Sing

3^rd Sunday of Advent – Cycle C

Zephaniah 3: 14-18a; Philippians 4: 4-7; 

Luke 3: 10-18

Today we hear a bit of a change in tone from the readings of the past two Sundays. The previous two weeks we’ve been hearing phrases like “repent and make straight the Lord’s path.” We’ve heard about John baptizing in the desert – a baptism of repentance – preparing the way of the one who is to come. But today we hear “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully O Israel!” It’s a bit of a change. Look at our advent wreath – today our candle is a different color. We have a rose colored candle symbolizing joy amidst the purple candles of repentance.

So today we are supposed to feel joyful. We are supposed to feel the warmth of God’s unending love for us. Sometimes that is easier said than done. Doctors will tell you that there are more cases of depression and cardiac arrest now than at any other time of the year. Stress levels go up. Suicides tend to increase during this season. So how do we put those feelings aside and suddenly feel joyful? Joy is not an emotion that you can simply turn on and off like a light switch. You cannot force yourself to be happy – but you can choose to surround yourself with things that uplift and inspire you. You can choose not to dwell on the things that bring you down or hold you back.

This season focuses on gift-giving – but many people are out of work or struggling financially; many are torn between not spending enough and spending too much without the means to pay for everything.

This season centers on the joys of being with family – but many people have lost loved ones during the past year; many live alone or are estranged from families that have caused more pain than joy.

So how do we tune out these distractions? How do we find the joy?

In today’s gospel, people come from everywhere to hear John the Baptist – and they are all asking the same question: “Teacher, what should we do?” Maybe John’s answers will serve us too. John said “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise … do not falsely accuse anyone and be satisfied with your wages.”

Maybe the first step to finding that joy is to stop thinking about ourselves and focus our attention outward. I know of no other activity that will boost morale and self-esteem better than volunteering our time for those in need:

• Start a drive to collect food for those who are hungry
• Collect blankets and coats for those who are in need
• Visit someone in the hospital or the nursing home
• Sent a Christmas card to someone in prison or to a soldier overseas

When I was twelve years old, I hung around with a group of kids about my same age – all except for one – his name was Jimmy but we all called him “Tag” because he always followed his big brother. Jimmy was eight years old and was not welcomed into the group with open arms. We used to sneak off when Tag wasn’t looking. That summer, one of the neighborhood girls, Jeanette, got and in-ground swimming pool. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess where we hung out that summer. We would spend hours in that pool every day. Tag wanted to come too, but he didn’t know how to swim. So Jeanette took matters into her own hands – while we were playing games in the deep end of the pool, Jeanette was teaching Tag how to swim in the shallow end. She never gave up, never lost patience, and by the end of that summer, Tag could swim well enough to play in the deep end too. That winter, Jeanette’s father was transferred out of state, and we lost our friend and our pool privileges. But Jeanette’s influence was still felt in the group. After that summer, Tag became part of our group.

Seeing Jeanette in action makes it easy to see God’s love for us through her. Scripture is full of images telling us to exult – to sing to God in love and worship for all that God has given us. Today’s passage from Zephaniah puts a new twist on that sentiment. I had not heard this passage before this week, but it has quickly become one of my favorites:

He will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you with his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings in festivals. (Zephaniah 3: 17)

Can you imagine – God is singing joyfully because of you! God loves us so much, that HE is singing for joy! I absolutely love that image.

But how do we know that God loves us? Where is the proof? That’s an easy question to answer. Look into the eyes of your spouse. Look into the faces of your children. Look into the heart of your best friend. Is that enough? Can you see it now – or do you still need more? There is one sure way of knowing God’s love for us - and you already know it! It’s embedded in your mind. It’s written in your heart like the lyric of a song that you’ve heard your whole life:

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)

That’s the good news that we should all be singing about.

Deacon Darryl Diemer
3rd Sunday of Advent
December 13 , 2009

Two Widows

32^nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; 

Mark 12: 38-44

Have you ever found new meaning in an everyday object? Perhaps a painting that you’ve seen 100 times catches your eye and you notice a new detail. Perhaps you reread a familiar story and pick-up a tidbit that had somehow eluded you before. These types of revelations are eye-opening and wonderful. I had just such an experience a couple of years ago.

I have a friend, Joseph, who has a terrible time managing his money. He came to me once and complained that his paycheck never seemed to stretch far enough. He got paid every Friday, but by Tuesday, his pockets were empty and he was struggling to make it through the rest of the week. He couldn’t understand where all of his money went. So one Friday I met him after work. We made a list of all of his bills, all of his leisure activities and wrote a detailed log of how much everything costs. We worked out a budget and planned for everything. Joseph agreed to give it a try.

The following Thursday, we met downtown. It was holy week, and we were going to the cathedral for Holy Thursday liturgy. We were standing outside the church and he was telling me about his week. He was excited – the budget had worked. Here it was Thursday evening and he still had enough money to buy lunch the next day. As we were standing there, I spotted another friend nearby and turned to say a few words. When I turned back around, I saw Joseph reach in his pocket, pull out his last $5.00 bill, and hand it to a lady on a bicycle. I was stunned.

After the woman had peddled off, I accosted him. “Why did you do that? It was irresponsible. Now you’re out of money again.” Joseph just shrugged and said that she needed the money more than he did. The woman needed to buy diapers for her baby and didn’t have enough money, so he helped her out.

When mass had ended, I had to lend Joseph $2.00 to pay the parking garage. 

Later that evening as I lay awake in bed, I was still angry with Joseph. He had no way of knowing if that woman’s story was genuine. It’s one thing if you have the money to spare, but Joseph had, in one ill-conceived moment, thrown away the budget that we had worked so hard to create. And then it dawned on me – I remembered the Gospel passage that we just read, about the widow who gave her last two coins to the temple treasury and I finally understood. I was thinking like the scribes that Christ condemned. Joseph was doing as Jesus taught. The following day, Good Friday, I called Joseph and told him of my epiphany. He seemed bewildered. “I only gave her $5.00. It’s no big deal, I get another paycheck today anyway.”

Everything about that incident, from Joseph’s selfless act, to his modesty afterwards, taught me the true meaning of today’s readings. In Kings, we hear of a widow who gives Elijah water and makes him a cake using the last of her flour and oil. There had been a seven year drought. The woman understood that she and her son would soon die of starvation, and yet her final act was one of charity toward a stranger. In today’s gospel, Jesus proclaims that the widow’s gift to the temple treasury was greater than all of the other contributions. Now, as I hear these readings again, it is with a new appreciation and understanding. God doesn’t want our money. Jesus doesn’t need us to give away our homes, our cars, our 401K’s and follow him. More simply, he wants us to think of others before ourselves. We do this all the time for the people we love. We do it for our spouses, for our children, for our parents. But Jesus expects a little more from us. He wants us to give unselfishly to those who may be lacking. It may not be money at all. Maybe it’s just finding the time to visit someone who is sick or alone. Maybe it’s finding the patience to deal with someone who infuriates or aggravates us. Maybe it’s inviting the widow down the street to share a meal.

This afternoon many of our young people will receive the sacrament of Confirmation. A vital part of their preparation has been service to others. Today, as we go forth, let us remember that we too are called to serve.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 8, 2009

Drinking From The Cup of Christ

Twenty-Ninth Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Isaiah 53: 10-11; Hebrews 4: 14-16; 

Mark 10: 35-45

Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? James and John answered “we can.” Did they truly fathom what they were saying?

I was 23 years old and living at home with my parents. I was engaged to marry Susan, but dates and china patterns had not been chosen yet. Life was good. One day at the dinner table my father told me that he had found a house that would be perfect for Susan and me. We saw the house, worked out the financing and made that leap of faith. The house was ours. It needed paint from top to bottom, the roof needed to be replaced and the yard needed a lot of work, but we rolled up our sleeves, pitched in, and everything was accomplished in short order. I remember thinking that now the work is done, I can sit back and relax in my new home. But it just isn’t that simple, is it?

Before moving in, I understood that the grass needed cutting in the summer and that the snow needed shoveling in the winter. I understood that the leaves needed raking in the fall and the garbage needed to be set out once a week. It seemed easy enough. But there is so much more that I didn’t realize. Owning a house takes a lot of effort and responsibility. The work is never done. There’s always something that needs to be fixed or unclogged or cleaned and put away. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. Those are the sacrifices and the challenges that we face when we commit to owning a home. Jesus was trying to teach this same lesson to the apostles.

In the last few weeks we have heard Jesus telling his followers, again and again, that the Son of Man would suffer and be killed. The apostles still didn’t get it. Today we hear that James and John want Jesus to guarantee them places of honor in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is trying to explain that being his disciples will not be all about rainbows and roses. There will be suffering and sin. There will be prejudice and persecution. There will be those who do not believe or do not care. There will be those who wonder “What’s in it for me?” as James and John did. There will be an unending workload. Jesus tells us that whoever wishes to be great will be a servant to all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.

A few weeks from now, many of our young people will be confirmed. Part of their preparation for this sacrament is volunteering for various service projects. But, like buying a house, the service doesn’t end when the sacrament is conferred. As disciples of Jesus, we must continually answer his call of service to others. Those are the sacrifices and challenges that we face in being followers of Christ. Those being baptized today are entering into this same life commitment to love and serve the Lord and each other. Like James and John, they do not understand what they are being asked to do. It is our responsibility as parents, godparents, and community of believers, to guide them faithfully on this journey.

We must remember that Jesus was a radical thinker in his time. His ideas went against the grain of society. There were those who wanted to kill him for his ideals and beliefs. His followers faced the same fate. Today we live in a nation where we are free to follow Jesus. It is unlikely that anyone here today will be asked to sacrifice his or her life for Christ. But that doesn’t mean that the job is finished. The challenges of poverty, oppression, prejudice, war, hatred and disease are still with us. How do we answer these challenges? I don’t know the answer to that question. But I can tell you this much – if you are comfortable in your faith, if you think you’ve got it all figured out, if you are not actively searching for ways to serve others, then you are missing the point of today’s gospel.

In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve attended both a baptism and a funeral mass – the alpha and omega of our spiritual lives here on Earth. Both of these are milestones in our faith journey. The true test of being a disciple of Christ is what we do with the time in between. 

Can you drink the cup that Jesus drinks?

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 18, 2009

To Whom Shall I Go?

21^st Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Ephesians 5:21-32;

John 6:60-69

I had one of “those” moments a couple of weeks ago. You all know what I mean. Someone says something to you and you’re not sure how to answer them back. Ten minutes later, you think of the perfect response, but it’s too late. The moment has passed.

My family was in northern Ohio on vacation a couple of weeks ago. While there, we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. My son was wearing a St. Xavier shirt. A gentleman approached me and asked if we were Roman Catholic. I answered yes. The man introduced himself as Jeff. I told him my name and then added that I was a deacon in the church. This man took this as an invitation to tell me all of the problems with the Roman Catholic Church today. It seems Jeff was born and raised Catholic, left the church as a young adult, and only recently had found Jesus in one of those non-denominational mega-churches.

Jeff told me that the Catholic Church spends a great deal of time educating our children, but once they have been Confirmed, the church abandons them. There are no places for an adult to learn more about the faith. People become discouraged and they stop attending mass.

Jeff said that the Catholic Mass is boring. The same thing happens week in and week out. The people occupy the pews, mindlessly standing, sitting, kneeling and reciting prayers memorized long ago, without a second thought to the meaning behind the words. They don’t want to be there. They come out of sense of obligation. They think that by being at mass, the attendance card gets punched and the score will be higher when tallied on the last day.

Jeff said that the number of priests has dwindled so badly that the church will accept practically anyone now days. Heck, they are even allowing married men to become priests in some instances. The opportunities to serve the church are limitless – unless you are a woman. Why would anyone choose to be catholic?

When the man had finished his rant, I wasn’t sure how to answer him. I wasn’t bothered so much by his bitterness toward the church. No, what bothered me the most was the amount of truth that his words carried. I’ll admit it. I couldn’t counter any of his attacks until later, after he had moved on. By then it was too late. But just in case Jeff followed me back to Louisville and is here today, this is how I would like to answer him.

Yes Jeff, the Catholic Church does spend a lot of effort to educate its youth. And yes, there used to be very few options available for adults wanting to learn about their faith. But times have changed. In addition to RCIA classes, we now have bible study for adults, prayer groups and other forms of adult formation. We have a program called Well Built Faith which breaks open the catholic beliefs and traditions, and makes them easy to understand. There are other options as well, such as Awakening Faith, which reaches out to those who have fallen away from the church. These new opportunities allow the Catholic faith to grow and evolve beyond what was learned as a child. You should take advantage of them.

Secondly Jeff, you need to remember that the Mass is a celebration. I was invited to attend a birthday party not too long ago, and I did not want to go. I felt obligated to attend. All I wanted to do was show up, make an appearance, drop off a gift, and get out of there. There have been times in my life where I felt the same way about the celebration of mass. But the great thing about the catholic liturgy is that it is a communal prayer. On those occasions when I’ve arrived at mass in the wrong frame of mind, often, the joy and the prayerfulness that I see in others can lift me up and help me to redirect my focus to Christ. I can only hope that when someone else comes to church feeling out of sorts, that my joy and enthusiasm will reflect God’s love back to them. Mass is a celebration of transformation. The bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Through the mass and the reception of Eucharist, we become one with that paschal sacrifice. We become the sacred vessel that takes Jesus out into the world. We carry out his mission of bringing about the Kingdom of God.

Finally Jeff, you stated that women have no place in the church. I completely disagree. Some of Jesus’ most faithful and beloved disciples were women, and that is still true today. Women are the silent leaders of our mission. They are the teachers of the faith. But more basic than that – women are the family leaders in proclaiming the Good News. Take a look at any family that you consider to be faithful or devout. I'm betting that nine times out of ten, you will find that the woman of the household is the primary spiritual leader. You are correct, Jeff, in saying that the Roman Catholic Church will not ordain women. But that in no way diminishes their faithful and spiritual discipleship within our church.

In conclusion, I will acknowledge that the church is not infallible. We’ve made our share of mistakes and blunders. We have our blind spots. But I truly believe that the Catholic Church, from Rome down to each individual, wants to do God’s will and carry out Christ’s mission. The path we take in choosing to follow Jesus is not always an easy one. We are called to stand with Christ even when it’s not popular or politically correct. Jeff, I can’t tell you why everyone should be catholic. But for me, I have to ask “to whom shall I go?” Jesus has the words of eternal life. He is present within the Catholic Church in the Word, in his people, and in the Eucharist. Nowhere else on earth can you find Jesus present in all three forms. That’s why I am catholic.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 23, 2009

(on the occasion of the one year anniversary of my ordination to the Permanent Diaconate)

Testimony of Andrew

17th Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; 

John 6:1-15

The young children gathered around the communal fire in eager anticipation. They could hardly believe their luck. Andrew, one of the Twelve, had come to their small village and was going to talk about his experiences with the Master. 

Andrew was not the most eloquent of speakers, but his life experiences and his closeness to Jesus made his words almost irresistible. When all had gathered, Andrew stepped forward and began to speak.

“I met Jesus one day by the River Jordan. I was with John the Baptist. John spotted Jesus, pointed him out to me and said, ‘behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ I followed that man and he invited me inside. His words were so powerful. He spoke with an authority that I had never encountered before. When I left him that day, I ran and told my brother Simon about Jesus. Later, Jesus called Simon and me to accompany him in his ministry. I saw many great works, many wondrous deeds performed by the Master.”

“Tell us of the greatest” shouted a voice from the crowd.

“The greatest” Andrew began “was the day that Jesus fed a crowd of 5000 men plus women and children with only five barley loaves and two fish.

Jesus had been teaching all day. He cured many who were lame. He told the crowd about the Father and his love for his people. When he had finished, we got into a boat and crossed the sea to the mountains. Jesus liked the solitude that the mountains provided. It gave him the opportunity to pray in private. But the crowd followed. They were hungry for more of Jesus’ words. When the Master saw them, he realized how needy the people of God were. He had the crowd sit down. Jesus asked where we could get enough food to feed the hordes of people. I found a young boy who had five loaves of barley bread and two dried fish.

Jesus blessed the offering, divided the food into baskets, and asked that we begin to distribute the food among the people. The people rushed toward those of us carrying the baskets. Hands were reaching in from all directions. Sometimes, the basket seemed almost empty. Other times it was so full that I could hardly lift it.

When we had reached the end of the crowd, I looked down, and there was still food left for the other disciples and myself. We ate our fill as well. Then Jesus ordered that the scraps be gathered up so that nothing would be wasted. The scraps left filled twelve wicker baskets.

As I reflect back on that day, I can’t help but marvel at how things developed. When the people arrived at our location, they were individuals. Each person came to Jesus with their own needs and reasons for being there. But Jesus united the crowd. He had them all recline. He did not ask the women and children to sit in the back. He did not ask any honored guests to come forward and be recognized. He did not ask anyone to leave because they were unclean or undesirable. Jesus took the meager offerings of a small boy, blessed them, and had them distributed. The words that Jesus spoke and the bread that Jesus offered was enough to satisfy the hunger of all who had come.

It’s easy to look at the problems that we face in our world today, shake our heads and say ‘too bad.’ The problems of poverty, hunger, health care, oppression and prejudice seem too vast and the solutions too complex for one individual to make a difference. But on that day, I saw the Savior take the offering of bread and fish, the assistance of a few devoted followers, and the willingness of people united in a common goal and accomplish that which seemed impossible.

The one thing that I want you all to remember – to tell your children and grandchildren to remember is this – God provides enough blessings for everything and everyone. But it is incumbent on each of us to recognize the blessings that God has given, be thankful for them, and be willing to share them with others as Jesus has done.

Today I ask this question of each of you. What do you offer Jesus to feed the multitudes?

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 26, 2009

The Leaky Bucket

Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ – Cycle B

Exodus 24:3-8; Hebrews 9:11-15; 

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

Today is the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Today we recall and celebrate that tremendous gift that Jesus left us – the gift of the Eucharist.

Our second graders recently celebrated their first holy communion. Before that blessed event occurred, they spent many months learning about the Eucharist. Their parents, their teachers, their catechists and their priests taught them that the Eucharist is the summit of our faith journey. They have learned their lessons well.

Now, as a child, I knew that Eucharist was important, but I didn’t know why. As a second grader, I got the idea that Eucharist was special – I got a new suit, we practiced walking in and folding our hands, we had a party afterwards, and I got a rosary of my very own. It was a big deal! But as time passed, and the days since that “First Eucharist” faded from my thoughts, I lost what it was that made that day special. I continued to see the Eucharist from a second grader’s perspective rather than continuing to grow. If I had to describe my faith journey to you, I would say that we are all given a bucket to hold those baptismal waters. Through the years, my bucket developed a few leaks. It could no longer hold my water.

There was a time in my life when church was not important.  I had finished school, gotten a job and was dating the woman that I would eventually call my wife. For me, church had become a burden. There were other things that I would rather do with my time. My bucket was empty. And what’s more, I didn’t care that the bucket was empty. I cast it aside and moved on. And so I stopped going to church. I stayed away for several years.

Eventually, as I became a husband, and later a father, I began to realize that there was something missing in my life. That something was God. And so I found my old bucket, dusted it off and tried to use it again. I should preface this by saying that several members of my family have left the Catholic Church and joined other Christian denominations. Occasionally, we would be invited to attend services at one of their churches. And they were nice. The singing was inspired. The preaching was quite good in some instances. But at the end of service, I was left wanting more. Their worship service felt incomplete to me. Water was going into my bucket, but it was still leaking out. Something was still missing. I eventually came to realize that that something was the Eucharist.

And so I returned to the Catholic faith. And I discovered something amazing. As I received the Eucharist again, my bucket started to reseal itself. I came to understand that the Eucharist had healing powers for me and my bucket. I could hold those waters again.

My ideas and my understanding of the significance of the Eucharist have changed through the years. I can remember seeing the Eucharist as a time for adoration – a time to reflect upon the power and holiness of God, but then I felt a need for a more personal relationship with God.

Jesus took the ordinary bread and wine – the staple of every meal shared with his disciples – and used them as a way for us to understand his presence. I realized that one of the things that makes us uniquely Catholic is our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That was what was missing for me when I attended church services in other places. As a community of believers, we participate in the Eucharistic prayer. Our collective prayers reach the ears and heart of God as we ask that this ordinary bread and wine be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus.  And we believe.  We believe that God loves us so much, wants to be in relationship with us so much, that He becomes present to us in this form. 

 

But our participation in the Eucharist doesn’t end there! Just as the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, if we are open to the grace God intends for us, we too are transformed as we receive this gift. We become the body and blood of Christ. Our hearts are broken open to continue this transformation as we share Christ with others. Our buckets overflow. And so we share those waters with others. The Eucharist allows us to refill the buckets of those around us even as it continues to refill our own!

When we labor for human rights, when we shelter the poor, when we dismantle the bombs, when we protect the unborn, when we reach out to the criminal, we do these things not as political activists or social workers. We do them because we are the body and blood of Christ. We are his hands and his feet. We are his sacred heart. We are his covenant of love.

May the body and blood of Christ bring us all to everlasting life.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Feast of Corpus Christi

June 14, 2009

Fisher of Jesus

Easter Sunday

Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; 

John 20: 1-9

I have one brief announcement before I get started. The Archdiocese of Louisville is now accepting applications for the Deacon Class of 2014. For any of you men who might be inclined, it’s a wonderful ministry and I encourage each and every one of you to consider it. It has brought many blessings to me and my family and the best part is – on Easter Sunday you will always have a seat!

In the gospel that we just proclaimed, the Lord is risen but Mary Magdalen and the two apostles do not understand what is going on. Mary assumes that Jesus’ body has been taken from the tomb. We don’t know what Peter is thinking at this point, but the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved, saw and believed. He did not yet understand but he believed.

We all know the rest of the story. A few minutes later in that same garden, Mary comes upon a man whom she believes is the gardener – and she begs him, “Show me where you put is body.” She doesn’t know who she is talking to – until he looks her in the eye and whispers her name – and then it is made clear.

This is a trait that is common in all of the resurrection stories. Whenever Jesus appears to anyone, he is not recognized at first. Another example of this would be the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walked with them for miles discussing the events that had transpired and discussing the scriptures. But it wasn’t until that evening, when he broke bread with them, that they realized who it was that they had been with all afternoon.

I used to envy those early disciples. To have walked with Jesus during the three years of his earthly ministry must have been incredible. But to have a face-to-face encounter with our risen Lord and Savior – it must have been more than words could imagine. And so I used to envy them. But Jesus is with us today. We believe as Catholics that Jesus is present in the Word that we proclaim at the ambo. We believe that He is present in the Eucharist. We believe that He is present in the gathered assembly. But I wanted to go a step further. I wanted that face-to-face contact with Jesus – like Mary had – like the disciples of Emmaus had. I tried to figure out a way to do it and so I came up with a quest of sorts. Do you remember what Jesus said when he called the first apostles? “Come with me and I will make you fishers of men.” Since I was doing something similar, I called myself a “Fisher of Jesus.”

Now, how to get started?

If you want to go fishing, the first thing you have to do is get up out of the recliner and go to the place where the fish are! You have to go to the pond. You have to go to the lake. You have to go to the stream … to the river … to the sea. And if you want to be a Fisher of Jesus, you have to get off the couch and go to the church. You have to go to the hospital. You have to go to the prison … to the homeless shelter … to the asylum.

But going there is not enough. When you go to the river, you’ve got to do more than just be there. You can’t hold the net over the water and hope that a fish will jump in. You have to bait the hook. You have to cast it into the water. You have to check the line every so often to make sure that the bait has not fallen off or been stolen. You have to be patient. You have to be watchful. If you want to have a face-to-face encounter with Christ, you have to do the same thing. You have to be watchful. You have to be diligent. You have to be engaged. But most importantly, you have to try and reach Jesus on His level. Now what do I mean by that? I stand here before you and I can see all of you and you can see me. But if I wanted a new perspective, I could climb on top of this altar and you would see me from a different point of view. Now, before Father has a heart attack or tries to wrestle me to the ground, I want to assure him that I will not be climbing onto the altar today! But to be a Fisher of Jesus, you must try to reach him where He is. We go through life and we look at the world from here. [Indicate line of sight] But that is not good enough. If you want to have a face-to face encounter with Jesus – if you want to be close enough so see your face reflected in His eyes – you can’t do it from here …

[Kneel]

You have to do it from here! This is where you will find Jesus, serving those who need him. This is where you will find Jesus, tending those whom we fail to care for. This is where you will find Jesus. If you do these things, you can be a Fisher of Jesus as well.

[Stand again] [Try not to fall flat on your face]

A couple of final thoughts – You can do everything right and still not catch a fish – but if you don’t catch one on Sunday, go back on Monday and try again … go back on Tuesday and try again …

By the way, my quest worked. I met him. It was at a time when I was questioning my role in the Diaconate. I was questioning if I needed to leave the Catholic Church completely. Jesus came to me and spoke four words … that’s all … four little words – and all of fears vanished. All of my doubts went away. Someday, not today but someday, I will share that story with each of you.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Easter

April 12, 2009

Living Waters

Third Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; 

John 4:5-42

I must confess that this is one of my favorite stories in all of scripture.

Jesus meets a Samaritan woman and asks for a drink of water. By the end of the story, Jesus has a new town that believes that he is the son of God. Jesus chooses this person to carry the good news to her people. And the fact that she is a woman, a Samaritan, a sinner, does not bother Jesus in the least. Along the way we see this woman’s progression of faith. Through the eyes of this new disciple, we see that Jesus goes from being a stranger, to a Jewish man, to a prophet, to possibly the Christ, to the promised savior of the world. In this simple encounter, this woman hears about living waters. By the time that she runs and tells the townspeople, she has discovered her own living water that has been trapped inside her hardened heart.

 

So where does this living water come from? I used to believe that we received living water at our baptisms. I know better now. After working with the RCIA team this past year, I can truthfully testify that these men and women that are about to join our church already possess living water. I understand now that the gift of living water is bestowed on all of us by God. The real question that we all must ask ourselves is this – Where does it go? And how do we find it again?

Back when my sons were in grade school, I tried to teach them a lesson about Jesus. We had just heard Matthew’s Gospel about “what you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me.” As we were leaving church, I pointed out the homeless man in the parking lot and told them that THAT was Jesus. It became a little game between my son Michael and me. We would go into church and I would ask if he had seen Jesus in church today. Michael would look to the back of church and exclaim “There he is!” I was proud of the lesson that he had learned. Time passed and the game was forgotten. Then a few years ago, I had what I will describe as a “living water moment.” It was a Friday evening, and Susan and I were in a rush. We had to be at a weekend retreat and we were running behind schedule. You know how it is – leave work, stop by the bank, get home and throw some clothes together, stop at McDonalds for a quick bite and then hit the road. Frankly, I was not looking forward to the retreat. I was not in the right frame of mind. We had just gotten our food and sat down at our table when who should walk in but the homeless man from our church. Suddenly an overwhelming sense of calm came over me. I literally felt my blood pressure go down. I made eye-contact with this man and it was like rediscovering Jesus all over again. It was the highlight of the retreat, and we hadn’t even gotten there yet! I had found God not in the Word, not in the Eucharist, but in the eyes of a man whose worldly possessions fit inside a shopping cart. Talk about a wake-up call.

We can all look back over our lives and remember times when we felt alive in the spirit of God. The living water inside us gushed forth and nourished all those around us. That’s because living water is best when it’s shared with others. But there are other times in our lives when divine inspiration is lacking. We may still pray, still go to church, still volunteer our time, but it seems as if we are just going through the motions. I know it sounds a little mushy, but at times like these, it takes a personal encounter with Jesus to break open our hardened hearts and let the living water spring forth again. The problem is that we cannot schedule a “living water moment” with Christ. We cannot say, “Today I will see Jesus.” So, how does it happen? We can start by making a conscious decision to look for Christ in other people. It may be easy for us to see Christ in the people we see giving food to the poor, but what about the person receiving the donated food? What about the person who honks their horn at us because we stop at the light too long? How about the person who was just released from prison and is now living in our neighborhood? We may have to look harder to find the Christ in people where His love is not so obvious. But, keep looking! Most things become easier with practice, and we can increase our awareness of Christ in others by practicing. We can open our hearts and allow it to happen. During this Lenten season, let us all open our hearts and minds and allow a personal encounter of some kind with God. Let us all strive to rediscover the living waters in each of us.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

3rd Sunday of Lent

March 15, 2009

Heavy Lifting

Fifth Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Job 7:1-4,6-7; 1 Cor. 9:16-19,22-23; 

Mark 1:29-39

Did you have any reaction to the first reading this morning? Let me repeat some of it: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery? He is a slave who longs for the shade… So I have been assigned months of misery … My days come to an end without hope.” Is there a gloomier person in the scriptures than Job? Life is a drudgery, a drag, endless days, sleepless nights, months of misery, no hope, - ending with “I shall not see happiness again.” And we all answered in unison “Thanks be to God.” It is as if we are saying that there is a value, a grace if you will, that comes with suffering.

Job’s laments are feelings that we can all identify with in some way. They describe an experience of desolation as familiar today as when the book of Job was written. They raise the perennial question of the suffering: Why do I suffer? Why do the innocent suffer right along with the not so innocent? Everyone must confront these questions at some point in their lives.

But to appreciate Job’s suffering and to hear Job’s answers to this perennial question, you must first know the whole story. If you haven’t done so, I would strongly urge you to go home today and read or reread the small book of Job. It is a classic.

The book begins with the pious and upright Job enjoying every prosperity. But one day Satan comes to the Lord and proposes that Job be tested. Take away his prosperity and Job will surely blaspheme God. And so it happens. His business fails and he is left a pauper. During a party at his oldest son’s house, the roof collapses in a violent windstorm, killing all ten of his children. Job himself is stricken with a strange disease that the doctors cannot diagnose or cure. And Mrs. Job offers little support, extolling him to “curse God and die.” But Job does not complain against God. Instead he seeks comfort in the company of his friends. They prove to be of little help, telling Job that he must have really messed up bad for God to have punished him this way. Job examines his life and finds nothing to justify his suffering. Job eventually reaches the conclusion that even the just must suffer, that we cannot begin to understand the ways of God. His conclusion is summed up this way: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job’s words can be comforting to us in times of sorrow. But we know that there is yet more. God is a God of compassion. To fully understand what compassion means, it helps to start with the Latin roots. It comes from two words, cum meaning “with” and passio meaning “to suffer.” Thus compassion means to suffer with someone. As followers of Christ, we believe that God suffers with us all. God is not an uninterested bystander. God is intimately involved in our suffering.

In today’s Gospel passage, we find Jesus going to the home of Simon Peter. He cures Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. Jesus is soon overrun by all those who are sick or possessed by demons. Early the next day, Jesus slips away to a deserted place to pray, but he is soon interrupted by Peter, asking him to return and perform some more miracles. Instead, Jesus reveals his true mission – “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose I have come.”

Jesus could cure the sick and feed the hungry – but that was not his purpose. Yes, he could walk on water, calm stormy seas and transform water into wine, but his true mission lay beyond miracle cures and healings. His real purpose was to preach about the Kingdom of God. As God, he came to feel compassion for our suffering, to suffer along with us, not to end it. While it’s true that compassion does involve acts of kindness and concern for others, its core meaning is to suffer with someone. Jesus’ true mission is to proclaim the gospel. It is through both his words and his actions that the heavy weight of life’s burdens can be lifted from us.

I felt like Job once. When I was sixteen years old, I was involved in a terrible automobile accident and I was badly injured. I spent about a month in the hospital and another three months in a wheelchair. I was the lucky one. The young man in the passenger seat next to me was killed. So in addition to the physical injuries, I had to deal with the mental anguish of knowing that my actions had caused another person’s death. It was a very long and painful recovery but thanks to my family and friends, I was able to heal and go forward with my life.

While I was in the hospital, there was a nurse who meant a great deal to me. She always found a few minutes to stop by my room and talk, even when she was working in another part of the hospital. We talked about school and friendships. We talked about movies and music. Sometimes we didn’t talk at all, just watched TV together. Now that was compassion. Not trying to “fix” me. Not preaching, not searching for religious reasons to explain the suffering. Just being present and suffering with me.

The real answer to the question, then, to the question raised by Job is found in the cross. The cross is the clearest expression of God’s compassion. When we look at the cross, we are reminded that God is suffering with us. No religion can take away suffering. But the great consolation the church offers is the sure knowledge that God is present in our suffering.

When we encounter suffering in our lives, in our families, at work, we may be tempted to think that we suffer alone. But the rebuttal that comes from the cross is this: our God is a God of compassion. God suffers with us.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 8, 2009

What Are You Looking For?

2^nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Samuel 3:3b-10,19; Cor. 6:13c-15a, 17-19; 

John 1:35-42

I’m planning a trip, a long journey, and all of you are invited to come with me. OK, you might respond, that sounds like an adventure, but I have a few questions. Where are we going, how will we get there, what will we see, how much will it cost and when are we returning home?

Vital questions, one and all. My response to you is – what are you looking for? Andrew and the other disciple didn’t have an answer to that question. John the Baptist had shown them the way. He pointed them in the right direction, but he didn’t tell them what they would find. That information would have to come from Jesus.

Does this scene seem familiar to you? It Should – we reenact it at every mass. The priest holds up the consecrated body and blood of Christ and using John’s exact words, he says “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” And just as Andrew and the other disciple, we leave our pews and go to Jesus. And Jesus welcomes us. He invites us to journey with him, but like Andrew and the other disciple, we don’t know all the details. Our ultimate destination is the Kingdom of God, but the route we take, the company we keep, the stops along the way are not clearly defined for us.

Two years ago, one of the couples from our deacon class invited my wife and I to a gathering on their farm. Their place is on the other side of Brandenburg, Kentucky. I knew how to get to Brandenburg, but needed directions to the farm from there. The instructions called for us to make a right turn at the flashing yellow light. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The sun was bright. I had a good CD in the stereo and was enjoying the scenery so much that I missed my turnoff. Susan saw the yellow light, but I had failed to tell her what to look for. We eventually realized our mistake, turned around and found our way back to the farm. Life is sometimes like that. Between getting the kids to school on time, stopping by the grocery, making sure the homework is finished, we miss the face of God in the checkout girl. We get so caught up in the busyness that we miss the flashing yellow light that God has left for us. The signs are there, but recognizing them is sometimes not so easy.

I’ve often wondered what was said that afternoon between Jesus, Andrew and the other disciple. Did they talk about the kingdom of God? Did they discuss covenants and prophesies? What did Jesus say that prompted Andrew to proclaim to his brother Peter that “we have found the Messiah”? What convinced Andrew and Peter and the other disciple to go on this journey with Christ? And who exactly was this other disciple?

The identity of the other disciple is never revealed. The other disciple is mentioned on at least six separate occasions in John’s gospel. He is sometimes referred to as the “disciple that Jesus loved”. What do we know about this person? We have no name, no occupation, no town of origin with which to identify the person. We are not even certain of gender. So who was it? The church has always traditionally identified this person as John the apostle. Perhaps I’m taking a few liberties here, but I’ve always felt that the disciple’s identity is unspoken so that we can insert ourselves into the gospel story. The unnamed disciple is you … and me.

So when Christ asks, “What are you looking for?” he is asking us as well. When he invites Andrew to come and see where he is staying, he invites us also. We can continue this through the whole of John’s gospel. It was you and me that reclined with Jesus at the last supper. It was you and me that Christ addressed from the cross when he said “there is your mother”. It was you and me that raced with Peter to the empty tomb on Easter morning. We are there too.

Suffice it to say, Andrew and the other disciple did not receive ALL of the answers that they were searching for that first afternoon with Jesus. They walked with Jesus for the three years of his earthly ministry. They spent the remainder of their lives interpreting Jesus’ words and traveling the known world, preaching the gospel of the risen lord. Early Christian writers place Andrew in modern day Istanbul and Russia before being martyred in Greece. His story is complete. OUR story is still being written. We spend this day with Jesus, we accept him, we become one with him through the Eucharist. It’s a great first step, but one step does not a journey make. It will take us a lifetime of searching to truly know Him. What are you looking for?

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 18, 2009