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Jesus on our Life’s Course — Funeral Homily for Helen Kellen, 97

November 19, 2021

Helen has been close to St. Paul’s Parish her whole life. She was born in our community, educated in our school, married in our church, and became a daily Mass-goer who lived across the street from here for many years. Today, St. Paul’s Parish is honored to offer our most powerful prayer, the Holy Mass, for the perfection of Helen’s soul and for the peace of all of you who love her. Her family has told me a number of things about her life. Certainly not the most important detail, but one which stood out to me, was Helen’s intense desire to win the family golf tournament. Her parents, Frank and Mary Seibel, began an annual family reunion which still gathers here in Bloomer. For more than 30 years, a part of these festivities has been a golf scramble at the local 18 holes. More than a dozen teams of four compete to have their names immortalized on the coveted family trophy.

If you’re not familiar with what a golf scramble tournament is like, everyone on a team tees off, then they choose the best hit ball among them. Each player on the team takes their next shot from that new spot, and so on and so on, hopefully getting closer to that flag on the green until they can sink a ball into the cup. The teams do this for every hole and whichever team has the fewest best swings at the end of the day, wins. The great thing about playing on a golf scramble team is even if you’re not that good your teammates can carry you, and you can occasionally positively contribute as well. Maybe it was growing up around eight siblings, but for whatever reason Helen was fiercely competitive and she very much wanted to get her name on that two-foot, family tournament trophy.

Here’s a theological question for reflection: did Jesus Christ ever golf? History’s earliest reference to the sport only dates back to 1457. That’s when King James II of Scotland banned the popular pastime in his realm, preferring his subjects practice archery instead to be better prepared for times of war. So Jesus of Nazareth, living more than a millennium before, almost certainly never played the links growing up in the Holy Land. But what if Jesus were to play golf now, how good a golfer would he be?

I suspect, if he were to play golf today, Jesus might be the greatest golfer of all time. He possesses an advantage no professional golfer has ever had: his human nature is raised to glory. Jesus’ soul wields perfect control over his glorified body so he could hit each swing exactly as he wished. Par 5? The risen Christ could get it on the green in one. When Jesus resurrects the holy dead on the Last Day “the victor will inherit these gifts” as well, as the Book of Revelation says. But what if Jesus would have played golf during his lifetime before his Passion, death, and Resurrection? How good would he have been then?

In those days, though he was divine, Jesus emptied himself, limiting his almighty power in accord with the Father’s will and their shared plan to save humanity. He had the ability to work miracles but he usually did not use them. When he was tired, he took naps. When he hungered, he ate meals. And when he suffered, he wept. So Jesus knows what it’s like to be one of us. He knows how we struggle. Even the best pro-golfers in this world usually miss their shots.

Being a Christian is like having Jesus Christ on your golf scramble team. The fearsome foursome opposing us is darkness, sin, condemnation, and death, and they would always beat us if Jesus were not on our side. When we miss our shots due to our weakness or our own chosen faults, Jesus can carry us. And sometimes our efforts actually do positively contribute to the mission we share, which is the salvation of the world. Jesus and his friends are the best companions for us to walk with along life’s course. And if we remain on his team without wandering off, or return to his team before reaching the clubhouse, Jesus Christ will lead us to victory with himself.

Eventually, Helen and her teammates did finally win the family reunion golf tournament and her name shares in the minor glory of being immortalized on the family trophy. But for Helen and ourselves, let us pray that our names may attain the surpassing glory of being written in God’s Book of Life forever.

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Sports | Leave a Comment »

Preparing for that Final Trip Back Home

November 13, 2021

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Deacon Dick Kostner

As we wind down on Cycle B our readings talk about the end of time. Our Gospel tells us that only the Father knows the exact date and time of this event but there will be warnings sent to help us prepare for the end. We know it will happen eventually but not the exact time. The point is we must prepare for the end of our earthly life.

Last month I left you with the mission to seek out wise mentors to keep you on the correct road to eternal life. I used one example I had received from one of my mentors who was preparing for his departure from this life, his name was Gabby Hassemer. I will use him again to steer us into planning for our own departure from this world. A couple of years before Gabby died he was given warnings that the end was coming. His feet and legs could not take much walking anymore, and his lungs were failing because of age. He continued to deer hunt with us but we kept an eye on him and we appointed him to stand close to our warming shack and keep the fire burning.

Deer hunting is just around the corner so I will share with you a true Gabby Hunting story. I remember one day while we were on the road to go hunting he blurted out that he was planning for his departure. Then he said: “ If I should go down while hunting promise me that you guys won’t stop hunting for the day. Just throw me in the box of your pickup until you are done for the day and then deliver me back home. I don’t want to ruin every ones day of hunting.” I started to laugh at his remark until I saw on his face that he was serious. I got rid of the smile and told him I would share his instructions with the other hunters. Gabby was planning his departure. Getting his bags packed so to speak.

As we get older we receive signs from above for us to start making travel plans. Age creeps up on us and then one day we realize that our bodies are breaking down and a red flag should go up that we need to start planning so as to have an easy transition to the next life. Let’s look also at our master mentor, Jesus. Look what he did before his death. He sat down with his friends, shared a meal and then gifted them and us with the gift of himself when he instituted the Sacraments which allow us to receive support and comfort from him as we prepare for our departure on the trip to eternity.

Several years ago our Parish was gifted to hear from a speaker from Lacrosse who talked to us about Stewardship. He told the story of how one evening he and his family went out for supper only to return to a yard full of firetrucks and people trying to put out a fire that destroyed his home and all contents including the family dog. He said it made him think about what is important in ones life which he concluded was God, family, and friends. If you think about it this is very true. Material objects we get to use during our lives and then they go to someone else to use and ultimately to help build the kingdom of God. As I reflected upon his observation I went on to conclude that God, family and friends are really talking about one entity and that is Members of the Holy Family of God. The Speaker went on to say that we need to include in our list of beneficiaries of our estate not only our blood or adopted children but also the people we have been celebrating with us and supporting us during our lifetime. We need to include those Holy Family Members who have supported us and been with us through all the struggles of life including illness and death, and who have been with us celebrating our Sunday Masses, marriages, birthday’s, and anniversaries.

It was because of two of our parishioners who died this year, that St. Paul’s is now debt free. It is because of gifts from parishioners that our Church is kept up. It is because of the wisdom and gifts of parishioners that we have a Pavilion which has been generating enough income so that our Parish Budget can stay in the Black. This folks is the Stewardship our visiting speaker was talking about.
What are ways this can happen. During your lives gifts can be given in kind or money to the Holy Family. In kind I would suggest treasures that have appreciated in value can be gifted and then sold by the Church. The result is that gross return equals net return because if you sell the asset 20%to 40% gets surrendered to pay the taxes, while if the Church sells the asset no taxes need be paid because its a charity, plus you get to deduct a charitable contribution equal to its present selling price not your cost. I did this with a collectors gun I owned. The Church acquired title and sold it and kept the proceeds with no expenses or taxes due. I received a personal deduction resulting in a savings of $9,000.00 as a reduction on my taxes by virtue of my gift.

Most of you who are 70 or older and have qualified retirement plans know that the tax laws require you to take a minimum withdrawal each year based on your life expectancy. Many don’t need the money to live on but are still required to take some out and pay taxes on it. What many do not know is that you can make your Parish contribution directly to the Parish if you are at least 70.5 years of age and not pay taxes on that contribution. The transfer must go directly from where you have the retirement account to the Church. I do this quarterly and am allowed to not pay taxes on that contribution. There is a limit of $100,000. per year that can be done but most don’t and won’t exceed that limitation. If you do this you need to let your tax person know as the 1099 that is sent to you and given to your tax person does not disclose it went directly to the Church or charity so it can be adjusted and bingo no tax due on that direct transfer. As to death transfers be sure that you give the Church assets from retirement accounts because they too will escape being taxed as the Church is exempt from paying taxes. It you give those accounts to your children they must pay tax on them.

There are many ways to make death transfers which you can discuss in detail with your lawyer or tax planner. Don’t kick the can down the road. Do as Gabby did and make financial and other plans for when you make that final trip back home. Bottom line is that you will be remembered as a quality member of the Holy Family who left the items they could not take with them to God, family and friends to use and benefit from.

Posted in Homily, Last Things, Money, Stewardship, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Our Shared Roots — Funeral Homily for Maxine Zwiefelhofer, 90

November 12, 2021

In her first ninety years of life, Maxine has been a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother; an aunt, a grandma, a great grandma, and a great-great grandma; a talented nurse, a good friend, and a devoted Catholic. Among her many traits and experiences, on this day of her funeral I would like to highlight one hobby of hers which has been a blessing to our community and a point of pride for her family.

Maxine has been a hobbyist in history. She wrote “The History of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church” in Cooks Valley, which detailed more than one hundred years of this parish from 1885 to 1995. Maxine spent many days researching genealogy at the Chippewa County Historical Society, and even traveled with family to Scandinavia and Denmark to explore their ancestral roots. She wrote books of family history, recounting the lineages of the Toppers, the Olsons, the Zwiefelhofers, and the Bleskaceks.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: the U.S. Census Bureau says there are more than 150,000 different last names in our country today, with some 5,000 last names in common use. Have you ever noticed, that with the whole forest of humanity to choose from, most people prefer to research those family trees which have branches which reach themselves? For instance, Topper was the family name of Maxine’s father, Ernest; Olson was the maiden name of her mother, Elizabeth; and Zwiefelhofer was the last name of her husband, David. Here’s another statistic: there are more than 20,000 Catholic churches in America. Of all the churches in all the towns in all the land, why did she write a history about this one?

You know the answer. Maxine explored the genealogies of those particular families and recounted the history of this particular parish because she belonged to them and they belonged to her. Our past provides us with our identity. If we were to lose all of our memories but could still think and walk and talk, we would wonder about who we are. Our family and community, our origins and past, inform us about who we are. As Christians we know our family, community, origins, and past are more than merely natural.

Who was Jesus describing in the gospel we just heard? Who is merciful and meek? Who are peacemakers, clean of heart? Who hungers and thirsts for righteousness and unjustly suffers for what is right? Who do these Beatitudes refer to? The Beatitudes describe the blessed saints, but first and foremost they describe Jesus Christ himself. You and I as Christians you are their siblings, brothers and sisters within the family, the community, the communion, of God’s Church. Our origin is that we were created by God in love. That is your origin. Our past is that Jesus Christ came and died and rose for us. That is your past. And rooted in this true identity, our future is full of hope.

St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans declares “that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death,” and if “we have died with Christ… we shall also live with him.” As foretold through the Prophet Daniel, one day, “those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,” some to everlasting disgrace and others to eternal life. Then “the wise shall shine brightly… and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”

Let us pray today for Maxine’s soul and renew our true identity in Jesus Christ, so that she and we with him may be one holy family, one holy Church dwelling in the house of the Lord forever.

Posted in Catholic Church, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Marriage and Family, Sermon on the Mount | Leave a Comment »

Her Last Rites — Funeral Homily for Jeanette “Ginny” Kelly, 92

November 8, 2021

All of you who know Jeanette have a sense of the great woman she is. Perhaps you know her as a wonderful mother, who, when asked by any one of her eight children “Do you love me better than everybody else?” would honestly and beautifully reply, “I love you in a special way, just like all your siblings.” Or perhaps you know her as a faithful aunt, grandmother, great grandmother, or friend, whose joy and optimism always shone forth, and who, when she spoke to you, regarded you as if you were the most important person in the world.

She’s the kind of woman who some fifty years ago, when a petition went around her Connecticut neighborhood trying to run minority households out of town, refused to sign based upon firm Christian conviction, strongly rebuked the very idea, and befriended black families to help them feel more welcome there. She’s the kind of woman who felt very sad after her beloved husband Richard’s death in 1998 but, rather than turning-in on herself, intentionally looked around for others in need, volunteering and mentoring. I would bet that each of us here who knows Jeanette has a story about her, and I hope that you would recount them to one another. Today, I would like to share with you a story of mine about something God did for her less than twenty-four hours before she passed.

Ordinarily, on Tuesday afternoons, I visit Dove Nursing Home, where Jeanette has lived in recent years. But before last Tuesday, I had not been there for eight weeks. The facility had been on lockdown due to Covid and November 2nd was my first time back to celebrate Mass for the residents. After Mass, by providence, I was tipped off that Jeanette could use a room visit. I had previously given her the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, but I was informed her condition had declined since then. After seeing her, praying for her, and blessing her, I realized that it was now time for Jeanette to receive Last Rites. I fetched my ritual book and holy oil from my car and returned to her that hour. Jeanette knew that I was there because once I began she made a feeble Sign of the Cross and weakly said, “Amen.” The highlights of the Last Rites feature the Apostolic Pardon, the Anointing, the Litany of the Saints, and the Final Commendation.

First, I pronounced over Jeanette the Apostolic Pardon:

“Through the holy mysteries of our redemption may almighty God release you from all punishments in this life and in the life to come. May he open to you the gates of paradise and welcome you to everlasting joy. … By the authority which the Apostolic See has given me, I grant you a full pardon and the remission of all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

On the first Easter Sunday evening, the Risen Jesus appeared to his apostles in the Upper Room saying, “Peace be with you… Peace be with you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Jesus did this that his apostles may be witnesses to the Resurrection and ministers of the forgiveness of sins after baptism.

Next, I anointed her head and hands with blessed olive oil, saying:

“Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in His love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”

In our bodies we suffer and in our bodies, when connected with Christ, we are sanctified. Unless Jesus returns first, in these bodies we shall die and in these bodies we shall rise.

With the Litany of the Saints we call upon our holy friends in heaven, for the dead in Christ are not truly dead. As Jesus told Martha mourning at the death of her brother, Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” “He is not the God of the dead but of the living,” so they are ‘all are alive in him.’ With this hope, we pray for the purification, perfection, and peace of our dearly departed and ask the saints in heaven to pray for us.

And last of all, came Jeanette’s Final Commendation. I said:

“I commend you, my dear sister, to almighty God, and entrust you to your Creator. May you return to Him who formed you from the dust of the earth. May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life. May Christ who was crucified for you bring you freedom and peace. May Christ who died for you admit you into his garden of paradise. May Christ, the true Shepherd, acknowledge you as one of his flock. May He forgive all your sins, and set you among those He has chosen. May you see your Redeemer face to face, and enjoy the vision of God for ever. Amen.”

I hope that I am graced to hear these words and receive these holy rites myself someday. After these blessed sacraments, prayers, and benedictions, I suspect Jeanette was very grateful and felt ready and well-prepared to go to meet our Lord. She passed away the next morning.

On November 1st, we in the Church celebrated All Saints. On November 2nd, we celebrated All Souls. And on November 3rd, Jeanette followed after them. This is not the end of all stories about Jeanette, but the beginning of new stories; stories which she will joyfully share with us one day, if you and I faithfully follow Jesus Christ like her.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Things, Saintly People | 1 Comment »

Widows’ Gifts

November 6, 2021

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel, Jesus says, “Beware of the scribes… They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.” Jesus denounced those scribes for their greedy hypocrisy. In recent decades, some televangelists and megachurches’ prosperity preachers have told believers ‘give your money to our ministry and God will bless you back with even more,‘ and then used the meager wealth of many widows to purchase mansions or private jets. This of course, gives scandal, leading many to think faith is just a grift and alienating people from Christ. Is it wrong for preachers to be paid? St. Paul defends the right of ministers to receive compensation, “for scripture says, ‘The laborer deserves his wages,’” but our holy work is not meant to be about getting rich.

The presence of unworthy motives among some Christian ministers is nothing new. St. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “We are not like so many others who trade on the word of God for profit.” Such men were a problem in Paul’s day, too. So it might seem that poor widows should never be asked to give and that poor widows should never donate. That answer would be simple, yet God’s truth is not that simple.

In today’s first reading, the Prophet Elijah meets the widow of Zarephath during a time of great drought. He asks her for a cup of water and a bit of bread. She replies, “There is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” (She is preparing their last meal.) But Elijah says, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” She left and did as Elijah had said. And the poor widow, her fatherless child, and God’s prophet were all able to eat for a year. The jar of flour did not go empty, and the jug of oil did not run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah. As today’s psalm tells, “The Lord keeps faith forever… The fatherless and the widow he sustains.”

And in our gospel today, when Jesus sees a poor widow putting into the Temple treasury two small coins, which is all she has and her whole livelihood, what does he do? He does not try to stop her. He does not criticize her for being foolish. He calls his disciples to himself, he points her out to them, and he glorifies her trust in God in having given more than all the others. Her deed is still remembered to this day. Would it have been better if she had not given her gift?

I do not have a one-size-fits-all answer for how much poor widows should give. The Catechism teaches that the Church’s precept, “’You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church,’ means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability,” so there’s recognition that some people have greater or lesser ability than others to materially assist the Church’s mission in this world. But if even poor widows are sometimes called to give, to trust in the Lord and give him the chance to prove himself their faithful provider, how much more so are the rest of us called to be generous?

We live in the wealthiest country in all of human history, and yet most of us only give a tiny fraction of our income to church and charity to support the good works they do. What accounts for this? Some of it is from the love of money and some of it is from fear. The Book of Ecclesiastes says, “He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income.” Some are slaves to their greed, and some are shackled to their anxiety.

As an early teen, I felt reluctance at giving any money away for anything. I thought, “Who knows what my future holds? What if I need that money later? Every dollar I give away now is another dollar I’m exposed to future, unseen danger.” My mindset wasn’t informed by the Gospel, but when I finally read the Gospels myself I encountered Jesus’ teaching there. He says: “Do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. … Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.” The Lord was calling me beyond my comfort zone and into a deeper relationship with him.

I remember standing in St. Paul, Minnesota’s awe-inspiring cathedral. It was my first time there and I saw near the south exit a donation box labeled “For The Poor.” The largest bill in my wallet was a ten or a twenty, and I both wanted and very much did not want to give it, yet I knew what I should do. Once I had done it, I walked out smiling. It was a small donation, but even then I knew it was a big moment, and it changed the rest of my life.

I recall the story of one married couple. They used to pay their bills and then give to God if there was something left —and sometime there was nothing left. But God put it on their hearts to tithe consistently, so they began setting aside their gift to him first before paying their bills. And when they approached their giving in this way they discovered there was providentially always enough for both God and the bills.

God commands, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test,” yet in his Old Testament Book of Malachi he says to test him in this: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!”

And so, without embarrassment, I ask you to be generous in giving, not only so that our church may put your gifts to good use, but for the sake of deepening your personal relationship with our good and faithful God.

Posted in Catholic Church, Chrisitian Virtues, Culture, Elijah, Generosity, Homily, Money, Stewardship, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Associated Priests

October 30, 2021

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

For the past four weeks, our second reading has come from the Letter to the Hebrews. This New Testament book shows Jesus Christ as our great, faithful, and merciful high priest: holy, innocent, and undefiled, yet patient and compassionate. He is able to personally sympathize with us in our weaknesses because, though sinless, he shares in our humanity and struggle. Jesus Christ is a priest forever offering his one perfect sacrifice to God the Father in a priesthood which does not pass away.

As the Catechism teaches, the redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; but this sacrifice is made present for us at Mass. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; Jesus’ priesthood is unique, but it is made present for us through the ministerial priesthood which he founded at the Last Supper. Jesus commands his apostles, “Do this in memory of me,” ordaining them priests of his New Covenant. Yet only Christ is the true priest, while they are merely his ministers.

Besides the unique priesthood of Jesus Christ and the ministerial priesthood of his ordained bishops and priests, there is the common priesthood (that is to say, an equally-shared priesthood) of all the faithful, which is ours through baptism. Sharing in Christ’s identity as priest, prophet, and king, each of us have holy sacrifices to offer, each of us have holy truth to proclaim, and each of us have holy power to wield. The Second Vatican Council noted, pastors “know that they themselves were not meant by Christ to shoulder alone the entire saving mission of the Church toward the world.” The ministerial priesthood is at the service of your priesthood, so that you — sanctified, strengthened, enlightened, and formed — can be as Jesus Christ and his saints for this place and time.

The scribe in today’s gospel approaches Jesus and asks: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus answers that the first in importance is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And the second is this: “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” We must be entirely devoted to God, lovingly serving his kingdom according to our personal gifts and callings. And yet, even when we’re giving our all, we remain limited creatures. For instance, time spent doing one thing cannot be spent doing something else. And we are not pure, angelic spirits but physically embodied creatures, beset by weakness and fatigue.

I have experienced this these past four years as your pastor, having two parishes and a school, celebrating thirteen or fourteen Masses a week, with usually five Masses to offer on the weekends. Plus there’s confessions, funerals, anointings, and weddings; school activities and CCD; answering correspondence and completing paperwork; writing for the bulletins and the Sunday homily; and meetings or appointments on most weeknights. I mention this not to brag or complain, but to show why this is grinding and draining and why I do not do more — there is only one of me. I would like to do more than these things I do, but I feel I can’t – not without some help or relief. That’s why I have been working with our parish councils for several months seeking a good solution.

Today, I can announce good news: St. Paul’s and St. John the Baptist’s parishes will soon have an additional priest. This associate priest will assist me, your pastor, in serving you. His name is Fr. Chinnappan, a priest from India, who presently happens to be Fr. John Potaczek’s associate in Mauston. Fr. Potaczek will have a new associate, but Fr. Chinnappan will officially begin ministry here with us, with lodging at St. John’s rectory, on December 1st of this year.

This means that our current weekend Mass schedule will not need to change next year. We’ll have more flexibility in scheduling funerals and more opportunities for confession. Weekday Masses will become Communion Services much less often than before. And visiting priests will no longer be needed for helpouts. Fr. Chinnappan is excited to teach a religion class at St. Paul’s School next semester, and now there will typically be at least one priest around at both parishes for each night of CCD.

I look forward to the unique gifts and perspective Fr. Chinnappan will bring to St. Paul’s and St. John the Baptist’s. I trust that you will make him welcome, and be patient with us who serve you. For myself, I am most excited to have more opportunities to engage, teach, and evangelize, drawing souls more closely and profoundly to Christ here at our church and school. I have some new ideas in mind, and I want to hear your ideas and any offers to help. Jesus wills for you and I to be one hundred percent devoted, with all our heart and mind, soul and strength. Let us serve Jesus Christ, our priest and king, as saints for this parish according to our own unique gifts and callings.

Posted in Catholic Church, Homily, Jesus Christ, Sacrifice, Service, Sunday Homilies, The Apostles | 1 Comment »

What do you Wish?

October 23, 2021

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

John the Baptist was once with two of his disciples and as he watched Jesus walk by he declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Hearing this, the two disciples began tailing Jesus. Jesus turned, saw them, and asked them a question: “What are you looking for?” Last week, we heard how James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus began by asking them a question: “What do you wish me to do for you?” This Sunday, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, calls out to Jesus from the roadside. Jesus summons the man and once he comes near Jesus asks him a question: “What do you want me to do for you?”

Why does Jesus pose these questions? Surely he already knows the answers. “Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves,” either from his divinity, or by reading their souls (as some saints have been known to do), or through his profound knowledge of human nature. Jesus “did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.” So why does Jesus ask, “What are you looking for, what do you wish, what do you want me to do for you?”

Jesus knows us through and through but how well do we know ourselves? To answer Jesus’ questions we must consider and articulate what we truly desire: “What do I really want? How could life be better?” Forming the answers helps us know ourselves. Sometimes we neglect or avoid such self-reflection. We assume or despair that the unsatisfying status quo is the best we can expect. But to name our wishes and longings and present these to Jesus is an act of faith, and hope, and trust in him.

When Jesus turned on the two disciples of John the Baptist (one of whom was St. Andrew) and asked “What are you looking for?” they answered, “Rabbi (Teacher), where are you staying?” And Jesus said to them, “Come, and you will see.” What they desired was to know Jesus better, and Jesus gave them what they asked for. Last week, James and John said what they wanted was to sit at Jesus’ right and left in his glory. What they desired was not chairs but a greater share in Christ’s glory, and Jesus gave them what they asked for. Today, Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man answers, “Master, I want to see.” What he desires is deliverance, for his blindness has kept him a beggar, and Jesus gives him what he asks for.

Today, you have come before Jesus and approach him here. What are you looking for? What do you want him to do for you? What do you wish for him to do? In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” Jesus says, “Ask and you shall receive.” So I dare you to take courage, discern your desires, and present your requests to Jesus with faith, that he may give you what you ask for.

Posted in Homily, Hope, Jesus Christ, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Cup Jesus Drank

October 17, 2021

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approach Jesus asking for a favor: “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus says to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink…?” They respond, “We can!” Jesus answers them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink… but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Jesus told James and John, “You do not know what you are asking,” but how well do we understand what Jesus is saying here? What was the cup that Jesus would drink? How would Jesus be enthroned in glory? And who got those places at his right and his left? The answers are found in the gospel accounts of the Passion.

Jesus, the night before he died, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” And again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!” Earlier that same evening, at the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, “from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. … Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” So when is the next time we see Jesus drink “the fruit of the vine”? All four gospels record that Jesus was given wine on his Cross. In his suffering, Jesus said, “I thirst.” Someone soaked a sponge in a vessel filled with sour wine and put it up to his mouth. Once Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished,” and then he died.

Alongside the cross of Jesus a pair of guilty criminals were also crucified; one on his right and the other on his left. Both of them had mocked Jesus at first, but then one of them repented. Acknowledging Christ’s innocence and lordship, he asked: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

So what is the cup which Jesus drank? His cup is a cup of suffering. When and where was Jesus first enthroned in the kingdom of God? He is enthroned in glory upon his Cross. And who received the places at his right and left? Those places close to Jesus went first to two crucified criminals. Indeed, James and John in today’s gospel did not know what they were asking. Yet these apostles would go on to be glorified through their own shares in Christ’s sufferings: including martyrdom for St. James and exile for St. John “the Beloved Disciple.”

Many people struggle to reconcile the reality of suffering with the power and love of God. Some Christians even mistakenly preach a “Prosperity Gospel,” saying that if you believe in God and love him, he will bless you so that bad things never happen to you. But this view is incomplete. There are true blessings which flow from following Jesus Christ and his Gospel, but the worldview of the “Prosperity Gospel” sets believers up for a fall. When painful hardship or tragedy eventually come, those Christians will either blame themselves for not having had enough faith or blame God for seeming to fail them. This latter group wonders, “If God is not dependable, why should I keep faith in him?” And then, feeling wounded, confused, and abandoned, they abandon God.

We do not completely understand the mystery of evils in our world; why a devastating earthquake happens to some particular city, why a particular healthy adult gets cancer, or why a particular young person perishes in a car wreck. We do know that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, that his plans see farther than our sight. And we know that God, who is the highest good, would not permit evils to exist unless his omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil. In Jesus Christ we see that God intimately knows and deeply cares about all the things we suffer. So what is the Lord up to?

It’s no coincidence that all four gospels mention how Jesus is crucified between two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left, with one who repents and one who appears not to repent. All of humanity is similarly suffering as a result of our original or personal sin. We too begin as guilty rebels condemned. But on the Cross, Jesus Christ the Son of God, though divine and innocent, joins us in our suffering.

The Letter to the Hebrews observes that in him “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way…” This divine plan for Christ to be a suffering servant was foretold through the Prophet Isaiah centuries before: “If he gives his life as an offering for sin… the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. …Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.”

This Good Shepherd intimately understands the sufferings of the flock. He comes down from his high mountain into our dark valley and calls us to himself. We can respond to him with faith, acknowledging his goodness and lordship as sheep on his right. Or we can remain as faithless goats on his left, unrepentant for our sins and rejecting Christ forever. Realize that Jesus Christ desires not merely to forgive our sins, but that you and I would become children of God the Father just like himself.

Why do evils and sufferings continue to afflict those who follow Christ? As I said before, we do not know the answer to every painful question. (I believe we will understand God’s plan and purposes far better in heaven when he ‘wipes away every tear from our eyes.’) But we do know that Jesus Christ wants us to share in his own greatness and glory.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tries to help his disciples see that the path to true greatness and glory are not what they imagine. “Those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles,” Jesus notes, “lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In our loving service and in our faithful suffering, we become more like Jesus. With Jesus, our sacrifices and sufferings are redemptive, helping to make us saints while helping to save the world. This is the precious, challenging, saving cup our Lord offers us. But can we drink it? With the grace and love of Jesus Christ strengthening us, we can!

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Last Judgment, Passion, Redemptive Suffering, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »

Mentors & the Gift of Wisdom

October 9, 2021

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Deacon Dick Kostner

What makes me successful, what wealth can I take with me into the next life? Bottom line: What will make me happy both in this life and in the next? Where can I acquire the knowledge to answer these very important questions? The answer lies within this weekend’s Scripture readings. The Father and Jesus share with us the answers to these very important life questions.

Very shortly after I had passed the Bar Exam I sat down one day and drew up what I thought would be my plan for success and happiness. The answer I had was to make my Fathers Law firm increase its profits by and through my participation and thus I would make my Father and my family proud of me. Feeling very proud of my great plan I sat down one day with my Father to share my plans of success and happiness for not only myself but for the firm by earning more money and wealth.

Much to my dismay, and after pouring me a cup of coffee and sitting down with me, his response to what I thought was a great plan, was: “Why do you want to waste your life on making more money all at the expense of happiness and enjoyment of family and friends in this life? Make enough money to care for your family and then enjoy life!” What he was saying to me was that money will not make me successful and happy and will only waste what little time I have here on earth to accomplish real wealth that I will be able to not only enjoy now but also take with me into the next life.

Dad loved to help others. He enjoyed people and spent his time here on earth making their lives easier. I remember many Friday evenings he would spend time with some of my sister’s high school friends playing Sheepshead into the early morning and then moving on to helping them with understanding and completing calculus assignments for their school classes. Dad did not let money control his life but rather used the money he made to help others enjoy their life. I remember one of those young people he played cards with coming up to me at his funeral and telling me that if it were not for my dad he and his wife would not have been able to purchase their home as they were unable to get a loan at the bank and dad loaned them the money to purchase it.

Our First Reading from the Book of Wisdom instructs us to seek mentors who will gift us with Wisdom. With this gift we are told, “Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.” Jesus the ultimate Mentor tells us in our Gospel that the wealth we should seek is not money but rather the wealth and happiness we acquire by serving God and our neighbor.

Wisdom is not intelligence per say, it is rather a gift of understanding that can only come from our Creator. Jesus tells us to seek out those who have been gifted with wisdom for they know truth and they will lead us to the Father’s house. I have had many mentors during my life all of whom I spent much time with listening to their instructions on how to live a happy life. Many I would not have encountered if I would not have listened to my dad’s wisdom lessons.

I will share with you one more mentor story about a person many of you knew. His name was Ed Hassemer better known as “Gabby” Hassemer. He was a sheet metal worker by trade but he was also gifted with much wisdom. He had earned a living and spent his time not so much for himself but rather for his family, friends and even strangers. He owned several rental properties in Bloomer. His typical tenants were marginal people with limited resources but were able to find good housing that they could afford because of this person. He had a big heart and helped out many who just needed some help. I watched and listened to his wisdom and Barb and I followed his lead in acquiring rentals to supplement our income and provide housing for others.

Gabby was always helping out others. He heated his basement with a wood stove and would spend time during the summer cutting and splitting wood to burn in the stove for winter. One day while we were heading out to the woods to go hunting he was shaking his head and I asked him what was wrong. He said that one of his friends had come over to his house and said he was in trouble because he had no wood to burn and could not acquire any for a month or so. I suspected this was not true, as I knew his friend and I suspected he was just trying to take advantage of his friendship to save some money. In any case Gabby gave him the wood he had cut for the winter on the promise that before it got real cold, the friend would supply and pay him back for the wood he was gifted with. This never happened and Gab went without wood for most of that winter. I offered to go after his so-called friend but his response was “No, he needed it more than I did.”

Gabby had a lot of wealth but it was not something he earned by working but rather by giving of himself for others. He had the kind of wealth that he could take with him into the next life. About a year before he died he gifted me with wisdom I had heard before. He said, “Kostner, some day soon you will be standing over me looking at me lying in a casket. You will hear people talking about me and how I lived my life. But one thing you won’t hear them say about me is: #1, That man worked himself to death; and #2, He never took the time to go fishing!”

Today’s Scripture readings tell us that happiness cannot be purchased—it is a gift from God for living out and obeying His two greatest commandments to love God and neighbor as ourselves. Next month I will try and explain to you what I think God would like to see you do with the gifts you have left over after your death.. I have an assignment for you folks. I would ask that sometime you sit down and make a list of events in your life that gave you the most happiness. I did this and I found out that my happiest times in life were when I was conversing with God and helping others either celebrating their life or helping them get through tough times. I believe this was not by chance. Our Catechism teaches us that we were created to know, love, and serve God. To know love and serve God is to be of service to God and our neighbor as Jesus lived out His life. This is not by chance but rather part of our very being. This is how God wired us at our creation. This will gift us with happiness because it makes us whole.

Our Gospel this week has Jesus, our mentor, instructing us that wealth is not bad and will bring us happiness and eternal life, if we but share it with God, family, and our neighbors.

Posted in Homily, Sunday Homilies, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Repairing Shoes & Souls — Funeral Homily for Gerald “Casey” Franz, 92

October 4, 2021

Sixty-eight years ago, Gerald married Wanda here in St. Paul’s Catholic Church. On Sundays, they brought their children here to see Jesus and worship. In their later years, Gerald and his wife became daily Mass-goers. Even when confined to home, he would watch Mass on TV, and during his days at Dove Nursing Home he was delighted to attend its celebration. Today, we gather here once more to offer our greatest prayer to God, the Holy Mass, for Gerald’s soul and for the good of all who love him. Gerald’s past occupations are not nearly as important as his faith, family, or friends, but Gerald’s all-time favorite job stands out for being rather rare.

Alongside Wanda, and then up until the end of last year, Gerald worked as one of our modern world’s last cobblers; not an apple, peach, or cherry cobbler, but a cobbler who works with shoes. Shoes are our lowest article of clothing, walking upon the earth. We see them everywhere we go; covering our lowly, vulnerable, and sometimes embarrassing feet. Some people say they “love shoes” but how much are we really willing to sacrifice for them? In this era of cheap mass production and consumerism, when a pair of shoes is somehow flawed or broken people typically toss them in the trash. But working out of his home shop, Gerald’s affordable rates and friendly face kept customers coming to his door.

I’m told that Gerald’s sharp and witty mind seemed to know every person’s face and name in Bloomer and Tilden; along with the names of their parents and siblings, whom they married and where they lived. Gerald would fix what was broken, patch what was torn, and through orthopedics enable people to walk. What might be considered worthless garbage to some, he restored. In this, Gerald bears a likeness to another.

Today, there are more people upon the surface of the earth than ever before. We human beings are lowly, vulnerable, and sometimes embarrassing. And when we are flawed or broken, this utilitarian world would often discard us. Some people say they “love humanity” but how much are they really willing to sacrifice for others? In our modern, consumeristic age some doubt whether God and his Church are needed anymore. But Christ and our Catholic faith are not antiquated professions, we need them now as much as ever.

Jesus Christ knows your name. He knows your face and your story. Our loving Lord knows absolutely everything about you. He who enabled the crippled to walk would fix what is broken in you and patch what was torn about you. The sacrifice of the Mass you are about to behold is Jesus’ sign of love for you. The Eucharist which Gerald has so loved is Jesus’ gift of love to you. I am confident that Gerald will be grateful for your prayers today, but I believe that the greatest wish of this cobbler of shoes is that you would always walk with the healer of souls.

Posted in Culture, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ | 1 Comment »

Marriage is for Life

October 3, 2021

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In “the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” They are no longer two but one flesh. “Therefore,” Jesus says, “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Jesus teaches, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Now Christ’s Church does believe and teach that there can be situations where it is prudent and right for a person to physically or legally separate from their spouse. Perhaps there’s physical or emotional abuse in the marriage; destructive, unchecked addictions; or obstinate infidelity. And after the marriage falls apart the Church can investigate whether something essential to that marriage being a binding, sacramental bond before God was missing from the start.

It is possible for Catholic brides and grooms to fail to marry sacramentally in many ways. For instance, the couple might get invalidly married outside the Church; inside a courtroom, on a beach, or in a barn. The bride might feel forced to marry such that her consent is not free. The groom might lack the psychological or physical capacity for marriage. Or one of them might say the vows without not really meaning them. There are many ways a marriage can be sacramentally invalid and non-binding. And where the Church finds sufficient proof for this she will grant an annulment, permitting the man or woman to remarry. So as I said before, being divorced is not necessarily a sin; it does not automatically bar you from receiving Communion. However, to abandon one’s spouse without cause, or to remarry when you are not free to remarry, are sins that require repentance.

“What God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Jesus said this in response to a question about divorce, but what other things of human sexuality has God joined from the beginning which no human being should separate? God joined sexual relations to the covenant of marriage. He joined love-making to the possibility of life-making. And he joined one’s biological sex to one’s identity. God created them male and female, one man and one woman, not identical sexes—but physically and spiritually complimentary mates, and made God them man and wife in a covenant for life.

God’s first commandment in the Garden was “be fruitful and multiply,” and today we hear Jesus tell us “Let the children come to me.” His wish is to bring “many children to glory,” as our second reading says. God’s Word in the Bible celebrates having many children as a blessing, not a curse. Today’s psalm proclaims this blessing

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants around your table…
May you see your children’s children.”

Indeed, being surrounded by the love of many offspring is among the greatest blessings for the aged. But human beings separating sexuality from an openness to life distorts God’s plan and the society around us.

Contraception is not something new. It existed in ancient times. Genesis relates how a man named Onan repeatedly “wasted his seed on the ground” during intercourse to avoid conceiving children. “What he did greatly offended the Lord, and the Lord took his life…” Egyptian scrolls dating to 1850 B.C. describe other methods and the pagans practiced contraceptive techniques in the Roman Empire in the days of Christ and the Early Church. The Church Fathers, such as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. John Chrysostom condemned acts of contraception or sterilization. Even the first Protestants denounced contraception, too. Martin Luther the founder of Lutheranism, John Calvin the founder of Calvinism, and John Wesley the co-founder of Methodism all wrote against it.

All Christian groups were agreed on this less than a century ago. That is until the Anglicans in 1930 became the first Protestants to officially approve artificial contraception use for hard cases. (Thirteen years before, in 1917, the same group had declared contraception “demoralizing to character and hostile to national welfare.”) As is the way of such errors, the exception became the norm and the Protestant denominations changed their teachings. By 1961, the National Council of Churches could pronounce that “most of the Protestant churches hold contraception… to be morally right when the motives are right.” The Catholic Church, however, stood firm and stood alone against the spirit of the age.

At the end of 1930 and again in 1968, the popes wrote encyclical letters reaffirming the constant teaching of Christ’s Church about the nature, purpose, and goodness of marriage and the marital act; and repeating the consistent and ancient rejection of all directly-willed acts of contraception, sterilization, and abortion. In 1968, St. Pope Paul VI predicted in his encyclical Humanae Vitae that the widespread use of contraception would broadly lower morality, increase marital infidelity, lessen respect towards women, be coercively imposed by governments, and promote the self-harming belief that we have unlimited dominion over our bodies and human life in general.

According to its advocates, contraception was supposed to strengthen marriages, prevent unplanned pregnancies, improve women’s happiness, and reduce abortions. After decades of cheap and widespread contraceptive use, half of all pregnancies are unplanned, half of all marriages end in divorce, women report lower and lower levels of happiness throughout the decades since the 1970’s, and about one-in-five U.S. pregnancies end in abortion, with more than 60 million killed since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. When persons and societies decouple and oppose human sexuality to its life-creating purpose, many harmful errors follow. You can trace the path of one error leading to the next. We are now to the point that many people cannot even define what a woman or a man is.

I would be remiss here if I did not mention that the Church teaches that there can be holy reasons and virtuous means to avoid conceiving more children. Natural Family Planning (also known as NFP) uses signs from a woman’s body to identify the days in her cycle when she can conceive. Equipped with this knowledge, for serious reasons a couple may virtuously abstain from the marital embrace to avoid a pregnancy, while respecting God’s design and the dual meaning of the marital act.

Couples who practice NFP report growing in communication, self-control, and intimacy. They are more open to discerning and embracing God’s plan for their families and are statistically less likely to divorce. Not only is NFP completely natural, the information it tracks about a woman’s body commonly leads to the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of health disorders, from infertility to life-threatening illnesses. Unlike common chemical contraceptives, NFP does not cause increased risks for breast, liver, or cervical cancer; nausea, vomiting, stomach problems, or diarrhea; depression, mood swings, or lowered libido; and it does not cause spontaneous abortions (by preventing implantation of newly conceived children into the uterine wall).

Realize that NFP is not the Rhythm Method. The old Rhythm Method simply counted how many days had passed since the woman’s last cycle and was a moral but rather ineffective approach. Faithfully-followed NFP techniques have a 99% effectiveness rate, comparable to illicit methods of artificial contraception. If you would like to learn more about NFP, visit the Diocese of La Crosse’s website and search for “NFP”. There you can investigate NFP techniques, their science and their benefits, and register for on-line courses.

Whether or not you are married, whether or not you are past the age for children, I hope that you will recognize that in the chaotic, constantly-changing, errant stream of human history, is our stable rock for truth is Christ’s Church. The Bride of Christ, our mother the Church, calls us to follow her teachings from Christ as faithful, trusting, loyal sons and daughters. Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Do not miss out on blessedness, in this life or the next.

Posted in Adam and Eve, Chastity, Culture, Homily, Marriage and Family, Sunday Homilies | 2 Comments »

Longing to go Home — Funeral Homily for Donetta Bowe, 90

September 27, 2021

You may or may not have known it, but Donetta wrote poetry. She wrote these words during her retirement:

“I want to go home
Not to the house in town
But back to the farm.”

In the following lines she went on to fondly recall the farm’s many sights and sounds, the cardinals and chickadees, the wild turkeys and pheasants, “the humming birds by the flowers,” the deer crossing through the fields, and the barn cats she left behind.

“But it’s not the same anymore,” she wrote,
“I need to find another way
To satisfy those feelings now.”

In her later years, Donetta felt the fading of her flesh, and lamented at not being able to do all that she could do before.

“Only in my spirit,” she wrote,
“Only in my spirit
can I run up a green grassy hill.
Only in my spirit
can I skip along a shady park path.
Only in my spirit
can I still run up the stairs.”

Over time, our lives accumulate losses. We painfully lose people and places and bodily powers. If this were only natural, why doesn’t it sit more naturally with us? Why do we desire the infinite? Where is the fulfillment of our insatiable longings to be found?

As Martha mourned the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus assured her this was not her loved one’s end. She replied to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live… Do you believe this?” She answered him, “Yes, Lord,” and Martha saw his words proven true sooner that she had expected.

“Therefore,” as St. Paul told the Christians of Corinth, Greece, “we are not discouraged… Although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day… This momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory… We look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is passing, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Despite looking back, Donetta looked ahead, to the ultimate fulfillment of her longings through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Here are the words of a final Donetta poem, as it appears on her funeral card:

“My time has come for me to go
and say goodbye to the ones I know.
My body is tired my mind is weak
it’s difficult for me to speak.
And now I’m waiting by the gate
so as I go don’t be sad
for I am grateful for all I had.
Embrace the day and smile for me
for I am going where I want to go.”

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Heaven, Homily, Hope, Last Things, St. Martha | Leave a Comment »

Cutting Off the Near Occasions

September 25, 2021

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus says if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter into eternal life maimed, or crippled, or half-blinded, than with two hands, two feet, and two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna (into hell) forever. There are two mistakes one can make with this gospel teaching. The first mistake is less grave than the other.

This first mistake would be imagining that one’s hand, foot, or eye were the source of your sins. If that were what Jesus meant, how could he think that plucking out just one eye, would be an effective solution? Pretty much any sin you can do with two eyes can be done just as easily with one. No, the Church does not encourage elective amputations because that’s not what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is using hyperbole, over-the-top rhetoric, to vividly drive home an important point.

As much as you enjoy your hand, your foot, or your eye, you can live without them. So if any of these were leading you to your death, you would be a fool not to part ways with it. How much more so is this true for the lesser things people enjoy which lead to spiritual death?

Human beings, for better or worse, are creatures of habit. The sins we commit and the virtues we practice tend to be habitual. So think: is there a person, setting, or thing that often leads you to sin? Whom do you sin with? Where and when do you sin? What object, substance, or technology do you sin with often? Jesus knows that you know your pattern of weakness and sin, or that you could easily recognize your pattern with a little self-reflection, and he wants you to take this issue seriously. For the love of God who loves you, for the good of your own soul and the souls of others, curtail in your life the near occasions of sin or, even better, cut them out entirely. Make a firm resolution, make a conscious renunciation, make a good confession, and begin better living the life Jesus wills for you.

Now here is the second, graver mistake people make with Jesus’ teaching. Since Jesus uses hyperbolic imagery about chopping off body parts some think that he isn’t being serious about the dangers of hell. Yes, Jesus uses symbolic imagery to describe it, but hell is very real.

Gehenna, for instance, was a valley southwest of Jerusalem, just outside the walls of God’s holy city. It had once been the site of pagan temples where children were offered as holocausts to idols of Baal and Moloch. The Jews went on to use that shameful place as a smoldering garbage dump, with rotten, worm-infested refuse and continuously burning trash. Will there be literal fire in hell? Maybe not. We would not say hell must have “undying worms” for Jesus’ teachings to be true. But fire does speak to great agony and worms to corruption.

In Jesus’ parable of the royal wedding guests, the king finds a man unfit for his feast. The king says to his servants, “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” Wailing accompanies despair and the grinding of teeth, violent anger. As light is to vision and wisdom, the outer darkness is to blindness and error – error which is not innocent ignorance but falsehood blamefully embraced.

In that parable, the condemned one is utterly bound, hand and foot, and thrown out. Yet in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, the condemned go off on their own. Christ tells us that when he returns as king he will sit upon his glorious throne and turn to the unrighteous goats on his left and say, “Depart from me, you accursed…” And these, he tells us, “will go off to eternal punishment.” Hell is their sentence, but hell is also what they have freely chosen.

Grave sin, freely and knowingly chosen, is a rejection of the Kingdom of God. Mortal sin rejects Christ’s Way; it rejects the life of heaven. This decision to stray is ours, but the decision to respond to God’s grace and return is ours as well.

People today assume almost everybody is going to heaven, but the early Church Fathers were far less optimistic. Whether the number who will be saved in the end is a majority or a minority of the human race, I want all of you to make it. So please take Christ’s words to you seriously. Repent of your sins and change your ways. This is Jesus’ loving will for you.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Hell, Homily, Jesus Christ, Repentance, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »

Geraldine, Genghis, & John — Funeral Homily for Geraldine Halfman, 82

September 24, 2021

I would like to reflect with you today upon three people who have passed away. You have heard of all three, but you have only met one of them. Their names are Geraldine, Genghis, and John.

John lived a century ago. He made his fortune in American oil. Adjusting for inflation, he is considered the richest person in modern history and the wealthiest American of all time. He died at age 97, taking none of his money with him to the grave, leaving all his wealth behind.

Genghis lived eight centuries ago. He led conquering armies on horseback throughout Central Asia and reigned over one of the largest empires in history. He fathered so many children in his lifetime that an estimated 8% of all people living in that region of the world today are direct descendants of his. After many years of killing others, Genghis died himself, lost his throne, and left behind his empire to others.

Geraldine (or Gerry) was born in 1939. She conquered no lands. She never accumulated vast riches. She raised no biological children of her own. Her life’s most significant work may have been caring for her eldest sister. Gerry’s sister, Mary, became sick as a teenager from M.S. (multiple sclerosis) and needed ongoing care until her death at the age 70. Gerry spent decades living with and helping Mary; bathing her, dressing her, feeding her, and giving her worthwhile activities to engage with and enjoy. The world would encourage Geraldine to go off and live her own life but Gerry loved her sister as herself, as Jesus Christ and her Catholic Faith taught her to do. Geraldine died on her eighty-second birthday.

Geraldine, Genghis, and John are three very different people, who lived very different lives, but they share these things in common: all three lived, all three died, the souls of all three will have been judged, and all three of them will rise again. “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God,” and “each of us shall give an accounting of himself to God,” and all the dead shall rise again on the Last Day.

What will be important at our Last Judgment? What will matter on the Last Day? Jesus tells us:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.”

Remember that Jesus Christ is the measure of what matters. And in the end, every knee shall bend before him, either in resentful submission, as with the condemned, or in faithful love, as his holy ones.

Pray for Geraldine’s soul. Like gold in a furnace, she might still require the healing fire of God to purify her sin-wounded person into perfect flawlessness, so that God may take her to the fully-unveiled presence of his all-holy self. But do not fear for her, for in the words of the Book of Wisdom: “Those who trust in him shall understand truth, [including the truth about what is most important,] and the faithful shall abide with him in love. Grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.”

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Judgment | Leave a Comment »

Does Jesus Have an Arc?

September 19, 2021

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games (2014)

When I was growing up, my dad read a lot of science fiction novels and he once made an observation that I’ve remembered ever since. He noted how science fiction stories always feature some futuristic thing (like cloning, time-machines, or space travel) but if a sci-fi story only talked about the technology, it would be boring. “Every good story,” he said, “is a story about people.” It’s true. All great stories, be they found in literature, television, or film, are stories about people – interesting characters living through events.

What do Katniss Everdeen, Sir Thomas More, and Paddington Bear have in common? They are all film characters with the same kind of character arc. A character arc refers to the inner journey of a character throughout the course of a story. A character may go here or there, and do this or that, but their character arc is their transformation as a person. There are three main types of character arc: Positive, Negative, and Flat.

Positive arc characters change for the better. They originally believe lies about themselves and the world, things like “I’ll never find true love,” or “I can’t be a warrior.” But by the end, they’ve found the truth, embraced it, and triumphed. Most of the stories you’ve seen or heard are stories like this. Negative arc characters, on the other hand, change for the worse. They come to accept lies and wickedness. Villains’ origin stories are like this. Michael Corleone from The Godfather or Walter White in Breaking Bad are famous examples of characters with negative arcs. Katniss Everdeen, Thomas More, and Paddington, however, are characters of a third type; characters who do not change.

Flat arc characters possess the truth and live it out from the start of their stories to the end. These characters also experience struggles like the others, but rather than being transformed themselves they transform the people and world around them. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, from beginning to end, knows that the tyrannical government is evil and is willing to sacrifice herself for others (as for her little sister, Prim). In A Man for All Seasons, 1966’s Best Picture winning film about a real-life Catholic saint, Sir Thomas More is a man of virtue who endures persecution for refusing to swear a false oath against his conscience and God’s law. And throughout the Paddington movies, young Paddington remains consistently earnest, honest, polite, and friendly while enhancing the lives of the people he meets.

When we consider the Gospels and the Book of Acts as stories (indeed, true stories and the greatest ever told) what kind of arcs do we find? What kind of arc does Jesus Christ have, and what sort of characters are his apostles? Though Jesus is born as a baby and grows into adulthood, though he ministers and is put to death as a suffering servant and returns as triumphant Lord, Christ’s inner self remains the same. The Person of Jesus Christ is divine, the eternal Son of God, a flat arc character who remains the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” He knows the wickedness of the world and sacrifices himself for others. He only speaks the truth and makes no compromise with evil, despite its persecutions. And his love converts the hearts of others, healing and saving the world around him. Jesus is the model, the pattern, the archetype, of every true hero.

What is the character arc of his apostles? The Gospels do not hide their flaws. We catch them arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. They still believe the world’s lies about who and what’s important, which produces the disorders St. James describes: jealousy, envy, and selfish ambition, greed, fighting, and slavery to passions, with every foul practice. But by the Book of Acts, the apostles’ positive arc has led each of them (except Judas Iscariot) to see that the greatest of all is not the ruler over peoples but the one who cares for even little ones. Jesus’ apostles have become new men, loving servants of all in the likeness of their Lord.

We human beings love stories. That’s part of why Jesus so often taught in parables. But why do we love stories so much? And why do we root for the underdogs, such as Rocky Balboa, Forrest Gump, or Joan of Arc? We love them because we are in a story ourselves, God’s great underdog story, in which you and I are characters. Our lives are important subplots to Christ’s overarching saga. We are co-authoring with Jesus our own character arcs within it.

Will you rise higher and higher in a positive arc, finding the truth in Christ’s Church, embracing the truth and living it out? Will you eventually become like Jesus and his greatest saints, who hold to the truth in a flat arc, blessing and transforming all around them? Or, following lies into darkness, will a negative arc lead you to final tragedy and disaster? If you are on this downward path, realize that a vast audience in heaven looks on, longing for a plot-twist which you can accomplish with Christ. But do not delay, for you do not know how many more pages of the book or minutes in the movie remain before your life’s eternal epilogue. This Sunday’s gospel antiphon acclaims: “God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let us whole-heartedly play our part in Jesus Christ’s heroic saga, that we may also share in his story’s glorious happy ending.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Literature, Movies, St. Thomas More, Sunday Homilies, Television, The Apostles | 1 Comment »

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