March_13

Homily for March 13, 2005
Liturgical Year A-Cycle I
5th Sunday of Lent
by Msgr. Sipio Salas
Topic: The Eucharist, Lent and the Gospel of Lazurus
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Good morning everybody. So that most of you won’t spend all the time wondering who this old man up here saying mass for you is, I’ll introduce myself. I am Fr. Salas.

It’s important these days to have ID wherever we go; very important. I have a story that I’d like to tell about ID. I have so much to tell you this morning. But Deacon Don says, “Father, keep it short. You have another mass at 11:15."

I am retired from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. I am an old timer here. I’m going on my 55^th year, come June 3^rd, of ordination. (Applause) Thanks be to God. Thank you, thank you. Sometimes, we need a little boost, you know.

I saw somebody at Winrock in Albuquerque, the other day. He hadn’t seen me for quite a while and he and his wife came up to me. I’m still trying to figure out, maybe you can help me, but they came up to me and they said, “Monsignor, gee, you look great for the shape you’re in.” Now what does that mean? I really don’t understand exactly what they meant. Maybe, they meant I look good for my age or something like that. But I just simply said, “Well, you know what? I used to look better, a long time ago.” I used to feel better to. Anyway, you may see me wobble a little bit here and there. You know, I’m going to be 80 this year and I notice, as I look around at the congregation, I see a few wobblers like myself. They’re not all that young. I’m so happy to see so many young people and I’m so happy to preach to a full church, a crowded church. I think the last time I did that, it wasn’t too long ago, I was preaching in the cathedral church in Stockton, California. It holds about 11 or 1200 people. Maybe some of you know this cathedral? I was in my glory because I love to preach to our people. That’s what I do now. I’ve been retired since 1996.

Father John, your beloved pastor, my very good friend, Father Carney, he called me up and he says, “Monsignor, can you take my place? I must go to training.” And I said to myself that I’m so proud of our young priests, so dedicated to their military careers. I could see him on maneuvers out in the desert. After I had signed the contract to come to Los Alamos, I found out it was spring training. You know, baseball. He’s in Arizona. Now I know. Anyway, I’m glad because I just jumped at the opportunity to come back to Los Alamos.

I’m not a stranger to Los Alamos. In fact, I came here long before many of you did. I was a professor in the seminary in Santa Fe to Los Alamos when it was a closed city. It was when we needed a badge or some ID to come in. I used to come with a former pastor of this parish. I think he was the founding pastor here, Monsignor Burns. I can’t remember. Then there was Father Francis Campbell. Now some people may remember Father Frank Campbell, a good friend of mine, God rest him.

Anyway, I’ve been coming to Los Alamos many, many years. When I don’t come for a while, it’s one of those cities where I come in and I get so turned around. Really, there’s no other town or city where I can get so turned around. The other day, I went out here in the parking lot and I was looking around. There’s the hospital, this is Canyon Road and I closed my eyes and I was turned around. That’s how simple it is. So, I’m no stranger even though I’ve never met you. Some of you remember me from a couple of years ago when I was here. But, anyway, that’s my introduction. Now, I begin.

I was going to go into this story and tell you what it means to have ID. I’ll summarize this story because I do want you to hear it. I was in Tucson. I had had a wedding in Tucson and I went with this couple, the parents of the bride, to this beautiful Spanish mission. It’s a mission right on the outskirts of Tucson called San Xavier Del Bac. Some of you may have been there and if you haven’t, when you go to Tucson, go see it. Anyway, I’m in civvies, dressed in a shirt and a jacket. I’m in this line, just following the people as we’re going along and somebody is explaining to us what this is and what this other thing is, and what that is. There was a lady there with her daughter. She was quite up in age. She was a Mexican lady from Mexico because she was speaking the real Spanish. I could hear her. I couldn’t help it. I was following her and her daughter and this other couple, Louis and Nora, was following me. The mission, they have a little gift shop like they have in all these places, like Bandelier. They have these little gift shops. So, this dear lady had bought a rosary, five scapulars for her five grandkids and a medal for her son that has left the church, all these things. She had a bunch of things like this. As we were going along, she said in Spanish. “I wish a priest would come out so that he could bless my things, one of the priests from here. I want these things blessed.” And you know me, I said, “Senora, give me your scapulars, your medals, I’ll bless them for you.” So, she looked at me and in real fine beautiful Spanish, she says, “Why don’t you mind your own business.” I turned around to her and I said, “Senora, I am a priest.” She said in Spanish, “You are a priest?” I said, “Yes, I am a priest.” The couple behind me was nodding their heads. You know the respect that our Mexican people have for the priesthood, not for the priests, the priesthood. When she heard I was a priest, she took my hand and when she got my hand, as soon as she found out that I was a priest, she starts kissing my hands. She kissed my hands. Then big mouth, I mean Nora, she says in Spanish, “He’s not only a priest, he’s a monsignor,” and then she kissed my arm clear up to my shoulder.

Now, how did I get off on this tangent? I’m supposed to be preaching.

I said to myself, “What can I preach to our good people of the hill, the Hilltoppers?” I was going through my list this past week, before I came up here, and I categorized them into eight topics that I wanted to talk about this morning. Then I said, “No, no, I can’t talk on all eight.” I’ve have so much to tell you, you know. I told Deacon that I can’t talk from notes or anything. I have them, you know? I have notes here. If I have them and never see them, I’m fine. But, if I don’t have them, I get these senior moments, you know? I go blank but that's OK. But when you start getting senior moments about every ten minutes, you’re in danger.

So, I finally said, I’ll limit my topics to three. I want to touch on three topics. I wanted and have so much to talk to you about.

When I get called to talk at missions, I can talk on the Eucharist for an hour and a half. I have so many beautiful stories about the Eucharist. I preach on the Eucharist, especially now, because of our beloved Holy Father, our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul. We are all praying for his health, of course. He has proclaimed, 2005 The Year of the Eucharist. You heard that.

I like to encourage our people to go to church more often, not only church on Sunday but other days as well. All of you say, “Well, this is our Sunday obligation,” and I see that so many of our people are so faithful to their Sunday obligation. But I often tell our people that I’m trying to promote a devotional mass not an obligatory mass. Those of us who know what the Eucharist is all about, who love the Eucharist like myself and a lot of people that come to daily mass, we know that going to mass on Sunday, on the weekends, is not an obligation, it’s a privilege. It’s a privilege to us. It’s a gift to us from God. I bet you, if I went to the vicinities of Baghdad or Iraq and we announced that there was going to be mass, those soldiers that are over there, our boys, and our ladies that are serving our country, I’ll bet you, they would flock to go to mass. They miss the mass.

I would like to preach for an hour. I was telling them that at White Rock. I made a mistake over there--I called it Winrock. We’re so used to the Albuquerque area. By the way, I live in Edgewood. I’m retired in Edgewood. It’s there by Moriarty, a beautiful place.

Anyway, I was telling them at White Rock, one of my stories connected with the Eucharist. I’d like to take time for that story and then I’ll kind of summarize the other topics.

One of my deacons is Hugh Hackett. Maybe some of you have heard the name? Hugh was the Lobo, University of New Mexico, field and track coach years ago. For twenty years, he took the Lobos to national championships in field and track. He’s now retired. He’s closing in on 90. He is a Blessed Sacrament convert. He was converted by Jesus in the Eucharist. He told me this story. We sat down when I was still the pastor at Our Lady of Fatima in Albuquerque. I was pastor there for ten years.

So, this deacon and I sat down one time and we talked about ourselves. I said, “Tell me about your conversion. Did you convert when you married Carmen?” And he said, “No, no. I became a convert before I even met Carmen.” “Alright, fine,” I said, encouraging him to go on. Then he told me. He said, “Well, you see, it was this way Monsignor. I was born and raised in a mid-western, mid-central town.” I don’t know if it was Indiana or Illinois. He said, “We were one of the very few non-Catholic families in the town. The whole town was Catholic, about 96, 97% Catholic. My father was a real religious Irishman in his own faith, not Catholic, etcetera, etcetera, and real strict.”

You know what he meant when he said real strict? When there was discipline and we could still discipline our own children, you know, in those good old days.

Hugh told me, “You know Father, I used to get into trouble all the time. Just young people’s troubles. You know what I mean, mischievous. My Father had a stick. So, any time I got into trouble, I would run and hide. I used to run from my father until his Irish calmed down.” I said, “So?” And he said, “Father, I used to run and hide in the Catholic Church. That was the only place in town that my father would not dare step into."

You can kind of appreciate that, can’t you?

“I would sit there in the back. And I would sit there for an hour, two hours, and sometimes three hours, depending on the offense. I was there all alone and all this time, not a soul would come in. All I could see was this little flickering red light, a red lamp. The more I visited the church, the more I sensed that there was somebody in there with me. I was not alone. This feeling came more and more and more.”

He finally told the priest, “Somebody’s in there with me,” and the priest explained to him, “Yes there is.”

To conclude this little story, Hugh told me, “You know Monsignor, I visited that Catholic Church more than any Catholic in that town. In fact, I dare say, I visited more than any single individual. Sometimes the Church was empty all day long.” I said, “Yes, I know what you’re saying.”

We need to get his appreciation of the Eucharist. That the presence, the real presence, that God is present with us in every one of our churches throughout the world and that Jesus is present sacramentally and totally as present as I am at this podium.

Once in a while, I spend a lot of time in St. Joseph’s chapel. What a beautiful setting to pray, to say the Stations, etcetera, etcetera. But it is not until we get this hunger or when we can say, I thirst, I thirst--when we thirst for the Eucharist, when we come in and say, “God, Lord, feed me. Come into my life. Create in me a new spirit, Lord.” It’s then that we’re beginning to get a real appreciation of what this gift of the Eucharist is, what God has given us.

Alright, that was Topic number one.

Topic number two. I wanted to talk about Lent. The Deacon tells me when I’m talking too long but I’m not going to pay attention to him this morning. I wanted to talk about Lent and you say, “Why talk about Lent now? In just a couple of weeks, two weeks from today, it will be Easter Sunday?” Then the Church will be crowded. You watch and see if I’m not right.

I wanted to talk about Lent, simply, to give you some, just a few, ideas. What is Lent? Lent comes from an Anglo Saxon word Lencten and it means springtime. Lent always comes in the spring. Father John Carney knows that this is springtime. Yes, Lent means springtime when we begin to see life coming alive, when we look forward to the resurrection, when we all become alive, spiritually alive, hopefully. Alright, this is Lent. But Lent, I tell our people, is forty days and forty nights. Why? Because Jesus was led into the desert by the spirit to be tempted and he spent forty days and forty nights and he fasted. That’s where we get the tradition of our fasting. Abstinence for me is a Church discipline, a Church regulation.

By the way, speaking of Lent, did you fast? Did you fast those of you who can? Did you abstain from meat on Fridays? Did you observe the Fridays? What did you do for Lent? What did Lent do for you? Did it change you a little bit or was it just another time?

I was preaching in Rio Rancho, our new parish of The Incarnation in Rio Rancho, on Ash Wednesday. And then I was preaching there the next day, Thursday after Ash Wednesday. This man walked in, a young man and he was kind of breathing real hard. I said, “Good morning. How are you? What’s up?” And he said, “Oh God, only 39 more days to go.” He was already counting. That’s all Lent meant to him. It was kind of an obstacle.

Lent is supposed to be a time of many graces. It’s a time for “R&R”. You know what “R&R” is besides rest and relaxation? I call the Lenten season a time for “R&R”--Reflection and Repentance. “R&R” equals “C”, Conversion. We’re supposed to reflect during Lent, on our lives, on our spiritual lives. This is a time, and it’s not too late, we’ve got two weeks, to sit down in front of the Blessed Sacrament and say, “Here I am Lord. Why don’t you tell me how I stand in your presence? Am I living a good life? Am I growing spiritually or am I just stagnant? I go to Sunday mass and I’m stagnant. What am I doing? I’m supposed to reflect on my duties, my responsibilities. Am I a good husband? Am I a good wife?”

Remember how we used to be told that we had to give up something that you liked? I reverse that and I usually say, “Give up something you hate.” Don’t you hate your disposition sometimes? Don’t you hate the way you argue as a family, especially in front of your children so many times? Don’t you hate the bickering? Don’t you hate spending so much time on the phone when you could be doing something useful? Don’t you hate gossiping? Don’t you hate your language? Why don’t you give that up? Don’t you hate your jokes? Give up things that you hate, that are making your life miserable. Lent.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the Gospel. (Father looks over at Deacon Don) He’s going like that and I think that means “It’s about time you quit, Father.”

The Gospel of Lazarus. I like to preach on this gospel. You know why? Because the gospels usually point out and shows us, so many times, the divinity of Christ, true God and true man, Jesus Christ, true God and true man. But I see in this gospel the humanity, the humanness of Jesus. He was related to this family. There was a relationship between Him and these people. It showed him as a human being. He often passed through Bethany while he was preaching his doctrine of love. He often passed through Bethany and I’m sure he used to stop at Martha’s and Mary’s and Lazarus’. I’m sure he used to stop and he used to say, “Oh brother, I forgot, hand me your cell phone,” to Mary. No of course not, that’s what we do today. But Jesus used to stop there and I’m sure Mary and Martha would say, “Here, have a sandwich. Have something to eat,” and he did that many, many times. So this shows his relationship to us, to you, as a family. This is what Jesus does. He comes to our families. He comes to you. He’s a guest at the table with you. He’s there all the time with you. This gospel, just so many thoughts. . . I can sit in the chapel and just digest this gospel and use my imagination. Jesus was there all the time. This time, of course, and this I relate to Him also, to myself, that when he was a couple of miles away in Jerusalem, Martha sent word to him and said, “Jesus, your friend, the one that you love so much, your buddy, he is very sick. Come.” And I relate to that because our good Catholic people that know the sacraments, they call us and they should, anytime of the day or night. “Father, this is Martha calling.” “Yes Martha. What’s up?” One in the morning, “My dad is very sick in the hospital. Will you come?” And Jesus said to Martha, “Did Lazarus receive the anointing already?” And Martha said, “Yes, he’s been anointed already.” And Jesus said, “Fine, he’s alright. He will live. Spiritually, he is alive.” And Jesus didn’t rush over there. He took two days and then finally he said, “Let’s go” and so on. Then he goes and you know the rest. . . .

It brings this out and yet Martha and Mary both recognized his divinity. “If you had been here, my brother would never have died.” In other words, some of us want to say that when we lose a loved one in the family. We want to say, “Jesus, if you had wished, my brother would have lived to be 233.” No, we’re not eternal. God calls us at our proper time.