1st Week of Lent 2025 - Monday - Almsgiving and our Eternal Judgment

 

At the election of a new Pope, the Cardinals of the Church gather in the Sistine Chapel whose walls and ceilings are adorned with some of the most beautiful frescos in the world—painted by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo in the late 1530s.  After serious prayer, the Cardinals walk towards the altar to cast their vote for the new Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church of God. Above that altar is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity, the scene we just heard in the Gospel, “The Last Judgment”.

The Cardinals are reminded by that great biblical scene that their vote must not be motivated by selfishness or ambition, for they will face Christ as Judge on that final day, and will have to answer for the choices they made.

Holy Mother Church presents us with this scene on this Monday of the first full week of Lent, as we just read the Lord’s own teaching on our judgment. And he does not simply announce the fact that we will be judged by God, he is clear about the criteria: when I was hungry you fed me, when I was naked you clothed me.

Lent is a time for examining our conduct, our lifestyle, and our motivations. And the criteria for that examination must include the criteria set by the Lord himself. How do you treat people? How do you treat the poor?

We prayed in our collect prayer this morning, “convert us, O God our savior.” A vital dimension of the conversion the Lord wants for us is for each of us to seek to serve God more faithfully by serving those in need.

We are to seek conversion from avarice and greed that clings to possessions and wealth in order to share our goods more freely. Sometimes we hesitate to give because we worry we won’t have enough for ourselves, but we are to seek conversion from this form of anxiety and fear. We are certainly to seek conversion from any indifference which blinds us to the real needs and sufferings of others. We are to seek conversion from our pride which views ourselves as more deserving of material goods than others.

And with the Gospel in mind, we are to seek conversion from those attitudes and vices because they are detrimental to our immortal souls. Unwillingness to give alms, to participate in the works of mercy speaks volumes about the state of one’s soul.

So may we cultivate the generosity and concern for the poor praised by Christ Our Lord and Judge for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Confident in God’s desire to dispense mercy, let us offer our prayers and petitions for the Church and for the world.

 

That all Christians may dedicate themselves this Lent to deeper prayer and practical works of mercy, so that our witness may bring hope and compassion to those who suffer.

For Genuine Conversion of Heart for all people: That we may turn from the vices of greed, indifference, and pride, and instead cultivate generosity, trust in God’s providence, and heartfelt concern for our brothers and sisters in need.

For the Poor and Vulnerable That those who are hungry, homeless, or struggling in any way may find compassionate assistance among the faithful, and that they may experience the love of Christ through our concrete acts of mercy.

That all who have died, trusting in God’s mercy, may come to behold the face of Christ the Eternal Judge and receive the reward of eternal life, especially N…

Merciful God, You call us to ongoing conversion and to recognize Christ in the poor and needy. Hear our prayers, and grant that, guided by Your Spirit, we may grow in compassion and generosity, so that on the day of judgment, we may be found among those who have loved and served Him in our brothers and sisters.

August 6 2023 - Transfiguration - Jesus Christ is God and King

This week I watched a brilliant little film with a priest friend of mine. Neither of us had heard of it before, and so we gave it a chance, and it was pretty good. It was called “The Coldest Game”. The movie takes place during the Cold War between America and Communist Russia on the very eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. The main character, this American math professor and former international grand master chess champion is tapped by the US government to represent the united states in a chess match against the soviet world champion. 

As the movie progresses, the math professor realizes that there’s more going on than a game of chess. He discovers that the government agents who brought him to the tournament are using this trying to gain intelligence from a Russian spy regarding the soviet’s intentions with their ballistic missiles equipped submarines off the coast of Cuba.

I wasn’t around in 1962, but historians tell us that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war—which would have basically meant annihilation for the human race.

And, this math professor realizes what is at stake. H was around when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during world war ii—and the great threat nuclear war poses for our planet.

For many who grew up in the 1950s and 60s and throughout the Cold War, the threat of Nuclear Conflict was constantly looming. The basement for this church was a bomb shelter, we still even have the bomb shelter sign on the church exterior. The anxiety over nuclear annihilation was felt by many. 

The Church over the past 60 years has worked to diminish the possibility of nuclear war through her teachings and in her diplomatic activity. And thanks be to God there were treaties signed between the US and Russia to limit the possibility of nuclear war, like the one limiting intermediate-range ballistic missiles like those at play during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sadly, due to Russia’s supposed lack of compliance with the that treaty, the USA has pulled out as well. Several other nations have access to nuclear weapons.

Why do I bring any of this up on the feast of the Transfiguration? Because amidst all of the anxiety inducing chaos and corruption and war and the threats of war right now, what is revealed in the Transfiguration is that Jesus Christ is God, and God is in charge. And that if the world wants peace, it needs Jesus Christ, to acknowledge that He is the beloved Son of the Father, and that we must listen to Him. The Feast of the Transfiguration is like a combination of Trinity Sunday and Christ the King. Because the Transfiguration celebrates that Jesus Christ is God and King.

In the book of the prophet Daniel we read of how God, the Ancient One, sits on his throne, “His clothing bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; his throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.” And how does Matthew describe the Lord Jesus’ transfiguration? Jesus takes his disciples up the mountain, like the mountain upon which God sits as King enthroned in his Holy Temple, “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” Jesus Christ is God. The great prophets Moses and Elijah attend to Him as servants around his throne. 

And this Truth is so vital for us to remember. Which is why St. Peter in his epistle writes how the Church must draw great strength from the Transfiguration. “You will do well to be attentive to it,” he writes, “as to a lamp shining in a dark place.”

Why? St. Peter knows, God knows, how our earthly journeys involve a lot of darkness. Sometimes, it seems like our earthly journey is nothing but darkness. There are periods of history which are darker than others—dark because the light of faith is obscured and eclipsed by the world. And we need the light of faith—faith that Jesus Christ is God and we must listen to Him.

There are dark and filthy philosophies at work in our society which are succeeding in corrupting minds and hearts—hardening hearts against God and the Truth of the Christian Gospel. Darkness pervades this neighborhood and this city: real moral decay caused by faithlessness, so many turning to drugs instead of turning to God. Jesus Christ is not enthroned in the hearts of many people in this neighborhood. He has been dethroned in the hearts of many people who were baptized in this very church. 

And perhaps that dethronement occurred as a result of scandal, or mediocre catechesis, or the corrupting influences in modern society, but part of our enduring parish mission is to assist souls in making Jesus Christ King of their hearts again or for the first time. 

And that mission is facilitated by the light of faith shining more brightly in each of our lives. Each one of you are sharers in the mission of this parish. It’s no accident you are here. Because you are chosen by God for a share of the mission of shining the light of faith in this very dark time in history. 

And so I’m asking you to consider, what would it look like if you allowed the light of faith to shine a little more brightly. What would it take for the light to shine more brightly in your life? 

I have a couple of recommendations. 1) If you are able, come to mass on a weekday or two. When we are gathered together in prayer, our individual lights become a bonfire. 2) Come to Eucharistic Adoration at least once a month on Saturdays or on First Friday evenings. 3) Increase the number of times per year you are going to the Sacrament of Confession—it will dissipate the smoke of Satan in your life. 4) Friday is a day in which all Catholics are bound to do some act of Penance. Get serious about that. Abstain from meat on Fridays if you are able. 5) Say grace before every meal, in private or public. 6) Meditate on Scripture every day. A day should not go by without meditating on the Truths of God contained in God’s Word. 7) Put a crucifix in your house so it can be seen by anyone who visits. 8)  Begin and end every day with prayer: a prayer in the morning asking God to guide your day, to fill your day with His light, and then pray the hail mary; and then a prayer at the end of the day, before laying down to bed, in which you make a brief examination of your conscience and repent of your sins and thank God for the blessings. And then pray the hail mary, or the hail holy queen. 

If it feels like the darkness is encroaching in your life, increase the light by strengthening your faith. Pope Francis writes, “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey.”

In the beautiful and faith-filled words of Pope Benedict: “in spite of all darkness God ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Week of Easter 2023 - Friday - Let not your hearts be troubled

 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus gave these words to us on the night before he died for us. He uttered these words knowing what would happen in the following few hours on Good Friday: his disciples would see him arrested, mocked, tortured, crucified, killed and buried.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled” as you witness these things. 

So often our hearts are filled with all types of troubles and concerns. Anxieties about the future of our nation, about the future of our parish, or the Church. Uncertainties about future employment and financial stability. Concerns regarding our physical health. Apprehensions perhaps about a certain vocational path God is slowly revealing before us. Jesus knows that we are susceptible to this emotional and spiritual state.

This is not the only time Jesus speaks about our troubled hearts. On the road to Emmaus, the Lord asks the disciples why they were troubled and why they had allowed doubts to arise in their hearts. The Lord also diagnoses Martha’s anxious heart: Martha, Martha, you are anxious about many things, but only one things is necessary. 

Interestingly, in the Greek, the word for “troubled” is the same word St. John uses to describe the pool of Bethesda. It is also the word St. Luke uses in Acts to describe the Jews who were stirring up the crowds into antagonism toward St. Paul’s preaching in Thessolonica. 

Our hearts can become so stirred-up that we become irrational, overwhelmed, unable to discern the truth because of our agitation. And Jesus says, stop it. Stop working yourself into a tizzy whenever you experience hardships. Stop allowing your worldly cares to keep you from focusing on matters of faith. Stop allowing worldly people to stir you up into such a frenzy you lose sight over what matters. I think of the flurry of voices on the internet, speaking of matters of politics and the church, that stir people into a real unhealthy anxiety. 

So, the Lord diagnoses the sickness, but then provides the remedy. 

“Have faith in me” the Lord commands. Faith which is oriented toward eternity helps us see all of our earthly issues in perspective. 

Don’t let your hearts be troubled on Good Friday, for Easter Sunday will come. Don’t let your hearts be troubled when you are persecuted, for Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, for their reward will be great in heaven. Don’t let your hearts be troubled by the fact you will be mocked and misunderstood, when the powers of hell seem poised against you, don’t be afraid, I’m with you.

Faith enabled Paul and Barnabas in our first reading, to embrace the hardship of evangelization: the anxiety of unknown places & unknown peoples, physical dangers, mental exhaustion—all of it is worth it, because when our earthly labors and earthly sufferings are done for God, we will reap eternal reward.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. These words of the Lord Jesus are not a suggestion, but a command—for his disciples and for all of us.  We are to view all of our earthly sufferings through the eyes of faith, that this world is but a preparation for the next. We are to have untroubled hearts when we face our own serious illnesses, when we see loved ones pass away, when earthly minded-leaders persecute us, when enemies of the Gospel conspire against us, when we are called upon to spread the Gospel to unknown people in unknown lands for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For Pope Francis and Bishop Malesic, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd and for an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood, and that our priests may serve the Church with the love and devotion of the Good Shepherd.

For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ and his tender love for sinners and for the poor.

For members of Christ’s flock who have wandered far from the Church: for the desire and will to return to the Sacraments; for deliverance from all spiritual evils and an increase in virtue for the faithful. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

5th Week of Easter 2022 - Tuesday - Facing fears for the kingdom

In second Corinthians, Paul says: “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked”. The events in the acts of the apostles reading today, being stoned—almost to death-- while preaching in Lystra, is probably the stoning he was referring to. 

How easily we give up when we face resistance. We give up on a prayer commitment because we find ourselves more tired than we expected. We give in to temptation because it's just easier to give in than to fight it. Sometimes we don't get involved in a church endeavor because of the sacrifice it entails.

But, slander, rejection, physical assault, the threat of death did not stop the apostles. After being stoned almost to death, you might expect Paul to relax his mission. But Paul gets up, brushes himself off, and goes to preach in the next town. 

And then, amazingly, heroically, after preaching in Derbe, Paul returned to Lyrstra, probably still bruised and aching from the stoning—maybe with a broken rib, a split lip, not to mention the memory of the anger and hatred spewed at him. 

We avoid talking about our faith because it might create an awkward silence, Paul faced death over and over again for the Gospel.  

“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” Some of us won’t bear a single hardship, let alone many. Lord have mercy on us.

Sorry Lord, too much work. I gotta watch my summer baseball. Lies, we tell ourselves to avoid hardships. But our lives our sadder for those lies, less joyful, because they keep us from the meaningful work God desires for us. 

What are the hardships I avoid? What are the lies I tell myself to avoid those hardships? What are the secret fears that I have failed to bring to the Lord which leads me to justify those lies?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid,” the Lord says in the Gospel. Why is the Lord so concerned about our anxiety and fear? Because they keep us from life, they keep us from carrying our crosses and facing those hardships for the work God wants for us, and thus deprive us of the sanctity and joy God has in store for us. 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid,” means doing our part to face those fears, to overcome those anxieties, and allowing grace to do the rest.

We place our hands confidently in the hands of the Lord today, trusting him to help us face our fears, to shed light upon our self-deceits, to give us courage and fortitude for the work of the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

27th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Tuesday - The problem with anxious worrying

 

October began with the feast of the Little Flower, St. Therese. St. Therese teaches us that power of doing little things with great love—doing the ordinary, day-to-day chores and responsibility mindful of God’s presence with us, embracing the little inconveniences with greater and greater patience.

In the little, ordinary events of the day, there are opportunities to grow in grace and focus on God, but that means there is also the temptation to turn away from him. If you can become a saint through these small events, why aren’t we all saints?

So often, it is our anxious thoughts and our impatience which keep us from knowing the peace of God.  Proverbs says, “Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down”, it causes us to sink from grace to bitterness. Anxious worry about what other people are doing, minding other people’s business instead of focusing on your own can cause us to miss out on grace.

Like Martha in the Gospel today, who misses the whole point of Jesus’ visit, we miss out on opportunities to grow in grace because we are consumed with anxious busyness. You can imagine Martha cursing Mary the whole time she was doing her chores, “why is she just sitting there, doesn’t she know how much work there is to do?”

Ruminating in self-pity, “why am I the one stuck doing this?” certainly doesn’t bespeak of the prayerfulness that is to accompany our work. Perhaps, Martha’s complaining was even a sign that what she really wanted was to control her sister, and was using housework as an opportunity to manipulate or dominate. Nagging, after all, can be a form of subtle domination. Or, what kind of old resentments was Martha carrying around with her, that she could not imagine that her sister Mary could be doing something good?

Martha’s grumbling sure doesn’t lead us to believe that she was doing these small things with great love. Rather, we do well to begin our work prayerfully offering it to God, seeking to glorify God even by the way we do our work—with peace, humility, perhaps even cheerfulness.

The Lord responds to Martha: “you are anxious and worried about many things.” Psalm 139 says that God searches us and knows our hearts, he tests us and knows our anxious thoughts. And Jesus shows himself to be keenly aware that Martha was not doing her work with peace in her heart. Jesus in this Gospel isn’t condemning housework, but he is certainly teaching that we must let go of our anxieties, worrying what everybody else is doing all the time, if it keeps us from being at peace.

May we relinquish our anxious attitudes or domineering behaviors, and focus in our work and throughout the day on the Lord's Holy Will for our lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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That hearing the call to repentance preached by the Church, all men may turn away from their sins to the mercy of Christ.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

6th Sunday of Easter 2019 - Anxiety and the Gift of Peace

Scripture speaks often of God’s desire to give his people “peace”. Psalm 85 says that God promises peace to his people. Psalm 29 says, “The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.” Paul tells the Galatians that the fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, goodness, faithfulness, and peace” Isaiah prophecies that the Messiah will be called “Wonder-Counselor and Prince of Peace”

The Peace which the Lord exhibited in his earthly ministry must have been profoundly attractive to his people. You can tell when people are filled with the peace of God. The holiest people I’ve met have been the most peaceful—peace surrounds them like cloak. I think the opposite is also true; most of us have met people that seem surrounded by a cloud of distress, bitterness, unhappiness; drama and chaos and division follow them everywhere. Perhaps, you’ve met someone who has allowed grief to turn into anger at the world or anger at God and that anger just exudes from them. Christians, rather, should be known by their peace. We are called to be peacebearers and peacemakers.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” What powerful words, especially when we know, all too well, how anxiety, fear, anger, worry can have such a negative effect upon our lives.

We worry or are angry about the economy, about our jobs, our families, our kids and spouses, our Church and our parish, our government, our country, the environment. Anxities and resentments can have serious repercussions on our physical and mental health, resulting in headaches, irritability, muscular aches and pains, gastrointestinal issues, depression, difficulty in concentrating, both extreme fatigue and sleeplessness, just to name a few symptoms.

And many people turn to compulsive behaviors to cope with their anxiety: overindulgence in alcohol, drugs, promiscuity or pornography, excessive eating and shopping. Anything to give some semblance of control.

Anxiety and restlessness can be a sign that things are out of balance. God designed the human person in such a way that we experience anxiety, some restlessness, when our lives are out of balance. Anxiety can be a sign that we need to make some changes to our Diet, exercise, and sleep schedule, that we need to spending more quality time with family and friends. Serious compulsions and serious anxiety is likely a sign that we need to speak with a counselor.

Yes, anxiety and restlessness can be signs that something is out of balance and needs to be changed about our physical and mental habits. They can also be a sign that something needs to be changed or improved about our spiritual habits. As St. Augustine said so rightly, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” If we aren’t experiencing the peace we think we should, in our spiritual life, we do well to examine what might need to change.

The peace that God wants for us might come from personal changes, it will likely come through other people, working on relationships, and peace will certainly through prayer and the sacraments. One well-known Catholic psychologist said that 5 minutes in the confessional is worth a month of therapy. The honesty of admitting one’s failures in the confessional and acknowledging that God is the source of peace and strength for the future, has a powerful therapeutic effect, not to mention the spiritual cleansing we receive through sacramental absolution.

Boredom, too, is likely a sign that spiritual changes need to be made. I often tell the kids over in the school that boredom is either a sign that they need to get up and do something physical, or it’s a sign that they need to spend more time in prayer. Likely, it’s a sign of both.

Boredom, anxiety, anger, fear, worry, these are signs that we need to go to a quiet place and open ourselves to the gift of peace that Jesus promises in our gospel today. Now some people confuse prayer and worry. Prayer is not simply over-ideating on your problems. Going over and over your worries in your head is not prayer. Rather, prayer requires entrusting our worries to God, asking God to help us identify what we can do about them, and letting him take care of the rest. As they say in AA, let go and let God. Peace comes through faith: yes, it comes from doing what we can, praying hard, working hard, but finally, we need to entrust our needs to God.

St. Padre Pio, the great Italian stigmatist from the last century, is said to have received many letters from around the world. Thousands of letters every day. And these letters, as you guessed it, were filled with people’s problems, needs, and worries. And, it’s said that he would often write back the same thing in every response. He’d write, “work hard, do your best, pray hard, and don’t worry.” Work hard, do your best, pray hard, and don’t worry.

In thinking about worry and anxiety, I can’t help but think, as well, of our mothers who we celebrated two weeks ago on Mother’s day. Not as the cause of our anxieties…mostly…but as the remedy. Who here hasn’t brought a worry or anxiety to your mother? Mothers sort of absorb the worries and anxieties of her children. We no doubt have many mothers here who have taken their own children’s worries and anxieties and needs upon themselves, who have brought their children’s anxieties, in their hearts, to the altar today. And something happens in the mother’s heart, doesn’t it, problems are transformed, sometimes wisdom is discovered, peace is given.

On this final Sunday of the Month of May, I invite all of you to deepen and strengthen your relationship to our Mother in Heaven, Our Lady. She is called Our Lady of Sorrows, because she takes our sorrows and the sorrows of the world to God for us. She is Our Lady Perpetual Help because she is always there, always concerned for each one of us. She is Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, because we can always find peace and protection in her care. As Mediatrix of Grace she is the channel through which God’s peace is offered to us.

So, bring your needs, your worries and woes, your stresses to Mother Mary every day. In the moment of fear, in the moment of anger, in the moment of temptation, call upon Mother Mary. She will always help us find and know the gift of peace, given to us by Her Son, Our Lord. No Doubt, Mary’s presence brought peace to Jesus Himself throughout his own sufferings. We know Mary comforted Jesus on the way of the cross, we know she stood by him as he suffered crucifixion and died. Jesus gave Mary to us as our own Mother, and we do well, to allow her to do a mother’s job in our own life, to be that powerful source of peace in our needs and troubles.

Please know that as I embark on pilgrimage this week, I bring all of your needs, worries, anxieties, and petitions with me, and pray that the Lord may continue to bless us with his gift of peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

13th Sunday of OT 2018 - Healing and Hopeless Causes

I’ve discovered that one of the beautiful traditions here at Holy Family Parish is that every Tuesday morning after the weekday mass is a special set of prayers, a perpetual Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. If you aren’t familiar with it, I invite you to visit the icon after mass today, say a prayer before this beautiful image of our Lady, tightly holding the Christ Child. Join your fellow parishioners in invoking her help for our parish, our families, our broken world. We face so many difficulties, and it is so good, to turn to Our Lady, who is united to Her Son, in bringing healing and peace to the world.

It is said that among the saints whose heavenly help and intercession is sought by the faithful, second only to Our Lady, is the apostle St. Jude.  Even many non-Catholics venerate St. Jude as the patron saint of Hopeless Causes. The patron of hopeless causes is so popular because so many of our difficulties seem hopeless: the terminal illness, the seemingly endless cycle of addiction, the corruption of government leaders, the plights of the poor—they seem hopeless.
Our readings this weekend speak to the experience of hopelessness.

Jairus, the synagogue official goes to Jesus for his very sick little twelve-year-old daughter. Is there any hopelessness like a parent who knows their child is dying? Jairus who feels he has nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to, turns to this itinerant preacher, this wandering miracle worker from Nazareth. Without saying word, at least St. Mark doesn’t record any spoken reply, Jesus begins to travel to the home of Jairus, to the bed of his dying daughter.

Jairus’ own servants emphasize the hopelessness of the situation. They meet Jesus en route, and say, “it’s no use, it’s hopeless, you are wasting your time, the little girl is dead.” And here we see the difference between Jesus Our Lord and so many of the charlatans of his day and our own. At the prospect of death, the charlatans, the fakers would find an excuse to turn away, for nothing exposes man’s limitations like death.

But Jesus brings to this hopeless situation, not the limitations of man’s science, but the grace of God. To God, death is as easy to be conquered as waking up a child from a nap. So, to this hopeless case, a dead little girl and her desperate Dad:, Jesus brings light and life.

St. Mark reports this weekend not just one hopeless case, but two. While on the way to the house of Jairus, a suffering, desperate woman, inflicted with terrible, mysterious hemorrhages, approaches Jesus. She had visited doctor after doctor, tried medicine after medicine, her savings were depleted, a truly hopeless case.  And then she hears of Jesus, who brings healing to the hopeless cases. She presses close as he is passing by, just hoping to touch his garment; and when she does, she is healed. 
It doesn’t take a great skeptic to say “well,  these stories from Jesus’ earthly ministry are fine and good, but what about my hopeless case: what about my sick child, my unemployment, the addict in my family, my broken marriage, the fallen-away Catholic, my unanswered prayers?”
So what is the Christian to do in our very own hopeless cases?

Like Jairus and the woman, we are to draw close to Jesus, in the sacraments and in prayer and ask for help. Jesus wants us to bring our needs to him.  He may not answer them in the way we want.  But God is not bothered by our prayers.  There are prayers he wishes to answer through our persistence in asking for them.

Now some of us confuse prayer with anxious worrying. Just because we are thinking about our hopeless cause, or worrying about our hopeless cause, doesn’t mean we are praying about our hopeless cause. Worry and fretting are bad, often sinful. Worry wastes time, prayer is powerful and productive.

So what do we mean by prayer? The 6th century bishop and doctor of the Church, St. John Damascene, said, “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” Prayer shifts the focus from the object of worry to God the giver of peace. St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Prayer is a request, not a demand. Prayer certainly does not mean telling God what to do. Jairus uses the word “please”, please help me, please help my daughter, if it pleases you, if it’s your will, if it will bring about the greatest good for my soul. Prayer does not seek to make God an instrument of our wills, but to change our wills to become instruments of his.

I think this is one reason why people don’t pray. Prayer requires surrendering control. We get our lives just like they like them, and to introduce God into the equation is to introduce an element we can’t control. Prayer requires giving up control, and such surrender is unacceptable to the willful heart.

We want healing, we want eternal life without having to change much, we want the healthy marriage and peaceful nation without having to expend too much energy, we want healing for ourselves without having to suffer for others.

You’ve probably heard it said that prayer is less about changing God than changing us. And many don’t turn to God because they know God calls them conversion. But it’s precisely through the converted heart, the surrendered heart, the obedient heart, it’s through you and me becoming saints, that God wants to bring healing into the world, into the hopeless causes.

So what is the Christian to do in the face of hopeless cases? We seek to become saints. We go to Jesus, we go to the Blessed Mother and the saints in heaven, with a truly open heart, a heart willing to be changed, to suffer for others, a heart willing to give up its vices and selfishness, a heart willing to say, “I was wrong”, “I’ve not trusted God enough”, “I’ve spent so much time on selfish pursuits rather than on your holy will, help me.”

May the Lord bring miraculous healing and peace to our hopeless cases, through our cooperation with his Holy Will, through our humble prayer and repentance and service. May he continue to shape us and form us to bring faith to the faithless, hope to the hopeless, love to the loveless, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Tuesday - 27th Week of OT 2017 - Anxiety keeps us from encountering Christ

October began with the feast of the Little Flower, St. Therese. St. Therese teaches us that power of doing little things with great love—doing the ordinary, day-to-day chores and responsibility mindful of God’s presence with us, embracing the little inconveniences with greater and greater patience.
In the little, ordinary events of the day, there are opportunities to grow in grace and focus on God, but that means there is also the temptation to turn away from him. If you can become a saint through these small events, why aren’t we all saints?

So often, it is our anxious thoughts and our impatience which keep us from knowing the peace of God. Like Martha in the Gospel today, who misses the whole point of Jesus’ visit, we miss out on opportunities to grow in grace because we are consumed with the spirit of busyness, worldliness. You just know that Martha was cursing Mary the whole time she was doing her chores, “why is she just sitting there, doesn’t she know how much work there is to do?”

Psalm 139 says that God searches us and knows our hearts, he tests us and knows our anxious thoughts. And Jesus shows himself to be keenly aware that Martha was not doing her work with peace in her heart. Jesus in this Gospel isn’t condemning housework, but he is certainly teaching that we must let go of our anxieties, worrying what everybody else is doing all the time, if it keeps us from being at peace.

Proverbs says, “Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down”, it causes us to sink from grace to bitterness.

Yesterday, we heard how Jonah was anxious and worried about how he would be treated by the Ninevites, to whom God was calling him to preach repentance. His anxiety and fear had disastrous results, storms, shipwreck, lives were put in danger because he anxiously resisted God’s will.

But today, we get the second part of the story: Jonah surrenders to the plan of God in his life, he preaches repentance, and he witnesses one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament: a city of about 120,000 people all come to repent—the nobility, the peasantry, show signs of their repentance by fasting, covering themselves with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

Amazing things happen when we relinquish our fears and anxieties and trust in God. Jonah was no doubt able to rejoice with the words of Psalm 94: “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”

May we relinquish our misguided thoughts and anxious attitudes, and surrender and trust in the Lord’s Holy Will for our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That hearing the call to repentance preached by the Church, all men may turn away from their sins to the mercy of Christ.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Tuesday - 5th Week of Easter 2017 - Freedom from the captivity of comfortable lies

Scripture speaks often of God’s desire to give his people “peace”. Psalm 85 says that God promises peace to his people. Psalm 29 says, “The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.” Paul tells the Galatians that the fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, goodness, faithfulness, and peace” Isaiah prophecies that the Messiah will be called “Wonder-Counselor and Prince of Peace”

You can tell when people are filled with the peace of God. The holiest people I’ve met have been the most peaceful, peace surrounds them like cloak. I think the opposite is also true; most of us have met people that seem surrounded by a cloud of distress, bitterness, unhappiness; drama and chaos and division follow them everywhere. We speak of people having a chip on their shoulder, their lack of peace, having a physical reality. Perhaps, you’ve met someone who has allowed grief to turn into anger at the world or anger at God and that anger just exudes from them.

In the Gospel, Jesus offers peace to those who believe in him: peace the world cannot give, peace which banishes fear. This is not to say that when we believe in and follow Jesus, our fears and anxieties simply evaporate. Jesus leads us on a journey of peace.

Pope Benedict wrote that “Real peace can only be brought by release from the captivity of comfortable lies and the acceptance of suffering.  Repression is the most common cause of mental illness and healing can be found only in a descent into the suffering of truth.”

Jesus leads us on a journey of peace which involves acknowledging the truth of our suffering. So that person who has allowed grief to turn into anger, Jesus will lead to confront that grief and teach them to bear it with grace. The person with the resentment, Jesus will help them confront the resentment, to be honest about it, and to be released from it. He helps us face our comfortable lies, the lies we tell ourselves so that we don’t have to face our sufferings. He will help us, if we let him, to confront the truth of why we are so angry with certain family members, or neighbors, or politicians...and to know his peace.

I would add that many addictions come from burying pain under a pile of lies, and freedom from that addiction comes only when we allow Jesus to lead us through the lies, to the root of the pain.

For facing our sufferings is the only real road to healing which is the only real road to peace. It is a peace which is beyond all understanding, at least the understanding of the world. The world tells us, if we’ve been hurt, we should be angry, we should get revenge, we should seek worldly justice, we should claim our victimhood. Jesus shows us, how people of faith can know peace even while nailed to a cross.

May the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace free us from the captivity of our comfortable lies and make us into instruments of his peace for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For lasting peace throughout the world: Christ, the Prince of Peace will put an end to all enmity and division, and unify the peoples of the world.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, and for the 8 men who will be ordained priests this Friday for our diocese.

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 all evil and all temptation: for those under the influence of drug abuse, addiction, insanity, occultism, atheism, sexual perversion, and any spiritual evils which degrade the human person.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness, and that the Lord may grant his gift of peace to those most in need of it.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Easter Monday 2017 - Fearlessly sharing the good news

“Do not be afraid!” Easier said than done! The women left the tomb, half overjoyed, half fearful. They had come face to face with the angel of the Lord and experienced a violent earthquake. Anyone in their right mind WOULD be afraid. The romans had crucified their Lord, the Jewish leaders couldn’t be trusted, capable of insidious plotting and conspiracy. The only way you wouldn’t be, if you were commanded by God…as they were, and as have we.

“Do not be afraid!” the Lord commands us. His Word strikes down our fears when we trust Him.
This Easter week is all about preaching, preaching the good news of the resurrection, spreading it among non-believers, those who have still not allowed the Gospel to take root in their hearts. We are not to allow fear to keep us from this mission, the divine mandate: to preach, to proclaim, to spread.
The two Mary’s in today’s Gospel are tasked with bringing the good news to the apostles, those who should have known better. Sadness, fear, depression had begun to grow in them, their lives seemed ruined, they were crushed—their leader, their master and teacher arrested and killed. Even after the Lord had told them repeatedly he would rise, they just couldn’t see past their sorrow.

So the two Mary’s are sent to them: to rekindle hope, to deliver the message of good news.

Likely, there are people in our own lives: neighbors and family who suffer from similar sadness, fear, depression, those who think they are trapped in a cycle of bad luck, or face illness or unemployment. Perhaps the Lord wants to send us on a mission: to go to them to say, “the Lord will give you strength because he is risen…when life gets me down I find it important to go to the blessed Sacrament chapel…or a particular passage of scripture…or I pray a rosary every day in order to bring my troubles to God…or I make sure I gather together with other Christian families to know that I’m not alone”

Christ is alive, he is risen, and we can receive his life, his peace, his strength, his wisdom, when we unite ourselves to him and trust him.

May we be free from fear and faithful in proclaiming the good news this day and all days for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with paschal joy, let us pray more earnestly to God that he, who graciously listened to the prayers and supplications of his beloved Son, may now be pleased to look upon us in our lowliness.
1. For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely, the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.
2. For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace given by Christ.
3. For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness which no one can take from them.
4. For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ Our Lord.