Homily: 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Dante's Purgatory and the Our Father

The poet, Dante Alighieri, wrote a famous poem, almost 800 years ago now, called the Divine Comedy.  In the three books of the Divine Comedy, Dante chronicles a pilgrimage he makes through hell, purgatory, and heaven.   He describes the horrific sights and sounds of the punishment of the wicked in hell for their failure to repent from their self-centeredness.

He then makes his way up the mountain of purgatory, where he meets those who still need to be purified of the effects of their sins before entering heaven where amidst glorious celestial light he meets the blessed saints who free from all selfishness now enjoy the beauty of being in God’s presence.

At the base of the mountain of purgatory, the largest group of people Dante meets are those who need to be cleansed of the sin of pride.

According to Dante, every sin can be traced back to pride.  For Pride is when we turn away from God, when we claim to know better than God, when we act as if we were the center of the universe.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their pride and traced their inability to recognize him as the Son of God back to pride. 

Jesus in the Gospel says, those who exult themselves shall be humbled, and those who humble themselves shall be exulted. 

In Dante’s poem, those in Purgatory are cleansed of their pride by making a very specific act of humility, they recite over and over, humbly and devoutly, the Our Father. 

A good priest once suggested to me that our holiness as a Christian can be measured by our ability to pray the Our Father from the heart.   

The Our Father is a prayer of true humility.  In Dante’s purgatory, the Our Father is prayed over and over until they really learn to pray it from the heart.

Do you pray the Our Father from your heart?

The Our Father is one of the first prayers we learn, we commit it to memory, we pray it every week at Mass. I remember committing it to memory in first grade PSR.

Once committed to memory it becomes easy to rattle off the words, barely thinking about what they mean.  There is a difference between praying the Our Father from memory and praying it from the heart, isn’t there? 

To pray the Our Father from the heart means to pray it from your very depths, to mean every phrase of it, to pray it with the heart and the mind of Jesus Christ. 

As a spiritual exercise it is helpful from time to time to pray the Our Father, very slowly, reflecting upon every word, what those words really mean for us as Christians.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a wonderful resource for this, the entire final 100 paragraphs of the Catechism deal with each line and each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer.

Where pride focuses on me, me, me.  Just teaches us to focus on us, on we.  We are to address God address God as part of a community.  The first word of the Our Father is Our. 

The prayer would be very different if it were only about ME.  “My Father, who art in heaven…give me this day my daily bread and forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me, and lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil.”  Yuck. What a different prayer, it sounds so self-centered!

In teaching us to pray, Jesus teaches us to focus not just on ME, my life, my needs, my desires, rattling off my wish list. Christianity is not a mere private affair.  The Church Jesus founded is not just a gathering of isolated individuals, but persons who have been brought into a new communion with God and one another.  We go to God together. 

Look at Sunday Mass.  We cannot fulfill our Sunday obligation by sitting in a room, by ourselves, communing with God.  We are meant to come together, at least every week, in united prayer.

Someone who claims that they don’t need the Church to be Christian needs to reexamine the data and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The second word of the prayer is Father.  The word Father here doesn’t just mean that God is the Creator.  Yes, God is the creator of everything, including human life.  Everyone who has ever existed or ever will exists owes their life to God.  But Christians use the word Father in a different sense.

Through Baptism, the Christian is brought in to a new relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We heard this in the second reading from St. Paul to the Colossians: “You were buried with him in baptism” and even when you were dead because of sin, “he brought you to life along with him”. 

A new life and a new way of relating to God—through Jesus Christ the Son, the Christian becomes a Son of God.  Other religions cannot claim this.  Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims cannot call God Father in the same way as Christians—for through Christ we share in the Sonship of Christ.

And since we have been given this new life—this new relationship as sons of God—we need to behave that way.  St. John Chyrsostom said that “You cannot call the God of all kindness your Father if you preserve a cruel and inhuman heart”  Our Father is revealed as full of compassion, and that means we need to be full of compassion. 

As the Catechism states, praying to our Father should develop in us the desire to become like Him, to behave like Him, to strive to become Holy like Him, and free from selfishness like Him.  

The Our Father is the prayer that conquers our pride, admitting that God’s will is more important than my will, that my greatest happiness is making God’s will my own.

Jesus promises in the Gospel today that those who ask will receive, those who seek will find.  Those who seek the will of God will receive it, those who ask for their daily bread from God will be nourished.

May we learn to truly pray this prayer from our hearts, that Our Father may truly be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven, for His glory and the salvation of souls.

Homily: July 26 - Saints Joachim and Anne - Grandparents

At one time, July 26 was the feast of St. Anne only, and devotion to St. Anne goes back to the early centuries of the Church; in the year 550 the basilica in her honor was dedicated in Constantinople.  It is only recently, with the new calendar that the two feasts of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary have been joined.

In addition to being honored as the parents of the Mother of God, Sts. Joachim and Anne are the patron saints of grandparents.  It’s good today, then, to reflect on the role that grandparents play within the Church.  Some grandchildren are blessed to grow up near their grandparents, while others because of distance only get to spend time with their grandparents a few times a year.  Given the culture of the Holy Land, it’s likely that Jesus spent considerable time with His grandparents, even if they didn’t live in the same town.  They undoubtedly were a source of great human affection, and examples of Jewish piety and devotion

I think of my own grandparents, who for many years on Sunday, when my parents worked late the night before, would drive miles out of their way to pick me up for Sunday Mass.  The role of grandparents today is paramount in an age where there is a growing laxity in the practice of the faith.  They can help to ensure that the Tradition and Faith is passed on to the younger generations, and help to guide their own children in responsible Christian parenting. 

Grandparents, when you know there is something wrong, don’t be afraid to remind your families of the importance of faith and prayer, by your words and example.  If the grandkids come over, pray a rosary before the television goes on in the evening, make sure that prayers are said before family meals, teach the traditions, instill the faith.  

On these feast of the grandparents, we’re reminded of grandparent’s special role and responsibility in forming the generations to come.  Through the prayers of Saints Joachim and Anne may we all come to a deeper knowledge of the role we have in spreading the Faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Collect: O Lord, God of our Fathers who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace, that of them should be born the Mother of your incarnate Son, grant, through the prayers of both, that we may attain the salvation you have promised to your people.

Prayer over the Offerings: Receive, we pray, O Lord, these offerings of our homage, and grant that we may merit a share in the same blessing which you promised to Abraham and his descendents.

Prayer after Communion: O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should be born from among humanity so that by a wonderful mystery humanity might be born again from you, we pray that, in your kindness, you may sanctify by the spirit of adoption those you have fed with the Bread you give your children.

Homily: July 25 - St. James the Greater, Apostle & Martyr - Pilgrimage

Today we honor St. James the Apostle, son of Zebedee and the brother of another apostle, St. John the Evangelist.  This St. James is traditionally given the title, “the Greater” to distinguish him from another Apostle, St. James, Son of Alpheus, who is called “the lesser”.  The titles “greater” and “lesser” are not intended to measure their level of holiness, but simply describe how frequent they are mentioned in the New Testament.

James was called by the Lord while working as a fisherman.  He and his brother John were docked on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and they were mending their nets.  The Lord beckoned and they followed, changing their lives forever. 

Scripture paints James and John as zealous and enthusiastic followers of Jesus.  They were called “the Sons of Thunder” by Jesus himself. 

Together with Simon Peter and his brother, St. James was privileged to be admitted into some very important moments in Jesus’ life—moments where the apostles came to understand just who Jesus was.  He was there on Mount Tabor—when the Lord became Transfigured, hearing the voice from heaven saying “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”  He was there at the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, at the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and at the Lord’s agony in the Garden.

Apostleship prepared James to die for the Faith.  Around 44 AD, he was martyred— according to the 12^th Chapter of the Book of Acts—beheaded by Herod Agrippa—making him the first apostle to be martyred. 

Although Saint James was martyred Israel, before his martyrdom, he went on an evangelizing mission quite far from the Sea of Galilee, so his relics were brought back to Spain for veneration.

Over the last 2000 years, thousands and thousands of Catholics have made pilgrimage to venerate St. James’ relics in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. You may have heard of the famous pilgrimage route called the Via de Compostela, the famous way of Saint James.  There was a movie starring Martin Sheen that was pretty well done.

Pilgrimage is good for the soul.  During the Year of Faith, the diocese of Cleveland is sponsoring a pilgrimage to five churches across the diocese, including our own cathedral.  There were bulletin inserts about the pilgrimage but you can still learn about the diocesan pilgrimage on the diocese of Cleveland website. 

Making pilgrimage to a shrine reminds us that the entire Christian life is much like a pilgrimage.  And the joys and sufferings of the pilgrimage remind us that striving to be like Jesus in our service to God, is full of both joys and sufferings.

Making a pilgrimage can be a way of reigniting our zeal for living and spreading the Gospel.

May we have the fervor and zeal and courage needed to be faithful followers of Jesus, and may we know that through life’s difficulties we have great Saints, like St. James the Greater, the Son of Zebedee, to intercede for our efforts for the Glory of God and Salvation of Souls.

Collect: Almighty ever-living God, who consecrated the first fruits of your Apostles by the blood of Saint James, grant, we pray ,that your Church may be strengthened by his confession of faith and constantly sustained by his protection.

Prayer over the Offerings: Cleanse us, Lord, by the saving baptism of your Son's Passion, so that on the Feast of Saint James, whom you willed to be the first among the Apostles to drink of Christ's chalice of suffering, we may offer a sacrifice pleasing to you.

Prayer after Communion: Help us, O Lord, we pray, through the intercession of the blessed Apostle James, on whose feast day we have received with joy your holy gifts.

Homily: July 23 - St. Bridget of Sweden - Co-Patroness of Europe

St. Bridget of Sweden was born on July 23, 1303. She married a young prince and had 8 children, one of whom, Catherine, is also honored as a saint.  At ten years of age, Bridget heard a sermon on the Passion of our Lord; and the next night she saw Jesus on the cross, covered with fresh blood, and speaking to her about his Passion.  She received many revelations about our Lord’s Passion, and you can still read the revelations she recorded. 

Bridget felt the Lord’s call to renounce her wealth and live as an ascetic.  She became a member of the Franciscan Third Order—who make lifelong commitments to living those Gospel values exemplified by St. Francis. 

Out of this desire to follow Christ ever more closely, St. Bridget, who is also known by her Swedish name, St. Brigitta, founded a religious order devoted to the Prescious Blood of Jesus, which is also familiarly called the Bridgittines.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II declared St. Bridget a Co-Patroness of Europe, along with Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross.

In his declaration the Pope said, “In naming her a Co-Patroness of Europe”, she is not just a model for those in consecrated religious life, but especially for married people—that those who have “the high and demanding vocation of forming a Christian family will feel that she is close to them.”  The Pope emphasized how “she and her husband enjoyed a married life in which conjugal love was joined to intense prayer, the study of Sacred Scripture, mortification and charitable works. Together they founded a small hospital, where they often attended the sick. Bridget was in the habit of serving the poor personally. At the same time, she was appreciated for her gifts as a teacher”
Bridget lived in a time where much more reform was needed throughout Europe.  Bridget spoke unabashedly to princes and pontiffs. She was not afraid to deliver stern admonitions about the moral reform of the Christian people and the clergy themselves (cf. Revelations, IV, 49; cf. also IV, 5).

Blessed Pope John Paul II named these women co-patronesses of Europe at a decisive time in history.  Europe, as well as the United States, is undergoing a profound identity crisis where we are attempting to redefine ourselves without God, without the foundation of Christ. 

The Pope stressed that The hope of building a more just world, is good, but it must be coupled with the awareness that human efforts are of no avail if not accompanied by divine grace: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain” (Ps 127:1).

We see in the Saints what life is supposed to look like.  May St. Bridget remind us and help us to build our lives and families firmly in service to the Lord for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: July 22 - St. Mary Magdalene's Ardent Love for Christ

St. Mary Magdalene - Song of Songs 3:1-4 or 2 Corinthians 5:14-17;  Psalm 63; John 20:1-2, 11-18

It can be argued, that Mary Magdalene is the second-most important woman in the New Testament. Within the four Gospels, she is named 14 times, more than most of the apostles.  Yet, there is a lot of confusion about some of Mary Magdalene’s biographical information.

There is no scriptural evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.  Nor is she the woman to have washed the feet of Jesus, that was Mary of Bethany in John’s Gospel;

Movies like The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus Christ Superstar portray Mary of Magdala as young, beautiful and as having the hots for Jesus, and we won’t even go into what Dan Brown, author of The Davinci Code has to say about her. 

Mary Magdalene was a woman of deep faith and ardent love for the Lord. Everything we know about her speaks of her love for Jesus. St. Luke tells us that she helped provide for the needs of Jesus and His apostles out of her resources (Lk 8:3).

She suffered at the foot of the cross with Jesus (Jn 19:25). At dawn, Mary Magdalene was at Jesus' tomb (Jn 20:1). Love sent her to be the first witness for the risen Christ (Jn 20:18).

Listen to the words of the preface of the old Mass for Mary Magdalene: O God, You enkindled in her heart the fire of an ardent love for Christ that endowed her with freedom of spirit, and you infused in her the courage to follow Christ faithfully, even to Calvary.  After his death on the cross, she sought her Master so zealously that she merited to meet the risen Lord and to be the first to announce the Easter joy to the apostles.

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.  She teaches us how one who perseveres and stands with Jesus on Calvary can be a great joyful witness of his resurrection.

Coming to the Eucharist, we are like Mary Magdalene finding Him whom our hearts long for.  May our love for Him impel us to spread His good news for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Martha and Mary and choosing the better part

Last week, from Luke’s Gospel we heard the parable of the Good Samaritan—a powerful story in which Jesus teaches us to go beyond our comfort zones to help others.  Immediately following the parable of the Good Samaritan Saint Luke gives the account of our Lord’s visit to Martha and Mary which we heard this week.

It’s not a coincidence that Saint Luke puts these two stories side by side.  On the one hand we are taught in the Good Samaritan Story followers of Jesus Christ are to go out into the highways, and go and pick up and care for the wounded and those in need. 

On the other hand, what do we learn about discipleship from Mary and Martha?  Martha was busy with all the details of hospitality, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Our Lord, listening to his word.  And it was Mary who was praised by the Lord,  He said, “Mary has chosen the better part”.

 Saint Luke is emphasizing a very important lesson in discipleship, yes we have to care for those in need, yes we have to lift up the wounded, but we cannot lose sight of the one most necessary thing, we must remain grounded by sitting at the feet of Christ.

Pope Benedict took up this lesson in his first encyclical titled, Deus Caritas Est, God is love.  He teaches that no Christian can be exempt from practicing charity—care for those in need is part of our very identity.  But, what makes Christian service different from mere secular service agencies, is that our love of neighbor flows from our love of God.

The Popes of the 20^th century, even beginning with Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19^th century, were very prolific in developing the Church’s social teaching, teaching us to be engaged in the social political and economic life of our respective nations, to work for human development, and of course caring for those most in need.

In the 1960s Blessed Pope John XXIII gave us a great method for charitable service, “See—Judge—Act”.  See a need, judge what can be done, and act.  If you see a child fall on the play ground, you judge that you can go over to help him, and you act, you lift him up.  If you see a drunkard on the street begging for money, you judge that it might be better to give him a sandwich or a blanket rather than twenty bucks which he would spend on booze, and then you do it.  See—Judge—Act

Pope Benedict, saw the danger of the Church being reduced to a mere social service institution.  He reemphasized that the primary task of the Church is to proclaim the Faith.

This makes the Church counter cultural. It is a hard job to preaching the Christian Faith in a culture which has abandoned so many of the commandments.  Our “if it feels good do it culture” doesn’t like to hear how abandoning God’s law leads to a crumbling society.  So where do we get the strength, and courage to preaching the Christian faith in the face of such hostility?

So we remain grounded in the truth by following Mary’s example in the Gospel today, sitting at the foot of Jesus, listening to his word.

I’m reminded of a story, from the Missionary Sisters of Charity, the order of sisters founded by Blessed Mother Theresa.  I got to work with the Missionary Sister’s in Rome at a homeless shelter, and also at an orphanage in Madagascar .  One of the charisms of the Missionary Sisters of Charity is to take care of the poorest of the poor.  They would literally lift starving people out of the gutter and give them food and shelter.  Every day, the Missionary Sisters of Charity make a holy hour, they pray for an hour every day, usually around 6am, in front of the blessed Sacrament. 

One day, a young novice goes to Mother Theresa, and says how she thinks the holy hour is a waste of time, there are people starving to death on the streets while the sisters are in the chapel praying.  “Sister, you seem very troubled” Mother said.  “I am, Mother, this holy hour is a waste of time.”  “Because you are so troubled,” said mother Theresa to the young novice, “you need two hours.”

Martha was so troubled, so anxious because she thought Mary was wasting her time sitting at the feet of Jesus.  In rebuking Martha, Our Lord was not criticizing hospitality.  In fact, hospitality is very important, taking care of the needs of your visitors, making them comfortable, making them welcome is a good thing, it is loved by God. 

Our Lord doesn’t say, “Martha, Martha stop being so hospitable” he says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about Many Things”.  Her heart is not focused on Christ, and her work is not flowing out of her relationship with God.  That’s the problem.

That can be a major problem for us too.  Our lives can be divided into all these different non-interacting dimensions.  There’s my home life, my social life, my private life, my  political life, my medical decisions, my leisure life, my faith life, my job.  But Our Christian faith is the compass meant to guide and direct and unify all of these disparate dimensions of our human activity.

Anyone who has raised children involved in sports, or anyone who works a number of jobs to support their family knows how hard it is to juggle all these things.  .  Anyone who has had family over on Sunday afternoon knows the temptation of skipping Mass in order to prepare for the visit. 

The danger for all of us is making Martha’s mistake, “I’m too busy to pray, too busy to read scripture, too busy to go to mass, too busy to rest on Sunday’s, too busy to make a holy hour, too busy to pray a rosary.” 

A priest was driving Mother Theresa to the airport.  She sat quietly praying her rosary beads, and the priest went on and on about all the new programs they’ve started at the parish, all the places he’s been asked to give lectures, the articles he’s been asked to write for these magazines.  Mother asked him, “when do make time to pray?”  He said, “well….i’m really too busy to pray.” She bluntly said, “Stop it father.  You are too busy, you must pray.”

Jesus teaches, Seek first the kingdom of God.  If we are not putting God first, nothing else will be in it’s proper place, which is why time set aside for daily prayer is so important.

And by the way, Daily prayer for Christians means more than rattling off an “our father” once a day if and when we remember.  We must make time to sit at the feet of Jesus.  To gaze into his eyes, to contemplate His wisdom. 

The Bible is such an important part of this.  Every Catholic should read and reflect on the Bible every day.  Parents can share a bible story with their children before bed, you can read a little scripture on your lunch break, you can read it as you fall asleep instead of watching late-night television.  Read a psalm a day, reflectively, thinking about what it means for your life, in light of your particular challenges.  We must come to value once again substance and spirituality over hype, busyness and entertainment. 

Every day we are faced with the choice to be more like Martha or more like Mary— Busy about all of our worldly pursuits, or drawn deeper into the life and love of God.  Let us renew our commitment today to daily prayer, to seeking the one thing that really matters, Jesus Christ Our Lord, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 15th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday - Exodus

Over the past week and through next week our first readings for daily mass are taken from the book of Exodus.  Where the first book of the bible, the book of genesis, gives us an account of creation and the fall, Exodus, the second book of the Bible begins with God’s people enslaved in Egypt.   This is story which forged the identity of the Jewish people more than any other, the event that they continue to look back to as the decisive moment in their history 3500 years later.

It is the story of how God freed a people.  The word exodus comes from two greek words, ex and hodos, meaning, the “way out”.  God leads His people out of slavery, and forms them to be “his people” through the establishment of covenants and the giving of the law—particularly the 10 commandments.

Especially during Lent and the Sacred Triduum Christians look to the book of exodus also as an allegory.  Christ, the new Moses, liberates His people, the Church, the new Israel, from the spiritual slavery of sin.  Every years, On the night of the Easter Vigil we read the story of the crossing of the Red Sea.  God leading the freed slaves through the waters symbolizes how we are led through the saving waters of baptism. 

The first reading today even speaks of a vigil where they recall their story.  “This was a night of vigil for the LORD, as he led them out of the land of Egypt; so on this same night all the children of Israel must keep a vigil for the LORD throughout their generations.”

Keeping a vigil and recalling their past was an important part of maintaining and strengthening their identity.  It is a way of keeping grounded, remembering where they came from, who saved them, and where they were supposed to be heading.  Remembering that they were once enslaved in Egypt, that salvation came from God, not from themselves, that they need to keep their eyes on Him and on the promised Land by following his commandments.

Christians do the same, don’t we?  Recalling daily the saving event of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery is an essential part of our Christian identity.  Recalling, we were enslaved in sin, that salvation came from Jesus, not ourselves, and that we must keep our eyes fixed on Him.

We get in trouble when we forget about our beginnings, when we think we were somehow owed salvation and that heaven is a guarantee.

If we don’t live ever-conscious of the Exodus, our liberation from slavery, we run the risk of being enslaved again.  It keeps us humble, it keeps us on the right path.

May we live always in grateful and humble remembrance of what God has done for us and to the great dignity to which he calls us for His glory and the salvation of souls. 

Homily: 15th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday - Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Passing through a field, the disciples were hungry and began to pick heads of grain and eat them==an action permitted in the Old Testament Law.  However, for Jesus’ disciples to do so on the Sabbath was a source of contention with the Pharisees, who seem to view their action as a kind of harvesting and thus unlawful work on the Sabbath.

The Pharisees were often on the lookout for opportunities to catch Jesus and the disciples in some sort of unlawful action.  But their concern here isn’t all bad.  Along with circumcision and the dietary laws, the Sabbath rest was one of the main identity markers for the Jews of the first century, setting them apart from the Gentiles.  Surrounded by Pagans who did not observe a Sabbath rest, this particularly Jewish observance stood out as an expression of covenant loyalty to the God of Israel.  Moreover, according to Jeremiah, failure to observe the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy was one of the sins that brought judgment on the Jewish people in 586 BC, when Babylon invaded the land, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried many of the people off into exile. Observance of the Sabbath therefore was not just a matter of private piety but of national security.

In our own day, less than 25% of Catholics observe the Lord’s Day by coming to Mass.  In Europe, in many places it is less than 20%. Who among us does not have a family member who does not come to Church anymore.

Soon to be canonized Pope John Paul II said “given its many meanings and aspects, and its link to the very foundations of the faith, the celebration of the Christian Sunday remains…an indispensable element of our Christian identity.”

It is the day that Christians are obligated to come together, despite our many differences, to celebrate Christ’s conquering of death and giving us a share in his own immortal life.

On Sundays, we Christians are to withdraw from the earthly tasks that preoccupy us throughout the week and enter into God’s Sabbath res.  At the same time, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel today “it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath”.  The Catechism recommends that on Sunday, in addition to attending Sunday Mass, Christians pursue “good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly”.  Sunday is a particularly good day to volunteer at soup kitchens, to visit the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, but really to set aside the normal busyness of life and focus on our most important relationships.

By not treating Sunday as a day to catch up on yard work, shopping, and bills, we can enter more fully into the Sabbath and strengthen the bonds of love which matter most.

I know I’m sort of preaching to the choir here by talking about Sunday mass during at a weekday Mass, but I do so to strengthen our resolve to draw others back to this most fundamental Christian practice.

May we be committed to proclaiming Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, to all those in need of hearing the Gospel once again, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: July 18 - St. Camillus de Lellis - Mercenary & con man converts and becomes a priest

As a child, Camillus gave his parents nothing but trouble.  He got into fights with neighborhood boys, he skipped school, he learned, but wouldn’t say his prayers, he was so quick to unleash his violent temper that his mother was actually afraid of him.

At the age of seventeen, Camillus joined his father as a mercenary in a war against the Turks.  He quickly picked up a lot of the vices of the military camp—swearing, drinking, womanizing.  He and his father, Giovanni, teamed up as a father and son con artists, swindling their fellow soldiers.  They went from war to war when Camillus’ father fell seriously ill.  Giovanni sent his son to fetch a priest, and after Giovanni made a good confession, repenting from all his sins and crimes, he received Holy Communion for the last time and died.

This was a turning point in Camillus’ life…sort of.  He had heard of deathbed conversions, but never thought his father, a life time gambler and conman, would ever call for a priest in order to die in a state of grace.  He decided to join up with the Franciscans, but that didn’t last long, he soon fell into gambling again.   However, this time, his luck ran out, he lost everything and became destitute. 

A wealthy gentleman gave him a job doing menial construction work.  But, Camillus began to acquire two virtue he had never tried to cultivate before: self-discipline and responsibility.  When his construction job was done he set out for Rome to work at the famous Hospital of San Giacomo. 

Camillus founded a religious order and was ordained a priest.  The last thirty years of his life, Camillus spent nursing the sick.

As he lay dying, he became anxious that his old sins might outweigh his good works.  He told a Carmellite friar who visited him, “please pray for me, for I have been a great sinner, a gambler, and a man of bad life.”  Yet, in his final hour, Camillus’ confidence in God’s mercy was restored.  He stretched his arms out so his body took the form of a cross, and giving thanks for the Blood of Christ that had washed away his sins, he died.

St. Camillus de Lellis lies buried in the little Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Rome.  And in 1886 Pope Leo XII named him patron saint of nurses.

The lives of the saints are filled with beautiful stories of conversion, of men and women surrendering to God’s grace and committing themselves to his service.  But their stories show us that God’s grace does have power to convert even hardened sinners, which gives us hope.  Through the Intercession of Saint Camillus de Lellis  we pray that the spirit of God’s love may be poured out upon us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: July 16 - Our Lady of Mount Carmel & The Brown Scapular

Today we celebrate Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patronal feast of the Carmelite Order, who take their name from Mount Carmel in Palestine. 

In the book of Kings, this is where the prophet Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to prove the divinity of their God.  It was of course Elijah who showed the supremacy of the True God of Israel.  Carmelite tradition suggests that a community of Jewish hermits had lived at that site from the time of Elijah until the

Carmelites were founded there in the late 12th century.

The early Christian hermits of Mount Carmel dedicated a chapel to Mary.  Soon, community members were known as the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.” 

In the early 13th Century, members of the Carmelites moved to England where they became mendicant friars.  Legend states that in a vision to an English Carmelite named Saint Simon Stock, Our Lady gave the brown Carmelite scapular. 

The scapular was originally a large apron like garment that would be placed over the Carmelite’s good clothes. And while they would be out in the fields working, the scapular would protect the good clothes from getting dirty. It is a powerful symbol of the protection of our Lady, for we have received the “good clothing” of our baptism, and she protects us from the dirt and evil of the world, helping us to keep the dignity of our baptismal garment unstained through this pilgrimage of the Christian life on earth.

We do well always to show our love for Our Lady and to entrust ourselves to her protection.  Yet, Wearing the Brown Scapular is not an automatic guarantee of salvation. It is not a magical charm, nor is it an excuse to live in a way contrary to the teachings of the Church. It is a sacramental which has been approved by the Church for over seven centuries and is a sign of one's decision to follow Jesus as did Mary, the perfect model of all the disciples of Christ

If you haven't warn a scapular for a few years, today is a very fitting day to begin again.

The Scapular reminds us that we are to be like Mary to be totally dedicated to God. More than anyone else, it is she who can help us to follow her Son to love him and serve him and live for his glory and the salvation of souls. Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Pray for Us.

Entrance Antiphon: Hail, Mother, who gave birth to the King who rules heaven and earth for ever.

Collect: May the venerable intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary come to our aid, we pray, O Lord, so that, fortified by her protection, we may reach the mountain which is Christ. 

Communion Antiphon: Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the eternal Father.

Homily: 14th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday - "As sheep amidst wolves"

The Lord tells his followers today that he sends us out as sheep amidst wolves, urging us to be prepared for the hostility we will inevitably face as his disciples.

I think of those Christians of the first few centuries.  The Church underwent open and state-sanctioned persecution longer than America has been a country.  The early Christians could not build Churches and had to gather for Mass in secret.  For professing the Christian faith they were arrested, beaten, and tortured in unspeakable ways.  Sometimes they were even betrayed by close family members. 

Some, became so frightened of the wolves, that they gave up the faith, left the flock, and began to run with the wolves.

Jesus gives that strong warning because the threat is serious. 

In an age of growing hostility we know that many people do not agree with Our Lord and his Church.  They laughed at him, mocked him, thought he was naïve, thought he was blasphemous, and they do the same to us.  They worked to prevent him from spreading His Gospel, they do the same to us.  We are not to be surprised or give up hope when they hate us for teaching in His name.

The Lord says, “so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”  Be shrewd, in other words be sharp, cunning, wise, crafty, and be simple, in other words be single-minded, pure, innocent, unpretentious.  We’re not to be pushovers when we’re opposed for spreading the Gospel and we’re not to be two-faced—we’re not to be secret Christians, keeping our faith to ourselves. 

“When they hand you over, do not worry what you are to speak or say” the Lord tells us.   Jesus promises us that when the hour of trial comes, the Spirit of God will uplift us, teaching us what to say.  Yes, he sends us out as sheep amidst the wolves, but he doesn’t send us out alone. 

May we learn to trust him today, that he is with us, teaching others through us, using us as instruments to draw others to himself, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.  

Homily: July 11 - St. Benedict - Prefer nothing to the love of Christ

St. Benedict is the father of the monastic tradition that spread throughout Europe—so he’s often known as the Father of Western Monasticism.  And at its height, Europe would be marked with over 30,000 monasteries.  St. Benedict is also known as a patron saint of Europe. 

Benedict lived in a time when the classical world was breaking apart—bloody wars were tearing down the civilization of the Greco-Roman world.  Barbarians were sweeping through Europe.  European culture was crumbling, yet within the Benedictine Monastery a different culture of work and prayer and learning and love of God prevailed.  The monasteries became beacons of hope for the people of Europe.

In the monasteries, the monks life was founded on a harmony of work and prayer, the ultimate aim of which was to seek God.  Benedict wrote: Nihil amori Christi praeponere—Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.  Holiness consists of this, preferring nothing to the love of Christ.

We are blessed in Cleveland to have our own Benedictine Monastery, St. Andrew’s Abbey, maybe you have visited it or had a nephew or grandson attend Benedictine High School.  I was talking to one of the Benedictine monks, and he was saying how there is a sort of stigma because the school is in a somewhat rougher part of Cleveland.

Trust me, he said.  The boys safety is our highest concern.  The Benedictine’s have always worked to transform a culture from the inside.  This is why we don’t just pick up and move across town.  It is our task to witness to the culture of Christ.

We now live in a world where the culture again is deteriorating.  The fabric of society is being torn a shred at its most basic levels, the dignity of human life and Christian marriage.  Mindlessness, carelessness, destructiveness, irrationality proceeded the dark ages 1500 years ago, and they are becoming the new norm again today. 

Every Christian is to be a beacon, that hope can be found in Christ.  So it is our task of turning away from worldliness and preferring nothing to the love of Christ who is our only hope, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Collect: O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands.

Prayer over the Offerings: Look kindly, Lord, upon these holy offerings, which we make in honor of Saint Benedict, and grant that, by following his example in seeking you, we may merit the gifts of unity in your service and of peace.

Prayer after Communion: Having received this pledge of eternal life, we humbly beseech you, O Lord, that, attentive to the teaching of Saint Benedict, we may faithfully serve your designs and love one another with fervent charity.

Homily: July 9 - Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and companions, martyrs

Today we celebrate the heroic St. Augustine Zhao Rong and companions, you may not be that familiar with them, as they were only canonized in the year 2000.  They are 120 Catholics who were martyred between the years 1648 and 1930.  They were lay people and clergy and religious ranging in age from 9 to 72.  87 of them were native born chinese, and the rest were foreign born missionaries.

The story of the Church in china is a long and often troubled one.  Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria in the 600s. Depending on China's political situation, Christianity over the centuries was free to grow or was forced to operate secretly during times of persecution.

St. Augustine Zhao Rong was not born to Catholic parents.  As a Chinese soldier he became familiar with the Catholic faith when he was ordered to escort a bishop to his martyrdom in Beijing.  Augustine was so impressed and moved by the bishop’s faith, Augustine was asked to be baptized.  He entered the seminary and was ordained a diocesan priest.  In 1815, he was arrested, tortured, and martyred.

The other martyrs we remember today include parents, catechists, laborers, and priests.  33 of the martyred, among them Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans, were missionary men and women born in other lands who had traveled to the far-east to help plant the Christian faith in China. 

At the canonization of St. Augustine Zhao and his companions in October 2000, Pope John Paul II praises them for showing “unfailing fidelity to Christ and the Church” with the gift of their lives.  Among their number was an eighteen year old boy, who cried out to those who had just cut off his right arm and were preparing to flay him alive: "Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian."

May the prayerful intercession of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions may we witness to the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ in our speech, in our conduct, and in our prayers, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

We pray for the Church in China as she continues to be persecuted by the Chinese government, that her faith may be strong, and in Christ they may find freedom and peace.

Homily: 14th Week of Ordinary Time - Monday - "Your faith has saved you!"

On Friday, Pope Francis issued his first encyclical, entitled, Lumen Fidei, “The Light of Faith”.  In it he talks about faith that is capable of illuminating every aspect of our life—every aspect of human existence is meant to be guided by faith that helps us know God’s love for us, how he has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ, and how we are to conform our life to him.

In today’s Gospel we hear how Jesus enters in to two desperate situations.  Jewish purity laws forbid anyone from having any physical contact with corpses or people with hemorrhages.  Instead of recoiling from the woman’s touch, instead of Jesus considering himself defiled by the woman’s uncleanness, his divine power transforms her condition.  She is healed and made clean by contact with Jesus, contact made possible by faith.  “Your faith has saved you!” Jesus proclaims.

And instead of recoiling from the impurity of the dead young girl, he takes her by the hand, and instead of becoming ritually unclean through his contact with the dead body, Christ’s power goes out from him to raise the child from the dead.  The faith of the royal official acted like a bridge between Jesus and this dead young girl. 

Through faith in Jesus Christ we can encounter the healing and mercy that God desire for us.  There is no situation on earth so desperate that God cannot enter in and transform.  I think particularly of the faith of Saint Monica, who for years prayed and wept for her son who had fallen away from God.  It was the light of faith that guided her through long years of prayers and penances, trust that God could transform the life of her son who had fallen so far. And after long years of prayers and penances, Augustine came to conversion. 

May we allow Christian faith to guide every aspect of our lives, and guide our hearts to pray for and care for those in need for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few"

Our Gospel over the next three weeks is taken from the tenth Chapter of Luke’s gospel, the beginning of which we hear today with the sending out of the seventy-two disciples.  Jesus, of course, gathered 12 men to be his most intimate disciples, to whom he gave the apostolic mission, but we heard today  that he sent out another 72 to do some very important work.  The Bishops of the Church continue the Apostolic ministry given to the 12, but the work given to the seventy-two is work that all Christians, you and me, and all of the Church are to be about. So there are several lessons for all of us today. 

First we heard today how the Lord appointed these seventy two and sends them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  The first lesson?  We are a missionary Church. The word Missionary comes from the latin word “missio” – which means to send.  You and are called to be missionaries—we are “sent out” by Jesus.

Jesus came to gather people to Himself, and so he sends us out to gather others to Him.  One of our great concerns as Christians is bringing others to Christ. 

Why is this important?  Within his first few weeks as Pope, said, “When the Church becomes closed up on itself it gets sick.”  If we aren’t “going out” into foreign lands, we will stagnate. 

Going out is not just for priests and bishops, but every baptized member of the Church is called to this missionary activity.  Where are you, sitting in the pews being sent?  Certainly you are being sent into the lives of family members who have fallen away from the Church.  You are being sent into the lives of your coworkers, who perhaps practice no faith.

The members of our parish youth group are being sent these week into Appalachia, and to witness to the Gospel by their service and by their good example. 

We are sent into the public world of supermarkets and gas stations and restaurants and baseball parks, also to give witness by what we say and do.  Whenever I go to restaurants I’m always looking to see if people pray before meals.  Not only is it important for us to give thanks before meals, but it also gives good public witness. 

Our faith is not just a private matter, as Jesus teaches today, the very nature of the Church is to be sent into other people’s lives to bring them to Him. We have cause to reflect today, is there a person in my life, that Jesus wants me to bring to Him, by teaching them how to pray, by answering their questions about the Church, a family member perhaps who needs to be challenged to go to confession. 

It sounds like hard work.  And it is! But notice that Jesus sends the disciples two-by-two.  From the beginning, the work of the Church is always done in a communitarian way.  We support each other.  We pray for one another.  We encourage one another in this holy work. 

One of the strongest examples of the communal nature of our holy work is how husbands and wives are partners in forming their children in the faith.  Husbands and wives supporting each other in prayer, they support each other in educating their children in the faith,  they bounce ideas off of each other on how to witness to other families, and they challenge each other to be more faithful to prayer and acts of charity.

Again, the Christian faith moves us out of our isolated worlds, into a community of believers.  We are so much more effective when we are working together, united in faith and charity.

Next, the Lord says that “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”  The Lord is teaching us to pray for each other, that the focus of our labors might not be for our own pursuits, but for the Lord. 

I think he is also teaching us to pray for vocations.  Fr. Lanning showed me a booklet put together for the Parish’s 90^th anniversary, in it is listed a number of sons and daughters of the parish who have become priests and consecrated religious.  Vocations are a fruit of prayer.

I know of a parish, almost 150 years old that never had a vocation to the priesthood.  The pastor instituted a weekly 24 hour period of adoration of the Eucharist, and one of the things he asked the people to pray for were vocations.  Within a year or so, a young man of the parish entered the seminary.  The parish, was my home parish, the vocation, was mine.  I truly believe I was able to hear the call to the priesthood because of the help of the prayers of the faithful people of my home parish.  And I know another young man who is planning on entering seminary next year. 

My last parish, Saint Columbkille, hadn’t had a vocation in decades.  Yet, within a year of opening our perpetual adoration chapel: we have a young lady who is discerning entrance to the Franciscan sisters, and a young man discerning entrance to the seminary here in Cleveland. 

Praying for laborers should be a normal and common petition in our prayer lives. 

The Lord gives another instruction to the seventy-two.  “Do not carry  a money bag, a sack, or sandals”.  Here the Lord stresses the importance of learning to rely on God and of spiritual poverty.  Poverty and simplicity of life are essential to the success of the Church’s missionary work.  Go back to the beginning, Jesus himself was the one who had no place to lay his head, who said, “sell all that you have and give to the poor if you wish to be perfect, and come and follow me.”

Saints up and down the centuries have given witness to the power of Poverty.  Saint Anthony who went into the desert, saint Benedict who engaged in radical poverty, saint john Chrysostom who amongst the affluence and sophistication of Constantinople lived a life of austerity and poverty.  The same was true of francis and clare who launched Franciscan movement, the same is true of dominic, and Ignatius of Loyola founder of the Jesuits, the same is true of mother Theresa of Calcutta. 

There is something about the life of poverty and simplicity that witnesses to people that you are serious about the faith—that when we rely on the grace of God, miracles occur. When we abandon building up our own little kingdoms of security and power and practice a more radical simplicity, god’s power can become unleashed in our community in a more radical way. 

Pope Francis is really challenging the Church, particularly the cardinals and bishops and priests, to not live fancy, luxurious lives.  Because, again, transformative power for the Church is unleashed where there is radical trust and dependence on God. 

Even amidst the great artistic patrimony of the Vatican,  we are seeing how Pope Francis is leading the way in Gospel simplicity. 

Finally, we hear how when the seventy-two enter these towns, they are to cure the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand. 

Jesus was a healer.  The word savior, literally means, the one who brings health.  We are to bring healing to the sick.  The physically sick are to know our help, and also those who are psychologically sick, the addict, the grieving, the depressed, the lonely.  To be attentive to the lonely widow who lives next door is an act of love. 

For, Christianity in the end is a healing ministry: to bring the spiritually sick health of soul, to bring light to those in darkness, to bring the fallen sinner to the fount of the Lord’s healing mercy, to bring the comfort of God’s truth to the doubting and despairing.

May the Eucharist we celebrate today assist us in living out that missionary call to announce the kingdom of God is at hand, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Favorite Passages from Pope Francis' First Encyclical - Lumen Fidei

11. For Abraham, faith in God sheds light on the depths of his being, it enables him to acknowledge the wellspring of goodness at the origin of all things and to realize that his life is not the product of non-being or chance, but the fruit of a personal call and a personal love.

12. Israel – faith is passed on through generations – parents to children – “capable of illuminating our passage through time by recalling his gifts and demonstrating how he fulfils his promises.”

15. Christian faith is centred on Christ; it is the confession that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead…Christian faith is thus faith in a perfect love, in its decisive power, in its ability to transform the world and to unfold its history

16. … precisely in contemplating Jesus’ death that faith grows stronger and receives a dazzling light; then it is revealed as faith in Christ’s steadfast love for us, a love capable of embracing death to bring us salvation. This love, which did not recoil before death in order to show its depth, is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely.

17.  Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world… Christians, on the contrary, profess their faith in God’s tangible and powerful love which really does act in history and determines its final destiny: a love that can be encountered, a love fully revealed in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

18. This fullness which Jesus brings to faith has another decisive aspect. In faith, Christ is not simply the one in whom we believe, the supreme manifestation of God’s love; he is also the one with whom we are united precisely in order to believe. Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing…”Christ’s way of knowing the Father” (he knew the Father humanely)

19. The beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains it in being. Only by being open to and acknowledging this gift can we be transformed, experience salvation and bear good fruit.

21. The self-awareness of the believer now expands because of the presence of another; it now lives in this other and thus, in love, life takes on a whole new breadth.

22. Faith becomes operative in the Christian on the basis of the gift received, the love which attracts our hearts to Christ (cf. Gal 5:6), and enables us to become part of the Church’s great pilgrimage through history until the end of the world. For those who have been transformed in this way, a new way of seeing opens up, faith becomes light for their eyes.

23. The firm foundation that Isaiah promises to the king is indeed grounded in an understanding of God’s activity and the unity which he gives to human life and to the history of his people. 

24. we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward. Faith without truth does not save, it does not provide a sure footing. It remains a beautiful story, the projection of our deep yearning for happiness, something capable of satisfying us to the extent that we are willing to deceive ourselves. 

*** 26. Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes.

27. If love is not tied to truth, it falls prey to fickle emotions and cannot stand the test of time. True love, on the other hand, unifies all the elements of our person and becomes a new light pointing the way to a great and fulfilled life. Without truth, love is incapable of establishing a firm bond; it cannot liberate our isolated ego or redeem it from the fleeting moment in order to create life and bear fruit.  If love needs truth, truth also needs love. Love and truth are inseparable. Without love, truth becomes cold, impersonal and oppressive for people’s day-to-day lives. The truth we seek, the truth that gives meaning to our journey through life, enlightens us whenever we are touched by love. One who loves realizes that love is an experience of truth, that it opens our eyes to see reality in a new way, in union with the beloved.

35. Because faith is a way, it also has to do with the lives of those men and women who, though not believers, nonetheless desire to believe and continue to seek. To the extent that they are sincerely open to love and set out with whatever light they can find, they are already, even without knowing it, on the path leading to faith. They strive to act as if God existed, at times because they realize how important he is for finding a sure compass for our life in common or because they experience a desire for light amid darkness, but also because in perceiving life’s grandeur and beauty they intuit that the presence of God would make it all the more beautiful.

36. Since faith is a light, it draws us into itself, inviting us to explore ever more fully the horizon which it illumines, all the better to know the object of our love. Christian theology is born of this desire…  Right faith orients reason to open itself to the light which comes from God, so that reason, guided by love of the truth, can come to a deeper knowledge of God. *** Theology cannot consider the magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him as something extrinsic, a limitation of its freedom, but rather as one of its internal, constitutive dimensions, for the magisterium ensures our contact with the primordial source and thus provides the certainty of attaining to the word of Christ in all its integrity.

39. It is impossible to believe on our own. Faith is not simply an individual decision which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private relationship between the "I" of the believer and the divine "Thou", between an autonomous subject and God. By its very nature, faith is open to the "We" of the Church; it always takes place within her communion.

40. The Church, like every family, passes on to her children the whole store of her memories. But how does this come about in a way that nothing is lost, but rather everything in the patrimony of faith comes to be more deeply understood? It is through the apostolic Tradition preserved in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit that we enjoy a living contact with the foundational memory. What was handed down by the apostles — as the Second Vatican Council states — "comprises everything that serves to make the people of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith. In this way the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes" (quoting Dei Verbum)

41.  In baptism we receive both a teaching to be professed and a specific way of life which demands the engagement of the whole person and sets us on the path to goodness. Those who are baptized are set in a new context, entrusted to a new environment, a new and shared way of acting, in the Church. Baptism makes us see, then, that faith is not the achievement of isolated individuals; it is not an act which someone can perform on his own, but rather something which must be received by entering into the ecclesial communion which transmits God’s gift. No one baptizes himself, just as no one comes into the world by himself. Baptism is something we receive.

43. Parents are called, as Saint Augustine once said, not only to bring children into the world but also to bring them to God, so that through baptism they can be reborn as children of God and receive the gift of faith.

46.  The Decalogue is not a set of negative commands, but concrete directions for emerging from the desert of the selfish and self-enclosed ego in order to enter into dialogue with God, to be embraced by his mercy and then to bring that mercy to others.

48. Since faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity. Precisely because all the articles of faith are interconnected, to deny one of them, even of those that seem least important, is tantamount to distorting the whole. 

**51. Faith is truly a good for everyone; it is a common good. Its light does not simply brighten the interior of the Church, nor does it serve solely to build an eternal city in the hereafter; it helps us build our societies in such a way that they can journey towards a future of hope. 

54. As salvation history progresses, it becomes evident that God wants to make everyone share as brothers and sisters in that one blessing, which attains its fullness in Jesus, so that all may be one.

55. When faith is weakened, the foundations of humanity also risk being weakened, as the poet T.S. Eliot warned: "Do you need to be told that even those modest attainments / As you can boast in the way of polite society / Will hardly survive the Faith to which they owe their significance?"[48] If we remove faith in God from our cities, mutual trust would be weakened, we would remain united only by fear and our stability would be threatened.

57. Nor does the light of faith make us forget the sufferings of this world. How many men and women of faith have found mediators of light in those who suffer! So it was with Saint Francis of Assisi and the leper, or with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her poor. They understood the mystery at work in them. In drawing near to the suffering, they were certainly not able to eliminate all their pain or to explain every evil. Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light. In Christ, God himself wishes to share this path with us and to offer us his gaze so that we might see the light within it. Christ is the one who, having endured suffering, is "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Heb12:2).

58. In the Mother of Jesus, faith demonstrated its fruitfulness; when our own spiritual lives bear fruit we become filled with joy, which is the clearest sign of faith’s grandeur.


60. Let us turn in prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our faith. 
Mother, help our faith! 
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call. 
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise. 
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith. 
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature. 
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One. 
Remind us that those who believe are never alone. 
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!

read the whole thing here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20130629_enciclica-lumen-fidei_en.html

Homily: 13th Week of Ordinary Time - Friday - Power in the Blood

The month of July is traditionally devoted to the Precious Blood of Jesus.  In the past, the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Christ was celebrated on the first Sunday of July.  Now, in some places the it is still observed on July 1.

When Jesus teaches today that “God desires mercy, not sacrifice” he is quoting the prophet Hosea who denounced the Israelites who were trying to cover up their grave sins with external acts of piety such as sacrifice.  He is condemning empty sacrifice.

 

The Holy Mass is not an empty sacrifice of bread and wine, but rather, it is a participation in the one saving sacrifice of Jesus.  When we come to Mass, the veil of time and space are pulled away and we kneel at the foot of the Cross on Calvary where Jesus’ Body and Blood are offered to the Father in covenantal love. 

Saint Paul, tells the Romans, “to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, pleasing and perfect to God”.

Jesus fulfills the notion of sacrifice on the cross, which was not an act of empty sacrifice, but a true act of love, in which his precious blood on the cross was poured out as an act of love for you and for me.

When Christians take part in the sacramental life of the Church, we do so, not as empty rituals, but with the desire to really be changed by them, to really be strengthened by God through them, to be converted more deeply by them. 

Jesus says, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners”.  Imagine the person that comes to Mass believing that they are already perfect, that they have achieved the perfection on earth for which they were created.  They are closed to God’s transforming grace.  On the other hand, the person that truly and humbly acknowledges their sinfulness before God, can identify those parts of their lives where they hold back, selfishly or out of fear. In those souls the power of Christ’s blood brings great transformation. 

There is an old southern Baptist hymn that goes “would you be free from your burden of sin?  There’s power in the blood, would you over evil a victory win?  There’s wonderful power in the blood.  Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power in the blood.  Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide.  There’s power in the blood.”

Through the power of the body and blood of Jesus, may we be free from all that keeps us from experiencing the conversion God desires for us, that we may be strengthened in holiness for the spreading of the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.