 brothers. It's great to be with you. It's just such a blessing and a grace just to have this time with you this week and to come back to the priest Eakin's and seminarians retreat. Last year I wasn't able to participate and it was it's just really good to be back and to be back with you. I was reading something this morning with our theme with Jubilee and while I'm not a Greek or a Hebrew expert or even proficient in any way the word Jubilee I learned comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew which is Yobel which means horn because in the Jubilee a horn would be blasted at the start of the Jubilee. I was thinking Father Dave or Bob should have had a horn. You know we should have had some sort of monumental beginning of the retreat but maybe it's better to just start slowly so it is so good to be here with you. I prayed through your names the other day. There's a lot of you here. I prayed I just said a simple prayer Lord dispose these men to whatever you want to give them and refresh them and renew them in who they are as your sons and I basically used those words in my prayer for each of you just asking that the Lord would bless you would just dispose you to His graces to His life and so at the start of this retreat together the the title of my my talk today is returning to our roots in the power of the Holy Spirit returning to our roots in the power of the Holy Spirit and what I hope to do in this time with you is to set the stage a little bit for the beautiful passage that's our scriptural theme for this retreat from Luke where Jesus comes into the synagogue and is handed the scroll and reads from the prophet Isaiah and so what I hope to do is to sort of give a lead into that many of our other speakers I think will do much better than I could to explicate and to really dive into that scripture but what led the Lord what led our Lord to that point what led him there and I'd like to relate that to ourselves just as Jesus returned to Nazareth at the start of his public ministry I think it's important for us from time to time to return to our roots and that may mean our physical home or it may mean even more so our spiritual roots our spiritual grounding our grounding that began at our baptism that began with that gift of the infusion of the grace of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that baptism that was deepened for some of us in consecrated life through vows and for some of us through that gift of holy orders that has deepened the gift of God fanned into flame as it says in the letter to Timothy that has fanned into flame the imposition upon us and that gift of the Holy Spirit and I'd like to start with maybe something that might seem a little bit backward sometimes in talks people give reflections at the end but I'd like you to do a little reflection with me at the beginning I'd like you to look back on your past year and if you're like me sometimes on Monday I come into the office here and people say how was your weekend and I can't even remember what I did during the weekend but it's important to sort of recall the past to recall what's been going on in our life I'm a person who likes to journal so I went through my journal over the past few days and just looked at what were some significant things that I noted so I'd just like to invite you just in this time I'm gonna I'm gonna just put some questions out there and you could write the questions down if you want to reflect on this later or you can just listen or take it in but the overall question is where have you been in this past year where have you been spiritually where have you been in terms of relationships in your life where have you been physically maybe there have been some changes in your health for better or for worse did you begin anything new this year last summer I began a doctoral degree I'm a glutton for punishment I began a doctoral degree and that was a huge change in my life and it's something I've had to find where is this place where does this fit how can I do this how can I fulfill it and keep my fundamental centering in the Lord and my call and my ministry here at the University did you begin anything new this year did you take on something new are you a new pastor or a new associate somewhere did you just begin seminary maybe think does anything come to mind in terms of newness in the past year what relationships brought new life to you what relationships brought new life to you for me it was a number of new students who I got to journey with in spiritual direction walking with them it was some faculty and staff that I got to know better and I'd say at least a fryer or two that I grew with what relationships were difficult I can think of someone in my life it was very difficult this year we had a bit of a falling out and I'm still asking the Lord Lord what do you want to do with this relationship what are you about and maybe I should have began with this but where have you been in the past year spiritually where have you been in your walk with the father the son in the Holy Spirit how has your interior life been that life of prayer that life of meditation and contemplation as the Spirit leads us and guides us have you had opportunities to see a spiritual director not just give spiritual direction but receive it receive guidance and perhaps grow from that guidance was there spiritual reading that moved you in the past year was there spiritual reading that moved you in the past year perhaps it was the liturgy the hours perhaps it was a book this year I read a small book by Chris Stefanik called living joy and I found it to be very fruitful in my life and I read it in the midst of Advent in that season of hope that season of joy speaking of Advent what were the liturgical seasons of the church like for you this year is there anything that stood out for you was there anything that was different for you and again I'm moving kind of quickly but this might be something for you to kind of reflect upon at a later point in this retreat how did Christ encounter you in the ministry he gave you as gift how did Christ encounter you in the ministry he gave you as gift every bit of ministry we do is only effective through Christ and it's only possible through Christ as he leads us he calls us and he brings any ministry we do to fruition in his name in his mission in his call for me I remember a experience with our friars in Loretto our older friars during Lent when I went to give a day of recollection I was moving into it sort of dreading it because I felt over committed and I probably was but I was so blessed by going and being with our friars and sharing with them and praying with them I'm gonna share a little bit more about this later but I had this the opportunity just a few weeks ago to be in Iraq to be there on a mission with our students in Erbil Iraq and Kurdistan in the northern part of the country and to experience the Lord connecting me using me to experience the spirit of the Lord being upon me how have you experienced that how have you experienced the anointing of the Lord in your ministry in your life at the start of this retreat we're invited to return home to return to our roots to come back to what's fundamental to come back to what's basic to come back to where our life springs from to come back to our Lord to repent as it's needed to turn back to the Lord in our lives and Jubilee is about returning to our roots returning home being rerouted in what is fundamental in what is basic in what defines us in what calls us I was moved by Bishop Scott's talk last night reminding us we don't need good ideas we need good news we need Jesus the real Jesus not the domesticated Jesus that we all at times try to worship or our own idea we need the Jesus who is strong and gentle and generous we need our Lord are we coming back to that place of need that place of invitation are we asking as he said to be dazzled by Jesus again to fall in love with him again so in returning to our roots and in leading into the scripture from the gospel of Luke I want to look at the scriptures that immediately preceded that in Luke chapter 4 and this is verse 14 and 15 the evangelist Luke writes this Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit and news of him spread throughout the whole region he taught in their synagogues and was praised by all may read that again Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit and news of him spread throughout the whole region he taught in their synagogues and was praised by all Jesus returns home to Galilee he returns in the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus has already experienced 30 years of a relatively hidden life in Galilee and then he left and went into the desert he was tempted he was first baptized by John and he was tempted by Satan so John the Baptist inaugurates Jesus's mission Jesus is baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit and as my Bible says in the footnote he is now equipped to overcome the devil and so Luke records next after his baptism the temptation narrative Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit being able to identify that he is a son of the father and the father is all-sufficient and the wiles and the temptations of the evil one are temptations against trust in the all-sufficiency of his father and so he stands in that all-sufficiency of his father through the power of the Holy Spirit and that is how he faces the evil one that's the invitation for us to stand in the all-sufficiency of our father in the power of the Holy Spirit when the temptations do come our way because they because they will come our way Jesus returned home a different person he returned in the power of the Holy Spirit he is empowered with the gift of the Holy Spirit by his heavenly father in a beautiful way the Saints speak of this and I'd like to just share some thoughts from them this is from origin holy man of God he says this first of all Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for 40 days when Jesus was being tempted by the devil the word spirit is put down twice without any qualification since the Lord still had to struggle against him see what is written about the spirit emphatically and carefully after he had thought thought and had overcome the three temptations that scripture men's mentions the passage says the passage I just read Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit and origin says power has been added because he has trodden down the dragon and conquered the tempter in hand-to-hand combat so Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to the land of Galilee and reports about him went out to the whole surrounding regions he was teaching in their synagogues and was glorified by all Cyril of Alexandria says after he mightily defeated Satan after he had crowned human nature in his own person with the spoils won by the victory over Satan he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit both exercising might and authority he performed very many miracles and greatly astonished his people he he performed miracles because he is by nature and in truth the son of God the father not because he received the grace of the Holy Spirit from the outside as a gift as the company of the Saints do he took what was his as his own proper inheritance yes he said to the father all that is mine is yours and yours mine and I am glorified in them he is glorified therefore by exercising as his own might and power the power of the Spirit who shares his substance Jesus's glory is already manifest in the way that he returns to his roots in the way that he returns to his home and brothers as we return to our roots this week may we invoke the Holy Spirit this day may we invoke the Spirit to stir in our hearts when we invoke the Spirit to be stirred up may we invoke the Spirit to bring anything to mind as Father Dave said earlier that would be an obstacle an impediment to being renewed strengthens fortified and overflowing for each other here with that Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit has called us here together I believe that you didn't just sign up for a retreat you didn't just decide this is a good idea God moved your heart God moved our hearts and God brought each one of us here together to experience him in a deeper way in a truer way in a refreshed way to be open to fall in love with him more deeply the scripture scholar William Barkley who I like to look at his writings says this about this context of Jesus returning to Galilee and he goes back as well to the temptation narrative he says no sooner had Jesus left the wilderness than he was faced with another decision he knew that for him the hour had struck he had settled once and for all the method he was going to take now he had to decide where to start so Jesus as Bishop Scott reminded us last night knew who he was he knew his call and his re-rooting himself in the Holy Spirit through the anointing the baptism through John God's mediator and his facing Satan with that gift of the Holy Spirit was all necessary before he returned home so as we look back on our last year as we look back in the present moment to say here I am Lord I've come as I am and I need a new outpouring of your Holy Spirit in my life my vocation whether as a seminarian seeking to be open to God's continued discernment whether as a deacon permanent or transitional a priest whatever our call we need more of that Holy Spirit in our life to lead us and guide us it's interesting that Jesus in that passage from Luke that I read at the very beginning where it says Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit and news of him spread throughout the whole region he taught in their synagogues and was praised by all I'd like to look at the parallel passages there's a parallel passage in Mark that's a little bit different but it's cross-referenced in the Luke passage Mark actually will start with Matthew Matthew writes from that time on Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of God is at hand so at the start of his ministry Jesus is preaching repentance metanoia conversion he is calling all who here to come back Jesus takes up the words of John the Baptist that are already being proclaimed by John but in Jesus those words are actualized to the fullest degree Jesus becomes the proclamation of God he is the conversion of God he is our conversion he is the one that pours out his Holy Spirit upon us and leads us to the father amen amen Jesus leads us to the father as his sons and Jesus pours out his spirit on us maybe you've been following and I just think it's really interesting I didn't read enough but the absolution formula is going to be changing you may have heard that and if I'm remembering right there's there's one of the changes is and I always have to say it God the father of mercy is through the death and resurrection of his son has sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins first of all isn't that a beautiful prayer you ever think about what we're praying those of us who have the call to be confessors of how beautiful that prayer is but I think the new translation is rather than sent the Holy Spirit is poured out the Holy Spirit poured out the Holy Spirit to me I like that better than sent it's the lavishness of God it's the it's the the total gift of God's self pouring out that spirit and in that context pouring it out into the penitent who is responding to the call of the Lord to conversion and through his unworthy priests like myself standing in the place of Christ and saying those words proclaiming those words praying those words and believing in the power of those words to set captives free to give sight to the blind to release prisoners the sacramental life is where the Lord works in that way and in that passage from Mark that's what is happening Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand what is the kingdom recently one of my brothers who does have a good knowledge of Hebrew and Greek said to me he was studying the our father I think in in Luke's gospel and the actual translation of your kingdom come is more closely your Holy Spirit come and I thought that was really interesting can tell I kind of like words your Holy Spirit come father send out your spirit because where your spirit is your kingdom is active and working and moving in our lives in Mark we hear this the parallel to Luke after John had been arrested Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God this is the time of fulfillment the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel and the footnote in my Bible says the gospel of God what does that mean not only the good news from God but about God at work in Jesus Christ so Jesus is the proclamation Jesus is the Jubilee Jesus is the one who pours out the Spirit and leads us to the father the life of the Trinity which is Jubilee itself when we continue to look at this passage and we look at Luke chapter 4 what we'll be focusing on this week is is verses 16 and on and verses 16 to 30 where Jesus is in the synagogue focus on his words and then Jesus moves to Capernaum and we hear about the cure of the demoniac and the cure of Simon's mother-in-law and other healings so Luke chapter 4 is about word and deed and our ministry our lives our vocation our call is to be one of word and deed in imitation of the Lord in imitation of who he is scripture scholar Pablo good God ends says this Jesus's proclamation in Nazareth is the mission statement that provides the key for understanding his mission is Messiah in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies Jesus proclaims a Jubilee that brings liberty from the power of evil so what we're looking at this week is the mission statement of Jesus that is fulfilled in his life in his self in his work and in his ministry and each of us according to our different vocations has a configuration to Christ a configuration to Christ the servant to Christ the deacon to Christ the priest and really truly even at a more fundamental level as baptized believers to Christ as priest prophet and king each of us is configured to the Lord and to his call brothers I believe that the Lord wants to renew strengthen that configuration this week that alignment of ourselves at the level of our being at different levels of our being to the call that the Lord has given us and we may be in different places but the Lord I believe wants to touch us wherever we may be individually in our lives I'm not going to get into a lot of what is Jubilee because I think other speakers are more knowledgeable and more eloquent in expressing that but we find the idea of Jubilee in Leviticus chapter 25 in Leviticus chapter 25 and it speaks about Jubilee and it speaks about returning to roots returning to one's own lands reclaiming those lands and one of the things that struck me about Jubilee is not only that it's a call to return home but that it's a call that we share responsibility for with each other scripture scholar Pablo Godin's also says this an indentured Israelite could also be liberated by being redeemed by a kinsman and that struck me Jubilee is not simply my own individual personal transformation we participate only through God in his grace but we participate in the Lord's redeeming work for each other the Lord often uses us in our ministry as liberators of each other or instruments of liberation for one another and brothers I hope that you have experienced that in your life that experience of brothers in Christ through whom your relationship with them has freed you has moved you has liberated you and I just want to share a testimony in what I'm sharing this morning about my own experience I came to Franciscan University here in 1992 and I encountered the Lord in a very deep way here I encountered the Lord in particular at a born-in-the-spirit sort of a life in spirit retreat and I encountered God working in my life and fruit from that it was sort of like a time-release Tylenol I didn't see it right away but the Holy Spirit was just moving and seeping into my life and deeper and deeper ways I met here at the University the Franciscan friars of the Third Order regular I met people like Father Mike Scanlon father Jim anger and others and I thought maybe just maybe I might have a call first I felt a call to the priesthood and with all due deference to diocese in life I kind of knew right away I wasn't called there and I felt a call to be a religious to be a Franciscan and I did what I did exactly what you're not supposed to do I guess I didn't look at any communities but one the to ours I went to visit them and I felt like I was at home but I will say that the whole time that I went through initial stages of formation postulancy novitiate I all the way really up to solemn vows I struggled I struggled to know is this your call for me Lord I thought well I still feel a deep call in my life maybe to be married maybe to be a biological father what do I do with that and so I had to wrestle with that all along the way I did a 30-day spiritual exercises retreat in Parma Ohio and it was a very powerful retreat but about a weekend I went into sort of a desolation and I didn't know why but I knew that I wasn't ready to profess my solemn vows as a Franciscan oh and by the way those solemn vows were a week after the retreat ended I called up my director and said I'm not sure if I can do this in fact I can't do this right now I need to kind of wrestle with this I need more time and to his credit he said okay and actually they sent me back to Steubenville thank God in a sense they didn't send me back to seminary I think that would have been too much I came here I worked I did some ministry I started meeting with a Benedict in Monk who is a holy priest and also a counselor some of you may have heard of him Father Tom Acklin I started meeting with Father Tom and talking about my life and I thought that my issue was just that I wasn't sure if this was a good enough community the TORs but I began to realize something else was going on it wasn't the fact that the TORs weren't enough it was that at a deep deep level I believed I was not enough I believed I was flawed I believed I was defective I believed and I didn't love myself in high school I had experienced some severe teasing it was related to being a man or maybe from those others not being enough of a man it was specific it was intentional it was hurtful it was derogatory I kind of fluffed it off like we do I try to be tough but I internalized some of the lies that I wasn't enough of a man that I wasn't an ad that I wasn't adequate I buried that but it was coming out by the grace of God the Holy Spirit was leading me into my roots he was leading me to the home of my heart to the place where I needed healing where I needed life and that's when I met with Father Tom and I was sharing with him and I'll never forget the day if you've ever met Father Tom Acklin he is a deep voice and I said he said to me Jonathan there's nothing wrong with you I said oh yeah I know that I know that the Lord loves me and I think he could tell I wasn't really taking what he was saying he looked at me again he said there's nothing wrong with you in fact he said maybe if there is something wrong with you it's that you think there's something wrong with you and it was like Jesus at that moment was speaking to me and that began a movement in my life to receive the Lord's love into some very intimate private vulnerable places in my own sexuality in my own masculinity and that began a journey that lasted well into my priesthood where I experience healing of my own person and I'm still experiencing that but I was so grateful for Father Tom and for others along the way who were able to be God's instruments of liberation of jubilee for me and then you know the funny thing brothers and I probably don't have to tell you this when we go through something God sends people to us I don't look for people who are dealing with feeling inadequate in their sexuality in their masculinity or femininity I don't look for them they come to me and that's not because I'm great trust me it's because the Lord sends them I believe and I just try to be his instrument I just try to be open and it's also because the Lord's given me a gift and I claim this gift in humility and that is a gift of tenderness I've never been afraid to say to the men and women around me that I love you when I worked with novices for eight years I felt very inadequate I felt like I didn't have much to offer them but I could tell them I love you I'm proud of you I'm behind you I believe in you I will do my best to serve you and that was a blessing that was a grace that hopefully by God's grace I fulfilled I'm not completely sure why I'm telling you this other than I felt the Lord wanted me to but whatever your journey is it's not just about a physical location it's not just about a ministry a parish you're not just here to be renewed so you can go and minister another year it might be deeper it might be at the very roots of who you are as a man who you are as a son who you are as a seminarian a deacon a priest and I believe that God too already has and wants to work in you in your life in order to experience jubilee we have to come home we have to come home to our roots and maybe we never quite get home completely until we're in heaven but we make the journey the soul's journey into God and Saint Bonaventure says we come forth from God and we return to God and sanctification is the process in between we don't get there we don't arrive fully but as we are open to that grace he works he heals and he moves I want to kind of close my sharing this morning before we move into a response of prayer and I want to close it with a story I had the blessing as I mentioned at the beginning of my talk of going to Iraq I was there for two weeks I was in Kurdistan in the north with 13 of our students and a fellow colleague a female staff member and faculty member here at the university I was really excited to go ever since the papal mass was held there and Father Dave had the blessing of going I'd felt a call to go there if possible and when the invitation came up that I could come as a chaplain to these students I jumped at the opportunity at the chance to go there it was a little silent on the other end of the phone when I told my mother I'm going to Iraq but she kind of warmed up to it she had all her friends praying and I know we did and it was an interesting experience in Iraq because what happened was maybe it was the the journey or whatever the rigor of it all I started to kind of get sick from the very beginning I got some sort of sinus infection and you know I started to kind of see myself dealing with that and I wasn't sure how that was going to play itself out but probably the most powerful experience I had was when our group gathered with a group of young adults Chaldean Catholics Iraqis and we gathered at this Marion Shrine outdoors on a beautiful breezy evening we came together these two groups probably 50 or 60 Iraqi young adults and 15 of us from the university there was a definite awkwardness at the beginning as we gathered at this park there were language differences there were cultural differences after introductions I gave a talk on Mary a brief talk from the scriptures and I felt like the spirit of the Lord was upon me the mic kept not working and I had to just project my voice which was actually starting to go and then we prayed the rosary alternating decades between Chaldean and English together then we shared an incredible feast of food food in Iraq is incredible and we shared this incredible feast of food a picnic outside together and then we did some icebreakers between the two groups there was nothing extraordinary about what we did but what was extraordinary was seeing what happened I saw the Holy Spirit moving in hearts I saw the Holy Spirit breaking down cultural and language barriers the laughter throughout the evening increased the smiles the joy as the students began to mix among each other they began to talk to each other they began to listen to each other I saw them not only pray together but play together and what was very interesting for me was while they were playing games there were a number of people on the side and several of the young adults from Iraq came up to me and said father could I talk to you for a minute sure and they would share things like I'm the only Christian at work among Muslims and they're trying to tell me I'm in the wrong faith I don't know what to do I don't know what to say or they would say things like I'm facing pressures from my family or I don't know what to do I'm being asked to do particular things I disagree with and you know this experience of knowing that you are not being the one speaking that the Spirit is speaking through you that the Spirit is using you and I was saying things to them that the Spirit I believe was leading me to say by the end of the night we didn't want to go home something of the communion of the Holy Spirit had happened the anointing of the Holy Spirit there was a sense even there of jubilee of joy of freedom the next day not making this up I lost my voice completely for five days I had no voice I couldn't celebrate Mass I couldn't help the students I went to be with I had to carry a pad around with me and I told them I'm not gonna let this keep me from communicating so I would write on my pad how was your day tell me about what you did in the school the problem is when you write on a pad and someone talks to you there's a conversation going on you're usually about five minutes behind so I was trying to write responses and and my voice did come back but the Spirit had given me the voice I needed for I think the most important part of the trip and I share that story just to say that the Spirit of the Lord is upon you the Spirit of the Lord is upon you and the Spirit will speak in you will work through you and the Spirit wants to heal us restore us strengthen us move in us this week return us to our roots return us to our first love so let's invite that Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us into jubilee may God bless you and give you his peace God bless you