July 4: Petitions for the inauguration of President George Washington

These petitions were 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. 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 can not 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.

Homily: 13th Week of Ordinary Time - Tuesday - O you of little faith

A number of times in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus criticizes his disciples for having little faith.  When Peter began to sink after the Lord called him to walk on the water, Jesus says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When the disciples misunderstood his teaching about the trickery of the Pharisees and Sadducees, he connected their lack of faith with a lack of understanding.  When they asked why they failed at driving a demon out of a little boy, he explained that it was because of their lack of faith, and that if they had faith even the size of a mustard seed they would have been successful.  Elsewhere, Jesus connects a lack of faith with a lack of trust in God’s providence.

In today’s Gospel they were terrified, they were filled with anxiety because of their lack of faith.

The disciples had witnessed Jesus’ many miracles, they had spent time with him, prayed with him, heard him teach.  Yet, they are often found to be stubborn and unbelieving. 

Yet, we know, from reading the book of Acts and our Church history that thousands and thousands were converted through their works, through their witness.  Just a few years after their terror and lack of faith on the Sea of Galilee, they would be the ones performing miracles and converting the nations.  They went from men of little faith, to men of great faith. 

What changed?  Well, for one, they saw the Lord crucified and die, and then rise three days later.  The Gospels make it clear that they fail to understand who Jesus is until they understand the cross, that Jesus didn’t come to make them powerful or popular or rich in the eyes of the world.  He didn’t come to make all their troubles go away.  Rather, the path of the Christian faith leads us right through life’s storms, trusting in God’s presence with us, trusting that he does give us the strength to bear witness to the truth of His Son despite persecution and the sword. 

May our little faith be transformed into great faith, may our little witness be transformed into great witness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 13th Week of Ordinary Time - Monday - Don't get too comfortable

The Gospel reading from Matthew should sound very familiar, we heard Luke’s version yesterday. 

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

After Jesus left his home in Nazareth, he was an itinerant preacher—he moved from place to place—never getting too comfortable.  He and the apostles, who followed him for the three years of his public ministry, weren’t staying in luxurious hotels on their travels throughout Galilee. 

When they were still fishermen on the sea of Galilee, after a long night of work, they would clean their nets and go home to their families, but after they followed Jesus, they like him, had no place to lay their heads.  And this is an attitude that every disciple is to adopt in a way.  To not get too comfortable in the world.

You’ve probably heard that as Christians we are to “be in the world, but not of the world.” 

The world has a way of lulling us to sleep, intoxicating us with its riches and pleasures, encouraging us to store up treasures here, rather than in heaven.  The spirit of the world has a way of decreasing our desire for heavenly treasures and increasing our desire for worldly treasures.  And if our hearts are attached to earthly things, they cannot be attached to heavenly things and on fulfilling the will of his heavenly Father. 

This is why 70% of Catholics do not come to Mass on Sunday, they took the bait, they’ve swallowed the lie, that worldly pursuits are more important. 

This is why you hear stories of the saints putting pebbles and rocks in their shoes. Some of the saints would wear scratchy hairshirts.  I visited the room of a Franciscan saint in Viterbo, Italy, who slept on the same wooden board for decades. 

Is it extreme?  Perhaps.  But it worked for them.  Little acts of penance and mortification helped them to fan the fire of their Christian fervor.

So, perhaps we each need some little act of mortification, or fasting, or penance every day to remind us not to get too comfortable—to remind us that we are not meant for this world.  And to offer up those penances for those who are losing or lost their desire for heaven is a powerful practice.  

For the Christian, having my desires satisfied all the time, but fanning the fire of faith and working constantly on earth for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Homily: 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time - You were called for freedom

We have some very challenging readings this weekend which cause us to reflect on freedom—our freedom from possessions and atittudes which keep us from doing the will of the Father, our freedom from errors which keep us from living the truth of the Gospel, our freedom from fear and unchristlike attitudes.
Elisha was a very wealthy man. There he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when Elijah came up to him.  Only the upper crust of the upper crust of society would have sophisticated equipment for plowing with that many animals.

Elijah comes up to Elisha and just throws his cloak over him, it’s kind of an amazing scene.  He doesn’t even appear to say anything.  But Elisha knew what that gesture meant, that he was called to be a prophet in the service of God Almighty.

Immediately Elisha slaughters his animals, burns his equipment, and with the fire, cooks the animals and gives the food to his people and begins to serve the Lord as a prophet.  It is the modern equivalent of a Donald Trump, selling his empire, giving the money to the poor, and becoming an itinerant preacher.

If you knew, absolutely knew, that God was calling you to some holy work, would you have the freedom to give it all away, like that?  If not, why not?

Up and down the centuries we can see these Elisha moments.  Wealthy people selling all of their possessions, giving it to the poor and becoming consecrated servants of the Lord.  St. Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant.  When he heard the Lord’s call to renew the Church, he stripped himself of everything, literally, in the town square he renounced his possessions and inheritance, stripped off his clothes and walked naked out of the town square into the woods.  St. Katherine Drexel, a widow and heiress to a huge fortune, at the prompting of God gave it all away to become a religious sister and educator.

 “I could never do that” we might think.  The bible gives us, on purpose, dramatic examples, the saints give us dramatic examples to shake us out of our complacency, and compel us to at least think differently about our lives.  They challenge us to say, well maybe I do need to give God a little more of my time, talent, or treasure; but, perhaps some of you here is being called to consider a life of consecrated service, such as a priest or religious sister.

Saint Paul said, “for freedom, Christ set us free”; “for you were called for freedom.  Do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.”  Paul taught the Galatians that sin and selfishness were types of slavery.  And that the children of God are called to freedom from sin and selfishness.

The Galatians, you, and I and every Christian, are called to holiness--which consists of being free from everything that keeps us from being generous in serving God.

Speaking of Freedom:

As many of you know, the Church in the United States is engaged in a fortnight of prayer for freedom which began on the Feast Day of Saint Thomas More, June 22 and ends on Independence Day on which we celebrate as a nation our freedom from tyrannical government.  Saint Thomas More was chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII.  Thomas was killed for upholding the truth of the Catholic faith amidst political pressures.  Though he was imprisoned and martyred, he was free, because he would not be compelled by the king to violate the faith.

This Fortnight of prayer for freedom is so important, because never in our nation’s history has religious liberty—freedom to practice our faith without government interference—has never been so threatened.
Acts of the government which punish Catholics for following their faith-formed conscience are acts of religious persecution are repugnant to the principals of our founding fathers and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Catholic bishops united with leaders from other Christian communities throughout the country are united in a concerted effort to defend and promote religious liberty, including lawsuits against our government, for enacting laws which will punish Catholics and Catholic institutions for following the Faith we have inherited from Jesus Christ.  But they cannot do it alone, they need our prayers.  Hence, the Fortnight for Freedom.

Eighteen years ago, in Baltimore, Blessed Pope John Paul II visited the U.S.  He said, “The challenge facing you, dear friends, is to increase people’s awareness of the importance of religious freedom for society; to defend that freedom against those who would take religion out of the public domain and establish secularism as America’s official faith.  And it is vitally necessary, for the very survival of the American experience, to transmit to the next generation the precious legacy of religious freedom and the convictions which sustain it.”

In the first century, during the height of the Roman Empire, Saint Paul preached in the Areopagus of Athens.  He did not hesitate to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the place where ideas were discussed and debated.  In that very public square, Paul preached Christ crucified and risen.  His words were met with skepticism and even ridicule, yet among those who heard him, some came to believe.

Amid the culture of death that we find all around us, the task of Christians is to show the culture that seeks to marginalize us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indispensable for eternal salvation and for the future of civilization.

True liberty is not the about giving in to our base desires, doing whatever you want, to whomever you want, whenever you want.  True liberty enables us to resist evil, and to witness to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

One very helpful practice, one recommended by the Saints is the daily examination of conscience.  Every night before bed, look back on your day, all of your decisions, all of your choices, all of your words and interactions with others, and try to detect any selfishness, and stubbornness, and malice.  To repent of those unchristlike attitudes, and to ask God to help me be faithful tomorrow.  Then at the beginning of the day, to come once again before God, and give him a blank check, to make the Morning Offering.

Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day: my work, my prayers, my charitable efforts; my time with family and friends; my hours of relaxation; my difficulties, problems, distress, which I shall try to bear with patience.

Free me from my selfishness and blindness which so often keeps me from being free to do your Holy Will.

As we continue the celebration of the Eucharist, may we recommit to seeking in Jesus true freedom from all that keeps us from following the Holy Will of the Father, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles - Unity and Catholicity

I was able to take a wonderful pilgrimage to Rome this last april with parishioners from my previous parish assignment.  Our very first stop, after the 8 hour flight, was to the Basillica of Saint Paul’s.  There, one is able to kneel and pray and the relics of Saint Paul Himself, the Great Apostle to the Gentiles, who was martyred in Rome.  Kneeling before the relics of the man who gave so much, who suffered so much, traveling through rapid rivers, steep mountains, malaria-plagued lowlands, and bandit-ridden passages, enduring robbers, attempted assassinations, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom, I thought, here is one of the great men of history, the heroes, an exemplar of the Christian life. 

No pilgrimage to Rome is of course complete without visiting the Basilica of saint Peter’s, literally built upon the remains of Saint Peters, the basilica’s altar sits directly over Saint Peter’s relics and place of burial. One can kneel there, in prayer, and in awe, before the holy relics of the man Jesus Christ himself called “the rock, upon whom he builds his Church.”  And to be able to witness thousands and thousands of people, from all over the world, in pilgrimage and devotion, is always edifying. You can really witness the meaning of the Church’s Catholicity in Rome— people of every race, nation, and tongue.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote how both Peter and Paul came to Rome, the city that was the place of convergence for all people, which would become the primary place of the “first of all expressions of the universality of the Gospel.” 

Interestingly, though the body of Paul is buried in the Basilica of Saint Paul’s and the body of Peter is buried in the Basillica of Saint Peter’s, the relics of their heads are enshrined in the Cathedral of Rome, the symbol of the Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff’s authority over the universal Church, in the Basillica of Saint John Lateran.  The heads of Peter and Paul where the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter exercises his headship over the whole Church throughout the whole world.  To be faithful to Christ is to look to the leadership of Peter’s Successor.

Today’s feast reminds us that the faith is not something that we create, or that we live out in isolation in our tiny corner of the world.  Christianity is something we have received from the Apostles on behalf of Jesus Christ, and that we live out in union with Christians throughout the whole world.  Through the intercession of Peter, the rock, and Paul, the fearless preacher of the faith, may we give ourselves fully in generous and selfless service of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Entrance Antiphon: These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God.

Collect: O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles peter and Paul give us the noble and holy joy of this day, grant, we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion.

Prayer over the Offerings: May the prayer of the Apostles, O Lord, accompany the sacrificial gift that we present to your name for consecration, and may their intercession make us devoted to you in celebration of the sacrifice.

Preface: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.  For by your providence the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul bring us joy: Peter, foremost in confessing the faith, Paul, its outstanding preacher, Peter, who established the early Church from the remnant of Israel, Paul, master and teacher of the Gentiles that you call.  An so, each in a different way gathered together the one family of Christ; and revered together throughout the world, they share one Martyr's crown.  And therefore, with all the Angels and Saints, we praise you, as without end we acclaim.

Communion Antiphon: Peter said to Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus replied: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Prayer after Communion: Grant us, O Lord, who have been renewed by this Sacrament, so to live in the Church, that, persevering in the breaking of the Bread and in the teaching of the Apostles, we may be one heart and one soul, made steadfast in your love.

Solemn Blessing: May almighty God bless you, for he has made you steadfast in Saint Peter's saving confession and through it has set you on the solid rock of the Christian Church.  And having instructed you by the tireless preaching of Saint Paul, may God teach you constantly by his example to win brothers and sisters for Christ.  So that by the keys of St. Peter and the words of St Paul, and by the support of their intercession, God may bring us happily to that homeland that Peter attained on a cross and Paul by the blade of a sword.

Homily: June 28 - St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr - Champion in the fight for truth

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. 

Listen again to the Opening Prayer: O God, who called the Bishop Saint Irenaeus to confirm true doctrine and the peace of the Church, grant, we pray, through his intercession, that, being renewed in faith and charity, we may always be intent of fostering unity and concord.

Irenaeus was called to uphold the truth of Christ that comes to us from the Apostles in the face of many controversies in the second century, most notably the Gnostics.  Gnosticism was really the first major heresy the Church had to confront. 

The word ‘gnostic’ comes from the greek word for knowledge, as in the word cognizant.  The Gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge of God that was superior to the Apostles and they looked down on anyone who did not believe or act the way they did.  In other words, they thought they knew better than the Church. 

Bishop Irenaeus preached and taught and wrote against the gnostics of his day, but that old heresy has shown its face in every age of the Church.  How many times have you heard the following:  “Jesus doesn’t really care if I go to Church every week.”  “I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest.”  “Jesus doesn’t mind if I live with my girlfriend or we use contraception, we’ve prayed about it.”

Irenaeus defended that the Christian Faith isn’t about coming to secret knowledge. It’s about obedience to what is taught by the Apostles. 

When the Church teaches on matters of faith and morals, she is teaching with the authority given to her by the Lord Jesus, she speaks and teaches in his name the truth necessary for our salvation.

Our Christian faith isn’t about these small private revelations that let us break the commandments as long as we pray about it.  And the rich apostolic tradition of the Church isn’t bizarre or arcane, or only understandable by a few.  Ireneaus pointed out the “rule of faith”—that the faith is internally consistent, it is logical, it is comprehensible, and understandable by all peoples.   

St. Irenaeus is truly a model of perseverance in the faith; he devoted himself to the truth of Jesus Christ and is celebrated as a martyr.  With the help of his prayers, may we come to be made worthy of the promises of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 12th Week of Ordinary Time - Thursday - Rock solid foundation

For two weeks we’ve been hearing Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the beatitudes at the beginning of chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel.  Today we hear the conclusion of Matthew Chapter 7 and the end of the sermon.  “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”  Today we might want to go back and read this entire Sermon, to get the whole thing in perspective.

“Those who listen to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.”  Both the wise man and the fool have something in common.  They both heard the sermon.  This difference between the wise man and the fool is acting on them—the wise man does, the fool does not.

The other commonality is that both of their houses are buffeted by the inevitable winds and storms and rains and floods.  But because the wise man is rooted in the Word of God, his house will survive.

Jesus is talking about our souls here. Jesus never promises that the lives of his followers would be without storms.  Rather the wise man, who listens to Jesus and puts his teachings into practice, will survive the storms of life with his soul intact. 

During my four years of priesthood, this reading is often chosen by couple's for their wedding day.  They wisely realize that their marriage must be grounded on God.  God needs to be the rock solid foundation of a marriage.  We get into trouble when we try to redefine marriage or redefine life as excluding Jesus and his teachings.

We heard how the "crowds were astonished" at Jesus’ teaching because he taught with authority.  He has authority over what marriage needs to be, what our lives need to be, how our Church should function, because he is the author and creator of life, of marriage, and of the Church.

May we be found among the ranks of the wise today and always, that our houses may withstand all of the inevitable storms of life, and that in our foolishness we may have a change of heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.