The Visitation

Sermon Preached on the Eve of the Visitation
May 30, 2008, Sung Mass.
In the grand scheme of things, celebration of the Visitation is fairly new. The earliest evidence of it is from 1263 when Saint Bonaventure ordered that it be celebrated by the Franciscans. Over the next hundred years, the feast was celebrated in more places because the Franciscans spread out to more places. The feast was mandated by Pope Urban VI for the whole church in 1389.

Urban was Pope at the beginning of what is now known as the Great Western Schism, which took place from 1378-1417 – this is different from the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054. For political reasons, from 1309-1377 Avignon in France was the residence of the Pope. The Schism started when, on the death of Pope Gregory IX the last of the Popes who lived in Avignon, the cardinals elected Urban VI, an Italian, as pope, under pressure of the Roman populace who were sick of the Bishop of Rome living in France. Once elected Urban VI began a series of reforms and its said that he took on a very high opinion of himself and a very low opinion of everyone else. His desire to reform the church and his rapidly deteriorating relationship with the cardinals was quickly attributed to insanity. In a short time the cardinals left Rome and elected another pope, who settled in at Avignon and took the name Clement VII. There was immediately a split in the church as different nations chose different side. This situation lasted for twenty years as each side continued to support and elect Popes in both Rome and Avignon. In 1409, A council was convened in Pisa in the hope to settle the issue by electing someone that both sides could accept. This solution didn’t settle anything and resulted in three Popes: One in Pisa, one in Avignon, and one in Rome.

Finally the Council of Constance, which met from 1414 to 1418, settled the matter by accepting the resignation of one pope and deposed the other two. In the midst of this Schism Pope Urban VI ordered that the feast of the Visitation be celebrated throughout the church in the hope that Christ and his Mother would visit the church in the midst schism and bring peace and unity to a divided church.

That same theme of church unity between two other divided communities can be seen in the pages of Saint Luke’s account of Christ and the early church. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us about an encounter a Christian Group has with another group who had received the Baptism of John, but not the Baptism of Jesus. All followers of John the Baptist did not immediately follow Jesus or join the early church. Christians may have been surprised to find out that John’s followers were not necessarily Jesus’ followers. Even to John’s followers, Christians had to take on the role that John himself had played throughout his life as someone who points out who Jesus is to others, a role we are told John played from the very beginning. John leaps in the womb at the presence of Jesus and bears witness to Elizabeth. John took action and Elizabeth took note.

As we celebrate the Visitation, I think that each can follow John’s example. If we take action, I believe that others will take note. Prayer is a form of action. The church is divided today and I hope that we continue to pray that Christ and his Mother will visit us all and bring us peace and unity. Another way we can act and help bring about Christian Unity is by reaching out and supporting other churches that are doing different things than we are doing.

Last Friday I visited a Saint Ann’s Church in the South Bronx that cannot support itself. The neighborhood where the church is listed as the poorest congressional district in the entire United States. The church has over 400 members but only brings in about 25000 a year to keep the doors open and keep the building staffed. Through a wide array of grants they run a weekly soup kitchen, a daily food pantry, after school programs from over 100 children, and a number of other great programs. Their doors are kept open with money from churches like Saint Mary’s. We give over 80000 to the Diocese each year to support other churches and various regional programs. Different churches supply different needs and together I believe that they are more and more able to witness to the world about the love of God in Christ.

I do believe that when you and I take action, people will take note and they will know that our Lord Jesus Christ is present.

Gregory of Nazianzus

Sermon preached on Friday, May 9, 2008
EASTER 7, FRIDAY: ACTS 25:13-21, PSALM 103:1-6, JOHN 21:20-25

Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Gregory was a bishop in the early church and one of a group of three Saints (Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nissa, and Gregory of Nazianzus) known as the Capedocian Fathers. Their theological writings and sermons on subjects such as the Trinity and the Oneness of God were important in defending the church from various heresies that attempted to divide God or subjugate Jesus or the Spirit to the Father. In particular, Gregory is known for a series of five sermons that he preached on the Trinity and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Today's Gospel comes from the final chapter of John's Gospel. The three questions by Jesus about Peter's love for him mirror the three denials that Peter made during the Passion. Often, Jesus' command to Peter to "Feed my sheep" is used by bishops and other clergy for the care they are to give to Christ's flock, the church. I don't think we need to limit the care of those around us to clergy alone.

I think each of us can support other members of the church through the gifts that God has givne us. Gregory was a gifted preacher and theologian and he supported the church with those gifts and fed the people of God through the power of the Holy Spirit that filled him. My guess is that each of us is trying to use the gifts that God has given us to support and nurish the church and its members. This week, as we move toward Pentecost and the celebration of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, I hope that each of us can ask for guidance and help, to be filled with the power of the Spirit, that we might continue what we have begun, and also that we might find in ourselves gifts that we are not yet using to help spread the love of God to those around us.

Prayer & the Ascension

Sermon preached on Sunday, May 4, 2008.
YEAR A, EASTER 7: SUNDAY MASS
PSALM 47; ACTS 1:8-14; 1 PETER 4:12-19; JOHN 17:1-11


My wife, Nicole and I went to Sicily a week ago. We were there for a press trip featuring the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, specifically olive oil. I can tell you personally that I greatly benefited from eating the Mediterranean Diet in Sicily. I benefited by about 5 pounds over 7 days. (In all seriousness, the trip was fantastic, but the health benefits of the Mediteranian Diet will have to wait for a future sermon.) As wonderful a time as we had, I think we were both ready to leave after about the fifth day because we missed our son Liam – who is just about 18 month old. I knew he didn’t know where we were, I hoped he wanted us to come back, and I really hoped that when we did come back he would remember us. He did. I will never forget this hug he gave me when we got home.

While we were still in Sicily, I found my self praying for Liam more and more as the week progressed. In my life prayer is important. I pray for family and friends and the people I work with and go to church with. I pray for my enemies and those people who are enemies of the people I love. I pray the Daily Office with the clergy and sisters nearly every morning and evening here at Saint Mary’s. I pray at mass most days of the week and every Sunday. I pray alone. I pray with others. Why?

On Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus to the Father. The brief catechism at the back of the Prayer Book explains the Ascension as followed. “Jesus took our human nature into heaven where he now reigns with the Father and intercedes for us.” I believe that prayer is a very real way of experiencing the unity of humanity with God which is brought about through the Ascension of Jesus. I also find that prayer is a way of truly experiencing the unity of the body of Christ. No matter how far away from my family I might be, I know that we are part of the one Body of Christ, and when I pray for them, I experience that unity in a way that is difficult to describe. No matter how upset I might be with someone, if I pray for them I have a hard time holding onto the anger.

Some Christians take issue with praying for the dead or asking for the prayers of the saints. I do not. I am comfortable asking the saints for prayers. I pray for my friends and family who have died. On All Souls Day and for several days after the parish community prays by name for many of our loved ones who have died. I don’t think we do this to make ourselves feel better. I can only speak for myself, but I think prayer is one great way that we experience our oneness – that is not broken even by death – with God in Christ and with all of the members of the Body of Christ throughout history. That is the power of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

Today’s Gospel is a selection of Jesus’ great prayer to the Father from the Gospel according to John. He prays for his disciples. This is the last thing he will do before arriving in the Garden of Gethsemane where he will undergo the Passion. In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we find out what happens immediately after Jesus’ ascension. The Eleven, the blessed Virgin Mary, the other women, and all of the disciples gather together and pray.

It may have sounded like my prayer life is perfectly structured, but its not. Aside from those times where I am scheduled to be in church on Sundays and during the week, I always find it difficult to keep up my prayer life. There are days when I don’t say my prayers. I know it can be a challenge to build up a life of prayer beyond nighttime and Sunday morning prayers. I think its worth taking that challenge on and I hope that each of us can continue to pray and teach those around us to pray.