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.

Homily: 12th Week of Ordinary Time - Tuesday - Two ways, of life and death

Jesus speaks of two gates, one that leads to destruction, the other that leads to life.  The theme of two ways, one of life, the other of death is taken up often in Scripture and in the writings of the saints.

Saint Paul often talks about the way of the flesh versus the way of the spirit.  The very first lines of the Didache—a first century text also known as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” are, “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.”

In the early 5th century St. Augustine wrote a book called The City of God about this conflict between the City of Man and the City of God--the City of Man consisting of people who stray from God—and the City of God consisting of those who forego earthly pleasure, and dedicate themselves to the promotion of Christian Virtues.  Two ways, two cities.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen often made the distinction between the way of the ego and the way of the true self.  Do are busy about indulging our egos or nurturing our true self.

iBishop Sheen says, “When someone has thus made the orbit of his life a movement around Christ, instead of his own ego, the thoughts he thinks, the desires that inflame him, the motivations of all his actions is centrered in Our Divine Lord.”

In our own day Blessed Pope John Paul II was fond of making the same distinction--between the culture of life and the culture of death.   The root of the difference between the two cultures was the use of human freedom.  Do I use my freedom to seek and serve God or to selfishly serve myself.

  In the culture of death, human freedom is abused through moral depravity, man lives as if God did not exist, "the sense of God is lost," and the sense of man's own dignity is lost as well.

On the other hand, when when the ego diminishes, and our freedom is aimed at serving God in all things, we cooperate with God in building the culture of life.  In the saints we see the true flourishing of human freedom, and the emergence of the true self.

We pray that the Eucharist we celebrate today will help us to committ to building the culture of life through all of our words, decisions, and actions today for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: June 24 - Nativity of John the Baptist, Solemnity

When the Church celebrates the feast day of a saint, we are usually celebrating the day of the saint’s death. For example the feast of Aloysius Ganzaga last week was on June 21, because he went to his eternal reward on June 21, 1591. 

But the Church also celebrates the days of birth of three persons:  Jesus, of course, on the feast we call Christmas; the Blessed Virgin Mary, on September 8th, nine months after the feast of her Immaculate Conception; and Saint John the Baptist.  In fact, Byzantine Catholics celebrate the conception of John the Baptist nine months prior to today’s feast.

Today’s Solemnity dates back all the way to the 4^th century.  John has a place of very high esteem in the Church for he played  such a pivotal part in salvation history.  Jesus himself says in Luke’s Gospel, “  I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John”.  John said, “He must increase, and I must decrease”.

John was the voice in the wilderness pointing others to Christ, calling them to repentance of their sins that they might prepare the way for the Lord in their hearts.  As Saint Augustine said, “John was a voice that lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal.”  John points us to the eternal.  Christians should have special devotion to John, especially as we are urged to take part in the new evangelization.

This day may we renew our commitment like John to bring others to Christ, that our egos our ambitions might decrease, that the life of Christ may increase in us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Collect: O God, who raised up Saint John the Baptist to make ready a nation fit for Christ the Lord, give your people, we pray, the grace of spiritual joys and direct the hearts of all the faithful into the way of salvation and peace.

Prayer over the Offerings: We place these offerings on your altar, O Lord, to celebrate with fitting honor the nativity of him who both foretold the coming of the world's Savior and pointed him out when he came.

Preface: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everwhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord.  In his Precursor, Saint John the Baptist, we praise your glory, for you consecrated him for a singular honor among those born of women.  His birth brought great rejoicing; even in the womb he leapt for joy at the coming of human salvation.  He alone of all the prophets pointed out the Lamb of redemption.  And to make holy the flowing waters, he baptized the very author of Baptism and was privilged to bear him supreme witness by the shedding of his blood.  And so, with the Powers of heaven, we worship you constantly on earth, and before your majest we acclaim: Holy, Holy...

Prayer after Communion: Having feasted at the banquet of the heavenly Lamb, we pray, O Lord, that, finding joy in the nativity of Saint John the Baptist, your Church may know was the author of her rebirth, the Christ whose coming John foretold.

Homily: 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Crucifix

The first thing one usually notices upon entering a Catholic church or chapel is the crucifix hanging over or set upon the altar.  Here at St. Angela Merici, it’s pretty hard to miss.  And it is a crucifix—not just an empty cross, clean and elegant, but a cross being used to crucify Jesus of Nazareth—the innocent lamb of God—who laid down his life to take away the sins of the world.

The crucifix—it’s an instrument of humiliation, and torture, and pain and death, and is central to our field of vision upon entering the Church.  We hang crucifixes in our schools, wear them as necklaces, kiss them before and after prayer, meditate on them and ponder the mystery.  Why does the Church instruct that there should be a crucifix wherever Mass is celebrated, giving such pride of place to such a cruel reality?

Why not make scenes of Christ’s birth the focal point, or artistic representations of his resurrection or ascension, or what about the picture of the laughing Jesus? Isn’t that much nicer? Isn’t that a Jesus that we’d want to get to know, maybe share a slice of pizza with, hang out on Friday night with?

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”, so says the Lord in today’s Gospel.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke all relate this “If-then” conditional statement of the Lord.

If you want to be my disciple, then you must take up the cross—you must deny yourself, you must give yourself up.  It’s explicit, it’s uncompromising.  If you want the rewards of discipleship, if you want eternal life, you must daily be crucified with Christ. 

The crucifixes in our homes and on our persons are not just jewelry or decoration—they are powerful reminders of who we are meant to be and how we are to conduct our lives.  We need those reminders because it is so easy to forget—it is so easy to forget that I am supposed to be imitating him, in self-sacrifice, in self-denial, that just as Jesus emptied himself on the cross, and poured himself out, so to am I.

Many of the Saints made meditation on the crucifix part of their daily prayer.  Saint Mary Magdalene who was present at the crucifixion was said to have meditated on that scene every day for the rest of her life.  Saint Aloysius Ganzaga the young Jesuit saint whose feast day we celebrated this last week is almost always depicted in art as holding and gazing upon a crucifix.

We do well to follow their example, to clutch the crucifix in our hands and contemplate the depths of God’s love for us.  Keep a crucifix on your night stand and pray with it when the alarm clock goes off for a few minutes.  If you look at a crucifix and feel nothing, then you haven’t looked hard enough.

The simple tradition of putting crucifixes on the walls of our homes, and wearing crucifixes around our necks are powerful practices.  Those crucifixes remind us that being a Christian in this world is not easy, but as Christ endured his passion, he can support us in our trials.

 A crucifix placed in the home reminds us that our love for our family members needs to be Christ-like.  We are less likely, hopefully, to yell and scream at each other, when there is a crucifix reminding us of Christ’s love.  A crucifix around our neck may help us in those times when we are tempted to abandon the commandments of God, it may help us to remember how abhorrent sin is to God.  Those crucifixes in our houses and around are necks may also spark a conversation with someone who has not yet come to believe in Christ, or who has fallen away from the faith.

The Crucifix in the Church particularly near the altar reminds us that when we come to Mass we are gathering on the hill of Calvary; that when we come to Mass, we are lifting up our prayers with Jesus who is lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.  This is why every Mass has a Mass intention: the intention of this Mass is for the repose of the soul of Kevin Connery.  The soul of Kevin Connery is being lifted up to the Father at this Mass. 

This is why it is also important to come to Mass a few minutes early, not so that we can peruse the bulletin, but to recollect ourselves for the celebration of the sacred mysteries, to think of all those reasons why I’m coming to Mass, all the blessings of the week that I am thankful for, all the people I need to forgive, all the needs of my family and the world, which I wish to lift up to the Father with Jesus on the Cross, all the areas of my life where I need conversion from selfishness. 

Saint Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”, meaning the most important thing we will ever do is not to win the baseball trophy, not to be elected president, not to graduate college, not to have the fastest car or biggest house on the block, but to daily be crucified with Christ—to pour myself out with him, that others may have life.

Perhaps no other gospel lesson is more difficult or more important.  To be his faithful friend we must turn away from self-centeredness and selfishness, and pour out our lives generously. 

As we continue our celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, let us renew our commitment to take up our cross daily and follow the Lord in generous self-abandonment that we may come to the eternal reward of the faithful for the glory of God and salvation of souls.  

Homily: June 22 - Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs

Yesterday began a fortnight of prayer for our country over the next two weeks, and today’s saints exemplify the virtues we pray for and hope to practice.

You likely know the story of what brought Saints John Fisher and Thomas More to the scaffold at which they were beheaded:  King Henry VIII claimed that he was the head of the Catholic Church within England.  He forced all bishops and all government officials to sign their names to this lie.  John Fisher was the only bishop in England who would not sign his name.  Thomas More was the highest-ranking layman not to do so.  Both were imprisoned in the Tower of London when they would not recognize Henry VIII’s supposed authority to dissolve his marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragorn and marry Ann Boleyn. 

Even if England had not been torn apart by Henry VIII, these two men would still very likely have become saints.  Their dedication to their respective vocations was exemplary long before they were forced to choose between God and country.

Listen again to the collect prayer for today’s feast: “O God, who in martyrdom have brought true faith to its highest expression, graciously grant that, strengthened through the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, we may confirm by the witness of our life the faith we profess with our lips.” 

As each of us is called witness to the truth of the Christian faith in our own lives, it is a matter both of professing that faith with our lips—with our words—and with our actions.  We each face difficult moral choices, and the faith must be our guiding light, even when we know that the difficult decision will involve hardship or suffering. 

Bishop Fisher and Thomas More knew that they would likely face death for standing up for the faith, like the thousands of martyrs before them.  Thomas More’s last words on earth were, “I die the King’s good servant; but God’s first.”

Our families, our parish, our nation need people who will put God first. 

During this fortnight of prayer for freedom, we do well to invoke the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More for freedom from government interference in the practice of the faith, and for our ability to stand courageously for the truth of the faith, even to suffer for it if necessary, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: June 21 - Saint Aloysious Ganzaga - Patron Saint of AIDS patients and their caregivers

In 1591, a plague struck Rome and the Jesuits opened up a hospital.  A young Jesuit novitiate who was already known for his intense love for Christ, was prompted by that love to dedicate himself to serve the sick and needy.  He nursed the sick, washed them, made their beds.  He caught the disease himself, and when he could no longer rise from bed from his weakness, he maintained a great discipline in prayer for the sick.  He died at the age of 23.  Only 14 years later he was beatified, and later canonized; we honor him today as Saint Aloysious Ganzaga.

Born into a noble family in Reissuance, Italy, he saw was exposed to a society of corruption, brutality and lusts of the most hideous kinds.  In fact, growing up in 16^th century Florence was not very different from growing up in 21^st century America.  It was a lax, morally careless, self-indulgent age.  Aloysius saw the decadence around him and vowed not to be a part of it. 

By age 11 he was teaching the catechism to poor children and fasting three days a week.  He joined the Jesuits despite great resistance from his family.

He is often shown in Christian art and stained glass windows as a young man wearing the black cassock of the Jesuits and contemplating a crucifix or praying to the Blessed Virgin  He is in the patron saint of catholic youth and teenagers, and also AIDS patients and their care-givers.

I will conclude with the prayer of self-commendation to the Blessed Virgin, which is quite beautiful, that we may make his prayer and his love for Jesus and Mary our own:  “O Holy Mary, my Lady, into your blessed trust and safe keeping and into the depths of your mercy, I commend my soul and body this day, every day of my life, and at the hour of my death. To you I entrust all my hopes and consolations, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life. By your most holy intercession and by your merits, may all my actions be directed and disposed according to your will and the Will of your divine Son.”

Homily: 11th Week of Ordinary Time - Thursday - The Lord's Prayer

Only when we truly learn to pray will we truly learn to live.  Prayer is integral to the life of the Christian.  The Church is constantly at prayer.  By her public prayer life, Mass is celebrated at every hour of the day around the world, and the liturgy of the hours sanctifies the hours of the day.

By our private prayer we pray we engage in our devotional life: the rosary, stations of the cross, the chaplet of divine mercy, prayers handed down by the saints, our meditation upon the word of God, adoration of the blessed Sacrament, and contemplation.

Jesus’ mind and heart are perpetually directed to the Will of his Father.  He is constantly seeking and surrendering to His Father’s Will, that the work for which his Father sent Him might be accomplished on earth, that is, our salvation.  We are to imitate the Lord precisely in this, his surrender to the Father. 

Surrender to the Divine Will of the Father is at the heart of the Lord’s prayer which Jesus teaches his disciples.  “Thy Will be Done”. 

Pope Benedict wrote, by transforming his [life and] death into an act of prayer, an act of love, and thus by making himself communicable, Jesus has made it possible for us to participate in his most intimate and personal act of being, i.e. his dialogue with the Father.

A priest once told me, in order to pray always, we must pray sometimes.  The whole day cannot be sanctified, unless there is that portion of the day totally dedicated to prayer.  Then and only then can ones whole day, and hopefully, one’s whole life become a prayer.

So Jesus teaches his followers the Lord’s prayer, for his followers are to be in constant dialogue with God.  And by praying the Lord’s prayer, not mindlessly, but with greater and greater understanding throughout the course of our Christian life, we begin to participate in the mind and heart of Jesus. 

Only when we truly learn to pray will we truly learn to live. 

So perhaps today we should spend some extra time allowing the Lord to teach us the Lord’s Prayer as if it were the first time, reflecting on the words, allowing the meaning to seep into our bones, to change us, to conform us to Jesus, that our day and our life may be a prayerful offering to the Father, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 11th Week of Ordinary Time - Tuesday - "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect"

For over a week now our Gospel readings for daily Mass have been taken from Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel.  Matthew Chapter 5 begins Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the beatitudes.

Today would be a good day to go back and read chapter 5 in its entirety, for reaching its end today, we hear the words, “so be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.  Throughout these 48 verses Jesus has taught us how to be become holy—to reflect the perfect, committed, selfless, merciful love of God in our own lives.

In 1^st century Palestine there was a group of religious leaders called the Pharisees.  They believed holiness consisted in following the external precepts of the law.  But mere outward appearance does not produce love. 

Imagine a couple that merely kept the external precepts of the Ten Commandments in their marriage, saying; “Our marriage is wonderful.  We don’t steal from each other, lie to teach other, or cheat on each other.  And we haven’t even killed each other yet!”  Would that make an ideal marriage?  Of course not.  God does not want spouses simply to avoid hurting one another.  He wants them to grow in love.

The call of the Christian is not to follow the way of the Pharisee, but the way of Jesus  Christ, to a radical interiorization of his Father’s will, obedience to God from the heart, self-giving generosity, and self-sacrifice from the heart—to cultivate true patience, mercy, meekness, and purity.

Saint Maximus the Confessor wrote, “Readiness to do good to someone who hates us is a characteristic of perfect love.”  The perfection of love means readiness to act charitably towards all, irrespective of color, distance, nation, or character? Even those who persecute you.

For our fallen humanity this sounds impossible.  But the saints show us it is possible, that the gift of the Spirit received through faith and the sacraments enables us to love in a way that is beyond the capacity of our fallen humanity. 

So, we pray that our meditation on the Word of God and the celebration of these Sacred Mysteries may continue to transform and perfect our minds and hearts that we may imitate our Savior in all things for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 11th Week of Ordinary Time - Monday - "Do not receive the grace of God in vain"

We are familiar with the second commandment in which we are instructed to not take the name of the Lord in vain.  In other words, we must not use the name of the Lord as if it is meaningless.  The name of the Lord is holy, and we need to treat his holy name with reverence.

In today’s reading, Paul appeals to the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain.  By grace he means, God’s gift which reconciles us to himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus and makes us holy; by our acceptance of the grace which flows from Jesus’ paschal mystery we are transformed into the people he made us to be—into saints.  So when Paul says “do not receive the grace of God in vain”, on one hand he is saying that we mustn’t fail to allow the grace of God to transform us. 

Here we might think of the person who has backslided into a life of sin.  A baptized person who has fallen away from the Church, or living as if he weren’t a member of the Church.

But even we who are coming to daily Mass, who are trying to be faithful to a disciplined prayer life, Paul’s appeal goes for us as well.  There is a danger of falling into routine, of saying the words, but just sort of giving the Lord lip service. 

One of my seminary professors warned us often against, “worshipping in vain” and “receiving the Eucharist in vain” in other words: saying the words without meaning the words and wanting to be changed by the words, consuming the Eucharist without wanting to be changed, sanctified, healed, purified.  We must come to the Eucharist every time seeking conversion, lest we receive the grace of God in vain.  We must come to daily prayer and  Mass with that desire to become more like Jesus Christ in his selfless self-giving to God.  

As we celebrate this Eucharist may we give God true worship of the heart, desiring evermore to be conformed to his Son—for His glory and the salvation of souls.

Homily: 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Tears of Repentance

Back in the 1950s Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen hosted the most watched prime time television show in the country.  Once, when Archbishop Sheen  was working in a parish in London, and a famous actress wandered into the church while he was praying.  He recognized her and started up a conversation.  She was a Catholic who had been away from the Church for years and she said she couldn’t stay long.  So Bishop Sheen invited her to come back later so he could give her a tour of the famous artworks in the Church.  She agreed, on one condition, that he not ask her to go to confession.  He agreed. 

The next day she came back and Bishop Sheen gave her a tour of the Church.  There were two very famous paintings on the wall and the confessional was located right between them.  Bishop Sheen explained the first painting to great length and they began to walk towards the second painting.

As they passed the confessional, he pushed her into it, closed the curtain, and sat down.  She was furious.  She yelled at him, “You promised you wouldn’t ask me to go to confession!”  Bishop Sheen calmly answered, “my daughter, I have kept my promise.  I didn’t ask you.  Now, how long has it been since your last confession”?  She confessed her sins, came back to the Church, and Bishop Sheen became her life-long friend.

In our Gospel, we heard the beautiful account of a woman who was known to be a public sinner.  We don’t know much else about her, we don’t know the nature of her sins, other than she was known to be living a sinful lifestyle.  But we do know the most important thing…she came looking for Jesus.  She learned that Jesus was dining in the house of a Pharisee.  You could imagine all of the faces of everyone gathered in the house turning towards her as she entered the house.  She wasn’t merely making a social visit, she had come looking for Jesus; so, she knelt in front of him, and bathed his feet with her tears, as she sought his mercy.  She recognized in Jesus what others did not, that he is the fount of mercy.

There were other sinners in the room, but it was she who knelt before the Lord, and that made all the difference.  Throughout the Gospels Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their pride—for their hardness of heart—they fail to recognize Jesus as the fount of mercy because they fail to recognize their own sinfulness and hardness.

True Christian faith allows us to see Jesus as the one who forgives sins.  And was Jesus repulse by this sinful woman, did he embarrass her.  No.  To the sinful woman who acknowledged her sins, he proclaimed, “your sins are forgiven.  Go in peace.”

There is no sin too big to be forgiven by Christ, it is only the sin that is not repented of that is not forgiven.

Often as I priest, I hear people claim that they don’t need to go to the Sacrament of Confession because  they pray to God directly.  But this is not a Catholic understanding.  Jesus has established Sacraments in which we encounter him in very real and concrete ways.  By establishing the Sacraments he was saying, this is the way I want to be encountered. 

And he is pretty insistent in the Gospels concerning the Sacramental Participation.  He said, “Unless you are born again by water and the spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven”, so it’s through the Sacrament of Baptism that we receive new life.  He said, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you”, so it’s through the Sacrament of the Eucharist that he sustains life in us.  He to the Apostles, the first priests and bishops, “those whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”, so it’s through the sacrament of confession that he absolves sins.

He didn’t say, “well, if you commit a serious sin, say a little prayer, and that will be enough”.  Jesus invented Confession, and he wants us to use it.

In the years following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s there has been a decrease in the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both attributed this to what they called a “loss of the sense of sin”.  Our culture breeds an attitude that is much more like the Phrarisee in today’s Gospel than the sinful woman who knelt in tears.

Pope Benedict explained that the root of the loss of the sense of sin is because people have excluded God from their life.  They don’t look to God’s revelation to learn the difference between right and wrong, they sort of make it up on their own.  And we’ve seen the awful consequences of godlessness in own culture, where behavior that was not tolerated 50 years ago, is not only permitted but encouraged.  Behavior which is condemned very clearly by the Church is portrayed by television and movies and in many schools and universities as normal. 

But, just like a parent rightly tells a child “no” when they put their hand to the flame, the Church teaches God’s commandments, not because it is trying to ruin our fun, but because after the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we have a tendency to hurt ourselves, and put our souls in danger of hell. 

So one of the tasks of the Church is to announce God’s mercy and call sinners to repentance.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II used to go to confession every week.  As a priest, I could go every week, but I go about once a month.  Maybe at first glance you can’t think of anything to confess, but as the Christian takes more seriously the examination of his life in light of the Gospel, he begins to identify selfishness or hardness or self-centeredness that God wishes to transform.

When do we have to go to confession?  If we’ve committed a mortal sin, such as missing mass, we have to go to confession before we can receive the Eucharist again.  Being assigned here at Saint Angela’s for less than a week, I’m not going to push anyone into the confessional, like Bishop Sheen, at least I don’t think I will.  But please, if you need to go, go.

You’ll never regret going to confession, but we’ll always regret not allowing the Lord to free us in the way that he wants to.

As we celebrate this Mass, we ask God’s Spirit to bring all sinners to repentance, especially those who have fallen away from the Church, that they can hear the Lord calling them home, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 10th Week of Ordinary Time - Friday - Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Both readings today point to the preciousness of the new life we receive from God.  At Baptism, we are washed clean of original sin and made members of the Church, but also, new life is breathed into the soul, sanctifying grace fills the soul, the grace that makes a soul holy and pleasing to God.

This new life is a treasure, it’s invaluable; it can’t be bought, it can’t be obtained through human means, it was purchased for us by the blood of the spotless lamb.  it is the treasure that allows us, as Paul says to be “perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”

Paul says this treasure is contained an earthen vessel—think of a fragile clay pot.  He refers here to our bodies, our mortal flesh.  That we still have this tendency to make choices which are contrary to the life of grace.  Our Lord says it another way in the Gospels—the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

To protect the life of grace, we need to be vigilant and proactive against the tendencies of the flesh.  In the Gospel Our Lord uses hyperbole to explain that we need to go to serious measures to avoid sin and the near occasion of sin.  Hyperbole is an extreme illustration to prove a point, and our Lord proves his point, he says, “if your eye causes you to sin, cut it out, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it out.”

Meaning, discipleship involves eliminating sin and the near occasion of sin from our life.  This is not easy in the 21^st century, with sin around every corner, it’s as hard as well…cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin.  But it is crucial.  The Lord explains here too what is at stake…fiery Gahenna—hell. 

Our Lord gives a hard teaching today.  But with a serious challenge also comes serious help.  Saint Paul tells the Romans, “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”  The help we need in this troubled troubled age is here. 

Though we are weak and fragile and bombarded with so many temptations, through prayer, and the sacraments, and meditation upon God’s word, we can cooperate with God’s grace, to reject the empty promises of the age, and give witness to the transforming, life-giving power of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: June 13 - Saint Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua has been honored since the 11th century by Catholics around the world.  Saint Anthony belonged to the first generation of the band of brothers of Saint Francis of Assisi known as the Friars Minor. 

Anthony was born into a noble family in Lisbon in about 1195.  He was educated by the Augustinians, and entered the Augustinian order at a young age.  He dedicated himself to the study of Scripture and the Church Fathers, acquiring the theological knowledge that was to bear fruit in his teaching and preaching activities throughout his life.

In the first decade of the 11^th century Saint Francis was already gathering his first followers.  In fact, by the time Anthony met Francis, a group of Franciscans who attempted to bring the Gospel to Morocco had been martyred. The turning point in Anthony’s life was when the relics of those first Franciscan martyrs were brought through the town in Portugal where Anthony was living.    He was so inspired by these Franciscan martyrs that he requested to leave the Augustinians and join the Franciscans.  He initially wanted to go to Morocco himself, but because of an illness, his journeys took him to Assisi, where he met Saint Francis. 

Unlike Saint Francis, Anthony was ordained to the priesthood.  But like Francis, he preached the Gospel, and united himself to Christ crucified.

Anthony is not only the patron saint of lost items, he is also a doctor of the Church, and laid the foundations for the Franciscans’ great intellectual heritage.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI gave a beautiful summary of Saint Anthony’s life and spirituality which was so important to the development of the Franciscan Order.  He wrote, “Anthony, in the school of Francis, always put Christ at the center of his life and thinking, of his action and of his preaching.”

In a sermon, Anthony said, “If you preach Jesus, he will melt hardened hearts; if you invoke him, he will soften harsh temptations; if you think of him, he will enlighten your mind; if you read of him, he will satisfy your intellect.”  And aren’t each of us called to do just that, invoke Jesus throughout the day, meditate upon him, read his word, and preach Him. 

May Saint Anthony always help us to find Christ and serve Him, in the poor, in one another, in our Sacred Worship, in our prayer, in our charitable  works, that we may be faithful to all that the Gospel demands of us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: June 11 - Saint Barnabas, Apostle, "Son of Encouragement"

Every year we hear a lot about Saint Barnabas during the Easter Season as we read from the book of acts at daily Mass.  

Barnabas was a levite Jew and native of Cyprus.  He had settled in Jerusalem and was one of the first to embrace Christianity there after the Lord’s Resurrection.  The book of Acts tells us that Barnabas sold his field and gave the money to the Apostles for the Church’s needs.  It was he the vouched for the sincerity of Saul’s conversion when the Jerusalem community still feared their former persecutor.

We heard in today’s reading how Barnabas was sent to Antioch and rejoiced and encouraged the Christians there to remain faithful to the Lord and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and faith, and through him a large number of people were added to the Lord.  From Antioch, Barnabas and Paul were sent on a mission together, which became known as Paul’s first missionary journey.  He completed the missionary journey with Paul and was present at the Council of Jerusalem, but after around the year 49 we lose track of him.

Some Church writers believe him to be the author of the letter to the Hebrews since he was a levite and the letter to the Hebrews often uses very priestly language. 

Nevertheless, Barnabas allowed the grace of God to transform him into a great, holy, and effective laborer for the Gospel.  The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement” and we heard how people came to follow Jesus through Barnabas’ encouragement.  Well we are all called to be a Barnabas aren’t we? 

Encouraging people to remain faithful to the Lord when they begin to doubt, instructing the ignorant, calling the fallen away back to the Lord.  Someone in this parish is perhaps waiting for your encouragement to really take an active role in the work that is being done here.  Some young person is perhaps waiting for your encouragement to take that next step in considering the Lord’s call to a religious vocation or to the priesthood. 

Each of us can make an invaluable contribution to renewing our parish, not only be leading and teaching but by encouraging.  May we through the intercession of St. Barnabas become great encourages for the Lord for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 10th Week of Ordinary Time - Monday - Fourth Corinthians?

Today’s Gospel is one of the most famous passages of the New Testament, if not the entire bible—the beatitudes.  Yet, I’d like to focus on the first reading, from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, because we’ll be reading second Corinthians for the next two weeks. 

We know Paul recognized many problems in the Christian community at Corinth.  They were pretty dysfunctional and were engaging in a number of practices which were totally incongruent with the Christian life. 

Paul founded the church at Corinth around 50 AD, spending about 18 months there establishing a community of believers consisting of both Gentiles and converts from Judaism.  It’s thought that Paul actually wrote four letters to the community and Corinth.  Because in his first letter he makes reference to an earlier correspondence in which he urges them not to associate with immoral people.  So first Corinthians is actually his second letter, and second Corinthians, is actually fourth Corinthians.  Between his second and third letter, Paul made an emergency visit to Corinth to settle disputes and to confront a member of the community who was slandering him. 

Second Corinthians was written as a sort of prelude to his third and final visit to Corinth.  It seems that after his second visit, there was some real reconciliation within the community, and so this letter is to express his joy that the Gospel was finally beginning to take real root in the hearts of the Christians there. 

So this letter is going to be filled with much encouragement, but will also deal with some enduring pastoral problems.

We heard the very opening of the letter today: Paul addresses the community as the Church of God that is in Corinth—reminding the Corinthians of their divine origin—they owe their existence to God, and challenging them to realize that they belong to something much larger than themselves. 

They have been called out of darkness into light, they have been called out of worldly ways into the communion of the Church, they are being called out of former ways to live according to the new way of Jesus Christ, a calling that is a continuous journey. 

As it was for the Corinthians, so it was for us.  A community, a parish, a diocese is never a completed project.  Yes we’ve been sanctified, and made members of the Church, but Christians are called to continue grow in holiness, to be open to the many ways which God’s spirit works to draw us deeper and deeper into communion with God and one another.

And when we are faithful and open we can become the holy ones God made us to be, for his glory and the salvation of souls.

Homily: 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time - June 9 - Feast of Saint Columbkille

This weekend our parish celebrates our Patronal Feast—June 9 is the feast of Our Patron, Saint Columbkille.

Saint Columbkille is Scotland’s most revered saint and, in Ireland, he is honored second only to St. Patrick.

Sometimes, he goes by the name St. Columba of Iona, and he’s not to be confused with St. Columban, or the St. Columba who was a Spanish consecrated virgin in the 7th century, or St. Columba of Terrygrass.

Saint Columbkille’s birth name was Colum MacFehlin MacFergus. The name Colum is Gaelic for dove, which is why religious art of Columbkille, such as our wonderful statue here in the Church, has a dove.  and as a young boy Colum spent so much time in Church that they added the word “kille” to his name, which is the Gaelic word for Church.  So, Colum-Kille means Dove of the Church,

His father and mother were both royalty in County Donegal in 6th century northern Ireland. St. Columbkille was well educated, and a man of great faith who could have become a king but instead chose a life of service to God. He was ordained at the age of 25, as a monk and a priest.

Columbkille spent much time copying the Scriptures and other manuscripts and writing poems. Our parish statue of Saint Columbkille is also holding the Book of Kells, the most well-known illuminated manuscript of the Gospels. 

After his ordination, he spent the fifteen years working among the poor in his native Ireland and was famous for his works of charity and his preaching.

Columbkille left Ireland in 563, with twelve fellow monks, and landed on the isle of Iona off the western Coast of Scotland. He spent the next 34 years on Iona establishing churches and schools, attracting many converts to the faith by his ardent penance, fervent prayer, sincere preaching, and deep confidence in God.

There are many neat stories and legends about Saint Columbkille, even one where he confronts the Loch Ness Monster which is the earliest written account of the monster at Loch Ness!  But I went to tell one from the very end of his life. 

In his later years, when he was too infirmed to go on any more missionary journeys, the old monk Columbkille settled into a quiet life of prayer, writing poetry, and copying books for libraries at the Monastery Abbey, on the Isle of Iona, off of Scotland, which you can still visit. On the last day of his life, he was transcribing the book of Psalms when he reached verse 11 of the 33rd Psalm.  He transcribed “They who seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good thing”. Then set down his pen, went to the monastery chapel, knelt before Jesus in the tabernacle, and died.  That was the year 597. 

Saint Columbkille truly sought the Lord and worked tirelessly for the spread of the Gospel and we do well to We do well to seek our patron’s intercession not only today, on his feast day, but throughout the entire year—to ask his prayers for the spiritual well being of all of our parishioners, and for all of the people in our parish territory who do not share our Catholic faith, that they may experience the conversion for which our patron worked so tirelessly.

The Scripture readings today speak of the power and importance of the Christian faith preached by Saint Columbkille by which we receive Divine Life.  Both the first reading and the Gospel tell of the raising of two dead young boys. 

From the first book of Kings we heard of the widow of Zarephath.  Remember, widows, in the 9th century before Christ were practically helpless.  No social security, no social safety net.  Having lost her husband, her son was her last hope.  But a severe drought and famine struck the land, the widow and her son were starving to death.  The widow’s Son became desperately ill and died.  She became angry at Elijah for not being able to save her son’s life, and she became angry at God, she hit rock bottom. 

Yet, to show that God has power in the most desperate, hopeless situations—to show that rock bottom can be a place of new life, God used Elijah to perform a miracle.  The life of the widow’s son was restored.  And so was the woman’s faith.

Similarly in the Gospel, Jesus comes into the city of Naim, not too far from Nazareth.  Our Lord sees a funeral procession underway. The body of a young man, the only son of a widowed mother, is being carried to burial.   

Jesus is moved with pity by her grief and desperation, and he brings the young man back to life.  The miracle awakens not just amazement in the woman, but we hear how all those gathered were amazed and glorified God. 

God can make something from nothing, God can bring faith where faith is absent, God can bring new life to dead bodies and dead souls.  We hear even in our own day of medical miracles, where doctors, men of science, claim to witness God’s hand at work, bringing back the lifeless, curing disease without explanation.

But more important than miracles of physical healing, are the stories of spiritual healing and conversion, the stories of those who have lost faith or who never had faith or who are in mortal sin are brought back to supernatural life.  Saints like Columbkille remind us that the vocation of every Christian is to be an instrument of conversion—souls are meant to be brought back to life through you and through me, through good works which glorify God, through preaching which glorifies God.  The Christian faith is not just a matter of bodily life and death, but eternal life and death. 

In the past few years there has been great popularity of movies and television shows about zombies, one of the most successful shows on television is called “the walking dead”.  If you are not familiar with the term, a “zombie” is an animated corpse, which sort of shambles around looking to feed its insatiable hunger.  The zombie, the walking corpse, which has lost its humanity, seeks to feed on the living—it consumes without moral regard.

Is not a man who lives without the Christian faith, or who has given up the faith, kind of like zombie, a walking corpse.  He sort of wanders aimlessly, looking for things to consume.  That aimless consumerism, seeking to fill the emptiness with stuff, his insatiable hunger for novelty, his lust, his moral disregard, is like a zombie plague which has infected our world.  As a person strays farther and farther away from the Christian faith, with less and less regard for the things of God, he loses his humanity, he loses his soul.

But there is a remedy for the zombie plague.  That which can restore lifelessness, which can breath new life, supernatural life back into a soul, is the Christian faith.  The Cure, the saving Gospel, is not something we make up on our own, it is something we receive from the Church.  It has brought divine life to millions, it has converted hardened sinners to saints, it has brought hope to the hopeless.

The Cure is received and passed down, which is why parents have such a great responsibility in raising their children in the faith.  Our children need to be immersed in a Catholic culture—with our tradition, and art, and music, and sights, so they can build up resistance to that spiritual disease, lest they be infected, and lose their humanity and the promise of eternal life.

We need to be very vigilant over the types of entertainment we are exposed to.  For, the anti-Christian attitudes in many movies and television shows are contagious like the zombie plague.

During this Year of Faith, we must take seriously our call to spread the cure, to bring the fallen away back to the practice of the Christian faith, confession, Sunday Mass, daily prayer and bible study.  To boldly live as St. Columbkille wrote in his last moments, “Those who seek the Lord, shall not be deprived of good things,” the most of important of which, is eternal life through Jesus Christ.  With the help of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Columbkille our patron, and all the saints, may we be transformed into instruments of Divine Life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Immaculate Heart of Mary 2013

Appearing to the three shepherd children  at Fatima Mary said, “'God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart’

Perhaps the most well-known utterance of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima was her declaration that  “My Immaculate Heart will triumph”. Pope Benedict interpreted this utterance as follows: “The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word.

Such is the heart of the Mother of the Church.  It is a heart which is perfectly obedient to God’s will for the spread of the kingdom of God.  It is a heart which contemplated the teachings and workings of her Son, most importantly contemplating in sorrow his crucifixion, having her heart pierced along with his.

It is the heart  of a mother which prays insistently that the divine life of the Trinity be born, and protected, and nurtured in each one of us through grace.  Mary prays constantly for us and for the world, that we too may be as perfectly obedient to God’s will as we are able.  She knows that the Divine Will is the only true source of salvation and joy for us, and having accepted the Divine Will herself, prays ever more insistently for us. 

We unite ourselves to the Immaculate Heart when we seek the Kingdom of God’s Divine Will to be spread in the hearts of and minds of our brothers and sisters. 

Notice that today’s Feast of the Immaculate Heart is not held on a particular date of the year, not even in the month of May, but it is always tied to the feast of Pentecost, it is the second Saturday after Pentecost.  There is this important connection between Pentecost, which the Holy Spirit came as tongues of Fire and the Immaculate Heart which also burns with the fire of love.  The Immaculate Heart prays that we may be set ablaze with the fire of Pentecost, that is with the fire of perfect obedience, and love for God, and devotion to the mission of the Church.

May we respond with devotion to her heart, that her Immaculate Heart may triumph that evil may not have the last word in our lives or in our world, but rather, the Divine Will, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: June 6 - Saint Norbert, Bishop - Program for renewal

About a thousand years ago, there lived a man by the name of Norbert who started a religious order called the Premonstratensians.  For some reason, most people know them today as the Norbertines.    Norbert was of noble birth, and when he was ordained a subdeacon he was chaplain to the emperor, and put in charge of dispersing alms to the poor.  However, Norbert began to take on a lot of the bad habits of the emperor’s court, and became very worldly.  During a violent thunderstorm, Norbert had a close brush with death which led to his conversion. 

And when he was ordained a priest, in 1115, Norbert gave away all of his possessions and moved to the valley of Premontre in northern France, from which we get the name Premonstratensian. 

As a priest and later as an archbishop, Norbert spent many hours in contemplation of the divine mysteries.  Consequently, His preaching and teaching were infused with the fruit of his time in prayer.

Part of his plan for renewal and evangelization in his diocese was deep devotion to the Holy Scriptures.  He encouraged the members of his religious order to read the scriptures often, and to pattern their lives after the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Norbert was also devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, and Norbert attributed the conversion of sinners , the reform of the clergy, and the spread of the Gospel throughout his diocese to time spent in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Religious art often depicts him holding a monstrance or kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Here is a wonderful patron saint for our Year of Faith.  A man who, although a subdeacon, had a much deeper conversion which had a powerful impact on his life.  A man whose preaching was supercharged by his study of scripture and Adoration of the Eucharist.

There is a program for renewal that each of us are to follow: to always seek that deeper conversion to the Lord, and to let our words and our deeds infused with the fruit of study and prayer.  May we know the prayers of Saint Nortbert today in our daily conversion and evangelization for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: June 5 - Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Boniface, who was an English Benedictine monk is He devoted his life to the evangelization of the Germanic tribes.  When he made his first missionary journey to Germany in 719 at the request of Pope Gregory II, Boniface found that his work was cut out for him. Literally. 

The Germanic tribes worshiped gods of Norse Mythology: Odin and Thor and the like. Boniface learned of a giant oak tree where the Pagans gathered to offer false worship to the God Thor.  Boniface began chopping down the tree.  The local militia gathered, but Boniface continued chopping.  The pagans waited for him to be struck dead by their gods for his sacrilege.  When the tree fell and nothing happened to him, the pagans were converted.  This is why his stained glass windows and statues often contain a tree stump and Boniface holding an axe. 

Boniface opposed the false worship of his age and won converts to Christ.  He did so, at great risk to his mortal life. 

In a letter written to a Benedictine abbess, Saint Boniface wrote: “Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial…let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.”

During this Year of Faith we are to reflect quite deeply upon our role in the spread of the Gospel.  We cannot be silent onlookers, while we watch the false gods of modernity rise up around us.  False gods are being worshiped by our family members who do not come to Church.  We may fail at bringing them back to the Church, but as Mother Theresa said, “God doesn't ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithful.”  And faithfulness involves working for the spread of the Gospel.

Boniface was a man of tremendous courage.  While he was preparing converts for Confirmation in territory that was still hostile to Christianity, he and 53 companions were massacred.  He was 80 years old when he was martyred.  We’re never too old to witness.

One writer wrote, “St. Boniface had it all: natural brilliance, formidable powers of persuasion, and unstoppable energy and resolve.  He could have had a great career and high status in society, but this saintly man wanted something very different: nothing for himself and everything for Christ and His Church.” 

As we prayed in the opening prayer: “may the Martyr Saint Boniface, be our advocate that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.