My homily for this feast of the
Baptism of Jesus has two parts. It’s title is, “Post Christianity -
Re-Christening.”
Notice Christ’s name in both
parts. "Post Christianity and Re-Christening”.
When was the last time anyone
asked you: “Are you in a relationship with anyone?”
Christianity is being in
a relationship with Christ - who brings us into a relationship with other
persons: the two other persons in the Trinity; as well as with the community
called “The Body of Christ”- Church - Us; and hopefully with all the people of
our world.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori - the founder of the Redemptorists -
the priests in this parish - whose statue is up here above the altar - wrote
over 100 books. His key book is, “The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ.”
It begins this way: “The whole
sanctity and perfection of a soul consists in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our
sovereign good, and our Redeemer.”[1]
How do we learn to play the
piano? How do we get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Practice. Practice. How
do we find joy, become a saint, find meaning in life? Practice, practice,
practice the love of Jesus Christ.
PART ONE: POST CHRISTIANITY
For the past few years I have been hearing from time to time the phrase, “Post
Christianity.” Post meaning “past”.
I assume there is no official
definition on what that means exactly.
For me, it simply means
that for some who were Christians - they have dropped out of Church - and away
from having Christ as God in their lives. In their mind or attitude - being a
Catholic or a Protestant - is basically past history. It’s over!
Then there are some who are
still Christmas and Easter and funeral and wedding Catholics - and they call
for a priest when someone is sick or dying. They might also have their kids
baptized - and make First Communion - but in reality they are drop outs when it
comes to voting with their feet - by walking into a church and putting their
butts on the bench or knees on the kneeler on a regular basis. Christ’s
attitude is not their attitude on how to do life
There’s talk at times by
"Strict Catholics" that Benedict XVI is for a small, lean, deeply
committed Catholic Church - whose members are following Jesus - living the
Christian life - and let those other "so so Catholics"
drop out of the Church or not be considered part of the Church. Others say that
he’s not saying that.[2]
Is the history of the Catholic
Church, a Church of hot and cold Catholics? Is the history of the
Catholic Church basically the same down through the centuries - a whole mass of
different type Catholics - in different states or stages of practicing their
faith?
I keep hearing that attendance
at Mass by Catholics around the world is the highest in the United
States - and I’ve seen numbers from 28% to 35 % going to church on
a regular basis. I hear that in countries like France it’s around 9 %.[3]
I’m also hearing that in the United
States that number has been gradually dropping in the past 25
years.
Peter Berger once wrote about
the magical train station in Paris - where Catholics from the country upon moving to Paris arrive at the train station and when they get off the train
- they are no longer Catholics.[4]
Does this happen when people go
off to college - or as soon as Confirmation is over?
As priest I wonder about these
things.
Did the word “obligation” or
“under pain of mortal sin” get people to go to church - when down deep there
was no grab at Mass for them? Does guilt work? Should we talk and think about
“have to” and “want to” being at church and being a Catholic when we talk about
all this?
What are your thoughts,
opinions, stands, questions, wonderings about any of this? Talk to each other.
I love it when someone says they were talking about a homily I gave in their
car on the way home.
I know some of you think and
worry about your kids - many of whom you paid for a Catholic education or
brought them to Mass and made them go to both Mass and religious education -
and they have dropped out or somewhat dropped out.
When I’m on to say the 5 PM
Youth Mass at St. John Neumann on Sunday evening and say, “The Lord be with
you” there seems to be a greater response to that same greeting than when
I have Mass like I did Friday morning for our whole high school.
I don’t know why some high
school kids seem like statues at Mass. Is silence, being blah, resisting religion - church -
synagogue - part of being a teenager?
When kids don't respond at
Mass, I hate it when priests say: “Let me try that again: ‘The Lord be with
you!’”
If I heard it once I heard it a
5 dozen times, people didn’t like it when Father Ted Heyburn would try to make
people sing the opening hymn a second time at Mass - because he didn’t think
they were singing it the first time around.
The Mass … Music… Prayers…
The Homily or Sermon … the Our Father … the Sign of Peace …
Communion… The Experience of being in Church... what is that like for
folks? What do people want, need, hope for when they come to Mass? How do
we avoid driving people away from God, Church, prayer, the Holy, receiving
Communion - Union with Christ and each other? What do folks hunger for in
their gut - in their deepest deep?
Sometimes when reading the
papers or a magazine - I notice articles about attendance at church. I'll
read that article. I do that especially because before I came here to Annapolis I worked for 8 years with a priest named Tom out of Lima, Ohio.
He had a Ph.D. in Sociology and in our many car rides all over the Eastern Part
of the United States - especially Ohio - which is east of the Mississippi, if I
learned anything from conversations with Tom, I learned that research by
professionals like CARA - Center For Applied Research in the Apostolate
or the Pugh Forum Religious Landscape Study - or the Lilly Endowment Inc.
on Religion - they tell me at times that my projections and opinions can
be wrong, very wrong.
Perhaps that’s the reason I
like the saying from the Jewish Talmud, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not
know.’”
So I don’t know - but I sense
two things: 1) the numbers are going down a bit faster than usual; and 2) we
might be at a stage in Church life - where we better be careful - “a little
more carefully - than anything” to steal from the words of e.e. cummings -
about this gift of faith called “Christianity” - and our Catholic Faith
in particular.
In my opinion, babbling, fluffy
stuffy homilies - or hammer, hammer, hammer homilies - don’t help. The Child
Abuse by priests didn’t help. That really hurt us. The efforts to return to a
top down Church structure doesn’t help. The way some in the Church dumped the
new translation of the 1973 Sacramentary in English that was a long work in
progress and replaced it with a tongue twisting very close to the Latin translation
didn’t help - in my opinion. There was research recently that said U.S.
Catholics favored the new translation.[5] I scratched my
head at that - because I hear priests complaining about the priest’s prayers as
being clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. We’re up here mouthing them. We were told to
practice them more beforehand. I’ve tried - but to me, ugh, ugh, ugh - and to
be honest, I assume I’ll be dead by the time, they get this right. Opinion.
Opinion. Opinion.
PART TWO: RE-CHRISTENING
Part One of this homily was
called, “Post Christianity”.
Part Two of this homily is
called, “Re-Christening.”
For the past 50 years I’ve been
hearing the word, “Evangelization”. Lately, I’ve been hearing the words,
“New Evangelization.”[6]
Someone is saying that what the
Church says from time to time is a call for us to "Wake up!" Attempts
are made to shake it up once more. The history of the Church is a history
of Awakenings and Renewals.[7]
In the meanwhile, here we are
at Sunday Mass.
In the meanwhile, on this
Sunday we are celebrating the feast of the Baptism of Jesus.
Why are we here? We’re here to
be renewed - to renew our Baptism.
We here to hear the readings
and to receive Christ in Communion.
In today’s first reading from Isaiah
40 we heard, “Comfort, give comfort to my people…. Speak tenderly …. prepare
the way of the Lord…. Every valley shall be filled in …. every mountain and
hill shall be made low …. the glory of the Lord shall be revealed …. Go up onto
a high mountain …. cry out at the top of your voice …. good news…. Fear not ….
Here is your God! …. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock …. in his arms he
gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”
In today’s psalm - Psalm 104 we
heard, “O Lord, my God, you are great indeed…. when you open your hand, they
are filled with good things.”
In today’s second reading
from the Letter of Saint Paul to Titus, we heard, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and
training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately,
justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance
of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ….”
In today’s gospel from Luke we
heard that people were filled with expectation wondering if John the Baptist
was the Christ. Is he the one everyone has been waiting for? And he said, No.
“I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not
worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire.”
Jesus is the one John pointed
to and pointed out and Jesus is the one that the voice from heaven said as we
heard in today’s gospel, “You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased.”
[Luke 3: 22]
Most of us were baptized as
babies - christened as babies.
Christened - means - Christ was
implanted - put into us - and we became sacred, new, a Sacrament - a sign of
Christ’s presence wherever we go.
Christened - means we are called to be salt, light, life, joy, hope,
help, love, wisdom, good example - to our world - each day.
Part 2 of this homily is
called, “Rechristening.”
CONCLUSION
For the past 35 years at least,
I’ve thought that the Catholic Church should announce a new sacrament - for
those 35 and over. I never knew what to call it. As I reflected on this homily
I’ve thought, “Maybe ‘Rechristening” might be a good name.
Now the Catholic Church won’t do this. They’ll stick with 7. Someone will
probably say my thought is heretical or what have you.
I could go for confirmation
being put off till 35 as a compromise - but they won’t do that either.
In the meanwhile, this year
2013 is one more year where those of us who are here can grow as Christians.
This year at Mass we’ll hear
the Gospel of Luke proclaimed. By the end of this year, will you be a better
Christian than you are right now? Our move! Our decision! Our action!
As John the Baptist also said,
“I must decrease. He must increase.”
So Re-Christening is the step after Post Christianity. I am
called to be re-Christed, re-Christened - becoming Christ - more and more each
day. Amen. [8]
OOOOOOO
NOTES:
[1] St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, pp. 261-477, in Volume VI, The Ascetical Works, edited by Rev. Eugene Grimm, CSSR, Redemptorist Publications, 1934
[2] Cf. The Tablet, The International Catholic Weekly, UK, "Map For the Journey of Faith," Page 2, October 6, 2012
[3] Linda Woodhead, "Faith That Won't Fit The Mould," article in The Tablet [UK], page 8, December 15, 2012
[4] Cf. Peter Berger's book, A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. In it mentions the statistical study by Gabriel LeBras - who is actual one who made the statement that "a certain railroad station in Paris appears to have a magical quality, for rural migrants seem to be changed from practicing to non-practicing Catholics the very moment they set foot on it."
[5] Cf. U.S. Catholic, volume 77, No. 12, December 2012, "Words Fail Us - The View From the Pulpit .... The View from the Pew," pp. 12-21 - Claretians; National Catholic Reporter, Bar Is Set Low In Acceptance of Year-Old Missal, by Anthony Ruff, page 1, page 12, December 7 - 20, 2012, Vol. 49, No. 4; National Catholic Reporter, "Study: Catholics Differ On New Mass Translation," page 4, December 21, 2012-January 3, 2013, Vol. 49, No. 4;
[6] John Allen, The Future Church, How Ten Trends Are Revolutioninzing the Catholic Church, Doubleday, 2009; Cf. America Magazine, September 26, 2011, The New Evangelization by Donald Wuerl, pp. 11-13; Cf. Father Barron's Seven Tips for New Evangelization, by Brandon Vogt, Our Sunday Visitor, page 14, December 30, 2012;
[7] Cf. William G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, An Essay on Religion and Social Change in America, 1607-1977, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1978; Duquoc/Floristan, Spiritual Revivals, Herder and Herder, 1973; Daniel Cohen, The Spirit of the Lord: Revivalism in America, Four Winds Press, 1975; Ian Bradley, The Call to Seriousness, The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians, Macmillan Publishing Co. New York, 1976; Conrad Pepler, O.P., The English Religious Heritage, B. Herder Book Co. St. Louis, MO, 1958.
[8] There is a lot of literature on being a Christian - conversion - renewal - re-looking at what it means to be a Christian. For example: C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Macmillan, 1952; Timothy Ratcliff, What Is The Point of Being a Christian, Burns and Oates, London, 2005;Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2007; Brian D. McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity, Ten Questions That Are Transforming The Faith, Harper One, NY, 2010; Alan Jones, Reimagining Christianity, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken N.J. 2005; Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion, Harper San Francisco, 1981.
