Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

This week’s unexpected and nearly-unprecedented announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he will abdicate the papacy at the end of this month is just now settling in to the hearts and minds of millions of Catholics throughout the world.  While many feelings, thoughts and questions abound, I wonder if we might reflect for a moment on the examples of humility and abandonment that Pope Benedict is offering to us and to the world.

So many of usmyself very much includedseek power and prestige, do we not?  Most of us, when given the opportunity, will seek our own interests first and then, maybe, seek the interests of others.  I am considering the issue of leadership on the national level and I truly cannot find many examples of political rulers abdicating the power of their throne, rather so many of themeven todayabuse the power that has been entrusted to them; not many industrial leaders will simply walk away from the corporation that’s making millions of dollars no matter what its ethical practices; few philanthropists give away their fortune to charity while still alive.

And with many other examples, we can see that Pope Benedict’s decision is fairly unique: he is handing over the prestige of his popularity, the publicity of his holy way of live, the power of his office as Peter’s successor…all to enter into a cloistered existence, removed from the public for the remainder of his days, to humbly pray for the good of the Church and all of her people.  He is abandoning his current ministry in order to re-claim a ministry of supreme value: humble prayer before God and on behalf of others.  These are the reasons I would suggest he is humbly abandoning the goods of this world in order to care for the goods of the spiritual world.

It is probably no coincidence that such an act is being taken up now.  Did you hear the three temptations in today’s gospel?  The devil appeals to our selfish tendencies in order to draw us away from God.

• When we all desire pleasure and comfort (“Tell this stone to turn into a loaf”), sometimes we need to rightly place that desire aside (“Man lives not on bread alone”).
• We all desire to be self-sufficient, to have power to do whatever we want, whenever we want, free from limitations (“I shall give you all this power” says the tempter),  but only God is self-sufficient.  Our existence depends on Him we need Him to sustain and guide us (Christ responds, “God alone must you serve”).
• We all desire recognition, popularity and praise (surely a dive from the Temple parapet would have gained Jesus instant fame), but these are no substitute for the true meaning and happiness given by humble friendship with God.

The devil wants us to keep “self” at the center of our lives, but we are invited to keep God as our center, always seeking to know and to follow ‘Goodness’ itself, ‘virtue’ itself, ‘holiness’ itself.  For, from our first reading, we’ve recounted the faithfulness of God to us; from our second reading, we’ve recalled how God himself is the only source of our salvation.

Pope Benedict acknowledges this week his frailties and his incapacity to lead…accepting now a role of humble service for the good of us all. And so, the Christian virtues of humility and obedience teach us, yet again, to give ourselves over to the source of all good, of all virtue, and of all holiness.

May our Holy Father Benedict be blessed in his humble suffering and service, and may each of us learn from our Good Pastor.

I’ve always been intrigued by stories and movies of battles: maybe fantastical myths of Jason and the Argonauts or Sinbad; of battles throughout the development of the Roman Empire and of Europe; of our own growth as a union of States.  In each of those stories, there is always one scene where the sounding of “retreat” is issued to the troops: they are instructed to “pull back” and retreat from present positions of danger and probable defeat…to retreat into safer ground, into a place to re-group, recover, and re-assess how to move forward once again.

As Lent falls upon us today; as we begin a forty day journey of retreat, I would like to invite you to reflect with me on what it is we might “retreat from” and then what it isor who it iswe might “retreat into”.  Just take the last three or four months, and we’ll quickly see what we might best retreat from:

• Our country saw a great divide in our recent national elections, the likes of which we have not seen before;
• Our own fellow citizens saw devastation all around them as the waves and winds of Hurricane Sandy caused destruction that can still be evidenced across the shores of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut;
• Economic irresponsibility and recklessness continues to shape our financial uncertainty, both as a nation and as individuals and families;
• Violence continues to grip our nation and our world as wars abound, individuals ravage, nations take siege, and innocent victims are silenced forever;
• Those seeking refuge from tyranny and oppression, from violence and danger are still “unwelcome guests”, “illegal aliens” in our land of freedom;
• We have lost so many parishioners in these last months to sickness and violence, some old and others young, some unexpectedly swift and some prolonged…all to the point that may jeopardize those fragile gifts of faith and hope which are ours with oft-great fragility;
• Those of us who, in the world, profess faith and practice religion are further and further chastised and castigated, relegated to the quietest corners of our communities; all while a new religion of personal opinion, anonymity, isolation, independence and irresponsibility are the creed by which ‘reasonable’ and ‘elite’ citizens govern God and re-define ‘the Good’.

And there are so many other things that we might find we must retreat from, in order for us to discover not only a deserved respite, but a keener vision about such realities.  And as we retreat from such things, what is it that we “retreat into”?

• In this Year of Faith, we might retreat into the growth of our faithnot blind or stupidbut reflective and informed…a faith in which each of us might proclaim with renewed fervor, “I believe!”;
• Maybe we can take this sacred season of 40 days and retreat into a renewal of our deep appreciation for, and love of, the revealed, abiding love of Christ, poured out for us in the Holy Eucharist.  We might visit in adoration the Blessed Sacrament exposed in our church every first Friday morning or every third Wednesday evening;
• We might benefit from commemorating the Stations of the Cross with our great Lord on the Fridays of Lent, or even stop in the church throughout any weekday and walk our own stations with Christ, letting Him help us to carry our own crosses;
• “Return to me with your whole heart; I am gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in kindness” says the Lord through the prophet Joel.  We might retreat into the blessed rest of God’s embrace, simply contemplating God’s great love for every single one of us;
• Some of us may want to “give alms to another in secret”: by participating in the H₂O Project again this Lent, we will be able to provide another permanent well of drinking water for a community that thirsts;
• “God made His Son to be sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God” writes St. Paul.  We might retreat into the grace of God, to discover again the gift of our Savior’s love…maybe taking one SundayMarch 10^thand entering into retreat with fellow Catholics to ponder the freedom and new life God gives us whenever we return to Him.

Each of these possibilities hold out the invitation for every one of us to “retreat into” the deeper life of God; to “retreat into” Him who holds out so much for us: joy, holy company with the saints, renewed faith in His love, and countless other blessings.

Recall, too, in whatever you do: Christ came into the world to redeem the world, thus in our work and our prayer, we retreat from the world not to escape it or run from it; rather, we retreat so that we might re-enter it in order to transform it with the power and light of the Gospel.

Finally, for those of us who might wonder where we might find the time or limited energy to retreat in any of these ways this Lent, rest assured that whatever timeeven smallthat you give to such a retreat is a privileged time with God and within His Church.  See this season as an opportunity to “redeem the time and effort you give” to God and His people.  And Godwho sees your goodness, even in secretwill repay you over and over.

A blessed Lent and retreat for each of you.

Yours in Christ our Savior,

Fr. David LeFort

Earlier this week, a friend of minea 47-year old surgeonwas honored because of his role as a Catholic medical missionary.  After 10 years serving in Kenya, he has now been in Sudan for the last four years, the only medical doctor for hundreds of miles, he has performed nearly 1,000 surgeries on the poor, the war-torn injured and dying.

When war broke out, he was advised by his superiors to flee, but he did not.  His answer, “what should I do?  Just leave them?  This is when they need me most, and this is when I need God with me most!”

The archbishop of the Sudan traveled to New York this week to give witness to this young man’s generosity to the Sudanese, his selfless and tireless missionary work for a people who have nothing.  And yet, the doctor’s response was that he was merely doing what he could, and God was doing the rest, the great, the ministry.

In all three of our readings today, we witness that God is doing all of the work: through Isaiah who allows the Lord to send him; through Paul who, though weak, still responds to God’s invitation; through Peter who, though ‘a sinful man’, still follows the command of the Master to “put out into the deep”.

All three of our scriptural characters acknowledge that they are not well-suited for the tasks for which God is calling them, but apparently, they needn’t be.  The only skills they must possess are humility (the willingness to admit their weakness), openness to be sent, and then simply going…all with the Lord Himself.

So it is, then, with us.  We do not need to be perfect, nor wise, nor powerful, nor handsome, nor an orator, nor rich, nor talented.  No, all we need do is listen for the invitation to serve God and then humbly submit ourselvesgive ourselvesto His service.

Here in our parish, we’re blessed to have so many generous parishioners to serve in our liturgical ministries.  But it happens every so often that, when I invite someone to consider serving as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, they kindly respond, “oh, I’m not worthy to do that.”  Well, to be honest, I know!  In fact, none of usespecially Iis worthy, but that’s not a requisite for our ministry.  If it were, God would have no one to serve…moreover, if I was worthy, then I’d really have no need for God!  But thank Goodness, God provides where we lack; God strengthens where we are weak; God encourages when we are afraid…all we need do is open ourselves to Him, hear His invitation and, “put out into the deep”.

My surgeon-friend knows full well his weaknesses, his inabilities, his faults, but instead of simply throwing in the towel and abandoning Goodness and virtue, he simply places himself in God’s hands and gets to the work of ministering to others…all the while allowing God to work through him and into the blessed lives of others.

This week, may each of us find ways to discover God’s gentle invitation to further trust Him, to freely open ourselves to Him and to generously serve Him.  May God bless you as you hear Him.

In today’s Gospel, we have Christ once again in his hometown. He was welcomed on previous occasions, but this time it was different. Although they are amazed with Him and adore the words of His mouth, the tide quickly shifts: being somewhat entertained, the people expected him to work wonders here as he did in Capernaum. They wanted favoritism from Jesus, but failed to realize that God has not favorites. Jesus tells them that as a prophet, his mission is not merely to benefit his own people, but to do God’s Will. The primary duty of the prophet is to call all people to hear and repent…to be the voice of Almighty God.  Moreover, that they refuse to see Him for who He really is does not confound Him, for those outside of faith hear Him and believe in Him.  Yet, the people are furious and immediately seek to destroy this One who speaks words that condemn their attitudes.

But Jesus is merely speaking truth, is He not?  Why then want to destroy Him?

Well, consider our own attitudes: when someone speaks words of correction to us, don’t we often rebel against them?  A superior chastises us for some wrongdoing, yet don’t we become angry with them instead of head their advice and instruction?  What about when a teacher gives us a failing grade on a test?  We get angry at the teacher don’t we?  Or a police officer gives us a ticket: isn’t one of our responses to become angry?

But why?   Each of them is only drawing attention to some truth that has escaped us: the worker should work diligently; the student earned the poor grade; the police officer is only upholding order and righteousness in a community…and we are the ones at fault.

Even the prophet Jeremiah encourages our admonishment when we’ve strayed from truth and goodness.  In our first reading, we are instructed to stand up for all that is good, even when it’s difficult.  When we do, God becomes our strength, the Lord protects us and defends us…with His truth.

Think of this another way: when you are at the water cooler at work or at school, and others speak bad about someone else.  Sure, it may be true, but it is still belittling and only tears others down.  Our readings are challenging us to stand up for the Good, the right…for justice.  Just as Christ does in the Gospel, we are to speak words that correct and admonish such gossip.  But, how?

St. Paul, in our second reading, gives us a clue: to correct and admonish out of love for the other.  We challenge poor behavior not so that we prove we are better, or holier, but rather because we love goodness and right, not merely for our own sakes, but for the sake of all others, for that is what love demands.  And we accept, albeit humbly, the correction of others, the admonishment of our poor doings or words, especially if we can see evidence of real and authentic love in the correction.

May this week reveal to each of us the ways in which we might need correction; when we are admonished, may we also see and hear love in the correction; when wrong, may we be able to accept a good criticism, and after all of this, give thanks to God for the gifts of truth, justice, and love…all flowing from God!

This past week opened up the spring semester at Siena College and I met thirty new students in my course on Catholicism.  We spent the first three hours of our class discussing these few questions: first, does God exist; second, if God exists, is He knowable; third, if God exists and is knowable, then is He known?  One of the reasons I begin this way is to get a sense of where the students are coming from and, second, to see if they can think and speak rhetorically.  As usual, they did very well.  That’s not to say none of them had questions or even rebuttals, but without appealing to faith, we were able to progress nicely during our first session.

One common thread that flowed throughout our eveningas it does each semesteris the impression I had that many of the students wanted proof of God’s existence.  Don’t get me wrong: I love it when students pose critical questions and thoughtful problems, but the fact still remains that many of them wanted proof.  Contrast these contemporary souls with those from our first reading.  All of the peoplenot most or some, but alllistened intently to the Law of God.  Showing the scroll of the Law, all of the people rose.  With that, all of them then prostrated themselves before the Law and hid their faces.  Why?  Clearly they held that not only did God exist, but God was revealing HimselfHis very selfin the Law of the covenant.  As the Law was presented to them, God Himself was present to them…and they knew it.  Such a presence was to be a source of joy and comfort for them…and He was indeed.

Even in our gospel passage, we hear of Christ passing through Galilee where all the people praised Him, and upon entering the synagogue at Nazareth, He is handed yet another scroll, not of the Law, but of the prophet Isaiah.  After proclaiming the prophecy, all eyes looked intently at Him, ready to praise His wisdom, and Christ announces that such prophecy is fulfilled in their very hearing.

Taken together, both the scroll of the Law and the scroll of the prophet, Jesus Christ fulfills the promise of the ages, bringing God’s acceptable time to His people. Yes, not merely with the Law and prophets, but in His very self, Christ reveals the presence of God…and the people know it.  There is not yet any question within them: God is indeed knowable.

Without appealing to matters of faith, my students and I proceeded to prove God’s existence using various philosophical arguments (that, I might add, fared quite well!), but clearly with faith, the existence of God is sure and true, our ability to know Him from His own revelation is a blessed gift, and the faith we live that flows from such a truth, enables us to walk with God always and everywhere.