Sermon 207 April 13, 2025: Mt 21:28-32 “Palm Sunday Vespers"

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As we leave behind the cheering crowd at Jerusalem and enter the week of Christ's sacred [saving] Passion, our gospel reading tonight might be seen as representing the change of mind of the Jerusalem crowd. Two sons are asked to do a task. One says yes but doesn't do it and the other says no but changes his mind and does his father's will. This little drama is also played out inside each one of us when we waver between the positive and negative impulses that can be at war in our hearts. And 
wasn't it also played out inside Jesus himself in Gethsemane when he asked: If possible take this cup from me. But your will be done. The Jerusalem crowd begins as enthusiastic supporters of Jesus and then changes and calls for his death!

The first part of Holy Week brings us readings with lessons preparing us for the passion. Tonight begins Holy Monday with its theme of the treachery of Joseph's brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt. Their first thought was to kill him. This prefigures the crowd shouting at Pilate: Crucify him! Crucify him!  Joseph's brothers, however, changed their minds when they realized they could get money for him. So they sold him for 20 Shekels, prefiguring Judas' bargain to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas is like the Jerusalem crowd, but even more, not just a quixotic enthusiast but a disciple, a member of the inner circle, "my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me," as the Psalmist says [Ps 41:9 NIV].

This story gives us the chance to ponder the nature of our relations with our dearest friends or even family. How easy it is for that relationship to turn ugly. And when it does, are we also hurting Jesus?  "What you do to the least of these you do to me."  And if so, might this help us learn from Christ on the cross to forgive even in the most painful of circumstances. For Joseph, when his family came to Egypt and met him, forgave them, embraced them and thereby brought healing to their family.  Didn't Jesus say to his opponents and executioners, "forgive them for they know not what they do?"

On Holy Tuesday we meet again the ten bridesmaids awaiting the wedding feast. Jesus opens this story saying the Kingdom of Heaven will be like this. We often think this story is about being prepared to enter the kingdom of heaven. The foolish bridesmaids lost their opportunity to enter the kingdom of heaven because they were not prepared. The tricky part is understanding what that means. What was the error of the foolish bridesmaids?  After running off to get a supply of oil, they returned only to hear the Lord say to them: "I don't know you." The oil they needed was not available for purchase. For the message of the parable isn't about oil or banquets. It's about being known by Jesus in a way that he can recognize. This is a lifetime occupation but Holy Week is a time to ponder this more deeply as we witness Jesus's passion. Can Jesus recognize himself in us?

And then on Wednesday we encounter the woman who crashes Simon's party and takes her sorrow and regret over her wasted life and spills that on Jesus as she anoints him with expensive perfume. The guests show righteous indignation at her behavior, while Jesus praises her act of contrition and then shows her compassion and forgiveness. He knows her, he knows what's in her heart. He also knows the hearts of the others in the room.  When judgment comes, to which of them will he say at the door of the kingdom: "I don't know you."

This is our path during Holy Week as we accompany Jesus on his journey to Golgotha. Whatever we may or may not have accomplished during Great Lent, or even throughout our life, this week gives us a chance once again to learn from Jesus about forgiveness, compassion and resurrection.

Like the one brother in our gospel reading, who is able to admit, at least to himself, his misguided response to his father, and with a change of heart, change his behavior as well.  Likewise, the woman's change of heart and life yields blessings from Jesus. May our participation in this Holy Week open us to similar blessings.

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Sermon 206 April 13, 2025: Ze 9:9-12; Ph 3:10, 4:1; Jn

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

12:12-19 “Palm Sunday"

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Back when I was a youngster growing up in LA, heading off  to the beach to ride the waves was a common summertime activity. I was never one to ride surf boards, unlike my two brothers who were quite accomplished surfers. I stuck to the slightly less hazardous body surfing. But no wave was too high!  The higher the better and what a view heading into the shore.  Riding high on the crest of the wave and the water churning below and the beach ahead seemingly tiny and distant. But the end of the ride was the reminder of reality below as you crashed into the sandy shore.

And isn't that a bit like the Palm Sunday celebration? The great high of the crowd gathering around Jesus and accompanying him on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here is the promised king who will liberate Israel from the Roman occupiers and establish the Kingdom of God that will last forever.  The crowd is jubilant at the prospect. But Jesus's Kingdom, while already present, is not the kingdom the crowd expected. His entire ministry was misunderstood and ultimately a disappointment.

Our 40 day Lenten journey arrives at this weekend respite before we plunge into the transformative experience of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Maybe this Lent you felt a sense of accomplishment, you made at least some progress in your personal spiritual growth. Palm Sunday becomes that welcome bridge that takes you from the arena of personal struggle to a welcome oasis of celebration, first with Martha and Mary at the raising of their brother Lazarus from the dead, and then with the joy of Jesus's welcome by the crowds from Bethany and beyond as he enters Jerusalem with the acclaim: Hosannah in the Highest! Blest is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

But at this moment of celebration we take our joy in what we may have accomplished and connect it to the salvific journey that Christ will now make for us. So the bridge, Palm Sunday, is where the focus changes. The raising of Lazarus is the spark that brought out the crowds. The celebration at Jerusalem was about the anticipation surrounding the prospect of achieving the crowds' goals.  

But Holy Week is different. It is no longer about the crowds' political goals or my efforts to re-orient my life, or at least make some modest improvement in my attitudes and actions towards others or even myself. Now the spotlight is on Jesus and his sacrifice for our salvation, the ultimate source of our transformation. We engage in his paschal journey by accompanying him through the pain and anguish of his arrest, trial, sentencing and execution on the cross. We also notice that, throughout it all, Jesus is the one dispensing grace to those around him: washing the feet of his disciples to teach them, and us, a lesson in humble service, inaugurating the Lord's supper to give us access to him even after he ascends to heaven, offering forgiveness to his executioners and blessing to the repentant thief also dying on a cross next to him, to show us how God's love embraces all people and all circumstances.

This journey of Jesus is also our journey, if we choose to truly immerse ourselves in its unfolding and take to heart the message it is conveying to us. No matter what life presents to us, we have the freedom to choose to engage with it and transform it into blessings. And when we do that, our paschal celebration at the end of Holy Week will be just the first wave of many new resurrection celebrations to flow our way in our life's journey.

Christ is in our midst.

Woman with a Hemorrhage

As preached by Sister Cecelia

Holy Wisdom Church

Ezekiel  18:21-23,23-30,  Hebrews 3:7-16,  Mark 5:24b-34

A friend recently sent us photos of some of her sheep. One had just given birth and the little lamb is perched on its mother’s body -being taken care of. Another was a little lamb obviously getting some special human attention by being inside the house. Perhaps it was sick or the mother would not nurse it and had to be hand fed. I like to think the lamb was being cared for as Jesus took care of the woman who had suffered from, so far, an incurable hemorrhage for 12 long years.

Custom dictated that for twelve years this woman had not been allowed to mix with others. Never the less, she boldly took a chance that no one would notice her. Having heard of all the healing that Jesus had already done, she believed she would be cured if only she could touch the fringe of his cloak.

 Jesus felt his healing go out from him and turned to look for the one receiving it. Upon gazing at the woman Jesus understood the courage and faith of the woman.  He wanted us to know what he valued in her and by extension, from us. That is; faith in Jesus and his love for each of us.

With that single action of healing Jesus helps her to reenter ordinary daily life, to be fully integrated into her community. Having no name, she represents all of us, especially if we feel isolated, exhausted or on the brink of despair. Jesus’ cure restored a woman to her full dignity to live life to the full as God’s child and our sister.

We are created in the dynamic image of God. To be made in the image of God is to be life-giving and imaginative. All of us are gifted with creative potential. We create connection and dialogue among people; we create art, music, prose, poetry; we create love and support for our families and communities. Our gifts, whatever they may be, are given to create a more life-giving world.

Or we can create discord depending what we put our attention on.

Faith in Jesus’ love for us seems to be what Jesus wants from us. Are we creative in learning how we can increase our faith? 

Are we inclined to be attentive to God’s presence in everything we do?

Do we have a special practice during Lent that might help to remember God is with us?

If fasting is one of your practices, do you think of God being with you when you experience hunger or not indulging in a special treat?  Thank God for the opportunity to be able to fast because you want to and not because you think you have to.

Whether you fast or not, faith in Jesus calls us to remember that God is within us. That is the important thing. It is an unfathomable mystery that God is within and without, everywhere and in all things. A prayer attributed to Saint Patrick whose feast day is tomorrow could be a mantra of sorts that could help us be mindful of our God as we journey through Lent toward the great Paschal Mystery.

• "Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me..." 
• "Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me, shield in the strife" 
• "Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising, light of my life"

 

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Now and forever!

Sermon 205 March 9, 2025: Jr 9:1-8, 22-23; Heb 3:7-14, 5:12-13; Mt 4:1-11 “Test"

 As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

       As the first week of Lent comes to an end, we are presented with the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Sometimes we might feel as if we are always living in the wilderness. And the devil is lurking everywhere. The gospel passage in its English translation often uses the word temptation and test interchangeably since the Greek word peirazo, can be used for either meaning. Even though our images of temptations and tests differ, either way, temptations can often be tests. 

       I don't know how many of you remember the days when seatbelts for cars were being introduced and auto manufacturers ran TV ads showing cars being crashed into walls to demonstrate how the seatbelts could save lives. Of course, people weren't convinced, so states began passing laws requiring drivers to use seatbelts and fining drivers who were caught not wearing their seatbelts. When air bags were introduced the same process was repeated. The auto makers tested seatbelts and airbags and other equipment because they wanted to be sure that the equipment would stand up to the road challenges cars would confront.

       So, Jesus, after his baptism, heads off to the desert, led by the spirit, where Satan puts him to the test. As we heard, the devil takes three different approaches to seduce Jesus from his path. Change a stone into bread, test whether or not God is really supporting him, worship the devil and gain power over all nations of the world. These tests all fail to derail Jesus from his mission. Now, how does this apply to us? Life is constantly confronting us with tests. And the three tests Jesus faced can be viewed as symbols of tests we all face.

       Changing a stone into bread might be a metaphor for our desperate efforts to try to change our reality into something other than what it really is. But we cannot live a false reality without suffering from psychological, emotional and spiritual anxiety. We need to face our true reality and understand that the ultimate change we need to make in our lives comes from listening to the word of God and putting it into practice. And the word of God comes to us in many forms in addition to scripture, and often connected with our conscience. When these messages come we need to face them and accept their truth and not try to avoid them.

       The second test is about expecting God to fix everything for us. If this is a perfect world, then what good is God if he cannot fix everything? But this approach to God puts our relationship with God backwards. It says that God exists to do things for us as if God is our servant. We decide what we need and let God know. When in reality our task is to be open to the spirit and will of God. Or as Jesus says, ours is not to put God to the test, but to do the will of God.

       The third test is about power and control. Our liturgical prayers often warn us about the danger in our desire to control everyone and everything. Our culture never tires of placing before us enticing illusions about exceptional opportunities to control outcomes. The simplest example fits into a marketing strategy that says if you buy X it will enable you will get Y, which could be health, wealth, power, fame, connections, and more. For those folks who delight in warning us about the slippery slope, this ranks as one of the slipperiest. Jesus replies: worship the Lord your God and he alone. But instead, we worship so many other things, so many other gods.

       This gospel story is also found in a brief passage in Mark and in an expanded passage in Luke. The end of Luke's passage offers us a telling reminder about the tests of life. Luke says [LK 4:13] "Satan left him for a while." Ah yes, there will be more tests in Jesus' future. And likewise for us. We pass a test and we think we are home free. But just around the corner is another test. Did the first test help us to better meet the next one? This Lenten passage is our training ground for the tests of life. It is to help us learn how to face, process and respond to the challenges of life. The practices and exercises of this period are not ends in themselves, but rather opportunities for us to cultivate the inner strength to weather the inevitable storms of life. Let us make the best use of this opportunity.

 

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

The Prodigal Son

As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church


Jeremiah 3:12b-15,19-22; 1 John 3:7-20; Luke 15:11-32

Preparing for the Lenten season, this parable today seems fitting when one considers the world at large. We all experience the foibles of living and the choices we have to make daily. This parable surely indicates some of our human foibles as carried out by the two sons. For the younger son, desiring to do as he self-centeredly pleased, without regard for anyone else, was a big foible. For the older son, being faithful to his responsibilities but being jealous, unforgiving, judgmental, and unloving toward his brother, was his.

 Forgiveness and love are two qualities the father, symbolizing God, represents. Do these two qualities describe how we approach our everyday lives? There must be things we can learn from this parable today to help us understand how to acquire these two qualities. 

From the Epistle from John we heard that all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. I hear this question from some: “Who are my brothers and sisters?” It reminds me of the question put to Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” We can have many different responses to what life with our neighbor presents to us. Our response will always, hopefully, be the response of the Good Samaritan. Being willing to help in whatever way we can. We need to think about who our neighbors are, and who our sisters and brothers are, that we need possibly to forgive but certainly to love. 

Throughout the centuries, there have always been bad people doing bad things. There have been great times of despair and horrible conditions. Even now, in this time, many countries are experiencing wars, horrific starvation, and killings. The pendulum swings back and forth in the ideals and values through the ages. If there are over 8 billion people inhabiting the earth at this point, can I, can we, direct the pendulum? Yes. We can hope and pray that we are getting better at discerning truth from fiction and will ultimately help bring about the Reign of God, as we pray in the Our Father. And before we think of finding fault with sinners, do we need to admonish ourselves for what we fail to provide for those we are admonishing? Forgiveness and love are essential components of how we can be the best person we can be with the gifts we have been given. That is the key.

 Each of us is blessed with many opportunities to reflect on our lives. First of all, on our relationship with our God: being conscious, or becoming conscious, of God in our lives by spending time praying or learning to pray. Giving thanks to God for both the good things and the seemingly bad things takes time that is well spent. 

Then there is our neighbor, our brothers and sisters, who are all part of the mystical Body of Christ. To love is not simply to do a kind act. To love as God loves is difficult. Our true goal is to engage in the practices that will teach us how to remove sin and reveal the incomparably beautiful image of God that we already are as human beings. This endeavor is especially difficult because of the violence of this world, whether it be the violence we commit or the violence experienced at the hands of another.     

We are all unique individuals, and by appealing to the Spirit in our midst, each of us will find our unique way to approach life and our choices. 

Prepare this Lent by remembering God’s faithfulness to those who call on the Spirit. Ponder this: Is it love that enables us to forgive, or do we forgive before we are truly able to love?                                                     

Christ’s Spirit is in our Midst.

Sermon 204 Jan 19, 2025: Ezk 34:11-16; Col 1:11-20; Lk 15:1-10 “The Good Shepherd” [lost and found]

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

 

         When traveling did you ever lose your luggage? Your flight went one way and your luggage another? Getting it back can be both frustrating and time consuming. If you’re lucky the airline might deliver your found luggage to your door. In the worst case it might be lost forever. If the contents are really important to you, you will expend whatever energy is necessary to recover your luggage.

         It would be hard to miss the theme of today’s scripture readings. The Good Shepherd. And yet, what is the Good Shepherd? Even though I now live in rural upstate New York, I have no personal experience of farming and so for me the image of the Good Shepherd is only based on stories not on practical experience. But Jesus was speaking to people of a largely agrarian society who were quite familiar with the image of a good shepherd to which today’s scripture points. The Good Shepherd cares for his or her flock, for its safety and well-being. And the sheep know the shepherd’s voice. They know when they are safe.

The most important quality that runs through both of these stories is not so much about rounding up sheep but seeking out what is lost. The woman is searching for a lost coin, and in her life, the sum it represents is a major portion of her financial well-being. So, the lost sheep and the lost coin represent something of value, a value so great, in the image of the lost sheep, that the other 99 can be left behind while searching for the one lost.

If a lost sheep can be valued that high, the value of a human being is higher still. But of course, Jesus’ stories aren’t really about sheep and coins, they are about our relationship with God. Think of the 99 sheep as on one side of an equation and the lost sheep on the other side. Both sides of the equation are encompassed in the one reality that is God. The 99 are aware and secure in their sense of being with and in God while the lost sheep has lost that connection. Nothing is outside of God. However, the lost sheep, which could be any one of us, may be aimlessly walking in the dark. God is seeking to bring that lost soul back into the light of divine love to enable it to see once again it's communion with God. We may know when we are lost. But do we know when we are found?

Many spiritual writers, including the church fathers, speak about how we are to live in God and God in us. The 99 sheep are like those with God and the one gone astray is sought out by God to be brought back into the fold with the others who are already with God. The Good Shepherd and the Thrifty Housewife represent a loving God seeking what is lost. 

Those who are lost are not really lost but rather have gone astray and God is drawing them back. Jesus is telling his listeners how strong God’s desire is to bring back those who have lost connection with their true identity of being a special part of God’s creation: that is, sons and daughters of God. The message of Jesus’ stories is: do not despair, the situation is not hopeless. God is always seeking to bring all of us more closely into communion with him.

 

[We may intellectually perceive this but do we really feel it? I have experienced this in what some may think is an odd way. As I was pondering this, an unusual image began to emerge which I would like share with you. The image was not so much about understanding our relationship with God, but rather trying to image what it feels like. Bear with me for a moment.

         I invite you to close your eyes. With your eyes closed, rest quietly with the feeling of who you are. Not what you look like or what you might dream about or even what you think you might now see, but rather just rest with the present feeling of who you are. I am distinct from my physical reality. I am sensing my presence without actually feeling anything tangible or palpable. But I notice that I am real and living and aware of my distinctiveness. Whatever that sense is, it makes me aware of who I am. Then remember the name of God: I am. 

Now open your eyes. This little experiment is simply trying to give us a deeper sense of experiencing God in us and we in God. The very thing that Christ is imaging in these stories.]

 

Bringing back what is lost is God’s perspective. Being found, is our human perspective. When we speak of being in God and God in us, we might also say that where we meet God is when we really can feel God’s presence so closely that we truly sense that the “I am” of God and the “I am” of each human being truly occupy the same space, or rather, the same all-encompassing reality. That’s when we are found, when we finally sense being within God and God within us.

         Then truly, Christ is in our midst! 

Homily for the Circumcision (Lk 2:21-23, 39-40)

 As preached by Brother Christopher
Holy Wisdom Church

 

Today is the feast of the Circumcision – the immediate follow-up to the Nativity – which commemorates Jesus being formally stamped as a member of God’s chosen people, the one through whom humanity would be saved. For it is also the feast of the name of Jesus, the name the angel gave to Mary at the Annunciation and which now defines his mission: ‘God saves’. So taken together, today is a feast of identity, a feast whose mystery we enter into every time we utter the name of Jesus in faith and love.

Yet I have to admit that I was struck several days ago when we celebrated the feast of St Stephen, the protomartyr, who was put to death because he had the temerity to confront the high priest and the entire Sanhedrin with their inauthenticity, showing that there was nothing automatic about circumcision and that it only had real meaning to the extent that they followed God’s lead. Remember what he said? “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit...” Little wonder why he was soon under a pile of stones. For Stephen, circumcision quite obviously didn’t accomplish what it was supposed to signify.

          Which leads one to ask, ‘so why did Jesus get circumcised? What is the deeper meaning of him submitting to a procedure that would soon become obsolete as the definitive sign of being part of the chosen people? I believe it points to a deeper mystery that is taking place. In submitting to the law of circumcision it marks a transition: that Jesus is the fullness and completion of the Old Covenant, that by having this marked on his body as an infant, it will be completed and brought to fulfillment on the cross. And his resurrection will usher in a new age, a new covenant in which physical circumcision will no longer be a legal requirement for being part of God’s people, but which will now be transformed into a spiritual requirement that applies to Jew and Gentile alike. 

          I think it’s fair to say that this isn’t a ploy to let us get off easy. For submitting to a true spiritual circumcision is about the total stripping of the old person, consecrating and sanctifying our bodies as part of this transformation. It’s a process that takes place over the course of our lives. And this is not gender specific. Spiritual circumcision applies to all of us, male and female alike, because above all, what it’s pointing to is circumcision of the heart. It is our heart – whose depths include all our thoughts, feelings, desires... everything that is not in synch with our dedication and love for God. That is what must be excised and left behind. That can’t happen without a lot of personal effort combined with grace. But that’s what we’re called to.

          Today marks the beginning of a new year. While it is not the beginning of the liturgical year, psychologically it represents a new opportunity to turn the page of our tired habits and compromises. Let’s receive it as the gift that it is.