19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Winemaking and the art of goodness

About six years ago, I had a funeral for a long-time parishioner of St. Clare in Lyndhurst, one of my previous parish assignments. His name was Lenny Giuliani, and when I met with the family to plan the funeral, I learned that Lenny had been a winemaker. Making wine wasn’t his profession, but a hobby that he took very seriously; his family called him the “Einstein of Wines” because he was extremely scientific in perfecting his wines. His daughters brought me a few bottles of their father’s wine and suggested that I try them before the funeral. Not the morning of the funeral, of course. But they told me that their father loved constructive criticism, and they’d like to know my honest opinion at some point. 

So, a few days after the funeral, I opened his bottle of red, a blend of several different grapes noted on the label. And I’m no connoisseur, but I could tell that I was drinking something special, the culmination of a life’s work, a work of art. 

Maybe it’s because I’m half Italian, but I believe good food and good wine are works of art. And Lenny’s wine was certainly artfully made. He developed these wines, painstakingly, and shared the fruits of his labors with family and friends. And for that, the world was blessed. In this digital age, when we are tempted to spend our waking hours, are so-called “free time” in front of screens, we probably need to be a bit more like Lenny. To produce something, with our hands, with our minds, that can be given away to bring some joy in this increasingly joyless world. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop as proverbs says. And so a hobby, a craft, and, and art offered up to God can be a wonderful means of avoiding the near occasion of sin, and can bring something to the world.  For our readings focus on how we use our time, how we spend our life—how we use the time we’ve been given…to be a blessing to others…or not.

In today’s First Reading Isaiah explains how the Lord had prepared Israel to be a fine vineyard—that was supposed to yield the highest quality grapes. God had given Israel the Law, the Torah, he had delivered the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt, and placed them in the promised Land, he had sent them prophets to help them be his holy people. And yet, what did they do with those blessings? what did they do to the prophets? 

Rather than yielding the lush, juicy grapes of faithfulness, justice and peace, Israel had produced wild sour grapes of infidelity, false worship, ignorance of the scriptures, and injustice toward the poor. And so Isaiah was voicing God’s displeasure to Israel, hoping they would repent, but also to help them understand the consequences of their infidelities. 

Shame on Israel, right? Well, how about us? Examining our own lives, do we find the good fruit of peace, justice, faithfulness, and joy, or the sour fruit of turbulence, selfishness, ignorance, and crankiness? Probably a bit of both, right? The Word of God challenges us to ensure we are doing everything in our power to yield good fruit. To trim back and uproot the rotten vines, lest they takeover our vineyards—our souls. 

Chronic crankiness, bitterness, and selfishness, are typically that we’ve not trimmed back the bad vines as we should—they are often signs of self-absorption rather than self-donation. And so they are indicators that there is more of our life that needs to be handed over to God, likely by devoting more time to prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, meditation on the scriptures, and engaging in the works of mercy. As soon as we detect them, we should be on the lookout for habits and attachments that we need to turn away from, because they do not give us spiritual life. To allow them to remain, is to reject God’s plan for us. 

The Gospel Parable of the Tenants also highlights the twisted logic of sin by which we reject God’s plan for his vineyard.

In the parable, we hear of these wicked tenants who reject the vineyard owner’s servant and then reject and kill the vineyard owner’s son. And the Lord Jesus tells this parable to the chief priests and elders as a way of illustrating that they have not only rejected the prophets by twisting the Jewish faith in a number of ways, they were also rejecting the vineyard owner’s son—the Son of God—in the rejection of his teachings. And this is one of the parables that the Lord explains there are going to be serious eternal ramifications for this sort of behavior and lack of faith. 

This parable from the lips of the Lord himself is like flashing neon lights urging these guys to repent and believe in the Son of God. God is not pleased with what you have been doing with his vineyard. Sour grapes are rampant. Time to make some changes for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And again shame on the chief priests and elders, right? Well, again: how about us? We see baptized Christians forsaking the faith, and acting like they might catch on fire if they stepped into Church. Amongst the Protestants heresy has spread like wild-fire—they’ve lost the eucharist, the priesthood, confession, sacramental anointing—some of them don’t even practice baptism anymore. And many Catholics fall away from the Church when they start acting like Protestants—Cafeteria Catholics who pick and choose which teachings they’ll adhere to like choices in a buffet line.

Just like the tenants rejected the vineyard owner’s son, there are some wicked tenants in the Church right now, there are always are, there always have been, and there always will be until the Lord’s return. We just better not be one of them, by holding fast to revealed truths—to the teachings and traditions received from the apostles and the practices which deepen the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

And also, to not give into despair when it seems like the wicked tenants are having their way. The Holy Spirit protects the Church. And the Gospel will be proclaimed until the Lord’s return. Until then…

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,” Paul tells the Philippians. “Then the God of peace will be with you.” St. Paul of course was pointing to his own tireless labors in the vineyard of the Lord for the spread of the Gospel. The saints are always our teachers, they show us how ordinary people can become extraordinary blessings for the world. How the fruits of the spirit can become lush and abundant when we cultivate the vineyards of our souls.

Ordinary things, small acts of love, truly can transform the world. Like Lenny Giuliani, perfect an artform that can bring joy to others: that can be with paint brushes, food, drink, car repair, professional advice, music, generosity, kindness, teaching, healing, compassion, writing, works of mercy. And then sharing that art, that craft with a neighbor can be an opportunity for a grace-filled conversation. A craft, or a moment of genuine concern, given in kindness, is likely more efficacious in catching souls then hours debates on the internet.

Become artists of goodness, prayer, hospitality, scripture. Become artists of self-donation, artists of Catholicism, lights in the darkness. 

4th Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - Good versus evil

 

Yesterday, we reflected upon the second of the seven miracles stories in St. John’s Gospel: the healing of the royal official’s son. We also noted how St. John often includes people’s reactions to those miracles: some are amazed by Jesus, some come to believe, some fail to make that leap of faith or they walk away grumbling because his subsequent teachings are unappealing or deemed too difficult.

What was the reaction to the miracle detailed in today’s Gospel of the paralyzed man. On one hand, you have the obedience and witness of the man himself. He gets up and walks just as Jesus told him to do. When asked about the miracle, he testifies to the source of the healing. He is certainly a model for all of us. We are to testify to the healing we have received through Jesus Christ. 

For Jesus has healed our paralysis—our spiritual paralysis. Without the healing each of us have received in the pool of baptism, we would be paralyzed of walking toward heaven, walking in righteousness, walking in truth, walking up to the altar of God, God who is the source of our joy. Jesus has changed my life, and I know he has changed yours as well. And when people ask us about what animates our lives. We need to point to Him. You know what gets me up in the morning? The desire to serve my Lord who has healed me. We should not be timid about our faith.

So the Gospel contains this wonderful reaction of obedience and witness. But there was another reaction—that of the Jews, the religious authorities of Jerusalem. Their hearts were so far from God that they could not, or would not, recognize the goodness of what Jesus did. This man had been paralyzed for 38 years. Most of us cannot imagine what his life was like. The inability to work to support a family. The boredom. The abandonment. And the religious leaders criticize Jesus, when none of them lifted a finger to help the man into the pool. 

And for healing this man, freeing this man, liberating this man, restoring his hopes, helping him to know the love of God, the religious leaders, St. John tells us, begin to persecute Jesus. That was their response. “Goodness made itself known, and we can’t let that happen again.” Do you see how the powers of evil were rampant in the hearts of Jesus’ enemies?

As we near Holy Week, this reading helps us to understand the conflict that will reach its crescendo on Good Friday: the goodness of God—the life and the healing and moral and spiritual freedom God wants for us—versus the evil that takes root in the hearts—the coldness of the hell we make for ourselves when we turn away from God and seek to selfishly control and manipulate our fellow man.

Lent: it helps us to be open to the healing Jesus wants to work in our lives, it strengthens us to have courage to lead others to Jesus. It also helps us to repent and do penance for those time, when like those religious authorities, have coldly closed ourselves to the goodness of God. 

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For an increase in faith for the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity.

That the Church might be delivered and protected from all evil—all coldness toward good, all indifference to life, all selfishness, error, heresy, schism, and unbelief.

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.

That those in need may find assist in the charity of faithful Christians and that peace and security may be firmly established in all places.

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.

2nd Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - Interacting with Pharisees (part two)

 
As I mentioned yesterday, chapter two and the beginning of chapter 3 of St. Mark’s Gospel contain a series of five vignettes in which Jesus performs a miracle or reveals something about his identity, and the pharisees, scribes, and onlookers react with disapproval, suspicion, and contention. 

Today’s healing of the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath is the last of these five vignettes, and following this Sabbath miracle, the pharisees begin to conspire with the Herodians to kill Jesus. 

What was their problem with Jesus’ miracle? They claimed he was once again violating the sabbath. But, Scripture is very clear that even on the sabbath when manual labor is forbidden, it is still lawful, in fact, laudatory, to help people. It’s even commanded. Deuteronomy says, “You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the way, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly help him to raise them up”. Mercy outweighs rigid adherence to the Law.

Because of their hardness of heart, the pharisees intellects had become darkened, their wills perverted. And, in reaction to Jesus’ good act, the Pharisees conspire to perform an evil act on the Sabbath, murdering Jesus. And so fierce is their wrath that they join forces with political opportunities whom they would normally avoid at all costs: the Herodians. 

The Pharisees are a prime example that the darkening of the intellect and the perverting of the will stem from self-righteousness and sin. We literally cannot think straight when sin has taken root in our hearts. The prideful will justify morally reprehensible acts, they will seek to silence truth, deface beauty, and punish goodness. Their twisted minds will often latch onto one apparent good, like the avoidance of work on the sabbath, 

 to the exclusion of greater goods, avoiding murder and worshipping the son of God. To those who have become accustomed to darkness, light become obnoxious to them, even painful and hateful. Those who surround themselves with worldly errors and indulge the deceits of sin grow further and further from God.

But just has God sent his son into the midst of the Pharisees, like God sent the youth David into battle with the Philistine giant, God sends us to perform mighty deeds, and hidden acts of charity, to speak powerful words of truth and whispers of compassion. Because as long as the modern pharisees and philistines  draw breath they can be reached, their souls are not beyond hope. We are sent to rescue the lost sheep, those who desire salvation and eternal life with God, even those who don’t recognize that yet—to bring the light of Christ into the darkest of places, the darkest of souls.

So may we be faithful in our God given task, in living out the Christian faith, and spreading the Gospel in this day and age, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her, care for her, and give her strength and courage in her mission.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may preserve harmony among us.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for all monastics and hermits, and that all Christians may seek the perfection for which they were made.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

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

4th Week of Ordinary Time 2021 - Wednesday - Bonum Diffusivum Sui

 

There is an medieval latin aphorism:  bonum diffusivum sui, goodness spreads out from itself. A saint for example, spreads the goodness of God. The light of Christ, like that which we celebrated at Candlemas, yesterday, isn’t to be hidden under a bushel basket, right, but spreads, as it is lived devoutly and generously. 

This truth can be seen even in the life of the Holy Trinity. God is perfect, perfect goodness, perfect joy, and yet, he chooses to bring creation into being, and share that goodness, and life and joy with his creatures, particularly mankind made in his image.

We are happiest and most fulfilled in life when we are engaging in acts of goodness because that’s what we’re made for, not for selfish self-centeredness, but selfless self-giving, even self-sacrifice.

It is true that bonum diffusivum sui, but, in our first reading today, we also find that goodness’s opposite also spreads. “See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.” In other words, the bad apple can spoil the bunch. Selfishness, sin, the deprivation of grace, can also spread and defile and spoil the bunch.

We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of a gossip, for example, that we aren’t drawn into their habit of gossiping. We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of drunkards and gluttons, that we don’t begin to mimic their behavior. 

Of course, we are all sinners, and have the potential to set bad example for each other, from time to time. And yes, we need to be out in the world of sinners spreading the Gospel and doing our best to set good example for each other and non-believers. But we also have to be very careful that we don’t begin to assume to errors and sinful lifestyles of the world.

Discipline, is needed. “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord”, we hear today. Endure your trials as “discipline”; discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

In two weeks, we’ll be beginning once again the great season of Lent, a time of discipline. We do well to identify those parts of our lives that do need to be brought under the Lord’s dominion once again, for God’s Word promises the peaceful fruit of righteousness, to those who endure their trials. 

The disciplined soul, therefore, becomes a tree for others, a fountain, a spring for the refreshment of others, and instrument which draws others to the grace of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, endurance to do the will of God, and peace in our world and our hearts.  Let us pray to the Lord.

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

For the discipline necessary to resist temptation and to build virtue. 

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind:  that the new wine of God’s grace through Christ will bring them consolation and peace.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

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

August 1, 2017 - St. Alphonsus Ligouri - Nurturing the virtues

“All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues which make a man perfect.” Thus writes St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

What does it mean that Jesus Christ is our supreme good? He is the abundant fountain of everything good; nothing in the universe can be said to be good, unless He is its wellspring. Though in Sin, we turn away from that wellspring, God's desire is that man, the gem of His creation, turn back, and seek the perfection for which He is made.

Jesus teaches us to seek goodness, not just by his words, but by his example.

The devout soul who wishes to become a saint—the person God made him to be—must seek God’s will and desire all that God desires. “Teach me to do your will” the Psalmist cries out. That is to be our cry as well.

For St. Alphonus “putting on Christ”, seeking our supreme good, means striving to practice the virtues. He even recommended practicing a particular virtue each month: January: faith; February: Hope; March: Love of God; April: Love of Neighbor; May: Poverty; June: Purity of Heart; July: Obedience; August: Meekness and Humility of Heart; September: Mortification; October: Reconciliation and Silence; November: Prayer; and December: Self-Abnegation and Love of the Cross.”

This intentional practicing of a particular virtue is more effective than the general, vague, and unintentional desire to become more virtuous. St. Alphonsus even recommended keeping a notebook or journal—an account of your failures and successes in practicing those virtues. For example, we begin the month of August. Every day we should be conscious and intentional about making acts of meekness and humility.

Jesus himself is the model of meekness: he bears wrongs patiently and readily forgives sinners. In order to imitate Our Lord’s meekness and grow in the virtue of meekness we must forgive readily, avoid quarrels, harsh or hurtful words and actions, refrain from speaking while in an angry mood, be pleasant toward all who approach us, even if it causes us fatigue or boredom.

May St. Alphonsus help us to practice the virtues, to put on Christ, to seek the goodness and perfection for which we are made, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in virtue for the clergy and all members of the Church. We pray to the Lord.

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of August: “That artists of our time, through their ingenuity, may help everyone discover the beauty of creation.” We pray to the Lord.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Redemptorist Order, founded by St. Alphonsus, and for the sanctification of all marriages. We pray to the Lord.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster, war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. We pray to the Lord.

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

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.