5th Sunday of Lent 2025 - (Year C) - "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more"

 

This week we celebrate the last Sunday of Lent prior to Palm Sunday next week which begins Holy Week.

And our Scripture readings today raise some pretty important concepts as we prepare for the week called Holy, our Gospel particularly: the dramatic scene of Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees who have brought before him a woman caught in the act of adultery.

Firstly, notice the peculiar nature of this scenario. The woman was supposedly "caught in the very act of adultery." But adultery, by its nature, involves two people. Where, then, is the man involved? The law of Moses clearly required both parties to be held accountable. Leviticus 20:10 says, “If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.”

Yet the Pharisees have conveniently omitted one party. From the outset, it is clear that their concern is not for justice or the enforcement of God’s law, but manipulation. They are using this woman as a pawn in their effort to trap Jesus.

In asking him how he would deal with her, they try to trap Jesus between two codes of law: the Roman Law and the Jewish Law. If Jesus says, "Stone her," he violates Roman law, since only the Roman authorities held the power to sentence someone to death. Such an action would immediately label him a rebel and enemy of the Empire. On the other hand, if Jesus says, "Let her go," he openly defies the Law of Moses, discrediting himself among devout Jews as one who disregards sacred law.

This scene foreshadows an event during Jesus’ passion. After he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane , the Jewish leaders will admit before Pontius Pilate, "We have no authority to put a man to death." They conspire to force the Roman authority to sentence Jesus to death.

In today’s case, though, Jesus masterfully turns the trap back upon the scribes and pharisees. His response: "Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone." Jesus puts the responsibility for the woman’s execution squarely on the shoulders of those who accuse her.

So Jesus has turned the tables: if THEY throw stones, they will be arrested by the Romans. If they don’t, they will appear to be claiming publicly to be sinless, which denies numerous scripture passages that remind us that before God, all men have sinned.

With their hypocrisy exposed, they are compelled to walk away. And with no accusers left, no legal plaintiffs remaining, the case collapses entirely.

At this point, Jesus turns to the woman with profound mercy, yet also clear, unwavering moral authority: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."

Jesus’ words call the woman to repentance and a new way of life initiated by his mercy. Notice, he doesn’t explain away her sin. He doesn’t relax the very clear biblical teaching that adultery is gravely sinful. He is neither indulgent nor permissive toward sin. Yet, simultaneously, he exhibits mercy. “I do not condemn you”

And here is a great paradox that lies at the heart of the Christian way. Jesus’ absolute moral clarity about sin—“go and sin no more”--is matched by an equally absolute willingness to forgive—“neither do I condemn you”.

He doesn’t say, “Well, your circumstances were hard,” or “Who am I to judge?” No—Jesus names sin as sin. The command, “Go and sin no more,” presumes that real moral boundaries exist and that breaking them wounds not only ourselves, but others and our relationship with God.

Jesus is clear about sin and calling us away from sin because he loves us. God desires not the death of the sinner, but that the sinner might live. Jesus is not a therapist who validates our decisions. He is a savior who works to free us from sin. He intervenes and seeks to stop the cycles of sin in our lives by calling us to sin no more.

“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. Jesus, if anyone, could have stoned her. For he is like us in all things but sin. But he doesn’t cast the stone, rather, he calls her to change, to repent, to metanoia—change your life, change your habits, turn away from sin and walk in the newness of life. He doesn’t belittle her. He speaks the truth that invites her to a new way of life. He calls to conversion and he is merciful—fully both, never one at the expense of the other.

Nowhere is this truth more fully revealed than in the Passion we are about to commemorate during Holy Week. On the Cross, Jesus doesn’t minimize sin—“Continue on in your sin, I’m just going to forgive you anyway.” He bears its full weight. And in doing so, He opens the gates of mercy to all. At the Cross, God’s justice and mercy meet.

At this point in Lent, perhaps we ourselves feel a bit like the woman in today’s Gospel. Maybe our Lenten practices have faltered, or perhaps we have even abandoned them altogether. We might feel ashamed or discouraged at our failures or shortcomings. Perhaps we have old sins that have still gone unconfessed. Yet, today, Jesus reassures us clearly: forgiveness is offered, a new beginning. Just as he did with the woman, Christ invites each to begin again, to recommit ourselves wholeheartedly to pursuing holiness in response to his merciful love.

So let us approach these final weeks of Lent with renewed resolve, embracing the fullness of Our Lord’s teaching,  committing ourselves anew to holiness, motivated not by fear or guilt, but by love—knowing deeply and confidently the inexhaustible mercy of Jesus, who continues to whisper gently but firmly to each one of us today: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more" for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

1st Week of Lent 2025 - Wednesday - Running away from God

 

Every day of Lent, Bishop Malesic offers a Scripture reflection, and then it is posted on Facebook, Instagram, X, and the diocesan website. This morning Bishop Malesic asks a great question, inspired by our reading from the book of Jonah, that each of us does well to ponder.

Bishop writes, “I love reading the Book of Jonah. It’s about a man of faith who tried to run away from God’s will. Who of us can’t say that we have done the same from time to time?”

During Lent, the people of God take the time to humbly and honestly consider how each of us have in some way run away from God. Our running away from God may consist of our regular struggle with sin. Sin is running away from the will of God—sin is a departure from the path of life—it is that willful wandering away from the goodness of the one who only desires and does what is best for us. Lent is the call to turn back to the One from whom we’ve run away.

Sometimes we run away from God because we believe that sin will make us happy, at least temporarily. Sometimes we become so embroiled in the corrupt tendencies of our fallen nature that we don’t even recognize how far we’ve fallen.

There is another type of running away from God that comes from reluctance—reluctance to do something difficult that God is asking us to do.

God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh. And Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah. And so he does everything he can to run away from this calling. He boards a ship and sails in the opposite direction. But God had other plans. God really wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah. So there was a storm, and a big fish that swallows Jonah and places him at the shore of Nineveh. Jonah could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he just would have gone to Nineveh in the first place.

So too when we run away from God. It usually causes more frustration when we run away, than if we just would have done the hard thing to begin with.

And what do we find when Jonah finally overcomes his reluctance. There is this miracle. Jonah goes and preaches in Nineveh and the entire city, with a population of something like120,000 people, from Nobility to peasant, repents in sack cloth and ashes. They turn to God because Jonah was faithful, to this task that he reluctantly fought to get out of.

At times, I think many of us refuse, like Jonah, initially, to go where God wants us to go because it looks hard. We say, “God couldn’t possibly be asking me to go there, it’s hard, I don’t know those people, it would make me uncomfortable”.

But God’s will often looks like a cross, and yes, there might be some suffering involved, but out of that suffering comes the miracle of life for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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We should pour forth prayers at all times dear brothers and sisters but above all in these days of lent we ought to watch more intently with Christ and direct our petitions more fervently to God.

For the Church, that this Lenten season may be a time of sincere repentance, turning from sin, and faithfully embracing God's will.

For those who, like Jonah, feel reluctant or afraid to follow God's calling, that they may find courage, trust, and peace in saying "yes" to His divine plan.

For all Christians, that they might recognize and turn from the ways they have run away from God, returning wholeheartedly to His merciful embrace

 For those who feel trapped in cycles of sin or temptation, that this Lent may bring them freedom, healing, and the strength to pursue God's will above their own comfort

For the sick and the suffering: for the grace to endure the suffering or hardships confident in the promise that God's will leads ultimately to life and salvation.

 For all the faithful departed, that having persevered through their earthly crosses, they may now rejoice forever in God's heavenly kingdom, especially N.

Grant we pray our 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.

 

 

 

4th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Tuesday - Jesus enters our misery and brings new life

 There is an old Irish saying that "old sins cast long shadows." In other words, Sin has consequences. In the readings from Samuel, we’ve been hearing about the consequences of David’s sins in his own family.

David's sins of adultery and murder reverberated beyond his relationship with Bathsheba. His sins affected his entire family as his son and heir followed his example of sexual sin by defiling his own sister, Tamar. 

David's failure to give his daughter justice created a resentment that festered in her brother Absalom until he sought revenge against both his brother and his father. Absalom murdered his brother and became next in line to the throne.

Yesterday’s reading detailed how David had to flee Jerusalem when the loyalty of the people was transferred to Absalom. The consequences of David’s sin rippled into the life of the nation, and David was cursed by his own people, they threw stones and dirt at him as he passed by.

Today, we read how David’s servants murdered Absalom. And even though Absalom was seeking to kill David, the death of his son struck him to the heart. Sin has consequences, in our families and to our nation.

In the Gospel, we read of another child who had died, not the son of a king, but the daughter of a synagogue official. At her apparent passing, there was weeping and commotion much like David’s own weeping in the first reading. And Jesus enters into this grief-filled scene, and restores the life of young girl. 

Considering these two readings side by side, we see a powerful parallel. Sin, and the consequences of sin, namely, disease and death bring us misery. But Jesus enters into this miserable state of ours and brings new life. We may not be able to avoid the misery brought about by our own sins. But Jesus enters into our misery and brings new life. 

The Gospel passage also foreshadows how those who die in Christ will be raised to new life in the resurrection. But notice, how Jesus brings healing as a result of the pleas of the synagogue official.

The Lord hears the cry of the poor. The Lord hears the prayers we offer for the sick, for family members who have gone astray. And we need to persist in our prayers for those in need. But also, recall, that we are anointed Christians, and that the Lord wishes to bring healing, relief, a new life, through us. We must respond to the cries of the poor, entering into the misery of others, as the chosen instruments the Lord wishes to use to bring about his glorious will, for the glory of God and the 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 need, 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.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Die to sin and live for God

 For a few Sundays now, following Corpus Christi Sunday, the priest has been wearing the liturgical color, green. We’ve really had the whole spectrum these past few months; we’ve had the purple of Lent, rose on Laetare Sunday, the white of Easter, the Red of Pentecost. I wore gold on the feast of the Sacred Heart, black for funerals. And now back to liturgical green. 

I’ve always been partial to green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. But, green is also the color of my childhood: I grew up running through the green forests and fields of my hometown of Madison, which is much more rural than here in the city. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking clippings from the different plants, grafting branches. Two whole summers, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees. So I associate that color green with new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color of new life, not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during Ordinary time (this season after Pentecost.) 

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, some Eastern Catholics and Orthodox wear green on Pentecost—to symbolize the new life the Holy Spirit brings to the Church and to the Christian soul. 

Spiritual growth is one of the foci of Ordinary Time. In the spiritual life we are either growing or rotting, there is no in between. We are either growing toward God or falling away. We are either growing in our prayer life or diminishing, growing in self-sacrifice or tending toward selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or becoming hardened in vice. 

The Green of Ordinary Time is a reminder that God wants growth for his children, constant growth. He wants us always learning, always developing, always increasing in grace, always producing spiritual fruit, maturing spiritually, improving in the use of the many gifts he gives us. 

And in our Second Reading this weekend St Paul provides us with two important laws of spiritual growth.

The first law of spiritual growth is that we must die to sin: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

Christians must seek to eradicate sin from our lives. Sin is poison to the soul. Becoming dead to sin means rooting out the tendrils of selfishness which choke out the life of God in us. We all have self-centered, selfish, immoral tendencies, and they must be brought under control. 

Flirting with sin, making little compromises with the commandments, or simply giving up and giving in to sinful inclinations and habits, these things suffocate the life of Christ in our souls, families, and parish. And instead of living with interior peace, joy, meaning, wisdom, and courage, sin deprives us of these things. 

Now, dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. But God is on our side. The heart of Jesus burns with ardent desire to purify us from our sins. And if we pray for his help to overcome sins, he will give it to us!

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Sometimes we only think of St. Francis as having this unique relationship with animals. But, the man was serious about uprooting sin from his life. Uprooting sin is pleasing to God. 

Of course, Our Blessed Lord is merciful to the most hardened sinner who repents, but he also calls us to purity, chastity, moral fortitude, obedience to the commandments. So, if there is a particular sin which keeps lingering, we do well to make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, and to practice some mortification, some fasting, some act of self-sacrifice to put those temptations in their place. Effort will be rewarded by God. 

So St. Paul tells us, firstly, we must die to sin. The second law, he says, is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

Dying to sin, bridling our self-centered tendencies, is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is not enough. We also need to do something for God. We must live for God. Our daily life must be marked by godliness. We are to engage in works of Charity, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  Faith without works, after all, is dead. And honestly, when you engage in authentic charity, sin loosens its grasp. 

Two groups in particular here at St. Ignatius focus on those works. The Legion of Mary which focuses on the Spiritual Works, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which focuses on the corporal works. If you are having a difficult time finding opportunities to engage in the corporal and spiritual works consider joining one of those two groups, or the garden club, or the share-a-meal on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, or the food pantry on 2nd Tuesdays. Or if there is some other work that you’d like to around here, please let me know. 

The saints give us countless examples of what living for God looks like. July 1 is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. 

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions, laboring for the spread of the Gospel.  Father Junipero was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he detected the Holy Spirit urging him to grow. Sometimes, spiritual growth means giving up something good for something better. So he gave up his university career to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. And mind you, this was a time in our history when the civil authorities were violating the humanity and rights of the indigenous people. And Padre Serra stood up for these people, helped them to improve their spiritual and material well-being, while boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

St. Junipero Serra is now celebrated as one of the great patron Saints for vocation promotion because not only did he spread the Gospel among the native americans, he was also successful in cultivating priestly and religious vocations among them.  There is even an international group for the promotion and support of vocations called Serra International who have a chapter here in Cleveland and meet regularly to pray for vocations. If you’d like information on this group, let me know. 

When his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that Fr. Serra had cancer of the legs. Those journeys up and down the coast of California must have been grueling for him. Yet, he did so, out of love for God’s people, fueled by zeal for souls. 

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, likely at the cost of some suffering on our part, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us. This week, perhaps every day, ask the Lord what is the growth you want for me today, what is the work you have for me today, what are the sins you are calling me to die to today, who am I to share your goodness with today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2023 - Friday - The opposite of sin

The Gospel reading for today should sound familiar, we heard it just two weeks ago on the 6th Sunday of ordinary time. For a few weeks leading up to Lent, in fact, our Gospels were being taken from the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, his instructions to his followers on how to live a life of blessedness—of holiness. Growth in holiness is certainly one of the purposes of Lent.

“Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

The scribes and Pharisees were admired for their zeal, concern for purity, their conformity to the law of Moses.  The very word Pharisee came comes from the word meaning “to separate”. For the Pharisees sought to separate themselves from everything that was sinful. They would even avoid eating with sinners, hence, their consternation when Jesus would dine with tax collectors and prostitutes.  

How could our holiness possibly "surpass" that of the people of Jesus' day who obeyed every letter of the law?  It sounds as if Jesus has just set the highest standards in history.  

Well, what is the Lord doing in the Gospel today. He’s takes one of the 10 commandments. He mentions how most people of his time understand faithfulness to that commandment to be, and then says, no, my followers need to do better than that. Don’t just avoid murder, avoid hateful thoughts that could lead to hostility and also seek to make peace. Don’t just avoid adultery, avoid lustful thoughts that could lead to sins of the flesh, and seek to purify your heart from all perversion. Don’t just avoid theft, avoid thoughts of greed and envy that lead to stealing, and avoid emotional attachment to possessions by giving them to the needy. 

Not only do we need to turn away from sin, we need to turn towards goodness, selflessness. For Jesus isn’t holy simply because He is without sin, but because his charity overflows. Similarly with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary isn’t holy simply because she never sinned, but because her soul became an ocean of grace. And with all the saints whom we honor throughout the year. They are holy not simply because the avoid sin, but they sought to root out all attitudes that could lead to sin and engaged with real intentional effort.

The opposite of sin isn’t simply not sinning; the opposite of the selfishness of sin is the active engagement in patterns of goodness, charity, and mercy. The opposite of sin is the Love of the Sacred Heart, enflamed with charity, embracing the crown of thorns and all suffering, for the supreme good of others.

It is this transformation we seek during Lent, not simply avoid sin, but engagement in charity, which is the very life of God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -  

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people surpassing holiness seen in works of goodness, justice, and charity.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. 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.

18th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday - But for Wales?

 One of my favorite scenes from The Man for All Seasons, the movie version about St. Thomas More, is when St. Thomas has been brought before the high court and is being questioned by his former friend Richard Rich. From the beginning of the movie, it is clear that Richard is an ambitious man, he had high ambitions to become a powerful man in the English government. St. Thomas cares for Richard’s soul, and tries to convince Richard to consider a humbler profession, that of a school teacher, in which he may even become a great teacher.

St. Thomas had become chancellor of England, the stripped of his office and imprisoned when he would not sign a declaration that the King, rather than the Pope was head of the Church. Richard is brought forward as a witness in Thomas’ trial, and offers false testimony, accusing Thomas of treason, which carried the penalty of death.

Thomas then notices the new chain of office around Richard’s neck, he had been appointed the new Attorney General for Wales. And then Thomas delivers one of the great lines, echoing the Gospel today: “Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!”

You see, Richard had conspired with the government to offer false testimony against St. Thomas in exchange for political office. “But for Wales”. 

Yet, in any sin, we settle for so much less. We exchange the good of our souls, for a passing pleasure, a forbidden piece of knowledge, a petty act of revenge, a chance to climb the ladder of ambition. Sin, in the end profits us nothing, the Lord says in the Gospel today, not even if we were to gain the whole world. For the result of sin is the destruction of our soul, perhaps even its eternal loss. 

Rather, when we are being tempted to sin, we must deny ourselves, practicing self-control, temperance, and prudence—recognizing that we were made for so much more than sin. 

The Lord acknowledges that to fight against temptation sometimes feels like being nailed to a cross, but those who deny themselves, will find something—obtain something—more valuable and glorious than anything their sin could ever hope to acquire—divine life, divine grace, peace that the world cannot give, joy, that is made perfect in us by the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord keep us strong against temptation, helping us to value the things of heaven over the things of earth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - 

That the pope, bishops, and clergy may be filled with constancy in teaching and living out the Gospel, and that our parish may bear witness with great confidence to our life-giving faith in word and deed.

For newly consecrated Bishop Michael Woost, new auxiliary for the Diocese of Cleveland, may he know abundant blessings in his new ministry, and aid the Church in stirring up the flame of faith and witnessing to the Gospel.

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

For all those who experience persecution for the sake of the Gospel, that they may be sustained in their faith, and bear fruit for the salvation of souls.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection, especially N. for whom this mass is offered.

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

6th Week of Easter 2022 - Tuesday - The Holy Spirit will convict the world

 Nearing the Feast of Pentecost, our Gospel readings continue to be taken from the Lord’s Farewell Discourse from John’s Gospel. In today’s passage, the Lord reveals that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world.” He will Convict. Here, the word “convict” is used in the legal sense: a criminal is convicted of a crime, meaning, his crimes are brought to light, it becomes clear that he is guilty of committing evil. So, the Holy Spirit will convict the world, bringing to light the evil in the world, the criminal errors and behaviors of the world. 

And the Lord mentions 3 particular areas in which the Holy Spirit will convict the world: in regard to sin, righteousness, and condemnation.

The Holy Spirit, through the preaching and teaching of the Church shows that the world is all wrong about sin. The world say “sin isn’t real. Right and wrong are simply subjective to the individual. What’s wrong for one person is right for another. God’s commandments are fabrications of the patriarchy for the purposes of controlling the vulnerable. It doesn’t matter what you believe in, how you act” FALSE.

Sin is real. Behaviors, decisions, choices, and attitudes contrary to the divine law are evil. And choices which are not in conformity with the goodness of God cause real harm to souls. Sin mutilates souls, darkens intellects, weakens will, deepens the attraction to graver evils. Sin begets sin. The deeper one falls into sin, the farther one falls away from God. The world is wrong about sin. 

It is also wrong about righteousness. We cannot make ourselves righteous by our own activity. For, righteousness comes from being in communion with God, allowing the life of the living God to fill one’s soul, to make choices in conformity with the Divine Will of God.  The world will always fail in its attempts to build a utopia because it divorces itself from God. There can be no secular utopia. We cannot hope to accomplish anything of lasting good value without God.

Rather, we are to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Unless God is the builder of our lives, our families, our nations, our building is in vain. 

So the world is wrong about evil, the world is wrong about goodness, and finally it is wrong about condemnation. The world says all roads lead to heaven. This is false. All roads except the road of Jesus Christ lead to eternal condemnation. “No one comes to the Father except through me” Jesus says himself. In the end “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two.”  

As baptized members of the flock of Christ, we are sent into a hostile, unbelieving world. But unbelievers and even hostile anti-Catholics will be converted, will be attracted to the Truth when they see the truth evidenced in our lives—the truth that the life of Christ bears fruit that the world cannot produce—true lasting peace, joy, gentleness, chastity, patience—and leads to life everlasting.

You want to proof that Jesus Christ is truly God and Lord? Look at the evidence produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. Look at the courage of the martyrs; look at the saints he has produced, look at their miracles, their righteousness. Look at the unity he has brought among the disparate people of the world who accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the patience and joy and understanding and knowledge he gives to ordinary people who pray.

The world is convicted by the Holy Spirit working in our lives. May we witness to the saving Gospel in every conversation and decision today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

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

Holy Week 2021 - Good Friday - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"

 

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”

While we did not read those words from St. Luke’s Gospel either on Palm Sunday or Good Friday this year, this plea for mercy for others uttered by our Lord from the cross have been echoing in my heart today.

To whom was the Lord addressing that prayer for mercy? In Luke’s Passion narrative, the Lord’s petition for forgiveness immediately follow’s the description of his crucifixion: When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus no doubt offered this prayer on behalf of the Roman soldiers who literally nailed him to the cross. They knew not what they did, they were just following orders. They hadn’t heard him preach, they didn’t know his identity. They were treating Jesus just like they would any criminal, though maybe a bit more severely, due to his reputation as King of the Jews. They certainly did not know that he truly was a King, though his Kingdom was not of this world. If they would have known his true identity, writes St. Paul to the Corinthians, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Cor 2:8).

So certainly Jesus’s plea was for his actual executioners, who though they treated him with cruelty and harshness, did not know they were committing deicide—putting to death the innocent lamb of God. And yet, did Jesus not also offer that merciful plea to his Father on behalf of the Jews who conspired to put him on the cross? The scribes, pharisees, Sadducees, annas and Caiaphas: those who interpreted his teachings as blasphemy—those who saw him as a threat to their own religious authority—those who he threw out of the temple for turning God’s house into a den of thievery. Those who called for the release of Barabbas. Those who literally called for his crucifixion. They showed that they misunderstood his teachings and actions at every step, so wasn’t he also praying for them? Not just for his executioners, but those who conspired against him? 

But the Lord’s prayer was not simply just for his executions, or the Jewish conspirators, was it? We know who that prayer was for. It was for us. It was for me. It was for you. It was for Moses. It was for Adam and Eve. It was for us all. All people of all time. As St. Peter writes in his first epistle: “Christ suffered for sins, the Righteous One for the sake of the Unrighteous Ones (that’s us), that he might lead us to God. (I Peter 3:18)

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. None of us can really understand the gravity of our sins. Human sin, after all, is an afront to the infinite God. And can we really ever truly grasp God’s infinite goodness and love, which sin offends. We can’t even really comprehend how our sins wound and hurt our neighbor, or our family members, let alone the infinite God. “Those who do not know what they do” that’s us. 

But just because we don’t understand the gravity of our sins, doesn’t mean they aren’t sins and an abomination to God, just the same. Just because we don’t understand the impact, the severity, the wounds that we cause, doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. 

The reason today is called Good Friday, is as St. Paul writes: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8). “Father forgive them” for we needed forgiveness.

Throughout the ages the martyrs have echoed the Lord’s prayer for mercy. St. James, the first of the apostles to be martyred, knelt and prayed as he was being stoned by the scribes and Pharisees: “Lord, God, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” St. Stephen, too, condemned to death by Paul, prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Even our own patron, Ignatius to the Church of Ephesus, recommended that as they underwent persecution, they too should pray. Ignatius writes, “Offer prayers in response to their blasphemies…be gentle in response to their cruelty and do not be eager to imitate them in return…Let us eagerly be imitators of the Lord.” This, coming from a man who was being marched in chains to be torn apart by lions.

As each of us comes forward to adore the holy cross today, let us come with the same prayer upon our lips. We pray for the world. We pray for those who do not believe in Christ. We pray for members of the Church who love and believe imperfectly. Pray for those who have hurt you or who might hurt you in the future. Pray for those who bring ruin to our nation, to our diocese.  Pray for your pastor, as he prays for you. “Father, forgive them for they no not what they do. Father, forgive me, for I, so often know not what I do.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Week of Lent 2021 - Tuesday - The Remedy for Death

 Discontent with the food God has provided. An encounter with a serpent. Certain aspects of the story from the Book of Numbers this morning have certain parallels with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

God had provided food aplenty for Adam and Eve. They could eat from any of the fruit trees in the Garden of Eden.  But they were discontented with the food God provided, and looked to the fruit of the forbidden tree.

Similarly, the Israelites in the desert: God had provided manna from heaven. But they were discontented. They wanted more. Their complaining was a sure sign that they were failing to trust God and be grateful to God.

Like the Israelites, who are bit and poisoned by serpents, Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be proverbially bit by the serpent at the forbidden tree. They are poisoned by the serpent’s bite, and that poison brings death, not only for them, but for the entire human race.

The story from the Book of Numbers not only looks back to Adam and Eve, but foreshadows the victory of the New Adam, in the Gospel. The bronze serpent, mounted on a pole, becoming a source of life for the poisoned Israelites, foreshadows the saving death of Jesus Christ, mounted on the cross, which becomes a source of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

The drama of Adam and Eve, the drama of sin, the drama of the Israelites in the desert, plays over and over again in our lives.  We allow trust, love, and gratitude to God to die in our hearts whenever we turn to sin. We allow ourselves to grow discontent with the good food God has provided for us and seek to satisfy our hunger for God in so many artificial substitutes. We allow the serpent to whisper to us, that we should grasp for more than what God has provided. And then the serpent strikes. We yield to sinful temptation. 

Even a venial sin would bring eternal death, if not for the saving grace of Christ. For the poison of sin is eternally lethal if left untreated. But thanks be to God, the divine physician has become the remedy of sin through his death.

There are many that refuse to turn their gaze to the saving cross of Christ out of stubbornness, ignorance, or attachment to sin. Yet, we are called to lift him up for all to see nonetheless, in our speech, in our liturgical life, and good Christian example.

As Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum near, let us look to the cross and lift high the cross that the Lord may bring healing and deliverance to those who love him. May the poison of sin which continues to linger in us in the form of selfishness, mistrust of God, or disordered attachment to earthly goods and activities, be eradicated in us through the grace of the Savior 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.

2nd Week of Lent 2021 - Friday - Overcoming our tendency to reject God

 Especially, it seems, during the season of Lent, our readings have common themes. In both first reading and Gospel today, we stories of rejection.  In the first reading Joseph’s brothers rejected him and plotted to kill him.  In the Gospel, in the parable of the wicked tenants tells of the tenant farmers who reject , seize and kill, not only the vineyard owners servants but also his son.

Jesus offers this parable to the chief priests and elders who are treating him like the son of the vineyard owner. The Lord too will be seized and killed by those who reject him. 

The tale of rejection goes back to the beginning when Adam and Eve rejected God’s command, thereby rejecting His plan for them and for mankind.  By rejecting God they forfeited paradise. So too, the Lord explains that for those who reject Him, “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

Those who reject God are ultimately fruitless; whatever they hope to build drawing upon their own plans instead of Gods, will ultimately crumble and fall.

Personal Sin, for which we do penance during the Lenten season, always involves a rejection of God’s truth and God’s plan, a rejection of his prophets, a rejection of His Son. Sin pretends that our time, our talents, our treasures belong to us, to dispose of following the whims of our egos. Sometimes the teachings of the Church are found difficult—they infringe on our sinful habits and attachments—and so they are rejected.  At yet, they are difficult so often because we have hardened our hearts against them and have failed to trust God as we should. 

Thanks be to God for sending His missionaries and messengers and His Son into our lives in order to free us from pretend lifestyles.  For the Gospel helps us to remember that I am not the vineyard owner, merely a tenant; and God has sent his Son, to free us from our sins.

In the Lenten Call to repentance we acknowledge those times that we have rejected what God wants for us. The more serious we are about our Lenten penances the more we will come to hate sin and the rejection of God. For our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are meant to till the hardened soil of our hearts; to wake us up out of our tendency to reject God’s truth, and to help us obtain a life free of envy, impatience, jealousy, violence, arrogance, self-centeredness—for a life of authentic service of the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That Our Lady and St. Joseph may protect Holy Father Pope Francis in his apostolic visit to the war-torn country of Iraq, and that the Gospel may be accepted and cherished there and in every land. 

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. For the protection of the unborn and a respect for the dignity of every human life.  

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. 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.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5th Week of OT 2020 - Wednesday - What defiles a man?

Following his miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and feeding of the five thousand, a group of Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem come to question Jesus. Initially, they are not impressed. Jesus and his disciples eat their meals without the ceremonial purifications that had become popular. The Law of Moses prescribed rules for ceremonial washing for the priests serving at the altar in the Temple, but the Pharisees extended these rules to everyone. For the Pharisees, Jesus’ contact with sinners, his traveling to pagan territories, eating with what they considered unclean vessels, and unclean foods, without proper purification, meant that he was unclean, he was a sinner, he couldn’t be a true religious leader, he couldn’t be trusted.

This back and forth with the Pharisees reaches a climax in today’s Gospel, so much so that the Lord summons a crowd to listen to his pronouncement. “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters a person from outside can defile that person,” rather what defiles are the moral evils that fester in the human heart, moral evils that are acted upon: unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, and so on.

The Pharisees were perverting the Law of Moses and missing its purpose entirely. You want to know what defiles a person? Human sin, evil conduct.

So, as followers of Jesus, we seek that interior purification and doing everything we can to remain clean interiorly.

This means examining our conscience daily and consider if our actions and attitudes have been unclean, and to repent of them. We make frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for its cleansing power. We reflect upon God’s cleansing Word. We avoid using dirty language and fixating on dirty images. We seek freedom from unforgiveness, ingratitude, selfishness, greed and gluttony.

Jesus makes a very powerful promise to the pure of heart. Do you remember, from the beatitudes? Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. The Pharisees were unable to see that Jesus was God because they may have been ritually pure on the outside, but inside, they were full of corruption and defilement.

So too in our culture: so many have lost touch with God precisely because they have allowed themselves to be defiled and refuse to repent and seek that purification that can only come from Him.
Lord, cleanse us, make our hearts new, purify us that we may see your face, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For the Holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her, and bring cleansing to all the impurity which afflicts her members and leaders.

For the conversion of all those who have fallen into serious sin, for a return of fallen away Catholics to the Sacraments, and that all young people may be protected from the perversions of our culture.

For healing for all those suffering disease, especially diseases without known cures, for the people of China and all people afflicted by the Coronavirus, and all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

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

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

15th Sunday of OT 2019 - Good Samaritan Saints and Sinners

Biblical scholars and preachers usually interpret today’s Gospel passage, the parable of the Good Samaritan in one of two ways.  The first is to read it as Jesus’ answer to what Christian compassion, mercy, and neighborliness looks like.  The scholar of the law asks Jesus, “who is my neighbor”, “who should I care about” and Jesus answers: your neighbor is everyone, even the person that you would normally overlook, even the person that the rest of the world considers unclean, that’s your neighbor, and you need to pick him up when he has fallen, you need to see past your preconceived notions and stereotypes and prejudices, and you need to treat him with mercy and compassion and tenderness. So that’s the first interpretation.

The second way of interpreting the Good Samaritan parable is to see in this parable an allegory for what God has done for each one of us in Christ Jesus.  God has raised us up when we fell upon robbers and have been “half dead” because of sin.  We’ve been raised up, tended, cared for, restored to life because of Jesus’ saving death.  No human power could do what God has done for us—restoring our souls to life through baptism, healing us through grace.

Before I was ordained a priest, a group of seminarians one Sunday afternoon after attending Mass in the morning, decided to visit one of these non-denominational Mega-Churches that had become somewhat popular, you know, to see what all the fuss was about.  In fact, a lot of former Catholics end up at these Mega-Churches for various reasons. 

So that morning, there were about 800 people gathered, we sat in chairs up to a stage filled with drums and guitars.  The service opened with about 20 minutes of Christian Rock music, smoke machines, and laser lights. 

The pastor then took the stage and performed a dramatic retelling of this morning’s Gospel, the parable of the Good Samaritan. 

Afterwards, he gave a sermon, basically interpreting the parable in that second way, that we are the man fallen amongst robbers; because of our own free-will given over to sin, we were lying on the road, half-dead, where no human power could help us.  And then, out of His infinite love, God sent his son to die for us and redeem us, to raise us up to new life. 

Then the pastor asked the congregation to close their eyes, and asked, “Have you fallen amongst robbers, have you been struggling in sin, are there choices that you’ve made against God’s commandments, have you pridefully rejected God’s grace, have you been selfish with the time you’ve been given? If so, raise your hand”  And I’m thinking to myself, sure I have, I’ve struggled with sin, I’ve fallen, I’ve been prideful, I’ve been selfish towards my neighbor, and so, I raised my hand, I didn’t think twice.  All of a sudden, he says, “Oh, I see someone with their hand up”.  I open my eyes and look around and thought, “oh no, that’s me!”  My classmates said I looked like a deer in headlights.  So I quickly shoot my hand down, and try to hide in my seat.  But I start to think, how am I the only one in this room of 800 people that is guilty of sin?   

And I’m thinking, you know, this is one of the big differences between the Catholic faith and a lot of these non-denominational groups.  They believe that you only have to raise your hand once in your life. Once you raise your hand, and go up to the altar, and profess that Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior, your saved, you never need to raise your hand again. Catholics, on the other hand, we raise our hands daily. At every Mass or at the end of the day in our examination of conscience, we take sin seriously, we take our hands and we beat our breasts and see even those smallest acts of selfishness, for what they are, acts of free will contrary to the Love of God and Neighbor and we repent, daily.

And when those sins are of a serious nature, they cause a serious disruption in our relationship with God, we brings those sins to the ear of a priest, and to confess them and to be absolved from them in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Scripture and the lives of the Saints show that only when we acknowledge ourselves as sinners, do we truly begin to love God and neighbor. The second way of interpreting the parable, is a sort of key, to unlocking the first. The humble acknowledgement of my own need for a savior, my need for conversion opens us to truly love as we are made to love—to love God with our whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength.

I’ve been told that I sure talk a lot about sin and confession. But that’s only because humble repentance is the most important key to loving God and neighbor authentically.  We see this so evidently in the lives of the Saints. The saints, who become charged and changed by God’s presence living within them, recognize and acknowledge themselves constantly falling short of the love of God, and so they strive to love more perfectly day after day. The Apostle St. Paul calls himself the “chief of sinners” after his initial conversion. He saw himself first and foremost as a sinner, who has unworthily received the new life of Grace. And he lived his life as a response to that grace.

St. Francis of Assisi, most beloved of saints, looked upon himself as a sinner, too.  In fact, he believed himself the greatest of all sinners. Our most beloved of saints, thought himself the greatest of sinners. “He was accustomed to say that if the mercy shown him by God had been given to any other sinner, the latter would have become ten times holier than he, and that to God alone must be attributed whatever was found in him of goodness and beauty.

Saints are not the opposite of sinners. Rather, saints ARE sinners who acknowledge the truth about themselves and about God, and live in loving and grateful response to mercy through lives of grace and service. Saints allow themselves to be saved by Jesus the Good Samaritan, and go to become Good Samaritans for others.

Francis of Assisi once told his monks that if they were in the midst of the Beatific Vision and a beggar knocked at their door asking for a cup of cold water, turning away from the heavenly vision to help the beggar would be the real heaven, and turning away from the beggar to keep the blissful vision would be turning from God's face.

Daily we do well to ask the Holy Spirit to help us acknowledge and repent rightly of our sins, and to help us identify the times that we turned away from those opportunities to be the Good Samaritan. Daily repentance leads to daily conversion and daily acts of charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2019 - Friday - Justice, Mercy, and the Need for Repentance

Our readings underscore today the justice of God, that God is a just judge: the just, the virtuous shall at the end of this life receive eternal life, and the wicked and unrepentant shall go on to eternal perdition. And they underscore the mercy of God: “If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”

What separates the saved from the damned in the readings today? Repentance. Lent is a powerful call to repentance, and repentance is a matter of life and death.

Justice is when you give that which is deserved. Justice demands parents feed and nurture their children. Mercy gives beyond what is deserved. As a matter of justice, all sinners deserve death. They’ve chosen by their own free will to separate themselves from God, and so they deserve the consequences of that separation.

The Psalmist is a little overwhelmed by God’s justice today. “If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand?” The Psalmist is overwhelmed that God knows, each and every one of our iniquities throughout our whole life, and that every deed from our whole life will be brought up on the day of judgment, and we will have to give an accounting for them.

But then the Psalmist recalls God’s forgiveness: “But with you is forgiveness”. God has announced his mercy: He Himself will pay the price of our sins, and that he will forgive those who repent.

During Lent, we show our repentance, our sorrow for sins, our desire to convert from each and every one of our sins, through prayer, fasting, and charity. We make a Lenten confession and confess those sins. By doing so we “Cast away from all the crimes we have committed, and make for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (Ez 18:31).”

We make a grave mistake in saying, “it doesn’t matter how I live, because God is mercifull”. No. It does matter. Repentance does matter.

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees were so self-assured that they did not recognize their sinful pride and their sinful coldness toward the poor. They failed to repent of their pride, their lust, their wrath, selfishness, and for that Jesus announced eternal consequences.

So may we take advantage of this time of mercy, truly examine our hearts and our motivations, not according to the standard of the world, but the standard of Christ, that not a sin of our life will go unrepented of, that the Lord will not find us unrepentant, but full of contrition, trusting in His word, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. 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.

Ash Wednesday 2019 - "Return to me with your whole heart"

“Return to me with your whole heart”, the first words of the first reading of Lent, sums up pretty well, the entire purpose of the Lenten season. We have ashes imposed upon our foreheads as a stark reminder of the need to return to the Lord with our whole heart. It’s the purpose we abstain from meat today and fast: as a reminder that we need to return to the Lord with our whole heart.

You and I are here today because there is at least a portion of our heart is for the Lord—a portion of our heart which recognizes the need for God—the need to love God, follow God, and serve God. But God doesn’t want just one piece of our heart-he wants all of it. “Return to me with your whole heart.”

Since the Garden of Eden, from that first sin, mankind has had that terrible affliction of keeping our whole hearts from God. But we were meant to, and we were made to love God with our whole hearts. As ashes are placed on our foreheads we will hear today those words, “Remember you are dust” recalling that we were made by God from the dust of earth. This is the call to remember who made us, and why He made us. He made us to love Him and each other, he made us to trust Him, to obey Him, to follow Him…always. He made us from the love in His heart, that we may love Him back with our whole hearts.

“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a reminder of the consequences of our failure to love God with our whole hearts, our sin. “The wages of sin is death”. We return to the dust of the earth from which we were made as a result of sin. We are excluded from heaven because of our sin, for heaven is the place not just for those who love God with some of their hearts, but for those who love God with all of their hearts.

We place ashes on our foreheads, we fast, we pray, we give alms, we make a Lenten confession, as a way of saying, God help me. I fallen into sin, I have failed to love you, help me, to return to you with my whole heart.

Each of us have strayed from God in our own ways: my sins are different from your sins, but what brings us all together today is the recognition that we have sinned, and we need God’s help.  For we are in such a sorry state, we can’t return to God on our own, we need God’s help, we need the grace of His Son Jesus.

Allow the grace that flows from Jesus’ Sacred Heart to repair your broken hearts, to enflame your tepid hearts, to purify your lust-filled hearts, to expand your selfish hearts, to humble your prideful hearts, to embolden your fearful hearts, to discipline your rebellious hearts, to teach your foolish hearts, to heal your wounded hearts.

Look to Jesus this Lent as often as you can, that you may have Him as your example, of the one whose heart is on fire with Love for the Lord, whose heart is wholly and fully devoted to doing the will of God no matter the suffering involved. Let his Sacred Heart help you to love God with your whole heart that you may be counted among his blessed ones in eternal life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Church will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent.  We pray to the Lord.

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.  We pray to the Lord.

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.  We pray to the Lord.

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.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

July 4 2018 - Independence Day - Declaration of Independence and the Sacrifice of Christ

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence to declare to the world that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as sovereign states independent from the rule of the British Empire.

In response to this historic event, John Adams, one of only two of the Founding Fathers to go on to become president, wrote to his wife Abigail:

“…This day ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

How fitting that as Catholics we begin this day of pomp and circumstance with the greatest of all celebrations: the celebration of Holy Mass.

There is a beautiful congruence of what our nation celebrates and what our faith celebrates. Our nation celebrates today freedom from tyrannical rule. It was the contention of our Founding Fathers that the British Rule of the American Colonies was tyrannical and unjust, and so we declared our independence from that tyranny in order to govern ourselves justly, that we may freely exercise and pursue our God given rights.

The Mass is a celebration of freedom as well. It is a celebration of freedom from the tyranny that we impose upon ourselves through sin, a tyranny rooted in man’s grasping at the fruit of a forbidden tree.

To many people, the notion of “freedom” means the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want.  You even sometimes hear children claim, “I can’t wait until I grow up, then, I can do whatever I want.”  But, freedom does not mean doing whatever we want, but doing what we ought.  Adam and Eve ought to have used their freedom to remain obedient. We all ought to use our freedom to pursue righteousness.

We know that our founding Fathers had to fight many battles to obtain the freedom which they believed was our God given right. Independence Day is always a day of gratitude for all those who battled for freedom and a reminder that the battle for freedom endures today.

The Mass is also the commemoration of a battle, a spiritual battle, and the victory of Christ at that battle, a victory not obtained through military arms, but by Christ’s arms outstretched upon the cross, a victory won by Christ’s obedience.

In a sense, the Mass is not a declaration of independence, but a declaration of dependence: the Christian declaration that we can never be truly free or truly good without God.

So we pray for our nation today, that the citizens of this country will be committed to pursuing and protecting our freedom. We pray in gratitude for those who shed their blood for the freedom we enjoy today. And we pray that we, as Christians, will witness to the world that freedom, in it’s ultimate sense, can only be found through Christ and His Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Please stand for our petitions.  Our petitions this morning are those composed for the inauguration of President George Washington by Archbishop John Carroll, First Roman Catholic bishop in our country whose brother Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through Whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy holy spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of the United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. We pray to the Lord.

Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty. We pray to the Lord.

We pray for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they maybe enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability. We pray to the Lord.

We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. We pray to the Lord.

And we pray especially for all of our countrymen who have gone before us in faith, for all those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, for all the of the deceased members of our family and friends, and for N., for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

Ash Wednesday 2018 - The loss of the sense of sin

What is the greatest sin? Murder? Adultery? Sacrilege? Genocide? Back in 1946, speaking to a group of Catholic teachers, the Pope at the time, Pope Pius XII, said, “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.”

“To lose the sense of sin.” What did the Pope mean by that?

The sense of sin is the awareness of the difference between right and wrong, it’s the consciousness that it’s wrong to violate God’s commandments, it certainly involves a consciousness that God has given us commandments in the first place.

Consider Adam and Eve in the garden. They knew that God had commanded them to not eat the forbidden fruit. But the more the dialogued with the serpent, the less they considered the wrongness of the act and the consequences of their sin.

Similarly, the loss of the sense of sin in our own life is the result of a continual and repeated lie one makes to oneself. When one tells oneself that “sin isn’t that bad.”

We lie to ourselves and we begin to believe the lie. “It doesn’t matter if I skip mass”, “it doesn’t matter if I cheat off my classmate or steal from my employer”, “it doesn’t matter If I visit the perverted internet website”, “it doesn’t matter if I gossip about my neighbor, or I’ll just make an exception this time”.

As we lose the sense of sin, sin takes root in our life. Soon, we don’t think twice about skipping mass, gossiping, contracepting, striking a sibling or a spouse. And when will the cycle end?

Today, Ash Wednesday, is such an important day because today is a day that we acknowledge that sin is real, that sin has a real effect in our life, that our sins keep us from being the people God made us to be, they keep us from living in harmony with our neighbor, and the joy of the Gospel.

Today we are marked with ashes, ashes which symbolize the spiritual death which occurs when we disobey God’s commandments. To be marked with ashes is to mark oneself as a sinner, but a sinner with hope. We are marked as sinners who desire God to intervene in our life to save us from our sins. As Pope St. John Paul taught, “Sin is an integral part of the truth about the human person. To recognize oneself as a sinner is the first and essential step in returning to the healing love of God,”

The Gospel warns us of marking our faces simply to appear to be fasting. Receiving ashes can be done vainly, wanting people to notice you simply for having gone to Church. We receive ashes rightly when we do so humbly, desiring with our whole hearts that with God’s help we will put an end to sin in our life.

The 40 days of Lent remind us that Jesus goes out into the desert for 40 days. He fasts and prays and does spiritual battle with the devil. We mark ourselves with ashes today, that we may be united with Jesus, in our fasting, in our prayer, in our own spiritual battle to remove sin and selfishness from our life.

May this great devotion which marks the beginning of Lent, also mark the end of the reign of sin in us, that we may know the life, the peace, the healing, and the joy that comes from faithfulness to God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

13th Sunday in OT 2017 - To die to sin and live for God

Last weekend was the first Sunday the liturgical color was green since last February. We had the purple of lent, the white of easter, the red of Pentecost. And remember, after Pentecost we had the two great solemnities of Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi Sunday.

I was leading a support group the other night, and as an icebreaker question, each person was asked their favorite color. A few of the people said blue, finding blue to be peaceful and calm. But, I said, green--dark hunter green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. But, green is also the color of my childhood: I grew up running through the forests and fields out in my hometown of Madison, which is much more rural than here in Lyndhurst. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking clippings from the different plants, grafting branches. One summer, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees. So I associate that color green with new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color of new life, not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during this season after Pentecost.

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, many Eastern Catholics wear green, not the fire of the Holy Spirit, but the new life He brings to the Church and to the Christian soul.

Spiritual growth is one of the foci of Ordinary Time. In spiritual life we are either growing or fading, ascending or descending, flourishing or stagnating. There are no plateaus in the spiritual life: we are either growing in our prayer life or falling away from vital practice, growing in a spirit of self-sacrifice or tending towards selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or leaning toward vice.

God wants His children always growing, always learning, always becoming the people he made us to be. And in our Second Reading, St Paul provides us with two laws of spiritual growth.
The first law of spiritual growth is that we must die to sin: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

The second law is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

What does "dying to sin" mean?

We are called to put to death our self-centered tendencies, all of them, our transgression of the laws of God, all of them. For not only do our sins hinder the life of God within us, they cause destruction in our lives, our families, and our society.

Flirting with sin, making little compromises with the commandments, or simply giving up and giving in to sinful inclinations and habits, these things suffocate the life of Christ in our souls.

And instead of living with interior peace, joy, meaning, wisdom, and courage, we end up exhausted, depressed, frustrated, with our relationships burdened with these attitudes and behaviors that should not exist.

Dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. But God is on our side, and if we ask for his help, he will give it to us!

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Sometimes we only think of St. Francis as having this unique relationship with animals. But, the man was hardcore, he was serious about rooting out sin from his life. He knew that sin and the life of God were totally incompatible.

Yes, Our Blessed Lord is merciful to the most hardened sinner who repents, but he also calls us to purity, chastity, moral fortitude, obedience to the commandments. So, if there is a particular sin which keeps lingering, we do well to make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, but also to practice some mortification, some fasting, some act of self-sacrifice to put those temptations in their place.
The second law of spiritual growth is living for God. Dying to sin, resisting our self-centered tendencies, is necessary but not enough, if we wish to become the people God made us to be. We also need to do something positive. Christ calls us to action, he calls us to love. "Love one another," Jesus commanded us at the Last Supper, "as I have loved you".

Jesus isn’t simply talking about love as an emotion. He’s not saying that we need to walk around with dreamy eyes toward each other. Love is an action. It is doing what is best for a person. We are grow in our capacity to love as Christ loved by forgiving others when they offend or hurt us, by reaching out to those in need, and, as we reflected upon last week, by being bold in sharing with others the meaning and purpose that comes from knowing, loving, and following Jesus Christ—spreading the Gospel.

I could give countless examples from the lives of the saints of what imitating Christ’s charity looks like. July 1 is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. When Pope Francis visited the United States last year, he canonized Junipero Serra, at the first canonization to be celebrated on U.S. soil.

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra traveled up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions, laboring for the spread of the Gospel.

Father Junipero was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he heard the Holy Spirit urging him, not simply to share the knowledge of academia, but the knowledge of Christ. So he gave up his university career to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. He devoted himself to building churches and schools for the poor and the native people, catechizing those in his care and raising up dedicated priests to continue the Lord’s work.

During that time, when the civil authorities were violating the humanity and rights of the indigenous people, Padre Serra was devoted to improving their spiritual and material well-being—boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

For his work in raising up priests from the native population, Junipero Serra is a great patron Saint for vocation promotion.  There is even an international group for the promotion and support of vocations who look to his patronage called Serra International who have a chapter here in Cleveland and meet regularly to pray for vocations.

When his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that he had cancer of the legs, making the long hard journeys up the coast of California even more difficult.  Yet, he did so, out of love for God’s people, fueled by fervor for the spread of the Gospel.

Pope Francis called Junipero Serra one of the founding fathers of the United States and praised his willingness to abandon the comforts and privileges of his native Spain to spread the Christian message in the new World.

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.