Women and Jesus

Good morning! We give thanks for the wonderful air-conditioning that allows us to celebrate Mass in comfort during this oppressive heat. Let us spare a thought and say a prayer for the millions of people who lost power during the recent storms. I suppose you could use that as an excuse to skip Mass, but as one pastor put it: "If you think this is hot, remember there is no air conditioning in hell."

One of the aims of my homily today is to give you something to help you stay cool.

The gospel today from Mark 5:21-43 gives us the opportunity to think about the role and equality of women in our country and world. So much of our attitude is culturally determined.

For all our progress in the United States, women still only earn about .82 cents on the dollar compared to male counterparts doing the same work. Women only received the right to vote in this country in 1920, less than 100 years ago.

In Korea, back in the day, if a member of the aristocracy failed to produce a male heir, there was the practice of kidnapping a desirable woman from a neighboring village to be used as a sort of surrogate mother (ssi-ba-ji 씨 받이) and, after she was impregnated and gave birth to a son, to send her back to her family, minus the child.

Our own attitudes in the west have taken a millennium to change. These were initially articulated by none other than St. Thomas Aquinas in the Thirteenth Century. His theology and philosophy continue to influence church thinking today. In his treatise (De Gener. ii, 3) he states that "the female is a misbegotten male." He believed all children start out as male and then for some something goes wrong and a female develops. Of course, modern science has proven the exact opposite. We know we all start out as female and then (something goes wrong?) and some of us come out male. And we also know that it is the male who determines the gender of the children. How many women were "put away" (a la Catherine of Aragon) for not producing males?

Of course this attitude is very ancient. There is a prayer in orthodox Judaism that men pray daily in which they praise and thank God, "for creating me human and not an animal, a Jew and not a Gentile, a free man and not a slave, and a man not a woman."

Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth would surely have known and perhaps even recited this prayer. But let's look at how he lived and how he related to women.

He was not afraid to associate with them, even going so far as to have a theological conversation with a single (?) Samaritan woman. Wealthy women helped finance the disciples' ministry. The wife of Pontius Pilate interceded on Jesus' behalf. He often visited the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany. And Mary Magdalene, with whom Jesus had a very close relationship, was the very first to encounter the Risen Lord.

In today's gospel, Jairus, a synagogue leader, implores Rabbi Jesus to come quickly for his 12-year-old daughter is near death. And Jesus goes. On the way a huge crowd presses in on Jesus. Among them is a women who has suffered from a hemorrhage for 12 years. She secretly reaches out and touches Jesus' garment—and is immediately healed.

Some wonderful things are going on in this episode. First, the plight of the woman. The gospel tells us she had spent all her money on doctors and had not gotten better. Worse, worse even than being sick, is that her hemorrhage rendered her ritually unclean. For twelve years she did not dare enter a synagogue, let alone the Temple. She was not only a woman, but an unclean woman. An outcast among outcasts! No wonder she approached Rabbi Jesus in secret.

Something else mysterious and wonderful happens. Jesus is apparently unaware of her and her plight, but "he knew power had gone out from him." When he spun around to ask "Who touched me?" the disciples are incredulous. "What, are you kidding? Look how this crowd is pressing in on you! How can you ask such a question? EVERYBODY is touching you!"

Jesus looks around until he finds the woman, now healed and made whole. She comes forward "in fear and trembling." Why? Well for one, she willingly broke the law! The Law forbad a woman with a flow of blood to touch someone who is clean. If that happened, it rendered the healthy person also unclean. But in Jesus case, the opposite happened. She was healed. Jesus didn't do this to embarrass her but to correct her mistaken idea that his cloak had magically healed her. Then he bestows on her a wonderful title, "Daughter," he said, "Your faith has made you well."

Meanwhile word arrives that during this interruption and delay, Jairus' daughter had died. "Why disturb the rabbi any further?" But Jesus insists they continue to the house and that Jairus should have faith. When they get there, there is a great commotion. In traditional Korea this is called "Gok ha da 곡 하다" or wailing. The Irish call in "keaning".

Jesus tells them to be quiet because the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laugh in his face. He puts them out and takes just three disciples and the girl's parents. Jesus takes her hand and says in Aramaic, "Talitha, kum!" (Little girl, arise!). The girl comes back from the dead and Jesus caps this miracle with a wonderfully human and tender request: "Give her something to eat."

These stories in the gospel are enough to challenge our impression of what it means to be a woman. On top of this, the Church adds the extra mystery that, when God became human, yes he came as a man, but he was born of the Virgin Mary and without any help from a man.

Treating girls and women with not just respect but as true equals, because Jesus did and because we call him Lord, is about the coolest thing we can do.

Cleansing our own temple (Third Sunday of Lent, Year B)

Imagine the shock a priest would feel if he went over to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament from the Tabernacle only to find the ciborium crowded by other things: an iPhone, a bank book, a peanutbutter sandwich, a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of beer!

None of these things is bad; they're just in the wrong place, a place reserved for the Body of Christ alone.

Today's gospel (John 2:13-25) shows Jesus getting very angry when he visited the Temple. The Court of the Gentiles, the only place where nonJews could pray within the Temple, had been turned into a marketplace for worshipers to exchange "unclean" money for kosher currency and purchase animals for sacrifice! Bartering, deceit, swindling and exploitation profaned the Temple. Jesus' righteous indignation was not just about zeal for God's house but also on behalf of us Gentiles: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations." (Mark 11:17) The market, however necessary, did not belong in that sacred place because it made it impossible for the Gentiles to pray there.

St. Paul reminds us that we form the living temple of God's presence. This Third Sunday in Lent invites us to open up the tabernacle of our hearts, made for Christ alone, and see whatever things, however good, are crowding out our love of God. Modern technology and toys, financial matters, food, health and social activities are good--- in their place. It's a question of priorities.

Do our preoccupations with worldly matters not only distract us from God but also contaminate our relationships with others? Does the way we relate to others make it difficult for them to pray? Do our words or actions not only drive people away from the church but away from God?

Lent invites us to examine and re-order our lives anew. What really matter? What's most important? Lent is the time for spiritual spring cleaning of our hearts.

Into the wilderness (First Sunday of Lent, Year B)

How are your Lenten sacrifices going? Did you forget to give something up? Or like me, did you try to give up all meat and food from animals and only make it to Thursday? Did you forget to fast or did you eat meat last Wednesday or Friday? Well, the good news is I don't think you'll burn forever in hell. At least not for that. The bad news is that you have no excuse. You can begin Lent today. Today's readings show us how.

In the days of Noah and the Great Flood, God set a rainbow in the sky to remind us of his promise to save us from destruction. Whenever we see a rainbow, we remember God's promise.

In the days of Jesus, God set a cross on a hill to remind us of his promise to save us from the power of sin and death. When we see a cross, we remember God has kept his promise.

Lent helps us remember the God who never forgets us.

Mark's gospel today is short and to the point. Unlike the gospels of Luke and Matthew, there is no dramatic confrontation and dialogue between Jesus and Satan. In fact, Mark doesn't even say that Jesus fasted.

Mark doesn't say the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert; he says the Holy Spirit DROVE Jesus into the desert. The goal is the same: to prepare for his life and mission Jesus must confront Satan and overcome temptation.

There are two main characters in the story: Jesus and Satan. There are two groups of extras: wild beasts and angels. And the stage is the wilderness. Only in the wilderness and only by confronting evil can Jesus discover the purpose of his life and the will of God.

And isn't that what we all want to know? What is the purpose of my life? What is the will of God for me?

To find out, we only need to do what Jesus did: enter the wilderness.

Guess what? The wilderness is inside you. The beasts and the angels are inside you. Satan and Jesus are inside you.

You enter the wilderness precisely by giving up things up during Lent, things that distract you, entertain you, amuse you or confuse you.

We don't give up things just to make ourselves miserable for 40 days. We pretend we have sinned so we can pretend we are sorry and after 40 days we can pretend we are forgiven and then at Easter we can pretend to be happy again. Then we wonder why our religion and our life seem like a pretense. Nor should we give up things to try to control God and get what we want and make God do what we want. And the worst reason to give up things is to make ourselves feel pious and holier and better than other people.

No, we fast and we abstain and we give things up during Lent in order to enter into the wilderness of our soul. There we will encounter wild beasts: our fears, our bad memories, our anger, our hatred, our sins. There we will be comforted by angels: love, fond memories, joy, laughter, hope. There we will face temptations: pride, guilt, revenge, self delusion.

There too we will encounter both Jesus and Satan. We learn to distinguish the voice of Satan from the voice of Jesus. Satan says, "You are worthless. You are nothing. Even God cannot save you. Give up." The voice of Jesus says, "I love you. I gave my life for you. You're worth it."

The temptations we face are the same Jesus faced. Feel sorry for yourself. Think only of yourself. Forget your humanity. Seize power. Use people. Betray God. Who would it hurt?

Every sin we commit comes from these temptations.

Satan wants us to forget who Jesus is and to forget who we are and to forget what God has done for us.

You, each of you, are precious children of God, made in God's image and likeness and NOTHING you can do can change or destroy that. Sin makes us forget this.

It's when we forget who we are that evil takes over our lives.

We do not fast and give things up for Lent to earn God's love; we fast and give things up to remind ourselves how much God loves us.

This Lent give up the things, the attitudes, the language that disguise who you are. Give up the diversions that drown out the voice of God in your heart. Give up the habits that distort the image of God in which you were made.

Then you will discover the purpose of your life; then you will know the will of God.

27th Sunday in Ordinary time (Will we also lose the vineyard?)

There was a man who decided, after studying world religions, that he wanted to visit a Catholic church during Mass. He wanted to see for himself a community at prayer who honestly believed that Christ was in their midst. He said, of all the religions, Catholicism offered the most amazing thing: the Body of Christ.

So he asked his Catholic friend if they could go to Mass together, and his friend was delighted to be able to share his faith. So one Sunday morning they went to church. On the way the friend explained about the different parts of the Mass: how we stand to pray and show respect, how we sit to listen, how we bow or genuflect before the Tabernacle, and how we kneel to worship. Sometimes the priest blesses the congregation with holy water. Sometimes the priest uses incense to remind us we are in the very presence of God.

The man understood only baptized Catholics in a state of grace could receive Communion. He couldn't wait to see how this effected the people who actually received the Body of Christ. That day, the men were in luck! The choir sang beautifully, and the priest gave a homily filled with Baeisms.

After Mass, over coffee and bagels, the friend eagerly waited to hear the man's reaction to attending his first ever Catholic Mass.

"So how was it?" he asked.

"Meh. OK," the man replied.

"OK? Just OK?" The friend had thought everything had been perfect. "What was wrong?"

So the man explained, "The problem wasn't what the church teaches; the problem wasn't how the truths of Catholicism were presented; the problem was the people."

The product may be perfect. The packaging may be beautiful. But if the purpose is lost, why bother?

What's the use of saying the Mass is the center and most important thing in a Catholic's life, what's the point in proclaiming Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament if the people don't believe it?

The friend was crushed, but asked, "How do you know we don't believe it?"

The man answered, "In church today I just looked around at how people act and how they dress. Looks like some are going to the beach or a ball game and others to a night club. Hardly anybody sang, except the choir. So that made what should be musical prayer into simply a performance. Some people were talking with their friends all during Mass and even in the Communion line. I saw a few texting. And one lady even answered her cell phone. But the worst part was after Mass, they didn't look to me like people who just were fed and changed by the Word of God.

"If you guys don't believe you have received the Body of Christ, why should I?"

Although these two men remained friends, the man never went back to a Catholic church again.

Does that story make you as uncomfortable as it makes me? Hits a little bit too close to home. Now we feel how the Jews must have felt in today's gospel reading when Jesus told them the parable of the vineyard.

"The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruits."

It's not enough just to belong. It's not even enough just to believe. We must also be active.

Do you know what the Mass is? Do you believe what the Mass is? Do your actions during Mass show you are focusing all your attention on God? Do any of those things that man saw at Mass apply to you?

But here's the kicker. You can dress to the nines, you can sing your heart out, you can kneel and stand and shout "Amen!" and you can believe from the very bottom of your soul that you are receiving the Body of Christ, but if you go out those doors, if your life and words and actions don't reflect your belief, your wasting your time.

And worse. You're wasting God's time. If God did not hesitate to take his vineyard away from the Jews, God's Chosen People, and give it to us, what's to stop him from taking it away from us and giving it to another people who will produce the fruits of the kingdom? People of peace whose lives have changed for the better, who forgive their enemies, who help the poor, who refuse to gossip, who defend the oppressed, who do not deceive or exploit or cheat one another?

Jesus doesn't want fans, he wants followers.

Christianity is not a spectator sport; it's full contact participation.

God doesn't want you to practice reading the Gospel, but to put the Gospel you read into practice.

Now I will be honest with you. You here are about the most inspiring community of Catholics I know. In here. Of course you can improve. We all can. Now, if you could only take what you believe in here, out into the world out there, we might succeed not only in helping God save our Church, but helping God save our world.

Our cool treasure (Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

Satan called. He wants his weather back.

In recent days, I've heard people say, "It's hotter than hell." Of course, I've heard others say they don't believe in hell. Clearly these people have never been to Gillette, Wyoming... or Newark, N.J.

When I was in Taegu as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1970s, it was very hot in the summer. I would go into the courtyard (마당) at night and pour a bucket of water over my head. By the time I went indoors I was sweating again. Or when I was a priest in Masan in the 1980s, it was so hot and humid the host would melt to the paten and I had to pry it off with my fingers. It was so soft I couldn't hold it up except with two hands. Now THAT was hotter than hell.

Hell is not so much a place, as a situation. You could be in the most beautiful place on earth, Honolulu, let's say, but if you are surrounded by people you dislike and who dislike you; people who know all your faults and sins and look down on you and ridicule you; then you'd be in hell.

On the other hand, you could be in a totally miserable place (insert your favorite New Jersey city here), but if you are with people you love, who also love you; people who know your faults and weaknesses but love you anyway, then you'd be in heaven.

I have traveled to more than 25 countries, but there is one country where the people truly seemed happy even through they were very poor. Tanzanians are always smiling, even though they don't have iPads...or even iPhones. Many don't even have electricity. Yet they are happy.

I asked a missioner to Tanzania why this was so. He explained that family is more important to them than possessions; and poverty doesn't mean having fewer things than your neighbor, but rather having nothing to show hospitality to a guest. Tanzanians will kill their last chicken in order to make a meal for a visitor and it would be highly insulting for someone to refuse this hospitality. What a missioner would do is accept the meal, and then the next day send over a couple of chicks or eggs in gratitude.

Today we have the parables of the treasure hidden in a field, which a man discovers and reburies, then goes out and sells everything he has in order to buy that field. Does the owner know there is a treasure in his field before he sells it? Wouldn't it be sad and tragic and stupid of the man to realize there is treasure but sell his land anyway because he doesn't appreciate the treasure he has?

What about us? Do we appreciate the treasure we have in our Catholic religion? The treasure of the Eucharist? What would we do to save and protect this treasure?

You all have heard the story of the time I fell into the outhouse (변소) in Korea. Well, when I was in the Peace Corps, one of my friends accidentally dropped his wallet in the outhouse. How much did he value his money, and credit cards and drivers license? Was he willing to put up with a lot of **** to get back what he valued?

Now, in recent years our religion has fallen into a rather disgusting situation. Catholicism's credibility and reputation have been seriously soiled. But inside this is our greatest treasure: the Eucharist. It enables us to live the Gospel and to see Christ in one another. It has the power to turn hell into heaven.

So if you get discouraged or disheartened by the present state of the Church, remember Christ remains with us and gives us the strength to make our world a better place.

When people criticize the Church or make fun of the Church and make your life hell because of the Church, hold your head high and do not be afraid to defend or practice your faith. After all, it's cool to be Catholic.

We become the Body of Christ (Feast of Corpus Christi)

There is a funny radio commercial for Netflix. I wonder if you've heard it. The announcer of an apparent gameshow asks the contestant, "If you are what you eat, what am I?" The man replies, "Pasta puttanesca." The answer sounds funny enough to make you laugh, even if you don't know the original meaning of puttanesca, which I can't tell you here. Google it. Let's just say it's pasta covered in a spicy tomato sauce of olives, capers, artichoke hearts and anchovies; and it's origin is even spicier.

Today's feast of Corpus Christi, or the Body and Blood of Christ gives us an opportunity to not only think about our understanding of the Eucharist, but our relationship to food in general.

Did you ever wonder why the Church requires us to fast from eating an hour before receiving holy communion? Of course, back when I was in high school, the rule was no food after midnight before receiving communion. Maybe the church fathers shortened the time because all the noise from the gurgling stomachs was drowning out the choir. The problem was, if you went to a later Mass, you thought even less about the meaning of the Eucharist then you did about food and wishing the priest would hurry up and finish so you could go eat breakfast.

Breakfast. Break fast.

I don't think the rule about fasting before receiving communion is just about respect for the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but also it is about getting our attention to focus on just what it is we are actually eating, what happens to it after we digest it, and then what happens to us.

You are what you eat. If you eat healthy food, you will be healthy. If you eat junk food...? But I don't think if you eat fast food, you'll become fast. However, if we eat the Body of Christ, it becomes us. Or rather, we become it. That's why we call it communion.

As the song says, "This bread that we share is the Body of Christ, this cup of Blessing, his blood. We who come to this table bring all our wounds to be healed.
When we love one another as Christ has loved us, we become God's daughters and sons. We become for each other the bread, the cup, the presence of Christ revealed."

Too often well-meaning Catholics think communion is just about them and Jesus, that their duty as a Christians ends with them presenting themselves free from sin before the priest so they can then receive communion and go back to their pews, go back to their homes and go back to their lives...undisturbed and unchanged

Communion is both the end and beginning of our life of faith. It's not just a reward for being good, it also gives us the spiritual power we need to be better so we can go out into the world and make it a better place by giving witness to the gospel of Christ with our lives.

The Eucharist binds us to Christ but it also binds us to one another. If I eat the Body of Christ and you eat the Body of Christ, Christ dwells in us and we in him, then you and I are more than brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one in Christ.

If we bow before the Blessed Sacrament, ought we not also bow reverently to one another? If we refuse to recognize the presence of Christ in one another, we insult Our Lord as much as the person who takes the host and throws it on the ground and steps on it.

Our Lord could have taken a flower or a rock and said, "From now on, this is my body and when you see this flower or rock, think of me."

But he didn't. He chose bread, food to be broken, shared and eaten as his everlasting memorial.

The people of the world hunger for the bread of life and too often we fill them with cream puffs and doughnuts. Junk theology is just as harmful as junk food.

Yes, the church desperately needs priests to give believers the bread of life.

But the world even more desperately needs Christians, like you, to put into practice the gospel of our Lord.

We are not rocks, hard and unbreakable; we are not flowers, to look pretty for a day and then fade away. We are the Body of Christ, to give ourselves for the life of the world.

End of the World FAIL

I am happy to announce the world did not end yesterday. At least, not for us. Of course, for the millions of individuals who actually died yesterday, through tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, or through war, accidents or diseases, their personal world did indeed come to an end. We can only hope and pray they were prepared to meet their God.

For me, my personal world came to an end a week ago Friday when I traveled to Guilin, China. As I got off the bus in a pouring rain, with my umbrella in one hand and my suitcase in the other, I was suddenly surrounded by a group of three pickpockets. I pushed them away twice. When I got to my hotel, I was relieved to see I still had my passport, my wallet and my airplane ticket. It was only the next day when I realized they had successfully liberated my iPhone. *sigh*

This incident could have put a damper on the rest of the trip, except I concentrated on what I still had and not on what I had lost. (My Precioussss!)

My visit to Korea reminded me to appreciate what is really important.

This was my first trip back since 1999 and many things have changed. Buddhist monks, for example, no longer wear 고무신 (rubber shoes). No, now they wear Adidas sneakers. In the past I noticed the fashion in Korea was about six months ahead of the States. If that's the case, men here should prepare to be wearing shiny neckties that sparkle like glitter on Christmas trees. Of course, six months from now will be Christmas, so that should work out just fine.

But it was while riding Seoul's wonderful subway system that I realized how much things have changed. In fact, for the first time since going to Korea in 1971 I felt like an outsider again.

Riding on the subway, I realized I was now the oldest one there. Actually I had become the 할아버지 (grandfather) that people give their seat to. But that didn't bother me.

I was usually the only foreigner in the subway car. But that didn't bother me either.

No, the only thing that bothered me was looking around and seeing I was the only person in the entire subway who didn't have a smart phone. That bothered me.

But once I got back down to Masan to visit the people from the parish I started there in 1981, they reminded me what is really important and what really matters: faith and family and friendship. And there's no iPhone app for that.

Which brings us back to the end of the world, which didn't happen yesterday. Surely none of you fell for that nonsense, right? If you did, you might want to consider signing up for a remedial 교리 (catechism) class. Jesus himself said that no one knew the day or the hour, not the angels in heaven, not even he. Only God the Father knows. And Jesus warned against false prophets who would arise with all kinds of predictions to mislead people.

Jesus says in today's gospel, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Our religion is based on faith, not on fear. Any religion based on fear is not worth believing. Any government or political party that uses fear to control people is not worth supporting. And a life based on fear is not worth living.

When I visited Korea I saw a people who live not by fear but by faith. I saw a vibrant faith lived by a dynamic people, who've overcome poverty and hardship over the years. And they convinced me that now, more than ever, the Church in Korea needs Missioners.

As you know, Korea is the only country in the history of Christianity that brought the faith to itself without foreign missionaries. So what do I mean when I say the Church in Korea needs Missioners?

Korea doesn't need Missioners to spread the Catholic church in Korea. The Church in Korea is strong. Rather, the Church needs Korean Missioners to bring the Gospel of Christ to the world, a world torn by fear and fanaticism, a world ruled and ruined by greed and violence. Such a world deserves to end, and quickly.

Each of you in your own way have the power, indeed the duty to share your faith with the rest of the world, starting right here and right now. The old world is ending--every day--and a new world of faith and family and friendship is being born, with or without an iPhone.