While teaching a group of small children, Sister Briege McKenna said, “When you receive your first Holy Communion, Jesus will come and live in your heart.” One little girl piped up and asked, “Oh, do you mean with his furniture and everything?” Well, there is no furniture involved, of course. But Jesus does come and live in our hearts when we receive Holy Communion.
A woman at my parish taught this truth to a non-verbal autistic boy who was preparing for his First Communion. She wanted to make sure that he could make a distinction between the normal food he ate at meals and the spiritual food he would receive in Holy Communion. So she drew a big picture of his body on a sheet of brown paper. Where the stomach would be she drew a big circle and filled it with samples of food he would often eat- Cheerios and things like that. Next she drew a picture of his heart and placed in it some unconsecrated communion wafers. Then, after completing the picture, she would ask the boy where the food he eats at meals goes. He would point to his own stomach, and then the stomach on the big picture. Finally, she would ask him where the spiritual food Jesus gives him goes, and he would touch his heart, and then the one on the picture with the wafers. He was ready for his first Holy Communion.
Jesus himself teaches us, in today’s gospel, that he comes to dwell in our hearts when we receive Holy Communion. The setting this teaching was the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. He explained to his disciples that after he had risen and ascended to heaven, he would send the Holy Spirit who would unite them with himself and God the Father in a very intimate way. “On that day,” Jesus said, “you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.” This communion with God begins when we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, and it is nourished and strengthened whenever we receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
Pope John Paul II once said, “Even if all the physical hunger of the world were satisfied…the deepest hunger of man would still exist.” Indeed, we have several deep hungers that need to be fed. Bishop Robert Morneau of Green Bay proposes that we each have what he calls “five basic hungers of the heart.”
The first of these hungers, he says, is for meaning in life. Sometimes we wonder if life has any purpose. We ask “What’s it all about?” We look to the skies a and note that our tiny planet circles a sun that is only one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy, which in turn is only one of 100 billion galaxies in the universe, which is growing bigger as we speak. We see this, and wonder if there’s any purpose in it all.
Our second basic hunger, according to Bishop Morneau, is for commitment. We all search for someone or something to commit our lives to; we seek to give our talents and energies to something worthwhile. If we don’t commit ourselves, we’ll wind up bouncing from one relationship to another, moving from one job to the next, ceaselessly drifting and experimenting.
Our third basic hunger is for depth and quality in life. Morneau says that we long for deep encounters- with God, with others, and with ourselves. He gave the example of a Christmas party he once attended. In twenty minutes he was introduced to thirty people, but he concluded that he didn’t really meet anybody. The encounters were superficial, which is the experience of life for too many people today. They- we- hunger for more.
“Wholeness” is the fourth basic hunger of the heart. We’re all broken people, says Morneau. We’ve been hurt by life, by others, and we’ve hurt ourselves too. We struggle with our pain, our addictions, and our sinfulness. We need to be healed, to be made “whole” once again.
The fifth and final “basic hunger of the heart” is intimacy. We’re made for oneness, for communion, says Morneau. Nevertheless, we suffer from isolation, alienation, and loneliness. In a sense, this is kind of a “hell on earth.” What we want is closeness- with others, with God.
The only thing- the only person– who can feed the deepest hungers of our heart, is Jesus Christ. Only Jesus who can satisfy our need for meaning, commitment, depth, wholeness, and intimacy. This was learned by a woman I know who was fond of wearing a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. The heart, however, wasn’t solid. It was only the outline of a heart. She said that this pendant was symbolic, as she felt as if she were going through life with an empty heart. At times she had tried to fill it with various things- some good, some bad. But it was only when Jesus broke into her life that the hunger of her heart really began to be fed.
St. Peter said to us in today’s second reading: “Sanctify Jesus in your hearts.” We can do this by letting Jesus come into our hearts and feed its hungers with the gift of himself in Holy Communion. So maybe the challenge for us today is to come prepared, and to come often. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God,” wrote St. Augustine. But perhaps we can paraphrase him and say: Our hearts are hungry, until they are fed by Jesus.
Few of us welcome being challenged, criticized, or told that something about us needs to change. Instead of keeping an open mind, we usually react with defensiveness, anger, or fear. We might make excuses, stop our ears, or dismiss our critic as being off-kilter or a “goody two-shoes.” It’s easier to silence the challenging voice, than it is to listen. That’s why dictatorships squelch a free press! It’s also why Jesus was nailed to a cross.
Those who speak uncomfortable words to the world, or challenge it by their way of life, inspire some, but threaten many more. Prophets are typically unappreciated and misunderstood in their lifetimes. They’re often ridiculed, jailed, or even assassinated.
As God’s Son, Jesus is a prophet, because he revealed God’s sometimes uncomfortable truth to the world. As members of his body, the Church, we share in Jesus’ prophetic ministry. We shouldn’t be surprised then, that the harsh reception given to Jesus, is also given to us. “If the world hates you,” Jesus insisted, “realize that it hated me first.”
We don’t hate the world in return, we witness to it; we engage it, without embracing it; we challenge it, but are not conformed to it. Doing this will make us friends, but enemies too. It’s painful when that happens, but there’s also a silver lining: it means we’re doing our job, as Jesus did his.
A young man once approached St. Philip Neri for advice. He shared with the saint his plan to study law and become an attorney. St. Philip pressed him for more information. “And then?” he asked. “And then,” the young man replied, “I will be a successful lawyer.” “And then?” the saint asked again. “And then people will speak well of me and I’ll have a good reputation. “And then?” came the question once again. “And then I shall lead an easy life and be happy.” St. Philip asked a final time: “And then?” As he considered the end of his life, it dawned upon the young man that in all of his life’s plans and dreams, he mad made no reference to the will of God at all.
And don’t we sometimes do the same thing? We make our plans, we go about our business, without giving God’s will for us a second thought. You might say that we so often take the “short view”, while God asks us to take the “long view.”
St. Philip Neri reminded the young man, and he reminds us as well, that as we live out our Christian lives we need to always keep one eye on eternity, since it’s our hope to one day look upon God face-to-face.
My father was a naval officer. When I was a boy, my dad was often away at sea for months on end. These times were hard on our family, and we missed each other terribly. It’s hard being apart from those we love. We want to spend time with them; we want to be close to them; we want to be together.
This is exactly how Jesus feels about us. “Remain in me,” he asks us in today’s gospel, “as I remain in you.” In John’s gospel, “remain” is a special word that speaks of closeness and intimacy. By wanting to “remain” in us, Jesus is saying that he wants to be as closely united with us as he is with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t want us to go away; he doesn’t want us to live apart; he doesn’t want to have a distant or casual relationship with us. Jesus loves us deeply, and wants us be with us, always.
A popular reflection God’s love, “Just in Case You Forgot,” reflects the message of today’s gospel. It concludes like this: “God could live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. Face it, friends, he’s crazy about you! He loves you very much.”
Most of you probably heard of the Gallup Poll released yesterday that showed that 61% of Americans want all, or most abortions, to be declared illegal. There remains for further study, the oddity that some Americans who take this position still say they are “pro-choice,” but in the end they still want most abortion to be illegal. If you are unaware of this report you can read it here: Gallup Poll
The upshot of the report is: that, despite their labeling of their own abortion views, a majority of Americans clearly not only oppose abortion and believe it to be a morally improper “choice,” but they believe the legal status of abortions should change and all or virtually all abortions should be prohibited [1].
The lesson here, is that we ought to take heart. Our prophetic stance in the Church and in the wider pro-life community is having good effects. At times the battle seems long and the results seem distant, but little by little, the tide is turning. There will be set backs and troubles, but we have to keep working. Gently the tide is turning.
An old African American Spiritual says, Keep-a-inching along, Jesus will come by and by, Keep-a-inching along, like a poor inch worm, Jesus will come by and by. So the song says, keep working for justice, it implies, don’t give up. And those slaves of old saw slavery end. Many of the same arguments for slavery have been redeployed by abortion supporters, but keep inching along, Jesus will come, by and by, and the truth will out.
When we look back at slavery, most Americans are embarrassed that we ever thought such an abomination was fine and legal. But it took time to turn the tide in that great struggle. And even after slavery, the struggle continued, through years of Jim Crow and many indignities.
We look back on such things with shame now, how could we have been so foolish and have betrayed American principles so badly, as to enslave, and later segregate and exclude, a whole race. Slowly conversion has come upon this land. But it only came because some were willing to be prophets, and to keep insisting on what was just and right.
It will be the same with abortion. One day we will look back with shame on this era, and wonder how we could ever have been so sinfully wrong as to think abortion should be legal, and even funded it with state money. But it will take time and continued work. The poll shows we are on the way. Keep inching along, Jesus will come by an by.
Another example of how the tide can turn on an issue is smoking. The videos at the bottom of this post are hilarious ads from the 1950s entitled: More Doctors Smoke Camels. The ads, at the time they were produced, did not intend to be a comedy, but now they are. The ads show a doctor puffing up a storm and it assures us of the “benefits” of smoking Camel Cigarettes.
Looking back at ads like this we think, How could we have ever been so stupid? But of course it has taken us time and effort for us to come to our senses. The anti-smoking campaign was long, and at times, loud. I remember more than a few times being annoyed at the “anti-smoking Nazis.” Though I never smoked myself, I became especially alarmed when the government started telling restaurant and bar owners what to do. But in the end, and all discussions about Government intrusion aside, smoking has really been kicked to the curb in our culture. Some still smoke, but everyone today sees it for what it is, poisonous and, frankly, stupid. Those, who are sadly addicted, puff away, but most of the rest of us look to them with a kind of sadness.
This sea change came as the result of a sustained effort, often on an unwilling public. It was multi-pronged as well, using the media effectively, and even the legislative process.
For those of us in pro-life work there are important precedents to be seen in the fight against slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and even in the anti-smoking campaign. Consistent, persistent and organized action brings eventual results. This is often a battle for inches, but inches become yards, and yards, miles. Keep a inching alone like a poor old inch worm, Jesus will come by and by.
Have you ever wondered what type of person you might be if you weren’t a Catholic? I have, and the picture that comes to mind isn’t necessarily pretty. I completely understand St. Vincent de Paul when he said, “But for divine grace I would be in temper hard and repellant, rough and crabbed.”
At the same time, have you ever imagined yourself as a saint: a person filled with peace, hope, and joy, rich in faith and good works? I’ve done this too. And even though I recognize that I have a long way to go to achieve this goal, I know it’s possible, if I live in harmony with Jesus.
What becomes of a person with or without Jesus is what Jesus himself considers in today’s gospel. He says that when we remain in him, we bear good fruit in our lives and glorify God. But when we don’t remain in him, we essentially wither and die.
We should keep these two possibilities always before us as we choose how to live our lives. We can imagine the Christ-less image of ourselves and think, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” And we can picture ourselves as a saint and hope, “That, with the grace of God, is what I can become.”
One of the remarkable facts about the way God made us is that He seems to have made it necessary that we sleep one third of our day. God could have done otherwise, but this is what he actually did. Further, God went on to command that on one day out of seven we were to cease, to rest. The morning was for the rest we call worship and the remainder of the day was to be spent with family and enjoying the fruit of our labor. God wasn’t messing around. He commanded it:
Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed (Ex 23:12)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. (Ex 31:15)
Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest (Ex 34:21)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. (Ex 35:2)
There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD (Lev 23:3)
Does it sound like the Lord is repeating himself? He is. But sometimes (most times) we’re slow to hear. He has written sleep into our physical nature and rest into our work week. The Lord also prescribed a series of feasts or holy days (holiday is just a mispronunciation of Holy Day), and here to the people were to cease, pray and celebrate.
We Americans are miserable at this. We are hard workers, and that is good, but what good is it to work hard and never be able to enjoy the fruit of our work? DO we work to live, or live to work? Of all the commandments, you’d think we’d get this one right. God commands and prescribes a certain amount of rest and yet we seem to prefer the status of bond servants. How strange.
Consider some of the following excerpts from an article that appeared recently at CNN.com entitled, Is America a No-Vacation Nation? I have included a few comments of my own in red normal text.
Besides a handful of national holidays, the typical American worker bee gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world — much less than what people in many other countries receive. And even that amount of vacation often comes with strings attached.
Some U.S. companies don’t like employees taking off more than one week at a time. Others expect them to be on call or check their e-mail even when they’re lounging on the beach or taking a hike in the mountains.
“I dream of taking a cruise or a trip to Europe, but I can’t imagine getting away for so long,” said Don Brock, a software engineer who lives in suburban Washington.
The running joke at Brock’s company is that a vacation just means you work from somewhere else. So he takes one or two days off at a time and loses some vacation each year. Only 57% of U.S. workers use up all of the days they’re entitled to.
It’s a totally different story in other parts of the world.
Nancy Schimkat, an American who lives in Weinheim, Germany, said her German husband, an engineer, gets six weeks of paid vacation a year, plus national holidays — the norm. His company makes sure he takes all of it. [Wow, I honestly don’t know what I’d do with six weeks]
It’s typical for Germans to take off three consecutive weeks in August when “most of the country kind of closes down,” Schimkat said. That’s the time for big trips, perhaps to other parts of Europe, or to Australia or North America. Germans might also book a ski holiday in the winter and take a week off during Easter. [Yes, it’s great when the whole country agrees. It used to be more like that in this country when most things were closed on Sunday and major holidays]
Schimkat’s family back in the United States teases her that she’s spoiled. But when she tells Germans that workers in the U.S. usually get two weeks of vacation a year, they cringe.
“[Germans] work very hard, but then they take their holiday and really relax. … It’s more than just making money for Germans, it’s about having time for your family and it’s about having time to wind down.”
A big reason for the difference is that paid time off is mandated by law in many parts of the world. [OK, but please don’t ask the government in, we don’t need any more regulations].
Germany is among more than two dozen industrialized countries — from Australia to Slovenia to Japan — that require employers to offer four weeks or more of paid vacation to their workers…. Finland, Brazil and France are the champs, guaranteeing six weeks of time off.
But employers in the United States are not obligated under federal law to offer any paid vacation, so about a quarter of all American workers don’t have access to it, government figures show. Most U.S. companies, of course, do provide vacation as a way to attract and retain workers.
But the fear of layoffs and the ever-faster pace of work mean many Americans are reluctant to be absent from the office — anxious that they might look like they’re not committed to their job. Or they worry they won’t be able to cope with the backlog of work waiting for them after a vacation. [There’s the word: FEAR]
[In addition], working more makes Americans happier than Europeans, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies. That may be because Americans believe more than Europeans do that hard work is associated with success… [Yeah, but what good is success when you never enjoy it?]
So despite research documenting the health and productivity benefits of taking time off, a long vacation can be undesirable, scary, unrealistic or just plain impossible for many U.S. workers. [Note again a particular word: “scary”]
[But] “There is simply no evidence that working people to death gives you a competitive advantage,” said John de Graaf, the national coordinator for Take Back Your Time, a group that researches the effects of overwork. He noted that the United States came in fourth in the World Economic Forum’s 2010-2011 rankings of the most competitive economies, but Sweden — a country that by law offers workers five weeks of paid vacation — came in second. [OK, pay attention, this is important data – hard work alone doesn’t necessarily cut the deal].
“I’m in no way anti-capitalist, I think the market does a lot of good things, but the Europeans understand that the market also has its failings and that when simply left completely to its own devices, it doesn’t produce perfect results.”
But is more government regulation the answer? The debate rages on.
Well, I must admit that I am very poor at taking vacations. I like what I do and I am a “home body.” I also hate to travel. I also think that six weeks paid vacation is way over the top. But all that said, I need to do better. If for no other reason, my people and my staff need a break from me! But the main reason is, that God commands hours of rest each day, one day each week and seasonal observances of holidays.
God says, “Stop!….Rest!” But why? Here are some likely reasons:
1. Because, like any loving Father he wants us to enjoy some of the gifts he offers. Imagine if you gave your child a gift and they just hurriedly said thanks, tossed it up on the shelf and never took time to enjoy it. Is that why you gave it? Is this really the proper attitude to have about gifts from God, that we never enjoy them?
2. In so resting we are refreshed and also let others rest and be refreshed, especially the poor. A great sadness of the modern age is that, since we demand the convenience of Sunday shopping etc., many who are poorer have to work. One of the articulations of the Sabbath rest surely applies here: so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed (Ex 23:12)<
3. Some gifts are only given while we rest. Psalm 127 says, In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat; when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber. Exactly what gifts these are may be mysterious to us. Surely our bodies benefit from rest, but the psalm may also refer to other hidden gifts, like serenity, and spiritual insights that are given only while we sleep. Perhaps God whispers wisdom and spiritual truth into the depths of our soul while we sleep. Perhaps it is only in rest that we finally connect the dots to make sense out of the many events of our life. Perhaps only rest and vacation can give us the necessary perspective we need and restore us to proper priorities.
4. Scripture also speaks of the Sabbath and holy days as a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money (e.g. Neh 13:15-22; Amos 8:4-6). The Nehemiah text is too long to produce here, but Amos says: Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
5. But here comes the subtle reason: God wants to remedy our fear. Note that I highlighted the reference to fear twice in the article above. In the end, the call to keep the Sabbath holy, and to take our holiday, is a call to trust. Although it might seem that rest is a natural human tendency, it will also be seen that the opposite is more often true.
Many fears accompany the cessation of work: Will competitors surpass me while I rest? Will I fail to complete all my duties? Will others amass more wealth or power while I fall behind? How can I pay all my bills or finance my lifestyle if I do not work more hours? Will my children’s college education be possible if I do not work every day? Will I loose my job or not get one at all if I do not agree to work Sundays and scrimp my necessary vacation?
In effect God says, “I want you to trust me. Take one day and set it aside entirely. Get adequate rest, take some vacation. Do no work on such days. Cease striving, let go of the controls. Rest, worship, consider your blessings, enjoy them and give thanks for them. Spend time with your family and friends. I promise you that you will accomplish more with the six days remaining that you ever would with all seven, 48 weeks, than the 52, with the reasonable work hours rather than endless overtime. Understand and trust that if you are faithful to my commandment to rest and worship on the Sabbath and other days I will bless you.” (cf Jer 17:24; Is 56:4; Dt 28:9ff; Ex 19:5).
The gift of our time to God is a precious one indeed. But why should we fear to give it to the author of all time? Trust in God.
As you look to some vacation this year, consider well that to some extent, God commands it. I don’t know that he commanded six weeks of vacation. But it is very clear that God has written into our nature a need for eight hours sleep each day. He has commanded one day of rest where we do not strive or earn money, but just trust, worship and enjoy. Further, in commanding placing numerous religious feasts and festivals on the ancient calendar, God also seems to sanction and even prescribe some extended periods of rest we call vacations or holidays (a.k.a. Holy Days).
How would you describe heaven on earth? Lying on a beach? Winning the lottery? A bigger house? Maybe just catching up on sleep and getting the bills paid?
Jesus gives us his prescription for heaven on earth in today’s gospel. He speaks of he and his Father coming to us, making their dwelling us, and loving us- which is what happens in heaven! To enjoy this, however, we need to love Jesus by keeping his commandments.
Jesus commands us to love one another in the way he has loved us. In other words, we can bring about heaven on earth by loving each other the way Jesus wants us to. Which means that when we don’t love others, we create a little bit of hell. Heaven and hell are not just reserved for the next life. In a sense, they’re really a continuation of the way we choose to live our lives today. So even if we never lie on a beach, win the lottery, get a bigger house, or pay all the bills, life can indeed be heavenly, whenever we make the decision to love.
While teaching a group of small children, Sister Briege McKenna said, “When you receive your first Holy Communion, Jesus will come and live in your heart.” One little girl piped up and asked, “Oh, do you mean with his furniture and everything?” Well, there is no furniture involved, of course. But Jesus does come and live in our hearts when we receive Holy Communion.
The first of these hungers, he says, is for meaning in life. Sometimes we wonder if life has any purpose. We ask “What’s it all about?” We look to the skies a and note that our tiny planet circles a sun that is only one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy, which in turn is only one of 100 billion galaxies in the universe, which is growing bigger as we speak. We see this, and wonder if there’s any purpose in it all.
satisfy our need for meaning, commitment, depth, wholeness, and intimacy. This was learned by a woman I know who was fond of wearing a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. The heart, however, wasn’t solid. It was only the outline of a heart. She said that this pendant was symbolic, as she felt as if she were going through life with an empty heart. At times she had tried to fill it with various things- some good, some bad. But it was only when Jesus broke into her life that the hunger of her heart really began to be fed.
