St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

My Dear Friends,

My Easter prayer was one of gratitude.  First of all, I thank God for allowing me to be here to celebrate with our wonderful parish the challenging Holy Week services.  Many of our good members died during these past 12 months, and yet our loving God has allowed me and you another period of time to serve the Lord in our parish.  I thank God for that blessing of life.  Secondly, I thank God for the generous priests and deacon of our church who helped us to celebrate the complicated liturgies of Holy Week and Easter.  We are blessed to have these dedicated priests in our parish, especially when we have fewer clergy to serve our people.   Thirdly, I thank God for all those generous singers who prepared the glorious music, for those artists who decorated our church, for those ministers who served as lectors, Eucharistic ministers and servers.  Last but certainly not least, I thank God for you, our loyal and generous members of St. John the Baptist Church on San Pablo Avenue.  We have so much to be grateful for and to praise our wonderful Jesus who looks lovingly on this little Catholic Church in El Cerrito.  I hope you join me in thanking God.

May the risen Jesus continue to look lovingly on our parish and shower down His blessings and graces on each family.

Peace,

Fr. John Maxwell

scene: Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, and a third woman Salome……..came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Problem: a big stone in front of the tomb. “who will roll back the stone for us????  The stone was gone and a ghost was sitting in the tomb.    reaction: FEAR

The ghost or angel spoke and told them that Jesus was raised up from the dead…….. More Fear…… The angel continued: Jesus will go before you to Galilee. Go tell Peter and the others…… reaction: more fear.

“They made their way out and fled from the tomb bewildered and trembling. Because of their great fear they said nothing to anyone.”

Fear is the operative word.

1. Tonight we started outside near a fire and we lighted a holy candle. The candle broke up the darkness.

e.g. Have you ever been afraid of the dark????

10 years old…..Southern California…..Late Saturday afternoon movie…..double feature…..dark outside….walking home in the middle of the street…..Whistling….the importance of the street lights….Fear left when I was in the safety of our well-lighted home.

2. The darkness of the church and the brightness of the Pascal Candle…..What a difference a little light makes in a dark world.

Fr. Keller, founder of the Christophers.

“It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

The light of Christ, symbolized in the Pascal Candles, lights up our world and drives out the fear of the dark.

e.g. NBC Television program: “What are you most afraid of?”

The moderator was Clifton Fadiman. Bennet Cerf, respected publisher and author for Random House was on the panel. Several people spoke of their fears. Fear of the dark, fear of nuclear annihilation, fear of being buried alive, fear of death, fear of chemical accidents,  fear of earthquakes and tornadoes …..etc….Bennet Cerf had not spoken. Clifton Fadiman  interrputed the flow of fears and asked Bennet Cerf about his personal fears. A long pause and Bennet Cerf said in a humble voice that he hesitated to voice his fear because it seemed to be so trivial beside the terrible fears like nuclear destruction or catastrophic plagues. But he went on to say that the purpose of the program was to share what you really thought, he might as well admit that what he feared most was “not being loved.”

Sometimes we miss the most obvious. we all want to be loved. We all need to be loved. We all fear not being lovable or losing our love. We all have a need to belong. What a great opportunity we have in the parish of St. John the Baptist and the Catholic Church to create a community of love and acceptance where love is king and fear is put aside. The early Christians were known by their love. We still sing a song: “They will know that we are Christians by our love.”

I challenge you to reflect upon someone who needs your loving attention. Reflect upon someone who is afraid of not being loved. Who is that fearful person???  Your love can drive out fear and darkness. What can you do to be the light of Christ for your friend?

This evening we will welcome  new members into the Body of Christ and the Catholic Church. Just as Jesus is our light in a dark world we pray that the Light of Christ will enlighten the hearts and souls of our sisters and brothers who will enter officially into our Catholic family.

Mary Magdalene & Mary mother of James and Salome were so fearful at first that they count not tell even their friends the apostles about the Resurrection. They needed Jesus to help them get rid of their fear.

I challenge you. When was the last time that you invited a friend to join you in worship and prayer. If you are truly the light of Christ and if you carry the light of Christ within your soul, you will not keep your light under a bushel basket. You must overcome your fear. You are called to let your light shine in the darkness and to share your light with others.  Who can you share your light with? Who is in darkness? Who needs your help to find the gift of faith?

2. I am sure that you have heard about “bio-feedback.” Science tells us that sometimes our emotions take cues from the reaction of our bodies.

For example: we are told that if we look in a mirror first thing in the morning and smile, we will put ourselves in a good mood. It is not necessary for us to be in a good mood in order to smile. We smile and the good mood follows.

Knots in our stomach tell us that we are afraid. We may not have any consciousness that we are experiencing fear until our body tells us.

Many people find out that if we live out our Catholic faith,

if we deliberately seek to be loving, then we will be the loving Christians that Jesus expects us to be.

Our experience is self-validating.

As we see ourselves as the light of Christ, we will drive out darkness within ourselves and the darkness around us. We will be men and women of faith and not of fear.

story: Second World War a group of war prisoners were told to build a bridge over the River Kwai. Remember the movie and the song??? However in real life the prison camp had become a den of thieves. Betrayal was everywhere. Each man was for himself. Envy and suspicion were the order for the day. One day a new prisoner who was a major,  introduced a buddy system called the “Mucker System,” in which buddies “mucked” for each other, that is, they took care of each other.

One man became deathly ill and was placed in what was called the “hot house” — a bamboo hut. If you died there the guards would simply burn the bamboo hot and build another hot house.  Once you ended up in a hot house you usually died. There was not much hope for you. So this man got sick and went into the hot house and the camp began to anticipate his death. However, in two weeks the man was stronger and was able to leave the bamboo hot house and return to work building the bridge over the River Kwai. A few days later the recovered sick man’s buddy, his “mucker,” got sick. He had been quite healthy, but was placed in a hothouse and died very quickly.

The story behind the story is that the sick man’s friend used to take his own food from the dining room and sneak it to his buddy in the hothouse. You could get shot for doing this. However, the buddy brought food and water every day and he denied himself to help his friend and in this very act of sacrifice he took ill and died. His buddy lived to tell the story. ……Now the result of this self-sacrifice transformed the camp. The prisoners started to help one another. They began to work together to both build the bridge over the river Kwai and to destroy the bridge in an act of liberation.  The darkness had been turned into light. The fear had been turned into hope and love.

You can be that person who turns a system around.

You can be that person who can sacrifice even your life for another, if you overcome your fear of failing.

You can be that radical non-conformist who can make justice blossom in the midst of injustice, if you take a chance.

You can make a difference, if you believe that you are the light of Christ.

3. One last example about fear of death.

Cardinal Bernadin, Archbishop of Chicago. Energetic Catholic leader. Preached about a “Consistent Ethic of Life” which he described as a ’seamless garment.” He encouraged Catholics with divergent views to talk together lovingly and to listen to one another. He called this the “Common Ground Initiative.” When he found that he had terminal cancer, he accepted this cross and gave us all an example of not being afraid of death. We walk in the light of a Risen Christ who tells us not to be afraid. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house and I am going to prepare a place for you…..”  For Cardinal Bernadin and hopefully for us the shadow of the cross is our hope of eternal life  and everlasting light.

A challenge: If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, you will never be afraid of even death itself. You will live in peace and you will walk bravely in the light.

…

Homily for Easter 2009, Mass during the Day

Scripture: Acts 10: 34a, 37- 43, Ps 118, 1 Cor. 5: 6b-8, Jn 20: 1- 9

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” – “He saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

Theme: Resurrection, the Marriage of Heaven and Earth (the ball of love between God the Father and God the Son is rolling. This exchange of love is stronger than warm feelings of acceptance; each person gives unreservedly to the other. So much that even betrayal does not hurt, because the joy resides in the giving-itself, not the return that is the frustrated piece in human relations.). In this exchange of love, I want to include the sacrament of matrimony in my reflection this morning. An African proverb says, “The ties established between two families by a happy marriage are stronger than those of money.” May those who live a happy marriage give thanks with Christ victorious; may those who work hard to keep alive their union find comfort and strength; may those who experienced loss receive God’s healing love; and may all those who look forward to marriage believe in the power of divine love in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. The otherwise consecrated to God, also draw strength from family life.

Introduction: Let us imagine a wedding day and the various movements of friends, family and officials of the occasion. What will not come to our mind if at one minute to starting time, neither bridegroom, nor bride was anywhere near the Church? Suppose we call their homes and hear that, they already left a while ago. Our first response is: Where are they? What is going on? So is it with the running back and forth, and the anxieties in our Gospel today. This external movement prepares the disciples of Jesus for the great joy that is coming their way. The empty tomb tradition states that something did happen to Jesus‘ body. Where is it? Another aggravating factor (adding to the aggravation that, not only the Lord is dead and buried, but also that his body might have been stolen), is the orderly disposition of the burial cloths, sign that it was not a grave-profanation – theft. The disciples are perplexed, yet with clues. Nevertheless, clues are not sufficient; the testimony of angels and that of other disciples can simply help. Only the personal encounter with the Lord gives satisfaction. As an African proverb says, “Wisdom is not a medicine to be swallowed,” and “It is not the eye that understands but the mind.”

We have this solemn celebration of the Eucharist in which the Lord touches us both individually and as a community. “Let us celebrate the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” in other words with joy and thanksgiving for “God’s love endures forever“. God’s love overcomes death. God has raised the crucified man Jesus to reveal him as the Son of God in a final, unchangeable way. How do we express this mysterious and miraculous truth?

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem.

On Good Friday, we often hear that the veil in the temple of Jerusalem was torn open. The death of the Son of God in the flesh is the revelation that God has opened to humanity all the treasures of his kingdom. All the secrets that help us relate to God in a life-giving manner are revealed to us in this single moment of Jesus’ entering into the holy dwelling of his Father with his full humanity. Jesus has removed the barriers that separated us from God from our true selves and from others. Christ is risen from the dead! Peter and the other disciple respond to “what happened to the Lord” by searching for Jesus, by showing love. In the course of action, they come to participate in the joy of the Risen Lord, they eventually see him alive. Love responds to Love.

The entering of Jesus into God’s realm with his humanity is the wedding of heaven and earth. God is accepting humanity just as it is, and humanity is now accepting divinity in faith, and in acts of self-transcending love. The absolute acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice by God has been the founding principle behind the characteristics of catholic marriage between a man and a woman: sacred and indissoluble unity. The consent and shared life of a man and a woman through the sacrament of marriage is approved by Christ, made sacred, and united to his own sacrifice of the cross, validated by God the Father through the Resurrection. Let us elaborate a little bit on the process that led Christ to such a definitive marriage between God and humanity, matured in the Resurrection, the sign that “God’s love endures forever”.

1) The family was prepared to welcome the child Jesus

Mary and Joseph consented fully to participate in the work of God in Jesus the Christ, through the message of the angel and through the dream of the wise. They acted upon the revealed message from God by bringing Jesus into the world and by protecting him from all harm. The holy family stayed together. The first miracle Jesus would do (in John’s Gospel) was at a wedding. He performs a gesture that removes shame and its tragic consequences. Marriage is sacred, and the young Jesus (back then), “rises to the occasion,” just as he rises today to bring joy to the broken hearted. In the Cana story, Jesus was implicitly teaching that the sacred bond of unity depends on the friendships and outside relations of the spouses, as well as it depends on their own powerful feelings and strong mutual commitment. Above this support from families and friends, God is the source and goal of all love, and particularly the source of joy in such a sacrificial self-giving. Jesus’ all life prepared the way for the wedding of the cross in the human acceptance of God’s rule of life, and highly valued/validated by the inviting God of love today in the Resurrection. In Christ, God is forever pleased with us. May He give us the grace to be always joyfully faithful, God whose love endures forever!

In the teaching of the Church

Fidelity/faithfulness is the primary virtue of the exclusive character of marriage, because of God.

-Do I really want to be faithful to this person in the bond of marriage? How can I succeed in doing that, knowing my weaknesses and the many temptations and occasions of sin that the world will present to me? Am I redeemed from my past life and all the potential impediments I carry along into this sacred relationship? Am I willing to forgive the other person, putting his or her safety and salvation above all other concerns? Am I ready (if need be) to sacrifice myself for him, for her? “LORD, grant salvation! LORD, grant good fortune!” I also pray that we will be made worthy disciples as Peter says: “This man, God raised …, and granted that he be visible … to us, the witnesses chosen by God.” If you follow news, you will recall the unfriendly comments of many people on the pope’s word about the situation of AIDS in Africa. We pray again to have a clearer vision of the ways of God’s saving hand in our difficult situations. On a different note, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver was deploring the fact that:

The church in the United States has done a poor job of forming the faith and conscience of Catholics for more than 40 years. And now we’re harvesting the results-in the public square, in our families and in the confusion of our personal lives.[1]

Applied to family life, these words remind Catholic believers of the rights of God in our human unions. Jesus’ resurrection affirms God’s inalienable rights, as the only norm of Christ’s life, decisions and action. To be truly human is to abide in the relationship with God “whose love endures forever”.

2) Indissolubility is an embrace of true humanity

Jesus teaches (Mt 19: 8, Mk 10:6) that in the beginning, man and woman were not meant to separate, (rare exceptions granted). The question of indissolubility (a journey of faith) resonates with the question of self-acceptance as unconditionally loved by God. From self-acceptance comes the capacity to accept the other who expands my world. When we declare having become one, we look at the other person, just as we look at ourselves (with our preferences and dislikes). The required high level of truth and transparency we learn through creative faith and humility. Jesus is in the Father and the Father in him even beyond death; he is alive.

The concrete issues that threaten a marriage are often issues of our eternal salvation, in the sense that the areas in which we need growth into God are the very same causes that could harden us to the other person, even to breaking point. The other person is our opportunity and challenge to enter God’s kingdom, our “narrow gate” towards God. He or she is our guardian angel and our prosecutor on God’s behalf. In the light of the resurrection, let us live with our epitaph/tomb-stone inscription in mind: Just doing what we wish our spouse to remember us for, “He or she was always ready to understand and, if possible, to forgive me,”-for example. Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews (INRI) is risen indeed; he will safely lead all those who would see his life-story, and believe that God fully dwells even in his humanity.

3) True humanity is the humanity of Christ Jesus

Jesus’ humanity appears to have ended on Good Friday; but today he is no more in the grave. The proverb says, “Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank Him for not having given it wings.” Jesus is not in the throes of death. He is risen. Can my spouse change? With all the ritual predictability that is securing and comforting, do I trust the place of surprise in my marriage? “Marriage is not tied with a fast knot but with a slipknot,” says an African proverb. Marriage, like passion story, is an act of self-surrender to the other. God the Father, in raising Jesus his Son from the dead, validates everything Jesus says or does: “This is my beloved Son in whom is my trust, listen to Him!” In that sense, even if some do not believe in him, Jesus provokes great admiration in all those who have a sense and an appreciation of true beauty. His life reveals incorruptible humanity, his death reveals uncompromising love, and his resurrection finalizes our faith in him as sent by God to reveal God to us. There is light at the end of the tunnel; Christ is the light of God shining in our every darkness. I pray that all of us here today will return home with our burdens (if we have any) made lighter/bearable by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! The power of the Resurrection, the hidden life in God made, visible to us, is the power sustaining sacramental marriage: its indissoluble unity.

The Church teaches unity

The unitive dimension of marriage is a free choice of total mutual identification of spouses, a great act of faith. A good, long and careful preparation is needed (priests take more than five years of preparation, and they still work on stuff until grave. How much more should it be needed for engaging in the Christian ministry of founding a family!). Think about it in the context of this ministry of very high value. “Let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Sincerity and truth are not easy virtues to live by; yet they constitute the conditions of unity. Resurrection is a feast of unity, come of age.

Had Jesus denied his humanity, he would have escaped death. We might have admired his moral, intellectual or mystical prowess, but we would not identify with him in such absolute way in his rising from the dead. In Jesus we are alive to God, and deeply happy to be human, just like him. Another proverb says, “The lack of powder converts a gun into a stick.” If we gave each time without focusing on the pay back, we would experience the same joy as the joy of Jesus-risen: life in the Holy Spirit, a life beyond hurt and bitterness, a love that can never turn into hatred. This is one among the secrets of a successful marriage, yet a lifetime journey.[2] Jesus destroys evil by removing its destructive power. Life overcomes death.

Conclusion: Resurrection is obviously not re-incarnation. Jesus is now a “life-giving Spirit” present everywhere, anytime, God the Son with humanity. God is aware of us; God never abandons us. We have ground to celebrate and to give thanks. Lastly, I wish to consider again the gift of our diversity in this church-community. Some have names in front of the parish bulletin, some are actively involved in visible ways; and still others’ life of faith, prayer and witness makes the Lord visible in the world. And “all these are from God.” Thank you for being a brother, a sister to all others in St John’s Parish. Beloved disciple and loving disciple, and Peter are all searching for God, just as we do today. May God grant our heart desires, in the power and the name of our Risen Lord: Jesus Christ!

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[1] See Origins, V. 38, 615.  Archbishop Chaput insists that, “Real pluralism demands that people of strong beliefs will advance their convictions in the public square – peacefully, legally and respectfully but energetically and without embarrassment. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the public conversation.”

[2] It may be fitting to retrieve the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, N0 1607: “As a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman. Their relations were distorted by mutual recriminations…”