10th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Wednesday - The Choice between God and Baal

 

“If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”

In the first reading, Elijah challenges the people of Israel to choose between the Lord and Baal—between the one true God and the pagan idol. The subsequent dramatic demonstration of God's power through the prophet Elijah compared to the impotence of the false god Baal and his prophets is a powerful illustration of the need to make the right choice. Choosing God over the false idols of the world is the most important choice we can make in this life. 

False gods abound in our modern day. They might not have names like Baal, but we know that false gods—like prestige, pleasure, and prosperity—are promoted by internet celebrities and worshipped by the masses. 

Consider how Baal worship became prominent in the northern kingdom of Israel. It was promoted by the King, who should have known better. King Ahab, influenced by his pagan wife Jezebel, actively promoted the worship of Baal in Israel, building pagan altars and temples in direct violation of the command to have no other gods before Yahweh, not to mention his duties as king spelled out in the Scriptures. 

And Israel’s descent into error was quick. They had gone from a united kingdom a hundred fifty years earlier, with David dancing before the ark of God, and Solomon building God a temple, to a divided kingdom and the erection of pagan altars and human sacrifices. And how did this fall into idolatry occur? Rejection of God’s commands, the failure of parents to drill into their children the need to love God with their whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength, rejection of right religion on the national and individual levels. The Lord has strong words in the Gospel today for those who “whoever break the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so.”

This passage certainly serves as a reminder to the Church, of the need to hold fast to the Lord and His Word, to make no allowances for pagan idols in our lives, to guard our children from the errors of the culture, to ensure that we are choosing God over those pagan idols in every decision we make.

And again, in a world with so many false Gods, we do well to pray assiduously for deliverance of those who fall sway to the many forms of modern paganism, that they can come to acknowledge the exhaustion, unhappiness, and futility of worshipping false gods, and the truth, goodness, and life of worshipping the One True God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That during this month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, all Christians may witness to the tender love of Christ through our prayer, fasting, and works of charity. 

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 married couples, that they may be faithful to the Gospel in every dimension of their married life—and that single and celibate Christians may witness to the sacrificial, all-embracing love of Christ for all.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death: may God, through the mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, be close to them in their trials

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

Trinity Sunday 2024 - Deliverance from false gods and empty promises

 Last week, we had a strange occurrence here at St. Ignatius. On Friday morning, as we were opening up for school, we found a three and a half foot painting leaning up against the statue of St. Ignatius at the parking lot entrance. It took us a while to figure out what it was a painting of. But after some internet research, it turned out that the painting was undeniably an image of a Sumerian deity--the pagan goddess known as Ishtar—or Ashtaroth--inthe old testament. I’ve seen a lot of interesting things in this neighborhood, but this was a new one for me. 

We couldn’t help speculating where this strange painting came from. Perhaps it was used in some of the witchcraft prevalent in our neighborhood. But in the end, who knows. For whatever reason, someone wanted to get rid of this thing. I’d like to hope that may it was someone’s way of giving up belief in a false god in exchange for faith in the one true God, whom we celebrate today—the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

That’s our hope, isn’t it? That’s what we labor for. That’s why the Church exists, right? To witness to the one true God. To help souls come to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. From the lips of Jesus in the Gospel this weekend, we heard our marching orders: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

And I’d like to think that this pagan image being left on church property is a sign that we’re doing our job. That our labors are having an effect. That our parish—all of us, brothers and sisters in the Lord, are bringing about some good. That God is working in us and through us, to deliver souls from their false gods. 

So let’s keep it up: the prayers for the conversion of the pagans and non-believers of this neighborhood—the works of mercy-the witness of our striving to conform our lives to Jesus Christ. Let’s keep it up. It works. 

In the first reading today from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses is giving a sort of catechetical lesson—a doctrinal instruction to the Israelites on the One True God. And what does he say? That the God of Israel is the only God in the heavens above and on the earth below. We say the same thing in our Creed, every week: I believe in one God, Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And remember, these people, whom Moses is teaching, had been in a culture that worshipped a whole pantheon of gods—the gods of Egypt. And they were about to enter the promised land, which was still filled with a bunch of different peoples who worshipped a whole other pantheon—the gods of Canaan. 

And he instructs the Israelites so that they’ll cling to the One True God by obeying his statutes and commandments and loving Him with their whole hearts minds, souls, and strength.

We, too, show our fidelity and our belief in God by following his commandments. Our obedience to the commands of God marks us as believers. Whether in private or public, Catholics are to act differently and speak differently than the rest of the world. We are to show to the world the freedom that comes from our relationship with God.

This is why Paul writes in our second reading, that Christians are not given a spirit of slavery to fall back into our old pagan ways, but a spirit of adoption, which enables us to cry out to God as Father. Unlike the pagans who are still enslaved to their emotions and bodily passions and worldly influences, Christians experience that freedom that Our Father wants for us—freedom from patterns of sin and selfishness and resentment and violence. 

Our Faith is truly salvific and healing and liberating, which is why we are excited about sharing it with others. Because the freedom from error and sin and selfishness that we come to experience, we want others to experience, don’t we? We know that the one true God of the universe loves us and calls us to holiness, and we want others to know that as well. So that they can know the goodness of God, the peace of God, the strength and power of God, that animates our lives.

St. Paul goes on to say,  that “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit.” In other words, God uses the Christians whose lives are changed and filled with God’s presence to to witness to the freedom and salvation offered to humanity through Jesus Christ. God wants to use me and you to draw souls to himself. 

And when the presence of God can be detected in us, when we’ve cultivated those gifts of the Spirit, well that’s very attractive to those who are wandering around in the darkness of the world, who continue to be unfilled by the false gods of the world.  Our task is to witness to God through the Christian way of life.

In his great 20th century document on evangelizing the modern world, Pope Paul VI wrote, “It is by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus—the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.”

So again, God uses our witness of being detached from the things of the world and the powers of the world and the false gods of the world, to bring souls to himself.

But then Pope Paul wrote, “it is not superfluous to emphasize the importance and necessity of preaching… Preaching, the verbal proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable.”

Pope Paul, that first Pope of the modern world, echoes the timeless instruction of Jesus—that we must teach and preach by our conduct and by our words, in order to bring souls to faith—faith which includes a living relationship with God through Christ and His Church.

What a powerful message for us to consider: how and in what ways, by my conduct and my words and my manner of life, does God wish to use me to set souls free. 

And that’s a profound calling. God involves us in his work of salvation. And consider that any one of us might be the only mass going Christian, the only believer that some people out there (or maybe even in our own families) might encounter. And so we have a responsibility to that people that we encounter out there, to cultivate that holiness of life that makes us effective witnesses. 

May we take seriously the call to holiness. Your sanctity is the instrument God wishes to use. So ensure you are praying as you should, confessing your sins, adhering to right doctrine, and engaging in those works of charity, that you might  be ready, willing, and effective, in the work God has for you, for the glory of glory of God and the salvation of souls.

June 05 2020 - St. Boniface - The first few swings

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Boniface, who is known as the apostle to the Germans.  This English Benedictine monk devoted his life to the evangelization of the Germanic tribes.  He made his first missionary journey to Germany in 719 at the request of Pope Gregory II.

His is one of my favorite stories from the lives of the saints. As he engaged on his preaching mission, Boniface found the land full of Pagans; the Germanic tribes worshipped gods of Norse Mythology: Odin and Thor and the like.  They were proving resistant to conversion, resistant to giving up the old gods.

Boniface learned of a giant oak tree where the Pagans gathered to offer false worship to the God Thor.  So Boniface, took an axe, and he begins chopping down this pagan idol. The pagans cursed Boniface and waited for him to be struck dead by their gods for his sacrilege.  The story says that when Boniface had chopped just a small notch into the tree, God finished the job, the tree was blast apart from above.  And the pagans who had before cursed Boniface now began to believe.  And moreover, Boniface took the wood of the tree and built an oratory in honor of Saint Peter. 

This is why you’ll often see stained glass windows and statues with St. Boniface in his bishops attire, holding an axe, standing on a tree trunk.

Pagan oaks of error, superstition, and false teaching seem to be sprouting up like weeds these days. Even within the Church, we have prelates and clerics who have made public opinion into idols, who fail to confront the moral errors of our day.

Working for the spread of the Gospel in our nation or even among our families seems like daunting work, but remember that Boniface only needed to take those first courageous swings with the axe before God did the rest of the work. In a letter written to a Benedictine abbess, Saint Boniface wrote: “Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial…let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.”

In his 80th year, Boniface was preparing candidates for confirmation when they were attacked by barbarians and massacred, martyred for the faith.

As we prayed in the opening prayer: “may the Martyr Saint Boniface, be our advocate that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our bishops and clergy may be zealous in preaching and teaching the truth of the Gospel, and that our future bishop of the diocese of Cleveland may be a man of true faith and the Holy Spirit.

That St. Boniface, patron saint of Germany, may enliven the faith of the German people and those of Germanic descent who have made their home in this land.

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept close to the truth and heart of Jesus.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

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

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.


Reading 1
ACTS 26:19-23

Paul said:
"King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem
and throughout the whole country of Judea,
and then to the Gentiles,
I preached the need to repent and turn to God,
and to do works giving evidence of repentance.
That is why the Jews seized me when I was in the temple
and tried to kill me.
But I have enjoyed God's help to this very day,
and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike,
saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold,
that the Messiah must suffer and that,
as the first to rise from the dead,
he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

Responsorial Psalm
PS 117:1BC, 2
L  (Mark 16:15)  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News..
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R.    Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R.    Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

AlleluiaJN 10:14
R.    Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord,
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel JN 10:11-16
Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

October 28 2019 - Apostles Simon and Jude - Preaching against Pagan Idols

It is always good to reflect upon the importance and significance of the Apostles and their mission.  Simon and Jude were chosen by our Lord as apostles to establish the Church throughout the world.
In the Gospels, Simon is called the Zealot. He may have been part of the political group of Jesus’ time called the Zealots who were planning to overthrow the Roman occupying force. Or he may have simply been zealous for God. In any case, Simon put aside any plans he had for himself to follow the Lord and to proclaim the kingdom of God.

St. Matthew tells us that St. Jude was the Lord’s “brethren” so, likely a close cousin of the Lord’s. Some ancient sources even speculate that Jude was the groom at the Wedding at Cana, though there is no scriptural evidence to support this. Jude is quoted in the Gospels of John—he asks the Lord at the Last Supper, ‘Master, what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling in him’” The Apostles’ certainly became bearers of God after Pentecost, filled with the presence of God, as the spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
It is not clear why Simon and Jude are celebrated together in the same feast. They are also mentioned together in the Canon of the first Eucharistic prayer. Perhaps, it is because they were said to have traveled together, preaching the Gospel throughout Mesopotamia and Persia.

Legend has it that after winning thousands of converts, they were arrested in the Persian city of Suanir for refusing to offer pagan sacrifice in the temple of the sun and the moon. They explained that the sun and the moon were only creations of the one true God. They then cast out demons from the pagan idols  and two black, hideous evil spirits, began howling and blaspheming.  For exposing the idols as demons they were killed by an angry Persian mob.

Simon and Jude perhaps ought to be invoked in our own day when many are returning to a sort of earth worship at the expense of authentic Christian faith.

As the Lord called Simon and Jude from their various walks of life to follow him, may our own plans become secondary to the call of the Lord. May their example grant us courage, and their prayers assist us in our call to holiness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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May Simon and Jude obtain courage for all bishops and priests to preach the fullness of the truth and teach authentic Christian doctrine.

May the holy apostles help all Christians to be strengthened in the faith, hope, and charity.

For the conversion of all who engage in false worship, for all unbelievers, and for Catholics who have fallen away from the faith, for those whose love of created things has eclipsed the love of the Creator.

That the sick, suffering, overburdened, and destitute, may know the help of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

For all who long to see the face of the Father, for all our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. 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