Weekly HOMILY for September 23, 2012: 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B -- How High Can You Swing?

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25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Men’s Retreat at Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours

September 23, 2012

How High Can You Swing?

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

“…keeping up with myself”

A father named George Durrant recalls a wonderful little memory of his children.

One day George took his three children to the playground at the nearby park.  All three of them were on the swings.

The two older children – Devon and Katherine – had learned how to pump and swing on their own.  They were going higher and higher.

Devon said, “I’m keeping up with Katherine,” and Katherine said, “And I’m keeping up with Devon.”  Little Miranda was waiting for her father to push her and on her own, she was barely moving.

Miranda of course heard Devon and Katherine announcing how they were keeping up with each other.  In response, she simply said, “I’m just keeping up with myself.” 

 

Getting Ahead of Others

Little Miranda’s words help us to appreciate a core lesson in today’s gospel.

The apostles are arguing about which one of them is the greatest.  Each of them is trying to be above the other eleven. 

Underneath all of this energy, I would say that each of them wants to feel valuable and worthwhile.  What they really want is a sense of self-worth or self-esteem. 

They try to attain this by comparing themselves to others and in doing this, they are doing exactly what little Miranda does not do on the swings.  She just keeps up with herself and feels contented with that.

Jesus’ Response

How does Jesus respond to this?

Apparently, there is a child standing nearby.  Jesus gently brings this child right into the group and with this child, Jesus gives two powerful lessons.

1. The Value of Each Person

First, Jesus is teaching that each person, each of us is already valuable just in being ourselves.

In Jesus’ culture, children were at the bottom of the ladder.  For example, if a family did not have enough food, the father would eat first, then the mother, and only then would the children get what was left over.

This sounds backwards to us.  I bet some of you parents or maybe our parents held back on eating or on buying something so that the children could have enough.

Well, here Jesus says, “Whoever receives a child such as this, receives me.”  What he’s saying is that a child and, very importantly, who that child symbolizes – anyone who is seen as the last and least in society – even these persons are valuable.

We all have value in ourselves.  It is inherent in our very being.

So we can be like little Miranda on the swing.  We don’t have to compare ourselves with anyone and we don’t have to be above others as the apostles are trying to do to attain the value we already have.

Each of us is unconditionally valuable.  This is why our Church teaches the value of human life from conception right through to natural death.

There is an inherent value and worth in each person and in the life of each person.  We are to protect and respect this life and also find our self-worth right here, not in comparing ourselves to others or in being above others.     

    

2. Care for the Least

Then Jesus teaches a second pointed lesson with this child.

Jesus calls us to care for the least and last among us.  He’s calling for a new attitude that will issue forth into a new behavior.

Once gain, we are not to compare ourselves and see ourselves as better than those whose income is at poverty level or those in need of financial assistance.  We are not to view them or speak of these people as a drain on society.

This attitude or approach is inconsistent with Jesus’ way.  Instead, we are to view those in need – like the child in the story – as valuable as we ourselves are.

I sometimes think of it this way.  In a hospital, the health care professionals simply treat a person who is sick.

They don’t ask if their intestinal or coronary trouble is their own fault because of eating all kinds of fatty foods and, if that’s the case, refuse to treat them.  They simply treat them, help them to get better, and then advise them on how to care for themselves from that point.

Well, in the same way, we are to value the last and the least in our society.  We are to care for them without comparing ourselves or seeing them as below us or ourselves as above them.  

And Jesus is saying that again, in doing this, we ourselves will find self-worth.  Our sense of self will be strengthened and enhanced in the doing of this.

Conclusion

So, a simple passage today, with lessons that are powerful and helpful, and maybe also challenging and discomforting.

Weekly HOMILY for September 16, 2012: 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B -- Pieces of a Mirror

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24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Terranuova Hermitage

September 16, 2012

Pieces of a Mirror

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

The Challenge of the Mirror

I read a story recently about a Greek professor at a conference who had survived the atrocities committed by the Nazis in his homeland during World War II. As a result he had dedicated his life to establishing an institute to heal the wounds of war among his countrymen and women.

The professor ended his presentation by taking from his worn leather billfold a very small round mirror.

He explained: “One day as a small child, during World War II, I found the broken pieces of a mirror on the road near our home. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.

“I kept the largest piece and by scratching it on a stone I made it round.

“I became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine – in deep holes and crevices and dark closets.

“It became a game to get light into the most inaccessible places. I kept the little mirror, and I would take out from time to time and continue the challenge.

“I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game, but a metaphor for what I might do with my life.

“I came to understand that I am not the light or even the source of light. But light – as truth, understanding, and knowledge – is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.

“Yes, I can be the reflected light that changes people.”

The Challenge of James

In today’s second reading, the author of the Epistle to James realizes that the members of the newly formed Christian communities need concrete guidance about how to make ethical decisions in real-life situations.

Even today, James’ very practical advice continues to challenge believers to have integrity and not to tolerate a dichotomy between the faith that is professed with our lips and what is professed by our choices in life.

James addresses that dichotomy and says, in effect, “Put your money where your mouth is.” James is calling upon believers to translate their words of good will into actions that extend that goodwill to others in practical and helpful ways.

In essence he’s challenging us to be, like the little round mirror I made,“a fragment reflecting light into dark places; a light that changes people.”

In a well-balanced life, there must be both good thoughts and decisive actions grounded in those thoughts.

Therefore, for a person of authentic faith, it isn’t enough to simply think of helping another. Rather, thoughts and prayers bring faith to life in concrete actions and efforts that tend to the needs of others with generosity and love.

The Challenge of Our Baptism

At baptism we are given a small candle lighted from the Paschal candle. The light symbolized the faith we had just embraced.

The priest then charged us to reflect the light of Easter faith to others.

Again, in baptism we became a piece of the broken mirror that is the light and face of Christ.

We were called to reflect the light of Christ that is within us into dark places:

Ø  They may be the downcast hearts of people who come to worship needing to hear a hopeful word

Ø  Or the minds of children and youth in our cul-de-sac

Ø  Or the empty stomachs of the hungry

Ø  Or those with whom we work

The good works that flow from our faith that support and nourish others are how we become “pieces of the mirror” in which we reflect the healing and reconciling light of the Risen Christ.

Conclusion

Are you ready for that challenge?

Weekly HOMILY for September 9, 2012: 23th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B -- Be Opened Inwardly and Outwardly

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23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Terranuova Hermitage

September 9, 2012

 

Be Opened Inwardly and Outwardly

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Heidi’s Parents

Three months ago, at the beginning of June, a friend of mine flew to Denver to officiate at his nephew David’s wedding.

David married a young woman named Heidi.  My friend had met Heidi for the first time on another visit to Denver last October.

Heidi’s mother and father are both deaf.  And their serious hearing impairment also makes it impossible for them to speak clearly.

As I understand it, if we cannot hear ourselves speaking, we cannot speak clearly.  The speech impairment flows from the hearing impairment. If you don’t hear it right you can’t speak it right.

All that said, Heidi’s parents are absolutely delightful people.  They are friendly, jovial, and a pleasure to be with. 

The Deaf and Mute Man

I thought of Heidi’s parents when I read today’s gospel.

In it we find a man who is both deaf and mute.  And notice: Jesus first enables the man to hear and then, after that, to speak. 

If he can hear, then his speaking will flow from what he hears.  And notice also: Jesus heals the man by using, in the English translation, just two words: “Be opened!”

“Be opened!” In opening the man’s ears and mouth, Jesus heals the man physically.

But, as wonderful as this is, the healing is even more than simply a physical healing.  In Jesus’ time, unlike my nephew’s in-laws today, those who were deaf and mute were really cut off from the rest of society.

They were shunned and became very isolated from society.  They were treated as incapable of holding a job or of being with others in any way at all.

They were socially isolated.  And on top of that, they were also perceived as being alienated from God.

Their disability was seen as a punishment for sin.  So Jesus’ healing of this man today is not just physical, but also social and spiritual – that’s how great the healing is!  

“Be Opened!”

Now let’s take this one step farther.

Jesus’ words – “Be opened!” – are also intended for the disciples and for us.  Jesus calls us to “Be opened!”

Recently, I came across a very simple morning prayer.  It is easy to remember.

“Lord, open me: inward to you, outward to others.”  “Lord, open me: inward to you, outward to others.”

Jesus wants us to “Be opened!”   And for that to happen, we need to desire it and ask him to open us.

“Open Us: Inward”

First, we pray: “Lord, open me: inward to you.”

Open me to your presence that is already within me.  You are here, within me, removing my isolation and being my constant companion on my journey of life.

Open me to your strength within me.  You are my empowerment to deal with the everyday stuff of life and you are my refuge when times are really tough.

Open us to your love within me.  You are the outreaching, unconditional love of God for me and the grounding of my self-worth and self-esteem.

And open me to your healing within me.  You, little by little, put together my loose ends, remove my alienation from God and make me a whole and holy person.

    

“Open Us: Outward”

And then, we pray: “Lord, open me: outward to others.”

First open my ears.  Help me to hear the happiness or sadness, the self-confidence or self-doubt of those closest to me.

And then Lord, open my eyes.  Help me to see my spouse’s need for a caring intervention about alcohol or an aging parent’s need for help around the house.

Also Lord, open my mouth.  Help me to speak words of comfort to a neighbor who is grieving or words of challenge to a society in the grip of consumerism.

And Lord, even open my mind.  Help me to examine my judgments about people who look different from me or my prejudice toward immigrants, gays, or whomever. 

Conclusion

Jesus says: “Be opened!”

And we pray: “Lord, open me: inward to you, outward to others.”

Weekly SUMMER SNIPPETS for August 26, 2012: Developing an Attitude of Gratitude

Summer Snippets: Developing an Attitude of Gratitude

            Originally I was going to call this final Summer Snippet “A Fond Farewell to Friends,” for my last Mass here will be this Friday and Father Chuck returns from his sabbatical next weekend. “Farewell” somehow did not feel right since it implies a decided end. There was something too final about that. What I did experience, as I put pen to paper, was a deep sense of gratitude both to Father Chuck for inviting me to serve these three months and for your wonderfully warm welcome. But the feelings of gratitude only begin there.

Celebrating Eucharist, Baptisms, Reconciliation, Anointing, and daily Mass in the Stone Chapel gave me individual and communal ways to greet, worship and heal as one among you.

Meetings with the Staff, Finance Committee, Parish Corporators, and Pastoral Council gave me a bird’s eye view of why this is such an effective parish.

Watching so many of you carry food on Sunday mornings to the basement of the Stone Chapel, attending the installation of officers for the Knights of Columbus, hosting Father Christophe from Haiti, going to the JIF play, and visiting with Diane as she created the setting for Summer Bible School gave me a first hand view of some of the many volunteers and great ministries that are here in the parish. I regret that I wasn’t able to accept the invitation to lunch with the senior group every Monday, since I have spiritual direction sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays in Silver Spring.

Doughnut Sundays, monthly New Parishioner Welcome Breakfasts, weekly Bingo, Luau, and the parish picnic this weekend showed me how much you enjoy socializing with each other. However, what I’ve enjoyed most perhaps is greeting you before and after Mass each weekend, for it gave me time to meet one-on-one the hundreds who come to Sunday Mass and as well as an appreciation of the diversity that there is among you, a diversity in culture, background, age, physical abilities, and economic standing. And to see that all are welcome, all belong, was such a gift for which to be grateful.

Speaking of being grateful, each evening before putting out the light I generally review the day’s activities and try to name three things for which I am grateful that day. I make an effort to search for little things. For example last evening’s were: I was grateful for someone who rarely smiles and who greeted me with a warm one, or the fact the rain held out in the early morning until after my jog, or that a rescheduled appointment opened up an hour for me to do something else that needed tending. After only a few months of this practice it began to bear fruit. Two things became evident.

First, I began to surface smaller and smaller things for which to be grateful, things I would have never considered before – the shimmering of a tree’s leaves in the sunlight, a used Coke can thrown on the rectory lawn by a passerby that became an occasion to be grateful that I could even bend over to pick it up, or the sky-blue pink of the sky as the sun set a few hours ago.

Second, I begin to notice little blessings in the moment so I can note them and savor the experience right while it is taking place. That is a much fuller and richer experience than simply recalling it later that evening. I am always struck at how much time and effort we put into taking pictures on a vacation and how we look at the picture after the event is over rather than enjoying the event while it is taking place. Being “in the moment” is a heck of a lot more exciting than being “in the memory.” Recalling things that happened in the course of the day will help you do that. So I spend a fair amount of time now trying to be mindful and alert, noting what’s going on around me. I try to thank God for it on the spot and then savor the present moment’s experience.

Speaking of savoring reminds me of how I came to value the experience of savoring. Growing up, my family would have been called “under-classed.” There was not a whole lot of money available to us for extras and while we never went to bed hungry we ate lots of chicken and lots of pasta. The only desert we had during the week was fruit and on Sunday it was always cheesecake from “Custom Bakers” in Island Park, Long Island. My mother always made sure that we ate the cheesecake slowly and not drink water with it for that washed down the flavors that filled our mouths. We had to eat it s-l-o-w-l-y very s-l-o-w-l-y, savoring each small forkful. So I learned early how to savor. Each moment, if savored in this way, would have us see God at work in our lives and we, experiencing gratitude for that working. While I am not yet able to do it, I could see how eventually my whole day could become a blessing-in-the-moment.

As I take my leave to return to leading contemplative retreats and parish missions full-time, I invite you to join me in gratitude for our paths having crossed here at the altar of St. Francis De Sales. I am so much the richer for your love and support and our shared experiences. May God continue to hold you and your loved ones in the palm of his hand.

With love and gratitude,

                        Father Nicholas

PS. Retreats, parish missions, weekly homilies and other offerings I am involved in can be found on my FaceBook page “Father Nicholas Amato.” 

Weekly HOMILY for August 26, 2012: 21th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B -- Master, to whom shall we go?

21^st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

St. Francis De Sales Church

August 26, 2012

 

Master, to whom shall we go?

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

“This saying is hard”

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Jesus has just finished teaching about the Eucharist.  He has made some amazing statements.

Like, “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6.51).  And again, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6.54).

So, some of the people, not surprisingly, say: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  These words got me thinking this past week.

I paged through the gospels and realized that today’s is not the only hard saying.  There are others.

Hard Sayings

For example, right at the beginning of the story about Jesus, the angel of the Lord explains things to Joseph. 

The angel tells Joseph that “it is through the Holy Spirit that the child has been conceived” in Mary (Matthew 1.10).  This is a hard saying. 

It goes against all we know about how children are conceived and born.  And yet, could it not be so? 

Would the almighty transcendent God who is the origin of the vast universe and the origin of the amazing complexity of the human body be limited to our ways and to what we know? 

Could not the divine become one with the human or emerge in humanity in a way that is beyond our imagination? 

So, in the end, might we answer Jesus’ question, “Do you also want to leave?” in the same way Peter does?  “Master, to whom shall we go?”

And then there is Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness.

He tells us to forgive “seven times seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18.22).  This means that we are never to stop forgiving, to forgive without limits.

This again is a hard saying.  Common sense tells us not to be a doormat, to stand up for ourselves, and eventually just to be finished with an offensive or hurtful person.     

And yet, when we don’t forgive – and certainly, we will remember and we usually cannot forget – but when we don’t forgive, whom are we really hurting? 

Aren’t we hurting ourselves at least as much as the other person by just being eaten up with loathing and vengeance and hate?

So, once again, in the end, might we answer Jesus’ question, “Do you also want to leave?” in the same way Peter does?  “Master, to whom shall we go?”

And then there is Jesus’ saying, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10.39).

Again, another hard saying.  Aren’t we supposed to be responsible for ourselves and our life?

Isn’t it a good thing to seek my fulfillment in life?  And yet, how many of us who have focused so much on what I want in life end up feeling empty?

How many of us who are so successful feel that there is still something missing?  And on the flip side of it, how many of us who give of our life to and for others and their well-being – maybe to your children or the parish children in the faith formation program or to the hungry in our community or in Baltimore City – how many of us who do this really find inner fulfillment and really find our life?

So, once again, in the end, might we answer Jesus’ question, “Do you also want to leave?” in the same way Peter does?  “Master, to whom shall we go?”

Conclusion

There are other hard sayings.

There’s the one on turning the other cheek (Matthew 5.39) and the one on loving your enemies (Luke 6.27) and the one on being great by being the servant of all (Matthew 20.26) and the one on those who humble themselves being exalted (Luke 18.14) and the one on the first being last and the last being first (Matthew 20.16).  You can probably think of others.

And yet, when we examine each of these, just maybe, maybe there’s really something here.  So, today, to return to where we started, maybe Jesus, maybe God can break through and emerge in our midst in a piece of bread and a cup of wine.

Maybe this can be the way for Jesus to be present.  And maybe this is why he says that this is his flesh and blood and if we have communion with him in this way, we have eternal life.

So, maybe, in the end, might we answer Jesus’ question, “Do you also want to leave?” in the same way Peter does?  “Master, to whom shall we go?”

Weekly SUMMER SNIPPETS for August 19, 2012: Resources for Contemplative Prayer

Summer Snippets: Resources for Contemplative Prayer

We all have favorite sayings, concepts or quotes tha ground how we look at our lives. We learn them at our mother’s knee, in high school, or pick them up along the way as we grow in wisdom. In these summer snippets I have shared many of those that ground my life of contemplative prayer. This weekend I would like to share a sampler of an individual whose thoughts and writings in large part are responsible for my becoming a priest and growing in a life of contemplative prayer. Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion. Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews, including his best-selling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), which sent scores of World War II veterans, students, and even teen-agers flocking to monasteries across the US.

The following are some of my favorite of his quotes: 

Ø  “A man cannot enter into the deepest center of himself and pass through that center into God, unless he is able to pass entirely out of himself and give himself to other people in the purity of selfless love,” New Seeds of Contemplation p. 64.

Ø  “In prayer we discover what we already have.   You start where you are and you deepen what you already have, and you realize that you are already there.   We already have everything, but we don’t know it and we don’t experience it.   Everything has been given to us in Christ.   All we need to is experience what we already possess,” Thomas Merton/Monk: A Monastic Tribute, p. 80.

Ø  “We should not look for a ‘method’ or ‘system,’ but cultivate an ‘attitude,’ an ‘outlook’: faith, openness, attention, reverence, expectation, supplication, trust, joy.   All these finally permeate our being with love insofar as our living faith tells us that we are in the presence of God, that we live in Christ, that in the Spirit of God we ‘see’ God our Father without ‘seeing.’   We know him in ‘unknowing.’   Faith is the bond that unites us to him in the Spirit who gives us light and love,” Contemplative Prayer, p. 94.

Ø  “When we lose our special, separate cultural and religious identity—the ‘self’ or ‘persona’ that is the subject of the virtues as well as the visions, that perfects itself by good works, that advances in the practice of piety—(it is then) that Christ is finally born in us in the highest sense,” Zen and the Birds of Appetite, p. 12.

Ø  “At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.   This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.   It is in everybody.” Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander p. 142.

Ø  “For each of us there is a point of nowhereness in the middle of the movement, a point of nothingness in the midst of being: the incomparable point, not to be discovered by insight.   If you seek it you do not find it.   If you stop seeking, it is there.   But you must not turn to it.   Once you become aware of yourself as a seeker, you are lost.    But if you are content to be lost you will be found without knowing it, precisely because you are lost, for you are, at last, nowhere,” Cables to the Ace or Familiar Liturgies of Misunderstanding, p. 58.

Ø  “There should be at least a room, or some corner where no one will find you and disturb you or notice you.   You should be able to untether yourself from the world and set yourself free, loosing all the fine strings and tensions that bind you, by sight, by sound, by thought, to the presence of others… There, even when they do not know how to pray, at least they can still breathe easily.  Let there be a place somewhere in which you can breathe naturally, quietly, and not have to take your breath in continuous short gasps.   A place where your mind can be idle and forget its concerns, descend into silence, and worship the Father in secret.   There can be no contemplation where there is no secret,” New Seeds of Contemplation pp. 81-83.

Ø  “A person is a person insofar as each has a secret and a solitude of their own that cannot be communicated to anyone else.   I will love that which most makes them a person: the secrecy, the hiddenness, the solitude of their own individual being, which God alone can penetrate and understand.   A love that breaks open the spiritual privacy of another in order to lay open all their secrets and besiege their solitude with importunity, does not love them: it seeks to destroy what is best in them, and what is most intimately theirs,” No Man is an Island p. 258.

Ø  “Feel free to do nothing, without feeling guilty…   This is what the Zen people do.   They give a great deal of time to doing whatever they need to do.   That’s what we have to learn when it comes to prayer.   We have to give it time,” Thomas Merton/Monk: A Monastic Tribute, pp. 81-82.

Ø  “What do we want, if not to pray?   O.K., now pray.   This is the whole doctrine of prayer in the Rule of St. Benedict.   It’s all summed up in one phrase: ‘If a man wants to pray, let him go and pray.’   That is all St. Benedict feels it is necessary to say about the subject.   He doesn’t say, let us start with a little introductory prayer, etc., etc.   If you want to pray, pray,” Thomas Merton/Monk: A Monastic Tribute, pp. 84-85.

Ø  “The best way to pray is: stop.   Let prayer pray within you, whether you know it or not.   This means a deep awareness of our true inner identity.   It implies a life of faith, but also of doubt.   You can’t have faith without doubt.   Give up the business of suppressing doubt.   Doubt and faith are two sides of the same thing.   Faith will grow out of doubt, the real doubt.   We don’t pray right because we evade doubt.   It is in these two ways that we create a false identity, and these are the two ways in which we justify the self-perpetuation of our institutions,” Thomas Merton/Monk: A Monastic Tribute, pp. 87-88.

Ø  “… whatever you do, every act  however small, can teach you everything.   Provided you see who it is that is acting,” Thomas Merton, Learning to Live, University on the Heights, p. 10.

Ø  “It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers and my sisters.  The more solitary I am, the more affection I have for them.   It is pure affection, and filled with reverence for the solitude of others.   Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers and my sisters for what they are, not for what they say,” The Sign of Jonas, pp. 261-262.

As with a Whitman’s Sampler, I hope at least one of the “chocolates” in the box touches a desire within you.

Fondly,

Father Nicholas

Weekly HOMILY for August 19, 2012: 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B -- Blood Lines: Human and Divine

20^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

St. Francis De Sales Church

August 19, 2012 

Blood Lines: Human and Divine

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

 

Human Blood Lines

During World War II, the Red Cross made blood available to all who needed it – ally or enemy.

The Red Cross would also try to provide the soldier with the name of the donor.  That way the soldier could write a note of thanks if he wanted to do so.

A very poignant custom developed among the Red Cross medics in Europe.  If a Nazi officer needed blood, they would find a Jewish donor.

The medic would then tell the officer, “The bad news is: If left to your own strength and resources, you will die.  The good news: We have blood that will save your life – blood from a Jewish donor.

“All you have to do is accept it.”  Astoundingly, a few Nazi soldiers refused the blood. 

But most of them gladly accepted the blood from a fellow human being – and in their case a Jewish donor.  And, to accept life through this blood demanded a new view and attitude toward Jewish people.

Divine Blood Lines

In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks of the gift of himself that he offers us.

He says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.

He continues, “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”  We see then, that Jesus gives us himself, his flesh and blood as he says, in the signs of bread and wine.

And Jesus gives us himself in this way for one purpose – for life, that we may live in him and he may live in us.  Thus we are given a different life, Jesus’ life, God’s life, through the flesh and blood of Jesus.

Those Nazi officers received life by accepting blood transfusions from Jewish donors.  They had a new life in them and this led to a new life and new outlook in them.

In a similar way, our receiving Jesus’ flesh and blood in the bread and wine is to lead to a new life, a new lifestyle, a new outlook in us.  It does this precisely because we have the life of Jesus and of the Father through this food.

New Life

I see two impacts that this new life will have in us because of our “transfusion” from Jesus’ own body.

First, we like God the Father can now to be life giving.  We have the ability to be creative, sustaining, and enhancing of human life wherever we encounter it.

For example, we are to be in awe of the tiny, developing life of a baby in the womb of a mother.  We are to do all we can to care for this life and bring it to full development and birth.

We are to tend the life of one another, beginning with those close to us.  We are to tend carefully to the total development of our children, and also provide tender, supportive care for our elderly.

In the bigger social picture, we are to seek and promote ways to provide health care to everyone.  Our Catholic social teaching sees this as a human right, closely connected to the right to life itself.

Second, our receiving the transfusion from Jesus’ is also to make us bridge-builders. 

The Nazi officers who accepted the blood from Jewish donors were led to see themselves as physically connected with these men and women, to see them as brothers and sisters.

We who receive Jesus’ flesh and blood will be affected in a similar way. 

For example, in our families, we are to live our connection with the so-called black sheep who may have been a problem.

We here in Harford County are to see our connection with those in Baltimore City whose life situation is probably very different from ours.  We in America are to see that we now live in a global world with all nations.

What is important may no longer be that we are first and others are second or third, but that we are all “we” and we will all live together.  We in the Church need to abandon an exclusivist, insider-outsider mentality and adopt an inclusivist, welcoming mentality.

Conclusion

So, the story of the Red Cross medics is pointed and helpful.

It helps us realize what our receiving the body and blood of Jesus, the life of God moves us to do.  We also are to embrace a new life and new lifestyle in being life-giving and bridge building.