31st Sunday in Ordinary Times (A) – November 5, 2023

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10; Psalm 131:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13; Matthew 23:1-12

“Spent himself in total service to You”

The Korean War was one of the darkest conflicts in human history. Millions of people lost their lives in a three year span. When the fighting stopped in 1953, a group of U.S. soldiers emerged from the darkness of a prisoner-of-war camp carrying an almost four foot tall crucifix. It was carved out of firewood, with a crown of thorns woven from radio wire; a Jewish P.O.W. made it—in honor of the Catholic chaplain that men of every Faith loved.

This chaplain actually grew up in Kansas, just a little over an hour *that* way. He was baptized at the same small-town parish his parents were married in. He grew up like all the other farm kids at the time. His family was just a good Catholic family: attended Mass together, prayed together, lived life together. And so it didn’t come as a huge surprise when he joined the seminary and became a priest: Fr. Emil Kapaun.

But as a priest, he felt like God was calling him to the front lines. So he became a military chaplain, entered the Korean War. He was known for his intense devotion to the soldiers; called them “my boys,” and they loved him for it.

On November 2^nd, 1950, a battle broke out. And Fr. Kapaun was with a few thousand American soldiers and they were overrun by over 20,000 communist Chinese soldiers. In the ensuing chaos, Fr. Kapaun ran past the front lines into no man’s land, dragging men to safety, comforting people who were dying. Even after the call to retreat and evacuate, he kept doing his work. 

One of the men whose lives he saved that day: Sergeant Herbert Miller. He was lying on the ground wounded. And a Chinese soldier was about to end his life, shoot him. But Fr. Kapaun ran up, pushed that soldier aside, picked Sergeant Miller up off the ground. And the soldier could have killed them both, but instead he just stood there— mouth just dropped open, stunned at Fr. Kapaun’s courage and love.

In the prisoner of war camp, Fr. Kapaun was like a mother to all those soldiers. He found a way to sneak out of the camp to get food. He’d help keep them clean; wash their clothes. He’d lead them in prayer services; celebrate Mass in secret when he could. Their captors hated him for the hope that he brought to his fellow prisoners. They would make him stand in the bitter cold, naked, for hours. They brought him to classes where they’d try to brainwash him on communist doctrine. And when he finally got sick, they saw it as their chance to get rid of him. They took him to the “hospital”—the “death house,” that’s what the soldiers called it; no one ever came back alive. And when they were taking him away, Fr. Kapaun—he comforted them, and he said, “Boys, I’m going where I’ve always wanted to go. When I get there, I’ll pray for you.”

Fr. Kapaun is the most highly decorated chaplain in U.S. military history. In 2013, he was awarded the Medal of Honor—and nine of the men who he helped survive that prison camp were present, including Sergeant Herbert Miller. Just two years ago, seventy years after his death, his body was identified, and he was brought home to the Diocese of Wichita. He’s now laid to rest in the Cathedral. His cause for canonization is currently working its way through the Vatican.

Why do I tell you all this? One: it’s inspiring to know the stories of people who gave a heroic witness to their faith in Jesus Christ, especially when they grew up just down the street—literally! But two, it’s also important to see examples of people that lived their faith in real and concrete ways. People that didn’t just go Mass and say some prayers, but lived it, changed the world by their faith. This farm kid who literally grew up down the street—he has changed lives all across the world—literally. How? By the heroic witness of his faith in Jesus Christ. A heroic witness of giving his life in total service to God, to the Church, and to those around him.

Turning the World Upside Down

We’ve been talking the past several weeks about the Thessalonians, this small community of Catholics that St. Paul evangelized—in three weeks! Three weeks and they were ready not only to follow Jesus Christ, but ready to endure persecution, ridicule—to give heroic witness to their faith in Jesus Christ. They had changed everything in their life: they had turned from the idols of the day, stopped following the cultural norms, what “everyone else was doing,” and had radically entrusted their lives to Christ. So much so, that word was spreading like crazy! Faster than Paul could travel.

But here’s the key! I’ve been joking about how Paul was the best preacher ever if he could preach for three weeks and then everyone was on board. But it actually was a joke—because Paul actually wasn’t a good preacher. He wasn’t! Paul talks about it often, how people made comments that he’s not a good preacher. He didn’t come into town with a tent-revival, preach some fire and brimstone, and then people signed up. He was a bad preacher. Someone even died because his preaching was so long and boring! So how was he so effective, so convincing?

Go back to that second reading today. Paul wrote them this, which is just a great insight: “We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). What was it? He loved them, with the care and affection a mother has for her newborn child. He didn’t just share “the truth” of the Gospel, he shared his life with them. That was the key! He shared not just words or “the truth,” but himself. He gave his life to them, poured out his life for them. That’s the key: self-gift.

Our Heroic Witness Must Be A Gift of Self

What Paul is getting at, what Fr. Kapaun lived and modeled for us—it’s this key principle. If our witness is truly to be heroic, if it is truly going to “turn the world upside down”—if our witness is going to turn the world upside down, it must be, fundamentally, a gift of our self. Paul didn’t just preach—he was bad at it! He actually lived what he talked about. Fr. Kapaun—go listen to some of the homilies he recorded. No offense, they’re good and true, but boring! Not the most talented preacher. But that wasn’t it! He practiced what he preached, he lived it. Day in and day out he spent himself in total service to God, to the Church, and to the men in the prisoner of war camps. Paul, Fr. Kapaun—the heroic witness they gave that was turning the world upside down, and is still turning the world upside down—it was the fact that they shared not just words, but their very lives. Self-gift, that’s the key.

Talk is cheap. Jesus warns us about that in the Gospel today, talking about the problem with people that “preach but don’t practice.” Anyone can say they love God. Anyone can say they pray and follow God and on and on. I’ve had people lecture me on making sacrifices and loving God and serving him—but those same people didn’t do much of anything, so it meant nothing. It’s like newlyweds trying to lecture a couple that’s been married fifty years about true love, just because they watched a Nicholas Sparks movie—those kids have no clue what it’s going to take to truly love each other! No, talk is cheap.

But when you meet someone that’s living it—it changes your life, sets you on your heels, turns your world upside down. When people met Paul, their lives were changed. When people met Fr. Kapaun, their lives were changed.

What happens when people meet you?

The challenge for us is not that we don’t believe in God, or love him, or want to follow him. The challenge is putting it into practice. Our faith can’t just be ideas, or words, or agreeing with “the truth.” Our faith has to be lived out, really, concretely, tangibly. And it’s not just about doing “good things,” or doing “church chores,” things around the parish. It’s about giving ourselves in total service to God, to His Church, and to those around us.

The key—what did we learn from St. Paul?—the key is giving ourself, self-gift. What did Fr. Kapaun show us? He cared for the soldiers like he was their own mother—just like Paul described in his letter. Fr. Kapaun would spend his days picking lice out of soldiers’ hair and armpits, stealing food for them, cleaning them—“The greatest among you must be your servant.” Fr. Kapaun lived it. In the midst of war, Fr. Kapaun spent himself in total service. What about us?

Eucharist: Self-Gift

As we come to celebrate this Eucharist, this central action of our faith, it’s not just a time to hear me preach, or to say some prayers. The Eucharist is the memorial, the making present of Jesus’ sacrifice on calvary—the action of Jesus Christ giving himself for us, giving himself to us. We don’t just receive his gospel, but his very self! And what he asks from us? That we give him ourselves in return. Talk is cheap. Anyone can preach. But can we, will we give him our very selves as well?

Next week and the week after, that is what we’re going to dive into: real, concrete, tangible, practical ways to do this. But it starts with the question: “Can I, will I give him me?”