32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Martyrs of Otranto - Wisdom, Preparedness, Courage

A few days ago, I came across a fascinating story about a group of martyrs called the Martyrs of Otranto.

In 1480, a force of Ottoman Turks laid siege to the town of Otranto, a port-city on the south-eastern coast of Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. Otranto’s town militia did its best to resist the Turkish invaders, but it could not withstand the attack. The walls of the city were breached, and the Ottomans fought their way through the city to the Cathedral, where they found the Archbishop, fully vested and crucifix in hand, pleading mercy on behalf of the town. The invaders beheaded the archbishop as well as the priests, and after desecrating the cathedral, the Ottomans gathered the women and older children to be sold into slavery. Small children and infants were slain.

800 able-bodied men were captured and told to renounce Jesus and convert to Islam or be killed. Speaking for his fellow Catholics, the town tailor named Antonio Primaldo is said to have proclaimed, "Now it is time for us to fight to save our souls for the Lord. And since he died on the cross for us, it is fitting that we should die for him" The captives gave a loud cheer and refused to renounce Christ. So, the Turks led the captives outside of town, and beheaded each of them.

The town was eventually liberated. Over the next year, King Ferdinand of Naples joined with his cousin, the King of Sicily, to recapture the Otranto. The bodies of those 800 martyrs were gathered and placed in a gigantic reliquary in the city’s cathedral, where, to this day, you can go and venerate the remains of those courageous martyrs.

It was not until 2013, that Pope Francis added them to the list of canonized saints. And, at their canonization mass, Pope Francis spoke about their courageous faith. He said, the martyrs “refused to deny their faith and died professing the Risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to stay faithful? In the faith itself, which enables us to see beyond the limits of our human sight, beyond the boundaries of earthly life…Dear friends, let us keep the faith we have received and which is our true treasure, let us renew our faithfulness to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstanding.”

I bring up this story because I was at once inspired by it, when I heard it this week, especially in the wake of All Saints Day. But also because their story illustrates some important lessons from our Scripture readings this weekend.

In the first reading, we heard of wisdom, “Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her”. Firstly, what is wisdom? Wisdom is that ability to see things from God’s perspective and to order our lives accordingly. Wisdom sees sin as foolishness and folly. Wisdom sees virtue and charity as good and praiseworthy. Wisdom recognizes that some things are worth suffering for. Our Lord exemplifies this in suffering for our salvation. The martyrs, because they love Christ adopt his Divine Wisdom, recognizing that to win the martyrs crown is of ultimate value for themselves and for those that would come after them. Keeping the faith till they end, they help impart that wisdom for us—that we may keep the faith in the difficulties and temptations of our lives, so to share in eternal glory with them and with the God.

And so, wisely, we tell their stories. The martyrs of Otranto, the martyrs of Uganda, the martyrs of korea, Japan, china, the Americas, the martyrs of the early church, to learn their wisdom, to orient our lives to heaven.

We also venerate their relics. The early Church celebrated mass on the tombs of the martyrs—their earthly relics a connection between heaven and earth.

No doubt much of the world finds our treatment of relics bizarre and even morbid. A Cathedral chapel full of 800 skulls? A case full of slivers of bone and flesh (like those in our narthex)? The armbone of St. Francis Xavier, the teeth of St. Apolonia. But wisdom helps us to see the value in venerating their relics to help order our lives to heaven.

In our second reading St. Paul, describes how Christians have a very different attitude toward death than the rest of the world. He writes, “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”

Christians of course grieve when our loved ones die, and rightly so. Grief is part of love. When someone we love dies, we feel the loss. But Christians do not grieve like the rest of the world, for Christians experience death through the lens of hope.

We hope in the promises of Jesus Christ. And our hope is not just a fairy tale or a comfortable lie we tell ourselves to cope with grief and the inevitability of death. Our hope is substantial because it is rooted in the promises of Jesus Himself who rose victorious over the grave. And this hope, helps us keep our focus on heaven in the midst of our earthly sufferings. To quote Pope Francis again, referring to the martyrs of Otranto: our hope enables us “to see beyond the limits of our human sight, beyond the boundaries of earthly life” to the reward that awaited them.

Our hope—our wisdom—helps us to grieve rightly, but also to live rightly, to prepare rightly for death and the Lord’s return, which brings us to the wise virgins in the Gospel. The five wise virgins were welcomed into the wedding feast because they were well-prepared. Their wisdom and their hope in the Bridegroom’s return was paired with action on their part.

They brought enough oil to keep their lamps burning brightly in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s return. They actively ordered their lives because they knew the wedding feast awaited them.

And we are called like them, to do the same—to cultivate bright and living faith. And of course we do that in a number of ways. We cultivate faith by making time for real, quality, life-giving prayer every day. We cultivate faith by examining our conscience in light of the teachings of Christ and confessing our sins. We cultivate faith by allowing the word of God to truly take root in us by studying and prayerfully reflecting on scripture.

We may never be asked to give the kind of witness the martyrs of Otranto gave. But, for our sanctification and the mission of the Gospel, the Lord no doubt desires that their faith, hope, and courage animate our lives. Their courage to resist the fear of the sword is the same sort of courage we need to resist sin and temptation. It’s the same courage we need to go beyond our comfort zones for the sake of the Gospel—to share our faith, to reach out to the needy, to instruct the ignorant, to engage in new ways of serving the mission of the Church and our parish.

Let’s examine this week how well we are internalizing the wisdom of Scripture and the holy saints and martyrs, how well we are preparing ourselves to live out our faith when it is challenging, and what we need to do in order to deeper our faith, hope, and courage, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

All Souls 2026 - Efficacy of our prayers for the dead

Yesterday, All Saints' Day, we celebrated the great multitude of saints: the ranks of martyrs, apostles, confessors, virgins, and holy souls who have entered the beatific vision of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in heaven.  

Yesterday, in the Gospel of the Beatitudes, we recalled the Lord’s promise: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” That purification of heart of which the Lord speaks occurs either entirely in this earthly life, or, for many souls, that purification will continue and be finalized after our earthly death in purgatory.

And so today on All Souls’ Day, Catholics recall our duty to pray for the souls in purgatory. 

We pray for the souls in purgatory because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray for them because of the likelihood that we will need some time in purgatory and we will want prayers for ourselves, and we do for others what we would want done for ourselves.

St. John Vianney said, "We must say many prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, for one must be so pure to enter heaven." God has so established our connection with the souls of the dead, that our prayers are powerful in helping the faithful departed in their process of purification. 

Why are our prayers able to help them? Because death does not sever the bonds that unite us in Christ. The Church on earth, the souls being purified in purgatory, and the saints in heaven belong to one Body. We profess this every Sunday when we say that we believe in the communion of saints. Our membership in Christ joins us so closely that we can continue to help one another even beyond the grave.

During this earthly life, God allows our prayers and sacrifices to benefit others. We pray for someone’s conversion, for strength in suffering, for healing and forgiveness. God invites us to participate in his loving care for them. That communion does not end when someone dies. Our love can reach beyond death, and our prayer can contribute to another’s purification.

When we pray for the departed, we ask that the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice be applied to them: that whatever remains of sin’s effects may be healed, every attachment to sin purified, and their entrance into heavenly joy hastened.

The souls in purgatory have already died in God’s friendship. Their salvation is assured. What remains is their purification—the completion of God’s work of making them holy. Our prayers assist them in that purification because God, in his mercy, has willed that we should help one another.

So today, and throughout this month especially, remember your parents, grandparents, spouses, children, friends, and former parishioners who have died. Remember also those who have no one to pray for them. Ask the Lord to complete his work of purification in them and bring them into the company of the saints.

May our love for them remain faithful, until, by God’s mercy, we are reunited in the joy of his presence—for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - -

United in the communion of saints and trusting in Christ’s victory over death, let us offer our prayers for the living and the dead.

For the Church: that we may faithfully proclaim the hope of the resurrection and persevere in offering prayers and sacrifices for the faithful departed. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all the souls in purgatory: that every attachment to sin may be purified and that they may enter the fullness of heavenly joy. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our deceased parents, grandparents, spouses, children, relatives, and friends, and all the departed members of our parish: that the Lord may cleanse them of their sins and welcome them into the company of the saints. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the forgotten dead, especially those who have no one to pray for them: that through the prayers of the Church they may receive consolation and eternal rest. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those mourning the death of someone they love: that faith in Christ’s promises may sustain them, and that they may find comfort in the love that unites us beyond death. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the dying: that they may receive the grace of repentance, the consolation of the sacraments, and a peaceful passage into eternal life. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all of us gathered here: that we may seek purity of heart, remain faithful in prayer for the departed, and prepare each day to meet the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord.

Merciful Father, receive our prayers for those who have died. Through the saving sacrifice of your Son, complete their purification and bring them into the light and peace of your presence. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

November 1 2026 - All Saints - Example of the Holy Ones

 

This last week in OCIA—with our adults preparing for the Sacraments of Christian Initiation—we were discussing the Liturgical Year: the seasons of the Church Calendar; the difference between solemnities, Feasts, and memorials; the importance of Sunday mass and holy days of obligation. One important feature of the liturgical calendar and our Church’s liturgical life is the saints—how the saints are honored throughout the year on their particular feast days. Those feast days typically correspond to the date of their death, though church documents often call the anniversary of their death—their dies natalis—their date of birth into eternity.

And so we celebrate the martyrs and saints throughout the Church year—for example St. Clare on August 11, St. Patrick on March 17, St. Anthony on June 13. And we do so, the Catechism explains, because we’re acknowledging that those holy souls who lived with Christ as Lord and patterned their lives after Christ—who suffered with Christ and died with Christ and now share in Christ’s glory in heaven—the saints are examples for us.

Take beloved Saint Francis of Assisi. We hear of his radical poverty, his love for the poor, his conviction for the Gospel, how he lived with a special harmony with creation, his embrace of the leper—and he inspires us by the way he lived, in the unique way he followed Jesus Christ. And his example leads us to consider how our prayer lives could be or should be a little bit more like his, how our charity to the poor, our gratitude for creation, our conviction for Christ’s teachings could be stronger.

And it’s not just St. Francis, but every saint has something to teach us. So throughout the days of the year, the church celebrates the particular feast days of the saints—proposing these holy ones as examples and seeking the intercession.

The question was asked the other night: does every day of the year have a corresponding saint? Well, after 2000 years, yes, the calendar is full, most of the times with many saints every day.  

November 1 is not only the Feast of All Saints on the current Liturgical Calendar. But it is also the feast day of some saints who are pretty obscure to us these days. I don’t know about you, but I know very little about St. Amabilis, St. Austremonius, Sts. Caesarius & Julian, St. Licinius, and the 20 other saints whose dies natalis is today, November 1.

This is one reason why we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we have so many of them that we can’t even honor all of them individually any more. So, we have a special solemnity to honor them all: popes, bishops, priests, religious, married, single, kings and peasants.

Consider how St. John describes the communion of saints in our first reading from the book of Revelation. St. John describes his vision a great multitude from every nation, race, people, and tongue, standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches.

And this great, uncountable multitude gives us hope, doesn’t it? Holiness is possible. People from every walk of life, facing every sort of difficulty and temptation, have reached heaven by God’s grace. If this countless multitude can become saints, so can we, with God’s help.

St. John sees some other pertinent details: firstly, they are dressed in white robes—just like the white robes/surplices of our altar servers—the white garment we receive in baptism. Baptism is for making saints.

Secondly, the saints hold palm branches—a symbol of victory. The saints are victorious: they’ve crossed the finished line, they’ve won the race. Yet, notice they acknowledge, they have not done so on their own. They proclaim, “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”

Their salvation did not come from the size of their bank accounts, the admiration of their coworkers, their political influence, or their charming personalities. Human achievement, scientific progress, and military might cannot forgive our sins or give us eternal life. Salvation comes from God.

This does not mean that our choices are unimportant. The saints responded to God’s grace. They prayed, forgave, served, sacrificed, and loved. But even their ability to do these things was sustained by his God’s help.

In our Second Reading, St. John described how not only did God saved them, God’s love remade them: “see what love the Father has bestowed on us that we are called the children of God”. The saints are those who have allowed themselves to be remade by God’s love into his children.

And here is the vocation of each one of us. God invites each of us to accept his love in such a way that it transforms us, that it reshapes our identity, and guides our lives. Just as it is for us, God’s love through baptism gives us life—and make’s us God’s children. But also, consider, children are meant to grow. The life we receive in Baptism is meant to mature, shaping our thoughts, our desires, our choices.

As God’s children, we are called to bear a family resemblance to our Father: to become merciful as our Father is merciful, to love what he loves, and to seek what pleases him. The saints cultivate that family resemblance by turning away from selfishness, repenting of sins, and learning to love with the love of Christ.

Again again, each of us has the calling to be transformed day after day by God’s love for us and our love for God so that we can join the company of the saints in eternity. We willingly embrace our crosses, we struggle day after day to remain faithful in the face of our many temptations, we seek to “make ourselves pure, as he is pure”, to quote again the second reading. We make every effort to unfurl the sails of our souls to be impelled by the Holy Spirit into the world, and willingly bear the brunt of the insults and mockery of the world which does not know Christ because that’s what children of God are supposed to do.

We honor the saints today as examples of what that looks like, what discipleship looks like, what the beatitudes that we read in the Gospel look like when they are lived out by those who are making every effort—the effort we are all meant to put worth.

The saints, show us what blessed are the poor in spirit, looks like, and so we imitate them. They show us what blessed are the pure of heart, blessed are the merciful, look like, so we imitate them.  They show us what blessed are those insulted and persecuted for Christ looks like, and so we imitate them.

Study the saints, learn about your personal patron saints, celebrate the saints, love the saints, imitate the saints, cultivate the beatitudes like them, so that you may share the beatific vision of God with them, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Thursday - Tactics of the Devil

 

We read today from the concluding chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which contains a rousing speech for Christians to arm ourselves for battle against spiritual evil. “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.”

Firstly, what does St. Paul mean by “the tactics of the Devil”. St. Paul no doubt refers here to the schemes and cunning strategies the Devil uses to draw us away from God. The devil tempts through deception, making evil appear desirable, harmless, or even necessary. His purpose is to weaken our faith, undermine our hope, and extinguish our charity. The devil can't make hell beautiful, so he makes enticing the roads that lead there. How so?

What are some common “tactics” the devil uses? One tactic is rationalization. “Everyone does it.” “Nobody will know.” “After what they did, I have a right to treat them this way.” We begin defending the very sins from which Christ wants to free us. Paul therefore tells us to gird ourselves with truth: to examine our choices honestly in the light of God’s word. 

Another tactic is distraction. In our age, constant entertainment, notifications, and scrolling can consume the attention we should give to prayer, our families, and our responsibilities.

Another tactic is division. Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Yet how easily we begin treating other people as enemies to despise. Online arguments can train us in contempt. The devil convinces us that relationships are too damaged to repair, people are too annoying to be around. He inflates our focus on peoples’ faults instead of our call to patience and gentleness.

Then there are the tactics of presumption and despair. Before we sin, he tries to convince us: “It doesn’t matter; God will forgive you.” Afterward, he keeps us contrition: “You have failed too often; God could never forgive you.” Both distort God’s mercy.

The devil tricks us to follow our feelings instead of faith. He wants us enslaved to following our feelings: feelings of anger, woundedness, resentment, pleasure, impatience. But just because we want something, doesn’t mean we should have it, especially when that thing is sinful. If our feelings are leading us away from God, we must resist them. “Resist the devil, and he will take flight” writes St. James.

To combat these tactics, Paul call us to draw our strength from the Lord. We overcome deception by always seeking the Truth. Jesus teaches, “The Truth will set you free”.

We are to arm ourselves with God’s grace in the Sacraments, knowledge and understanding through serious study of God’s Word. We are to examine our consciences, our motives and seek daily conversion from our vices.

St. Paul writes this instruction so that we might be equipped for the inevitable hostility we will face when we seek to do the work of God. Why does the devil oppose the Christian? Because the Christian belongs to Christ and is called to participate in his work of salvation. The devil opposes God, and therefore seeks to undermine what God loves: human beings created in his image and called to eternal communion with him. He cannot overthrow God, but he seeks to draw us away from God through sin. The enemy seeks to discourage our efforts, corrupt our motives, and persuade us to abandon the good we have begun.

So let us take up the weapons and armor God has given us, to remain faithful to him in all things, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 - - - -  

Drawing our strength from the Lord and his mighty power, let us offer our prayers for the Church and for the whole world.

For the Church: that, clothed in the armor of God, we may proclaim the Gospel courageously and persevere in truth, holiness, and charity despite opposition. Let us pray to the Lord.

For leaders of nations: that they may resist deception, corruption, and the abuse of power, and faithfully pursue justice and peace. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those deceived by temptation or caught in sinful habits: that God’s word may enlighten their consciences and strengthen them to choose what is good. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our families and parish community: that we may resist distractions that draw us away from prayer and our responsibilities, and give our time generously to God and one another. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who are sick, grieving, persecuted, or discouraged in doing good: that the Lord may comfort and strengthen them in their trials. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory: that, their earthly struggles ended, they may share in Christ’s victory and the joy of eternal life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Almighty God, you are our strength and our salvation. Hear our prayers, protect us from the snares of the Evil One, and help us to persevere faithfully in every good work. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

October 28 2026 - Saints Simon and Jude - Courageous Faith of the Martyrs

 

Fr. Kondik shared with me that when he gave a tour of the church to your classes a few weeks ago, he brought you into the sacristy and showed you all of the different vestments the priest wears for the celebration of mass. He said that many of you were able to name the different colors of the vestments, and explain why we have the different colors, and when the priest wears them.

Last week, when you came to mass as a school, the priest was wearing the color green. The color green is worn during the ordinary days of ordinary time. That color green reminds us of growing things. The green leaves growing on the trees in the springtime, and flourishing in the summer, the green crops that grow in order to become our food and nourish our bodies. During ordinary time, we focus on how we are called to grow as followers of Jesus—how our faith is always supposed to be growing, how our hope for the things God promises is always to be growing, and how our love—becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions, is always meant to be growing.

Today, the priest wears, not the color green, but the color red. Red is the color of fire and is the color of blood. Red vestments are worn to remind us of the fire of the Holy Spirit—we wants to stir up the flame of faith among us, and enflame us with enthusiasm and conviction for the work God has for us, especially the building up of the church and the spread of the Christian faith.

Red, being the color of blood, also reminds us of those great saints known as the martyrs, whose blood was shed for Jesus and the Church. The martyrs were killed by those who hate and misunderstand Jesus and his message. There have been martyrs up and down the centuries—Christians who have been killed in Europe and Asia and Africa and even in the Americas—in Canada, Mexico, and the United States—and not just from a long time ago, but in recent years—killed by those who want to see Christians wiped out.

Today, we honor two of the early martyrs, Saints Simon and Jude, who were among the twelve apostles of Jesus. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus into heaven, saints Simon and Jude took the Gospel to Iraq, Libya, Persia, and Turkey.

Legend has it that they had been very successful in sharing the Gospel with the people of Persia, who had a false religion of worshipping the sun and the moon as gods. All of this conversion angered the leaders of that false religion, and they had Simon and Jude arrested and killed.

Thanks to the courage of these apostles, the Christian faith took root in those places, and to this day, there are still Christians in these places, though they are often persecuted.

These dear Apostles and Martyrs remind us to have courage in doing the work of God, especially when we face misunderstanding and hatred from those who do not want to hear the message of Jesus. They remind us to turn away from our pagan idols--of anything we value more than God and Christ Jesus.

May the holy example and heavenly prayers of Saints Simon and Jude help us, to be filled with courage, faith, hope, and love, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - - 

 

May the example of the holy martyrs whose blood was shed for Christ deepen our conviction for the work of God.

That the Christian faith and love for God and Jesus Christ may take deep root in the hearts of all people.

That our parish and parish school may be places where the Christian faith is shared, cherished and lived out with courage and love.

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

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

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Monday - Healing our crippled natures

The miraculous healing of the crippled woman in the synagogue is a story only found in Luke’s Gospel. While teaching in the synagogue, the Lord notices this woman, hunched over, unable to stand upright. St. Luke tells us that she was afflicted by an unclean spirit for 18 years. Her physical affliction is certainly symbolic of the moral and spiritual state of sinful humanity. We are crippled by sin. Sin cripples our minds, our bodies, and our souls.

Well, the Lord, notices the crippled woman, goes to her, and sets her free from her infirmity. Through this miracle she is immediately able to stand erect and immediately glorifies God.

This healing, like so all the stories of the healing miracles in the Gospels, is symbolic of the Lord’s entire mission. God has compassion for the waywardness that is ours, humanity’s fallen state. We are crippled by sin, unable to walk in the freedom for which we were created—our intellect is darkened, our wills are weakened. And through Christ we are liberated, healed, set free, able to walk upright again, and worship God in spirit and in truth.

St. Paul elaborates on this very point in our reading from his letter to the ephesians today, explaining how what God has done for us in Christ has changed everything. We have been set free, we have been liberated, and so we must strive to be imitators of God, as beloved children, living in love. Jesus did not die for us just so we can return to being crippled again by immorality. We are liberated from sin so that we can be imitators of God.

Upon receiving this great healing, the woman in the Gospel, “stood up straight and glorified God.” So too, our response to being healed by God is to make our lives a sacrificial offering to God; patterned after the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we are to become a fragrant aroma to God, offering to God all of our time, talent, and treasure in self-giving love.

We are to strive for holiness—uprightness—in our conduct, not simply out of fear that we will be punished for breaking divine commandments, but because we have been made to glorify God through the imitation of Christ. “Behave like God” we said in our responsory today. “Behave like God as his very dear children.”

This is our task and our calling in every conversation and interaction, with family, friends, strangers or enemies.  We are to behave like God in our speech, in our decisions, in our attentiveness to those in need.

May we, who were once in darkness, as St. Paul says, live in the light of the Lord, today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 - - - - -  

That the effects of sin may continue to be healed in us, that we may walk in the moral uprightness God desires for his children.

For spiritual healing and mercy upon all those who have fallen away from the Church, those who have fallen to mortal sin, for those who blaspheme, for the conversion of atheists and non-believers, we pray to the Lord.

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased clergy and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, we pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers. May the grace of Christ Your Son, the Divine Physician, bring healing of our sinfulness, and make us worthy of the kingdom of heaven, through the same Christ our Lord.

 

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Priesthood Sunday

 

Since 2003, in the United States, the last Sunday of October has been designated Priesthood Sunday, an opportunity for us to reflect upon the role of the ordained priesthood in the life of the Church. 

Pope St. John Paul II, when he was Pope, used to write a letter every year on Holy Thursday to all the priests of the Church.  In the very first of his letters, way back in 1979, he wrote of the thing that unites all priests—a love for Christ and a love for the Church.  Each priest can trace his vocation back to a love for Jesus Christ and the loving desire to serve the Church.

Since I entered seminary back in 2001, I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of priests. Seminary professors, hospital chaplains, prison chaplains, military chaplains, old grandfatherly pastors, serious and focused parish administrators, energetic young parochial vicars. Wise spiritual directors, gifted preachers, compassionate healers, courageous missionaries, priests with profound love for the poor. Priests who were gourmet cooks, world travelers, sports enthusiasts, brewers, bakers, gamers, writers, jokesters, weight lifters, joggers, swimmers, artists, risk takers, and philosophers. Sloppy priests, socially awkward priests, jolly priests, eccentric priests, exhausted priests, and priests counting the days until their retirement.

And I have to concur with Pope St. John Paul. Nearly every priest I’ve met possessed a deep love for Jesus Christ and a love for the Church. And when priests are together, there is an unspoken acknowledgement of that shared love, that is really quite beautiful.

I remember one Wednesday evening, playing cards with a group of priests, and one of them saying, “why don’t more men want this? Priesthood is such a gift.” And one of the brothers said, “they do, they just don’t know it.” A fraternity bound by love for Christ and his Church.

Love. All priests are to be animated by love because all Christians are to be animated by love. In the Gospel this weekend we hear that Love is the greatest commandment. Love for God and love for neighbor aren’t just ideals, but commandments.

The most joyful people I’ve ever met, priests, religious, married, and single people, have been those who have dedicated their lives to loving God and loving others with as much selflessness as they could muster. It’s no coincidence that our culture which glamorizes selfishness and self-absorption is also so joyless; because joylessness and selfishness go hand-in-hand. Tracing joylessness to the source, you always find some lack of love for the true and living God.

In the second reading St. Paul praises the Thessolonians for turning away from their pagan idols. Why because those idols do not bring joy, they do not give life. This is why it  should be a regular and routine spiritual practice for Christians to examine our lives for idols—to pray “Lord, show what I value more than you. And help me to be rid of it.” When we have the courage to utter that prayer, and follow where God leads in answer to that prayer, it can change everything, your whole life.

In that 1979 letter to priests, the holy Father told priests that every day priests must be converted anew.  Priests struggle with sin and selfishness too. And so the Holy Father’s reminder is a good reminder. Many a priest goes to bed each night reflecting on how he could have loved Christ more. Newly beatified Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “If I were asked if I had my life to live over again, would I live the priesthood as I have? The answer is: ‘No, I would try to love Christ more.” 

And again, this isn’t just a lesson for priests. True Love, the love that Jesus commands in the Gospel, seeks to love more deeply. And so love always demands conversion, constant conversion, to love more deeply than I did yesterday. But that daily conversion requires daily self-scrutiny. Not scrupulosity, but honesty scrutiny. “What are the ways, Lord, that you are calling me to love more deeply? What are those idols from which I must turn away?”

In that 1979 letter, Pope John Paul also addressed a growing concern about the number of priests, and how there are some communities of Catholics throughout the world that do not have access to Holy Communion regularly because they don’t have priests.  These communities meet to pray on Sundays, but they can’t celebrate the Eucharist and can’t receive Holy Communion because they don’t have a priest, they do not have regular access to the Sacrament of Confession, and so they have to carry the guilt of their sins. “Such places are not lacking in the world.”

Which is why the Church has a duty to pray for and to encourage young men to discern the call to the priesthood. Many of our seminarians say that it was a priest who first asked them if they ever thought about becoming a priest. That was the case in my life. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, never mentioned. Not once. Which is why they were pretty surprised when I told them I was entering seminary. But it’s not just the job of priests. Dear ones, please “have the talk” with your sons, grandsons, and nephews. Tell them that they should consider it, because the priesthood is a good life, a life of service to God.

After communion today, seminarian John Scantling will share the story of how he is answering God’s call to the priesthood. If you are a young man and his story inspires you to wonder if God is calling you to the priesthood, please let me know, we can begin a conversation.

But for the rest of us, consider how God is calling you to answer the call to serve the mission of the Church and to love more deeply, for love is our deepest calling and our deepest fulfillment for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.