My friends, if you are like me; there was much this past week that lays heavy on your hearts.  A short listing is probably instructive as we try to make sense of the Scriptures today.

1. 2300 children are still separated from their parents at our southern border, and no matter the rhetoric out of Washington, there seems not much sign that they will be united any time soon—we can only imagine the trauma this is causing in the lives of these young people.
2. Then there are the parents detained, separated from their children simply because they came to this country, escaping a bad life and looking for a better one for themselves and their children, free from violence, only to be met with more violence at the port of their hope.
3. The Supreme Court of this country voted in a split decision to again enforce the ban on Muslims coming from 5 Middle East countries, under the guise of national security when it is clear to all who choose to see that the ban is racist at heart.
4. Our Congress failed once again this week to come up with a viable plan on immigration, allowing partisan politics to get in the way of doing what is right, what this country says it stands for. You can name others….

And for some in this country, this is about “making America great again.”  In reality, each of these four actions is about sticking our heads in the sand,” about selfishness and greed, about turning our backs on all that is decent and good, what our country was founded upon.  And if all of this makes you sad, it should!

But as Christians, as followers of our brother, Jesus, we can’t stop at the sadness, but in our hope that good always, always wins out in the end; we must each do our part, to make it so!

Our Scriptures for today are most instructive in this regard—we must simply take in their messages and make them reality in our lives.

Our first reading today comes from the Wisdom literature and when did we need wisdom more?  The writer tells us that, “we are modeled on the divine” and I would submit that because we are, modeled on the divine; we are called, as a country to emulate the words on the Statue of Liberty, more so than the actions coming out of Washington this past week.  We know from all the Scriptures re-telling Jesus’ life among us, that to emulate the divine, to rise above our humanity cannot be just about ourselves, but about what is good for all.

The Wisdom writer continues, “God created all things to be alive—all things of the world are made to be wholesome.”  In separating children from their parents and parents from their children—the pain goes both ways; we must remember that this is not about “life” at its best and certainly is not “wholesome!”

Our brother Jesus demonstrates in two different actions of healing touch how we must, each of us, approach our world.  Both examples speak of a certain kind of “death,” as we know; death can be physical, emotional and spiritual.

The unnamed woman suffering from an undiagnosed and misunderstood blood flow for many years comes to Jesus in faith and hope to be relieved of this ailment, which, to her, was like a death.   Because her ailment was unexplainable, she was ostracized from the community and her family—there were all kinds of taboos about associating with women during their monthly flow of blood, to say nothing of someone whose flow was continual.  On top of that, women had no significant place in the world in which Jesus lived; thus it isn’t even important to give her a name.  And Jesus would have been aware of all of this, so that when she reached out in faith and hope, he reached back with his healing touch.

We hear a like story in that of Jairus’ daughter, again, unnamed.  Jairus is a man of faith and hope too.  Realizing that his daughter is gravely ill and that physical death may be imminent, he reaches out to someone he believes can help.  Again, Jesus reaches back in love and caring, confirming Jairus’ faith in him.

An endnote on the 2 females with no names—what we don’t name has no power and is more easily forgotten.

So, are these two stories just for 2,000 years ago or do they have something to say to us today?  I would say they demonstrate for us how we are to be in our world.  We need to see past the fears that cause all of us to act less than divine and at times, less than human.  We need to see another’s suffering and pain as if it were our own.

Most of us understand the dynamic when it is about our own children, our families—those we hold dear—most of us would take on a loved one’s suffering if it meant sparing them.  Jesus’ words are instructive here—“do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”  If there is any key to the good life—what is good for each one of us, it is this one idea—if we wouldn’t like or appreciate an action, odds are good, others wouldn’t either!  We have to make that child at the border, our child, and then act accordingly!  Those of us who attended the Interfaith Prayer Service yesterday heard Pastor Robert Hicks ask, “Do you know where your children are tonight?”—meaning of course that the children taken from their parents at the border, because my friends, these children are our children!

Sometimes our actions aren’t so much about fear in losing something we have that cause us to respond in less than good ways, but might be more about greed in not wanting to share what we have.  This almost seems to be a worse reason to act without love.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians has some wisdom to share in that regard when he says, “The one who gathered much has no excess and the one who gathered little did not go short.”  As followers of our brother Jesus, we each have to deal with this one.  If we are honest with ourselves, we realize that, “we did not pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, but that we had a good deal of help along the way.  So, if we are doing well, according to Paul, and Jesus would agree, we owe a share to others who may not be in a position to help themselves now.  We could just as easily find ourselves in need one day!

So, as someone said recently, “I am saddened that we even have to talk about all these issues” and I would add, again and again!  But, we must not stop, we must keep caring—we must keep reaching out with our healing touches.  And don’t ever underestimate any “touch” any action that you do—it all is, “light in our darkness” and we never know how our single action will multiply to make a difference for good in our family, city, church, country and world.  Amen?  Amen!

 

(friends, a note before you begin—there was some confusion here when I learned that the bishops had changed the readings for Sunday—I had been planning on using the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist and so made the assumption, incorrectly that they had changed to the 12^th Sunday in OT, which made no sense, but once you have something wrong, it seems to stay wrong for a while. So, the first paragraph of this homily will make more sense knowing this bit of explanation)

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My friends, the bishops decided against the Lectionary this week, dropping the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist and instead are using the Scriptures for the 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  They gave us no explanation and I heard that some were surprised—surprised that is, of the change, not that we weren’t informed! Regardless, I am of the mind that we never more needed to reflect on the words of a prophet like John, of “one crying in the wilderness” than now, so I used a bit of ministerial license, as it were, and decided to use some of the Scriptures from both, so as to get at what the bishops may have been thinking, but also to be true to the printed Lectionary for the day.

I have been reflecting on my week that has been full of many and sundry things—all, I would include, under the heading of ministry, so I find myself bringing all these things to this homily today. It makes me think of Fr. Dan Corcoran, at peace now with God—you always knew what he had been about all week when you listened to one of his homilies. For those of you who may not have known him, he pastored the Newman Center in the days when Newman Centers were cutting-edge, theologically and spiritually, unlike today. I too feel that the best homilies come out of applying the Scriptures of the day to the “stuff” of our lives and therein coming up with the true work and inspiration of the Spirit, so here goes…

Right away on Monday morning last, I met with Victor Vieth who heads up the Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center—he still has an office at Winona State University but due to budget cuts, the program here has down-sized. Unfortunate really that the University wouldn’t want to continue to offer meaningful training to all its graduates, especially in the helping fields about how to recognize children, and adults for that matter, who have been victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.  But perhaps all isn’t lost as Victor is looking toward having an office in the new Education Village opening up next year.

Our purpose in meeting was to catch up and due to the newspaper article on our church; that was his connection back to me.  I had taken a 3-day training from him designed for Chaplains about 5 years ago and also had been instrumental in bringing him to Winona Health to speak to staff there—unfortunately, the turn-out was light.

Part of our discussion was about getting church people and others to see that some of our mission and vision statements plus our patriarchal culture preclude having safe places for the abused among us to practice their faith and more so, to find spiritual comfort within our churches.  The cultural piece that says that half the population is better than the other half; more fit to serve, more acceptable, is easier to understand.

The piece about vision and mission statements that aren’t as welcoming to the abused was more of a challenge for me to hear because, as you know, here at All Are One, we invite everyone to our table.  Now, of course, if someone wanted to come among us and outwardly abuse others; they wouldn’t be welcome, but otherwise, not knowing what is on someone’s heart; we invite everyone to our table.

Victor gave me an example from his practice of a woman physically abused by her husband who finally went to her pastor for guidance because as she said, “If I stay with him, [take my life one day]!” The pastor understandably counseled her to get away from her abuser, which she did.

So the end of the story is that on a particular Sunday, the former abused wife and her children show up for services and the ex-husband with his new woman friend are there too.  This was a Lutheran service that welcomed everyone to the table and the abusive man, with his new partner; presented themselves too in front of the abused woman and her children.  Victor’s experience says that the abused feel less welcomed in church than do the abusers because the abused are welcomed to the table without apparently changing their ways, and therefore, the abused feel that the abusers are given license to continue their evil ways.

Victor pursued a theology degree the last couple of years to make the connection to the Scriptures to show that actually Jesus had much to say about abuse and it has been part of his practice now to get ministers to see these connections too.

His challenge to his seminary class was to ask them if there was ever a time that they would deny communion to someone presenting themselves and no matter the scenario he gave them; they always came back with the same answer—they would not deny the Eucharist–because as they said, it wasn’t their place to judge what was on someone’s heart.  I found myself feeling the same as the other ministers, at first, and then upon more reflection; I found as I told Victor later, that his words “had convicted my heart.”

I think too of people like the young woman befriended by some members of our parish who had been abused as a child by a priest who couldn’t bring herself to be at Mass with us because of the memories that her childhood experiences still held for her.  I wonder if some of Victor’s words about the abusers feeling more welcomed and encouraged than the abused isn’t a bit true for this young woman.

So, at any rate, I’m not through thinking and praying about this issue and perhaps must remember the Scriptures that indicate that we are called to the table with the intention of always being our best selves and not with malice on our hearts. So, that was the beginning of my week.

On a lighter and more hope-filled note, there was the over-flow from our article on our 10 year celebration as I shared with you—it being picked up by the National Catholic Reporter’s daily on-line news feed and the next day by the Associated Press.  This was followed by friends telling me they saw it in the St. Cloud Times and the Mankato and Twin Cities’ papers. And just on Thursday, I was contacted by Channel 19 out of Lacrosse with an offer to tell my (our) story to their viewers.  So, it would seem that regardless of what Pope Francis is saying about women not being able to image Christ at the altar, the Spirit wants this story out!

I had one interesting call from a woman in LaCrescent who left a message on my phone saying that she had seen the article and wondered if I might be interested in a book that was listed in their Catholic bulletin, entitled, Prodigal Daughters Return to the Church.  She didn’t say enough about what her concern was, so before calling her back; I went on-line and looked up the book.  As you can imagine from the title, it is a very conservative view of women and Church and returning to, “our mother, the Church.”  The introductory pages have a good dose of a very male God, mentions of Opus Dei and I stopped there.

In calling her back; I asked if she wanted me to critique the book, because I wasn’t clear from her call, what her concerns were.  I mentioned that the book was very conservative and to answer her question, “I really wouldn’t be interested in it.  I went on to say that women priests do not see themselves as “prodigal,” that if anyone had left, it was the Church who had left us in not accepting our calls to priesthood.

She jumped on the term, “very conservative” and proceeded to tell me without taking a breath how that was where she was at, sharing her views on women priests, abortion, gay marriage and there may have been more that she wanted to share, but finally I interjected that I didn’t think there was much that we could agree on.  She responded that, “We can agree then to disagree!”  All this was done in quite pleasant tones.  She blessed me and said, “Good-bye.”  And to that I said to myself, “Wow, lots of work to do still!”

Paul, in today’s letter to the Corinthians says well I feel, for all of us, what is needed.  He is basically talking about not letting ourselves get stuck. The old order, he seems to be saying has passed away—everything is new in Christ—because of our brother Jesus, we can no longer look on anyone with “mere human judgment,” but must see through the eyes and heart of Jesus who gave all for us, so that we could see with clearer eyes.

And finally, the story that is on all of our hearts this week, that of children being separated from their parents at our southern borders, rages on. The country is finally, seemingly coming together, regardless of political party to say that this is simply not right and must be stopped!     I am sure your week like mine has been full of every attempt we all can think of to protest these presidential actions unworthy of the office.

Franciscan, Ilia Delio has asked friends and acquaintances via email to observe 10 minutes of silence at 3 p.m. each day to pray for and with each other for the guidance and strength to do what needs to be done. A group meets each Thursday at the Blue Heron from 10-12 to write postcards to Congress people demanding action worthy of us as a country—on this and other issues. On Saturday, yesterday, there was a very powerful vigil at noon in Winona at the corner of Main and Broadway to show our solidarity and to raise awareness of this issue, realizing that we can’t ultimately remain silent.

Next Saturday, June 30, time yet to be determined, an interfaith prayer service will be held at Wesley United Methodist church, much like the one that was held in response to gun violence in the spring.  Again, the purpose is to show our solidarity, to ask the God of us all to assist us, giving us the strength to be the prophets, like John, that this world so needs.

In the reading we used today from the prophet Isaiah fore-telling the life of John the Baptist, he said, “I will make you a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

My friends, I think sometimes, all that befalls us in a week’s time can be overwhelming, but we can’t in all of it lose sight of the psalmist’s words today, that we are, “wonderfully made” –each of us—and each of us has so much potential—we have voices, we can take action like letter-writing, we can witness with our presence at prayer services and vigils and we can vote!

The question to Jesus from the apostles on the boat is our question too, “Teacher, does it not matter to you that we are going to drown?”  And friends, our faith must be our rock and we must realize that if we let Jesus calm our storms, he will do that by sending his Spirit to give us the strength to be the prophets that this world needs, speaking truth to power! Amen? Amen

 

Dear Friends,

Being that we are celebrating Fathers’ Day this weekend, I invited a younger Dad, in our midst, to reflect on the Scriptures today in the light of his role. He shall remain anonymous in this venue for personal reasons. I think he has given us some rather good thoughts to ponder–enjoy!

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Thank you, Kathy, for the opportunity to speak here today. Kathy asked me to speak to
everyone gathered here because Father’s Day is tomorrow and I’m a father. I haven’t been one for very long, so what I say here today may very well be wrong – and I hope the fathers in the room will tell me as much afterwards. More fathers need to talk to fathers about being fathers.  I, of course, wouldn’t be much of one without [my wife]. You may have met our little guy in back there. He’s new to all of this, but he’s doing a very good job of learning and we’re very proud of him for that. I know it can be disruptive at times, and I thank all of you for your patience with that. But as I’m sure you all know from your experience with All Are One, learning and progress are disruptive. For that matter, Christ was disruptive, and Christianity is disruptive. And I think that’s because love is disruptive and all of these things are in their strongest form when they focus on love. Of course it is also a trying time to be a father, having to fight a resurgent toxic masculinity that urges simple and destructive answers. The last two weeks have been no respite as we learn of the violations of human rights occurring on our southern border where children and infants are being taken from their parents and held in inexcusable conditions because their parents did not happen to be born in the right place. There cannot be a just society that puts children in cages, and if there were ever a task to test how disruptive of the status quo love can be, this is it.

In the Gospel today (because I have no idea what to do with the other two readings), we hear about Jesus trying to teach the disciples about the reign of God using stories of things that start small and then grow and flourish. Around Father’s Day that might remind us of parenthood and seeing our little ones grow from tiny mustard seeds into beings we can read with, and talk to, and on whose branches birds can come nest (you do have to wonder where Jesus’ audience were getting their mustard seeds). The analogy gets a little strained because I don’t think we should ever intend to “harvest” our children; I know I’d be more partial to [our little boy] growing unharvested to have metaphorical birds rest in his metaphorical branches. But Jesus was using
these stories to explain the “reign of God”, and presumably God is the “sower” of the seed in these stories.

At least that’s what I thought at first. There are many places in our society and our philosophy where notions of fatherhood are undergoing significant change today. We might traditionally be expected to understand a father as the sower of the seed—a simple creator. But I think that as more men resist limiting patriarchal norms and come to understand what women and mothers have always known about what children need, we should consider that the seed can be sown in any manner of ways, but what makes the real difference is the soil. In fact, our roles as mothers, fathers, and community members might be better understood not as sowers but as soil. For it is the soil that nurtures and teaches and provides what the seed needs to grow. While the soil cannot supply everything and plants will always face challenges that restrict them from growth, it is the soil which essentially says “yes” to the seeds and it is this “yes” that spurs their growth. As the ground and soil for the next generation we shelter our seeds and have to be firm with our “no’s” when it comes to something unwise or dangerous. But these “no’s”
never need to come from a place of belittlement, anger, or jealousy. They are always “no’s” in service to some greater ”yes”: wisdom, life, the benefits of less processed sugar. A parable is also a way of teaching that says “yes” by connecting to ideas that are already familiar in an audience. It teaches by saying, “Yes. You already know this, but in a different form.” Maybe a good way to think of fatherhood, whether it be in God or a human father, is as the art and work of saying “yes”. We may want to move on from simply being creators, and explore the part of creating that lives on in creat-ivity — a work that is never done. Just as the parable assumes the soil has a (complicated) way of saying yes to the seeds that grow in it, so we as fathers should commit to the art and work of saying yes to those who depend on us, whether it be at our southern border, our congregation, or our very own families.

 

Friends, it only seems appropriate on the occasion of this celebration of 10 years of ministry that we take a bit of a trip down memory lane, because this truly is a significant milestone that we, as a Vatican II parish, headed by a woman priest, a real “no-no” in the Catholic church and in the backyard of the bishop, would have begun and persisted and grown over these 10 years.  Reminds me of the words said of Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren by Mitch McConnell, “She was warned, given an explanation and yet persisted!”

But you see, it was never totally about me, but about all of us who listened to the Spirit and heard in our hearts the call to be all that we could be as a parish.  Many of us who first gathered at the Holzinger Lodge in Winona, one fall evening in 2007, after my diaconal ordination, to discuss the possibility of becoming a parish, were looking for more than we were finding in our present parishes—we wanted everyone to be welcome at the table, regardless of life-style choices or relationship changes; we wanted the calls of women as well as men to be accepted; we wanted to praise a God who is bigger and more inclusive than what we were being told in our churches. Very simply, we were dreaming of a parish that would be fruitful to the changes of Vatican II.

For me and for Robert, the process started more than 25 years ago as it became more and more difficult for us to attend Masses that were designed to appeal more to men—God came in one form—male, the language was male in form for God and for people and there was no one at the altar who looked like me.

Even though, as a chaplain at the hospital, nursing home and in hospice care, I did many of the ministries that were priest-like, bringing both the Eucharist (big E) and little “e” and if you are wondering, the little “e” is the love of God that we all bring made up of all the small kindnesses, the love of each day.  In listening to people’s stories that were often confession-like in nature; I unofficially gave God’s forgiveness and mercy.  I was there for the joy of live births and for the sadness of babies whose lives were cut short, I was there during the stressful times of physical illness and depression and at the deaths of loved ones after full and good lives spent.  Priestly ministry? I would say “yes,” but my Church said, “No.”

My Church was willing to baptize and confirm me, but not ordain me—they said God did not want it because women couldn’t image Christ. Somehow, as Sr. Joan Chittister says, and I’ll paraphrase, God who is all powerful, all knowing and all wonderful—really, is totally inept when it comes to women!  But, I’m getting ahead of my story.

We, Robert and I, looked for a time, for what we couldn’t find in the Catholic church, in other denominational churches, often finding them lacking as well—we often found God in those years in the “Cathedral of the Great Outdoors.”

By this time, our children, Isaac and Eryn were off to college, so our questioning wasn’t, as we say, “in their faces” all the time.  This is something I often worried about—if our questioning drove them from the Church we had raised them in.  But, upon checking with them; they were both able to say that they had many of the same questions, so understood.  And, they are both here today, along with their families!

So, when it came down to it, in the end, Robert and I realized that we were really “Catholic” at heart and even though some other churches were more welcoming, the Catholic church was the only Church  we really wanted to call our own.

So one day, the now quite well-known story, to some of you, of the Spirit interjecting herself into a conversation that Robert and I were having, happened. To my statement,  “The only way we will ever find a church that is meaningful to us would be if we created one, ourselves, he responded in a way that was very unusual, for him. It is important for you to know that he is usually the one to get me to think twice about something this important, but he simply responded, “Yes, I think you are right!” All I could say was, “Really?!”

From then on, my path was clear.  We came to see that my original statement about forming a church that we would find meaningful was the work of the Spirit and she has been present ever since.

Our daughter Eryn remembers the first meeting in the fall of 2007 at Holzinger Lodge—we were to meet at 7P.M. and as she waited on the porch for the people to arrive, hoping that of the 24 invitations sent out, someone would come, at five minutes to 7, a noticeable wind blew through (think Spirit) and a line of cars followed!

We had about a dozen people that night dreaming a grander church and some are still with us.  Of all the ways we tried to advertise, the best was always, word of mouth.  We had more meetings and more, different people came.  On May 4, 2008, at Winona State University in Kryzsko Commons, I was ordained as Winona Diocese’s first Catholic woman priest!—a marvelous thing really, when you think about it, and again, not for me, but for our community!  Because the Universal Catholic church will not say, “Yes” to the Spirit, the people are moving ahead and saying, “Yes,” this is what we want—please join us when you can!”

I always look to any situation of import and if there is peace and general good around it, (the gifts of the Spirit), I know she is present.  At my ordination, none of my brother priests from around the diocese, who was invited, attended for fear of repercussions, but my Protestant sisters and brothers in ministry came to give affirmation that my call was truly a call to ministry for the People of God.

One of those, Pastor John Carrier, was present that day. After the ordination ceremony , he came up to me and asked if we had a place to do liturgy and when I said, “No,” he offered the Lutheran Campus Center, here, rent-free.  His only stipulation was that we support Mugby Junction for our fellowship needs, who of course share this building. No problem then John, nor now as the three-some, AAO, LCC and Mugby have developed a wonderful symbiotic relationship over the years.

Over these 10 years, this ministry has grown to some 60 strong who actually come to services when they can, usually about 20 a week.  We always said that if everyone came at the same time, we would be at critical mass, no pun, in this space, which I think we truly are at today! In addition to those who physically attend, my weekly homilies go out to many, many more—I don’t know the circulation rate as people frequently tell me that they share these words with countless others.

And if what I write each week stirs, comforts, or challenges you in heart, mind and soul, I credit the Spirit with that too.  I can’t tell you the number of times that I have marveled at what comes out of my and her work in a week’s time.

Speaking of the Spirit, I wanted to make mention of why I speak of the Spirit of God with the feminine pronoun, “she.”  This isn’t just a “cutesy” way to interject some of the feminine into an otherwise male God, but it is in fact, from Scripture.  The Old or First Testament speaks of the Spirit of God in the Aramaic in feminine terms, “ruach” and the wisdom of God is named, Sophia. So, if it is good enough for the Bible, I think we should speak this way too! As Sandra Schneiders, scripture scholar says well, “God is [truly] more than two men and a bird.”

The Spirit also makes herself present in our weekly homilies when I open them up to your comments—as I always tell you, She uses you as well as me in our hearing of the Word.

So, my friends, these 10 years have been about the work of God, for the People of God.  This community is most generous, financially and materially, in time and in talent.  Because we are blessed with this space, rent-free, we are able to gift back to our city, country and world approximately 75% and sometimes more of what is given in the collection basket—our board truly enjoys this aspect of their job—giving our money away and of course the ministries of the Lutheran Campus Center are frequent recipients of the generosity of this parish.  There will be a book on the table later showing some of the many other places that have benefitted as well.

And then there is the outreach in time and talent to the community through Home Delivered Meals, Catholic Worker monthly meals, Winona Volunteer Services Food Shelf and soon through the Winona Sanctuary Program as All Are One will be serving as a Sanctuary Support Community to the eventual Sanctuary Church for which we all pray can happen soon.

So, as we look back and we look forward in faith, our Scriptures today have much for us to reflect on.  The reading from Genesis speaks about the fact that the natural human reaction to wrongdoing is fear.  Fear keeps us from not doing many things that love would otherwise call us to do.  Like this parish for instance—like me going against the bishop and getting ordained. I did, by the way, ask him to ordain me, but he refused! The bishop used fear tactics at the time to dissuade me—my certification as a Catholic chaplain for which he gave his episcopal endorsement required for lay people seeking certification within the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.  He also threatened me with excommunication from the Church I love, if I did not recant.

Paul tells the Corinthians and us today that “this life is momentary, that the next is everlasting, so do not lose heart at the troubles here.”

Jesus tells us today, as recorded by Mark that anyone who does the will of God is his sister, brother and mother. It is my hope that in Jesus’ Spirit we are about God’s will and I believe that by the fruits of this parish, as delineated earlier, this is so.

When Jesus walked the earth, those who opposed him said his works came from the devil—we might ask as he did, why would you assume that when someone comes in strength and goodness that it has to be of the devil? The bishop was concerned that I would lead people astray—not that I might do any good!

And the good done over these 10 years has not been without much help, love and support from so many. I wanted to make mention of the former editor of the Winona Daily News, Darryl Ehrlick, who so generously and graciously introduced me and my journey to the people of Winona through several wonderful articles back in 2008.  To this beautiful parish of people that I am so privileged to serve, many who have been here for the long haul, witnessing to the goodness of a parish that welcomes all to the table. I think especially of Michael Maher, who has given so much to this parish and who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia and is with us in spirit today. To my family, my great kids, Isaac and Eryn and their spouses, Lauren and Adam and our grandson, Elliot who says so much to me about the playfulness of our God. To my sisters by marriage, Ann, Joan and Theresa, here with us today—Theresa’s husband, Don and others who couldn’t be with us except in spirit. And finally, to my husband Robert, who has always had my back and given me all the love and support one needs to do such an audacious thing as pursue ordination in a Church that says, “No!”

So, my friends, “When our earthly tent is folded up,” Paul tells us today, “The grace that is reaching more and more people,” and it seems this is true of All Are One Roman Catholic church, may [that grace] cause thanksgiving to overflow.”  Amen? Amen!

 

 

On May 31^st, in her monthly publication, Monastic Way, Sr. Joan Chittister shared these words from Robert Kennedy:

“Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance!”

Today in the country of Yemen, people, many of them children are literally starving to death while Saudi Arabia and Iran fight with each other for power and control of the area.

Closer to home, this country debates, whether the rights of gun owners are more important than the rights to life of our school children.

In both examples, you may be thinking that I have simplified them too much as to not understand the total picture.  Sometimes when problems appear so big that we seemingly can’t do a thing to make a difference, I think the simplest answer might be the best one!

If fighting is keeping the food from those who are starving, then it behooves all of us as responsible people living in a world that has become incredibly small, to do what is necessary to feed the hungry.

If guns kill people and we know that this is so, then as responsible people in this country, we can’t make it so easy for those who want to kill people, to do so!

The Catholic hierarchy that supposedly follows in the footsteps of Jesus who was nothing if not inclusive of women in life and ministry, reiterated its 10 year ban on the ordination of women this past week.  Coming at this one with the simplest response, I would say, “Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus!”

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi—The Body of Christ.  This is a beautiful feast if we see it in its fullness.  Contrary to what the Catholic church Universal has lifted up for us over the centuries—that of respect and love and honor shown to the elements on the altar—which we should do; this feast calls us to so much more.

We are grateful to our brother Jesus for leaving us a tangible way to be close—the Eucharist, but I believe he never intended it to end there, as a personal, intimate  comingling with the divine.  Jesus was always a person of action in his humanity—always reaching out, uplifting the poor, the down-trodden and calling the powers-that-be to do the same!

The gift of the Eucharist that Jesus left us on that first Holy Thursday was meant to be an action word and substance, a verb, if you will, not a static noun, to be honored. When we receive the bread, the wine, made, by our words at the consecration, Jesus’ body and blood—a mystery we can only take on faith, the intent, I suggest, was always to transform this gift, make it part of ourselves and carry it to our world, through our actions of justice, as Robert Kennedy once suggested that we do.  The real transubstantiation that needs to take place is that we, each of us would become “bread” for our world.

So, you see, this feast isn’t a complicated one at all, but really quite simple!

Friends, if, when we receive the Eucharist—we do not allow it to transform us, then we, have fallen short of truly walking in Jesus’ footsteps.  The examples I gave in the beginning are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak of areas in our city, country and world that need the love, mercy, understanding and justice of our brother Jesus, so let’s continue our work! Amen? Amen!