Friday, March 31, 2017

Homily: Friday - 4th Week of Lent 2017 - The hour is near



The "hour" of Jesus is a noticeably prominent theme in John’s Gospel. The word "hour" sometimes refers simply to a short period of chronological time (a 60-minute period during the day). More often and more importantly, however, "Jesus' hour" refers to the climactic event of his death and resurrection, which the Fourth Gospel also refers to as his "glorification".

Jesus says to his mother at Cana: “My hour has not yet come”. As Good Friday approaches, he rhetorically asks Andrew and Philip: “Should I ask my ‘Father to save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”. And at the Last supper, Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.”
In John’s Gospel, it is clear that Jesus is utterly aware of who he is and what he is about: he is the Son of the Father come to do the Father’s will. He prepares—he measures his time—for his hour, and he proceeds to this hour with confidence, trust in God, undistracted.

What about us? As we make this Lenten journey? Do we do so recollectedly, measuredly, cautiously, reverently of the hour. As we go through our day. are we conscious that “this is Lent”, this is the hour for me to glorify the Father through my Lenten penances? This is the hour for me to seek God’s mercy, the transformation of my heart, to become more like Christ who embraces suffering for the salvation of the world?

Or do continue to allow ourselves to be distracted by the noise around us and within us? The quiet of Lent, the silence that should mark our days, the putting away of non-essentials, these practices should help us quiet down, to focus on the hour.

One of the Saints even cautions us to “Beware of much speaking, for it banishes from the soul the holy thoughts and recollection with God.”

By nurturing this Lenten recollection, we unite ourselves to Christ in this hour, and prepare for the hour when we will be called upon by God to witness, to suffer, to endure the trial, to persevere in faith, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, especially the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For young people, that they may be kept safe from the evil distractions of the world, and be brought up in faith-filled homes, that they may believe in the importance of loving and serving the Lord with their whole hearts.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.


Thursday, March 30, 2017

Homily: Thursday - 4th Week of Lent 2017 - Humility is living in the Truth

At the end of the Gospel on Tuesday, we heard how after curing the man born blind, “the Jews tried all the more to kill him”. Jesus, seeming to know their intentions, begins this long testimony, as if he had been put on the stand at a trial.

A successful lawyer was once asked to name the most essential factor for a winning case. He said, more important than a fair judge, a sympathetic jury, or a truthful client, is a credible witness. In the gospel readings yesterday and today, Jesus presents various credible witnesses to the Jews that he is the Son of God.

John the Baptist testifies to His identity, the heavenly father testifies to His identity, Jesus’ works and deeds testify to His identity, the scriptures, the old testament, testify to His identity, and Moses testifies to His identity.

With all of these credible witnesses to Jesus’ identity, why do they not believe? The failure to recognize truth is typically a failure of humility. St. Theresa of Avila said that humility is living in the truth, andar en la verdad, in her Spanish.

Those hostile to Jesus in the Gospel are so often putting themselves in the place of God, they forget the most important truth, that God is God and we are not.

The Lenten journey is one of humility.  We began Lent sprinkling our foreheads with ashes while hearing the words, “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you will return.”  The word humility derives from the word meaning “earth”.  The key to regaining lost humanity is through he humble recognition that we are not God, but that we need God, and must conform ourselves to the words and ways of God.

Theresa of Avila says it is a “cowardly soul” which runs from humility and runs from the truth. I think we see so many people falling away from the Church and resistant to the teaching of the Church, because they fear the change  that Christ demands. They prefer, like the Israelites in the first reading, their golden idols to the living God, because golden idols do not challenge them.

I think even faithful Catholics resist deep conversion because they are afraid to give up worldly attachments, familiar worldly ways of thinking.

Lent is so wonderful because God leads us cowards by the hand, through our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving he leads us to give up the non-essential, to find life in Him. May we trust God on this Lenten journey, to allow God to humble us, to convert us, and to lead us to living truth, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may humble our earthly pride and bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. 

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Homily: Tuesday - 4th Week of Lent 2017 - Streams of life-giving water

Yesterday, I mentioned how the 4th Sunday of Lent was a sort of dividing line in the Lenten season. During the first half of Lent, the scripture readings focus on penance, repentance, the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving which help us to bring our passions under control. This second half of Lenten assumes that we still continue to practice Lenten penances, of course, but the scripture readings and mass orations speak a lot more about the grace, the life, the healing, which comes from following Jesus. And we are invited to follow Jesus all the way to the cross.

Today, God’s power, his presence, his life, is symbolized in our first reading, by the water flowing from the Temple. The water that flows from God’s Temple, brings an abundance of life: the multiplication of living creatures, abundance of fish, fruit trees, unfading leaves, plants with healing properties.

This river of living water, would have been a stark comparison to the sea to the east of the Jerusalem Temple, the saltiest body of water on earth, the Dead Sea. It's called the Dead Sea for a good reason: nothing can live in it because the water is far too salty to support life. Ezekiel tells us that the river of living water was able to transform even the Dead Sea, to make its waters fresh.

Such is the result of God’s living water upon the land, but even greater is the power of God’s life in the human soul! He brings to life the deadened, salty, unfruitful parts of the human soul. Great sinners have been transformed into great saints.

This isn’t the first time this Lent we’ve heard of miraculous, living waters. On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Jesus promised to give living water to the woman at the well—to those who believe in him. And in the Gospel today, a sick man lay near a whole reported to have healing properties, but he is healed, not by the pool, but by the word of Jesus.

The penances of this season, and particularly the Sacrament of Confession, strengthen our faith and dispose our souls to receive the living water of Jesus Christ. Perhaps this means that the Lord wishes to help us lay aside an old habit, an addiction, a compulsion, or perhaps he wishes to give us "a fresh, spiritual way of thinking", a new fruit he wishes to cultivate in us, a healing of a hurt, a resentment, a trauma, the effect of past mortal sins which have weakened our will and clouded our intellect.

May our Lenten penances help us to receive the living water Jesus wishes to cause to well up within us, the waters which come from his heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -

That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin,
for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.



Monday, March 27, 2017

Homily: Monday - 4th Week of Lent 2017 - Faith amidst suffering



The fourth Sunday of Lent marks a threshold.  No longer will the weekday readings call for prayer, fasting, and forgiving.  Now they center on the life that Christ promises.  The gospel book changes as well.  For almost four weeks one of the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) was used.  For the rest of Lent, we will read predominately from the Gospel of John, which presents Jesus as “the resurrection and the life”

We read from the prophet Isaiah which proclaimed something new is being offered from God. “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth” where the sufferings and sadnesses of life shall not be remembered, where there shall always be “rejoicing and happiness”.

One of the saints said, compared to the joys of heaven, all of the sufferings of our earthly life will be like a night spent in an uncomfortable motel. And so there is certainly an element of the Christian life to enduring the earthly sufferings we cannot change—keeping Christian faith amidst the suffering leads to life.

“Seek good and not evil so that you may live” our Gospel acclamation proclaimed. Certainly we need to rid our lives of evil: selfish attitudes, perverse imaginings, constant social climbing. And we need to engage in works of charity.

But the greatest good is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus seems perturbed with the royal official when he says, “’Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.’”  He is wary of people’s faith that is based solely on the miraculous. For Jesus came not simply to satisfy our earthly desires or physical needs, but to grant eternal life.

During these last few weeks of Lent, we will read about Jesus’ great suffering: the depths of His love for us can be seen in his embrace of his Passion and Death. We are reminded by today’s reading that he suffers so that we may have eternal life. Without Jesus’ self-sacrifice on Good Friday, there would be no hope of the promises of happiness and eternal joy we read of today.

We do well though to intensify our Lenten penances now that we have crossed the threshold to the second half of Lent; yes, that we may continue restrain our earthly vices and grow in charity, but also that we may be filled with the very life Jesus won for us on the cross, for He is the only source of authentic rejoicing and gladness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Peace in those nations of the world most threatened by hatred, division, and violence, and for the protection of the men and women in our armed forces.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will commit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, and those who suffer from discrimination.  We pray to the Lord.

For the physical, emotional, and spiritual healing of all people, especially the spiritually blind and hard of heart.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom.  We pray to the Lord.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Homily: Friday - 3rd Week of Lent 2017 - The Lenten Desert



The Christian Philosopher Svoren Kierkegaard said if he were a doctor he would prescribe as a remedy for all the world’s disorders, “silence”.

Our culture abhors silence; it is addicted to stimulation.  It has to have the television or internet going all the time; one of the spiritual dangers of having cell phones that can access the internet anywhere, anytime, is that one never learns how to sit in silence.

Last night at Confirmation, the bishop challenged our 8th graders, to consider a Lenten fast of only using their cell phones for emergencies only on 2 or 3 days a week. His suggestion was met with laughter, as if he were joking…he was not.

Noise, distraction, stimulation are great obstacles to knowing ourselves and listening to God. The constant stimulation and busyness bring not cheerfulness, but exhaustion and emptiness.

Through his prophet Hosea, God says, “I will lead Israel into the desert, and speak to her heart.”  It is in the silence where God wishes to refresh us, renew us, deepen our love for Him.

The desert is a place of divine encounter and spiritual battle. At the beginning of Lent we read about Jesus going out into the desert; in fact, the Scripture says he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert.

We have many accounts of early Christians going off to live in the desert.  The first Christian monks were those who went into the desert like our Lord for a life of solitude and prayer.

The desert is a place of testing; we are likely to encounter our inner demons there.  It is also a place of purification; where we strip ourselves from what is unnecessary, particularly for our spiritual lives.  Yet, the desert is also a place of profound encounter with God.

In Hosea, what does God promise to those who follow his lead into the desert? “I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.”  Espousal, can there be anything more profound?

To be faithful to the Lord’s command to love the Lord with our whole minds, strength, and heart, we at times need to allow the Spirit to lead us into the desert, to teach our hearts how to love again, to reignite hearts grown cold through attachment to worldly passions, to unclog our hearts..

May the Lenten desert help us to be stripped away of everything harmful to our minds and souls, that we may experience the intimate union God desires for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - -

For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, especially the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For young people, that they may be kept safe from the evil distractions of the world, and be brought up in faith-filled homes, that they may believe in the importance of loving and serving the Lord with their whole hearts.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Homily: Thursday - 3rd Week of Lent 2017 - Deliverance from demons of the tongue

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus’ many healing miracles were not simply of a physical nature, but of a spiritual nature as well. Jesus heals physical blindness to point to the greater spiritual blindnesses that he came to heal. He cures our spiritual blindness that we may see the truth of God, that we may look beyond our own selfish desires to the needs of the poor, that we may in eternity come to behold the glory of the Lord in heaven. Jesus heals our deafness, that we may listen once again to the promptings of the Holy Spirit instead of our own egos and selfish desires. Jesus heals us when we are lame, that we might walk once again in the ways of righteousness and peace. Jesus heals our muteness that our tongues might proclaim the Gospel, to use our tongues for God’s purposes.

We are all in need of this spiritual healing, aren’t we? Spiritual blindness, spiritual deafness, spiritual lameness, spiritual muteness. Our Lenten observances are so important because they expose us to healing. Prayer exposes us to the healing presence of God, almsgiving exposes us to the healing that comes through service, through charity. Fasting, the healing that comes through self-restraint, the healing of our unrestrained passions which are meant to be placed under the dominion of God and the use of our reason.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus cures one afflicted with a demon of muteness. Again, all of us are tongued-tied in a way, we fail to proclaim the Gospel as we should. We particularly find it difficult to utter words like “I’m sorry”, or “Here, let me help you.”

St. James says that our tongue is a small part of our body with great power. “Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze,” he says. A small fire, a small word, can cause great destruction. “The tongue is also a fire… It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison”

On one hand, we are tongue tied; on the other hand, our tongues so often are used to spread evil: gossip, detraction, calumny, bullying, blasphemy, ludeness and perversion, cursing instead of blessing, foolishness instead of wisdom, discord instead of harmony.

We are more than half way through Lent now, how well have you been using your tongue this Lent? To bless? To pray? To encourage? To uplift? To instruct?

St. Peter says, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.”

Through our Lenten observances may the Lord deliver us from all spiritual muteness and misuse of our lips and tongues, for the spread of the Gospel, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - - - -

For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, especially the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For deliverance from demons of drug abuse, addiction, insanity, occultism, sexual perversion, greed, and any spiritual evils which degrade the human person.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Homily: Tuesday - 3rd Week of Lent 2017 - Get thee to Confession



Last Wednesday, parishes across the diocese held an evening of confession. I heard confessions for nearly 3 hours, and I know some priests who heard them for about 3 ½. It was truly an evening of of grace. Before confessions, I said a little prayer, “A priest’s prayer before hearing confession”: O Lord, give me wisdom to assist me when I am in the confessional, so that I know how to judge your people with justice and your poor with good sense…Grant that my intention be pure, my zeal sincere, my love patient and my ministry fruitful.” And so on.

Well, I felt inspired to put this little prayer on my Facebook page on the internet. And a few hours later, a Protestant lady was questioning the Catholic practice of Confession, particularly the priest’s role in hearing confession. “Who are you to forgive sins?” basically...as if the Catholics had been in error for 2000 years in offering God's mercy to the contrite.

To non-Catholics, Confession is difficult to understand. After all, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Catholics believe that Jesus, by his divine authority, instituted the priests for to continue his ministry of mercy. “Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”

The Catechism has a beautiful passage: “When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner.”

All Catholics should go to Confession during Lent whether or not they are in mortal sin.  As the prophets tell, God desires such a contrite heart more than sacrifices. The Sacrament of Reconciliation humbles us to admit that we make mistakes -- sometimes grave ones -- that divert us from the path of holiness.

We stand up like Azariah in the fire, with contrite hearts asking God to deliver us. Azariah lamented, "no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you." We are blessed to have the Sacrament of Confession which does restore our favor with God.

And he does, over and over, not just 7 times, not just seven times seven times, but as often as we seek his mercy.

My aforementioned internet conversation gained some attention from some of my other Facebook friends, and one good Catholic woman shared, so beautifully: “There is no peace on earth like that experienced after going to the sacrament of confession. Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to it. Only Jesus, coming to sinners in the form of the priest, can give that kind of peace!”

If you haven’t gone yet, please go to confession this Lent. "Get thee to a confessional" as they say. And if you have already gone, pray for someone who hasn’t. Invite someone who hasn’t. Offer to drive someone who hasn’t. That they can know the Father’s mercy and peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That this holy season of Lent may be for the Church a call to deeper conversion and experience of the Father’s mercy.
For all those who have fallen away from the Church, those who have fallen into mortal sin, for those who have lost faith, for their conversion, and the conversion of all hearts.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.
For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this week, that the Holy Spirit may increase his gifts within them for the spreading of the Gospel and the living of the faith.
For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.


Monday, March 20, 2017

Homily: March 20 2017 - St. Joseph - Strong Christian Fathers



Yesterday, I came across a wonderful article that I am going to start sharing with my young engaged couples. The article is titled, “IF DAD TAKES FAITH IN GOD SERIOUSLY, SO WILL HIS CHILDREN” and contains some powerful statistics showing the invaluable role a father’s faith plays in his family—the religious practice of the father of the family greatly determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children. If Dad takes faith in God seriously then the message to their children is that God should be taken seriously, for a father is to be a spiritual leader in his family.

For this reason, I believe, Our Father in heaven, chose Joseph to be spouse of Mary and foster-father of Our Blessed Lord.

Joseph is model of righteousness for all husbands and fathers. One of my favorite litanies calls him, “Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most brave, Diligent protector of Christ, Guardian of Virgins, Pillar of families, Patron of the Dying, Terror of Demons”

Fatherhood and Christian Manliness are certainly under attack in the present age. Of course, so is motherhood and authentic Christian femininity. The devil certainly attacks us on multiple fronts. A restored devotion to the righteousness of St. Joseph is a powerful counterattack in the spiritual battle.
The US leads the world in the number of fatherless families, and that is having a terrible effect on our society. For as the Catechism states: “the authority, stability, and the life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society”—in other words, healthy families lead to a healthy society; disintegrated families lead to a disintegration of society.  Strong Christian fathers therefore must protect their families from being infected with selfishness, addictions, violence, materialism, and godlessness of our culture.

Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph who was chosen by the Heavenly Father as protector of the Holy Family to be the patron of the Universal Church, meaning every Christian does well in looking to patronage, the example and prayers of St. Joseph—his sacrifice for his family, his trust in God, his faithful observance of the commandments, his quiet before God.

Joseph has a deep love and care for each of us, and he will show us, if we allow him, a way of deeply loving and following Jesus Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


Through the intercession of St. Joseph, husband of Mary, may the Lord continue to bless the love of husbands and wives through the sacrament of marriage and bring healing and peace to all troubled marriages.

Through the intercession of St. Joseph, foster-father of Our Blessed Lord, may all fathers, foster fathers, adopted fathers, step-fathers, and spiritual fathers, may they teach their children well in the ways of faith, be models and righteous examples of faith and charity for their children, and know always the respect and obedience of their children.

Through the intercession of St. Joseph, terror of demons, that all those afflicted by any sort of demonic obsession or spiritual attacks may be delivered through the mercies of the Father.

Through the intercession of St. Joseph, patron of a peaceful death, that all those who lay dying or who will die today, may be consoled by the Father’s care.


Sunday, March 19, 2017

Homily: 3rd Sunday of Lent 2017 - The woman at the well



The Gospel of the Samaritan Woman contains many insights which enrich our Lenten journey.
There are a couple important details right at the beginning of the story: “Jesus came to a town of Samaria…Jacob's well was there.” Jesus enters this place, where no pious Jew would go. Samaria was filled with half-breeds—Jews who had intermarried with the Assyrians invaders of centuries past. The Samaritans were no longer considered Jewish, and so they and their land were considered unclean and would be avoided by the pious Jew.

First, insight: Jesus doesn’t go around the unclean land or the unclean person. Jesus loves the unclean, the marginalized, the outsider. In the Second Reading, we are reminded by St. Paul that Jesus loves the sinner so much, he lays down his life for them.

The encounter between Jesus and the woman doesn’t just take place in a random location in Samaria, rather, we hear it takes place on a well.  Last week, Jesus was on top of a mountain, the place where heaven meets earth, divinity meets humanity.

What’s symbolic about a well? If you’ve ever been to a wedding reception, sometimes the repository for the wedding gifts and wedding cards is in the shape of a well. In Scripture, many brides and grooms meet at wells. Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Zipporah, all meet at wells.
Jesus, has but one bride, the Church. So the sinful, unclean Samaritan woman is a symbol of us all, invited to be wedded to Christ through his death and resurrection.

We know where this encounter takes place, but when does this encounter take place? St. John tells us: it was around noon. It’s the part of the day when the sun is at its most brilliant and most illuminating…in the course of this story Jesus is certainly going to shed light upon something truly important: his identity and the promises available for those who believe in Him.

So this woman of Samaria comes to draw water, and Jesus said to her “give me a drink”. This is a very strange request. In the society of his time, men and women, especially strangers, would not speak to each other publicly; It would be highly unusually and unconventional for a Jewish man to be so frank and direct with a Samaritan woman.

Notice that Jesus invites her to give Him a drink. St. Augustine said magnificently, this is God thirsting for our faith. Yes, indeed. This is God thirsting for our generosity. God thirsts for our generosity because generosity makes us joyful and God made us to be joyful. Sin and selfishness are always a failure to be generous with God and neighbor and result in joylessness.

The woman responds to Jesus’ invitation, not at all aware of the spiritual significance of the encounter: “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"” To which Jesus responds, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink, ' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus IS the gift of God—the Son is given to us by the Father that we may have eternal life. Jesus is saying, if you knew who I was, you’d ask me to give you what no one else on earth can provide: living water. Living water, what a powerful image for desert people—liveliness, hope, vitality, grace. Jesus is saying, I can give you what you most long for, that which humanity lost through sin, reconciliation with God that will bring you eternal life.

The woman shows she still doesn’t quite understand: “You don’t even have a bucket, how can you give living water?” She’s still thinking simply about physical water. So, Jesus takes her where she is, but then leads her deeper. Everyone who drinks from the earthly well will be thirsty again.

The earthly wells are all those earthly places we go to quench our thirst for the divine, but do not satisfy. All the addictions that leave us longing, all the worldly pursuits we chase after because we think they will make us happy. We’re wired for God, we are built for God, but we seek our happiness in all the wrong places, in created things like money, fame, and pleasure. We drink from those wells, and we are still thirsty. As good as these things are, none of them are God, so nothing can satisfy our desire for the infinite.

The woman so focused on the earthly well is all of us who fail to come to Jesus to be satisfied. What is your well? What is the behavior you go back to over and over looking for happiness where true happiness cannot be found? That’s an important Lenten exercise. What is your well? Hear the voice of Jesus this Lent inviting you to be generous with God, that God teach you a new way of drinking living water.

Jesus wants to give us living water that will bring us wholeness, joy, peace, and eternal life. But we must choose between him and the well.

Jesus then poses another interesting request: “go invite your husband and come back.” And the woman answers, “I don’t have a husband”. And Jesus says, “you are right, you don’t have a husband, you’ve had five husbands, and the man you are living with isn’t your husband.”

Why has this woman come at the worst part of day, the hottest part of day to draw water, and why is she alone? The custom at the time was for women to venture together to the village well, it was a time of comradery, and they’d go to the well either in the morning or evening, not at the hottest part of the day because it’s hard work drawing water.

So this woman has gone to the well, alone and at the hottest part of the day because she is probably a woman of ill-repute, someone who is morally suspect even to her neighbors, she’s had five husbands, she may have stolen seduced men away from their lawful wives.

Jesus invites even her, even us, to drink. We are all sinners. Maybe not exactly like the Samaritan woman, but we have all engaged in false relationships, gone back to worldly wells, isolated ourselves from others through poor choices? And what do we hear from Jesus? The invitation to life. The invitation to drink deeply, to have a deep intimate relationship to Christ through prayer isn’t just for the saints, it is for all of us.

The invitation to life involves change, it involves breaking habits, healing relationships, turning away from attitudes and behaviors which are contrary to our faith, putting an end to selfishness. Jesus invites the Samaritan woman to look humbly and honestly at her sins, and to let go of them, that she may know eternal life, and Jesus makes the same invitation to us.

May our Lenten observances help us to hear Jesus calling us to drink deeply of the living water which only comes through Him, through prayer, through repentance of sins, through reception of the sacrament, through generosity with God and selfless charity towards our neighbors, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Homily: March 17 2017 - St. Patrick - "Put out into the deep"


A millennium and a half after his life and death, St. Patrick continues to be a saint with many devotees.

He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession.

Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain and was reunited with his family.

Not long after reuniting with his family, Patrick sensed a growing calling to return to Ireland to preach the Gospel. He was trained as a priest and was ordained by St. Germanus, who sent Patrick back to Ireland as a missionary bishop, like St. Paul.

Like the Lord instructed in the Gospel, Patrick “put out into the deep water” of Pagan Ireland. He preached for 40 years and converted the Emerald Isle to Christ.

The famous breastplate of St. Patrick speaks of the saints immense trust in the strength of Christ, which we do well to emulate: "Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."

Such trust in Christ, union with Christ through prayer, imitation of Christ’s suffering is necessary as we are called to spread the Gospel amidst the growing Paganism of modern culture.
The Lord’s words “put out into deep waters” is a call to every Christian, no matter their state in life, to take up the missionary mandate of the Church: to reach out to those who do not have faith, to reach out to the poor and suffering, and to not be afraid to witness to the truth of the Gospel in the public sphere and the political realm.

Where are the deep waters in your own life? Who are the fish that seem just out of reach? A fallen away family member? An angry neighbor? Who needs to be invited back to Mass…to the Confessional…to speak with the priest about an annulment…who needs to be gently confronted about an addiction or unchaste behavior?

Today, May Christ be within us, before us and beside us, and help us to be faithful to the work he calls us to, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -For those gathering in celebration of St. Patrick today, for their safety and sobriety, and that their festivity may be spared of debasement, and be for the greater glory of God.

For the spread of the Gospel and reevangelization of the Irish people and for all those who have fallen away from the Church.

That St. Patrick may be for the entire Church an example of missionary zeal and trust in the Lord.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s mercy will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.


Thursday, March 16, 2017

Homily: Thursday - 2nd Week of Lent 2017 - The Great Chasm

Monday night, I attended the parish mission over at St. Paschal’s, at which Fr. Tom Dragga used today’s Gospel passage to help prepare the attendees for the sacrament of Confession.

One of the points, that I’m going to steal from his reflection, and by the way, Fr. Dragga taught me to steal, he was one of my homily professors in seminary. As he would say, “if Fr. Estabrook preaches well, you can thank me, if Fr. Estabrook preaches poorly, then he should have payed better attention.” And one of the lessons he taught was to “steal, steal, steal” material for a homily!

Fr. Dragga spoke about a particular detail in the Gospel—a word we don’t use too often in our common parlance, the great “chasm”—“the chasma mega”, in the Greek—which separated the rich man and Lazarus—the chasm between heaven and hell. Why do we go through the humbling, perhaps even embarrassing ordeal of the sacrament of confession? To be free of those things which create a chasm between us and God.

Why do we subject ourselves to the rigors of Lent? Why do we follow the sometimes mysterious precepts of the Catholic faith? Why do we sacrifice our time, talent, and treasure for the needy instead of enjoying our earthly goods in their entirety? To avoid the chasm…to avoid the mistake that the Rich Man in the Gospel made in choosing to ignore the poor man at his gate.

We do believe that sin and selfishness create a chasm between us and God, and that some sin is so deadly, as the apostle John explains in his first letter, that the chasm becomes unpassable, uncrossable; the way of the wicked leads to doom, as Psalm 1 says, and nothing in life save for the grace of God particularly dispensed in the Sacrament of Confession, can heal that chasm.

Sometimes we think that our venial sins “aren’t that bad”, but all sin creates chasm, separation, wound. And so we seek not simply the absolution of our mortal sin, but to root out venial sin from our life.

Our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving disposes us to grace, they help to strengthen us against the temptations to sin, they certainly soften our hearts which can becomes so easily hardened by selfishness and self concern. For the abyss, the chasm separating the rich man and Lazarus did not simply appear in the afterlife, he dug that abyss  each day that he disregarded his fellow man during his life.

May our Lenten observances open our eyes to the needs of the poor, heal our sinfulness, and help us to experience and become instrument’s of God’s saving mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - -

That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.
For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.
That our Lenten observances may deepen our commitment to the needs of the poor who seek our assistance.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Homily: Tuesday - 2nd Week of Lent 2017 - Holy Self-Forgetfulness

Do you remember the Gospel of Ash Wednesday? We hear it every year.

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them…When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them…When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.” Right at the beginning of Lent, Jesus condemns activity which draws attention to ourselves, instead of helping us turn our attention to God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus again condemns the scribes and Pharisees for using their positions of teaching the faith to draw attention not to God, but to themselves. As Jesus said, “They do all their deeds to be seen by men.” They sought the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues and reverent titles. They were guilty of pride and vanity. They had forgotten the one whom they were supposed to be serving—God.

Rather the attitude and the behavior of the Christian is to turn ourselves to God, in order to bring others to God. This is the reason why Jesus places such great emphasis on humility, who came not to do his own will, but the will of the one who sent Him. He indeed shows us what humility looks like, on the cross

C.S. Lewis wrote, “By this virtue [of humility], as by all others, [God] wants to turn [our] attention away from self, to Him and [to our] neighbors.” Humility is not a matter of thinking less of ourselves—but less about ourselves, forgetting ourselves and turning outward in love. Not thinking less of ourselves, but less about ourselves.

Vanity and pride are so deadly because they turn our focus away from God to how look, how we appear, how others think of us. We live in a truly vain age—where there is greater concern for how many ‘likes’ one gets on facebook or youtube or followers one has on twitter, and less concern over the state of the soul.

The Pharisees are not gone: they’ve simply got new jobs as politicians, journalists, college professors, social justice warriors, internet stars, and perhaps even some priests, and are virtue-signaling like never before—appearing to be concerned about the poor rather than actually serving the poor and actually growing in virtue.

Rather, God calls us to engage in self-forgetful practices: the sort of prayer and charitable service where self is forgotten and Christ is discovered.

May our Lenten observances humble our earthly pride and vanity and bring us that holy self-forgetfulness which deepens our communion with God and neighbor for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - - -  
For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to turn away from all that keeps us from deeper communion with the Holy Trinity.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Homily: Monday - 2nd Week of Lent 2017 - The measure of mercy

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives very clear instruction to his disciples in his great Sermon on the Mount. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus gives an exhortation to his followers in what is called the Sermon on the Plain. And today’s passage from the Sermon on the Plain is really the climax of the Sermon, making the theme of mercy the pinnacle of his instruction. If you take anything away from this Sermon, remember mercy.

In the Old Testament, the merciful person was one who identified with the needs of others and worked to alleviate their suffering. For the Jewish people, the model of mercy was God himself. “Praise the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the God of gods; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the Lord of lords; for his mercy endures forever” Psalm 136 repeats this proclamation of God’s everlasting mercy 26 times. He is the one who gives bread to all flesh, frees his people from their foes, remembers them in their lowliness, gives land to his people as a heritage.

Jesus instructs us that we are to be imitators of the Father’s mercy—if we imitate the Father’s mercy, we will receive mercy beyond all measure: we will escape condemnation, and will know forgiveness, we will experience God’s abundant generosity in our lives.

“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you”. To an honest person, that’s kind of terrifying! God is going to treat me with the amount of mercy that I show to those in need: the people that came to me for help, the people that I walked past that I should have helped, the person who needed a kind word of encouragement, the person who needed to be corrected, the person who needed to be consoled, the person who needed to be fed and clothed and cared for.
We can’t help everyone, we can’t save everybody. That’s true. But did you help someone, did you try to save anybody?

Yesterday, I reflected on the beautiful example of St. Veronica, who simply wiped the face of Jesus with her veil. “She did not let herself be deterred by the brutality of the soldiers or the fear that gripped the disciples. (BXVI)” But she responded to the invitation to show mercy, despite her fears and hesitations, and thereby came to see through Jesus’ bloodied and bruised face, the face of God and his goodness.

Jesus’ instruction here should certainly cause us to commit deeply to Lenten almsgiving. May we grow in our attentiveness to those in need, and respond as we can to those needs, and thereby become instruments of God’s mercy for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.
For the married, the engaged, the single; for consecrated religious; for our bishops, priests, and deacons.
For the widowed, the separated, the divorced; for anyone in vocational crisis.
For the protection of the unborn, the abused, and every defenseless human being.
For the reverent use and sharing of the world’s resources;  for those in search of employment, in need of healthcare, education, or housing.
For the victims of disasters and of violence; for the sick and their care-givers.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Homily: 2nd Sunday of Lent 2017 - Seek His Face

Upon Mt. Tabor, Peter, James, and John were honored to see in time what we all long to see in eternity: the face of Christ shining like the sun.

Scripture speaks often of man’s deep desire to gaze upon the face of God. Psalm 27 expresses this desire: “Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me.”

Way back in the book of numbers the Lord instructed Moses how Aaron and the Levites were to bless the people of Israel: by invoking the promise of the holy face. “May the LORD bless you and keep you! May the LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! May the LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”

First Chronicles instructs us: “Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.”

And first Corinthians speaks of our eternal destiny: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

The very last prayer a soul might hear from the last rites of the Church speak of the Lord’s face: “Go forth Christian soul from this life…May you return to your Creator who formed you from the dust of the earth. May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life. . . May you see your Redeemer face to face.”

Everlasting life consists of beholding God face to face, what we call the beatific vision. In the beatific vision, all of our longings are fulfilled in God, all of the tears of our life are wiped away.
And upon Mt. Tabor, Peter, James, and John, if but just for a moment, saw Christ’s divine visage revealed.

Why do we read the Transfiguration story every year during Lent? For one, the Gospel of the Transfiguration reminds us Lenten pilgrims, that all of our Lenten sacrifices, our Lenten penances, our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, help us to be free from all that keeps us from beholding the face of God.

One of the Lenten practices which helps us contemplate the face of Christ is of course the Stations of the Cross. This week I brought several classes from the school over here to the Church and we simply walked to each station, and talked about each one—we contemplated the face of Christ in each station: what is going on here, as Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate in the first Station; why is he being stripped of his garments the 10th station; why does he fall three times as he carries his cross in the third, seventh, and ninth stations.

To gaze upon the face of Christ in the stations is to see the face of a real man, a man who does not run away from his vocation, a man who does not flee his suffering in fear, a man filled with faith and love for God and mankind. If you want to know what courage looks like: pray the stations of the cross. If you want to know what faith, patience, and forgiveness of one’s persecutors looks like, pray the stations of the cross. If you want to know what God’s love and God’s mercy for us looks like, pray the stations of the cross.

Pope Benedict XVI said, “Jesus willingly gave himself up to death so that we might be saved and pass from death to life.  Mercy has a name, mercy has a face, mercy has a heart.” Jesus is “mercy incarnate” as Pope Francis said.

As Jesus made the via crucis, the way of the cross, many people gazed upon his suffering face—some looked upon him with pity, some in sorrow, some with faith, some seeking a way to comfort him.  One woman in particular was St. Veronica, who, seeing his great suffering, risked the threat of punishment by the Roman Soldiers, and wiped the face of Jesus with her veil. What a beautiful act to console the suffering Christ.

Veronica wiping the face of Jesus with her veil is depicted in the sixth station. And if you’ve never looked at the station closely, I recommend you take a closer look. You will see, on her veil, the image of the face of Christ, which miraculously appeared as she wiped his face. The blessed veil is now kept at St. Peter’s in Rome, and pilgrims there are blessed with it on the 5th Sunday of Lent after evening vespers. She was blessed to see his holy face, and through an act of charity, became an instrument for the church of all ages to behold his earthly countenance.

Pope Benedict XVI said, “Veronica”—whose name comes from the Greek ‘Bernice’—“embodies the universal yearning of the devout men and woman of the Old Testament, the yearning of all believers to see the face of God. On Jesus’ Way of the Cross, she at first did nothing more than perform an act of womanly kindness: she held out a facecloth to Jesus. She did not let herself be deterred by the brutality of the soldiers or the fear that gripped the disciples. She is the image of that good woman, who amid turmoil and dismay, shows the courage born of goodness and does not allow her heart to be bewildered…At first, Veronica saw only a buffeted and pain-filled face. Yet her act of love impressed the true image of Jesus on her heart. On his human face, bloodied and bruised, she saw the face of God and his goodness, which accompanies us even in our deepest sorrows. Only with the heart can we see Jesus. Only love purifies us and gives us the ability to see. Only love enables us to recognize the God who is love itself.”

What a beautiful and powerful reflection from the Holy Father!

Each of us has the desire to see the face of Jesus. And that can happen when like Veronica’s our hearts are filled with the Love of Christ, when we seek him through prayer and service.

Have you seen the face of Christ this Lent? If not, I encourage you to persevere or deepen your Lenten observances. Pray the Stations of the Cross. Read through the Passion. Extend a hand in mercy to someone in need.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus promised “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” May our Lenten observances help us to be purified from earthly attachments and earthly fears and anxieties, that we may love God with a pure heart, serve our neighbor with pure charity, and thereby come to see God face to face in eternity…for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Homily: Friday - 1st Week of Lent 2017 - The interior journey of holiness




Several times this week we’ve read from Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is the first major teaching discourse in the Gospel of Matthew. From atop Mt. Sinai, God gave the commandments of the Law to Moses to be taught to the people. And from atop the Mount of Beatitudes, God-in-the-flesh taught the fundamentals of Christian discipleship in the Sermon on the Mount.

Reading through the Old Testament, the laws and commandments some quite difficult, stringent, perhaps even excessive. But when we read the Sermon on the Mount honestly, Jesus’ teaching is pretty demanding.

Consider how the Gospel passage begins today: “Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God.” The scribes and Pharisees practiced zealous concern for keeping the laws of Moses, their concern for ritual purity was extreme. I’ve met Catholics who couldn’t recite 3 of the 10 commandments, let alone all the ritual purity laws that the scribes and Pharisees kept to the utmost. And Jesus says, our holiness is to surpass their holiness.

On the one hand, Jesus does often condemn the scribes and Pharisees for their mere external obedience to the law’s regulations. They kept the law outwardly, but inwardly were devoid of love, charity.

Certainly, as Jesus’ followers, we are to seek interior conversion, not only the keeping of God’s commandments, but a fiery love for Him and genuine concern for neighbor.

But the standard of righteousness go for Christians does in fact go beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees. As the great biblical scholar John Meier said, Jesus’ teaching calls for “a radical interiorization, a total obedience to God, a complete self-giving to neighbor, that carries the ethical thrust of the law to its God-will conclusion”.

We are not simply to act kindly, but seek healing of the interior roots of resentment, unforgiveness, anger, selfishness, perversion. Jesus calls us to make the interior journey to healing and wholeness through a wholehearted trust and obedience toward the heavenly Father that radiates God’s love to the world.

Our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving helps us to achieve the Christian perfection to which we are called, the perfection for which we are made. Are we making use of the time we’ve been given to become as holy as we are meant to become? Are we making use of the means at our disposal to grow in faith, hope, and love?

May the Holy Spirit help us, this Lent, to make serious and honest examinations of our lives, motives, attitudes, and habits, and come to that radical change of heart to which the Lord calls us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - -

For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Homily: Thursday - 1st Week of Lent 2017 - Harmony of Prayer and Service



The short Gospel passage taken near the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contains an interesting combination of teachings.

On one hand, it seems Jesus is teaching us about prayer. We are to turn to God confidently in our prayer life, to develop a habit of coming before the Lord with our needs, the needs of our family, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the world. Our daily prayer should certainly include petitions for the needs of ourselves and others.

On the other hand, the Gospel passage also includes a summation of Jesus’ moral teaching: do to others whatever you would have them do to you; the obligation to treat others with charity.
On one hand, Jesus is teaching about praying; on the other, he is teaching about doing. On one hand, He is teaches us to seek the charity of God; on the other, to show the charity of God.

Here we see the harmony and interconnectedness of prayer and service. We will never grow in service without prayer, and we will never grow in prayer without service.

Pope Benedict XVI took up this principle in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. “A living relationship with Christ [through prayer] is decisive if we are to keep on the right path”. “Prayer, as a means of drawing ever new strength from Christ, is concretely and urgently needed.” He pointed to the example of Mother Theresa as “a clear illustration of the fact that time devoted to God in prayer not only does not detract from effective and loving service to our neighbour but is in fact the inexhaustible source of that service.”

“It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer,” he said, “in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work…A personal relationship with God and an abandonment to his will can prevent man from being demeaned and save him from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism.”

Without prayer, we begin to build a world without God, and without service, we fall into a sort of spiritual inertia.

Lenten prayer and almsgiving help us to feed the fire of the Christian life, to encounter God who is the source of mercy and to become instruments of that mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -

For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Homily: Tuesday - 1st Week of Lent 2017 - Rightness of life depends upon rightness of prayer

In the section from the Catechism on “The Lord’s Prayer” we read, “the rightness of our life depends upon the rightness of our prayer”. Struggling to overcome particular sins, not remaining patient with certain people in your life, not able to overcome a particular addiction? Consider your prayer life.

Often in the confessional, I will hear sins of anger, resentment, bitterness, impatience, and lust. After the penitent confesses, I often find myself asking about the penitent’s prayer life. How often do you pray? And so often, I hear, “I don’t pray as often as I should, Father.”

How can we be surprised when we fail to love our neighbor as we should, when we don’t love God as we should—when we fail to come to Him who is the fountain of love and mercy through prayer?

“The rightness of our life depends upon the rightness of our prayer”

Throughout His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives his followers clear teaching on how to rightly order their lives, so to be he faithful disciples and to become worthy of the kingdom of heaven. And right at the heart of His Sermon, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. Prayer is needed for faithful discipleship.

The Lord then teaches the perfect prayer. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers. . . . In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.”

The Our Father can be divided into seven petitions. The first three petitions ask God to draw us toward His glory; the last four petition God for the assistance only He can give. First we seek God’s glory, then we seek His aid in our earthly lives.

“The first series of petitions carries us toward him, for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves”

In the Lord’s Prayer, just helps us order our lives by turning to God, asking God, to help us put His Will First. Why do we so often sin? Why do we so often fail to love the people in our lives with selfless love? Why are we so impatient and unforgiving? We fail to put God first.

Lenten prayer helps us to reorient, recalibrate, redevote our lives to God. May our Lenten prayer help us to overcome our sins, to be filled with God’s love, and seek first the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - - -

That the Church will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.

For an end to abortion and for the reverence and protection of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the engaged couples attending our parish’s Pre-Cana Day this weekend, that the Lord will increase in them His gifts of love to prepare them rightly and chastely for the sacrament of marriage, and for a strengthening of all marriages. We pray to the Lord.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Homily: Monday - 1st Week of Lent 2017 - Almsgiving and Works of Mercy

Few people have given themselves to the poor and forgotten like Mother Theresa.  Mother Teresa often called the poor “Jesus in disguise.”

Consider her powerful words referencing our Gospel passage today: “In order to help us deserve heaven, Christ set a condition: that at the moment of our death you and I, whoever we might have been and wherever we have lived, Christians and non-Christians alike, every human being who has been created by the loving hand of God in his own image shall stand in his presence and be judged according to what we have been for the poor, what we have done for them…”

Lent is a season of preparation. Just like the season of Advent prepares our minds and hearts for Christmas, the season of Lent prepares our minds and hearts for Easter. But what we do during this Lent also has eternal ramifications. Lent helps us prepare, not just for Easter 2017. Our reading today, reminds us that Lent helps us prepare for judgment, helps us to prepare for meeting the Christ the Judge.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not only important for Lent, but for the entire Christian life; they are probably the most three important activities in the life of the Christian. Everything boils down to these three activities.

And particularly almsgiving. The life of charity, the life of mercy, are fundamental to the Christian way of life. The Catechism even says, “The works of mercy are not optional but are absolutely essential to living the Christian life of holiness and goodness.”

In opening the year of Mercy, Pope Francis echoed this teaching. He said, “It is absolutely essential for the Church and for the credibility of her message that she herself live and testify to mercy. Her language and her gestures must transmit mercy, so as to touch the hearts of all people and inspire them once more to find the road that leads to the Father.”

Let us consider how the Lord is calling us to engage more deeply in Lenten almsgiving, by reflecting once more on the words of the Holy Father: We cannot escape the Lord’s words to us, and they will serve as the criteria upon which we will be judged: whether we have fed the hungry and given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger and clothed the naked, or spent time with the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-45). Moreover, we will be asked if we have helped others to escape the doubt that causes them to fall into despair and which is often a source of loneliness; if we have helped to overcome the ignorance in which millions of people live, especially children deprived of the necessary means to free them from the bonds of poverty; if we have been close to the lonely and afflicted; if we have forgiven those who have offended us and have rejected all forms of anger and hate that lead to violence; if we have had the kind of patience God shows, who is so patient with us; and if we have commended our brothers and sisters to the Lord in prayer.”

May we respond generously to the call to Lenten almsgiving, to the works of mercy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls

- - - - - -

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.

For mercy for the most vulnerable of our human family, the unborn; that their mothers may choose life and be supported by a culture of life.

For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of mercy.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For the engaged couples attending our parish’s Pre-Cana Day this weekend, that the Lord will increase in them His gifts of love to prepare them rightly and chastely for the sacrament of marriage, and for a strengthening of all marriages. We pray to the Lord.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Homily: 1st Sunday of Lent 2017 - Temptation

 Temptation. Temptation is one of the universal human experiences. Young, old, rich, poor, learned, unschooled, black, white, latino, Asian—we have all at some point been tempted. Our first parents Adam and Eve experienced temptation, our Blessed Lord, as we heard in the Gospel, experienced temptation.

The great Cardinal Manning taught “temptation is inevitable. Until we have put off our mortality, until corruption is turned into incorruption, we shall be assailed by temptation. To be tempted is simply to be man; to be man is to be tempted.” Until our dying breath we will be subject to temptation.

But, what is temptation? As we read in the Catechism, “Temptation is an attraction, either from outside oneself or from within, to act contrary to right reason and the commandments of God (CCC 538).”

Temptation. It’s the enticement to do evil—the lure of ignoring “the good” and choosing the “the wrong”.

We know that we are tempted, but why are we tempted? That can be approached in a few different ways.

Why are we tempted? For one, “Temptation is the work of the devil to drag you to Hell!” The devil, cast out of heaven for his treachery and his refusal to submit to the Divine Will, wants us to follow in his footsteps. The Devil seeks the corruption and death of our souls. He desires that we, like him, never see the face of God.

Secondly, why are we tempted? Our human free will demands it, in a sense. Temptation is a necessary result of “freedom”. If we cannot be tempted to choose the wrong, then we are not free to choose the good. God made us to love Him, but love cannot be forced, but must be freely chosen, and freely given. So with the capacity to love comes the capacity to be tempted not to love, not to obey.

The question, “Why are we tempted?” can also be answered, “because God allows it.” Temptation constitutes an opportunity for the human soul to choose to love God, to trust his plan, to rely on his grace.

What does temptation look like? Well, it can come at any time, to any person. For Adam and Eve it was the temptation to eat a piece of forbidden fruit. Forbidden fruit can come in many forms. It usually looks good, it looks attractive. We think it will bring us gratification, and perhaps it does for a moment.

Oftentimes we don’t know we are being tempted while we are being tempted, it’s part of the devil’s bag of tricks to remain hidden from plain sight. So it’s important to conform our minds to God’s wisdom, so we know a trick when we see it.

Indeed we have a responsibility to fortify ourselves against temptation.

Nightly examination of our conscience and frequent Sacramental confession help us to identify those areas of our life in which we are tempted most and have fallen in the past. Every Sacramental Confession not only brings the forgiveness of sins, but additional sacramental grace to strengthen us against temptations we have confessed.

Meditating on God’s Word and the writings of the Saints help us to gain wisdom to be on guard against the the things that lead us away from God. Knowledge of the word of God is more valuable than silver or gold. For silver and gold cannot buy our way into heaven, but by wisdom we walk in the ways of the Lord in order to avoid the danger of losing our souls to hell. The word of God is “the Devil’s Scourge.”

Pope Francis said recently, “When we are tempted, only the Word of God, the Word of Jesus saves us. Christ is always willing to teach us how to escape from temptation. Jesus is great because he not only brings us out of temptation, but also gives us more confidence.”

Our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are tried and true practices for strengthening us against the temptations of the devil, the world, and the flesh.

By prayer, we life our mind and heart to God, the source of our strength and joy. By fasting, we build up our fortitude, our spiritual muscles for resisting what we do not need. And by almsgiving we become filled with the mercy and love of God by which we are saved.

In the Gospel, we heard that the Lord himself was tempted. But unlike Adam and Eve, Christ obeys His Father. Jesus though doesn’t blast the devil away with a bolt of divine lightning or something. He uses the same human nature that each of us possesses.

St. Lawrence of Brindisi explains this wonderfully: “Christ came into the world to do battle against Satan…He could have accomplished this by using the weapons of his divinity …but in order that his victory might be the more glorious, he willed to fight Satan in our weak flesh.  It is as if an unarmed man, right hand bound, were to fight with his left hand alone against a powerful army; if he emerged victorious, his victory would be regarded as all the more glorious.  So Christ conquered Satan with the right hand of his divinity bound and using against him only the left hand of his weak humanity.”
When humanity is filled with the life of God, the spirit of filial obedience, the Son’s loving obedience to the Father, even humanity weakened by hunger and solitude can prevail against the Devil’s most cunning temptations.

In his second to last Address the Pope gave before his retirement in 2013, Pope Benedict spoke of temptation, commenting on the temptation of Christ in the desert.

“Man is never wholly free from temptation… but with patience and true humility we become stronger than any enemy. The patience and humility required to defeat the enemy come by following Christ every day and from learning to build our life not outside of him or as if he did not exist, but in him and with him, because he is the source of true life. In contrast to this is the temptation to remove God, to order our lives and the world on our own, relying solely on our own abilities. This is why in Jesus God speaks to man in an unexpected way, with a unique and concrete closeness, full of love, because God has now become incarnate and enters the world of man to take sin upon himself, to overcome evil and bring man back into the world of God.”

Through our growth in wisdom through meditation on the Word of God, through our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, through our imitation of Christ, through our reception of the mercy and grace of Almighty God through the Sacraments, may the Lord deliver from all temptations, strengthen us in virtue, to choose life and love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


Friday, March 3, 2017

Homily: Friday after Ash Wednesday 2017 - Fullness through fasting



Right before his Ascension, Jesus promised his followers, “Behold, I am with you always, even until the end of the age”. Jesus is with us always. Jesus is present in every tabernacle in the world, we can kneel in his very presence, know his closeness, adore his majesty. He is present to us when we allow God’s Word to speak to us, and guide our decisions, actions and behavior. He is present in our hearts when we act as instruments of God’s mercy to those in need.

When approached by the disciple of John the Baptist and questioned why his followers do not fast, Jesus answers, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus’ presence was so joyful that fasting, a sign of sorrow and repentance, was inappropriate. Fasting helps to restore the damaged relationship to God through sin, well, God was in their midst, so fasting was not necessary.

And if it is true that Jesus is with us always, why do we fast? Doesn’t fasting undermine our belief in his presence with us?

Jesus is always with us. But the reality of Lent though, and Lenten fasting, is that we are not always with Him. We forget his presence. We allow earthly endeavors to preoccupy us from our most important task of witnessing to his Gospel. We allow worldly attitudes to replace the love which we are to have in our hearts toward all.

So we fast in order to refocus, to recalibrate. When I visit the classrooms, I ask the students for examples of things or activities which are often obstacles to knowing, loving, and serving Jesus. And the kids are very honest. Video games, cell phones, television, internet. These modern technologies can become so addicting, people think they can’t live without them. They can occupy so much of our time that we have less and less time for what matters most in life: family, prayer, service.

It is also good to fast from certain types of food during Lent: the candy, junk food, sweets, desserts—foods which we often eat mindlessly, which do not nourish like a good meal. Immoderate snacking is a vice contrary to the temperance and self-control of the mature Christian life.

Remember too, Jesus taught that there are some demons which are only cast out by prayer and fasting. There are certain demons in our private lives, family lives, civic lives, demons which God wishes to cast out of our lives through fasting, as Jesus taught. Fasting is a powerful remedy for sin prescribed by Jesus and countless saints.

Through our Lenten fasting, may evil be cast out, may virtue be strengthened, and may Christ come to reign ever more truly in our lives and hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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May our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving bring profound renewal for the Church and serve as remedies for the evils of the world.

For Pope Francis’ intentions for the month of March: that persecuted Christians may be supported by the prayers and material help of the whole Church.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those effected by severe weather, for the safety of all travelers. We pray to the Lord.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Thursday after Ash Wednesday 2017 - Choose Life

Choices. We have some choices to make this Lent. What will our Lenten penance look like? What will we fast from? What will we give up? How will my daily prayer look different in Lent then the rest of the year?

Our scripture readings, this second day of Lent, are all about choice. Choice to walk in the ways of God can bring us life, choice to walk in the ways of the world can take life from us.

In the reading from Deuteronomy, Moses stands on the threshold of the promised Land, and urges the Israelites to choose life, for their sake and the sake of their descendants. What does life consist of? Loving the Lord, walking in his ways, heading his commandments. Will you choose life or will you choose death?

The Psalm, too, this morning speaks of a choice: will you follow the counsel of the wicked or the law of the Lord? For those who delight in God’s law will be like a tree planted beside running water which will always bear fruit.

Jesus too starkly presents a choice, a choice we must make every day this Lent: will you take up the cross or not? It seems to the world that the cross means death, but paradoxically, Jesus teaches, the cross is the means to life.  Loving the Lord, walking in his ways, headings his commandments means taking up the cross.

To the world, love means fuzzy feelings, romantic walks on beaches. Jesus teaches a deeper love, a greater love, love of God means the willingness to make sacrifices for God, to suffer for God.
We choose life, we choose love this Lent by engaging in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We engage in these practices not just because we are gluttons for punishment, but out of love; love was the reason Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, love was the reason Jesus endured the sufferings of his passion.

It is possible to gain the whole world, but lose one’s soul; so we willing detach ourselves from the things of the world, in order to find our souls, to find God, and to deepen our love for Him.

The cross is the path of life, it is the Royal Road to the Kingdom of God and we are invited at the beginning of Lent to share the cross more deeply that the Lord may bring us to new life.

Life or death, blessing or curse, faith or fear, God or the world.  Choose wisely. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That through the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the Church may experience profound renewal.

For Pope Francis’ intentions for the month of March: that persecuted Christians may be supported by the prayers and material help of the whole Church.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.

For all those tempted to commit the sin of abortion, that they may choose life.

That all people may know the closeness of God and the help of God’s grace as they bear the sufferings and heavy crosses of their lives.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Homily: Ash Wednesday 2017 - Why Ashes?



Today we begin the penitential season in the life of the Church known as Lent.  We bless ashes, have them imposed on our foreheads, and hear the words “remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

Why Ashes? What do Ashes have to do with the Christian life? And why begin this Holy Season with this strange ritual?

For one, Ashes remind us of our humble beginnings. The first man, Adam, was fashioned by God from the dust—the dirt—of the ground. So, Ashes remind us not only that we were made by God, by why we were made by God: to know, love, and serve God. God made us to be faithful, to be full of life, to be full of love. So Ashes help us to reconnect to our beginnings and also our sacred purpose on this earth.

Ashes also remind us of that sad events which soon followed the creation of Adam and Eve—how Adam and Eve used their God given free will to act against their purpose. They were meant to be full of faith, full of life, full of love, but by eating the forbidden fruit, they poisoned their souls and the souls of all of their progeny. Disobeying God, they sought happiness not in God’s will, but in the empty promises of the devil. Because of original sin “to dust do we return”.

So Ashes remind us that we were made by God, but also how the poison of sin brings death. Sin always is a falling short of the people God made us to be.

So as a sign of humility and a sign of repentance, at the beginning of this Holy Season, we mark ourselves with ashes as sinners in need of a savior, sinners in need of mercy.

As the ashes are blessed today, listen very closely to the prayer of blessing. The prayer will recall how God does not desire the death of sinners, but their conversion, and how this act of imposing ashes on our foreheads is sign of our desire for the pardon of our sins and newness of life through Christ.

As you come forward for this beautiful and ancient sacramental, ask God to bring you to repentance for all of your sins, ask God to help you seek conversion, and to help you this Lent to remain steadfast in your Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, that you may be filled with the new life of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.