HOMILY FOR 20TH SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

Deacon Jerry Franzen  Cathedral 8/19/07

Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10     Hebrews 12: 1-4            Luke 12: 49-53

Praised Be Jesus Christ  Good Morning (Afternoon, Evening)

Today we heard Jesus say that he came to set a fire

which he wished were already blazing.

Fire is a vehicle for change, among other things.

That change came in the form of his being baptized in,

being immersed in, his suffering and death,

which he wished had already been accomplished.

His coming to earth would not bring peace to the people,

the freedom from their struggles

that they thought a Messiah would bring. 

And then he predicted that his immersion in the fire of the cross

would cause significant division.

And, yes, that has come to be the case; we do have division.

  

I

We hear a lot of rhetoric about division in the political realm.

The suffering , death and resurrection of Jesus

did not cause that rhetoric.

Jesus was probably referring to the division

between those who believed Him to be the promised Messiah

and those who did not believe that someone

who would suffer that horrible death could be the Messiah.

Also, in St. John’s Gospel we hear Jesus say to His followers:

           “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

           and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”

Many walked away declaring, “That is a hard saying.”

(John 6: 53, 60, 66)

In effect, they were saying how can this man be the Messiah?

In scripture we see many instances of division

between the Pharisees and the teachings of Jesus

Today there remains division among  the world’s religions,

even those that worship the same God of the Old Testament.

There is even division among the Christian religions.

The Catholic faith has much in common

with other Christian faiths, but there is one very fundamental element

that yet divides us from the others.

Jesus is really present in the Eucharist which we receive.

Non-Catholic Christians believe that what they do

when they have a Communion Service is a symbol of

what Jesus did at the Last Supper.

Our Mass IS what Jesus did at the Last Supper and on the cross.

He makes Himself present and sacrifices Himself to the Father.

We believe that validly ordained Catholic priests receive the gift,

the Church uses the word “faculty”, to stand in for Christ

as He, Christ, brings about the change of bread and wine

into His Body and Blood and then offers

them in sacrifice to the Father in the Mass.

Our bishops and priests can trace their ministerial lineage

back through a succession of ordinations

back to the apostles who ordained bishops who ordained more bishops

and so on to the present ordinations of bishops.

And, of course, the bishops have ordained all priests.

Ministers ordained outside of the Catholic Church

cannot claim this Apostolic succession to have the faculty

to be the earthly instrument by which the miracle

of the Eucharist occurs.

So yes, Christ offering himself in sacrifice to the Father

and the subsequent human disagreements of  the Reformation

have brought about division among Christians.

    

II

How do we support our belief in the real presence of Jesus

in the Eucharist?

In  both St. Mark’s (14:22-24) and St. Matthew’s Gospels (26:26-29)

Jesus at the Last Supper  gave the apostles bread

and said “Take it; this is MY Body.”

They shared the cup and Jesus said “This is MY Blood

of the covenant, which will be shed for many.”

Jesus did not say this is a symbol of my Body or a symbol of my Blood.

The account in Luke’s Gospel is virtually the same using the terms

"MY Body” and “MY Blood,”

with the added command, “..do this in memory of me.”

How could the apostles do this, see to it that this would continue,

that they would be able to do this in remembrance of Him

unless He granted them that power to do this

and the power to pass it on through ordination?

St. Paul’s description of what he received from the Lord

in I Corinthians 11:23-26 combines these other accounts

and is the main source of the words of consecration

used in the Mass today

We believe that the bread and wine become

the Body and Blood of Christ when the priest says,

“This is my Body…” and then “This is the Cup of my Blood…

III

Furthermore, there are divisions within the Catholic faith also.

You may have heard the bishop decry the polls

that show that only about 20 percent of those self- identifying

as Catholics actually attend the Sunday Mass regularly.

Wow, an opportunity to receive Jesus and they do not attend!

I would think that if they believed in the real presence,

they would figuratively move heaven and hell to get to Mass.

My guess is that most of them do not believe

in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

In a recent video, Bishop Robert Barron

quoted an even more disappointing statistic from a poll.

Only about 23% of those attending Mass regularly

believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

The remaining 77% say that the Eucharist is only a symbol of Jesus.

I was told that the percentage of believers in the real presence

may actually be somewhat higher than 23% due to the way

the questions were worded in the survey.

Still I was appalled; why is it not 100%?

 I makes me wonder: “What are people learning?”

TheCatechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 1376

states the following from the Council of Trent in the year 1551:

“Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly His Body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and his holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord and the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood.”

So yes, there is division within the Church today,

division within the Body of Christ.

It is a division which disheartens me.

We have, first of all, Catholics who come to Mass regularly

and those who do not.

Some do not attend because they don’t get anything out of it.”

They received Jesus within their bodies when they came

and didn’t get anything out of it?

People should be eager to “get Jesus”

to welcome Him within their bodies, within their hearts.

And then there are those who receive Jesus regularly,

and don’t really know that they are receiving Him.

They think that what looks like a disc of unleavened bread

is just a symbol of Christ’s’ body.

And what still looks like and tastes like wine

is just a symbol of Christ’s blood.

I don’t know just where the Church has failed to teach

about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,

or where parents have failed to pass along

this very important element of our faith.

The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “symbol” as:

“something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance especially : a visible sign of something invisible

a lion (something visible) as a symbol for courage (something invisible).”

Could it be that some think that what appears as bread and wine are just visible signs of the invisible Body and Blood of Jesus,

because they still look like bread and wine?”

Maybe this is the problem!

We, however,  believe that by the miracle of the Eucharist,

the Body and Blood of Christ are right there clearly visible.

The change in substance without a change in physical properties cannot be explained;

it is a miracle; it is a mystery.

It is something we must believe.

Remember Jesus said. “ This IS my Body.”

not “This is a symbol of my Body” and likewise for His Blood.

Remember also Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh

of the Son of Man and drink his blood…”

So if you are coming to Holy Communion and thinking that

what you are receiving is just a symbol of Jesus,

please know that Jesus wants you to have the faith

to believe that He really offers himself,

not a symbol of Himself in Holy Communion.

Please pray for strengthening of your belief in the real presence.

Can there be anything greater than

such an intimate meeting with Lord himself?

St John Vianney said, “If we really understood the Mass,

we would die of joy.”

HOMILY – 15th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C

By Deacon Jerry Franzen,  Cathedral     July 10, 2016

Deuteronomy 30: 10-14    Colossians 1: 15-20    Luke 10:25-37

Praised Be Jesus Christ  Good (Morning, Afternoon, Evening)

Today’s parable from St. Luke’s 10^th Chapter

should be very familiar to all of us.

This scholar asks Jesus some questions.

Jesus recognizes that the scholar can quote the law,

but there is this part about “neighbor.”

Jesus tells him the story about the Good Samaritan

to enlighten him on just who is his neighbor AND

to show him just what it means to “love you neighbor as yourself.”

Whatever he is called to do for himself out of self-love

he must, in the same way, do out of love for others.

Knowing the letter of the law is one thing.

What we actually do shows how we follow the spirit of the Law.

The love we are always talking about when speak of Godly love

is that love for another rooted in what we do in sacrifice for another.

Jesus was telling the scholar what he must do

to follow the spirit of the Law, and we must do the same.

I

I would imagine that this is the usual focus

of most homilies on this reading.

But, let’s review what the scholar quoted:

          “You shall love the Lord, your God,

          with all your heart,

          with all your being,

          with all your strength,

          and with all your mind,

          and you neighbor as yourself.”

How do we approach the teachings of the Church?

Do we parse the words, as we suspect the scholar did,

looking for loopholes in the letter of the law?

Do we worry MORE about,

           “What is the letter of the law?” than

           “What does the spirit of the law demand that we do?”

II

The following may illustrate this:

One might ask”

“Is it really a serious, i.e. mortal, sin to miss Mass on Sunday?”

Is turning my back on God and rejecting his salvation

really that serious?

Many Catholics don’t bother to get to Mass every Sunday.

It obviously is not a serious matter for them.

What does the Law say?

The Canon Law of the Church says that it is a serious sin

to deliberately miss the Sunday Mass.

So, if I were sick in bed and couldn’t go to Mass,

is that still a mortal sin?  Of course not.

The letter of the Law says that one must deliberately miss

a reasonable opportunity to get to Mass.

It is easy to play the part of the probing, testing scholar

to see how the law can be interpreted to our advantage.

But what about the spirit of the Law?

Must I be present at the very beginning;

how late can I come and still have it “count?”

How early can I leave and still have it “count?”

It use to be that you were OK,

if you got to Mass before the beginning of the part

called the Offertory and didn’t leave until

after you received Holy Communion.

We can even go further:

“Is it sufficient that I just attend or ‘hear’ Mass

from beginning to end, just be there?”

“Do I have to sing the congregational hymns,

say the responses when required, profess the creed?”

“Do I have to be attentive to the Sacred Scriptures and the homily?”

Do I have to mentally pray along with the priest

as he says the various prayers of the Mass?

“Do I have to receive Holy Communion?”

Those answers are not found in the letter of the Law,

But what about the spirit of the Law.

The Mass is the most important thing we do each week.

It is the weekly chance we have to gather with others

in our faith community in order to grow closer to God.

The Mass is the source and summit of all Christian life;

it is the most important means to our salvation.

We might very well ask the same question as the scholar,

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus ended his answer with a question for the scholar.

Let me pose a few more questions here for our consideration

in relation to the Mosaic Law as the scholar presented it.

III

I know that I am preaching to the choir, as they say,

but I think that these questions bear asking.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,”

“Can we profess to love the Lord, our God,

with all our heart

and then give it the half-hearted approach

of not leaving home in time to be here

at the beginning and not caring enough

to stay till the very end?” (pause)

“with all your being”

“Can we profess to love the Lord, our God, with all our being

and miss the most important thing we do as Church,

this weekly nurturing of our relationship with God,

the joining of our being with our Savior

in Word and Communion?” (pause)

“with all your strength”

“Can we profess to love the Lord, our God,

with all our strength and not make the effort

to sing the hymns or speak the responses?” (pause)

“with all your mind”

“Can we profess to love the Lord, our God, with all our mind

and not pay attention to the Word of God

or to the homily, and to not pray along with the priest

as he says the prayers of the Mass?” (pause)

We are here for ourselves, for our salvation, for eternal life.

But, let us not forget the last part of the law quoted:

How must I love my neighbor in all of this?

The Law said: As myself.

Everything I do for myself, I must do for my neighbor.

We are here today to fulfill an obligation,

an obligation for ourselves AND for our neighbor.

We must care enough about those around us

to be here to make them feel welcome at the beginning,

to extend the peace of Christ to them

and to not skip out on them early.

We must affirm and support one another

in our attention to Word and prayer, in our singing, in our responses

and in our profession of faith.

We must remember that we become

the collective Body of Christ with our neighbors

as we receive the Body of Christ.

Would it be a mortal sin to turn our back on these

opportunities that God has granted for our salvation?

Yes that’s serious.

Would it then also be a mortal sin to not do the best we can

to aid in the salvation of our neighbor? I think so.

The answer to how we must follow God’s directions

is not far removed from us far up in the shy,

not removed from us way across the sea

as Moses explained to the Israelites.

It cannot be found in fine-tuned dissertations of the learned.

It is already in our mouths and in our hearts.

Homily for the Funeral of Rebecca Brockman 7/12/19

Deacon Jerry Franzen        Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

                                      Luke 24:13-35

Praised Be Jesus Christ.  Good Morning everyone.

On behalf of Fr. Ryan Maher, Fr, Michael Norton,

Bishop Roger Foys, Sr. Barbara Woeste, the rest of the Cathedral Staff,

the parishioners of the Cathedral and myself,

I extend to you, family and friends of Rebecca, our deepest sympathies.

Over the years, I became a friend of Rebecca

and so I, too, feel an emptiness, a void, in my life,

a void in that I can no longer visit with her, share scripture with her

or bring Jesus to her  in Holy Communion.

She has now gone to meet him.

The Gospel selection which I just read is one that

I find rich in its teachings.

It is a reading that I find reflective of Rebecca’s encounter

with the Lord, as I knew her.

The encounter on the road to Emmaus happened on Easter day.

Apparently the two disciples were the second and third persons

to encounter the risen Lord.

Mary Magdalen had encountered him in the garden

near the tomb early on Easter morning.

Peter encountered the risen Lord at some point during that day,

and most of the rest of the apostles encountered Him

in the upper room later that evening.

The two disciples had quite an experience.

There are three points on which I would like to focus:

How the disciples met Jesus, how He shared Sacred Scripture

with them and how they shared a meal with Him.

I

1.  “… while they were conversing and debating,

Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,

but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.”

No matter what we are doing, God is with us, by our side;

and we don’t recognize Him.

Most of the time God is with us just in Spirit, the Holy Spirit,

but at many times in our lives Jesus, because he was human,

is made manifest to us in another person.

It might be a priest or a minister;

it might be a parent, a daughter, a son, a friend;

it might be a complete stranger – someone who treats us,

maybe helps us - as Jesus would treat us.

Jesus often works through persons to help us in times of need,

to help us to a stronger personal relationship with him.

We are all called to a personal relationship with Jesus.

And as Christians, we are all called, at times, to take on the role

of being Jesus for others.

Rebecca was one of those persons who stood in for Jesus for me.

By her willingness to let me come into her home, to visit with her,

to share the word of God with her

and to bring her the Lord in Holy Communion,

she helped me to fulfill my calling as a deacon.

All Christians are called to be open to those opportunities

to be Jesus for someone else.

II

2.  “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets

he interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the scriptures.”

Jesus explained to the disciples that He was the Messiah

that God had promised for the Israelite people and for everyone.

There are many indications of this in the Old Testament.

The books of the Old testament are the Good News

of the promise of salvation for the Israelite people.

The New Testament tells us of the fulfillment of that promise

in Jesus Christ.

It is this fulfillment of the promise that made the disciples hearts

to be “burning within them.”

We must read the Sacred Scriptures, study them, understand them

and do our best to live by them.

They tell us what we must KNOW about God:

Father, Son and Spirit.

But more importantly the scriptures tell us what we must DO

to attain everlasting life, to be with God forever when we die.

That is what made their hearts burn within them. 

When a preacher preaches,

that person is not only trying to help others

to understand what the Word of God says,

that person is also trying to help others to

apply that understanding to situations of their everyday lives.

When I would bring communion to Rebecca,

I would always read the Gospel of the day

and offer my thoughts on how it applies to us.

She would always be very attentive,

despite her difficulties with breathing.

So attentive in fact, that she would often ask questions

about the reading.

She wanted to know more, and that gave me a feeling of joy.

I am not sure whether her heart was “burning within her,”

but she definitely recognized the value of God’s Word.

All of us must be attentive to God’s Word in Scripture

and must follow God’s direction in order to attain eternal life.

III

3. “…while he was with them at table, he took bread, blessed it,

broke it and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened…”

They recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread,

in the meal that they shared.

That is our challenge also – to recognize Jesus in Holy Communion.

Because of several things that Jesus said in Scripture,

we Catholics believe that what we receive as Holy Communion

at Mass is truly the Body of Christ.

This is another way that Jesus is present to us –

not just as a symbol, but really present.

In the Mass what continues to look like a wafer of unleavened bread

becomes the actual Body of Christ.

Our receiving the Body of Jesus as food, a physical nourishment,

helps us to realize that what we are receiving

is more importantly for our spiritual nourishment.

Rebecca truly believed that Holy Communion was Jesus.

We talked about that.

She was always so glad to be able to receive it each week.

Although during the time I knew her, she never had the opportunity

to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion,

she watched our televised Mass at every chance she had.

In this Gospel Jesus was teaching his disciples and us

that, for each of us to develop the personal relationship

with our Savior for our salvation,

we must recognize Jesus in those around us,

we must know Jesus from what is recorded in the Bible

and we must receive Jesus within our bodies

and take him to our hearts.

What I saw in Rebecca was a sincere love for the Lord,

a need to know Him better

and a desire to take Him into her heart.       

We should all be so devoted to the Lord.

HOMILY – 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – Year C

By Deacon Jerry Franzen   Cathedral   2/16/2019

Jeremiah 17:5-8  1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20   Luke 6:17, 20-26

Praised Be Jesus Christ  Good morning everyone.

As I read and reread today’s readings I heard a common thread:

God is telling us that we must trust in Him.

*“A television program before the opening

of the 1988 Winter Olympics featured blind skiers

being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds.

Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats

how to make right and left turns.

When they had mastered that, they were taken to the slalom slope,

where their sighted partners skied behind them shouting

‘Left!’ and ‘Right!’ as needed.

As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate

the course and cross the finish line.

They were completely dependent on the sighted skier’s words;

It was either complete trust or catastrophe.”  

 

I

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told the Israelite people,

and us today, not to put our trust in human beings or

 in strength in the flesh or to turn away from God.

Jeremiah says that THEN we would be like mere bushes

in the desert poorly rooted in barren soil.

We do not want to be like that.

We are to trust the Lord, and THEN we will be like

well-watered trees that can flourish even in a drought.

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians was telling them,

and us, that we should trust in the Lord,

that we should believe in His resurrection.

For His resurrection is the means by which we are raised from sin

to eternal life with Him.

In the selection from the Gospel according to St. Luke,

Jesus cites four human conditions:

poverty, hunger, sadness and rejection.

Jesus says these are “Blessed” conditions that will be relieved,

and that those suffering these conditions

will be greatly rewarded  in heaven.

I interpret this to mean that they will be saved

through their trust in God.

In the second part of that reading Jesus said “Woe” to those

who trust in their richness, their being fully satisfied with food,

their happiness and their being spoken of well.

The implication of the “Woe” is that their misplaced trust

in worldly things will not bring them to the reward of heaven.

II

So we might ask, why did Jesus choose the first four to be “Blessed”

and warned their counterparts with the word “Woe?”

As I see it, the first four were “Blessed”, because, persons

in these conditions, had little in the world

in which to place their trust.

The poor have always had little reason to truly trust

that they will be provided with what they lack.

The hungry have had little real trust that they could depend on

someone to provide their daily meals.

that guarantee is there that there will be someone

to lift the spirits of the sorrowful

or come to the aid of those who were hated?

They are “Blessed” by that fact they often have no one on their side

but the Lord; no one or nothing else

in which to put their trust but the Lord.

On the other hand the rich, those who have plenty of food,

those who are happy and those liked by all,

have little or no reason to have to trust in others.

Jesus was warning them that no need for others

could lead to no need for God, no need to trust in God.

Let’s be sure we are clear here:

just because one is poor, hungry, sad or hated

does not guarantee a place in heaven.

But their less reason to trust someone or something of the world,

may make them more inclined to put their trust in God.

Just because one is rich, fully satisfied, happy or well thought of

does not mean that person is doomed to hell.

Jesus’ warning is that a person in these conditions

may find no reason to need to trust anyone of anything 

including the Lord.

That person has it all together on his or her own.

III

We all know that our salvation, our joining God in heaven,

is the bottom line.

Poverty or riches, hunger or food aplenty,   sadness or happiness,

being scorned or being praised,

none of these alone or in any combination will assure us

of meeting our goal of heaven.

We will be welcomed to the heavenly banquet through our holiness.

“Holiness?”, you might say.   Yes, holiness. What is holiness?

I once gave a talk on holiness and used this definition:

“Holiness is doing what God wants you to do.”

By now you might be thinking,

“How is holiness related to our trust in God?”

Stick with me.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed a stack of books on the cabinet

by the reconciliation room in the back of our Cathedral.

The title of the books caught my eye:

The title was “The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity”

What would that lie be?  Some propaganda against Christianity?

“What enemy of the Church left these here?” 

That is what I thought until I looked at the author’s name:

Matthew Kelly

He writes and publishes books on the Catholic faith

and his company the Dynamic Catholic Institute in Erlanger

occasionally donates books to local parishes.

Certainly he is not an enemy of the Church.

I took a copy of the book and have been reading it.

Matthew Kelly says that this greatest lie in Christianity is this:

Holiness is impossible.

With all of the worldly things, persons, fads, whatever,

to tempt us to sin, many regard holiness as impossible.

Matthew Kelly says that rather than thinking of holiness

as a property of our lives in an overall sense,

we should think of our lives a series of opportunities

for Holy Moments.

**He defines a Holy Moment as

“a moment when you open yourself to God.

You make yourself available to Him.

You set aside whatever you feel like doing in that moment,

and you set aside self-interest, and for one moment

you simply do what you prayerfully believe

God is calling you to do in that moment.”

Each weekend most of us would rather spend all the time

in rest and relaxation at home.

But we hear God telling us to get to Mass

and we respond by taking the time to come to Mass.

Just our coming here is a Holy Moment

aside from all the other Holy Moments we can experience

while we are here at Mass.

You see, I just proved that holiness is possible.

 

Many saints would admit that they did not live holy lives,

lives in which everything they did

was what God was calling them to do.

They lived lives of many Holy Moments and we can do the same.

**A nurse was on sick leave and her time of paid leave was up,

but her illness continued.

If she missed more work, she would not be paid – no income.

One coworker suggested to another nurse

that they might start a “Go Fund Me” page on the web.

Another nurse had a better suggestion:

Since the ill nurse worked three shifts each week,

they could each take one of those shifts as an extra shift

so that the ill nurse could continue to be paid.

What a Holy Moment for each nurse

covering one shift each week for their ill coworker!

It was truly a beautiful thing for each of them to be doing this.

John Keats wrote, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

It must have been quite a joy for these three nurses.

The ill nurse was out for three years. 

Holy moments are truly moments of joy;

moments when we realize that

“Hey, we are really doing what God wants us to do.”

In order to experience these Holy Moments

we must be listening to what God is telling us.

Furthermore, we must trust in what we are hearing.

We must trust that it is God speaking to us.

We must trust that we can do what God is telling us to do.

*Recall the story of the blind skiers.

It is a wonderful metaphor for the Christian life.

In this world, we are in reality blind about what course to take.

God is right here with us like the sighted ski partners.

He is the only one for us who is truly sighted.

His Word gives us the direction; we need to finish the course.

*From “750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers. Teachers and Writers, Craig Brian Larson and the Leadership Journal, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 2002 p592

**From “The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity”, Matthew Kelly, Wellspring, North Palm Beach, FL, 2018 pp 35-36