Thursday, January 2, 2014

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen


January 2nd homily
Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen

My best friend growing up was a boy named Josh Burcham.  He was about three years older than I but that didn’t seem to matter as we enjoyed the best friendship had to offer, Nintendo games at his house and hide and go seek at my house, with Jody Bertin, one of the residents at the home, always being ‘it’.

Today’s liturgy celebrates two friends, Saint Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen.  Their aim was not mutual entertainment but the goal of finding truth, of discovering God deeper and deeper in their lives and bringing that truth to others.  Their goal was learning, study and giving themselves completely to this task in monastic living.  “Our single object and ambition was virtue and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come (…) We spurred each other on to virtue.”  They lived amid the turbulent times of the Arian heresy, which claimed that Jesus was divine but not human.  Both of these men eventually left the monastery to be ordained bishops and to strenuously fight against this heresy, holding on to the orthodox claim of Christianity, that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, consubstantial with the Father.  Today they are remembered as doctors of the Church, having contributed significantly to the theological development (treasury) of the Church.  As Gregory writes
Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements.  But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.

Theirs is a heroic example of following Christ despite great affliction and turmoil, the power of God at work amongst frail humanity.  May we not forget this power is open to us who approach the Lord in this great sign of his humility and love: the Eucharist.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God



Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
January 1st, 2014
World Day of Peace

Our Mother Mary is full of beauty because she is full of grace.  
 - Pope Francis (twitter)

Today, having arrived on the doorstep of the new year, the Church celebrates the Solemnity (High feast) of Mary, Mother of God.  Thus the Church begins the year by celebrating her mother, under the title “Mother of God” as the entrance antiphon proclaims, “Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King who rules heaven and earth forever.” 

Hail Holy Mother who gave birth to the King (…).  It is through Mary’s fiat, her ‘yes’ to the divine call that Jesus our Savior came to live among us and accomplish his great redemptive act on the cross, dying out of love for us, placing our sins on his shoulders and bringing new life out of death and shame.  It was our Mother who gave her ‘yes’ that brought our Savior into the world, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.  She was a woman blessed by God since her very conception – conceived without sin -  she is the crowning glory of creation…on her was bestowed a singular grace – a grace that would later be extended to those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  

O God who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race the grace of salvation, grant, we pray, that we may experience her intercession
Grant that we may experience her intercession, intercession is another word for help, intervention…this hopefulness regarding Mary’s intercession, her help in our daily hardships and sufferings is placed in our hearts by the Church, which asks Mary to look upon us with the blessing of her intervention.  The Church asks Mary to intervene in her daily affairs and difficulties.  We turn to you, O Mary, Mother of God, and ask your help in all things.  Those accustomed to praying the rosary know what it is to be consoled by this great Mother whose eyes are continually turned toward her children, willing to extend a hand to lighten the burdens of those who turn to her with faith in God, the giver of all good gifts.

Turning to Mary, in my experience, is like lighting a candle – it is an act of faith and hope in the midst of the darkness.  Perhaps the skeptic might argue that his/her prayers were not answered immediately upon seeking the Virgin’s aid.  But one must pray with perseverance!  One must continue to pray – even in life’s hardships, hardships that seem too difficult to overcome.  Let us continue to turn towards our Blessed Mother that she might bring our requests before the Father, before her Son Jesus the Christ.  Everything she touches she embalms with her sweet fragrance, so too with our requests and prayers of God, when passed through the hands of so loving a Mother, they are embalmed with her love.  Let us turn to her without fear and without skepticism for she is our Mother - entrusted to us by none other than Jesus Christ on the Cross.  In his last moments of his crucifixion Jesus entrusted Mary to the apostle John, a symbol of the Church, and he entrusted John to Mary… ‘this is your Son…this is your Mother’.  

There was a time in the Church’s history when calling Mary the Mother of God was a dicey matter, does not God after all, by definition stand beyond the power of regeneration, how can we say that God has a Mother?  And yet, the Church maintains that this must be the case because she insists that Jesus is born at Christmas as fully God and fully man.  Jesus is God – not a mere prophet or wise scholar.  As such, God is born to a human mother, Mary (…) yet she is the ark of the covenant, prepared beforehand by grace to receive such a great gift – she is kept free from sin.  Mary is the ‘theotokus’ – the bearer of God – the one who bears God into our midst.  Celebrating her as Mother of the Church and Mother of God is only right and good.  She is our Mother.  Let us fly to her for consolation and aid.  Let us seek her in times of trouble, knowing that she is so close to her son, her son who spent nine months in her womb, whom she suckled at the breast.  We recognize the special relationship between Son and Mother, between child and mother.  We know by scientific studies that an infant brought into the presence of his/her mother regulates their breathing to that of the mother, their hearts beat in unison.  May our hearts beat in unison with our Mother, Mary…who is great not because of her own power but because of the power of God she allowed to work in her life – all throughout her life.

The first reading pertains to the blessing of Aaron for the people of Israel, how often I have used this blessing to bless those who ask (and it is good to ask!): May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you (…) and give you his peace.  This blessing is meant to convey to its hearer the tender love of God for them.   The psalm continues this theme and makes the request: May God be gracious to us and bless us.  The second reading identifies why we are to request the blessing of God, as Saint Paul points out, we are sons and daughters of God, due to the fact that God has sent the Spirit into our hearts crying, “Abba Father!”  What a gift!  Indeed the gift-giving, the blessing continues in our Gospel as we see that ‘Long ago God spoke to us through the prophets, but in these our days God has spoken to us by the Son.’  In the Gospel from Luke the shepherds bear the good news of God’s blessing to Mary and Joseph, telling them what had been said to them about the child in the manger – and they spread the news.  Imagine…to lowly shepherds were given the charge to spread the word – God uses the lowliest and most undeserving of hearts – what good news!  Mary alone we are told ‘treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’.  She is the woman of the promise, she is the woman of the mystery.  Mary our Mother is full of beauty because she is full of grace.  And some of that grace allowed her to take time to reflect on all of God’s blessings going on around her and within her.  She did not skip over these blessings as we so often do.  She did not focus only on her fears and uncertainties. No.  She was strong in God’s grace and willing to seek Him out day by day.  May each day of the coming year find us doing the same!