I’d like to share with you an unusual thought experiment, then a couple of experiences from the real world, and finally a gospel reflection to encourage you in your life with Jesus Christ. Imagine if you woke up on Monday morning and all of your shoes were missing; your dress shoes, sneakers, sandals, and slippers – all gone. Somehow you understand that you’re not being pranked and you haven’t been robbed; your shoes have simply vanished. And amazingly, the mystery of how or why this has occurred doesn’t bother you. Your concern is how you’re going to get through your day without shoes. So what would you do?
As long as you’re not planning to leave the house, you’re fine. But what about the next day, or the day after that? What would happen if you showed up at your workplace barefoot? You could drive someplace to buy new shoes, but what if the store has a strict “no shoes, no service” policy? Maybe you could borrow someone else’s shoes, or ask somebody to go shopping and pick up a pair in your size on your behalf. If all else failed, you might resort to creatively wrapping your feet using materials at hand, or go online and order shoes to be shipped to you overnight. Whatever steps you would choose to take, your life would be disrupted by the simple disappearance of your humble, ordinary, everyday shoes. Even if you’re a person who loves shoes, you probably don’t think about them all that much. You take this blessing for granted.
A while back, the microwave oven in my rectory stopped working. And when it broke I discovered how much I relied upon it. After my refrigerator and sink, the microwave is the most useful appliance in my kitchen. On more than one occasion, I’d take some food out of the cupboard or the fridge, pour it into a bowl or put it on a plate, turn to use the microwave and remember, “Oh yeah, it’s broken. Now what do I do?” Buying my replacement microwave (for like $15 used) was a purchase whose value far exceeded its price.
Have you ever had a co-worker go on vacation, or take some family or medical leave, or quit to begin another job elsewhere, and then experienced how very essential your missing coworker was? When you have to pick up all the slack of a productive peer, you realize how much they were carrying and the difference that they were making. Shoes, microwave ovens, and the people around us have a greater impact on our world than we may realize.
In today’s gospel, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter sees the hungry crowd of thousands and says to Jesus, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Andrew is discouraged and despairing. He has located some food – five loaves and two fish, and if they’re for sale he perhaps has enough coins on his person to purchase them. “But what good are these for so many?” Does what Andrew has to offer really matter? Will it make any real difference?
Jesus takes the loaves he’s offered, praises and thanks his Father, then distributes the loaves and fishes to the crowd as much as they desire. Afterwards, when the leftover bread fragments are collected, they fill twelve wicker baskets full. It wasn’t that Jesus simply inspired the crowds to share with one another – you don’t carry someone off to become your king merely for encouraging sharing. The people recognized a miracle had occurred, like in our first reading’s story about the Prophet Elisha. Andrew presents Jesus what little he has to offer and, with this simple gift, Jesus does something amazing. He can do the same with us.
When a priest causes grave scandal or a family falls apart, we witness the devastating fallout of sin. If such failures cause great harm – and they do – consider how much blessedness comes from our daily faithfulness. It is our five loaves and two fish placed into Jesus’ hands. So do not doubt that your humble, ordinary, everyday faithfulness to Christ is doing more good than you know.
St. John the Baptist Parish is honored welcome you and to offer our greatest prayer, the Holy Mass, for John’s soul and the consolation of all who know and love him. No short funeral homily can capture the fullness of a person. If I were to preach to you for an hour about his life, afterwards I bet that each of you here could add another unique story. This morning, I’m going to reflect upon just a single aspect of John’s life, one that all of you who are his family and friends are already familiar with: his being a chef.
The “ninth of Av,” also known as Tisha B’Av, is no ordinary day for observant Jews, but a day of fasting and abstaining, because ninth of Av has seen multiple calamities in Jewish history. First, during the Exodus, when the twelve spies sent by Moses returned from scouting the Land of Canaan, most of them voiced negative reports, saying there was no way The Promised Land could be conquered. The Hebrews despaired and cried and refused to proceed. As a consequence, God made his people spend 40 more years in the desert until almost all the adults of that generation had died without entering The Promised Land. The next calamity came in the days of the Prophet Jeremiah, after the founding of the Kingdom of Israel. In the sixth century B.C., the Jewish Temple built by King Solomon in Jerusalem was destroyed by the conquering Babylonians. With that disaster, the Jews were forced to leave their homeland and resettle in the East, and this Babylonian Exile lasted about seventy years until a significant number of Jews were able to return. A third catastrophe occurred in 70 A.D., when the Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in response to a Jewish revolt. Not one stone was left upon another, as Jesus had foretold about 40 years before it came to pass. All of these devastating catastrophes, all three of these traumatic, mournful events (the denial of The Promised Land and the destruction of the first and second Temples) are remembered as occurring over the ninth day of Av.
We extend to you, who mourn Barb’s passing most, our sympathy and condolences. We are honored and grateful to be able to offer today, here inside of Barb’s former parish church, our greatest prayer: the Holy Mass. May its graces help purify Barb’s soul of any imperfection, speed her soul to heaven, console all those who mourn her here below, and strengthen us on all our own lives’ journeys to God. No brief funeral homily can present the fullness of a Christian life, but holy aspects of a Christian’s life will reflect God’s goodness, beauty, and truth.
Beatrice, Bob’s wife of sixty-six years, and his children have shared with me many stories about him. For instance, they told me of his precious Catholic faith in Jesus Christ. It was so important to Bob that he sacrificed for all eight of his children to be taught eight years each at St. Paul’s Catholic School. More recently, during the Covid pandemic and his infirmity, he would worship by watching the Holy Mass on TV, and delighted to have Jesus brought to his home in the Holy Eucharist. Through the years, at Bob’s supper table, where everyone had his or her own special spot, Bob would pray before meals, a devotion he always kept to the end of his life.
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus commanding the wind and sea during a storm. He rebukes the wind and tells the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” and a great calm settles. His disciples in the boat, in awe at what they’ve witnessed, say to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” It’s a stunning moment for them, but there’s another striking detail contained in this Gospel – a detail which Jesus’ disciples found completely unremarkable before the storm: Jesus was resting in the boat, he was asleep on a cushion in the stern. Christ wielding divine power is an important sign, but the fact that Jesus took naps also contains lessons for us that I’ll discuss a bit later.
Nathan and Cassie’s wedding day lands upon this, the third Friday after the Feast of Pentecost, the eleventh day of June. God’s providence has arranged it that they be married on this special day – a feast day, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during a month especially dedicated to Jesus’ Sacred Heart. You can see depictions of the Sacred Heart inside this church. There is the statue of Jesus behind me, here in the sanctuary, and presently another statue in our devotional corner in the back. In artistic depictions, you may see Jesus’ Sacred Heart resting upon his chest, or maybe he holds it in his hand offering it to you, and sometimes his heart is depicted by all itself. In every depiction it is a human heart, crowned with thorns, pierced on the side, with flames and a cross emerging from the top. What is the meaning of these things? What do they reveal about Jesus? And what do they mean for Nathan and Cassie and us?
Where are we now in the Easter season? Let’s recap. Jesus resurrects and first appeared to his disciples on Easter Sunday. And for forty days, he is with them off and on, appearing and disappearing, teaching them about the Kingdom of God and preparing them for their important work ahead: that of sharing the Good News and shepherding his Church. On the last of those forty days, Jesus ascends to his Father in heaven. And for the next nine days, his disciples (as per Christ’s instructions) remain in Jerusalem praying for and awaiting the promise of the Father about which they had heard Jesus speak. Finally, on the fiftieth day, on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the disciples are intensely filled with the Holy Spirit. They become empowered to begin sharing their stories about who Jesus is and what he has done, inviting others to know him, love him, serve him, and be saved through him. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, looking forward to the Feast of Pentecost next Sunday.
Though children are small and weak, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” They have no wealth or worldly power, but Jesus says, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus, calling a child over and putting his arms around it, says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus says that children are to be treasured and loved like himself: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” Jesus says, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” In just the same way as a good shepherd hates to lose even one of his many sheep, Jesus says, “it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” Indeed, ‘Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world.’
Parishable Items 