Episode 123142: 1/4/26 Proximity or Intimacy

2:05 I'd like you to have a seat. So I grew up, this is the, here we are, the last Sunday in Christmas season. It reminds me of this, this is the whole thing. I grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota, which is the vacation area of, one of the vacation areas of Minnesota. and one of the things we have, our claim to fame is that Brainerd is the quote-unquote birthplace or the home of Paul Bunyan. So if you know the tall tale of Paul Bunyan, tall tale, we recognized that we had a thing called Paul Bunyan Amusement Park and it was in my hometown, in town basically, kind of right on the outskirts of town, Paul Bunyan Amusement Park and we begged our parents to be able to, that we could go to Paul Bunyan. They never took us, never, the only time we ever got to go to Paul Bunyan amusement park was when the cousins came to visit, which was relatively rare. And they would say, okay, now we can go to the amusement park. It was one of those situations where I'm like, but we live here. We should be able to go here all the time. Now, obviously, if you've ever been to Paul Bunyan amusement park, you know that it's not, as an adult, it's not that big. It's kind of a small thing. But as a kid, it was the place I wanted to go more than anything. But it seemed like one of those situations where it was so, so close to home that it was too close to home, if that makes any sense. There are sometimes places in our lives, people in our lives that oh yeah, they live in our town.

3:19 Famous person. We don't like go to see them because they're from here. Or we have some kind of like, some kind of site in our hometown where people will drive from all over the place to see this site. But no, I mean, we live here. It's just down the street. And I think sometimes, sometimes we confuse proximity for maybe intimacy. Here's what I mean. Here we are, as I said, that very end of the Christmas season. The beginning of the Christmas season, what we celebrate, we celebrate Christmas, which is what? The fact that God has come close, that God has drawn near to us.

3:54 That the God of the universe, not only at one point in time, became a human being, a little child in Bethlehem, as we heard today, but that same God has taken up residence among us. Emmanuel, right? God is with us. And that we could, at any moment, stop by a Catholic church in our town and we could spend time in front of Jesus, the real God, at any moment we wanted to. Imagine,

4:23 right down the street from wherever you live right now, God waits. Now obviously God is present at all places, at all times, but he's uniquely present in the Eucharist. I find it fascinating that we'll go on pilgrimages. Pilgrimages are great. They're such an incredible opportunity to exercise faith.

4:44 I went to Poland a year and a half, two years ago now, by now. And it was remarkable. We had journeyed all the way from the United States of America to Poland. And we were stopping at these parish churches. And it was funny because these parish churches are still parish churches, right? They're pilgrimage sites. They're places of great importance in the history of the church, particularly the history of the church in Poland. But they're just someone's parish. Like, they're just the church that people go to for daily mass. That's the church people go to for Sunday mass. And I remember seeing these people realizing, like, wait, your home parish is my pilgrimage site that we travel from across the world just to be able to pray where you get to pray every single day or where you get to choose not to pray every single day. In the gospel today, we have these two, it's a feast of epitaph, right? We have these two kind of groups of people. One of the group of people is the Magi, right?

5:36 The people who came from the East, they came, they traveled a very far distance because, why? Because for whatever reason, it mattered to them that this king was born. For whatever reason, it mattered to them that they didn't even know that God was among them. And so at great, we imagine at great personal cost, they left their comfort, they left their home, they left their families, they left everything just to be able to encounter this king, to be able to worship this king and to be able to be changed by this king, you realize Herod, the other group, Herod lived six miles from Bethlehem. It would have taken him virtually no time at all to go and see this child. And I just ask the question, why?

6:29 And how much is this, is us? You know, in Japan, they have this word. And the word is, I'm not going to pronounce it in a great way, but it's mendokusai. Mendokusai. If any word summarized so much of our culture, it's this Japanese word, munduksai. What it means is, can't be bothered. That here's something happening, but munduksai, just can't be bothered. But something amazing is right next door, munduksai, just can't be bothered. And how much of this marks not only our culture, how much of this marks our own hearts? You can see this in Herod. He could have gone with the Magi. He could have been a Magi. He could have been a wise man seeking the Lord, but only six miles, that's all it would have taken.

7:14 But sometimes we have this incredible indifference. Again, Christmas, just a couple weeks ago, declaring God is here, God is among us, but we know this, proximity does not equal intimacy. How many times has God stepped into our lives and I just, you know what, I'm indifferent, I can't be bothered. He's actually so close that maybe in some ways he's too close. Imagine this. We can see this in our own hearts. That if he was a little further off, then yeah, I will go. I'll seek him with my whole self. But he's so close that actually what that means is I don't get to visit and come home. It means he's in my home. Because that's the invitation. That's the invitation of this whole process is God comes close. And the first obstacle is, will that proximity lead to intimacy?

8:15 Or will that proximity lead to hostility? Because that's what happens in the gospel. That's the second thing. First question, is that proximity lead to intimacy? Or will that proximity lead to hostility? Because that's how it is with God. This is how it has to be with God. And when it comes to God, we can't just kind of be, we can't remain indifferent. At some point, we either fall in love with him or at some point, we want to do what Herod tried to do to Jesus.

8:37 Eliminate him from our lives. Eliminate him from the face of the earth. Again, indifference never remains indifferent when it comes to God. We either have to choose a side. He either gets my whole heart or he gets nothing except my hatred. Think about, and I'll talk to a lot of couples who are discerning marriage. If they don't share the same faith, they're saying, okay, can we make this work? And of course, according to the Catholic Church, you can marry someone who's not Catholic. If you're a Catholic, you can marry someone who's not Catholic. Sometimes there's certain boundaries or certain kind of guidelines. But yes, you can get married to someone who's not Catholic. The question is not, is that right or wrong? The question is, is that wise? Because why? Because, well, no, he's willing or she's willing to go to mass with me on Sunday. That's great. That's wonderful. I'm really glad they're willing to go to mass with you on Sunday. what happens when you're following Jesus costs them something what happens when they say okay so as Catholics we can't use contraception and that means that we both can't use contraception or that means we both have to have a heart that's open to life that actually might make an impact not only on me and my faith but also you and your lack of faith at some point that indifference not the difference. At some point, the closeness of God is going to cost us something. And either that closeness melts my heart and I belong to him, or that closeness hardens my heart and I want to do what Herod did. I want to eliminate him from this world, from my life, from our relationship.

10:13 we're called to do what the Magi did. Not only to seek him, that intimacy actually, that proximity leads to intimacy, but also that sense of, okay, now, yeah, I'm in front of the Lord. And what do I do? What the Magi did? I offer him. Now, what do we have to offer God? Gold, frank, sense, myrrh? Yes. What is your best? What's the best thing that you and I have to offer God? Remember one of the saints, I think it might've been St. Augustine, had said this. He had said, the only thing that, the two things that I can give to God. The only thing I can give to God that is truly mine are my sins. Everything else I give to God actually comes from Him. The only thing I can give to God that are truly mine are my sins. So that's one of the things I give to God. It's one of the things I offer to the Lord. Again, for that proximity, not to lead to hostility, I melt my heart and give Him my worst.

11:07 But also, Augustine would point out, and what Jesus had pointed out, which is the best way to love God, is obedience. That I give him my will. I give him my yes. I give him my heart. And how do we do that? If you love me, you'll keep my commandments, says the Lord Jesus.

11:30 And so we realize this, that when God has come close, proximity does not necessarily equal intimacy. I have to be open. I have to seek him. I have to let him come close. Number two, the response is, I have to respond with worship. I have to respond with offering something. And what we offer God is we offer him our worst and we offer him our best. We offer him our sins, the only things that are truly ours, and we offer him our best, our heart, our yes, our obedience. And the last thing is this, if God comes close,

11:59 we can't stay the same. What's it says about the wise men? It says that they return to their country from another way. that they didn't go back home the same as they did when they arrived. I don't know, this strikes me as so incredible. How often we come to Mass and we don't expect to be changed at all. We come to Mass and we think like, yo, I will leave this Mass exactly the same as I was when I walked in. And you think, how bananas is that? They realize we're approaching the true and living God. We're approaching the throne. We're approaching the source of grace. We're approaching even more than the burning bush that Moses approached. I'm on Sinai and we expect to remain unchanged because we know this proximity does not equal intimacy I have to be willing to be changed and I have to be willing to make a change here's my invitation this is the last thing here on this last day of the Christmas season leading into ordinary time next Sunday ordinary time it's the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord but it's where we start moving forward once again number one we know that proximity does not equal intimacy I have to allow I can't be indifferent I have to allow him to melt my heart number two that response is I give him my worst I give him my best I have to offer him something and number three is I have to change here's the invitation what's one thing after this mass what's one thing about my environment what's one thing about my home that I can change, physically change, that'll help me get closer to Jesus.

13:39 We all know there's things in our homes, there's things on our phones, there's things in our lives that I keep them here. They don't help me to get to the Lord. They sometimes hurt me when it comes to my relationship with the Lord. What's one thing in my environment that could be that sign like the Magi to return to their home by another way? What's one change I can make today? which one change I can make by the end of this Mass where I'm not going home the same and I'm not going to the same home but I've encountered this God who's come close and by my yes, by my change by my openness to him that proximity