St. Aloysius Gonzaga here at our parish. I carry with me daily a bone of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, a piece of the habit that Mother Teresa wore on her death bed, and a part of the habit of Padre Pio right here in my shirt pocket. When I pray with a sick person in the hospital or hear confessions, I ask Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, and Father Seelos to intercede for them right now in heaven. Non-Catholic Christians don't understand why we venerate relics. But if we Christians believe that saints are alive and well in heaven and that they are interceding for us right now to Jesus, then is it any different to use a relic as a reminder that this saint is alive and listening to my prayers?

Let me now do a theology pop quiz. We know that when we die as a Christian our body remains here on earth while our soul goes to heaven. It's only when Jesus comes the second time that our soul will unite with a new resurrected body that will not die or decay. Right now, there are two persons in heaven who have both their soul and body together. Who are they? (Jesus and Virgin Mary) Why does Virgin Mary have her body with her in heaven when she is like the rest of us? She is like the rest of us except she was spared from the Original Sin. That's what we celebrate on the feast of her Immaculate Conception. She was born without the stain of Original Sin. One of the consequences of Original Sin is death. So if she was born without Original Sin, does that mean that she never died? When the Dogma of Assumption of Blessed Virgin was declared it left open whether Our Lady died first then her body and soul were taken up to heaven or she somehow went directly. Nevertheless, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrating the fact that one of our own was singularly gifted with the grace from God to be freed from Original Sin so that her body and soul are united together in heaven. Is it too difficult for us to believe this?

Well, God has left us miraculous signs here on earth that nothing is impossible for Him. I saw such a sign on my pilgrimage to Lourdes, France. On one of the side trips, I went to the convent where St. Bernadette of Lourdes was located. After Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette in 1858, she entered a convent and died in 1879. The church authorities dug her body up 30 years later (1909) in order to investigate her sainthood. They found that her body has not decomposed. The church authorities dug her body up again in 1919, and again the body did not decompose. Her body is in display in a glass case at her convent. You can go there and take photos of her. And I took a photo of her, and I made lots of copies for you to have them. I placed them at the entrances to this church, so on your way out, please take one with you. After 130 years, her body has not decomposed although no preserving chemicals were used. God is reminding us through this miraculous sign that He is preparing a new body for us that will not die or decay.

Aug. 10, 2008: 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

A couple of years ago, a group of scientists have found a protein in the brain of a rat that acted as the fear factor. They found that this protein molecule is essential for triggering both the innate fears that rat is born with--such as the shadow of an approaching predator--as well as fears that arise later in life due to individual experience. They found that eliminating the gene that encodes this factor makes a fearful mouse courageous. When this 'mighty mouse' was placed near a cat, the mouse didn't even flinch. The finding, the researchers say, suggests new approaches for drugs designed to treat conditions such as phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. Don't we sometimes wish that we can take a pill to take away our fear and anxiety? Don't we wish sometimes that we can be more bold? But is having a fear that bad? Do we want to be bold all the time?

Fear is a natural emotion that helps us warn against danger and also helps us realize where our limitation is. But also we know there are many occasions where fear is paralyzing and counter-productive. Seven years ago when I was still working as a chemical engineer for a plant down in Geismar, our operators used to work with hazardous if not fatal chemicals. One chemical that we produced was dangerous to health if inhaled at a concentration of less than a hundred parts per million. So whenever there was a leak, our operators would put on a SCBA gear. On one occasion, one of our new operators went out to investigate a leak, and it turned out to be a major leak. All we heard over the control room radio was a lot of yelling from this operator. He was panicking and hyperventilating. We wanted to assure him that more help was on the way and that the situation was under control. But this operator could not hear us because he was yelling and panicking. We simply coudn't help him because he was overcome with his own fear. Only when he became calm, could he hear us over the radio and take our instruction.

In our gospel, we find Peter boldly stepping out of the boat into the stormy sea. I'm sure Peter knew the laws of nature--that you can't walk on water. What was he counting on when he stepped out? Was it Peter's confidence in himself? Or was it Peter's confidence that Jesus could suspend laws of nature. It turns out that Peter was more confident in himself. When Peter stepped out, Jesus suspended the laws of nature and allowed Peter to walk on water, but Jesus also allowed Peter to face his own fear, especially the fear of drowning and death. This was not to be the first time that Peter faced death; his life was under threat numerous times, especially when he 'saved' himself by denying Jesus three times. However after Pentecost, Peter would face his fear of death more boldly. By letting Peter step out of the boat, Jesus allowed Peter to experience how small and frail he really was. Only in realizing that he was small and in need of help, did Peter able to cry out to Jesus, "Lord, save me!" We think that we need to be bold, strong, and fearless for ourselves and others. Perhaps that's the way our world teaches us--the survival of those who appear to be the fittest. Like that inexperienced operator in the chemical plant, we can be overcome by own fear and panic, not realizing that all along Lord is present right there. In our first reading, Elijah hides in fear for his life in a cave after his life was threatened by Jezebel. Our own fear can appear like a strong wind, earthquake, and fire. Our own fear can be so loud that we cannot hear Our Lord. But when we humble and quiet ourselves like a little child, may be we can begin to hear Jesus in the silent whisper--"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Aug. 3, 2008: 18th Sunday Ordinary Time (A)

(Click the title above for audio of the homily) 

This week, Fr. Burns and I drove down to Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church down in Vacherie to see all the good missionary work that our high school youth of St. Aloysius were doing for the people of Vacherie. They were helping to fix up the houses of those who were elderly and poor. The condition of one of the houses was beyond what ordinary youth could take. A mentally challenged woman lived in that house by herself alone for the past seven years. She had two dogs and a cat. Apparently, these dogs and cat never were let outside for the four years. Few days before our youth arrived, volunteers literally shoveled droppings inside of the house to the outside and threw away the carpet. They also had to disinfect the entire house with Clorox before painting. The pastoral associate for Our Lady of Peace remarked how our youth did not complain or refuse to work; rather, they worked tirelessly and generously the entire week in the hot, humid sun. How is it that our youth were able to step up to the plate and meet the challenge? Perhaps the mass these youth attended has something to do with it.

If we want to understand how mass has anything to do with our ability to meet insurmountable challenges, we have to turn to Mother Teresa. You know Mother Teresa's sisters work in one of the harshest and toughest places all around the world. Their fourth vow, in addition to the vows of povery, chastity, and obedience, is to work whole heartedly and freely for the poorest of the poor. And she says, what the sisters are doing is humanly impossible. That is why they always begin their day with mass. Our Lord's sacrifice in the mass is his love in action for us. With him in us through communion, we are able to see Jesus in the poorest of the poor. When we touch those who are neglected, unloved, and unwanted, we are touching Jesus himself, as Mother Teresa says.

What is it about the Eucharist that enables us to do these incredible acts of charity? I'll explain by using an experience from one of my pilgraimages. I was enroute to Fatima, Portugal when we stopped at a small town in Portugal called Santarem. A small church in this town had a Eucharistic miracle that happened in early 13th century. As the story goes, a wife distraught with a husband who was not being faithful in marriage sought a sorceress. The sorceress said she can help if the woman will bring to her a consecrated host from mass. The wife went to mass, received the Eucharist on her tongue, immediately took it out and wrapped it in a hankerchief, but it immediately started to bleed. Frightened, she ran to her house and immediately hid it in a trunk in her bedroom. At night when both she and her husband were sleeping, a mysterious light emmanted from the trunk. She told him what she had done, and both knelt before the light and repented. The next day, they took the hankerchief and the host which had actually turned into flesh to the parish priest. The priest enclosed it in a wax container placed it in the tabernacle. The next time he opened it, another miracle had occured. The wax container was in pieces, and the host was now miraculously enclosed in a crystal pyx. This host and pyx is still on display today in that small church. In another similar miracle that occured in Lanciano, Italy around 8th century, scientists in 1981 analyzed the Eucharist which turned flesh and found some startling facts. The flesh was a real human muscle; in fact it was a cross section containing the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium. What is Jesus trying to say to us through these miracles? The Eucharist that Jesus gives us is really his most precious heart. Isn't he trying to say to us, I give you dear children my most precious heart? When he gives himself to us in mass, he gives us his heart that beats for the love for us.

In the gospel today, when Jesus saw the vast crowd that followed him, his heart was moved with pity for them, and despite being exhausted he cured their sick. He was even concerned for the crowd who was hungry, who spent days following him. So he takes mere five loves and two fish and multiply them so that more than 5,000 people can be fed to brim with some left over. And so today at mass, Jesus takes a small piece of bread and transforms it into his beating, living heart. When we receive him, his heart beats next to ours. With him in our heart, we are far more capable of giving more than what is humanly possible. With our Lord in their heart, our young people stepped up to the challenge of poverty, stench, long hours, humidity, and sun in Vacherie. With our Lord in their heart, Mother Teresa's sisters were capable of laboring among the poorest of the poor. Aren't we capable of such charity knowing that we have Jesus' heart next to ours?

Wedding Homily: Saturday, Aug. 2, 2008

*Real names are replaced with fictitious

The place where a couple chooses to get married tells much about how the couple views marriage. Certainly John* and Beverly* could have chosen a more picturesque place to get married than in a Catholic Church. I've seen on TV where couples choose the most beautiful spots on the earth, the most breath taking places to make their wedding ceremony memorable. Why is it that the Catholic Church asks the couple to get married in a church and in the context of mass? Perhaps the clue is in our readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament.

You notice that in this wedding ceremony all of us are oriented toward the altar. In the altar is the tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord in his flesh, both humanity and divinity, resides. Also in the altar is the crucifix, where Jesus showed how much he loved us by sacrificing his very own life for us. It is before this presence of Jesus that John* and Beverly* stand, kneel, and declare their intention to imitate the self-emptying love of Jesus on the cross. In fact what John* and Beverly* are doing is praying before the Lord like Tobiah and Sarah. Before their marriage was consummated, Tobiah asks his wife to get up to pray to the Lord. "Sister, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance." They first praised the Lord for His goodness, "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support...You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.' Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age...And they said together, 'Amen, amen.'"

Tobiah and Sarah were asking the Lord to call down His mercy. Likewise, John* and Beverly* are here before the Lord to call down God's mercy upon them. What are they really asking the Lord for? They are asking the Lord to shower down the Holy Spirit upon them. In our Second Reading from the Corinthians, we hear the familiar, "Love is patient, love is kind." St. Paul is not talking about the kind of love we hear in some of the love songs on the radio. St. Paul is really talking about love as the spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit. He says, "Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts." What is the greatest spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit? Charity or love. What does this gift of the Holy Spirit look like? This gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to be patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude. This gift enables us not to seek its own interests, not to rejoice over wrongdoing, but enables us to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things. John* and Beverly* you can ask all the guests you have invited here whether in their own marriage they have failed to be patient, to be kind, failed to bear all things, to believe, to hope, and failed to endure all things. And their answer is resounding, yes. It is humanly impossible to live up to the call of charity. That is why St. Paul asks for all of us here to ask the Lord to give us this gift of the Holy Spirit daily.

Finally, John* and Beverly*, by having your ceremony here in this church, you have invited Jesus to your wedding just as he was invited to the wedding at Cana. Like the gospel where the wine ran out, in your marriage, things will run out--your patience, you kindness, your perseverance, your hope, and your faith. That is precisely when you need to seek Jesus. As He has performed a miracle of turning ordinary water into wine for all the guests to enjoy, if you seek Him daily when things run dry, He will fill you with charity, the greatest of the gift of the Holy Spirit.