17th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025 - Purification from Pride

 The Catholic poet, Dante Alighieri, wrote a famous poem, over 700 years ago now, called the Divine Comedy—La Comedia Divina.  In the three books of La Comedia, Dante chronicles a pilgrimage he makes through hell, purgatory, and heaven.   He describes the horrific sights and sounds of the punishment of the wicked in hell for their failure to repent from their self-centeredness. He then makes his way up the mountain of purgatory, where he meets the repentant souls undergoing purification from the effects of their life’s sinfulness. Dante finally visits heaven, il paradiso, where amidst glorious celestial light he meets the blessed saints, who free from all selfishness, now enjoy the beauty of being in God’s presence.

Of the three books of La Comedia, I always enjoy reading the purgatorio. Dante structures the purgatorio according to the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust, in that order. Even in structuring the book this way, Dante is inspiring hope. Because what is he saying? He’s saying that even if you’ve committed these sins—if you repent and do penance, you can begin to make your way to heaven.

As he first arrives at the base of the mountain of purgatory, Dante meets a very large group of souls, the largest he encounters in purgatory—those needing to be purified from sins of pride. And this is the largest group because for Dante, every sin can be traced back to pride. In a sense, all sin involves that prideful turning away from God, claiming to know better than God, pridefully rejecting God’s will.

Pride is a sin condemned by Jesus himself. Explicitly, Jesus condemns the pride of the Pharisees: not only have they pridefully placed themselves in the place of God and misguided God’s people, they pridefully refuse to recognize Jesus. 

The prideful in purgatory are the largest group also because pride, for most of us, takes the longest and most effort to be freed from. How many people here are totally free from pride: not me. And we are the ones that recognize that we have a problem! Consider all the people out there that don’t even recognize the need to pray, to come to church, to keep God’s commandments, and to repent from sin.

As a remedy for their pride--as part of their purification--Dante describes the repentant souls as willingly doing two things: firstly, he describes them as carrying a huge weight on their back which weighs them down to the ground. Why? For, in life the prideful refuse to bow as we should: we pridefully refuse to humbly bow to God as we should, to God’s will, we pridefully refuse to bow in deference to the needs of our neighbor. So the souls willingly carry this heavy spiritual weight, to teach them how to bow. 

Additionally, the souls are depicted engaging in an act of humility taught by the Lord himself in today’s Gospel. Until they are totally freed from their pride, they pray—they pray the prayer taught by Jesus himself, the Our Father, the Lord’s prayer.  Their purification from pride, the healing of their willfulness and self-centeredness, the conversion of their sinful egotism, was to recite over and over, humbly and devoutly, the Lord’s prayer.

Why does Dante see the Our Father as a fitting purification for pride? Sinful Pride claims “MY WILL BE DONE”, you should all bow to me, my way of doing things, my wishes, my desires, my plans, my whims. And the Our Father prays, the opposite, not my will, but God’s will be done. It is a prayer of true humility. 

And, this is the fundamental disposition of the Christian, to acknowledge that this life is not about me. The point of all of this, the meaning of life, if you will is to learn to bow to the Father in all things. Anyone who is serious about obtaining Everlasting Life in Heaven will do all he can to bow to the Father’s Will.  Obedience to God is to be given without limit. For, there is no room in heaven for disobedience, just as there was no room in the Garden of Eden for the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Jesus shows us that the way to the Father is one of obedience. And Jesus doesn’t simply give lip-service to the Father, he doesn’t just tell us to be obedient. He is obedient “even to death, death on a cross” as St. Paul writes. 

The Our Father is one of the first prayers we learn as Catholics: we commit it to memory; we pray it at every celebration of Mass. I remember committing it to memory in first grade PSR. 

Having committed the prayer to memory, the danger of course, is that we just rattle off the words without considering how their meaning is to shape our life. God preserve us from praying this most fundamental prayer mindlessly. 

A good priest once suggested to me that our holiness as a Christian can be measured by our ability to pray the Our Father from the heart. In Dante’s purgatory, the Our Father is prayed over and over as an act of purification from pride, until these souls truly learn to pray it from the heart, with a heart in union with the heart of Jesus. 

To pray the Our Father from the heart means to pray it from your very depths, to mean every phrase of it, to pray it with the heart and the mind of Jesus Christ.  As a spiritual exercise it is helpful from time to time to pray the Our Father, very slowly, reflecting upon every word, what those words really mean for us as Christians.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, by the way, is a wonderful resource for this, the entire final 100 paragraphs of the Catechism deal with each line and each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer.

Consider even the very first word of Jesus’ prayer. Where pride focuses on me, me, me.  The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to focus on us, on we.  We are to address God as part of a community.  The first word of the Our Father is Our.  

In teaching us to pray, Jesus teaches us to focus not just on ME, my life, my needs, my desires, rattling off my wish list. For Christianity is not a mere private affair.  The Church Jesus founded is not just a gathering of isolated individuals, but persons who have been brought into a new communion with God and one another.  We go to God together.  

Look at Sunday Mass.  We cannot fulfill our Sunday obligation by sitting in a room, by ourselves, communing with God.  We are meant to come together, at least every week, in united prayer. Anyone who claims that they don’t need the Church to be Christian needs to reexamine the data and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I think that may be another reason why Dante depicts those in purgatory repentant of pride as this large group of people—it’s reminiscent of the Church. We are this large of group of people, who pray the Our Father together, who learning how to be humble, how to serve, how to obey, together. 

That’s why even leaving early from mass right after receiving communion doesn’t make a lick of sense. What are you saying, “I’ve got my jesus, I don’t need you people, I’m leaving, I’ve got places to be”. Stay, slow down. We need each other if we are going to fulfill our mission. Pray for each other, be blessed together, and go out together. Care about each other.  The people in this church with you aren’t meant to be strangers. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ. And we’ve got work to do, together, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

August 7 2024 - St Sixtus II, Pope, and Companions, Martyrs - Docile in believing the faith

 In the third century, the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered that Christians had to take part in the state religious ceremonies. He also forbade them from assembling for Christian worship, threatening with death anyone who was found to disobey the order.  St. Sixtus II was Pope during this terrible time.  And for nearly a year Sixtus functioned as Pope, administering the Church. He famously worked to resolve a conflict with certain Eastern churches over the rebaptism of converted heretics. 

In August of 258, Emperor Valerian issued a far crueler edict.  It simply and coldly ordered that all bishops, priests, and deacons be put to death. On August 6, 258, Pope Sixtus II and four deacons, were seized while celebrating Mass in the Catacombs of Callistus in Rome.  They were beheaded that same day. 

The opening prayer of today’s mass asked God by the power of the Holy Spirit to make us docile in believing the faith and courageous in confessing it. 

What does it mean to be docile in believing the faith? The words doctor, doctrine, and docility are all etymologically connected. To be docile means to be teachable—to be open to the teaching of the doctrine by the doctor—the learned one. So the opening prayer is asking God to help us to continue to be teachable. We are never too old, or too learned, that we should be unteachable in the matters of the faith—in the way of Christ. 

Two obstacles particularly stand out which make us resistant to being teachable at any age: the first is pride, the second is laziness. Pride says, I have nothing to learn, I know everything, the Church has nothing to teach me. Laziness, says, egh, it’s too much effort to learn anymore, I don’t have the energy to be open to new things, the bible is too heavy. But to be a disciple of Jesus is to be open to lifelong learning of what it means to be good, holy, courageous, wise, and loving.

It is significant that we have this reminder to be open to being taught on the feast of these martyrs. The martyrs are very important teachers. The Church’s prayer is that we learn from their example. 

The martyrs teach us what courage looks like in proclaiming the Gospel in the face of hostile forces, what witness looks like, what trusting in God looks like when the powers of hell are bent against us. They teach us what faith, hope, and love look like. We are to believe in the teachings of Christ with the faith of the martyrs. We are to place our hope in heaven, with the hope of the martyrs. We are to love God enough and love neighbor enough that our lives become a light for others. 

Holy Spirit, make us docile to the lessons of the martyrs, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church: That we may be inspired by the courage of the martyrs, remaining steadfast in our faith even in the face of persecution. 

For docility of faith: That we may remain open to learning and growing in our faith, overcoming pride and laziness and For the grace of witness: That our lives may become a light for others, reflecting the faith, hope, and love exemplified by the saints. Let us pray to the Lord.

That politicians and government officials may protect religious freedom, promote virtue, and look to the law of Christ to guide their work for the good of nations and the human race.

That in facing trials, illness, or suffering of any kind, all people may find strength and consolation in the promises of Christ and the grace of his mercy. Let us pray to the Lord.

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

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers, and grant us what we truly need to be docile in faith and courageous in witness, through Christ Our Lord.

15th Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Wednesday - Revelation of God's Love

 Fire. We find fire throughout the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles as tongues of fire on Pentecost. The Lord himself says that he has come to set the world on fire, and how he wishes it were already blazing.

Our first reading today presents us with Moses approaching the bush on fire, but a fire that does not destroy. And from that fire-that-does-not-destroy-or-consume, God reveals Himself to Moses. 

Consider this story in its ancient context. The Egyptians worshipped a god of fire, as did the caananites, the Babylonians, and the persians, as have many pagan peoples throughout history. But notice, though God reveals himself from this burning bush, He doesn’t claim to be the God of Fire. Rather, He reveals Himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” God reveals himself as the God of people. He is not simply the harnesser of fire, demanding subordination from lowly humans lest they be consumed by his powerful flame. Rather, God’s power comes from his fiery love. Unlike the cold, dark, conniving, murderous heart of pharoah, who slaughtered the Israelites because they were growing too numerous in his estimation, God reveals a heart of love that has been moved by the suffering and slavery of his people. 

But the burning bush in which God reveals that He is the God of fiery love is but a foreshadowing. It’s not until God comes in the flesh, in the form of man, that he fully reveals His love. Jesus is God’s fullness of revelation, the revelation of God’s love, God’s desire to free all humanity from death and slavery to sin which keeps us from intimate communion with Him. 

And in the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus speaks of how God reveals Himself to the childlike, a revelation that the wise and the learned are blinded to. Why are the worldly-wise, the clever, blind to God? Because of their prideful self-sufficiency. Even though they came into the world as helpless babies, into a Creation brought into being by God, the wise and the clever take the posture of absolute self-sufficiency. “I don’t need God, I have my wisdom, I have my wits, I have my own power, my own fire, I am my own god!” Their consuming pride keeps them from the light and love of God.

But the childlike—the humble—recognize, “all that I have is a gift from God.” I live, I breath, I am saved, I am sanctified, I am given another opportunity for eternal life because the God of love has poured Himself out in love. And recognizing the need for God, the childlike run toward God like a moth to flame—but unlike the moth, the childlike are not consumed, rather, they are perfected. 

The ancient theologian Origen once said that those who draw near to Jesus in the Eucharist, draw near to fire. Childlike, let us run near to the fire of God, the fire of the Eucharist, the fire that purifies us, enlightens us, illuminates us, and perfects us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That the Holy Spirit may help us to be instruments of grace and conversion, to hardened sinners, fallen away Catholics and to the faithless.  

That our young people on summer vacation may be kept safe from the poisonous errors of our culture, and that their families may be places where the faith is practiced and cherished.

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, 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.

June 28 2023 - St. Irenaeus, bishop, martyr, doctor - Knowledge and Error

 

Without a doubt, St. Irenaeus is one of the greatest theologians of the early Church.  St Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp, who himself heard St. John the Apostle preach and was consecrated bishop by St. John along with our patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch.  

Like St. Cyril whom we honored yesterday, Irenaeus was called to uphold the truth of Christ that comes to us from the Apostles. Irenaeus was bishop two and a half centuries earlier, and he faced what is probably the first major heresy the Church had to confront: Gnosticism.  

The word ‘gnostic’ comes from the greek word for knowledge, as in the words cognizant and recognize.  Gnosis—knowledge is a good thing.  It is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah sings how God gives his people knowledge of salvation. We have a strong philosophical tradition which confirms the role of knowledge in understanding our faith.

The Gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge of God that was superior to the faith taught by the Apostles. In other words, they thought they knew better than the official teaching of the Church.  

Gnosticism is the basis of every heresy, in a sense. To claim, I know better. I know better than the clear pronouncements of Church Councils. I know better than the Church Fathers. I know that my interpretation of Scripture is more accurate than 2000 years of consistent teaching. 

What sin does that sound like? Sinful Pride of course. The pride of satan in the garden claiming, I know better than God, trust me, not Him. The pride of Original Sin and every sin. 

Again, Gnosis is good. Knowledge is good. We are meant to cultivate our minds, to seek understanding about the natural world, and to use that knowledge to foster unity and concord, to seek knowledge about God and the Church and the Christian Faith to the extent that our intellect allows. 

But, if we arrive at a conclusion which contradicts Church teaching, the teaching of the Apostles, we’ve made a mistake. And those errors, if followed can have disastrous consequences, eternal consequences. We risk not only the loss of our own souls, but leading others astray.

But, knowledge, real knowledge conforms our minds to Christ who is Truth. Jesus said, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Christians seek to know the Truth. And that brings us freedom: freedom from the burden of being the sole arbiter of truth, freedom from moral error which keeps us trapped in sin, freedom to preach confidently. We share the Gospel with non-believers because we are confident in the knowledge of God. 

That knowledge enables us as St. Paul says, to “be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness.” And through that gentle, yet confident teaching, “It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth” and freed from the Devil’s snares.

Through the example of the bishop, martyr, and Doctor of the Church St. Irenaeus may we be grounded and confirmed in true doctrine for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the Church during this time of Eucharistic Revival: for a deeper love and reverence for the Bread of Life; that the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist will help us to live out our vocation to holiness with greater zeal, self-sacrifice, and trust in God.  

That during this month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: we may make reparation for the many blasphemies committed against God and the Church, and that the afflicted may know God’s compassion in all of their trials.

For all those who reject the faith, for those who show contempt for the holy word of God and the Catholic Church, for their openness to the Truth, and that all Christians may be committed to spreading the faith boldly, patiently, and clearly.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, 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, and for…

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.

Trinity Sunday 2023 - Divine Truth that conquers our sinful pride

 As I’ve shared before, I had the great privilege of living in Rome for my last semester of college seminary. Rome is truly one of the great pilgrimage destinations of our faith. It is a deeply powerful and moving experience to visit the churches, and the relics of the saints, and the Vatican—not to mention to see all of the sacred art and architecture inspired by our faith. Rome is also a major global destination for tourists—those who really have no intention of a spiritual experience. But, that’s okay. For there have been many who visited Rome as a tourist, but then had a powerful conversions. 

But, one of things about Rome that always bugged me, is that you can’t go a day without hearing—on the subways, on the street corners, in some of the piazza’s—the song “My Way” made popular by Frank Sinatra. 

And to be honest, I liked that song as a teenager. And perhaps that’s not surprising. Willful teenagers are very interested in doing things “my way”. The lyrics to the song paint the picture of a person at the end of their life, not apologizing for doing things “my way”. I took control, I made the plans, I overcame doubts, I’ve pushed past tears, I’ve refused to kneel, because I did things “my way”. 

And I guess I get it, the song is played over and over and over in Rome because it was made popular by an Italian-American, although it was written by a Frenchman—and it’s appeals to the tourists. But hearing that song with its lyrics of boastfully and pridefully rejecting any way but my own, refusing to kneel to any god but my own ego, in the Holy City is deeply disturbing. Because Rome, as our Christianity’s religious capital in a sense is supposed to be about anything but, “my way”. For our faith boasts not “my way” by Thy way be done, God’s will be done, not my own. Willfulness is what got us in trouble in the first place. Willful sinful pride is the cause of our downfall. And sinful pride continues to lead us away from God.

I bring up my mostly rational disdain for that song on this Trinity Sunday because at the heart of today’s feast is faith. Faith in something that I don’t define. Faith in something I don’t control. Faith in something that is bigger than me. A mystery greater than my finite intelligence can grasp. Faith in something that my ego must surrender to. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whether I understand what that means or not. 

And we are not the source of this Truth. The fact that we know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—One God, in Three Divine Persons, isn’t something that we figured out for ourselves. It’s not a matter of human ingenuity or industry. This Truth about God—God’s Triune Nature—has been revealed by God Himself as a truth for us to accept. 

And perhaps this is why Christianity is so terribly difficult for so many people in our modern day to accept. Because “My Way”, "my truth", "my opinion", "my body, my choice" is the anthem, the motto, the modus operandi, of modern man. Many may not admit it directly, but it’s certainly right under the surface of so many of our contemporaries: no one is going to tell me what to believe. No Pope. No priest. No holy book. I’ll determine what my own truth is, thank you very much. 

But that sounds a lot like Adam and Eve all over again, doesn’t it? It’s our downfall. Choosing to be closed to the truth that comes from God will always lead to our destruction—separation from God and division within the human family. 

One of my  favorite documents coming out of the Second Vatican Council was a document called Dei Verbum—latin for the Word of God...on Divine Revelation--how God communicates His Word, His truth to us. Right at the beginning of the document, Dei Verbum explains God’s desire to make Himself known, to make his truth known to us. It says, “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends and lives among them, so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words…the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.”

As a bit of a theology nerd, that paragraph makes my heart go pitter-pat. God has revealed this Truth—that He is Triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to draw us closer to Him in Love--that we may know Him and love Him and have friendship with Him. 

Today’s feast used to be one of my least favorite to preach on because I thought it was about coming up with some analogy to help you all better understand the relationships between the three divine persons, or the nature of God, or what the word consubstantial actually means, or explaining the heresies which misrepresent the truth about God. But really, at the heart of today’s feast is God desiring us to him—to draw us into a friendship that will change your life. 

That’s why “My way” is such a terrible idea. It’s lonely as it is closed-in on itself because it’s godless and divergent from friendship with God, if me and only me determines what is good and true. Rather, Trinity Sunday invites us to Faith that opens us to the peace, joy, life, and fulfillment that comes from knowing God. And this offers us a firm foundation for the whole of our life. 

There is a well-known prayer called the Act of Faith which expresses this: “O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.”

Faith. Faith in God. Faith in the teachings of the Church. This is the firm foundation which enables us to resist being swept up by the chaos of this world.

In the second reading, St. Paul says, “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Agree with one another, on what? This isn't about agreeing on who makes the best pizza pie, over here, but on matters of Ultimate Truth. Possessing the unity of faith in the truth that comes from God. And when we do that, we will live in peace. So, trust the teachings of the Church—all of them—even the ones that might bring you ridicule from the worldly. 

In my experience as a priest—those who trust the Church have greater peace—just like Paul says. If this is a struggle for you, know that I pray for you, because I hope that you can discover the peace that comes from faith that is deeper than your feelings. Faith that is grounded in the Truth of God Himself. Seek deeper faith that you may have deeper peace for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - The virtue of Humility and the purification from Pride

 This month, many of my bulletin columns and homilies have been about the virtue of humility. If you remember, we began the month of August with the feast of doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori. And that great teacher of the faith recommends that each month we intentionally focus on developing and practicing a particular virtue. If we are going to grow in holiness and grow in virtue, we need to be intentional about it. And the virtue for the month of August, St. Alphonsus recommends practicing is the virtue of humility.

One of the most important laws in Christ's Kingdom is the law of humility. This law says that "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted".

In other words, greatness in his Kingdom comes not from trying to prove that you are more important than other people, lording power over others, or garnering or amassing more worldly attention than other people. 

Greatness in God's eyes comes from serving others, elevating others, helping others advance in holiness.

In his great sermon on the Mount, the Lord reiterates the law of humility: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." We are before God like beggars—poor in spirit, recognizing our need of God for life—for everything. To be poor in spirit is the first step in obtaining beatitude—blessedness. There can be no growth in holiness, no progress toward the kingdom without humility; for if our actions are not motivated by humility, we are motivated by its enemy, pride.

The law of humility is stated directly in (in the book of Sirach): "conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved... Humble yourself... and you will find favor with God."

The first sin of Adam and Eve was a sin against humility, refusing to submit to the instruction of God, not trusting that God would provide for them. Because sinful pride is so ingrained in us, the Lord Jesus taught us to practice humility not simply by his words, but by his example, living out humility to the extreme: through his passion and death.

Jesus, the Lord of heaven, was born in a stable. He lived in obscurity—as the son of a manual laborer. Even during his public ministry, He allowed his reputation to be dragged through the mud by the lies and corruption of his enemies. He allowed himself to be stripped of every honor, to be condemned as a criminal, and freely took on the most humiliating form of death - crucifixion. But humbled so thoroughly, he is now glorified so magnificently.

We are to imitate the humility of Christ in all of our relationships and endeavors. The Christian must first of all be humble. No remember, humility does not mean that we think less of ourselves than we should. TO be humble is to live in the truth that we are children of God, and that is something to celebrate. We are children of God, dependent on God, dependent on the Father’s providence for all we truly need. We are also sinners in need of conversion. And called to be servants—to serve God, and God alone, in the master’s vineyard. 

St. Augustine, whose feast is August 28 said, “If you should ask me what are the three most important virtues, I would tell you they are humility, humility, and humility…if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are meaningless.”

Such humility is the foundation for the life of holiness and for all the virtues. St. John Vianney said: “humility is to the various virtues what the chain is to a rosary. Take away the chain and the beads are scattered; remove humility, and all the virtues vanish.”

As I’ve also mentioned in the past, this summer I’m reading Dante’s Divine Comedy as part of my daily spiritual reading. In the second book of the Divine Comedy, Dante begins to climb the mountain of purgatory. There he meets those souls who have repented of their sins, but who still require purification. In life, if are attached to sin, even if we repent, we will still require some purification after death. The saints teach that it is far easier to work on the virtues in this earthly life, than in purgatory. So we do well, as St. Alphonsus says, to be very intentional in growing in the virtues.

But for those requiring purification, the mountain of purgatory, in Dante, is divided into seven terraces, seven levels, in which souls are purified of their attachments to the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. 

Many people think lust or wrath are the worst sins we can commit on earth. But for Dante, it’s pride. Because, again, pride keeps us from obtaining all the other virtues: it keeps us from faith, hope, and love. 

So the very first terrace of purgatory is for the purification of pride. And the souls for their purification from pride are carrying this great weight on their backs and shoulders, the weight of their pride. The greater your pride the more purification you need. And for many of those souls, their going to be carrying that weight around for a while, as in purgatory, the purification at attainment from virtue is a slow process.

Interestingly, at the beginning of each terrace of purgatory, Dante finds these marble sculptures—these marble depictions of the virtue the souls will need to require. Much like how are stained glass windows depict so many of the saints and biblical figures exhibiting faith and charity, those marble sculptures were a visual aid for the poor souls. 

Also interestingly, on each terrace, Dante encounters a marble statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for she is the model of all virtues, the perfect disciple of Christ, the example for all Christians to contemplate. At the base of that first terrace, Dante sees this marble depiction of the annunciation: in which the Archangel Gabriel announces God’s will to Mary, and she humbly declares herself to be the Ancilla Domini, the handmaiden of the Lord. She then offers the prayer of humble surrender: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Let it be done to be according to thy word.

That is certainly a prayer we do well to begin each day with: Lord help me to be your servant today. Help me to serve you at every moment, in every encounter and interaction, in all of my words and deeds. Help me to hold back, restrain, and discipline my pride. Help me to keep the image of the Blessed Mother first and foremost in my mind and heart, that I may imitate her humility. Our Lady of Humility, pray for me, that I may become worthy of the promises of Christ.

In addition to starting the day off on the right foot, with some good humble prayer, ensure that at some point in the day you are picking up that Bible. Reading and taking to heart the Word of God is one way God wants to help us grow in holiness. If you say, “I don’t need to read the Bible. I don’t need to take to heart God’s word. I know everything I need to know. I have more important things to do.” Is that Christian humility? 

I’ve said it before as well, but if you are able, try to attend mass throughout the week. For at Mass, we encounter the humility of Jesus Himself, who gives himself to us in the humble appearance of bread and wine. 

In the words of St. Augustine, at Mass we become what we receive—through the humble reception of the Eucharist, we receive the one who was obedient to the Father’s will unto death. At Mass, we humbly recognize that before God we are beggars, we are the blind and the lame, the crippled and poor, mentioned in the Gospel, whom the Lord has welcomed into his banquet, because he desires our company, and desires to nourish us and strengthen us for the humble work of the Gospel. May we seek to practice humility in all of our duties, responsibilities, relationships and endeavors; humble in our earthly life, that we may be exalted in eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - Lust and Pride in the Inferno and Purgatorio

 
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that for my spiritual reading this summer, I’m making my way through Dante Alighieri’s 800 year old epic poem, the Divine Comedy. In the three books of the Divine Comedy, Dante chronicles a pilgrimage he makes through hell, purgatory, and heaven.   He describes the horrific sights and sounds of the punishment of the damned in hell. He then makes his way up the mountain of purgatory, where he meets those who still need to be purified of the effects of their sins before entering heaven where amidst glorious celestial light he meets the blessed saints enjoying the beatific vision of the Holy Trinity.

And throughout his journey, Dante often stops to speak to the souls he meets in the afterlife. In hell, Dante meets Popes and political leaders who misused or neglected their responsibilities; heretics who spread their errors and led others away from the Gospel of Christ, he meets those who betrayed their nation and families; and in the very lowest and iciest depths of hell, there is Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord.

Well, near the entrance of the Inferno, Dante meets a pair of souls, Paolo and Francesca, a married woman and her brother-in-law who are in hell because of their joint sin of lust.

The conversation Dante has with this lustful pair is interesting because like most of the souls in hell Paolo and Francesca refuse to admit they did anything wrong. They explain how they were simply spending time in a room together, reading a rather lurid romance novel, when their own passions were kindled. 

For allowing themselves to be carried away by their passions, Dante describes Paolo and Francesca with all of the other lustful souls as being blown about hell in a sort of whirlwind for all eternity. Their sin was allowing their passions to lead them to sin. They failed to exercise their intellect—and refused to admit that an unmarried couple shouldn’t have been in room together, alone, reading erotic literature—failing to reasonably protect their chastity. We call that the near occasion of sin, don’t we, when we knowingly put ourselves in a situation where, given our fallen human nature, we are likely to fall into sin.

The Catechism explains that our passions—our powerful emotions are an essential part of our human nature—hunger, thirst, desire for physical intimacy—are part of human nature, but it is our responsibility as rational beings that these passions be put under the direction of right reason.

Our passions are like horses, and they need to be directed by the bridle and bit of truth and reason and self-control. And if our passions are allowed to run-away on their own without proper direction, we will not reach the destination God wants for us—and in a very real sense our actions become little different from the animals. To allow our passions to rule is to abdicate our responsibility as human beings.

In our first reading, we hear of the grave evils running rampant in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The book of Genesis describes God Himself taking note of the grave sins taking place in these cities. Like Paolo and Francesco in the inferno, the Sodomites and citizens of Gomorrah were engaging in sins of lust. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had become so corrupt, Abraham, as we heard in our first reading from Genesis chapter 18 is really struggling to find 50 or 40 or 30 or 20 or even 10 innocent people.

Sodom and Gomorrah are spared for a time, but In the following chapter of Genesis, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by God with fire and brimstone, which is certainly a foreshadowing of the eternal punishments of the cities inhabitants who allow their passions to become corrupted by sin and fail to repent.

After traversing through hell, Dante eventually makes his way to the mountain of purgatory. And on Mount Purgatory, Dante encounters the holy souls who, repentant of their sins, now undergo purification in order to prepare for heavenly glory.

In purgatory Dante meets souls guilty of the same sorts of sins as those he encountered in hell: sins of gluttony, and lust, and wrath, and avarice and theft. But the big difference between those in purgatory and those in hell, are that the souls in purgatory acknowledged in their earthly life that their sins were offensive to God. And so they repented and began to hand their lives over to God.

The first group of repentant sinners Dante meets in Purgatory are the souls being purified of the sin of Pride—and this is a big group—a very big group. For Dante, and St. Thomas Aquinas, every sin, really can be traced back to pride. For Pride is when we turn away from God, when we claim to know better than God, when we act as if we were the center of the universe.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their pride and traced their inability and unwillingness to recognize him as the Son of God back to sinful pride.  

As part of their Purgatorial purification from pride, Dante describes the souls pushing heavy stones up the inclined mountain, the heaviness of the stones proportional to the measure of their pride while on earth. Additionally, the souls being purified of pride are found praying; they are praying over and over and over again, the prayer we find in our Gospel today, the Lord’s prayer.

The Lord’s prayer is the antidote to pride. For in the Lord’s prayer, we humbly surrender to God’s will, over our own. The sin of Pride weighs us down from living in the freedom of the children of God, so Our Lord teaches us the Lord’s Prayer to combat our earthly pride—to be devoted to doing the will of the Father, and relying on the providence of the Father, as Our Lord himself. The Catechism states praying the our Father should develop in us the desire to become like Christ, to behave like Christ, to be holy like Christ—free from all selfishness like Christ.

A good priest once suggested to me that our holiness as a Christian can be measured by our ability to pray the Our Father from the heart.    In Dante’s purgatory, the Our Father is prayed over and over until they really learn to pray it from the heart. Do you pray the Our Father from your heart? Being one of the first prayers we learn, praying it daily, and every week at Mass, it becomes easy just to rattle off the Our Father without praying from our hearts.

The Catechism devotes its last 100 paragraphs explaining the words of the Lord’s Prayer. I recommend reading through those 100 paragraphs over the next week, you won’t regret it. But also, I invite you, each day this week, set aside some time to pray the Our Father from the heart. Pray it slowly, reflectively, pondering each word, each phrase, each petition. Allow the Lord’s Prayer to help you overcome the pride, the willfulness, the arrogance, the disordered passions that keep you from living in the freedom and peace God wants for you.

My God’s Will truly be done on earth as it is in heaven, in our lives, the lives of our families, and nation, and parish, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Ash Wednesday 2022 - Remember that you are dust

 “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. These words, spoken for the first time by God to Adam after he had committed sin, are repeated today by the Church to each of us, as ashes are imposed on our foreheads.

“Remember you are dust”, here is a truth that is difficult for us to grasp. Our inflated egos, our pride, our arrogance hate these words. For we spend an awful lot of time and energy trying to prove to others we are anything but dust. We want people to see how creative we are, how smart we are, how strong we are, how popular we are, how rich we are, how powerful we are. And today, the Church says, forget about all of that, “remember you are dust.”

Dust, the ashes which are placed on our foreheads, they are anything but powerful and significant. They can be dispersed with the lightest breath, brushed off absentmindedly. It’s the most invaluable of earthly substances. Less valuable than air. We need air to breath, we don’t need dust for anything.

“Remember you are dust” is a humbling reality and reminder of our past, present, and future.

It’s a reminder of our past, our creation. For Genesis tells us, that God made Adam from the dust of the earth. We wouldn’t even have life if God had not given it to us. Here is a reminder to not take our life for granted. Lots of people walking around as if their life belongs to them. No. You exist because God made you. And we have the utmost responsibility to make sure that we use that life according to God’s plans, and not just our own. And to be grateful for the life that we’ve been given.

Remember you are dust, is a reminder of our future. Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Here is a reminder of our mortality. We will die. Our earthly bodies will return to the earth. And immortal souls we will face God as our judge. We get into a lot of trouble, we fall into a lot of sins, perhaps all of them, because we forget this fact, the fact that our actions have consequences, and that we will be judged for our sins.

And remember you are dust, is a reminder, that in the present we are to not allow ourselves to become inflated with sin. Ashes today are a pinprick to burst the balloons for our inflated egos. We were made from nothing, our finite lives and intellects are as nothing compared to the omniscience and omnipotence of God, the number of likes we received on social media are nothing.

But are nothingness is a good and holy thing to contemplate King David contemplated his nothingness before God in Psalm 38, when he wrote, “O Lord, my substance is as nothing before Thee.”  

Remember, too St. John the Baptist says, I must decrease, so that Christ may increase.

This imposition of ashes, in the end, is about Christ. The humility of Ashes helps us to become more like Christ, which is the aim of Lent, the purpose of Lent. We seek repentance and purification of our sins, so that we can become like Christ. We engage in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving so that we can become like Christ. We turn away from earthly vanity so that we can become like Christ. So that we can decrease in order for the life of Christ to increase in us. “God despises nothing that He has Made” and desires our salvation.

So, “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That this 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 “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 God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ. 

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

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, and for [intention below], 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 the divine mystery may never be left without your assistance. Through Christ our Lord.

16th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Monday - Prideful rejection of Truth

 “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  At this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus had offered more than enough healings and exorcisms and other miracles to show that he was not only from God, but also that He himself was God.  And at this point, you really begin to wonder, are the Pharisees really seeking the truth about Jesus here, or are they seeking to validate their own narrow view. 

In a sense, they are looking for a sign, but not a sign that Jesus is God and his word is truth. They are looking for a sign to prove themselves right. 

The Lord exposes the Pharisees here as belonging to an evil and unfaithful generation who have closed their hearts to God. They don’t acknowledge God when he is standing right in front of them. They don’t acknowledge truth when it is clearly being explained to them.

Why? Certainly the sin of pride is at work. Pride doesn’t care about the truth. It blinds us to the truth. 

St. Thomas Aquinas gives a thorough treatment of the sin of pride. He says, pride is when we make ourselves out to be more than we are. In the case of the Pharisees, they wanted to be the arbiters of truth. They wanted to dictate what is holy, rather than receiving that teaching from God. They pridefully refused to be corrected by the data right in front of them.

Thomas continues. He says, Pride is an assumed self-sufficiency which omits or discounts God in considering what one is. The atheist essentially is a prideful soul because he refuses to acknowledge that we live, and move, and have our being because of God. And even though that God is the author of life, they refuse to bow, to worship, to obey, to heed his commandments. Christians who allow pride to dominate their life become practical atheists.

St Thomas then quotes St. Gregory who teaches that pride is a claiming of excellence not possessed. The pharisees do this all the time, they claim to be holy, without possessing authentic holiness. The Lord exposes them for this over and over. Then Gregory says, pride ultimately consists of “despising others and wishing to seem the exclusive possessor of what one has”. The prideful soul is a spiteful, yet lonely soul. Refusing in the end to acknowledge the goodness in others, it is a self-imposed prison.

We can see why pride is a mortal sin. There is no place for pride in heaven. We must be rid of every ounce of pride before we can enter heaven. Freedom from pride is certainly one of our ongoing projects as followers of Jesus. And most of us will still require some purgation of pride after shedding our mortal coil. But, when, cooperating with grace, we become empty of pride, the humble goodness of Jesus fills our souls. 

 

That Church leaders will humbly lead God’s people in the ways of righteousness and truth. 

For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, for atheists and those who reject the word of God. 

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

5th Week of Lent 2021 - Friday - "You are gods"

 One week from Good Friday, with Holy Week looming on the horizon, our Gospel today begins in  dramatic fashion. The opponents of Jesus are ready to stone him to death. The violence, the plotting, the hostility toward Jesus is all starting to mount and come to a climax.  

It was the festival of the Dedication of the Temple—what today is called Hanukah, and Jesus stood in a sacred place, one of the porticos of the Temple, preaching the truth about how he has been sent by the Father as the promised Messiah, the Son of God.

This enrages the people who weren’t ready to believe in Him, and certainly weren’t ready to give him the authority as the Messiah.  So they plotted against him, and were prepared to carry out that plot by stoning him to death as the Gospel opened today.

Jesus then speaks up and asks them, “why” are they persecuting him? They claim Jesus has committed blasphemy, but Jesus asserts, “I have simply been restating to you what is in your own scriptures.”  Jesus says, “you are trying to kill me for claiming to be the Son of God, while your own scriptures make that claim about all God’s people”  And he is right, of course.  Psalm 82 speaks about how the children of Israel can rightly be called “gods”—not because they have any claim on Divinity—but because God speaks to them as his own children—and calls them into a filial relationship through justice and sharing his divine life.

While Psalm 82 certainly calls Israel to filial love of God, it also stands as a powerful indictment of Israel’s failure to love and bow to God’s authority. “How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked?” God asks the religious leaders in Psalm 82. Not ironically, that is precisely what Jesus was doing in that moment. He was standing in the Temple, the dwelling place of God, passing a sort of judgment on Israel’s leaders. For failing to acknowledge that He comes from the Father, Israel’s leaders will be counted among the wicked and die. 

This certainly puts into perspective why the religious leaders want to arrest and kill Jesus right then and there. They aren’t so much concerned about Jesus’ supposed blasphemy, but that Jesus exposes their wicked, unbelieving hearts.

This dramatic event certainly helps us to prepare for Holy Week by helping us understanding some of the dynamics that were going on in Jerusalem leading up to Good Friday. And yet, like so many of our Lenten Gospels, they invite us to examine our own hearts: how does my pride keep me from loving Jesus as I should? How does my hardness of heart keep me from the fullness of life as a child of God?

May these final Lenten days help to humble our earthly pride so to help us live in the fullness of God’s children, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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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. And That the Church might be delivered and protected from all spirits of error, heresy, schism, and unbelief. Let us pray to the Lord.

That during this Year of St. Joseph, the Church may discover a deeper devotion to our Universal Patron. That through St. Joseph’s intercession families may be strengthened, priestly and religious vocations may increase, demons may be scattered, and the sick and dying may know the peace of Jesus. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. Let us 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, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  Let us pray to the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord.

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.

10th Week in OT 2020 - Monday - The need for spiritual poverty

Over the next three weeks we will read through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, for our daily Gospel readings, beginning today with Chapter 5 of St. Matthew’s Gospel. 

This is also the first day since February 25th this year that I am wearing liturgical green for Mass. Green, the liturgical color for the season of ordinary time, symbolizes growth, spiritual growth, growth in the virtue, growth in charity, growth in utilizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that is to occur throughout the ordinary seasons of our life. The ordinary day-to-day life of the Christian is meant to bring about growth in us.

And there is no better place to beginning to talk about spiritual growth than with the beatitudes. The beatitudes are read at baptisms, weddings, funerals, and throughout the Church year because they are the attitudes and dispositions we are meant to cultivate throughout all of life whether we are mourning or rejoicing.  By practicing the beatitudes the Christian orients himself to eternity by putting on the mind and heart of Christ.  We are to be meek, as he was meek; we are to be pure, as he was pure; we are to be devoted to doing the will of God as he was devoted. 

The very first beatitude is the key to all the rest and therefore the key to any real spiritual growth we hope to obtain. Blessed are the poor in spirit. First and foremost, we must practice poverty of spirit in everything we do, in every conversation we have, in every attempt to serve the physically, we must take upon ourselves the fundamental attitude of Christ—poverty of spirit.

Poverty of spirit means that we recognize our absolute need for God, that without God we our absolutely impoverished. Without God we have nothing, and without God we cannot hope to become the people we are meant to be. Without God, the builder builds his house in vain. Apart from me, Jesus says, “you can do nothing” at least nothing worth doing.

The sin of Adam and eve, and every sin, is essentially a failure to practice this very first beaitutide. Without it, we begin to believe and live as if we do not need God,  we do not need to trust God or obey his commandments. It is the belief that we can grasp and obtain happiness and life without God. Without the first beatitude we begin to swell with a sinful pride that leads to perdition.

Rather, the Christian is to cultivate the soil of their hearts, minds, and souls with and by humility, and by doing so, we become heirs of the kingdom of heaven, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That the preaching and teaching and charitable works of the Church will inspire all people to seek to practice the beatitudes of Christ.

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

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

That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting; for our deceased family members, friends, and fellow parishioners, for all the poor souls in purgatory for Bishop George Murry, bishop of Youngstown and for Paul Becker, for whom this Mass is offered.

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

17th Sunday in OT 2019 - Purification from earthly pride

The Catholic poet, Dante Alighieri, wrote a famous poem, almost 800 years ago now, called the Divine Comedy—La Comedia Divina.  In the three books of La Comedia, Dante chronicles a pilgrimage he makes through hell, purgatory, and heaven.   He describes the horrific sights and sounds of the punishment of the wicked in hell for their failure to repent from their self-centeredness. He then makes his way up the mountain of purgatory, where he meets those undergoing purification from the effects of their life’s sinfulness. Dante finally visits heaven, il paradiso, where amidst glorious celestial light he meets the blessed saints who free from all selfishness now enjoy the beauty of being in God’s presence.

Dante uses an interesting literary device to depict the suffering of the wicked in hell, a device called Contrapasso. Contrapasso means the punishment fits the sin. For example those who in hell unrepentant of the sin of lust are caught blown about the second circle of hell by this terrible hellish whirlwind. How does the punishment fit the sin? As the lustful allowed themselves to be carried by the winds of their passions on earth, in hell they are subject to these uncontrollable winds for eternity—without rest.

In purgatory, for Dante, the purification also fits the sin. At the base of the mountain of purgatory, the largest group of people Dante meets are those who need to be cleansed of the sin of pride. For Dante, every sin can be traced back to pride. Pride turns away from God, pride claims to know better than God, better than the Church. We commit pride when we act as if we were the center of the universe. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their pride and traced their inability to recognize him as the Son of God back to pride.  Our self-centered pride keeps us from loving God and loving neighbor as we should.

So if for Dante, the purification fits the sin how did he depict the purification of the prideful? Well, what is the opposite of pride? Humility. The purification of the prideful of purgatory involved a very specific act of humility, an act of humility prescribed by the Lord Himself. Their purification, the healing of their willfulness, their self-centeredness, their sinful egotism, was to recite over and over, humbly and devoutly, the prayer we find at the beginning of the Gospel today, the Our Father.

Why does Dante see the Our Father as a fitting purification for pride? Sinful Pride claims “MY WILL BE DONE”, the Our Father prays “Thy Will be Done.” Sinful pride asserts its own self-sufficiency and control; the Our Father approaches God with open hands, seeking the daily bread that can only come from God. Sinful pride refuses to forgive, never forgiving an affront to our almighty egos, the Our Father asks God for the grace to forgive, allowing the wounded ego to heal. Where sinful pride does not acknowledge that it could ever make a mistake, could never sin, the Our Father pleads mercy for our sins, mercy that can only come from God.

A good priest once suggested to me that our holiness as a Christian can be measured by our ability to pray the Our Father from the heart. In Dante’s purgatory, the Our Father is prayed over and over as an act of purification from pride, until these souls truly learn to pray it from the heart, with a heart in union with the heart of Jesus.

The Our Father is one of the first prayers we learn as Catholics: we commit it to memory, we pray it every week at Mass. I remember committing it to memory in first grade PSR. Now, once committed to memory it becomes easy to rattle off the words, barely thinking about what they mean.  So, there is certainly a difference between praying the Our Father from memory and praying it from the heart, isn’t there? 

To pray the Our Father from the heart means to pray it from your very depths, to mean every phrase of it, to pray it with the heart and the mind of Jesus Christ.  As a spiritual exercise it is helpful from time to time to pray the Our Father, very slowly, reflecting upon every word, what those words really mean for us as Christians.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, by the way, is a wonderful resource for this, the entire final 100 paragraphs of the Catechism deal with each line and each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer.

Let’s just like at the first word of Jesus’ prayer. Where pride focuses on me, me, me.  The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to focus on us, on we.  We are to address God as part of a community.  The first word of the Our Father is Our. 

In teaching us to pray, Jesus teaches us to focus not just on ME, my life, my needs, my desires, rattling off my wish list. For Christianity is not a mere private affair.  The Church Jesus founded is not just a gathering of isolated individuals, but persons who have been brought into a new communion with God and one another.  We go to God together. 

Look at Sunday Mass.  We cannot fulfill our Sunday obligation by sitting in a room, by ourselves, communing with God.  We are meant to come together, at least every week, in united prayer. Someone who claims that they don’t need the Church to be Christian needs to reexamine the data and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Christian Church is a communion, a community, a family of souls on earth united in faith and prayer to the souls in purgatory who both receive the help of the blessed souls of the saints in heaven. And the Our Father, to be prayed by every Christian every day, opens us, reminds us, recommits us, to being a faithful members of this communion. It humbles our egocentrism, opening us up to new vistas of charity and living in harmony.

Seek and Ye shall Find. And in the Our Father, the Lord teaches us a prayer of perfect and unselfish love offering ourselves entirely to God and asking from Him the best things, not only for ourselves but also for our neighbor.

May this Holy Eucharist help us to truly be purified from all earthly pride, to grow in humble surrender to the holy will of God in all things, to pray with the hearts and minds of Jesus, united with all of the holy souls and the saints, that Our Father may truly be hallowed on earth as He is in heaven, for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls.

3rd Sunday of Lent 2019 - "Are you saved?"

“Are you saved?” You may have heard this question asked by “born again” or “evangelical” Christians. A gentleman from a previous parish assignment told me a story how one day of how a pair of nicely dressed fella’s carrying bibles came to his front door and asked him “Are you saved?” To which he responded, “Am I saved? Am I saved? No, I’m Catholic!”

He then said, “Am I saved? Well, I believe that the Lord Jesus by His Death and Resurrection has saved me by my sins, by his blood my sins are washed away, he opened to me the gates of heaven, he gave me the chance to spend eternity with him forever. So yes, I believe I am saved…BUT, I can’t take that for granted. Being saved is something I need to work on every day. There’s nothing I want more than to spend eternity with my Lord and my beloved wife, BUT I can never just presume heaven is guaranteed to me. So every morning I pray, I try my best to get to Mass and Holy Communion, and every night I say an act of contrition, because I know I’m still a sinner. And when I know I’ve committed a serious sin, I go to Confession…I am saved, but I just don’t think we can take salvation for granted.”  Good Catholic answer.

In a sense, this answer encapsulates one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith. On the one hand, you bet we are saved: By Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, Our Lord has saved us from sin and Satan. On the other hand, the reception of that gift of salvation is something we need to be constantly open to. Baptism is not a get-out-of-jail free card. Faith is a living relationship: it requires daily prayer, confession of sin, reception of the Eucharist; and when we cease these things, our souls begin to wither, like the fig tree in the Gospel today.

For if salvation was guaranteed by a one-time profession of faith, why would St. Paul give the warning, we heard in the 2nd reading today? He said,  “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” We need to take care not to fall, because falling is a real possibility. Earlier in the same first letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks about the importance of mortifying—disciplining—his flesh for the sake of his salvation. He said, , “ I discipline by body lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. “Disqualification” from what? From heaven! Paul worried, or should I say, he acknowledged the possibility that he could be preaching the Gospel in one moment, and then, because of his failure to control his sinful appetites that he could lose out on heaven.

Jesus in the Gospels gives many such stark warnings. He says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  He says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, unless you take up your cross and follow me, unless you repent…you’ll perish, as we heard repeated twice in our Gospel today, unless you are born again by water and the holy spirit, unless your righteousness surprises the scribes and the pharisees, unless you become like this little child you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Salvation is a path. Baptism sets us on that path, but it does not assure us salvation. Salvation is not assured simply by pronouncing some formula or creed, it doesn’t just require confessing ones sins and receiving communion. It doesn’t just require offering our sufferings in union with Jesus. It’s not just any one of those things by themselves, rather, salvation requires a living relationship with God through Christ that encompasses the whole of life: the rituals of the Church, humility of spirit, the acts of mercy, obedience to Church teaching, fervent recourse to the saints, all of this is part of salvation that we cannot take for granted.

St. Paul’s warning today in the second reading is an essential warning: “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall”. If you think your salvation is guaranteed you are on slippery ground. None of us here in this place are beyond the danger of earthly pride, none of us have fully achieved the holy perfection for which we were made. We are works in progress. God is working to perfect us and sanctify us and stretch our hearts to be more like His, and hopefully we are cooperating with God’s grace to this end.

But there is the real possibility that we can turn away or obstruct God’s work, especially if pride gets in the way. And this is a possibility to our dying breath, because if we are not free to turn away we aren’t really free. Love requires freedom. Salvation involves cooperating freely with the grace of God. Saying yes, not just once, but every day, every moment.

We look to the saints as our great examples of sanctity, because they are the souls who say yes to God, over and over, without hesitation, not just when it is convenient for them, even when it means being brought out of their comfort zone. They give God the blank check, they approach the burning bush in prayer, even when it means that their egos might be immolated by that holy fire. They undergo serious penances, so that the soil of their souls be might tilled and made fertile and fruitful. They truly dare to utter from the depths of their being “speak Lord your servant is listening.” You should learn everything you can about your patron saints, who want to teach you how to respond generously to God and heroically, like they did.

In the Gospel, the Lord lamented that the religious leadership of Israel had failed to bear fruit: He compared them to the fruitless fig tree, because they had ceased to bear fruit for God. The leadership had failed to lead people to Jesus and ready acceptance of the Gospel. Fruitlessness. The Pharisees thought that “their salvation was assured” because they were observing certain external precepts that they decided were the marks of holiness.

But salvation requires not just external observance, but the humility to acknowledge that I am still in need of help, I am in need of conversion to the depth of my heart, I need that living relationship with God that is nurtured by prayer and manifested in the acts of mercy.

“Are you saved?” Yes, we are saved by faith, and that’s why I’m here at Mass lest I take that gift of salvation for granted. Yes, we are saved by faith, but that faith tells us that we are works in progress. Yes, we are saved by faith, by that faith that requires daily conformity with Christ, conformity of the mind, the heart, and will, assent to all that the Church proposes for belief, humble acknowledgement of my sins, acts of mercy toward my neighbor, and the reception of his flesh and blood.

May our Lenten observances assist us in seeking that daily conversion the Lord wants for us, that will enable us to bear fruit for the kingdom, that we may “take care not to fall” and so come to our eternal reward for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of OT 2019 - Wednesday - Faith of Ordinary Folk

Yesterday, we heard of Jesus’ first miracle in Mark’s Gospel, the exorcism of a possessed man in the Capernaum synagogue. In today's gospel, still in Capernaum, Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Simon who was sick with a fever. Jesus grasped her hand, helped her up, and the fever left her instantly. Then she waited on them. The disciples must have been astonished by this miraculous healing. But, then, we heard of a series of healings that follow—the whole town gathered at the door where Jesus was staying.

This simple Gospel detail reveals much about Jesus's ministry of healing: the whole town gathered at the door not a few select people, not just the friends and relatives of the disciples, but the whole town— people with every kind of disease and burden and concern come to Jesus in faith in the hope of finding the healing they need. And Jesus is eager to heal all who are wounded and who come to him in faith.

We’ll be reading from Mark’s Gospel throughout these several weeks of Ordinary Time before Lent. You’ll notice the great attraction Jesus has to Ordinary Folk. It’s not the pretentious Pharisees, the highly-educated scribes, even the Apostles often struggle to understand who Jesus really is and to trust Him. But the Ordinary Folk in Mark’s Gospel, they get it. They go to Jesus for healing, they bring their burdens to Him, they allow themselves to be fed by Him, and led by Him.

So often, it’s our own pretension, our own egos, that keep us from the healing Jesus wants for us. How many people don’t come to Church because they don’t think they need Him. They think themselves too educated, their worldly philosophies too sophisticated. They are too important to kneel before Jesus. They have “more important” things to do than kneel before God.

Christians are certainly called to emulate the humble faith of the ordinary townsfolk in the Gospel today, and to trust that the Lord does desire to bring consolation to the real burdens of our life. He will likely not make our burdens disappear, but he will certainly give strength to bear them gracefully, and to do so knowing His presence with us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our hearts for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.
For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.
For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.
For ourselves and our parish, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.
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 goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

Thursday - 1st Week in OT 2018 - Why does God allow us to be defeated?

I saw a sign on the side of the road the other day and it said something like: “Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you don’t think things through and make bad decisions.”

In their campaign to claim the land of Canaan as their divine inheritance, Israel for the most part had driven out or made peace with the Canaanites. The Philistines however remained a formidable enemy. As we heard in the reading today, when it came time to face the Philistines in battle, Israel was surprised that they lost the battle.

They ask themselves, “Why did God let this happen to us? Why did he let us suffer defeat?” Maybe, we’ve asked similar question: in a time of national or family tragedy, a serious illness, an ongoing hardship, “why is this happening to me?”

But, Notice how the Israelites  didn’t ask God that question, they ask themselves. They ruminate about their suffering, their loss, instead of bringing their suffering to God. They keep God at a distance, as an abstraction.

And then the Israelite elders decided to do something very foolish. They decide to battle the Philistines again, but this time they will take the Ark of the Covenant with them. Now again, God is an afterthought, and instead of attempting to discern God’s will on this matter, they hijack the ark from the Priests, and they bring the ark into battle, not out of faith, but as a magical totem.

Now the Philistines were initially intimidated by the presence of the Ark. They had heard how the God of Israel had brought victory to His people in the past. But, the Philistines mustered themselves, and they defeated Israel seven times worse than in the first battle.

Why did God allow this to happen? Likely, to teach Israel to rely not on their own wits and strengths, but on Him. To discern His will and act upon it, always. At this point in history, too, Israel is steeped in sin and pride. Just, look at their irreverence and mistreatment of the Holy Ark.  If, as individuals, as a nation, or as a local Christian community, live in sin and foolishness and error, we will suffer the consequences, that our pride may be humbled.

Not a popular message, but an important one: to seek not our own will, to attempt, not to bribe or manipulate God for our own purposes, to not make God's will an afterthought, but to seek first the kingdom of God, to seek the cure for the leprosy of sin, as we heard about in the Gospel, that we may be redeemed by God’s mercy and walk in his ways of righteousness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

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

For all who are oppressed by any kind of nee, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

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.

Homily: Tuesday - 2nd Week of Lent 2017 - Holy Self-Forgetfulness

Do you remember the Gospel of Ash Wednesday? We hear it every year.

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them…When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them…When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.” Right at the beginning of Lent, Jesus condemns activity which draws attention to ourselves, instead of helping us turn our attention to God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus again condemns the scribes and Pharisees for using their positions of teaching the faith to draw attention not to God, but to themselves. As Jesus said, “They do all their deeds to be seen by men.” They sought the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues and reverent titles. They were guilty of pride and vanity. They had forgotten the one whom they were supposed to be serving—God.

Rather the attitude and the behavior of the Christian is to turn ourselves to God, in order to bring others to God. This is the reason why Jesus places such great emphasis on humility, who came not to do his own will, but the will of the one who sent Him. He indeed shows us what humility looks like, on the cross

C.S. Lewis wrote, “By this virtue [of humility], as by all others, [God] wants to turn [our] attention away from self, to Him and [to our] neighbors.” Humility is not a matter of thinking less of ourselves—but less about ourselves, forgetting ourselves and turning outward in love. Not thinking less of ourselves, but less about ourselves.

Vanity and pride are so deadly because they turn our focus away from God to how look, how we appear, how others think of us. We live in a truly vain age—where there is greater concern for how many ‘likes’ one gets on facebook or youtube or followers one has on twitter, and less concern over the state of the soul.

The Pharisees are not gone: they’ve simply got new jobs as politicians, journalists, college professors, social justice warriors, internet stars, and perhaps even some priests, and are virtue-signaling like never before—appearing to be concerned about the poor rather than actually serving the poor and actually growing in virtue.

Rather, God calls us to engage in self-forgetful practices: the sort of prayer and charitable service where self is forgotten and Christ is discovered.

May our Lenten observances humble our earthly pride and vanity and bring us that holy self-forgetfulness which deepens our communion with God and neighbor for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

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, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to turn away from all that keeps us from deeper communion with the Holy Trinity.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.