19th Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Friday - Marriage Matters

 A few years ago, in 2016, Pope Francis issued a document called Amoris Laetitia, latin for “The Joy of Love”. Love, authentic love, brings authentic joy, particularly in the life of Christian families.

Love, practiced and cherished and striven for within the family, is to be a sign to the world of God’s love. Children are to learn that they are loved and how to love within a family. Spouses practice self-sacrificial love within the family.

The Holy Father issued this document on the issues of marriage and family because marriage and family matter. Doing what it takes for a healthy marriage, having a God-centered family, raising children according to the law of Christ, these things matter for the future of civilization and the salvation of souls. The Pope said, “The welfare of the family is decisive for the future of the world and that of the Church.”

We are seeing in our own day how faithless, disordered relationships, rampant promiscuity and unrestricted sexual license bring so much brokenness, so much sadness. Deviating from the plan of God yields joylessness and woundedness. 

Any priest who has worked on marriage annulments can attest to how selfishness, stunted maturity, attachment to worldliness, unwillingness to forgive, poor communication, and secular notions of happiness, all effect marriage negatively.

This is why the Catholic Church takes what the Lord teaches in the Gospel this morning very seriously. Where many of the Christian denominations water down, change, or simply ignore this teaching, the Catholic Church sees this morning’s Gospel as pivotal for civilization’s survival and our faithfulness to the Gospel.

So part of the Church’s mission regarding marriage is to help form individuals in the maturity—in the virtues and self-knowledge—necessary for happy, healthy, holy marriage. This is why we are constantly praying for families to cherish and study and practice and live out the word of God. This is why we take Christian education so seriously, which forms not just the intellect, but the whole person. This is why we try to instill a habit of daily examination of conscience—the daily examination that is needed to really get serious about rooting out selfishness, which is so devastating to family life.

Our culture tells us to abandon the institution of marriage, but the Church says, no. Marriage matters. Marriage is in fact vital for the future of humanity. And faithfulness to God's plan regarding marriage is possible. Because God is real and gives us grace. Pope Francis concludes Amoris Laetitia with encouragement and words of hope. He writes, “May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us.” Each of us are certainly called to a life full of love. May each of us strive for that Christ-like love and self-sacrifice which brings joy and life to the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may seek to be faithful to the Lord’s teachings and commandments concerning marriage and the family, that Christian families may be filled with love and joy.

For all married couples, that they may be faithful to the Gospel in every dimension of their married life and give all an example of God’s ever-faithful love.  

That the children of our parish and school may be blessed to know the grace of faith-filled families, that they may be shielded from the sins and errors of our culture.

For Pope Francis and for all the bishops and clergy of the Church: that they will be faithful to the preaching the truth of the Gospel especially in the face of secular pressure and persecution.  

That the sick, lonely, elderly, homeless, widowed, and all those experiencing trials or suffering of any kind may be strengthened by God’s love and know His comfort and peace.  

For those who have died, for all deceased spouses; that they may know the eternal peace and joy of the kingdom of heaven.  

5th Sunday of Easter 2022 - What is Love?

Well, in the last five weeks we’ve had Easter Sunday, Divine mercy Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday, Mother’s Day Sunday, and today, our Gospel reading gives us the chance to perhaps name today, Love Sunday. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Earlier this afternoon, I was able to celebrate a wedding for a young bride and groom, Eddie and Anna. So, I’d like to reflect on Christian marriage, on this “Love Sunday”, drawing upon it lessons for all us us, whether you are married, single, widowed, a consecrated religious or a priest. 

Leading up to the wedding, I met with this young couple for about 10 months of marriage preparation. So for 10 months, off and on, we discussed many topics concerning healthy, holy, and happy marriage:  the need for open and honest communication, the need for patience, forgiveness, prayer, engagement in the life of the Church, being open to the children God desires to bring into their new family, and what it means that Marriage is one of the Sacraments of the Church instituted by Our Lord to confer grace.

But the reason for all the preparation, meeting with the priest, the pre-cana day, the prayer, all that effort, is because of our hope that the two of them will be able to share a life of happiness and holiness—a marriage filled with grace and love. 

That word, “love” is found all throughout the marriage liturgy. Will you love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live.

But, what is love? That was a question I pose to all of my couples in marriage preparation. What is love? The word is certainly used in a lot of different ways: I love cookie dough ice cream, I love violin music, I love my grandma, I love the Cleveland browns, which is kinda like saying I love suffering and tragedy.  

St. Paul writes about that word “love” in his first epistle to the Corinthians, and many couples choose this passage for their nuptial mass. Love. “Love is patient, love is kind, it bears all thing, endures all things, it is not rude, it is not pompous, it forgives all things.” Paul says. 

What is love? For Paul, and really throughout the Bible and Christian Theology, Love isn’t a just an emotion. Nor is love so mysterious that we can’t say anything about. St. Paul says plenty and so does our Lord.

For Paul, for Christians: Love is an action, it’s a choice, it’s pursuit that requires effort. Love is a choice to be patient when we feel the claws of impatience raking across our souls, love is choosing to be kind when selfishness rears its ugly face, love is enduring and persevering in doing what is right and just when we want to give up, love is being humble when we want to be pompous, love is forgiving when we want to brood over injury.  

In the Gospel, when the Lord Jesus says, “love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength” he’s not talking about making sure that we stir up some pious fleeting emotion toward God every once and a while, or for an hour on Saturday evening or Sunday. He’s saying that Christians need to put God at the center of our work, our decisions, how we treat people, our marriages, everything—every conversation, every interaction, our free time, everything.

It was love that led the Lord to the Cross-the choice to serve God for the greater good, out of the deepest, most profound care for good of our souls. The willingness to bear unfathomable suffering for our redemption. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for another. Talk about an action. The Lord shows us precisely what love looks like, when he lays down his life for his on the cross, to save us from hell. Love requires effort, selflessness, often sacrifice. 

And St. Paul goes so far to say that if you are going throughout life without this type of Christ-like love, then you are like a clashing cymbal, in other words, you are just going through life making a bunch of noise—our lives are sadder and emptier without love. 

And I hope that none of you here are just clashing cymbals—jumping from pursuit to pursuit, relationship to relationship without God’s love filling your soul. And if you are, I invite you to consider another way, a timeless way, the way of Christ, the way of true love.

This is the Love the world needs more of…not just fuzzy feelings, but Christians, doing what is best for each other and our neighbor. Setting good Christian example for one another, praying for one another, making sacrifices for one another and the mission of the Church. As the Lord says in the gospel today, this is how all will know that you are my disciple, that you love one another.

Love requires effort:  to pray when we have other things to do, to go to Sunday Mass when we’d rather sleep in, bringing your kids to church when it’s just easier for everyone to stay in their pajamas all day. It takes effort, right? to study the Bible when we could be sitting in front of the TV or playing the newest game on our smartphones, to strive to give up habitual sins when it’s just easier to justify our selfish actions, being honest in business when it’s easier and more profitable to cheat your client, it requires effort, love requires effort, looking past the faults of others to do what’s best for them, as I would do for myself. 

But this is why weddings are so joyful for the Church. It is so joyful for us to see Bride and Groom standing before God’s altar, in front of their family, and friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ, to say, this is the person I choose to lay down my life for, this is the person I hope will love me as Christ loved me.  This is the person I will sacrifice my life for like no other, who I will pray with and pray for like no other, who I will work with hand-in-hand to serve the needs of the poor and the needs of the Church like no other, who intend to work together to become instruments of God’s love in this dark, cruel, cold world. For as Pope Benedict would say, "love is the light, and in the end the only light that can illuminate a world grown dim."

This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Love is a choice. And the more effort we pour into love the more rewarded we will be in, in this life, and the life to come.  May pour our time, talent, and treasure into this choice, to love every minute of every day for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

10th Week of OT 2020 - Friday - Promoting Strong Christian Marriage and Authentic Holiness

Since Monday we’ve been reading from Jesus’ most famous sermon, his sermon on the mount.  In this sermon, Jesus teaches his followers how to live so that the life of God may take root in their hearts and grow in their lives. 

In these first verses of his Sermon, the Lord is constantly referencing the law of Moses. He speaks about the need to keep the commandments of Moses to the point where one’s faithfulness to them surpasses that of the scribes and the pharisees. He quotes the decalogue: “You have heard from your ancestors, Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not commit adultery”, but then calls his disciples deeper. Christians aren’t just to avoid adultery, they must avoid any thought, conversation, or behavior which might lead to adultery; they must avoid lustful gazes, per
verted fantasies, and must avoid the situations which might give rise to adulterous temptations.

And not only does the Lord wish us to avoid the physical act of adultery; he wants for us way of life and spirituality which craves chastity and purity.

This morning we hear the Lord’s prohibition of divorce. Again, he quotes the teaching of Moses, and explains how the allowance for divorce by Moses clearly falls short of what God wants for us. Again, he calls Christian disciples to something more. Don’t just avoid divorce, but the sort of behavior which  leads to divorce: the great acts of selfishness and sins against fidelity yes, but also the attitudes and behaviors which slowly undermine marriage—the impatience, the cutting remarks, the resentments, the selfish indulgences, the poor communication, the failure to reach out for help when things get rocky.

Christian couples must crave and strive for the attitudes and behaviors which promote healthy marriage, and the prayer life to support it...and we must help them, because the world sure isn't.

To quote our departed Bishop Richard Lennon: “when marriages are centered on God, they will be charged and changed by God’s presence. But when they are centered on false idols of money, pleasure, or the pursuit of the good life as our world understands it, they will reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.”

It is significant that the Lord speaks about Marriage so clearly in his Sermon on the Mount, for he knows marriages, solid Christian marriages which are filled with His Divine Life, will be fundamental for His Church. Our world certainly does not promote healthy marriages, so our Church and our parish, need to fight for strong, healthy, Christ-centered marriages which surpass the corrupt, empty values of the fallen world.

And may we all seek the life of virtue, prayer, and penance which enables us to be filled with the Divine Life God wants for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the preaching and teaching and charitable works of the Church will inspire all people to seek to radical holiness and obedience to the commands of God.

That those in public office may govern with wisdom, put an end to all political corruption, and work for a society of authentic justice and peace with special care for the most vulnerable.

For an end to oppression, racism, hatred, addiction and injustice. For the healing of all the sick.
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for a strengthening of marriages, for all single people who strive to follow Christ, and for the grace to utilize our spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church.

That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting; for our deceased family members, friends, and fellow parishioners, for all the poor souls in purgatory for Earl Kestler, for whom this Mass is offered.

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.

30th Week in OT 2018 - Tuesday - Wives be subordinate to your husbands

The passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians on wives and husbands is one of the options for the nuptial mass. Most priests preparing young couples for marriage ask their input on what readings they’d prefer at their wedding, and this reading is chosen…probably less than any of the others. That word “subordinate”---that wives are to be subordinate to their husbands—is tough to hear these days, for a lot of people, let alone young brides and their grooms.

And yet, we should be very careful before dismissing any passage of scripture as simply being a product of its time, for I assure you, that this passage contains timeless truth.

Paul says “wives be subordinate your husbands” and in the very next breath he emphasizes the converse “husbands love your wives”, in fact, he repeats this injunction several times, just to drive the point home, “husbands love your wives”.  This really sets the tone for marriage, as husbands sometimes need to be told simple truths multiple times…

When we think about the truly loving relationships in our lives, what characterizes them, is that they focus on putting the needs of others before ones own. Mothers and fathers make great sacrifices for their children; they so often put the needs of their children before their own. And the same principle is going to be important for a happy healthy marriage: put the needs of your spouse before your own. There is no place in marriage for selfishness.

That St. Paul says that husbands need to be the head of their families, is certainly true as well. Families need strong Christian men and fathers who are leaders of faith in their families. This doesn’t mean that their families exist to carry out their selfish whims. In the Church, all spiritual leadership is servant leadership. The Christian husband and father serves his family by being a strong leader in prayer and charity and teaching and blessing and protecting his family from sin and error and evil.

In fact, the attitude of servitude that is necessary for Christian husbands and fathers, St. paul says must that of Christ for the Church. Husbands, love your wives EVEN as Christ loved the Church, willing to die for her.

Strong Christian households with both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, both strong in the faith, are needed now more than ever if the Church is going to be that mustard seed that grows to encompass all the birds of the sky, if it will be that batch of leavened dough that will spiritually feed the whole world, to borrow a few metaphors from our Gospel.

May our families be strong in the faith, rightly subordinate to the Word of God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For newlyweds beginning married life together, that they may always have a true and generous love for each other; may they receive the rich blessing of children, and know the constant support of family and friends.

For all married couples, that they may be faithful to the Gospel in every dimension of their married life and give all an example of God’s ever-faithful love.

For all trouble marriages, that they may know the constant support of the Church, that they may be protected from discouragement and practice patience, mildness, reconciliation toward each other, and know the healing power of the love of Christ.

For all children who are impacted by the sad reality of divorce, that they may know the constant ever-faithful love of God.

That the sick, lonely, elderly, homeless, and all those experiencing trials or suffering of any kind may be strengthened by God’s love and know His comfort and peace.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who grieve the death of a spouse, and for all the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, the deceased members of our families and friends, for all 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.

May 25 2018 - Pope St. Gregory VII - Global war against marriage and family

The Collect for Pope Saint Gregory VII spoke of his fortitude and his zeal for justice. His fortitude was certainly manifest in the many problems he faced, as Vicar of Christ, at the end of the 11th century. In spite of much opposition, he worked for important Church reform: removing prelates and bishops who had obtained their offices by simony or bribery, suspending priests guilty of concubinage, fighting against the investiture of ecclesiastical benefices by temporal rulers.

For “causing such a stir”, as Pope Francis would say, Pope Gregory’s enemies arrested him during midnight Mass one Christmas eve, wounded him and had him imprisoned. He was rescued by the good people of Rome, who loved the Pope deeply for his holiness and concern for the Church. Later, The Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV forced Pope Gregory into exile and called for a new Papal election, where the anti-Pope Clement XIII was elected. The holy, courageous Pope Gregory died in exile, as the collect said, “rejecting evil, that the Church may be free to carry out in charity whatever is right.”

Though the lay investiture controversy has been resolved, the Church continues to face hostility from worldly powers for preaching the Gospel, particularly the truths contained in the Gospel today. Our Blessed Lord, in teaching about divorce, calls humanity back to God’s original plan for the family, as found in the first chapters of the book of Genesis.

Our Lord’s clear teaching is not popular in our culture today, but we continue to see the devastating effects the rejection of the biblical vision has on our society. Pope Francis has undertaken this topic repeatedly over the years, even speaking of gender theory and gender politics as a global war against the family.

He says “Today, there is a global war trying to destroy marriage… they don’t destroy it with weapons, but with ideas… we have to defend ourselves from ideological colonization.”

Pope Francis has received backlash for proclaiming the Gospel, as have many good priests and catechists at the local levels. Sadly, even many Catholics don’t see anything wrong with the legalization of same-sex marriage, or these gender ideologes which deny that humans come in two genders, male and female. We see Catholic politicians on the national and local levels acting as agents for error-ridden gender politics.

So, we pray for the fortitude of the Saints, like Pope Saint Gregory, to “reject” all of the evils and errors of our day: the moral confusion, the attitudes and ideologies that undermine the good of families and the health and holiness of Christian marriages.

Free from error, may we come to carry out in charity all that is right for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of May that the lay-faithful may fulfill their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today.

That Politicians and government officials may look to the law of Christ to guide their work for the good of nations and the human race, especially for the protection of the unborn.

For all married couples, that they may be faithful to the Gospel in every dimension of their married life , and for troubled marriages, that all spouses may practice patience and authentic charity toward each other and their children.

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

2nd Sunday of Easter 2018 - "Men do not die for things they doubt.”

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! For much of the world, Easter is over. For Catholics, we are just warming up. Easter is celebrated over the course of a whole season of 50 days: from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. We celebrated with particular solemnity over the first 8 days of the easter season, called the easter octave. So, if you attended weekday Mass this past week, we were singing the Gloria every day, and our scripture readings related some amazing events that took place after Jesus resurrected: His appearance to Mary Magdalene, Having breakfast with his apostles on the shore of the sea of Galilee, his appearance to his disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Why do we dwell upon the “Easter-event” for so long? For the same reason Jesus appeared over and over to his disciples before ascending to the Father: to strengthen their faith, their conviction, that he is truly risen. And it took a while for the apostles to really get it. Those first few appearances Jesus has to convince them that he’s not just a hallucination, he’s not a ghost. He’s really there in the flesh—resurrected flesh. He eats fish and bread with them on the seashore, he invites Thomas, as we heard in the Gospel today, to put his hand in Jesus’ side.

He does this so they would stop doubting and truly believe.

I know some of you have seen the new movie about the Apostle Paul out in theaters. It’s very good, I highly recommend it—a perfect way to spend a…snowy easter Sunday. It tells the story of the Apostle Paul in the last weeks of his life. He is imprisoned in Rome, awaiting his martyrdom. The emperor Nero has blamed the Christians for setting fire to the city, and so the small Christian community is facing persecution. Christians are forced into hiding, and those they capture are being put to death. They are covered in pitch and burned alive in the streets, they are arrested and sent to be torn apart by wild beasts in the Coliseum.

One of my favorite scenes, and this shouldn’t give too much away for those who haven’t seen it, is when this Roman prison guard is questioning Paul about his Christian faith. This Roman guard challenges Paul about the truth of the resurrection. Paul answers, “If Christ had not risen from the dead, then our preaching is useless, and so is our faith.” The Roman Guard responds, “So you have no doubts at all?” And with a steeled look, forged by the terrible suffering he has already endured for the Gospel, Paul answers, “Men do not die for things they doubt.” “Men do not die for things they doubt.”

St. Thomas in the Gospel today, for his moment of doubt, has for two thousand years been known as “Doubting Thomas.” But the Apostle Thomas is really a testament of the power of faith to transform doubt to apostolic zeal.

For, after this scene from the Gospel today, after he places his hands in the side of the Risen Lord Jesus, Thomas is transformed.

The scriptures record no further accounts of the apostle Thomas, but accounts from the early Church tell of Thomas’ apostolic and missionary activity in modern day Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, sadly, places where Christianity has been virtually eliminated in recent years. Finally, Thomas brought the faith to western and Southern India where he was martyred.

“Men do not die for things they doubt.” Through God’s divine mercy, the encounter with the risen Lord transformed Thomas’ doubt into a blazing faith.

Blazing faith, apostolic zeal, is not just “up here”, it’s not something we profess for an hour on Sunday and forget by the time we hit the church parking lot.

St. John reminds us that “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments.” The commandments of the moral law, and the commandments of the new law, like the one Jesus issued on Holy Thursday: love one another, as I love you, and the mandate Jesus issues before his Ascension: go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Yes, each of us is inspired to say along with Thomas, Jesus, “you are my Lord and my God”, but like Thomas we must leave the upper room, to spread the faith, and to live that faith in our day-to-day lives.

St. Thomas the Apostle is a perfect example of this. Thomas, as we’ve said, carried the good news thousands of miles, to the middle east, and eventually to India. A pagan Indian King, upon meeting the apostle, was so impressed with his conviction and holiness that the King made Thomas a trusted advisor and his royal architect.  This is why Thomas the Apostle is the patron saint of architects.
Anyway, the king put at Thomas’ disposal the great wealth of his treasury for planning and building a new royal palace.  But Thomas donated the entire sum to the poor, telling the King, that this way he builds a greater palace in heaven.  For this Thomas was forgiven when the king’s dead brother appeared to the king and testified to the reality and glory of the heavenly palace.

Thomas was martyred, however, when he converted the king’s many wives to Christ and they insisted that marriage is between one man and one woman.

 “Men do not die for things they doubt.” St Thomas and the apostles, and countless martyrs whose names we will only discover in heaven, found the courage and willingness to follow Jesus anywhere, to speak Christian truth in front of kings and judges. They model the faith for us, showing us how the encounter with the Risen Christ changes us, and emboldens us for courageously living the moral life, generously engaging in Christian service, and zealously laying down our lives for the spread of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our Easter celebrations, our to deepen our conviction that Christ the Lord is Risen, that this truth may permeate every dimension of our life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.