Homily February 10, 2019

Preached by Sister Rebecca
Holy Wisdom Chapel

Luke 19:1-10

    

             Two Sundays ago, the Christmas liturgical season officially ended with the Feast of the Elder Simeon’s Encounter with the infant Jesus in the Temple.  Today, a new liturgical season opens its door to us.  It is the very first announcement of Lent, where the Gospel speaks of another Encounter – that of the adult Jesus with the man called Zacchaeus.  However, unlike Simeon, this man, was one of ill repute.  He was a tribute collector for the Roman oppressor, which was tantamount to being a spy and a traitor.  And not only this, he was known to add his own sizable “administration fee.”

            Today’s Gospel starts with Zacchaeus learning that this famous Jesus is coming to town.  His curiosity perks up, and he wants to see this Jesus.  However, Zacchaeus realizes that he is so short he would never get a glimpse of Jesus over the heads of the crowd.  Driven by a sudden impulse, he seizes upon an opportunity of getting for himself a first-class seat by climbing up a sycamore tree. As Jesus comes close to the tree where Zacchaeus is perched, Jesus suddenly looks up and sees him.  Zacchaeus’ desire is such that it literally forces Jesus’ attention.  Jesus’ gaze must have ripped his heart wide open, and he sees beyond his little self, his persona, to what Jesus sees within him: a deep wellspring of goodness and potential to become who he really is.  And to make this experience tangible to him, Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the tree, telling him he must come and stay at his home today.  We can only imagine Zacchaeus’ joy as he scrambles down the tree to the feet of Jesus to welcome him. 

             When we reflect on Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, he doesn’t belittle or humiliate him.  Instead, he treats him like an intimate friend, inviting himself into his home.   Jesus does this even prior to any word of repentance or regret from Zacchaeus or any expression of resolve to change his ways.  Perhaps Zacchaeus only started out with a spark of simple curiosity, but in following through, he ends up with his heart opening, healed, and transformed.  Then and only then he sees his wrongdoings with new eyes, and he not only renounces his past wrongdoing, he also makes generous amends with those he has fleeced, from whom he has lined his pockets.

            Zacchaeus’ desire to see Jesus actually draws Christ’s gaze to him. What does this tell us of the power of desire?  Is this Gospel today inviting us to desire that which is deepest in us, beyond our personas in this world, beckoning us to feel our thirst and hunger for the Divine, who is the very luminous Ground of our being, whether we are conscious of it or not?  At the deepest level of our being, it is God who incites desire within us, cracking open the heart and allowing us to see the light, and this Light is the light of Love. 

            Today’s Gospel invites us to go inward.  As we do so, we will most certainly become aware of our character deficiencies.  But if we stay on the surface of our being, our personas, we will be short sighted. We are not healed, or transformed, by confronting all of our wounds and selfishness head-on, which could overwhelm us and drown us in discouragement. Going deeper to our center, our hearts, what might Christ’s gaze awaken in us?   Where in our life does God's goodness and beauty most shine through? When we perceive our God-given true nature, we are motivated to be who we truly are, and our desire, even if only a spark, will fan into an ever-larger flame that eventually will become a fire that cauterizes our faults, enabling us to grow to our deepest potential, to what makes us whole – humanly, spiritually, and morally.

            May we approach our Lenten journeys with enlightened inner eyes and see our God-given goodness and beauty of soul. By keeping our inner eyes focused on Christ we will naturally want to challenge ourselves and, when appropriate, others, not with shame bearing and harsh criticism, but with the desire to love ourselves and others as Christ loves us.  And this love bears fruit that gives us and the whole world New Life.

Notes:  Zacchaeus’ name in Hebrew means: innocent, pure.  No matter how a person thinks or behaves the soul remains pure, and untarnished.  Within every person is the potential to become the one they are called to reflect in life: the image and likeness of God dwelling in the depths of one’s soul.

One of the prayers recited upon awakening by a pious Jew is:

“My, God, the soul You placed in me is pure.

You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me,

and You guard it while it is within me.  ..

Blessed are You, Lord, who restores souls to lifeless bodies.”

From The Koren Sacks Siddur with Introduction, translation, and commentary by: Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

I am grateful for some insights received from Fr. Ronald Rohlheiser’s homily on this passage on November 17, 2003.

Homily Lk 12-33 The Aging of Aquarius

As preached by Brother Marc
Holy Wisdom Church
January 27, 2019

WAMC’s Joe Donahue interviewed the author of a new book The Aging of Aquarius: What Are You Waiting For? The author, Ellen Wilkes, fled Nazi Germany as a child and now in her 80’s lives in Canada. As we approach our elder years, she says, we may want to ask ourselves, “Am I ready for this stage or time in my life?”

I know I do ask myself this every day!

If we don’t take steps every day to grow and become transformed as elder persons, she says, in a few years we will still be waiting for the life we are now called to.

We might ask around, “What are all of us doing while waiting on the warnings, promises or unknowns of the future? Am I keeping my body ready for the inevitable changes and challenges ahead? Am I in possession of my own soul—safely in God’s hands? Am I keeping my mind alert and my heart open? Am I Christ-like in any way at all?”

I once read about something called “The Black Swan,” one of those, unexpected, unplanned, explainable events that provokes a crisis.

Suddenly—in the middle of a nice day—the power goes off. And the generator becomes overheated and stops running.

Or a thief comes in the night: and our protection dog is at the vet’s.

In the gospel reading, the Lord announces his future great and sudden return. He says we know neither the day nor the hour. His implication is, “Are we prepared regardless of what the rest of the world does.” In the twinkling of an eye…everything can change.

He predicted: “That day will spring on us suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth, but guard your minds and hearts. Pray for strength to escape all the things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of God.”

This might give us the motivation to be always on the alert. There will be an accounting, but the merciful Lord is with us.

What will keep us sharp and ready for this promise and warning? Pray always. Just as we might regularly watch world news, monastics keep watch at vigil services! Every canonical hour we raise your eyes to heaven and look toward life’s horizon.

What causes us to lose our spiritual alertness, desire and practice? Of course, we say—I am busy, tired, and depressed—and worse.

Spiritual readiness is not just leaving a friendly light on for family members or guests. For example, when we are upset, we unexpectedly reverse things and do for the others what you wish they had done for us! When Martin Luther King received the Noble Peace Prize for his leadership in the civil rights movement, he said “I still believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”—and we know these make us ready in God’s eyes.

We ready ourselves as a religious community, or as part of the secular community, when we use our hospitality, gifts and talents. We build peaceful relationships and do not strive for things that perish. We always need to build up and inspire one another with energy and wisdom. A preacher remarked, “Do your best and God, the architect of life, builds with you.”

As a child Anne Frank, too, fled Germany in World War II with her family, but later they needed refuge again when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands. They waited for the day of liberation for over two years in the excruciating isolation of an Amsterdam attic. She wrote in her famous diary:

“I hear the approaching thunder that will destroy us too.”

In her adolescent lack of experience, she actively took care to feed her spirit and grow in awareness and love—she was transformed even while threatened by the suffering and hostility below her in the streets. “If you become part of the suffering,” she wrote, “you’ll be entirely lost.”

At the end, facing death and annihilation at the age of fifteen, Anne wrote simply, “Whenever you feel sad, try going to the loft on a beautiful day and looking at the sky. As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you’ll know, you’ll know you are pure within.”

If we want to be ready for the next big thing, we can pray and work quietly, or write and work publicly to inspire ourselves and those around us. Then, whether we are elders, youngsters or midsters, we can say, “Come, Lord Jesus, we are ready.

Brother Marc

Jan 20th, 2019 Eze 34:11-16, Col 1:11-20, Lk 15:1-10

As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church

When I was young and heard about the shepherd going off to look for one sheep who had wandered off and leaving the other 99, I often wondered how responsible was that? Since then I’ve come to understand there are many meanings to the parables.  One explanation of leaving the 99 unattended is that the sheep were intermixed with other sheep and the shepherds guarding them would also guard this shepherd’s sheep. The sheep probably belonged to a village rather than one person and the villagers cheered when a shepherd came back with the missing sheep. At any rate I’m sure that some arrangement was made. For those who might equate themselves as being among the 99, God does love the faithful among us but even angels rejoice when a sinner repents-the sheep who wanders off.

 The Shepherd is God who goes after each of us if we stray. To answer the Pharisees objection of Jesus hobnobbing with those they considered sinners who should be avoided at all costs, Jesus indicates he came to save these very ones- the sinners and outcasts.

The joy of the woman finding her lost coin seems also to express how much God loves one who is lost.

That is one thing that Jesus taught that was not remembered by most of the Hebrews: that God actively seeks out those who have lost their way as we heard this morning from Ezekiel.

What is our response to this great love the Shepherd/ father has for us? How do we receive this love from God and then how do we pass it on to others? 

The reading from Colossians indicates how we can. Paul prayed that the Colossians -that includes us- be made strong with the strength of God’s power. Paul prayed that we be prepared to endure everything with fortitude, and patience. And with joy give thanks to God. This patience is not just bowing out heads and letting life happen around us but dealing with the events of life with courage. 

Another kind of patience is the long-suffering patience with people. It is a quality of mind and heart to not let another’s unpleasantness, maliciousness and cruelty drive us to bitterness. That we do not let another’s unteachableness drive us to despair or another’s foolishness drive us to irritation. That we continue to choose to love others in spite of any other undesirable qualities in them. 

Jesus never said: “Obey my rules.”  He said: “Obey me, follow me”. The Lord made obedience something that we would desire to do because Jesus gave up his life that we might be free. That is why we are required to discern between white and black, between light and dark, good and evil. We are required to make choices. That is the beauty of the freedom of the Lord. It is God’s love that make us want to obey. Obeying God was never meant to be a chore or a duty but a joyous response to God’s love.

It is the Father who seeks us out to enable us to share in the inheritance of the saints of light, that is, the kingdom of Jesus, (God’s beloved son). What prevents us from joyfully giving thanks to God in the light of seeing God’s great love for us?

Christ is in our midst!

Christmas 2018 Jer 23:3-8, Gal 4:4-7, MT 2: 1-12 Christ is born!

As preached by Sister Cecelia

Holy Wisdom Church

It is not easy to be a Christian today but it never has been easy. Where do we go for help to know what we need to do, what choices we are to make today, tomorrow and the next day? Scripture, the Good News of our Bible is one of the places to turn to. It is a formidable task and one that we frequently put off for the quiet time that never seems to come. Trying to understand the lessons we might glean from our Liturgical feasts this week though, is a start.

While there is much written about the symbolism of the gifts the Magi brought to the infant, it is understood that the Gold is a gift fit for a king. Jesus’ kingdom was not what the Hebrews were expecting. Jesus was to rule by love and not by force, ruling our hearts, not from a throne but from the cross.

Frankincense is a gift fit for a priest for the worship of God. It was in the temple worship and temple sacrifices that the sweet perfume of Frankincense was used. Opening the way to God was the function of a priest. A Latin word for priest is pontifex which means bridge builder. The priest is the one who builds a bridge between God and humankind. In some theological circles all believers are priests which follows then that we all have the responsibility of opening the way to God for others by our lives.

Myrrh is a gift for one who is dying or died. Even at the cradle of Christ, the gifts of the wise men foretold that He was to be the true King, the perfect High Priest and in the end the Supreme Savior of humankind.

After finding and worshiping Jesus, the Magi were warned by God not to return to Jerusalem and Herod. Finding Jesus may mean our lives must also take a different direction, one more responsive and obedient to God’s word. Are we willing to be led in a different way?

Let us notice that it is not the wise men from Jesus’ own country that came to pay him homage but the learned philosophers from Persia or Babylon. To both the Romans and the Hebrews the belief systems and dress of these travelers must have seemed very strange. What must Mary and Joseph have thought of them?

What would we have thought of their strange dress and ways?

Think of all the great diversity among the entire human race. It is not only the wide variety of the shapes of our noses, mouths, hair color and sizes. We have vastly different languages, cultures, styles of behavior and beliefs. If we find ourselves among people vastly different from what we are used to, we can feel threatened, and hostile. Much of the fighting occurring through the history of the human race has been over these kinds of differences. We are much more prone to kill people over their skin color, language or religious differences than over economic or political ideologies.

Early in Jesus’ ministry it seemed he came only for the house of Israel but before his ministry ended, he made it clear that he had come for the entire world. He told his followers to spread his good news to all.

Throughout much of history it was thought that others would have to give up their own cultures, their own belief systems entirely and become just “like us” in order to be followers of Christ. It was thought that salvation would involve a denial of everything in their past and the accepting of only our past. Exactly how Jesus perfects the best in every human tradition is difficult to say, as some things do have to change. We can now see how wrong it was for Western Christians to demand converts to become good Europeans as well as Christians.

To be a true follower of Christ, people only need to accept the loving tender, passionate Father in heaven that Jesus came to reveal. Remember how often Jesus said: “It is written in the law...but I say to you, etc”. It is difficult for many to believe those who are different from us can equally share in the graces of God. They do not have to have the same customs, the same culture to be part of the body of Christ. There is much work to be done to help bring about these real connections, this genuine understanding. If we have not been bridge builders before, let this Christmas be a beginning even if it means being led into different ways of being.

Christ is born!

Sermon 162. 16 Dec 18 Dn 14:31-42; Col 3:2-9; Lk 13:18-30 Daniel & 3 Youths

Preached by Brother Luke    
Holy Wisdom Church   

We may all have our own experiences of being on the hot seat, but we must admit that these three youths turn in the marquee performance. To get the whole story of Daniel and the three youths you need to read all of the book of Daniel. In there you would notice that when the king questions the three about their god and what help they might expect from him they reply, either he will help them or he won’t, but either way they will praise the name of the Lord their God. Now that is a challenge to us and it is what I believe is a very important lesson of this story.  When faced with a crisis in our lives, can we praise God without regard to the outcome? Certainly, these three asked for God’s help, but they also sang his praises as the fires burned all around them.

        At final exam time I’m sure God’s message board lights up with an overload of requests for help to get through the exams. But of course, we can list many examples of our own trials and tribulations and look at how we approached God in each circumstance. An IRS tax audit, a major presentation in a court case, getting through a whelping with all the puppies alive, preparing a meal for special guests and hoping it will all go well, going to the doctor for an important check-up and hoping that whatever problem we might be facing will be solved without something worse happening, getting safely to the bottom of our road on an icy day, surviving a plane trip in the midst of a storm, etc. Can I praise God for my life and all the glories and graces I have enjoyed even when things seem to be going wrong?  That is a challenge.

        Let’s take it one step further. The early Fathers and Mothers of the church often counseled their petitioners to guard against the passions of the world. To set one’s focus on God’s Kingdom. If we are to live truly in the peace of the Lord, how can we do that if we are always or frequently angry, depressed, disturbed, upset, anxious, irritable, annoyed, rattled, sullen, and the list is endless. These feelings are telling us that we have allowed the “passions” of the world to hook us into the world’s maelstrom of distress. So, I believe, more pertinent for us today than the hot seat image, is the image captured by the quote from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”: “if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”

        Richard Rohr, in one of our recent morning matins readings was saying much the same thing but using the images of light and darkness. We wish we could stop all the darkness in our world, “But at a certain point, we have to surrender to the fact that the darkness has always been here, and the only real question is how to receive the light and spread the light.” He goes on to say: “What we need to do is recognize what is, in fact, darkness and then learn to live in creative and courageous relationship to it.” ^[1]This does not mean we don’t care about the cares of the world, it means we don’t let the world rule our lives, especially when we realize that we are not really in a position to change the world. This is the world Jesus is telling us to leave behind. Point to the light and keep going in that direction rather than be drawn into the darkness that can seem all pervasive around us. If we don’t, we may find ourselves contributing to the problem rather than making it better.

        The Battenkill Chorale this January will be singing James Whitburn’s Annelies which is based on the Diaries of Anne Frank who in the midst of her trials wrote: “If you become part of the suffering, you’d be entirely lost.” The outcome for her did not change, but this teenage girl faced it with courage. Not unlike our three youths in the fiery furnace. Truly a lesson for us in our times.

        Glory be to Jesus Christ!

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^[1] Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent. Cincinnati: Franciscan Media, 2008, p. 27.