The Church of Saint Matthew - Saint Paul’s West Side

06.21.2020 Homily

The gospel. According to Saint Matthew comes from a community that is rather divided. Part of the community is Jews who've converted to Christianity. And part of the community is non Jews. Gentiles who have become Christian. And Matthew's job is to try to put these two groups together and that's not working very well. Also there's persecution that is taking place. And so very often just the disagreement within the community makes people more vulnerable to the persecution. So chapter 10 of St. Matthew's gospel is meant to address those who are expected to lead in this community that is tension. 
What Matthew does is he takes all of Jesus' sayings and that he lumps them according to categories. So the sayings that are attributed to the sermon on the Mount are gathered from various places. And these sayings that are found in the10th chapter are gathered from various places. So there are three of the three things that he wants to tell his disciples in this short passage. Number one, there is nothing that is going on that you need to be afraid of things that are spoken in the dark, proclaim them out. Things that are hidden and concealed will be revealed. You don't need to worry about the mumbling that goes on the under the table movement that takes place. And then he says, if you're going to be afraid, don't be afraid of the one who can just destroy the body, but fear the one who could not only destroy the body, but destroy the spirit. You're the one who could take the spirit away from you. You're the one who could overcome you, where you would surrender the spirit. That's the first part. 
The second part is an expression of calling them to, to hope, to have confidence. God, he says, look at the sparrows. They're worthless.  You buy two for a penny and yet not one of them falls from the heavens without your father, knowing about it. And every hair on your head is counted as insignificant as that is. Are you not worth much more than all those sparrows? I tell you everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before the father. And everyone who denies me before others, I will deny before the father, Jesus says, have hope. You're worth much more than the sparrows. You have an incredible value to God. You can trust that God will be with you. And then the last piece about affirming God before others. When there was persecution, there was this insidious thing of, of people turning each other into the authorities. There was the insidious thing where, where people would turn their back on their own neighbors. And then you would be called before the tribunal. Then you'd be asked to testify. And Jesus says, those who acknowledge me, I will acknowledge before my father in heaven. Yet, those who reject me, I will reject before my Father in heaven. 
Well, all of that can play out and I'll realize as well. These are very, very difficult times. There are so many major events and circumstances occurring that are playing in upon us that we never expected, or certainly we're not ready for. And there's a tendency to fear to lose hope You want life to go back as it was. And it never will. It never will. And Jesus says, have hope. As we pray today, we pray that those, those gifts of the spirit that Jesus encourages his disciples to accept and to live might also be the spirit that lives within us.

06.21.2020 Gospel Matthew Chapter 10

The Lord be with you, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 
Jesus said to them, fear, no one, there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed. And there is nothing that is secret. That will not be proclaimed. If you hear me in the darkness, speak it out in the light. And if you hear whispers, shout those from the house top, do not be afraid. Fear only the one was able to kill both body and spirit. Do not fear the one who merely can kill the body and not harm the spirit. Are not sparrows sold too for a penny and yet not one of them falls from the sky without your heavenly father knowing it. Every hair on your head has been counted. Are you not worth more than many sparrows? I say to you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my father in heaven and anyone who rejects me before others, I will reject before my father in heaven.
The gospel of the Lord.

06.14.2020 Homily

Today, we celebrate the feast of the body and the blood of Christ. In St. John's gospel Jesus gives this very, very long teaching about the Eucharist. And there's something about that teaching and the sixth chapter that is very different from the teaching that is given in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You see in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the story of the last supper, Jesus says, this is my body. Take it. This is my blood. Drink it. 
In John. Jesus says, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you can have no life in you. The word body is a, is a generalized term, But where word flesh is very particular. The word flesh is the meat that you and I carry on our bones. In fact, in some languages, the word or flesh is also the word for meat. Flesh, the word for flesh and the word for meat. Well, out of that distinction, there are a number of ways of appreciating and understanding the sacrament. Now sacraments admit of a variety of interpretations and a variety of meetings. The sacramental signs are very full and very rich. Some would hold that primary image for what you and I do here Sunday after Sunday is that this is the sacrifice of the mass and that what we do at this alter is we recall Calvary. We recall Jesus dying for our sins. We recall that moment in which all is made right with God. Where reconciliation occurs. And so this is the, the reenactment, the re presentation of that sacrifice of the cross. In the old catechism, it used to be called the, the unbloody sacrifice of the cross. 
So in that understanding, the Eucharist is sacrifice. Now, the other understanding or an other understanding of the Eucharist is as in St John's this gospel, the Eucharist is food to be eaten. The Eucharist is meal. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have life in me. And I will raise you up on the last day. And my flesh is real food. And my blood is real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 
What we do then week after week, as we gather at the table of the Lord is we gathered to be fed that the, the primary focuses that we are a community gathered around a table, and that we are being fed with the risen Lord. And that in our receiving that gift of the risen Lord, there is the promise of eternal life. 
Now, those two approaches are not in opposition to each other. They're just two different ways of looking at the one reality. If you opt for the, the image of the Eucharist as sacrifice, then there really is no absolute need for the Eucharist to be celebrated every Sunday. The Eucharist could be celebrated a couple times a year, or like Passover could be celebrated once a year. It becomes then the, the focal for the sacrifice of Jesus. And maybe in that kind of reading, the sacrament truly does belong within the Holy week. But if you, if you see the gift of the Eucharist as food, then you've got to do this regularly. You've got to do this daily. You've got to do this week after week after week, because you cannot live without food. And just as the food we take in our homes, nourishes our physical lives. So the food that is shared here at the table of the Lord day after day after day after day is food that feeds our spiritual life. 
The celebration today is the celebration of, of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is different from the blessed sacrament. The blessed sacrament is the words that are used to describe the body and blood of the Lord that is reserved after mass in the tabernacle. It is the blessed sacrament that is made present for adoration and prayer. What we do around this table is not the blessed sacrament. The blessed sacrament is what is the leftover. If you will, from the table, what we do around the table is the Eucharist. And the Eucharist is a process of giving. Thanks. The Eucharist involves a community gathered at a table. The Eucharist is by its very definition a communitarian experience. 
So in a few weeks, there will be young people. Most of them, second graders will receive the Eucharist for the first time they'll receive the body and blood of Christ they'll receive communion, but more importantly, they will be invited to this table for the first time. The Eucharist is rich. The sacrament is rich. The church has chosen. The church has adopted. The church has taken to itself. If you will. The teaching of John's gospel, where the church, this is bread, the bread from heaven. And as we pray the Lord's prayer before communion, that's what we pray for. Give us this day, our daily bread, the food that we need day after day after day so that our spiritual lives may be nourished.

06.14.2020 Gospel John Chapter 6

The Lord be with you, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ according to John.
Jesus said, I am the bread of heaven. He who eats my flesh will live forever. And the flesh I give is for the salvation of the world, his hero said, how was it possible? Where this man to give us his flesh? Jesus says, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you can have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them. Just as I live in the father and the father lives in me. So those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will live in me and I will raise them up on the last day. 
The gospel of the Lord.

06.07.2020 Homily

Today is the feast of the, of the Trinity. It's the feast in which we acknowledge the inner life of God. In all the other celebrations through the year, we, we praise God for the external things that God has done in calling us in saving us in sending forth his son and pouring forth his spirit. It's all about us. Now this is the one Sunday of the year. When we, we praise God for nothing having to do with us, but that powerful inner life by which father, son, and spirit live for all eternity. 
Now the challenge that you and I have as people of faith is we want to come into contact with God. We want to make a connection to God. God tells us in the first reading how that connection gets made. This is the part of the story of Israel, where Moses has come down from the, the mountain and he's found the people worshiping the golden calf and he's destroyed the tablets. And He's now Gone back up to the mountain a second time to beg God for a second covenant and a renewed covenant, a new covenant. And the question has always been, what does God do with him? How does, how is it to get into the very, the very center of the life of God? 
Is this a great mystical experience? Maybe it's at the opening of some knowledge that is too far for us to attain. So what does God say to him? If you want to enter into my life, recognize that I am God Reverence me offer prayer to me, respect members of your family do not commit murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Honor the dignity of marriage and be satisfied, do not lust and be envious of what the other has. That's the way you'll come close to me. Well, what, uh, What a downer that is, I mean, that's so simple. Why did he have to go up to the top of the mountain to find that out? And yet it's the realization of that truth that really opens the door to a deep spiritual life. 
Thomas Merton wrote about an event that occurred in his life. It was March 18th, 1958. He was in Louisville, Kentucky. He had been to a doctor's office and he had, when he came to call the fourth and Walnut epiphany, any event that marked him for the rest of his life. He says Yesterday in Louisville at the corner of fourth and Walnut, I realized deeply, Oh, so deeply that I loved all these people around me. That none of them were Or could be alien to me. On that street corner he realized that depth within him to embrace the truth of who God is. He realized the truth that we are, we are sisters and brothers. We are members of one family. He realized that no one who disregards the family and draw close to God, those experiences happen over and over again. 
This week I was reading David Brooks book, The Second Mountain, and he talks about a similar experience that occurred in his life. As he rediscovered his Jewish faith. He said, my experience of God is I go about my normal day to day life. For some reason, I do not understand mystical intrusions pierce through hinting at a deep reality. The other morning, I've set off on the train at Penn station in New York at rush hour. I was surrounded as I always am by thousands of people. Normally the routineness of life dulls my capacity, but on this day, my soul in every way, flipped and suddenly everything came to light. And I became aware of the infinite depth of each of those spirits around me. Suddenly I regarded the whole crowd with a kind of awe and reverence that in these are all spiritual souls. It is a short leap to the belief that there is one who breathe that spirit into them. Then he says, some months later he went on vacation and he sat on the American river, just outside of Aspen, Colorado. And a second such experience came to the second such opening about the truth of who God is. 
Now. One more the author Flannery O'Connor. She talks about again, being downtown and coming up to across the street and having to stop because the light was red and she was a very shy woman. And she normally keeps her eyes down and she doesn't, she doesn't want to draw attention to, and certainly she doesn't want her to be drawn to others. But in that moment, she said, She felt And knew, and she never knew That all these people around her are sisters and brothers, Sons, and daughters of the living God. And that you come to God through acknowledging and being in one with his sons and daughters. Now this invitation to come into the presence of God is given to us in Jesus Christ. No one comes to the father except through me and Jesus Christ present in those around us is the one who invites us, invites us to see in our neighbor, the very glory of God. 
I find it curious that in just a few weeks, reading from a number of books, I could stumble across three distinct and yet similar experiences, which marked the holiness of three people. If you and I are going to make a new beginning of this earth and this world, if we're to, If we're to receive each other as members of a family, If we are willing to step beyond what we see with our eyes and see with our hearts. And if we see with our heart and no one is outside, no one is the stranger. No one is the unacceptable. No one is the alien. All of those barriers that keep people from each other come crumbling down because not because of laws Or customs, because of faith. I look in the eyes of the other and I see the face of God.

06.07.2020 Gospel John Chapter 3

The Lord be with you, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, according to John.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So that those who believe in him may have eternal life. He did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, But that the world may be saved. Whoever does, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is already condemned or not believing in the name of the only son of God.
 
The gospel of the Lord.

05.31.2020 Homily

05.31.2020 Gospel John Chapter 20

The Lord be with you. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to John. 
It was that very same day, the first day of the week. The disciples were gathered in the upper room, and the doors and windows were closed for fear of the authorities. Then Jesus came and he stood in their midst, and he said to them, "Peace be to you." Then he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw him, they were filled with joy, and once again he said, "Peace be with you." Then he breathed on them. He said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you hold them back, they are held back." 
The gospel of the Lord.

05.24.2020 Homily

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. The Ascension is really not so much that physical movement of Jesus going to heaven. It's the culminating moment of Jesus' life here on earth, in which, in which he is established as King of the universe, one could just as easily call this feast, the feast of Christ, the King that he ascends to the father's right hand. And from that point on, he has been placed into his hands all that is. But those disciples, they were called to the mountain, just outside of Jerusalem. The mountain gets 70. They're called to the place where the agony took place. And it was there that Jesus appeared to them. And it was there that they fell to their knees. 
Although the author tells us some of them continue to doubt, even at that point, some of them weren't sure. Weren't sure about the goodness, God, weren't sure about the presence of Christ. Weren't sure about the promises made. And then Jesus sends them forth to the whole world, to who teach all what he has taught them. It's at this point that if you will, the graduation ceremony takes place. He has taught them for three years. He's they've walked with him. They've lived with him and he's saying, now it's yours. I've done my work. You are to go out now to all nations. You are to do exactly what I have done earlier in the gospel. He says, you have seen all the wonderful things I have done. Well, I tell you when the Holy spirit comes upon you, you will do those things and you will do even greater things than I have ever done. 
He seeks to assure them that he is not abandoning them. Those disciples aren't really assured at that moment. And they're not assured until 10 days later at the time of the coming of the spirit, we all know and have experience of what it is mean, what it means to be left alone or abandoned. We all know, we remember what it was like when someone very important and close to us, wasn't there. I remember as a child, I was five years old. And for some reason I was in St. Joseph's hospital. And I was there overnight. And my mother sat with me through the day and he came to the night and she sat with me for a while. And then I found later she was told that she had to leave, so she got out and left me. And at that moment I felt all of the world had come to the end. I screamed and I yelled and I crawled out of bed and they put me back in and I crawled out again and they put me back in. Finally they put restraints on me so I wouldn't get out of bed. 
I totally felt abandoned LD. We sell the which author talks about the evening, the evening and the concentration camp. When those hundreds of people who were forced together in one of those Quonset huts, Oh, they were so sure that God had abandoned them. In fact, they were so sure that that God was, was just a figment. And they decided that night that they would put God on trial. There certainly, isn't a good God who would allow us to suffer this way. And so three rabbis sat together on the edge of a bed and convened, a Jewish court. 
And the people came forward all evening and all through the night and into the morning telling their story of how God had failed them. How, how they no longer had any connection to God, Oh God, no longer was for them. And so in the early morning, after all the testimony had been given the rabbis gathered together in a huddle and it was their job to decide a verdict and it didn't take them very long. And they came back and said, we find that God is guilty of abandoning his people. And then with Zell said, there was a young boy there perhaps 10 or 11 years old. 
And when the verdict was given this young boy grabbed on to one of the adults and he said to him, well, now we don't have to believe in God. Now there is no God. And the adult looked at him and said, no. Now we have to go and pray with all our heart that God would help us understand. Those disciples felt abandoned. And so what does Jesus do in the mind of St. Matthew in the gospel of St. Matthew, their abandonment is answered. Jesus says to them, I will be you. I will be with you every single day. As long as the world exists, you may not see me, but I am there and all through Matthew's gospel. The theme of God being there in Jesus Christ, because the gospel opens Matthew's gospel opens with the annunciation to Joseph, where the angel says that Mary is to bear a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. And this is to fulfill what the prophet said, that a Virgin will bear a child and they will call him Emmanuel. A name that means God is with us. 
The opening words of the gospel and the closing words of the gospel. We too can feel abandoned. And then this time we feel separated from many of those for whom we, we wish we could be with today. We pray in the liturgy, Lord God, mediator of all creation judge of the world. And Lord of hosts. He ascended not to physically distance himself from our lowly state, but that we might be confident with following where he, our head and founder has gone physically distancing. That's what we wrestle with today. And the prayer from the ancient of times speaks of the fear of Jesus, physically distant and reminds us that the feeling may be there. But the truth is he is always with us.

05.24.2020 Gospel Matthew Chapter 28

The Lord be with you, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. According to Matthew.
The disciples of Jesus went to the mountain to which Jesus called him. And when they saw Jesus, they fell down on their knees and worshiped him. Although some of them continued to doubt as Jesus approached them. He said, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. And I tell you, go forth proclaim the good news to all people make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy spirit, teach them to observe all that I have taught you. And remember this, I am with you even to the final day. 
The gospel of the Lord.