Homily: April 29 - St. Catherine of Siena - Contemplation and Service

The Opening Prayer stated that her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of the Church set Saint Catherine of Siena was on fire with divine love.

St. Catherine’s life was filled with extraordinary mystical phenomena such as visions and revelations, raptures, mystical marriage.  So united to Christ in his Passion was she that she received the holy Stigmata on her hands, feet and heart. Originally, her stigmata were visible, but she prayed that they not be seen by others, and her prayer was answered.  However, at her death, the stigmata reappeared.

Listen to her words addressed to God: “You are a mystery as deep as the sea;” she says, “the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I search for you.  But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more.  When you fill my soul, I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light.”

As a dominican tertiary not only did she believe in the importance of contemplative prayer, but also in charitable service.  She nursed the sick and the dying and brought comfort to prisoners by visiting them in jail.

St. Catherine’s incorrupt body is preserved in the beautiful gothic basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.  I visited her a few times in that amazing basilica, and had the honor of attending Mass on, this, her feast day, in a small chapel behind the sacristy of the basilica. She would make a daily pilgrimage from that small chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray for the return of the Pope from Avignon.




This great saint died in Rome in 1380. Even though she barely reached the age of thirty-three her accomplishments place her among the great women of the Middle Ages.  She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius II in 1461. In 1970, Pope Paul VI declared St. Catherine a Doctor of the Church.

She was so fueled by her Communion with God that she lived for many years only on the Eucharist.

She teaches us and prays for us to find our fulfillment in the service and contemplation of God, to offer him our entire lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday of the 2nd Week of Easter - From Indifference to Boldness

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, Dante, the pilgrim travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.  He sees the eternal fate of those hardened sinners in hell, those who did not repent.  He travels through the purifying fires of purgatory, and finally glimpses the sweet rewards of those in heaven.

Near the beginning of the journey, after passing through the gates of hell, the first place to which Dante comes is a place called Acheron, which is a sort of ante-chamber before entering Hell proper.  Acheron isn’t filled with the murderers and adulterers and betrayers that he encounters later in his journey; rather, Acheron is filled with those who were apathetic to the spiritual life, the lukewarm, the apathetic.

Putting them in this sort of ante-chamber, Dante is saying that neither hell nor heaven wants them, because they are so lukewarm, and their fate is to be blown about forever like tumbleweed.

Better to be blown about like tumbleweed than to suffer some of the more awful tortures Dante devises for the more spiritually corrupt, but these souls are forever deprived of the sight of God in heaven. 

Now, Dante had a pretty harsh view of those who lack a commitment to pursuing goodness, but spiritual indifference does plague our world.

At the end of our first reading, Peter and John and the disciples in prayer are filled with holy boldness for spreading the Gospel.  They are filled with the transforming power of the Resurrection to become fearless preachers, willing to undergo persecution, even death, for the person and message of Jesus. 

So many of our modern Catholics have fallen into a sad indifference towards the Gospel, and are blown about like tumbleweed by the currents of culture.  When we are more committed to video games and sports games and tv shows than to matters of faith, there is a problem.

Hence, the Church’s call in modern times for all committed Catholics to be emboldened in faith and to engage in a new evangelization, to rouse the spiritually apathetic to a renewed commitment to the Gospel.

Through the celebration of these Easter mysteries may we be roused out of any spiritual apathy that we may engage more fully in the work of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Divine Mercy Sunday & Canonizations of John XXIII & JPII

It was the Sunday after Easter 14 years ago that Pope John Paul II canonized  an obscure polish nun named Sr. Faustina Kowalska.  It was on that day John Paul II also designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.  Three years ago on Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.  And this morning in Rome, Pope Francis celebrated his canonization, along with the canonization of another 20th century Pope, good Pope John XXIII.

He was called “good Pope John” because he was beloved by the Italian people; he was dearly affectionate and had a good sense of humor.  He was once asked by an interviewer, “Holy Father, about how many people work in the Vatican”.  To which the Pope responded, “about half of them.”

The phrase “Santo Subito” – sainthood now, was chanted by millions at both of their funerals. Now we can officially call them Saint John Paul II and Saint John XXIII. 

What a fitting day to celebrate their canonization on this Divine Mercy Sunday, for both Pontiffs made it their mission to make God’s Mercy known to the world. 

Divine Mercy is not a new concept.  The message of God’s Mercy has been preached for almost two thousand years.  It is the message of the Christian faith.  God’s mercy is available to everyone.  We are loved even when we are unlovable because of our sins—no matter how sinful, God extends his mercy to all through the death and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pope Benedict said, Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: Encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God.  Jesus willingly gave himself up to death so that we might be saved and pass from death to life.  Mercy has a name, mercy has a face, mercy has a heart. 

Thomas Merton said, “Mercy is the key to transforming a whole world in which sin seems to have sway.” 

Each of us know all too well, that within five minutes of the nightly news you are going to see evidence of sin having its sway in the world.  Hatred, violence, war and the threat of war are all present realities.  Sin and immorality even in our own families.  Evil laughs as it destroys life. 

The Lord Himself appeared to Sister Faustina Kowalska and said, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” 

Again to quote Thomas Merton, “Mercy is the key” to the world’s transformation.  Jesus Christ is the key.  He is the remedy.  He is the light in the darkness. 

So many people in our time are searching for God, they are searching for Jesus and His Bride, the Church, they are in search of divine mercy: the yearn to hear the words Jesus spoke to the sinful woman, “your sins are forgiven, now go, and do not sin again.”

While kneeling at the Shrine of Our Lady of Chestehova – the Blessed Mother spoke to Sister Faustina, telling her to speak courageously about God’s mercy.  Speak courageously, tell the world, make the message of Mercy known!  But it’s not just for little Polish nuns to speak about God’s mercy; it is the task of every Christian: to draw our family members and our neighbors and all mankind to the fountain of God’s mercy that they may have life.

In order to be faithful to this task, our conviction that Jesus Christ is the key to the salvation of the world must be for more than an hour once a week. 

One way the Church encourages us to increase and strengthen our faith is through the praying of devotions.  In the devotions we have a rich tradition of powerful prayers which strengthen our faith and bring us comfort in difficult times.  Devotions like the rosary, the stations of the cross, a wonderful host of novenas and litanies, visiting shrines, visiting the blessed sacrament throughout the day.  Here at St. Angela’s we practice a wonderful devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help on first Saturdays after the morning Mass.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the rich devotional life of the Church has suffered as rosaries were exchanged for cell phones and trips to the tabernacle were exchanged for trips to the gym or sports fields.  But it doesn’t have to be so.

Both John XXII and Pope John II encouraged devotions for the sanctification and salvation of the world.  John XXIII recalled how as a young boy his family would often pray a litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.  Together with his parents he would pray, “Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us… Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.  Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.” 

John Paul II, in addition to encouraging the praying of the rosary, promoted a devotion called the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy”.    The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was given to Saint Faustina by Our Lord Himself.  Jesus appeared to her and said, “My daughter, encourage souls to pray the chaplet I gave you…help me save souls.” 

As she lay dying of tuberculosis, she began to pray the chaplet.  And while praying the chaplet, she received a vision: she saw herself at the death bed of another soul, an unrepentant sinner who lay in torment.  While the sinner lay dying, a host of demons surrounded him waiting to take his soul to hell.  But, she continued to pray the words of the chaplet of divine mercy: “for the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”.  Soon the dying man became calm, repentance for his sins filled his heart. He was comforted by putting his trust in God’s mercy which came through Faustina’s praying of the Chaplet for him.

So many people have hardened their hearts towards God.  They live in habitual sin with no desire to amend their lives.  It is so important that we pray for them, that they will open up their hearts enough to let in the flood of Divine Mercy God wants for them.

With all the hatred, war, violence, and bigotry, the world is in great need of God’s mercy.  And now, more than ever, Christians need to be those instruments of mercy, through prayer, and through concrete acts of love.

Divine Mercy- God’s love, to quote Pope Benedict, “is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working.”  Through the intercession of Saint John Paul II and Saint John XIII may we, like them, be instruments of God’s mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the Octave of Easter - Temptation to turn back

In the Gospel, Jesus finds Simon Peter and the others go back to their former lives—fishing in the Sea of Galilee.  Remember, when he first met Peter? Jesus told Peter to leave the fishing business and follow Him.  He said “come, follow me, I will make you fishers of men”

The Apostles had seen Jesus perform miracles; they witnessed his saving death, and the Risen Lord had appeared to them in the upper room.  You would think their lives would have been radically changed, yet now, they simply returned to work on the Sea of Galilee as fishermen.  Had anything really changed for them? 

Every Christian has to face the temptation of turning back of returning to one’s former life and former habits.  The newly baptized who entered the Church at Easter will be tempted to return to former ways; each of us, though we just renewed the promises of our own baptism on Easter Sunday when we rejected sin and all of the empty promises of the enemy will continue to be tempted to return to old habits, old attitudes, old behaviors.  

It’s important for us to humbly admit our temptations to God.  To acknowledge those areas of my life in which we are tempted to backslide and to fortify ourselves against them with God’s help.

Despite this tendency to stray from the new life, Jesus, in his mercy, continues to invite his disciples to fellowship with him, in order to remind them of their mission to witness to his resurrection.  I think the Lord shows some of his infinite patience in the Gospel today.  He enters in to their lives once again.  After they bring in a miraculous catch, he sits down with them, eats a meal with them. 

During the Easter season we are mindful of our baptismal promises that we can remain faithful to them particularly when it is difficult.  May the Lord continue to fortify us against sin and strengthen us to work always for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday of the Octave of Easter - He is TRULY risen!

When the apostles saw the risen Christ on the evening of His resurrection, "they thought they were seeing a ghost". Because of their fear and their lack of faith he didn’t seem real.  Their fear and lack of faith kept them from experiencing the Real Presence of Jesus in their midst.

Jesus tried to prove He was real by showing them His hands and feet, inviting them to touch Him, and eating a piece of fish.

Why does Jesus seem so unreal to so many people in our modern culture?  We are often so quick to label those in previous generations as “out of touch”.  Yet, it is our culture that is addicted to escaping from reality, using alcohol, drugs, TV, promiscuity, video games, computer games, mind-games, etc. 

Many live in a world of fleeting emotions without an anchor in objective truth.  Many pretend that they'll live forever and never face Judgment Day. 

In a world so out of touch with reality, it's understandable that the risen Christ may seem to be a ghost.

One of the themes of the Easter season is “the strengthening of our faith”.  Another way of saying that is “getting in touch with reality.”  Jesus is truly risen!  He is truly present in the Eucharist.  He leads us to real truth when we study His words and teachings in Scripture.

This is a great time of the liturgical year to do a bible study or pick up your copy of the Catechism.  To combat the unrealities of our culture and to lead people to truth we need to be intimately knowledgeable of Jesus who is Truth itself. 

Jesus shows himself to his friends, he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures and he says, “You are witnesses of these things.”  May this Easter season be a time of joyful encounter with the risen Christ and increased faith for all of us, that we may be more effective witnesses for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Easter Tuesday - Preaching from the heart

Throughout the Easter season we read from the Acts of the Apostles.  Today’s reading immediately follows yesterday’s:  50 Days after Easter, Saint Peter emerged from the upper room with the other Apostles, and filled with the Holy Spirit, began to preach.

So powerful was this sermon, that St. Luke tells us today, “it cut the audience to the heart.”  Those are the best homilies aren’t they?  They were so moved by Peter’s proclamation of the resurrection that they turned to him and asked, “what should we do?”  Peter answered, “repent and be baptized”.  And about 3000 people were baptized right then and there.

His proclamation “cut the audience to the heart.”  He convicted them.  He led them from sorrow for their sins, to belief in Jesus Christ crucified, and faith in his Resurrection. 

Peter isn’t just the model for priests whose primary ministry is preaching the Gospel.  He is the model for all of us, every Christian.

Recent Popes have spoken of the ‘new evangelization’ in which all Christian are called upon to work for the reawakening of the faith in those parts of the world where Christianity is in decline.  Each of us is called to be an evangelist.

Fr. Robert Barron has offered several qualities of the New Evangelist.

He said the New Evangelist must first be in love with Jesus Christ.  If we are to convince people that they are to love him more than all of those cultural distractions out there, our own love for him must be a fire.

We must know our story, the story of our salvation history and our great tradition.  We should attend Bible Studies and Adult Education opportunities whenever we have the chance so that we can give fuller and clearer reasons for the faith.

We must have a missionary heart.  The Catholic Church is hemorrhaging members to Protestantism and Agnosticism.  Three quarters of Catholics don’t attend Mass.  So we must hunger to bring them back into active relationship with Christ.

It is a challenging time to be a Catholic, yet, the Lord blesses us with so many opportunities to grow in our faith and to spread that faith.  We are each called to share what has been handed on to us.  May we be faithful to this privileged call to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday of Easter Week - Courage to witness

For much of the secular world, Easter is over now. They're back to normal life. For disciples of Jesus Christ, however, Easter means risen life is normal life.  Alleluia! Today is the second day of fifty days of glory.

It is also the second day of the Octave of Easter, meaning, we celebrate Easter each day this week.  We keep celebrating so that we might continue to enter into the meaning of the resurrection. 

In the early Church, the newly baptized would be at each liturgy this week, wearing their white garments.  Listen to the words the priest speaks to the newly baptized:

You have become a new creation
and have clothed yourselves in Christ.
Receive this baptismal garment
and bring it unstained to the judgment seat
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so that you may have everlasting life.

At the Easter Vigil, and yesterday, all of us renewed our baptismal promises of rejecting sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children, rejecting the glamour of evil and refusing to be mastered by sin, and rejecting Satan father of sin and prince of darkness. 

Having been clothed with Christ we are a new creature, a new creation, and we must live always according to that dignity. 

In Matthew's Gospel, we hear that right from the beginning there was a chilling conspiracy to hide the fact of the resurrection.  The chief priests and the elders gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’  The early Church was well aware of the dark powers that continue to work at odds against the Church, against Christ.

Nevertheless, the first commands Jesus gives to those who first saw Him after His resurrection are: "Do not be afraid! Go and carry the news".  We cannot be afraid to witness.  Non-believers are waiting to meet Christ through your witness.

Some may sneer at us, others may even try to silence us, but some are waiting to meet Christians who are faithful to the promises of their baptism, who give witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, who witness through their integrity of life, through their conviction, through their conversion from sin.  They await your witness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.