Good Shepherd Sunday

         Growing up, I feel in love with a woman who is an actress with red hair, a great smile, and an infectious laugh. That is the one and only Mrs. Julia Roberts. 

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I jokingly say, if she were to ask me to marry her, I would. In reflecting on today’s Gospel, I came across a commentary that used Julia Robert’s portrayal of Erin Brockovich, a former beauty queen, now twice divorced with three children, who begins to work for a local law firm with now real experience, as a researcher for a case. The film is called Erin Brockovich. During the film Julia Roberts visits plaintiff after plaintiff, family after family in this small town of Hinkley, California and finds that the effects of the local gas company’s industrial pollution in the water supply have been covered up for years and that over 600 people have aliments because of it. She deals with the victims personally and they feel she is a friend. She possesses Good Shepherd qualities: she knows her clients (the sheep), genuinely cares for them, and generously sacrifices for them.

         Later in the film a hired professional law firm comes into the picture, but they do not know the clients (the sheep). The professional law firm only cares about the facts about the sheep and the sheep are reluctant to even speak with them, after they have already spoken with Erin. When Erin’s knowledge of the sheep are challenged by the professional law firm, Erin amazes everyone by firing off the names, phone numbers, and details of each plaintiff from memory.

         Julia Roberts and her boss in one way lay down their loves for the people of Hinkley, California: all of legal costs for the case spreads their local firm very thin and working round-the-clock takes Erin out of touch with both her boyfriend and her kids. Erin's kids resent the lack of attention from her and her attempts to explain the merits of what she is doing to her eldest son are futile, but, one day her eldest son happens across one of the many documents pertaining to the case. He reads of a child his own age who is very ill, and knowing that Erin's work will help this child, asks her why the child's mother cannot provide him with the help he needs. When Erin explains that it is because the child's mother is also very ill, her son, for the first time, appreciates the nature and importance of his mom’s work. Sorry if am about to spoil the end of the movie for you, but in the end Erin Brockovich wins the case, settling for $333 million which the largest settlement ever in a direct-action lawsuit in US history.

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         Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, a day in which the Church publically fulfills the Lord’s instruction: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” It is a day where we remember and pray for the men and women, young and old to hear and respond generously to the Lord’s call to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life. When I think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, I picture him all dressed in white, nicely groomed, with a sheep around his neck, a bunch of other sheep around his feet. For me it is a very distant image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I want to see Jesus dirty and disheveled hugging and playing with the sheep. As Pope Francis says, we are supposed to take on the “smell of the sheep.” Priests are to be with the people, to closely identify with the trials of life.

         Erin Brockovich, was a dirty and disheveled Good Shepherd hugging and playing with the sheep and so was Jesus. Know that the Jesus that you and I believe in and profess as our Savior, is one who knows us and calls us “the children of God”. Jesus is one who literally laid down his life for us. Jesus, the Good Shepherd leads, guides, and influences us as his sheep, not like an outsider, but as one who took on flesh like you and me. Pray that Fr. Phillip, Fr. Richard, Fr. Michael, Fr. Bob, all of the Sisters, and I may be your good shepherds who take on the “smell of the sheep.”

WDPV Vocation Prayer Card Pope Francis

Fourth Sunday of Easter Homily

April 26, 2015

St. Peter's Church

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Happy Easter and Third Sunday of Easter Homily 2015

Happy Easter Everyone!

 I love that we get to celebrate Easter for 50 days. In the Church's wisdom we have 40 days of Lent to prepare and 50 days of Easter to celebrate the wonderful mystery and gift of the Resurrection.

Below you can find my homily for the Third Sunday of Easter:

         This week I drove Fr. Phil up to Staten Island so that he could give a talk to some Secular Franciscans and while he was giving the talk I surprised a close friend of my family who is like another mother to me, I call her Aunt. I unexpectedly showed up at my aunt’s front door. She was on the phone and slowly opened the door to see who would be knocking at the door. Once she realized that it was I, she hung up the phone and gave me a big hug and kiss. She recognized me immediately. She invited me into her house and to have something to eat. We took time to talk about how things have been going and what has happened since the last time we saw each other. She asked about how it was to be living in Point Pleasant and I said “It was all right.” No I told her that everything was great, especially living with Fr. Richard (He was the presider at Mass). But after the initial joy of the reunion was somewhat spent, we got down to talking about more serious things that are important to both of us. For example she asked if I was really happy living as a friar and how things have been going in my family. In the end we both were reminded of how it is always a joyous occasion when someone to whom you feel very close drops in to visit you unexpectedly. Maybe you have experienced the same thing when a son or daughter who has moved away to another state comes home unexpectedly to visit or when a close friend of yours surprises you at work, there is tremendous joy in the reunion.

(From when I surprised my friend Pokey during his volunteer year with CFYM)

         In the Gospel we hear of a reunion like this. Jesus unexpectedly stands in the midst of the disciples. There was no knock or opening of a door, Jesus just appeared. The disciples were startled and terrified like my aunt was. They had no time to prepare for Jesus coming, in fact the disciples did not recognize him. Jesus now in a resurrected state was not easily recognizable, but Jesus showed them his hands and his feet, offering them to touch them. He reminded them that he had flesh and thus was not a ghost. The disciples were then filled with joy. Jesus and his disciples did what we do with guests, they ate together. Even after Jesus rose from the dead, he ate with his disciples like he always did. We see continuity between the pre-Easter and post-Easter Jesus, he did a very human thing, sharing a meal.     

         We need to remember, that no one saw Jesus rise from the dead. We do not have the event captured through any eyewitness accounts or pictures. Jesus’ resurrection was made known us from the fact that the tomb was empty and by his appearances to his friends and disciples, like the one we hear today.

         We know that Jesus and his disciples talked. Maybe they took time to talk about how things have been going and what has happened since the last time they saw each other. Maybe the disciples shared what is what like to watch Jesus die or to live without him for a couple days. We do not know. We do know that after the initial joy of the reunion, Jesus and the disciples got down to talking about more serious things that are important to both of them.

         I can’t imagine what it was like for the disciples to have Jesus – now risen from the dead – in their midst talking about himself being the fulfillment of the Scriptures. To have Jesus talk about the forgiveness of sins, which is now to be offered to others through the disciples themselves. To receive the mandate to preach to all nations in Jesus’ name.

         This mandate does not stop with the first disciples of Jesus. This mandate for the forgiveness of sins and to preach in Jesus’ name to all the nations, continues with you and me. Forgiveness of sins may be done by actually forgiving someone when they say “Sorry.” This may mean letting go of past hurts, instead of holding on to them forming resentment towards those that hurt you. Or talking to and supporting that family member that others seem to ignore. Preaching Jesus’ name to all the nations, may be as simple as telling your friends and family where you really are on Saturday Evenings (or Sunday mornings) - at Church - instead of just saying you are busy at that time. It could be writing "God Bless You", "God Loves You", or "I am praying for you" in the next card you write or text you send. Or it can be posting something about your faith on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. What began in Jerusalem, continues here in Point Pleasant Beach. What began with the disciples, continues with you.

Third Sunday of Easter Homily

April 19, 2015

St. Peter's Church

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Good Friday Homily 2015

         

         To be honest, often times I don't like to think to about Good Friday, between the beating, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the blood dripping, the carrying of the cross, the nailing to a tree and watching someone die is not something I enjoy to think to about. I would much rather think about Easter, between the celebration of new life, the joy, the bells ringing during the Gloria, the flowers, and the baptismal font. There is the great food and the gathering of family and friends to look forward to; I would rather stay in this place. Maybe you prefer to celebrate Easter than Good Friday too. I have come to realize that there is something wrong with that way of thinking; I am trying to skip Good Friday and go right into Easter. I am trying to skip the Cross and go right to the empty tomb. Essentially I want to ignore the suffering and go right to the glory.

         In reality Easter means nothing without Good Friday, in fact it means nothing without Holy Thursday either. You and I can't celebrate the resurrection of Jesus if Jesus never suffered and died. You and I can’t celebrate the resurrection if Jesus never gave us his body and blood in the Eucharist. Our faith would be based on pretty shaky ground if we celebrated Jesus just rising after taking a nap. No Jesus rose after dying on a cross.

         I think it is easy for us to go right to Easter, to go right to the empty tomb, and to go right to the glory, we know the next chapter of the story. The disciples, the soldiers, the guards, the chief priests, the Pharisees, Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, not even Judas or Peter knew the next chapter of the story. Mary, the mother of Jesus, the two Marys, and the Beloved Disciple who were at the foot the cross they did not know the next chapter of the story. You and I do know.

         In the midst of the Passion and Death of Jesus, we are fortunate enough to see the victory to see the glory of cross. For others the cross of Christ is a symbol of weakness, condemnation, and death. But for us as Christians, the cross of Christ is a symbol of strength, honor, and life. The cross of Christ is the means of our salvation, it is the root of hope, light, and is the guarantee of eternal life. We are able to see that Christ’s dying on the cross destroyed death and that his raising restored life.

         At the beginning of this homily I mentioned that “Essentially I want to ignore the suffering and go right to the glory.” During this day, I couldn’t help but think about the suffering of my father. In January, my father Nabil passed away. For 45 days he was in a coma, I watched as he suffered or what I thought was suffering. The week of his death, I was so mad at God, why was my dad and my family suffering in this way? I couldn’t handle hearing one more person say “Nabil, open your eyes.” I just wanted him to die so that he could experience the glory of heaven, his resurrection, his Easter.

         And then I stopped thinking about heaven or why he was suffering, I learned to just be with him in his suffering. I thought of Mary watching her son’s Passion and death and not being able to do anything. There was nothing I could do for my dad to make him stop suffering. I couldn’t help him get over it or to take it away. I had to live through it. Rather, I chose to live through it. Maybe my dad needed to have another family member come see him or for another health care worker to care for him before he died. Maybe my dad needed to work something out with God or with himself before he died. I don’t know why he was in the coma for as long as he was, I only knew that I needed to be there and to live through it with him.

         Today we celebrate the cross of Christ. We celebrate the wood that bore our Savior, the wood that bore our sins, and the wood that bore our salvation. As we venerate the cross, we gather together in the memory of all of the living and the dead. We remember that suffering is not about getting over it, suffering is not about avoiding it, and suffering is not about taking it away. Suffering is about living through it. Know that unjust suffering caused by abuse, discrimination, or violence is not to be lived through or tolerated, but should be stopped and one should reach out for help.
         On the cross Jesus was stripped of his clothes, his arms were stretched out and his legs and arms were nailed to a tree; he was as vulnerable as one can be. He was in the total care of God the Father. When you and I carry our own crosses due to the poor choices we have made or due to the sufferings that accompany being human – we are vulnerable as we can be. We are called to live through those crosses and to be in the total care of God the Father. And who knows, once that next chapter of life begins, maybe those crosses or those moments of suffer, will be seen as moments of strength, honor, and life and will be celebrated and adored.

Good Friday Homily

April 3, 2015

St. Peter's Church

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ