TODAY!

I have always loved the story of Jesus going to his home town of Nazareth, reading from the scroll of Isaiah, and applying it to himself. And so I looked forward with great relish to this past weekend, when "my turn" came up to preach, on that gospel passage.

And yet... I had a difficult time finding the right words, though I though about it for the past three weeks. The last week went by, Saturday came, Saturday afternoon, and finally with about ninety minutes to go until our 5:00 p.m. Mass, things began to fall into place. Why does it always have to be so hard!

I was glad to be able to say something about Health Care Reform. If you read only what the newspapers had to say, you'd think the Catholic Church's only concern in the issue was to make sure that abortion wouldn't be covered. Bzzt -- WRONG!

3rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Last Sunday we began to put on our green liturgical colors again, and today we’ve added the green on our altar. We haven’t put the green banners on the walls because for now we’re keeping our wonderful trees up here, so we already have plenty of green in the sanctuary. Most of you probably know that this green is the liturgical color for “Ordinary Time,” when our gospels readings are generally sequential, and we usually focus on just one particular gospel during the year.

This gospel for this liturgical year is Luke’s gospel, and Luke is a favorite for many people. Luke’s gospel is the only one that tells the familiar and well-loved story of Jesus’ lowly birth in a manger, visited by shepherds and choirs of angels. Luke gospel alone gives us the stories of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, or the story of the ten lepers who are healed but with only the Samaritan leper returning to thank Jesus, that gospel story we hear every Thanksgiving day. Luke’s telling of the Passion has significant details that the others do not, for only in Luke does Jesus sweat drops of blood when he agonizes in the garden; and when they come to arrest Jesus and one of his followers strikes out with a sword, only in Luke do we hear that Jesus heals the ear. Only in Luke does Jesus forgive his torturers from the cross where he hangs, and it is only in Luke that Jesus forgives the man we call “the good thief just before they both die.

You can see just from some of these few details that Luke takes pains to remind us how especially key to Jesus’ mission are the poor and lowly and forgotten, how necessary it was for Jesus to bring forgiveness to sinners and healing to those who diseased or maimed or disabled in body or spirit.

It should then come as no surprise to us, to hear today’s gospel, even though today’s gospel was no doubt completely stunning to those who were there.

First, you need to remember the setting of time and place. Today’s gospel takes place right near the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In chapter three of Luke’s gospel we hear of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, followed in chapter four by the Holy Spirit leading Jesus out into the desert to be tempted. It is after his time of trial in the desert that we see him in our gospel today as he returns to Galilee – as the scripture puts it, “in the power of the Spirit” -- on the way to his home town of Nazareth. He comes into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stands up to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reads the proclamation we heard just a moment ago:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

There was no doubt something in his voice and manner that grabbed the crowd – our scripture says that he rolled the scroll up, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were riveted upon him. (I wish all of us, me included, could be that attentive to the scriptures!) And then, perhaps after a moment of suspense, Jesus announces his mission on earth with these words:

“TODAY this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing!!”

Now, personally – I find that electrifying! I wish I had been there. I’m sure I would have been tempted to follow him on the spot. But -- as we shall see next week… it was too much for the people of Nazareth. They knew his family; they must have grumbled: “How could he be so bold?” They just couldn’t take it, and they ran him out of town – they were even going to throw him off the brow of the hill where the town was built – you can still see that cliff outside of Nazareth today.

So the question for us all today, I think, is quite simple. When our Jesus speaks these words to us, how do we react? If this is an announcement of his mission on earth, do we, today, make this our mission too? Do we?

Just during this last week… we got a day off on Monday, most of us, in honor of the life and death of Martin Luther King Jr. He tried to set people free, didn’t he? And yet in our country African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and others of color still find themselves statistically with more unemployment, lower incomes, little if any wealth, and you know I could go on further. Structural racism is sadly still alive and well in our land. What did Jesus just say about letting the oppressed go free?

On Tuesday the country watched closely an election in Massachusetts that most observers declared the death (for now) of national health care reform – and whatever your personal political leanings, you should know that our Catholic Church has for years favored a universal health policy, with respect for human life and dignity, access for all, with a special concern for the poor and inclusion of immigrants. What a sadness that our congress couldn’t get it done. What did Jesus just say about glad tidings for the poor?

And since I just mentioned human life and dignity, just last Friday we also observed the 37th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing abortion in our country; and we can still observe grimly that the right to life of unborn children in our society is still held captive to someone else’s choice. What did Jesus just say about liberty to captives?

I invite you today to pray with me, for “the year of the Lord’s favor” that Jesus announces in our gospel. Yes, life is good, and yes God is so gracious to us. And yes, people do good things; it is particularly heartwarming to see people respond so generously to the tragedy in Haiti. I think Jesus would rejoice in that. But I think we would all agree much remains to be done – in Haiti, of course, and in so much else.

Jesus today announces his mission, and invites us to join him.

Deacon Denny Duffell, January 24, 2010

Feast of Epiphany

I DO love the feast of Epiphany. Of course, when we celebrated it on January 6th, instead of the Sunday after the New Year, the original number of days between Christmas and Epiphany always used to be twelve -- the "Twelve Days of Christmas." I enjoyed writing this homily. And yes, I really do believe what I wrote at the very end of the homily. Sometimes I think that we get on "automatic pilot" and act as though a church community is just like any other grouping of people, except that maybe we know one another better. We should expect more from outselves, believe more than that about ourselves, and begin to live with the truth that God really can move within us -- and then through that power, we really can do anything.

Ephiphany
January 2-3, 2010

Don’t you love the feast of Epiphany? They call it “little Christmas,” and some people and cultures celebrate it even more colorfully than December 25th. Liz Houlihan does – she always has a big celebration at her house on the evening of EpiphanyI

It’s easy to undershand why -- the gorgeous story of the Magi is among the favorites of Christian people everywhere. It is colorful, rich, multi-leveled and it stimulates the imagination. I always love it when those three figures appear at our crib with their royal clothes and precious gifts, and of course that camel! The song calls them three kings from the Orient, but in reality, our scripture tells us very little about them – who they were, where they came from, or how many of them there really were – we usually think there were three, but that’s only because there were three gifts. Throughout history, we’ve woven stories about them, even giving them spectacular names like Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar. They probably were astrologers, and they probably traveled in a caravan to Jerusalem. But we don’t really know. All the scriptures tell us is that there were magi from the east and that they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.

But one central thing for us to remember as we celebrate this feast of the Epiphany is that this feast commemorates the revelation of the God’s glory to all people. In our scriptures there were two special groups of people who came to visit the new-born child: the shepherds and the magi. However, our church has no special feast to commemorate the visit of the shepherds, but we have this special feast of Epiphany today to celebrate the visit of the magi. Why is that? Perhaps it’s because the shepherds learned of the birth of Jesus through a direct revelation from angels appearing in the midnight sky. They were told where to go, and how to know when they were there, and it wasn’t very far. They didn’t have a whole lot to figure out -- it was a direct and supernatural revelation.

But the magi had only a special star to guide them; they had to interpret its meaning, and travel a long way, over some time. They weren’t familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, and certainly not the local politics. But they made it there anyway, worshipped the child, and offered gifts. And that’s why these strange travelers from the distant East have become central figures of this feast: even these outsiders were drawn to the glory of God’s light! Today’s feast serves as an annual reminder that, whether we be Gentile or Jew, Muslim or Christian or Hindu, Eastern or Western, whatever our nation, race, or state of life – we are family to one another in God’s eyes.

And notice how in fact there were three different groups who came to know where the Son of God was born. There were the shepherds, who they came to know where to find him through a direct vision of angels. There were our magi, who came to find him through a reading of the stars. And there were also King Herod, his chief priests and scribes, whom the magi consulted, who came to know where he was through searching the scriptures. Visions, stars, scriptures -- different ways of arriving at the same truth.

Yet the crucial difference in this story remains: Who actually came to find Jesus? Herod and his religious advisors had the scriptures to guide them, but they failed to find Jesus. But the magi who followed the natural light of the stars did find him. Why was this? Because those in authority, even though they possessed the shining truth of revealed scriptures, did not follow it. They were all too caught in Herod’s devious little plot. But the magi, who enjoyed only the light of a star, followed its guidance. It is not just the possession of the truth that matters, it is how prepared we are to walk in the light of the truth that we have. It is better to have the dim light of the stars and follow it than to have the bright light of the holy scriptures and ignore it.

As Christian have great gifts of faith available to us. But what does that benefit us if we do not walk in the truth? Nature worshippers or non-believers who are sincerely committed to following the light of natural reason may arrive at Jesus before Christians who have the exalted truths revealed by God but who do not walk the walk of faith. This is the challenging truth that confronts us today in the story of these wise men who seek and find the Lord.

But we should take heart! We should know that we are not alone in our search for the child! We are together, all of us here. That brings us to a wonderful image we find, given plainly in the first reading and suggested by our gospel: the caravan! I like that image – I’ve used it with you before. It’s much more evocative than the word “community.” Like the magi, we are on a caravan, we travel together. We may not all be in exactly the same place on the journey… some of us are right in front, some of us straggle along… some of us are bold and confident, and some of cautious or doubtful… some of us are passionate about the journey and some of us may be little too busy or preoccupied. But you and I, all of us, we are all in this together. We are a caravan, called to BE an epiphany, to be a manifestation of God’s presence, a shining light to others. People should see the light within us and say, “See those people at St. Bridget? See how they love one another, how they enjoy each other, how they work together, celebrate together, comfort one another when someone is sick or grieving? Look at how they serve those in need, how generous they are, how they work for justice and peace. You can really see their faith. I want to live like they do. I want to know that light.”

Believe that about yourselves; I do! I’ve told you that before. I believe those things about this community, this caravan. And I know that if we all came to believe and trust in those things, there is very little that God would not enable us to do.

Have a Blessed Little Christmas.

Deacon Denny Duffell

New Year, 2010

I've always enjoyed celebrating the ringing in of the New Year. This year we started a new tradition around the Duffell household. Instead of getting sucked into watching some football game on TV, we invited all the extended family members to go bowling on the afternoon of New Year's day. We had a blast together... even little 3-year old Louie, who rolled the ball so slowly it stopped on the lane, twice!

Attached is my New Year homily for 2010. And yes, we did finish the jigsaw puzzle later that afternoon.

New Year’s Day, 2010

Good morning. Welcome to the first homily of the New Year.

People have all kinds of traditions around the New Year. The Duffell family spent its usual quiet New Year’s Eve together last night, working on our traditional 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, This year’s puzzle is a picture of lots of different kinds of candy. When I left home this morning it was on the dining room table, about 85% finished. We’ll probably finish it off before the day is done.

The Church has traditions around New Year’s too. And so today we celebrate the feast day of Mary, Mother of God, and our gospel restates part of the Christmas story, adding the story of what happened a week later, when Mary and Joseph gave their baby the name Jesus . Not only that, since 1968 New Year’s Day has also been observed by the Catholic Church as the World Day of Prayer for Peace, and every year since then the Pope has issued a New Year’s message of Peace; this year’s message was the 43rd such message. I looked up the last fifteen or so, and they each highlight a different aspect of peace, a message not, as you might think, specific to any particular war or conflict but something nonetheless fitting for the times. And so last year, after the world financial meltdown took place in late 2008, the 2009 message was fittingly devoted to Fighting Poverty as a path to peace. Other years’ topics included the pursuit of Truth (2006), the dignity of the Human Person (2007), and Teaching Peace (2004). The title of the peace message on the New Year after 9/11 was “No Peace Without Justice; No Justice Without Forgiveness.”

Pope Benedict’s focus for this year’s message is the Environment, and the title of this year’s message is “IF YOU WANT TO CULTIVATE PEACE, PROTECT CREATION.” Right in his very first paragraph, Benedict points out that the preservation of the environment has become essential for the peaceful coexistence of all people. I invite you to take a look at the whole message yourself; there’s a brown paper flyer at the main entryway that was developed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and there’s also a handy link to the pope’s entire message on the home page of our parish web site, at http://www.stbrigetchurch.org/.

In his message, Benedict reminds us the earth belongs to humanity as a whole and to generations yet to come; that all of creation is a gift from God to all people; and that we have a duty to act as responsible stewards of this great gift.

The pope cautions that technologically advanced societies – such as ours – must be prepared to encourage “more sober lifestyles, while reducing energy consumption. He calls for a “world-wide redistribution of energy resources, so that countries lacking those resources might have access to them.” Finally, he ends by reminding us that “the real motivation for dealing with our ecological problems must be the quest for authentic world-wide solidarity, inspired by the values of charity, justice, and the common good.”

It’s a good message – a good way to begin the year.

And my having said that raises one more tradition, which is not just a Church tradition. This New Year 2010, like any new year, is a chance for a new start – it’s a good time for resolutions. So I’d like to suggest to you something inspired by our first reading today: that you might make the resolution to bless those who are close to you. Bless them today, and tomorrow, and the next and the next; bless them often. Joan’s father still does that today, to all family members when they’re about to travel anywhere. It might feel a little awkward to do this if you never have done it before, but you can at least begin with a blessing in your heart. When you see your child, or your grandchild, or anyone you love, say, “The Lord bless you.” Or when you’re saying goodbye, make that goodbye also a blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you.” Little by little, you can extend that blessing to others: those you work with, your friends, people you meet as you go about your daily business. Your blessing will help them – and it will also help you.

So in keeping with that spirit, I would like to conclude with the blessing Moses taught to his brother Aaron, in today’s First Reading.

May the LORD bless you and keep you!

May the LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

May the LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

Deacon Denny Duffell, January 1st, 2010