Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

I would like you to take a few seconds and look at your hands…..what do you see?  Do any of you see the hands of Christ?

 

St Theresa of Avila wrote:

 

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.” – Teresa of Avila

 

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord, we also are reflecting on who we are as a parish community with our annual trustee report. 

 

When I first came here last August, I was wondering what I would do here…..this parish has so much going for it and works very well….in February when I went on retreat, God showed me what my work with you would be…….to further the mission of the Church……to be a disciple with you, to help you be better disciples and then to go and make disciples.  This is the mission entrusted to us by Jesus and the reason the parish exists.  As I read the surveys, many of you said that we need to get more people involved and to reach the younger members of the community.  To do that is to call them to discipleship; but, we need to be that ourselves.  Being a disciple is not in a book or a theological idea:  it is to follow Jesus, to love Jesus, and to have a relationship with him.  This has to be the starting point.  Anything we do will fail if we are not doing Christ’s mission.   Our mission must be centered here at the Eucharist.  Here we are made into His Body and Blood; from this holy table, we are sent to be his hands, his feet, his eyes into the world.  Christ left us the mystery of the Eucharist as a memorial of His Love; He gave us the very gift of himself so we could change the world in His name.

The vision I have for us as a community is that we all commit ourselves to be disciples, grow as disciples and make disciples.   All the gifts and talents we need are already here; we just need to use them.  The gift of the Lord’s Body and Blood is what transforms us into His Church.

 

Take a look at your hands……..they are Christ’s and have a mission to accomplish: to bring Him into the world

 

I have been following the news on the eruption of the volcano in Hawaii.  Too me, the power that is evident is tremendous.   The pressure that builds is some of the lava tubes miles away from the volcano can throw rock the size of refrigerators into the air.  This molten rock from the very core of the earth is always there and when it erupts to the surface, the earth itself is recreated.  Yes, there is destruction, but at the same time creation.  In Hawaii, when the lava cools or hits the water new land begins to be formed.  Over time, this new land will be able to sustain life or make the island bigger.

What a great analogy for the Holy Spirit.  The fire of the Spirit burns in the hearts in each of us.  In Baptism and Confirmation, we receive the very life of God, the very Spirit God comes to us.  It is present in us whether we practice our faith or not.  The Spirit is like the molten lava in the core of earth; the Spirit is there working under the surface and waiting for the day we allow It to break through the solid walls of our resistance, our lack of faith, our sin, our coldness, our fear.  On that day, the fire of the Power of God erupts with such force that we are forever changed.  The hardness of our hearts is destroyed; our sin is forgiven, our fear is destroyed, our coldness is changed into the warmth of charity, and our selfishness into Love.  This is what happened in the Upper room when the Spirit descended upon the Apostles and all those who gathered in the Upper Room,  I don’t think it is a mistake that the Spirit descended like a mighty Wind and danced as tongues of fire.

Today, we need to beg God to unlock within us the power of the Spirit that flows like the lava in the core of the earth.  We need to beg God to let the power of His Love flow into the world like the lava that flows out through the fissures to re create the earth and our world.  We need to beg God to use us to break down the walls of the violence that is growing in our nation.  We cannot keep reading about children being  shot in schools and do nothing.  As Christians, the Spirit can flow through us to make the changes needed so that our youth can go to school and not worry about what could happen.  The power of the Spirit can enflame us so that those who are poor are fed, there is adequate health care for those with mental health problems, that people find a just wage and the earth itself is treated with respect and love.  The fire and power of the Spirit that flows in the heart of the Church and in our hearts can recreate the face of the earth can erupt and flow….if we open our hearts and allow God to erupt in us and into the world.  If built up steam can through boulders the size of refrigerators into the air like a tennis ball, then the power of the Spirit can blast into our hearts and change us and the world

We are challenged to take the risk today and ask the Spirit that dwells in the depths of our hearts to erupt and flow out of us like the lava in Hawaii.  Yes, things will be destroyed in us and in the world, but God will use us and empower us to recreate the world into the Kingdom Jesus preached.

 

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

 

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

What do we do with our friends?   Spend time together, talk with each other, share a meal with each other, be there for each other….my friend Jesus and your friend Jesus wants to do the same with us.  Jesus wants to spend time with us, but we need to make time for him.   No friendship can survive with a few tweets or messages a month or a year.  Jesus wants more.   He wants to have a meal with us…..here at the Eucharist.  This Holy Meal has been set before us by God Himself and the food we share is His Divine Presence.  To be friends with Jesus means we give up as much for others as he gives up for us.  Jesus loves us so much that He gives us everything possible and then says to go and do it to all we meet.  To be Jesus’ friend is to befriend every person in the world as He does.   Jesus excludes no one from His friendship.  We exclude ourselves; we keep Him at a distance; we think we don’t need him.  Yet, whether we want to admit it or not, we do.

The friendship that Jesus calls us to is not a friendship of connivence. He demands from us a commitment.  It is not easy to be a friend of Jesus because he calls us to love as unconditionally as He loves.  We need to love ourselves as Jesus loves us; we need to love others as Jesus loves them, and we need to love Jesus with everything we have.  In Corinthians 13, we are told that without love we are nothing.  Christian love is patient, kind, forgiving, not inflated, and the list continues. 

As we approach the end of the Easter season in two weeks with the Solemnity of Pentecost, let us beg the Spirit of God to grant us all the grace to celebrate being the friends of Jesus.  May the Spirit of the Living God enflame our hearts the love of God that transformed the Cross into the sign of our hope and the symbol of His Love.

 

Come, Divine Spirit of Christ and teach us how to love.

Thank you for calling us your friends.  Teach us to live as your friends.

May we share the Love that you have for us with all we know and meet.

Divine Spirit, light our hearts on the fire of love.

May we have the strength to Love as Jesus loves us

Amen.

 

 

In a reflection that I was reading about this week’s second reading, the author ended with a question:  How has God’s love changed my life?  To be honest, when I first saw it, I drew a blank.  I know this is a question that I really need to sit with and I invite you this week to do the same.  In today’s first reading, we see how God’s love changed the Church by providing a replacement for Judas.    The Spirit of God guided Peter and the other apostles to provide for leadership and a person to witness to Jesus.  Obviously, Matthias must have known Jesus and had been with him since the beginning.  He had a relationship with Jesus as friend, Lord and Savior.  Jesus’s love for him and the love Matthias witnessed on the Cross changed his life.

However, that still does not answer my question.   How has God’s love changed my life?  The most basic change for me was a realization that Jesus wasn’t something I read about in a theology book or in the catechism, but a real and living person who continues to be as alive as he was 2000 + years ago.  His presence is as real today and he continues to call people to follow Him.  This Jesus knows me; and He knows you.  Jesus want to be so connected to us that he became one like this.  Jesus loved us with perfect love.  On the Cross, he gave His all for me and for you.  By rising again, he restored our relationship with Him as had been intended since the beginning.

How has God’s love changed me life?  He has been there for me in the hardest of times.  At funerals, I often talk about the dark valley of the 23^rd psalm and how David may have based this on a dangerous road outside Jerusalem which goes in and out of dark places and was known for the thieves that stalked it.  In all our lives, there are dark valleys and He is right there besides us……I know because He has been there with me.  His Love has surrounded me with light and gave me the courage to go on.  As I have let Jesus become more my friend than an idea, I have found a peace that lasts no matter what.  As I have allowed myself to be closer to Him, the joy that He gives has grown.    He want to do the same for you.

How has God’s love changed my life?  In more ways than I can say, and He has done the same for you.  May our prayer this week before Pentecost be that the Spirit inspire us and give us the vision and courage to proclaim that Jesus has changed our lives and the fire to tell everyone we meet how Jesus’s love has changed our lives.

I am the vine and you are the branches

This is such an easy concept to grasp about God.  Christ is the Vine.  Each of us are the leaves.    If we are not connected to Christ through the grace of the Sacraments, then we dry up and blow away like the dust.  This is the mystery of the Eucharist.  When we receive Holy Communion, Christ transforms us into His Body. 

Each of us has an integral part to play in the mission of the Church. 

Each of us has an integral part in building up the Kingdom of God.

When one member isn’t here or expecting someone else to do the work, then the whole Body is weakened.  Like the vine is affected when one branch breakers off  or is injured, so too the Church.  I believe with all my heart that everything we need to do the mission of Christ which is make disciples of all nations is already here in this Church.  What God can and will do is to feed the branches and bring them to flower, if we are willing to let God do it.  If one-person won’t get involved in the mission, then it makes the Body weak.  If one person is not participating in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, that branch will grow weak and if it falls off, the vine is hurt and vulnerable.

When we come forward to Communion, the priest or minister say “The Body of Christ”.  Yes, we are saying that the Bread is His Body; but, we are also saying the person ahead of us is and the person behind.  We receive Communion to be His Body alive in the world.  He is the Vine that attaches us to each other; like the branches off the Vine,

May we not allow ourselves to be separated from the Vine of Christ for any reason.  With out him, we will dry up and wither away.  In and with Christ, all is possible.

Jesus is the vine; you and I are the branches of his Body in our world