3rd Week of Easter 2026 - Friday - Eucharist and Supernatural Life

Last week, remember, we read through the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus in which Jesus speaks of supernatural and spiritual rebirth. Through baptism, we are born again through water and the spirit. What is spiritually dead in us is brought to new life, and not only that, but God’s supernatural grace raises—elevates—our human nature. The intellect is elevated by grace to know God not merely by natural reason, but by faith. The will is elevated enabling us to love God with charity, which is far beyond merely natural love or moral goodwill. 

Through baptismal grace we share in God’s own life and are now capable of acting in a way ordered to the ultimate supernatural end: union with the Trinity. Human nature, left to itself, cannot attain the beatific vision. No amount of natural intelligence, moral discipline, or sheer human effort can reach it. But through baptism, our earthly life can culminate in heavenly life.

But, in the Gospel today, Jesus explains that for the supernatural life to be sustained in us, we must eat supernatural food. “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you.” The Eucharist sustains the supernatural life begun at baptism. 

When the body is deprived of food it languishes and dies; and it is the same with the soul. The Eucharist does not merely symbolize supernatural life; it actually communicates it, because it is not ordinary bread but the living Christ himself. “I am the bread of life”, says the Lord. 

The Eucharist nurtures the deepening of supernatural life. Every time we receive the Eucharist, we are offered a greater share and participation in the life of God, for the Eucharist strengthens the theological virtues. It nourishes faith, because in Holy Communion we entrust ourselves to Christ’s word and presence even when hidden under sacramental signs. It nourishes hope, because the Eucharist is a pledge of future glory, a foretaste of heaven. It nourishes charity, because the life of God is one of love—self-sacrificial love, and in the Eucharist, we become what we receive, says St. Augustine—the very Christ who gave himself as a ransom for many.

Like medicine that strengthens the body weakened by illness, the Eucharist strengthens the soul against spiritual disease—enabling us to withstand the assaults, temptations, and lies of the enemy.

 St. Cyprian, writing in the early third century, says Christians imprisoned and tortured for the name of Christ received from the hand of the Bishop the sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, so they would not yield to a Roman prosecutor and deny their faith. Before going on trial, they pleaded, “Give me Communion, so I’ll be able to resist.” From the very beginning of the Church, this was the reason Holy Communion was brought to the Christians in prison, that they could be strengthened in their persecution and temptations.

Whenever you present yourself to receive the Eucharist, do so with openness to be strengthened in the Christian life, fortified against sin, desiring to grow in the life of the spirit, in faith, hope, and charity, in the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, for the mission of the Church, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

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By offering His Body and Blood for us, Jesus reconciles the world to the Father. Therefore, we present our needs to God with confidence.

That the outpouring of charity in Christ’s Eucharistic Self-Sacrifice will become manifest in all of the Church’s activity in the world, in all marriages, in all of our business relations, family relationships and  daily encounters, in our care for the downtrodden and most vulnerable; among friends, strangers, and enemies.  

For Catholics who have fallen away from the Eucharist, that they may know the grace of sincere repentance and return to the table of the Lord.

That all of God's children may have sufficient bread for their physical life and the Bread of Life for their spiritual life. 

That those who have died may share the eternal life that Jesus promised to those who feed on the Bread from Heaven. 

Gracious Father, hear our prayers. Nourish us continually with your Son’s presence in the Eucharist, and grant us the grace to lead others to this divine source of eternal life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - The bread of supernatural life

 Last week we began a five-week liturgical cycle of reading from chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel beginning with the account of the miraculous feeding of the 5000. 

This crowd of people must have been tremendously excited after witnessing and benefiting from Jesus’ miracle. They had already followed Jesus out into the wilderness because of his reputation as a great preacher and his ability to cure the sick. But feeding five thousand people with a few loaves was a miracle on a whole other level—levels of magnitude greater than the miracle working prophets of the Old Testament. 

In response to the miraculous feeding, the crowd, as we heard last week, wanted to make Jesus their king. After all, he would be able to satisfy all their material needs—that’s a pretty good quality for a king to possess.  

But Jesus doesn’t stick around for a coronation; he retreats, for his kingdom is not of this world. Nonetheless, the crowd follows him—they want more from him. And to their delight, Jesus explains that he does intend to feed them. As God fed their ancestors in the desert, as we heard in our first reading, Jesus promises that whoever comes to him will never be hungry. He will provide for their hunger, he will provide for their thirst.

What a promise! And yet, six chapters into John’s Gospel, we know that there must be something else coming because a pattern has already emerged in John’s Gospel. While the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record many miracles, John records only six. The miracle of multiplication in John’s Gospel is the 4th miracle, the first three being the changing of water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, the healing of the Royal Official’s son, also at Cana, and the healing of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. And following those miracles, Jesus gives some sort of teaching, a teaching of who He is—and why He is here—and His mission, is about much more than gaining popular adulation in order to claim earthly kingship.

After the Wedding at Cana, Jesus teaches that he’s not just another party goer who enjoys a jug or two of wine. Rather, he is the beloved Son of the Heavenly Father sent by the Father to speak words of everlasting life. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” He’s on a mission where the stakes are not about temporal pleasures and frivolity—this mission is about life and death—eternal life or death.

After the second and third miracles, Jesus gives another teaching. He teaches again about his relationship with His Father, and that he has been sent to do the work of the Heavenly Father which is a matter of life and death. And then he echoes the teaching he gave after the first miracle, “whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.”

So, following the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, the attentive reader of John’s Gospel will intuit that there is going to be another teaching—and likely one about some very serious eternal realities. In fact, in the original Greek of St. John’s Gospel, this is absolutely clear. 

For the Greek New Testament has two different words for “life”. Bios and Zoe. Bios is natural life, biological life, the physical life of plants, animals, and humans. But Zoe—Zoe is the word for supernatural life—the life of God, the life of the spirit. In today’s passage, when Jesus says, I am the bread of life, which word do you think he uses? Zoe, of course. Εγω ειμι ο αρτος της ζωης. I am the bread of supernatural life. 

Just like he did after the first three miracles, Jesus identifies himself with the life of God. He is sent by the Father to be food for us—and not just food that keeps our bodies alive—food that will keep our souls alive. 

Yes, of course, God is concerned with our physical needs—and if the world were a little more in conformity with the God’s kingdom—there would be a lot less physical hardship on everybody. But in the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus teaches about a reality more vital than even our physical needs. 

Now most people in our modern world say, there IS NOTHING more important than our physical life. Food, drink, shelter, medicine, without these, our frail bodies cannot survive. But Jesus teaches that there IS something more important than even physical life.  For it’s one thing for your body to die, it’s another thing for your souls to be separated from God for eternity. 

Now even a lot of Christians, these days, have fallen into some serious error. They claim that since God is all-loving everybody goes to heaven. So it doesn’t matter if you pray, or if you go to church, or get baptized or confess your sins, or receive the eucharist. But these are grievous errors that keep us from the life God desires for us—the life he sent us Son to be offered up as a sacrifice in order to obtain.

Rather, Christians must witness to the reality of man’s need for the bread of eternal life no matter what our foolish culture posits. This is why St. Paul writes in our second reading, “I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous.”

St. Paul is saying that the corruption of a non-Christian society is the result of shallowness in their thinking—futility of mind. One translation puts it, “empty headed thinking”. The depravity, corruption, and disorder in our surrounding culture comes from ignorance—often willful ignorance, hardened hearts and callousness—regarding the things of God. There is a lot of empty-headed thinking about God these days, even among members of the Church.

But our task in the Lord, is to witness by word and deed—through formal teaching and by good example and charitable works—that God calls us to a new way of life in Christ. God feeds us with the Bread of Life that we may have new life in Christ for eternity, and that is to be evident in how we speak and act and how we treat people.  Through the Bread of Life we are brought into Communion with the One who is life, the one who desires the flourishment of humanity and provides the means for that flourishment, in this life and the life to come, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

5th Week of Lent 2023 - Tuesday - The Way of eternal life

 Yesterday, we heard the Gospel of the woman caught in adultery from the 8th Chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the third time in John’s Gospel, on the feast of tabernacles. While he was in the temple area teaching, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Priests who were trying to trap Jesus somehow seized this woman and made her stand in the midst of everyone, who are ready to stone her for her sins.

But the Lord reveals his mercy. “Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you” Go and sin no more.”

Today’s Gospel continues the scene. In fact, the Gospel passages for the rest of the week continue from John chapter 8. So following the incident with the adulterous woman, the Lord continues to teach about who he is, what he has come to do, the mission given to him by his heavenly Father, and the consequences for not believing him.

He’s come from the Father. He’s come to do the Father’s work. And he will return to the Father. 

The Lord’s teaching here reminds me of those beautiful verses from Isaiah 55: “Yet just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

The Son of God is the Word that has come forth from the mouth of God. He has come from heaven to earth in the incarnation. He has given seed to the one who sows through his preaching and forming disciples, bread to the one who eats in the Eucharist. He fulfills the end for which he has been sent watering the earth with his blood in his passion and death, the sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to the Father. And he returns to his heavenly Father after his resurrection by his glorious ascension. 

In today’s gospel, the Lord says he will return to the one who sent him, but then utters a rather chilling judgment to those who lake faith. He says, “where I am going you cannot come.” There are consequences, eternal consequences for unbelief. Jesus opens the path to eternal life, he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. 

But for those who believe, the Lord makes the most beautiful of promises: But for those who believe, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’

Likely, this Lent, there have been times when we refused to believe as deeply as we could, where we refused to follow the Lord as we should, and our lives are sadder for it, dryer, more empty. And there have likely been times when we have believed, we have allowed the river of living water to flow in our lives. Thanks be to God.

The Gospel certainly elicits a response. Belief. Belief in who the Lord says he is. Belief that what he teaches is true. Belief that how he teaches us to act is holy. Belief that what we see him doing and suffering in the scriptures these next two weeks, he does out of love for us, he bears out of love for us, that we may join the company of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That God may be pleased to increase faith and understanding in the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. 

For those without faith, those with hearts hardened toward God, and for those searching for Him.

For strength to resist temptation, and the humility to sincerely repent of sin.

That through fasting and self-denial, we may be ever more conformed to Christ.

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

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - What does faith offer you?

 Last week, for the candidates in our RCIA program, we celebrated at the 11am Mass, the Rite of Acceptance, where the candidates publicly declared their intent to prepare for the Sacraments of Initiation. In the very first words of the ritual, the priest asks the candidates: “Why are you here? What are you asking for from the Church?” And the answer they give is “faith”. I want faith. I want the Church to give me faith. 

What is faith?  We speak of the Christian faith, the light of faith, the unity of faith, the mystery of faith, a particular Catholic might have strong faith, weak faith, lukewarm faith, devout faith, improperly formed faith. What is faith?

Well, the next question in the rite of acceptance gives some insight.

“What are you asking from the Church” They answer “faith.” And then the priest asks them, “Why? Why do you want faith? What does faith offer you?” And the answer is “eternal life”. 

Throughout the RCIA program, the candidates study the catechism, and participate in the Church’s liturgy, and begin to engage in service and the life of the parish because through the Christian faith they are led to eternal life. 

That’s why the Church exists. We’re not a social club, a place to go on Sundays because you have nothing better to do. The Church exists to proclaim, to grow in faith, to spread the faith, to celebrate the faith. Because faith enables us to obtain something that nothing else in the world can provide. Eternal life. 

Written in bold letters above our sanctuary, what does it say? He who believes in the Son of God, in other words, he who has faith that Jesus is the Son of God, has, eternal life. 

Faith is part of God’s remedy for our mortality.  “Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins,” says the Lord Himself in John’s Gospel.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. 

The importance of faith is evident by the Lord’s own teaching. Because that act of the will to believe leads us to conform our lives with the author of Truth who is life itself. I am the way, the truth, and the life. So believe it, follow it, live it. 

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

The answer to that question certainly has consequences doesn’t it? Through faith we turn toward the Lord and seek to walk in his ways. The righteous shall live by faith, and walk by faith.

Last week I shared how during Ordinary Time, we seek to grow in the ordinary dimensions of the Christian life. How might we grow in faith?

Well, the same way our catechumens in the RCIA will grow in faith as they prepare for Easter. Study, scripture, prayer, liturgical worship, service, and repentance from Sin.

How Study help you to grow in faith? Memorizing the 10 commandments, studying what the catechism says about them, can certainly help you to walk by them. How can you follow them if you don’t know them? But also, study can help you explain the faith to non-believers with greater clarity. Non-believers are often seeking understanding. Why do you Catholics believe what you believe? And study helps us explain with knowledge and understanding rooted in the Word of God.  

Scripture grows faith. We need something going in our eyes and ears and hearts besides the garbage on television and the internet. We need the light of God to illuminate our lives. Scripture is God’s Word given to us, for us. It’s meant to be read, understood, taught, and lived. How can you live it, if you don’t read it?

Prayer builds faith. Prayer is not an option if you want faith. Life without prayer is a sad, dry weary endless desert. Without prayer we grow exhausted and happy. The Lord says faith in him causes a fountain of refreshment to bubble up from within us. Prayer is to go to that well-spring and drink. 

Liturgical worship builds faith. In Lent this year, our new auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost will be offering a retreat here at St. Ignatius, on Saturday March 18.  Bishop Woost is a trained liturgist, and a liturgical and sacramental theologian. No doubt the Bishop will help us to enter more deeply into the mystery of God through the liturgy of the Church. 

Prayer is like breathing. Personal prayer is like inhaling, liturgical, corporate prayer is like exhaling. We need both if we hope to breath, and we need to breath if we want to live. But prayer also sustains us through our trials, helping us to keep our eyes focused on Christ and to know God’s presence with us. Whether you are going through an illness or a family drama or an economic crisis or a temptation that you thought you overcame many years ago, prayer is needed to keep your eyes fixed on Christ.

Service builds faith. Faith without works is dead, st. james’ letter says bluntly. To grow in faith is to grow in our willingness to engage in works, charitable works, self-less works, sacrificial works. Have you ever been disappointed when you engaged in a selfless act? No. 

And finally, repentance of sins is indispensable for faith. Over and over, the scriptures show the enemies of Jesus, the pharisees, scribes, and saducees, as faithless due to their unwillingness to acknowledge and repent of their sins.

Moment of honesty here folks. I sat in the confessional for an hour last saturday with zero confessions. I don’t know what’s going on here? I don’t know if you don’t believe in the power of the Sacrament? I don’t know if someone told you that confession is not important and a vital dimension of the Catholic faith? If we need to change the confessional schedule or hire another priest to come in for confessions, we can do that, if it will help.

But, Faith cannot grow if there are unacknowledged, unrepented sins. Unrepentance is a terrible terrible thing that can exclude us from eternal life. Have faith that Jesus is waiting for you, as Pope Francis has said, waiting for you in the confessional. Go to confession at least three or four times a year, or as soon as possible, if a mortal sin has been committed.

Faith. It is the source of our unity. It transforms us into fishers of men. It is a light that guides us in darkness. It leads us to the font of God’s everlasting mercy. It’s leads to eternal life. In the words of the Apostles in St. Luke’s Gospel, “Lord, increase our faith” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

8th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

 

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

One of the great concern many priests and probably many of you have is that fewer and fewer people seem to be concerned with this question: young people, our family members, over 80% of Catholics who aren’t even going to Church on Sundays anymore. What happened? What changed?

It’s certainly one of the symptoms of the secularism and materialism of our age: this indifference to eternity. Many ask questions  like, “what must I do to get into Harvard, what must I do to be a famous athlete, what must I do to make my first million by the age of 30?” Maybe, many people do not even have a driving question.

This man in the Gospel today, he had this driving question. So much so, notice, St. Mark tells us, that he runs up to Jesus, he falls to his knees, to ask this question. 

Perhaps so few are asking about eternity because so much information is available at our fingertips now. People figure, well, when the time comes to start asking ultimate questions, I can just look up the answer on the internet. Perhaps, they are so caught up into the trivial, they don’t even think to concern themselves with what comes next.

Or, perhaps, they have thought about eternity, and instead of turning to God for answers, they’ve concluded that, well, eternal life is a guarantee, everybody goes to heaven.

And that would make things everything easier. Rich, poor, religiously devout, religiously neglectful, everyone goes to heaven. I’ve come across this belief among many Catholics. 

But this answer is at odds with what Jesus teaches in the Gospel. There are a lot of things that can keep us from heaven. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” And that’s just one situation. Read through the Gospels, and note how many times Jesus uses the word “unless”. Unless you do this, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you are born again by water and the holy spirit, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood” and so on.

The young man went away sad in the Gospel, because the Son of God told him that unless he gave up his love of possessions he couldn’t go to heaven. Many refuse to ask that ultimate question, what must I do to inherit eternal life” because they are unwilling to face that “unless”. For some people, it’s just easier to provide their own answer, write their own Gospel—an anti-Gospel—where can have your cake and eat it to, where you can have heaven without having to change anything about yourself on earth. I’m already perfect is the great anti-Gospel of our age. Because why would you need God if you’re already perfect?

In a few days we begin the great season of Lent, a time for us to acknowledge what in us, in our attitudes and behaviors and attachments need to be given up, in order to be perfected by God. The world is confounded by this, those who already believe themselves perfect, can’t imagine why we would do penance. But God work through our penances to bring about a change of heart for those who live the anti-Gospel, that all hearts may come to long and seek the life that can only come from Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the conversion of those who reject the Gospel, for grace to break through to hearts hardened toward God, for the protection of young people from the errors and perversions of our culture.

For those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, inclement weather, or ongoing trials of any kind.

For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered. 

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith, we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 - To inherit eternal life

 

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” We heard this question from the lips of a young jewish man in the Gospel today. It’s an important question. And one of the great concern many priests and probably many of you have is that so few of today’s young people and so few of our family members consider this question important.  It’s certainly one of the symptoms of the secularism and materialism of our age: this indifference to eternity.

Many ask questions  like, “what must I do to get into Harvard, what must I do to be a famous athlete, what must I do to make my first million by the age of 30?” Some sadly, are concerned only with, “what must I do to have as much pleasure as I can?”  These are all valid questions if one is merely concerned with earthly happiness and temporal success.  But, there is something more, something more important. Not just temporal reality, but ultimate, eternal reality. It’s quite possible, the Lord says elsewhere, to have all of these earthly desires fulfilled, while losing one’s soul: what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose one’s soul. Our eternal soul is of incomparable value to any earthly reality.

So the question beginning this Gospel, is a good question, the most important. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

When asked the big question by this young man, the Lord begins his answer by enumerating the commandments, specifically the commandments from the second tablet of the law of Moses, the ones that have to do with morality--the “thou shalt nots” thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery.  You want to attain eternal life? How you treat people matters. The moral choices you make matter. There is an inextricable link to the moral choices we make in this life and how we will spend eternity. 

St. Paul repeatedly takes us this theme in his epistles. To the Corinthians Paul writes that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body” And in our second reading today, Paul speaks about this accounting. All people of all time will have to render an account of our actions, our choices. Those who walked in righteousness will go on to their eternal reward, the Lord says in Matthew 25, while the wicked will go on to eternal perdition.

The Catechism synthesizes this teaching saying, “eternal retribution” will be “received by each soul at the very moment of death…either with entrance into the blessedness of Heaven…or immediate and everlasting damnation” What we do in this life matters. 

There is of course forgiveness for our immorality, for our sins, through Christ and Christ alone. For those who seek forgiveness, and seek conversion from immorality, forgiveness is given. But like the young man in the Gospel today, Christians must seek obedience to those “thou shalt nots” and seek constant conversion from sin. 

After the Lord enumerates the commandments, the young man confidently tells him, “Teacher, I’ve observed all these from my youth”.  Not only is this young man asking the right questions, seeking answers from the right person, he has brought his life into conformity to the wisdom and truth of God. He shows that he is serious about eternal life. 

The Lord then acknowledging that in this young man, the fundamental are in place, the aspirations are right. And then St. Mark offers one of the most beautiful lines in his entire Gospel, did you catch it? “Jesus looking at him, loved him”. This is the only time in the Gospel of Mark, that Jesus is said to have looked with love on an individual. This is a very special moment. This is the gaze of divine love with which Jesus looks upon all of us—the burning love of the Sacred Heart he has for each one of us. God looks upon us, he wants salvation for us, he wants eternal life for us..

This is the gaze of divine love that has captivated the hearts of generations of Christian to live for Christ; this love has captivated the saints to pour their lives out in service, to spend their lives growing in the experience of that love through prayer, penance, and charitable works. It is the love that captivated the holy martyrs, who recognized in that gaze, the most important thing in the world, that which is worth dying for, knowing, loving, and being loved by God in this life and for all eternity.

Sadly, like so many today, it seems this young man in the Gospel was too preoccupied with his earthly treasures to detect Jesus’ love for him.

“You are lacking in one thing” Jesus says…what’s that one thing? It wasn't obedience to the commandments, he had that. The Christian life requires more than this. The young man lacked faith that corresponds with the willingness to give up earthly things to obtain heaven. He is unwilling to let go of his old way of life to follow Jesus. We go from hearing the most beautiful words in the Gospel, to the saddest words: Jesus called the man to holiness, but at this statement, the young man’s face fell, and he went away sad. 

When Jesus calls us and we do not follow, sadness and regret, will always ensue, that’s true for this life, and that’s true for eternity. Eternal sadness, eternal regret is the consequences for rejecting God’s invitation, which he will not force upon us, or else it is not an invitation.

But we never regret following Him, accepting his invitation on the great adventure of Christian discipleship. We never regret refusing to settle for spiritual mediocrity, seeking conversion from selfishness, impurity, pride, and anger. We never regret the time we set aside each day to meditate on his holy word, listening to his voice, seeking his face, engaging in holy works prescribed by Him. 

Even when there are social consequences for being a following Jesus and remaining firm in his truth, there are no regrets, only perhaps, that we weren’t more fervent.

As the Lord invited the young man to give up his possession to follow him, the Lord invites us to give up the things, the possessions, the habits, which might obstruct our entrance into eternal life. We do well to identify the earthly attachments, the vices, the sinful habitual behaviors and ways of treating people, and the fears, that keep us from the life of freedom and joy the Lord wants for us.

He looks upon us each of us with ineffable love and invites us to follow Him on the great adventure. May we set aside all that keeps us from growing in the life of grace, all that is hindering us on the path of wisdom and love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Easter 2021 - Wednesday - The invitation to believe

 “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This most popular verse of John’s Gospel should sound familiar, for we heard a very similar verse quite recently. On Divine Mercy Sunday, following the account of Our Lord’s post-resurrection appearance in the upper room John explains the very purpose of his Gospel: “But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

Through Belief we come to life. No other gospel accentuates belief like John's. The Greek verb used for belief, pisteuō is found 98 times in his gospel. After Jesus’ first miracle, the wedding at Cana, John’s notes how the disciples “began to believe in Him.”  After the Lord cured the royal official’s son, John records how the official “and his whole household came to believe.”  When Jesus gave sight to the blind man, his response was “I believe, Lord.”  

That Greek word is interesting, it has a different connotation than the latin word: credo, which comes means to credit, to affirm, to put one’s heart into a thing. That’s a good word too, don’t get me wrong. We need to affirm with our heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But, the word John uses in the Greek pisteuo, comes from the word peitho, which means, to persuade. To believe in God and in Jesus Christ, means allowing God to persuade me to follow him. 

I like the different connotation there. The latin credo is a strong word. I believe. With my heart I affirm it. I put the stamp of approval on it. The Greek word though, puts the emphasis on God. God is the one beckoning, inviting, persuading me. He has sent his Son, as a sign of his love, inviting me to follow. He is worthy of belief. He is compelling. He has something to offer. 

The passage today speaks of condemnation for those who refuse to believe. For there is something terribly sad about the one who has refused to be led by God. If Jesus, God in the flesh isn’t worth following, what is, who is? The refusal to believe in Jesus, in a sense, is a refusal to be led by Goodness and Truth and Life. 

And so, yes, there is condemnation for that; there are eternal consequences to saying no to the light of Christ, to saying, I will not be persuaded by that which is most worthy. John stresses the importance of belief, because he is realistic about what is at stake. Belief leads to eternal life, but the refusal to believe—refusal to accept the invitation to life--to be persuaded by the light of God will end in eternal darkness. Will you turn and face and follow the easter light or not? And sadly, as John says, there are people who prefer darkness to light, and in the end their sad state will be exposed.

For those souls who resist belief, may we pray and offer compelling reasons to believe in Jesus in our words and deeds, for as long as they draw breath in this life, they are not without hope. For the Lord wishes to use us, to use our easter joy and integrity of life and good works—to persuade all those who would believe to himself, 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 the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ, especially we pray for the conversion of those who refuse belief in God and Jesus the Christ, His Son.

For our parish, and for the newly initiated, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

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.

34th Week in OT 2019 - Tuesday - The kingdom that shall never be destroyed

Yesterday, we heard how Daniel, because of his faithfulness and obedience to God was given “the understanding of all visions and dreams.”  Today we hear how Daniel, uses this gift, and interprets a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar.

Through the prophet Daniel, God wanted King Nebuchadnezzar to know that his kingdom, so dear to him, could and would undergo destruction.  Other kingdoms would take its place, but they, too, would last only a time.  The prophecy of Daniel foreshadowed the words of Jesus, when he spoke of the Temple of Jerusalem:  it, like everything built by human beings, will be destroyed. 
We are not to put our hope in earthly institutions, buildings, or kingdoms.

But then, Daniel prophesied about a kingdom established by God Himself, a kingdom that would never be destroyed. Daniel did not know that he was speaking about the Church: not church buildings, of course,  but the Church herself, made up of “living stones”.  And this kingdom, “the kingdom of truth and life, the kingdom of holiness and grace, the kingdom of justice, love and peace,” as is described in the Eucharistic Preface for the Solemnity of Christ the King, this kingdom is eternal.

The Letter to the Hebrews states, “we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe.” Gratitude for the blessings of life, gratitude seen in works of self-sacrifice, gratitude for salvation is a necessary hallmark of the members of the eternal kingdom.

Members of the eternal kingdom have a great responsibility, to ensure that we retain membership in it. For membership in God’s kingdom is not based on race or social status or place of birth, but on union with Christ through grace, through faith, hope, and love, and gratitude.

The Greek word for gratitude is of course “Eucharistia”—Eucharist. The gathering for Eucharist to offer pleasing worship—worship in which we unite our lives in reverence and awe to the sacrifice of Christ— is a hallmark of membership in the eternal kingdom.

May our gratitude for membership in the eternal kingdom through Christ be seen in works of love today, works which build up the kingdom made of living stones through the preaching of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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Lord, sanctify your bishops and priests, and grant them courage to preach the Gospel in its fullness.

Lord, make the lives of parents examples of faith to inspire their children to seek first your heavenly kingdom.

Lord, bring all those who have fallen away back to the sacraments, help them to repent of their sins and desire the life that can only come from you.

Lord, make us truly grateful for salvation and for the blessings that fill our lives.

Lord, bring comfort to the sick and suffering, charity and care to the destitute and down-trodden, be present through your church to the miserable.

Lord, welcome into your kingdom all the faithful departed, those whose names are written in our parish necrology, all clergy and religious, and X for whom this mass is offered.

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.

Holy Saturday 2019 - Hell trembles with fear

The ancient homily on Holy Saturday states: “there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.”

In the Apostle’s Creed we profess that after Christ was crucified, died and buried, “He descended into Hell.” Christ was not condemned to Hell, like the rest of humanity. Rather he descended; he went willingly and with purpose.
From the time of Adam, all who died, whether evil or righteous were deprived of the vision of God. And Christ went to those who souls who awaited their Savior. The ancient homily says, “he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve…the Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.”

Holy Saturday is a quiet day. Yet, in the quiet, if we listen, and If we grow silent enough, and listen well, we hear hell trembling, and the voice of the Lord, victorious through the cross, proclaiming a word of life, a word of freedom. The Catechism says, “Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."

In the Canticle from morning prayer this morning from Isaiah chapter 38, one of God’s faithful ones ponders how, though he shall come to the gates of the netherworld, the pit of destruction, because of his sins, God will save him, his sins will be put behind him, death will not get the final word. “Fathers will pass on to their children the truth of your faithfulness”. This is the truth that is passed on through the generations by the Christian faithful. The truth that salvation is found in Jesus Christ, mercy and forgiveness, freedom from sin and death is found in Jesus Christ: through His death, burial, and resurrection.

Yes, there is a great silence on earth today. But we incline our ear passed the silence, to a Word which cannot be silenced. Not by the world, not by the powers of corruption and selfishness, sin, evil or malice.

Though much evil still fills the world, and the powers of death seek to swallow us whole, we open our hearts to the new life-giving Word, to the one who holds the keys of death and of hell, and opens the doors of heaven, resurrection and eternal life to those who would follow Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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All-powerful and ever-living God, your only Son went down among the dead and rose again in glory. In your goodness raise up your faithful people, buried with him in baptism, to be one with him in the everlasting life of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

2nd Week of Easter 2018 - Thursday - Life and the call to holiness

In John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about “life” 41 times: nearly as many times as Matthew, Mark, and Luke combined. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, “the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”.  We will hear next week Jesus say “I am the bread of life”.  And later, after raising Lazarus, he says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And he speaks to Nicodemus about the importance of believing in HIM that we may have eternal life.

Through sin, we had lost the gift of eternal life; we were “dead in our transgressions” as Paul says.  We were alienated from God who Himself is the only source of life.

St. John Cantius spoke of how the world is busy indulging in its own madness. It is wearing itself out. It cannot endure. It passes like a shadow. It’s growing old and decrepit

Jesus by his life, death and resurrection shows that his mission from the Father is to restore us to life: “I have come that they might have life, and have it in abundance.” He has come to save us from the powers of death and selfishness, greed and lust, which are so evident in the world.

The saints, who have turned away from the world are so attractive to us because the life of Christ is flourishing within them. They have become purified of the ugliness of worldliness, and therefore magnify the beauty of the life of Christ.

Through their lives of prayer, fasting, charity, penance, they show us how to nurture, fertilize, and protect the spiritual life that comes from God.

In his new apostolic exhortation Pope Francis emphasizes how even the great saints who were drawn more to contemplation, mental prayer, silence, and meditation upon scripture were also passionately committed to the love of neighbor. Authentic spiritual life becomes evident and life giving for others.
The Holy Father echoes our Lord at the last supper who teaches how “Eternal life” consists in knowing the Father, knowing the Son, loving them, and allowing that love to lead us to the washing of feet, to self-sacrifice on the cross, to laying down your life for a friend.

May we zealously seek out Jesus, the fount of life, drink of his waters, that the fruits of his life may be evident in our own life, 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.

September 14, 2017 - The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross - Lumen Crucis, Light of the Cross

The word ‘exaltation’, as in the ‘exaltation of the Cross’ literally means, to bring to light. The Christian is charged with bringing the Lumen Crucis, the light of the cross, to the world.

Even the finding of the True Cross by St. Helen underscores this mission. St. Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. St. Helen found the True Cross buried underneath a Temple to the Pagan Goddess Venus which had been built over Mount Calvary, the place of crucifixion. The cult of Venus was a cult of sex and pleasure, seeking worldly pleasures in this life. The cult of the Cross on the other hand, seeks not the fulfillment of worldly pleasure in this life, but the life of sacrifice in order to attain eternal life.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” says the Lord.

The Gospel today refers to the Old Testament story of the serpent being lifted up in the desert. The Lord commanded that this strange, poisonous death dealing snake be lifted up for the people to see and be healed. So, too, the Christian is charged to lift up the strange, death dealing cross for all the world to see to be a sign of the ultimate healing that comes through following Christ.

In light of this feast, we are reminded of the need to take up our cross every day in order to follow Christ, whom we love. We do that by detaching from the earthly objects and pursuits which demand we love Christ less, the earthly interests which keep us from prayer and Christian service.

St. Anthony of Padua in a sermon on the cross said: “You cannot better appreciate your worth than by looking into the mirror of the Cross of Christ; there you will learn how you are to deflate your pride, how you must mortify the desires of the flesh, how you are to pray to your Father for those who persecute you, and to commend your spirit into God’s hands.”

The light of the Cross shows us the love God has for us, and by taking up our own crosses, embracing self-sacrifice, service, mortification, and penance for the sake of the kingdom, we show that it is by the light of the cross, not the light of worldly values and pleasures, that we are made worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

May we exalt the cross in all way say and do, and by it be exalted, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Church may lift high the Cross of Christ, proclaiming forgiveness and redemption in him alone, we pray to the Lord...

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and take hold of the peace and justice that only he can bring, we pray to the Lord...

That all whose lives are marked by suffering may discover the saving power of the cross of Christ, and be victorious in all their trials, we pray to the Lord...

That those who embrace the cross as they work for justice for the poor, the oppressed, and the unborn, may find strength and success in their work, we pray to the Lord…

That the sick may be blessed with patience during the difficult parts of their journey in life, we pray to the Lord...

That all who have died may experience the eternal life won by the cross of Christ, especially the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for Father Robert Wendelken on the anniversary of his death, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered, we pray to the Lord...

Almighty ever-living God, comfort of mourners, strength of all who toil, may the prayers of those who cry out in any tribulation come before you, that all may rejoice, because in their hour of need your mercy was at hand. Through Christ our Lord. (From Good Friday Petitions)

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.