My friends, as we begin today thinking about these Scriptures, I want to publicly admit to some “literary license” in choosing the beginning verses of Chapter 5 to the Romans instead of the later verses chosen in the lectionary.  I have consciously done this so as to give us a more hopeful message for our daily living than Paul does in the section chosen for today.  Additionally, I want you to know that my intent in my weekly homilies is to stick to the chosen readings, good or not so good, in my mind so as to be in union with the Church Universal and trust that the Spirit will lift up what we are to know. 

   She and I (the Spirit that is) “agreed” that Paul’s chosen words today are an old message that has been drilled into us for so long, that in fact, we’ve got it! – we are a sinful people that are capable of nothing but sin, and can be saved only and solely through Jesus. 

   Therefore, I chose the 3 verses from Romans just before the above chosen ones as these three speak of joy, hope and the possibility of us being, “all that we can be” – all that God intends for us because we have been given the Spirit, he says, to assist us.  That old message leaves me, and perhaps you too, thinking, “well heck, why try, because being the sinful person that I am, there is no hope anyway!”

   So, my friends, I apologize for veering from the given message to replace it with a more hope-filled one, as I know for myself, I need to hold onto the idea that all of us humans can do better than where our world is at present.

   So, with that rather long opening, let’s continue looking at today’s Scriptures for direction.   The Old Testament reading from Exodus let’s us know that we are a “priestly people, a consecrated nation.”  In the Old Testament, being a “priestly people” simply meant, “to be chosen.”  Through our baptisms, friends, each of us is “chosen” too – to live as Jesus did. 

   We get a wonderful image of that from today’s gospel from Matthew in the opening lines … “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity.”  I find myself often, as no doubt you do as well, feeling as Jesus did, when I daily watch news reports of wars around the world, often with no stated cause, and little direction as to the end game, people starving for good, physical food, in a world that has the where-with-all to feed everyone, if there was the will to do so!  When the will is not there at the highest levels to share adequately with all, in our country, we call that, “unfettered capitalism.” 

   For those of us who pretty much have the basics of life covered, Jesus’ continued words today challenge us – “freely you have received, now, freely give.”  This of course is not to say that we haven’t worked for the life that we have, no, but many in our world can’t get the basics, even when they work hard, a thought that is good for us to keep in mind. 

   For this reason, I have such respect for you and pride in being able to pastor a parish that consistently gives away most of what is given here to help others. And granted, we have been blessed through our many years as a parish in having nearly free rent, but also in being affiliated with like groups who see as we do the need to share our bounty with those less fortunate. 

   Thus far in this homily, I have been speaking of physical sharing, but these Scriptures do call us to emotional and spiritual sharing as well – to rise above the material to see the greater needs of our neighbors and friends. 

   Last week we celebrated the wonderful feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, that in the best sense calls us to move from the “comfort” of the table here, and into the world of our “days and nights,” as we will sing about in our closing hymn, and see Jesus’ “body and blood” in all that we meet, extending a helping hand where and when we can, bringing kindness rather than meanness, bringing truth where there are lies. 

   As I always say, we must get beyond surface meanings that allow for reverence in a “small way” here at the table, but not in the greater way that Jesus sent those first disciples out to do.  “ Freely you have been given – now freely give.”

   We can’t say that it is enough to “reverence” the “bread on the table” without likewise reverencing that same “bread” in women, LGBTQ+ folks, children and their families struggling with trans-gender issues, and so on.  To reverence the Eucharist on the table without taking that same action into our world, addressing all the issues that the hierarchical church is consistently on the wrong side of, is to cancel out the 1^st action! 

   A fine-tuning of this would be to say as the priest did at a family wedding in the past, “If you are not a practicing Catholic, you can’t receive, but please come forward with your hands crossed over your heart and receive a blessing.”  I personally wouldn’t find this enough if I came “to the feast,” and was told that I wasn’t worthy.  And, at this point, the “Eucharist” being offered to some, but not to all, ceases to be the Eucharist, as Jesus gave it originally with the attention that it was meant for all! That friends, is why he took the “meal” to the hillside, as everyone in his time wasn’t welcome in the temple.

   Today’s psalm, #100 proclaims that “we are God’s people” and that as a result, should “make a joyful noise to God.  Our God is good and God’s steadfast love endures forever.” 

   And Paul picks up on this idea in the opening lines of Chapter 5 to the Romans:  “We look “joyfully” to the day that we will be all that God has intended.  When, in fact, women will be included in those who are sent out to “gather in the harvest” that our brother Jesus has said, “is bountiful,”  but that “the laborers are few.” Amen? Amen!

My friends, each year when this wonderful feast of Corpus Christi, or, the Body of Christ comes round, it really calls me and you to go deeper as we always say here.  I think the frustration with this feast, if there is any, and there is for me, comes when the “official party line,” so to speak, the hierarchy of our beloved Church focuses solely on the “elements,” the bread and wine, and their “magical” transformation into Jesus’ “flesh and blood” – real flesh and real blood on an altar, they believe.  We are called in our faith to believe that this transformation, labeled, “transubstantiation” has indeed happened.  Now to be clear, I do believe that when we say the words of consecration, Jesus is present in a special way to us, but just not as “real flesh and real blood.”

   To me, our faith could be so better used than in this instance.  I would like to see “so-called” believers have faith in the fact that our good God loves us far above and beyond anything that we can imagine, and always wants us to ask for the help we need to be our best selves, for ourselves, but for others too, thus assuring that our sojourn here, as spiritual beings, having “a human experience,” as someone once said, might be the best that it can be. 

   One of the commencement speakers this past week, to a group of college graduates basically told them that while it will be important to go out there and work hard, securing a job, so as to do well in the world, from his experience, he was telling this new group of graduates to stick to their values along the way, over and above that which they necessarily are seeking – such values as honesty, integrity and being kind. 

   Going back then to that issue of transubstantiation, I would suggest that we ask why we should believe this concept – for what purpose?  And truly, my hope is that I don’t come off here as “sacrilegious,” only that we try and understand the real greatness of this feast.  For us to believe that somehow, bread and wine have been miraculously changed into Jesus’ flesh and blood, and that idea solely, causing us “to worship” this supposed fact, does what? 

   If we follow the Church’s teaching here, our table of blessing and sharing, becomes not a table anymore, but an “altar of sacrifice,” where elements of “flesh and blood” are perhaps appropriate.  But if we focus on the concept of a “table,” set for all, welcoming all, to bless and share in the very life of our brother Jesus – his words, his actions, during his life, which really, are more fully, “his body, his blood,” and which, ironically, caused his death, (his actions, that is) then to allow what we do here at our Masses to become nothing more than a ritual of remembering a one-time action for us, “to make us once again worthy in the sight of a vengeful God” seems to miss the point of why Jesus came.

   Additionally, looking at today’s Scriptures as well as current exegesis on the concept of “transubstantiation,” does really tell a different story than the Church hierarchy gives us on this feast.  In the 1^st reading from Deuteronomy we hear, “Not by bread alone do [we] live, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  In John’s gospel as Jesus is teaching about “eating his flesh, and drinking his blood,” wherein his hearers, “the Temple authorities” stay stuck on the surface, thinking he literally means, “real flesh and real blood, Jesus clearly tells them, “this bread is not the same that your ancestors at in the desert” – in other words, food that fills your body, but your spirit.

   In order for us to better understand Jesus’ meaning in today’s gospel, we must look to what sharing a meal with others meant in his time.  Breaking bread with someone was looked at in the time of Jesus as a sign of forming community with them.  We might say the same is true in our every day, and sometimes, special meals within our homes – in the best sense – we strengthen our ties with others when we share a meal with them.  Jesus raised that to a new level in saying that sharing Eucharistic bread forms us into the body of Christ.  In other words, when we eat regular food, we incorporate that food into our very selves.  The opposite is true with the Eucharist, theologian, Diane Bergant says.  When we partake of Eucharistic bread; we are transformed into Eucharistic bread, meaning—we become Jesus’ body for the world –this friends, is the bigger idea of what we do here at Mass.  

   It is important for us to remember that Jesus never asked us “to worship him in the elements of bread and wine, but to care for his “body” in the world. Bergant continues, “blood symbolized life itself,” and for us, that means going deeper, the life of Jesus, his words and actions, all that he taught us about living, loving, and dying, taking all of that into ourselves, in effect, becoming “his full body” in our world, with all, each one that we meet in every day. 

   Understanding the Eucharist in this way, St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians today gives us a wider, fuller meaning than just the simple words on the page.  He asks the Corinthians, “the cup…we bless – is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?  The bread we break – is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?”  Paul speaks about “sharing,” which in my mind, calls for action.  In other words, the Eucharist is meant to be an action word, us taking the substances into ourselves, and again, all of Jesus, all that he proclaimed and did, which then allows us to “transform” ourselves into Jesus’ body and blood, sharing his words, his actions, his life, with others. 

   In conclusion then, I think you all would agree with me that the notion of the Eucharist being an “action” word, and each of us, becoming “Jesus,” to the best of our abilities in our world, doing for others what he did in his lifetime, is much better than thinking of the Eucharist as a static noun which causes us to, “bend the knee,” but ends the action there. 

   Being “eucharist” in our world, acting out Jesus’ lifeblood in our life’s journey will always call forth the best in us my friends – many times having to stand alone.  A very poignant story came to me this past week which demonstrates this idea. 

   During the Viet Nam war, a decorated for valor member of the military came out as “gay” thinking such an honest statement about who he was in his entirety would be accepted.  He did this to challenge the then military’s policy against having gay men serve in the armed forces.  As we might guess, his honesty, regardless of all the previous good he had done in his military career, was not accepted.  He did receive an “honored” grave sight in Arlington upon his death, but his name was omitted from the gravestone.  His family perhaps at his request added the following words to the stone:  “I received medals of honor, the bronze star and purple heart for killing two men, but was discharged for loving one man.”

   Being a Christian, acting as Eucharistic people, will call us to be our best my friends, and that is what I would encourage us to remember on this beautiful feast, and as the commencement speaker that I referenced earlier seemed to be saying, living your values will always mean more than material gain.  Amen? Amen!

     “When I behold the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you set in place, who are we [humans] that you should be mindful of us?” [!]  Who indeed? My friends, the gospel verse for today from Psalm 8 really says it all as we ponder who our God is on this Sunday when we celebrate a “trinity” of persons in one God – a concept we can only really accept through the eyes of faith.  Most of us long-time Catholic Christians grew up believing and speaking of our God as “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” – some of the oldest among us probably even remember the Spirit as, “the Holy Ghost.” 

   Today, here, when speaking of the Trinity, we say, “Creator, Savior/Revealer, and Spirit of the Living God.  We have made that change so as to be more true to the fullness of who our God is – because as theologian, Sister Sandra Schneiders has said so well, “God is more than two men and a bird.” 

   The first reading today from Exodus is the familiar story of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments – in fact, this is the 2^nd try as Moses broke the 1^st set of stone tablets on the golden calf the people had constructed while he was up the mountain the first time. 

   During this second time of God reaching out to Moses, we learn some wonderful things about who God in fact is.  Our Scripture translation comes from The Priests for Equality and says of God, “I Am, I Am, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger and rich in kindness and faithfulness.”  What else would any of us need to know about God?  God is basically promising to “walk with us,”  treat us with compassion, tenderness, and kindness – and when we fail in our part of the relationship, our God won’t become angry with us. 

   At this time of year, many young people are graduating from high school, college, as well as with advanced degrees, ready to begin their lives and hopefully make a difference in our world, for themselves, but also for others.  Those who rank highest in their classes are usually given the honor of speaking some “words of wisdom” to their peers.  It is always interesting, I think, to hear what these young people have to share – their bits of wisdom. 

   Many times, we hear the encouragement to “work hard,” and when you don’t quite accomplish what you had hoped to, “pick yourself up, and try again.”  Along with the above bits of wisdom, I read a comment that really stood out for me. It was shared by a guest speaker at a commencement exercise, and she was sharing, I believe, a life lesson that she had learned in living: “…in making your way in the world, she said – be kind.”  I believe this one stood out for me because it is something so needed in our world today. 

   If we are daily watchers and listeners of the news, we find much I think that is not only “unkind,” but down right, mean, and one has to ask, what is accomplished in being that way?  The past anchor for NBC Nightly News, Lester Holt, ended the nightly report with the tag line, “Please take care of yourself and each other.”  I seem to remember that he started doing that during COVID, and afterward, I think he continued doing it because people liked hearing it.  The present anchor, Tom Llamas, ends with, “Tonight, and always, we’re here for you!”  Perhaps a gimmick, but I don’t think so, and both always did, and do, give me a smile. 

   This past week, Cathy Wurser, host of MPR Morning Edition had a segment asking people to call in “with something good “ happening in  their life – the show was really appreciated, and even, “loved” by some. 

   Going back to the Scriptures then, I would like to lift up God’s words to Moses again:  “I am a God of kindness” … and so forth.  We are thus in good “footsteps” when we too choose to be kind.  Over the years, and through other translations of this Exodus reading, we have heard the above words translated, “I Am Who I Am.”  I have heard homilists try to make sense of these words to no avail, when really all that is necessary, is that we “go deeper” as I always recommend, and hear again, that our God is tender, compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in kindness and faithfulness.

   Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians agrees that the “God of love and peace will be with” [us] – “the grace of the Savior, the love of God, and the friendship of the Spirit.”  I wonder how many of us think about our God wanting to be “friends” with us – wanting to be in a relationship with us. 

    And we conclude today with John’s gospel where he speaks of our brother Jesus as, “the Christ – a form of God who is “big enough” as Franciscans, Father Richard Rohr and Sister Ilia Delio proclaim, “for all of us believers.”  Some in our Christian world, unfortunately, have come to believe that Jesus is the only one that all people must confess to believe in to be “saved.”  For us Christians, yes – but that is not what this reading says.  “God did not send [Jesus] into the world to condemn [it] but through [the] Christ, the world would be [shown] the way. 

   Now common sense tells us that through time, there have been many manifestations of God – Jesus, Allah, Buddha, the Great Spirit, and more – our banner here speaks to this mystery – there are many roads … The only way that all people, each of us, and all of us, can one day be one, is that we realize that the loving, tender, compassionate, kind, and faithful God wants to be in relationship with each of us and all of us, thus different ways will be needed – none of them wrong ways, as long as we get there!

   We all, in our world, were given assistance this past week in living our “best selves through Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical letter, “Magnifica Humanitas.”  I have not read it in its entirety, but through a fine article in America magazine, by Jesuit, James Martin, I learned that Leo has taken on capitalism and addresses it through the message of Jesus, highlighting the dignity of the human person, and when looking at “economics,” “the human person is not expendable.” More on this in weeks to come, but for now, let’s all be kind… Amen? Amen!

My friends, this weekend is a special one in that today we celebrate Pentecost, 50 days, or thereabouts since Easter, which should remind us of our own confirmations, when we received a new name, and promised our almost adult “yeses” to live our best selves in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.  We will come back to this later.

   This long weekend also includes Memorial Day on Monday – a day to remember all those who have lived and died for our country, some giving their all for their beliefs, through military service, but also all those who have gone on before us who have been models and mentors to and for us, for a better world.  I believe that Pentecost, the coming of Jesus’ Spirit and the remembrance of all those who have lived and died, bear a resemblance that it is good for us to consider today.

   In the purely spiritual realm, we know from Jesus’ words in Scripture that his physical work on earth was done and that he couldn’t stay on – but that he was entrusting us with his words, his actions, basically his life of love – God’s love for all – to see that this message lived on.  Quite a responsibility, and one that we shouldn’t take lightly. 

   In the social realm, Memorial Day, no doubt, calls up all kinds of images of those who have gone on before us, both good and not so good.  When I have done Celebrations of Life over the years, I have reminded families of “allowing” their deceased loved ones to “live on” through them as they try and emulate the good they saw in a loved one.  If the relationship hadn’t been a positive one, then there is the opportunity to make a difference in one’s own life going forward. 

   Now that we have established a connection between Pentecost and Memorial Day, let’s go deeper…  All three readings today proclaim well I think what we are to “be about” as Pentecostal people, and again, I think we can see similarities as we likewise try to emulate the goodness of loved ones who have passed on. 

   In the 1^st reading from Acts, for Pentecost, we see a wonderful truth – our God wants all people, each one of us to be “recognized and heard.”  Scripture says, [Everyone heard the apostles speaking in their own tongue]. Now, to me, this speaks of a God who wants to reach, in some way, everyone.

   Many times, in the past, today, and into the future, I have, and will continue to lift up for us the “fruits” of people’s actions, trying very hard not to be “political” or to take sides.  Our brother Jesus was always very conscious of watching “the fruits” of people’s actions in searching for the truth. 

   I just finished reading Kamala Harris’ book, 107 Days about her run for president in 2024.  Again, looking at “the fruits,” her book is full of her desire to first, listen to the people, and then work to make their lives better.  Checking “the fruits” then, we can compare this with verbiage coming out of Washington from the commander-in-chief, that “he doesn’t care about people’s financial troubles” [!]  Kamala Harris’ deep pain in losing the election was of all the things that she wouldn’t be able to do for our nation’s people. 

   Pauls’ letter to the Corinthians today is all about how the Spirit of that 1^st Pentecost was intended for all and that all, each one of us, in receiving the Spirit at our own confirmations, is given a gift, unique to us, to share with the world in Jesus’ memory.

   John’s gospel is affirmation of that – he speaks of how we will have the strength, the calm, and the peace to affirm the good and deny the bad we see in our world. 

   One of the symbols that we always see as part of Pentecost is “tongues of fire” – my stole today, and the banner are reflective of that – as John’s gospel speaks of “the fire of God’s love” and “this fire” always comes with peace – Jesus’ words to his frightened followers, we hear twice in today’s gospel, “Peace be with you!” 

   Reflecting then a bit further on the “fire of God’s love,” I think we could agree that “passion” for and about others in our world, is a quality that Jesus had in his earthly life and wants us to have as well in sending us his Spirit.  Someone said, in speaking about the combination of passion and peace,” [Come with the] “power of a tornado, and the gentleness of a whisper.”  Today’s Scriptures speak of “a violent, rushing wind.”  In the Old Testament, God comes to Elijah in “a whisper.”

   A special mentor of mine, Jim Fitzpatrick, an active priest in this diocese for 10 years, and one of my high school religion teachers, a man little more that five feet in height, had this wonderful combination of passion for word and action, and an acquired peace that came to him in following the Spirit’s lead. 

   Jim left active priestly ministry after he went to his bishop with the knowledge that certain of his brother priests were sexually abusing children, and the bishop’s response was to do nothing claiming that it was more important to protect the good name of the Church!

   It was ultimately a joy to be taught by this passionate man who when we as students weren’t responding with some of that same passion would say, “C’mon people, catch fire!” 

   My friends, Pentecost is all about that, “Catching the fire” of our faith and moving with strength, peace, passion and ultimately in love, in Jesus’ footsteps in our world.  Those at the first Pentecost were said to be “amazed and astonished” at what they saw – would any in our world be “amazed an astonished” at what they see in us? A good question to ponder perhaps on this Pentecost Sunday. 

   At Jim Fitzpatrick’s funeral a few years back, one of his colleagues, a religious sister did the homily for the service.  She used one of Jim’s favorite Scripture quotes to emulate him  — I learned that day that Jim lived and acted upon one of my favorite Scripture quotes too! These words come from the apostle Peter at the Transfiguration, [Rabbi] “it is good that we are here!”  In conclusion then my friends, “it is [indeed] good that we are here!” And because we are, there is the possibility that our world can be better…. Amen? Amen!

My friends, first of all today, I want to lift up for our appreciation and blessings, all mothers – grands and great-grands, seeing that I wasn’t with you last Sunday to do this.  And as you who have been with us for more than a year have come to realize, and for those who have more recently joined us – this will be new, whenever I speak of “mothers,” or “fathers,” for that matter, I mean more than just the physical mothering, giving physical birth.  There are many in our world who while never having had the privilege of bearing a child, have “mothered” others, emotionally and spiritually into adulthood and beyond – and we applaud them all! 

   And unfortunately, there are those who have given birth to children who have never been able to “mother” in the other ways, emotionally and spiritually that are so important. And then there are those moms and grammas who have had the privilege of physically bearing children who have been able to mother in the other two ways as well. For all these mothers, in all the ways that they have tried, we send our thanks and gratitude. 

   Additionally,  I want to thank each one of you, all those who have supported our parish, All Are One Catholic church, both those alive now, and those who have gone on to God.  As of May 10^th, we have supported each other, guided by the Spirit of Jesus for 18 years! And here, special thanks goes out to Shannon Hanzel – gone home to God, who always advocated wholeheartedly for our parish from its beginnings.   I am continually humbled to be your pastor, and in saying that, I need to publicly thank Robert as well for his steadfast love and support, which, without, this little experiment in Winona wouldn’t have been possible. 

   And with that we are led right into the theme of today’s liturgy which is to carry on what our brother Jesus started and entrusted to his followers.  Today, as you know, we are celebrating both his ascension from the physical world, and the end of the Easter Season, as we prepare for the coming of his Spirit, in a special way at Pentecost, next Sunday. 

   With each of these events, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, totaling 50 days from beginning to end, we are called, as Jesus’ followers, to believe what we can’t logically explain – that’s called faith – head versus heart stuff.  And in the realm of the heart, it is basically, and simply about a God who has loved creation, us and all life in an “over-the-top” way as Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong was fond of saying.

   “Theologian-types” over the centuries have tried to “box-in” God’s love for creation, saying that Jesus’ coming was all about making reparation for our sinful humanity, and only the “death of God,” in a sense could make us “right” with God again.  John Shelby Spong, who left us in 2021, was all about saying, “No, our God’s love is so much bigger than that!”  Jesus said when with us, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” – follow me.  That’s what this Easter Season has been about – preparing us, once again to take the life of our brother Jesus, into the world, in all the many ways that we engage our world. 

   You will have noticed that I combined the Ascension and the last Sunday of Easter in the readings today, being that we didn’t meet specifically this past Thursday for the Ascension.  Our 1^st reading then from Acts was used in this past Thursday’s liturgy.  The apostles are understandably afraid as they experienced, in some way, Jesus’ physical parting from them, after three years with him in a very special way.  He has assured them that they will be baptized in the Spirit in the coming days, and that baptism will give them the strength to, as he said, “be my witnesses.” “Apostle” in the Greek, literally means, “one who is sent out.” 

   My friends, on this Sunday, as we conclude the Easter Season, I believe it is important to “sit with” the purely human emotions these first apostles were experiencing.  I think sometimes we have heard this story so many times that we simply take it as fact, and don’t try to imagine or put ourselves into the story and ask, how we would have acted. 

   In the 2^nd reading today from 1^st Peter, he lets new converts know that in following Jesus, there will be suffering  – in other words, it won’t always be easy.  And, he goes on to say, that the only suffering we should take on in life is in “following Jesus.”  He continues, don’t bring suffering upon yourself by choosing evil in your life, only the suffering that can come from following the “ways” of Jesus.

   While in Ireland, from time to time, in visiting with Irish relatives of our daughter-in-law, Lauren, we would hear the term, “chalk and cheese.”  After a few times, we inquired, just what, “chalk and cheese” meant.  The explanation they gave was like saying, “black and white,” or the difference between “night and day.” 

   As I was preparing this homily, it came to me that claiming to be a “Christian,” a follower of our brother, Jesus, has to be about “chalk versus cheese” – are we Christians in name only, (chalk) or do we prove it by how we act? (cheese). If we are truly Jesus’ followers, we have to act as he would, if we believe, we must follow even when it is hard. For any Star Wars fans out there, you will recall Yoda’s famous words, “Do, or do not, there is no try.”

   Then my friends, we come to the lovely gospel from John that speaks to the beginnings and the continued life of our parish.  John’s gospel for today includes our brother Jesus’ words for us and all who would “try and hopefully do,” in his footsteps, “Protect those you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”  This prayer, for each of us, is a blessing that should give us strength to welcome any and all to our table, and community here.  Amen? Amen!