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February 2025
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The 2024 Easter Sunday Homily3/31/2024 REJOICE AND BE GLAD!
Easter Sunday Homily St. Vincent de Paul Church, Albany, NY Acts 10:24, 27-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9 This church this morning is an Easter basket full of glorious gifts — gifts that are holy because you are holy. And, like the psalm we sang: “This is the day God has made let us rejoice and be glad.” Yes, it is a difficult psalm to sing in a world filled with bad news. And, it is a good song of praise because we are people of hope. But not everybody is in church today. Recent surveys suggest that many organized religions are in decline; that a growing number of people of different generations claim to be spiritual but have no interest in religion. One study reported last week that attendance in churches and synagogues is down by as much as 50% in this country. How wonderful it is, then, for us to gather this morning to hear the Easter stories, to renew our lives as Christians, to share the sacramental bread of life and the cup of salvation, to think of ways to bring the good news to others. In addition to the psalm we heard three biblical stories this morning. In the first one the disciple Peter summed up the life of Jesus of Nazareth. That letter was not written to a large crowd but to Cornelius, a leader in the Roman army. He was a good man who had converted to Christianity. In many ways Peter wrote that letter to inspire first century Gentiles to believe that God is impartial; that there is room for everyone in God’s house. Peter was encouraging them to commit themselves to the mission and message of Jesus. The second reading this morning, attributed to Paul, was an admonition to the people of Corinth caught up in a culture of immorality. The text is rather contemporary in that it suggests that you and I are needed like a “fresh batch of dough” in order to rise up to overthrow the malice and wickedness in the world. But, as Paul writes, we first must remove the old yeast from our lives because old yeast can go bad. We are charged with renewing, reinventing what it means to be a follower of Christ in these difficult times. We Christians believe that these biblical texts sustain our faith in a God who, throughout the history of salvation, is a demanding but just God. We Catholic Christians, along with other people of faith, can remedy what is wrong in the world with sincerity, truth and acts of loving kindness. That is why we renew our covenant with God and each other throughout this Easter season. Sprinkling ourselves with water from the baptismal font reminds us to refresh our identity in the world, to discover ways to bring hope to those who live in distress, those who doubt, those who live in fear. That’s what may have happened on that first Easter morning when it was still dark outside. Contrary to those who disparage her Mary of Magdala was not only a prominent supporter of Jesus, she was an enlightened woman, a wise woman, who brought light into the mysterious sides of life. Mary of Magdala, the first apostle among apostles, found the tomb empty. But her heart was not empty. She ran to tell the other disciples who, huddled together, were afraid of what might happen to anyone who followed Jesus. They doubted Mary at first but after she talked to them they followed her to go see for themselves. The remainder of the resurrection story does not rest with the early Christians who came to believe that the wonder working Jesus was raised from the dead. No, it rests with all of us, each of us, not to question the presence of Christ in our lives but to illuminate and energize others with new hope. In the lyrics of our final Easter song this morning we will sing: “In this feast we share the story — love’s new birth for all to see.” This Easter we join some 2.6 billion Christians throughout the world who gather today and on Orthodox Easter Sunday on May 5th, to remember Jesus’s proactive promise that suffering and death can be defeated. Imagine what one-third of the world’s population could do to eradicate greed, corruption, racism, war, prejudice, hunger and homelessness. If we would only work together to accomplish that overwhelming mission we too can sing without doubt “This is the day God has made let us rejoice and be glad.”
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The 2024 Easter Vigil Homily3/30/2024 Repair aWorld That Has a Broken Heart
St. Vincent de Paul Church, Albany, NY According to recent surveys there is a growing number of people in this country who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religious affiliation. They gather in non-religious places where there are no pulpits or altars. Formal liturgies are rare. They say they believe in God, that they are spiritual persons, that they are charitable, but they are just not religious. Our gathering this evening is a marvelous counterpoint to the survey results that claim many organized religions are in trouble. Yes. There is a general decline in church and synagogue attendance in many parts of the world but the good news is this: We are here! Our liturgies are as much about us as they are about our ancestors. In this holy night we started a new fire, to celebrate the radiance of the risen Christ. We are entrusted to keep the light of Christ shining. We gather in this holy place to hear biblical stories about where we’ve come from and to plot where we might be going. These narratives are about us; and our future, which is in our hands. We splash ourselves with baptismal water to recommit ourselves to the peace agreement established between our ancestors and God, a covenant affirmed by Jesus of Nazareth. We promise also to be true to one another in our common priesthood. We share spiritual food and drink to nourish ourselves on the sacrament of Christ’s sacrifice. We are desirous to end food insecurity and other social injustices as part of our commitment to act with loving kindness. We want to invite everyone to feast at the supper of the Lamb. And we take delight in being here with our Elect — Catherine, Alexander, and Dylan — who by their faith are answering the call from God to join this Christian community. We initiate them in the refreshing waters of baptism, with a fragrant stream of chrism, and the rich taste of bread and wine from heaven. It is also our privilege to witness Stella and José as they take yet another step in their spiritual journeys guided by a Holy Spirit. Together we share the hope that our faith and good works can raise up to a new life those people who live in despair and with tired bones. Our story of salvation is a long journey marked by sinful deeds and acts of reconciliation. The origin of our history is recorded in Genesis a retelling of more ancients tales of creation. In her just released novel on the Book of Genesis, Marilynne Robinson writes that the text we heard tonight is about “the nature of creation and the spirit in which it was made; the nature of humankind … and in what spirit the creator God enters into a relation with human creatures.” (p. 24) We then heard segments from other biblical texts that summarize the joys and sorrows in the associations between a demanding but just God and a recalcitrant tribe of nomads searching for peace and justice. It is a story of failure and success, trust and doubt, wisdom and ignorance, loyalty and infidelity, war and peace, patience and impatience, victory and defeat, the very stuff of life and death we ourselves know all too well. The three women found the tomb empty but their hearts were filled with joy as they raced to share the good news with others. We are called to share the good news with those who have not yet heard the word of God. The knot that ties these strands of biblical intrigue together is the faithfulness of a God who never gave up on the human protagonists created by God for a particular purpose. The intention God has for humanity, for you and me, is for us to figure out for ourselves how to repair the world by developing honest and just alliances with one another, between cultures, nationalities, races, genders, and class systems. That brings us to tonight when we celebrate the bright light of Christ and the Christian water bath, the charisms of a holy Spirit and the sustenance of eucharistic blessings. In the Easter season we re-identify with the Christ who was raised from the dead. We are strengthened in our beliefs and our efforts to overcome needless suffering and death in the world. As the surveys suggest there may be many believers who are no longer fed by traditional rituals and ancients words of wisdom. But for tonight you and I remember these biblical stories. They prompt us to maintain healthy relationships with God and one another. These narratives matter in our period of history that calls you and me to repair a world that has a broken heart.
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Break Down the Boundaries3/3/2024 BREAK DOWN THE BOUNDARIES
Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent - Year A Delivered at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Albany, NY Recently a program called “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics” was held at the Washington National Cathedral. [1] Leaders from two political parties discussed their differences. This event was timed at the start of an already contentious election season. In the words of Ruth Okediji, a professor at Harvard Law School: “If we don’t encourage and teach and preach and pray and speak about the strength of institutions that can be gathering places for us, then we leave this generation and ourselves with nothing but contempt and hate.” [2] In this gospel of John (Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42) we hear a story about putting an end to contempt and hate. John describes the uneasy meeting between Photina, the Samaritan woman, and Jesus, a Jew. [3] After the initial and scandalous dialogue between them, Jesus listened to the woman’s story but, contrary to other commentaries, he never actually judged her as sinful. Rather, he offered her a drink of “living water.” Because she did not harden her heart ( 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9) she would never again be thirsty. Theologian John W. Martens comments: “Ultimately she grasps that what Jesus offered fulfills more than material desires: it is exactly what she and everyone needs.” [4] After meeting Jesus, Photina felt better about her own identity; she grew in self confidence and she became an ardent disciple of the good news. But there is more to this story. Although Samaritans and Jews held some beliefs in common, according to biblical scholar Pat McCloskey, “both politics and religion were involved” in this meeting between Jesus and Photina. The Samaritans and the Jews hated each other for a long time. After the Babylonian exiles the Samaritans, a mixed race, were ready to welcome the Jews back. The Jews, however, despised the Samaritans because of their inter-marriages with the Assyrians. They also emphatically disagreed over which mountain was the correct cultic location for worshiping God. The battles in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East are current examples of raging bi-cultural tensions that have resulted in deep seeded acts of hate, murder, and crimes against humanity. In this country, too, there is a painful socio-political-cultural divide caused by competing policy-making idealisms, conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and a reckless interpretation of biblical texts to justify moral agendas that suffocate people’s freedoms and rights. Christian denominations disagree over what is best for America. Heidi Pryzbala wrote: “People’s sense of right and wrong often is shaped by religious conviction.” It is OK to be influenced by our individual Christian faith. Many social movements fuse Christian theology with Christian activism. e.g., the civil rights movement. Tension occurs, however, when it is asserted “that there should be Christian primacy in politics and law … [because] it can manifest itself through ideology, identity and emotion.” [5] The same tensions occurred among mid-first century Christians in Rome. Paul appealed to the Christian Gentiles and Christian Jews to end their divisive ways. He worried that those arguments would threaten his hope-filled message that Christ’s mission modeled a way of living whereby all human beings could live in harmony with one another. But for Paul hope does not fail. (Rom 5:1-2, 5-8) In her comment on the gospel the late biblical scholar Gail R. O’Day wrote: Jesus showed that the grace of God he offers is available to everyone. “Jesus breaks open boundaries in his conversation with the Samaritan woman: the boundary between male and female, the boundary between ‘chosen people’ and ‘rejected people.’” [6] Through these texts the Christian water bath - baptism - takes on new significance for us as we march toward Easter. To drink deeply of the “living water” is to be fully immersed in the life of Christ. For our elect — Kathy, Alexander, Dylan — baptism celebrates their acknowledgement and reception of the call to make a difference in the world. For those of us who have been baptized a long time we are reminded to confirm our obligations as Christians. For all of us it involves a life long learning curve on how to be more effective Catholic Christians. How are we recognized in the public square through acts of witness to the gospel — attending rallies, writing to elected officials. By what measure do we share our convictions with others? Once she was immersed in living water the Samaritan woman spread the good news to others. Theologian Terra Schwerin Rowe adds another thought: “There is no more an important task before humanity in the twenty-first century than to rethink models of relationship and exchange among humans and between humans .…” [7] In that Washington, DC meeting diverse political agendas and opinions were aired in an effort to come to a common ground that would serve all people in this country and around the world. That is our goal as baptized Christians — to break down boundaries and barriers like Jesus did, to work effectively in both small and large ways to assure that all people no matter who they are, what language they speak, what they look like, where they come from … it is our responsibility to make sure that they too can drink of the “living water.” ------- 1. The title of the Conference held on February 21, 2024 is borrowed from a line at the end of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address that lasted just five minutes. 2. See Adele M. Banks <https://religionnews.com/2024/02/22/at-national-cathedral-leaders-of-different-parties-perspectives-call-for-civility> 3. Photina is a Greek word that means “enlightened one.” She is a saint in the Greek Orthodox tradition. 4. John W. Martens. The Word on the Street: Sunday Lectionary Reflections. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016), 29. 5. David French. “What is Christian Nationalism, Exactly?” In New York Times February 25, 2024. 6. Gail R. O’Day. “The Gospel of John” in Women’s Bible Commentary, Newsom, Ringe, Lapsley, Editors (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2012) 517. 7. Terra Schwerin Rowe Toward a Better Worldness: Ecology, Economy, and the Protestant Tradition (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), xxxix in Joerg Rieger Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class and Solidarity. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2022) 100. |