Deacon Eric's Homilies

Did you know that today’s feast is one of the newest ones in our liturgical calendar?

The Feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Since then, this celebration has also been adopted by the Anglican Communion and many Protestant traditions as well. Today is the last Sunday of the year. Next Sunday we begin a new Church year with the First Sunday of Advent.

Advent, of course, is not the Christmas season, as we so often hear it called by secular society. The Christmas season begins on Christmas Day and goes through Epiphany. But one benefit of this wrong-headed view of “the Christmas season” is that we get to her performances of Händel’s “Messiah.” While often associated with Christmas, Händel’s wonderful “Hallelujah Chorus” is well-suited to our celebration today:

Hallelujah,
for the Lord omnipotent reigneth.
The kingdom of this world
is become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ.
And he shall reign for ever and ever.
King of kings and Lord of lords
forever and ever. Hallelujah! Continue reading "Christ the King (C): Against the Odds"

Genesis 18:1-10 and Luke 10:38-42

Yesterday I went to the 70th birthday party of my Aunt Eva. It was a surprise party thrown by my cousins at the home of my cousin Sue and her husband, Joe. And because I arrived late due to traffic, I almost ruined the surprise. As I walked up to my cousin’s house, I saw Aunt Eva coming up the sidewalk, and I had to quickly hide behind a tree so she wouldn’t see me before her surprise. Continue reading "Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C): Holy Hospitality"

In 1960, when rock was young, a number of memorable singles were released. You may know some of them: “Only the Lonely.” “Teen Angel.” “The Twist.” And who could forget “Pineapple Princess” and “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini?”

Today these songs seem so innocent when we hear them. Who could have known a little war that had just begun in Vietnam would tear the nation apart and forever change the way we look at our government, that the new civil rights movement would be baptized in blood on our streets, that within a few years both President Kennedy and Martin Luther King would both be murdered?

And yet, the simplicity of early rock and roll seemed to be born in puppy love. That same year, 1960, the Drifters recorded a song called “This Magic Moment.” Continue reading "Pentecost (C): Magic Moments"

One time a gentleman, who you might guess rarely darkened a church door, complained, “Every time I go to Mass someone gives me a palm.”

He encountered something extraordinary, and concluded it was ordinary. That’s different from the woman who once greeted the priest at the church door after Mass and exclaimed “Now there’s something I’ve never seen: green vestments!” Something ordinary to us was extraordinary to her.

All during Lent we’ve been invited, with great urgency, not to view our spiritual and liturgical life with an attitude of “business as usual.” Everywhere our tradition gives us signs that something is different. We have no Alleluias, no flowers. There is no cloth on the altar, no gospel processions, no meat on Fridays.

And starting today, these stark, urgent reminders that something different is happening kick into high gear. Now aside from the fact that we began with palms and procession, what is different about this Sunday that is never done at any other liturgy?
Continue reading "Palm Sunday (C): Passion and Compassion"

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

Of course, these are the words of that lovely song by the Beatles from their final album in 1970. The song was written by Paul McCartney as a tribute to his own mother, who died when he was only 14. But the drama of its words apply just as well to the mother of Jesus, perhaps because they are such a sincere tribute to a mother’s wisdom. Continue reading "Immaculate Conception (C): Let It Be"

So get this: You know how researchers are always doing studies to prove things you already knew?

Well, last week on “20/20,” they reported on a study that demonstrated something amazing. Are you ready for this?

They discovered that serving other people…makes you happy.

Imagine their surprise. Never mind that we Christians have been saying that for only 2,000 years now. Continue reading "Advent Reconciliation Service: A Thrill of Hope"

The end of time is near!

Yes, this reading is chosen for today because the end of time is very near. In fact, it will happen next week.

The end of liturgical time, that is. Next week will conclude the liturgical year, and then we will begin a new year with the First Sunday of Advent.

As the liturgical year ends, it is appropriate that our attention be drawn to the actual end of time, you know, the End of the World. Continue reading "Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): The End of the World"

I don’t know if you saw the story in Friday’s Times about the state of widows in Iraq. It’s not pretty. Although widows are entitled by both civil and Islamic law to inherit their husbands’ property, in practice their in-laws often take everything, leaving the widow to beg on the streets.

In that article, it tells the story of one woman, Bushra Hussein, whose husband, an official for the oil ministry, was killed when he would not let someone go to the head of a line for gasoline.

The government has rejected her application for widow's support, and she is fighting her husband's family in court for her inheritance.

"I think I am on the edge of madness, Bushra says. “I have no taste for life anymore. Even my laughter is not from my heart. My heart is frozen. My life is dark without him." Continue reading "Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Live in the Present"

Ever ancient and ever new. That’s how our Christian Faith is described. And this paradox of being both ancient and new can often surprise us in Scripture.

In today’s gospel, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and thus has a speech impediment (Mark 7:31-37). Did you notice the two cities mentioned that Jesus had just visited? Tyre and Sidon. Where have we heard these two cities recently in the news? Of course, they are two cities in Lebanon that were bombed in the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Continue reading "Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Ephphatha! Be Open! (9/11)"

“I see dead people!”

Do you remember this famous line from the film The Sixth Sense? The little boy Cole is plagued by appearances of ghosts that no one else can see, people who do not realize they are dead.

This is a terrifying secret for Cole. He thinks he has to keep this fact to himself, but in trying to hide the reason for his increasingly troubled behavior, he finally learns through the help of a therapist, Malcolm, that accepting this “sixth sense” will enable him to help others and to be happier himself. After struggling to prove to Malcolm and his mother that he can see and talk to the dead, Cole finally finds peace by telling the truth, and along the way opens up a startling path to healing for Malcolm. By taking a leap of faith and believing Cole without proof, Malcolm was able to be healed of his own pain.

In today’s gospel, Jesus also sees dead people. Continue reading "Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): I See Dead People!"

One night a couple of years ago I spent a very interesting time with some of the members of the youth group at Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The session was part of their comparative religion course they all took as part of their religious education program, and the topic for the night was Christianity.

I gave a presentation on the basics of the Christian faith, with a focus that helped them to understand the teachings of Jesus in the context of the Jewish tradition. They were very engaged, and along the way they asked many very thoughtful questions, a lot of them based on an understanding of Christianity drawn from media reports about fundamentalist evangelicals.

Along the way, I explained to them how Christians accept all the books of the Hebrew Testament, and how we Catholics believe that God has never revoked the divine covenant with the Jewish people, and that we honor that covenant as we honor the Jewish people.

Then came the big question from one of the teens. He asked me, “If you accept all the Jewish scripture, and most of your teachings derive from Judaism, and you believe that God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains in effect, and if Jesus was Jewish, then why be Christian? Why not just be Jewish?”

What would you tell him? How would you answer that question? We’ll come back to this shortly, but let’s take a look at how today’s readings situate us in this context. Continue reading "Holy Trinity (B): The God of Surprises"

It’s hard to explain to people something they have never experienced, or something that has not yet existed.

Once I had an idea for an Internet venture. It was a business-to-business model offering a service that had never been offered before. So I shopped it around to investors, getting turned down by everyone. Despite the many mock-ups and explanations in the plan, no one seemed to get the idea. One investor said he was interested if it could be an online office supply store. I thought, why would you want to go head-to-head with Staples? But that he could understand because he could envision it; my idea did not already exist.

On a much larger level, visionaries have always encountered problems when they sought to create new businesses that had no existing counterpart. I recall working at one public relations firm where we had a meeting with a prospective client, a man by the name of Howard Schulz, who wanted to grow a few coffee houses in Seattle into a worldwide business. No everyone at the firm thought it could work, but we went for the small account anyway. Unfortunately, we never got the Starbucks account.

Imagine Walt Disney trying to sell people on the idea of Disneyland when the only amusement parks that existed were dirty, cheesy places run by carnies. He couldn’t get any investors. His own brother blocked him from using company money for the idea. Imagine the founders of eBay trying to explain how an online auction could work offering millions of items by regular Joes trusting each other.

In today’s readings, you and I are asked to envision something new, to think big. Continue reading "Ascension (B): Think Big"

One of the great things about cable TV is being able to use the on demand feature to see programming you might otherwise miss. Recently using on demand I saw a documentary about three little girls who were born with a very rare birth defect. They were entirely normal except for one thing: they were unable to feel pain.

Now at first you might think this would be a great advantage. Who likes pain? But remember that we feel pain for a reason. It is the body’s warning system that something is wrong. Pain teaches us to avoid things like boiling water. It tells us when we need to seek help.

These little girls, born into a world without pain, were constantly in danger without knowing it. If they put their hands on the stove, their parents might not know it for some time. If they fell and broke a bone, their parents might not realize it for days or weeks. As one doctor in the film explained, what if their appendix burst? No one would know until it was too late. As teething babies at night they would bite their lips until their cribs were soaked in blood; they would stick toys in their eyes until their parents made them wear goggles to keep them from going blind.

Their parents had to monitor all their activities very closely. Several times during the day, they would have to examine their child’s bodies for injuries, because there was no way for the child to know if she had been injured.

In a way, the world is often like a child who feels no pain, and we Christians are like the parents who watch over them, warning and healing.
Continue reading "Fifth Sunday of Easter (B): Feeling No Pain"

Today’s gospel reminds me of a T-shirt I once saw that read: “Jesus is Coming. Look Busy.”

But more than just looking busy, we are called to be busy about the Lord’s work, to “stay awake” and be prepared for the coming of Jesus. There are different ways to consider the coming of Jesus: his coming at Christmas, his coming at the end of each of our lives, and his coming at the end of time.

And what is it that we are to be busy about? How are we to stay awake? We are given some idea in the first reading, with its praise of wisdom. This ties in with the traditional name of the story we heard in the Gospel, the parable of the foolish bridesmaids.

Evidently, being ready has something to do with the embrace of wisdom. But as St. Paul likes to remind us, God’s wisdom is different from human wisdom.

A story may help to tie this idea of wisdom and preparedness together. Continue reading "Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A): Look Busy!"

How do you feel when you hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America?” Do you maybe get goose bumps, a tingly feeling, maybe a little bit of a tear? What about if you see lines of soldiers marching to John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever?” A lump in the throat? What happens when you hear a patriotic reading, like General MacArthur’s “Duty, honor, country” or the Pledge of Allegiance? Is there a chill down your spine?

Now, what did you feel when you heard the Beatitudes, in today’s gospel? Continue reading "All Saints (A): A Thrill and a Chill"