Homily: September 30 - St. Jerome - "Living and Tender Love for Sacred Scripture"

St. Jerome was born in the Balkans in 345 and was an excellent scholar. He was particularly adept at languages, mastering greek, latin, and Hebrew. His translation of the bible which came to be known as the Vulgate served for centuries as the official translation of the Church for liturgical use and church documents.

The Opening Prayer today refers to St. Jerome’s “living and tender love for Sacred Scripture” The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Church…specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

We come to the knowledge of Christ through the Scriptures.

St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions the beautiful words, “Let your scriptures be my delight…O Lord, perfect me and reveal those pages to me! Your voice is my joy. Give me what I love…May the inner secrets of your words be laid open to me when I knock. This I beg by our Lord Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

There is often hesitation on the part of Catholics to be familiar with the Bible. Yet, for those who open its pages, the Scriptures are refreshing, they are consoling, they are instructive, and corrective, they are more valuable than gold.  We should read, and meditate on Scripture every day.  Having a “living and tender love for Scripture” leads us to a living and tender loving care for God and the willingness to follow his Holy Will.

By studying the Scripture we come to know who we are, who we are meant to be, and so we must not be hesitant to learn How to read the bible, so that we may draw nearer to Christ. May we come to understand His Gospel and follow it and so come to eternal life.

Homily: 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Complacent, Compliant, or Committed?

“Woe to the complacent in Zion!” warned the Prophet Amos in our first reading. Complacency: definitely one of the great enemies in the Spiritual Life and in the Christian Life. 

I remember back in seminary, one of my classmates, now ordained and a happy, holy priest, used to bring his laptop computer to class to take notes during the lectures.  And he had a message taped onto the computer right underneath the computer screen, so he couldn’t miss it, which read, “Complacent, Compliant, or Committed?”  Everyone who saw him and his computer were forced to ask themselves: “Am I Complacent, Compliant, or Committed”?

Even as a seminary student preparing for priesthood, day after day, year after year, for 8 or 9 years, going to class could become somewhat tedious. Even though we were studying theology, the queen of the sciences, which would be directly applicable to our priestly ministry, complacency was a dangerous foe. 
What is complacency?  Complacency is a sort of unwillingness to change because of a sort of smug self-satisfaction.  Complacency is a sort of willed inactivity. 

Complacency is dangerous for students because he doesn’t push himself to excel and master the subject.
Complacency is dangerous at every stage of the spiritual life.  For someone struggling with mortal sin, complacency can hinder them from going to confession and making the changes they need to.  For the average Catholic, complacency cause keep us from truly growing in our prayer life by settling for the mediocre. 

I pray enough, I’m generous enough, I am charitable enough.  After all, I pray more than the person who doesn’t pray at all, I’m more generous and more charitable than the person who doesn’t give anything.
Complacency in the spiritual life is often an indicator that God’s will has taken second place to my own will.
Complacent, Compliant, or Committed. 

Part of our Christian life does require compliancy.  We do need to comply with the commandments, we adhere to moral truths, and follow Church laws: fasting when we are supposed to fast, attending mass when we are supposed to attend mass. 

But, aren’t we called to more than mere compliancy?  There is great difference between compliancy and commitment, isn’t there? Compliancy seems to connote that one follows the rules as long as it’s convenient.  I’ll go with the flow, unless something better comes up.  I’ll go to Church, unless there’s an important sports game, or unless I’m on vacation.  I’ll say my prayers before bed, unless I fall asleep watching tv or texting my friends.  I’ll abstain on Fridays in Lent from meat, unless I go out to a restaurant and there are delicious juicy steaks on the menu.

Compliancy or Commitment?

To be committed to our faith is another story entirely isn’t it?  The saints give us wonderful illustrations of commitment over compliancy.

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of a layman, the first canonized Filipino martyr named Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.  He was a married man and devoted husband and father.  He was arrested for his faith while accompanying some missionaries in Japan.  At the time, the Japanese were arrested Catholics even putting them to death.  Saint Lorenzo was arrested and tortured. 

He was brought before a government official and told, “we will grant you your life, if you renounce your faith.”  Lorenzo responded: "That I will never do.  I am a Catholic and happy to die for God.  If I have a thousand lives to offer, I would offer them to God. So, do with me as you please."  Lorenzo was martyred for his faith, along with 15 Dominicans from Spain, Italy, France, Japan, and the Philippines.

Would we deny our faith to save our life? Existing documents attest that the Japanese promised him a safe trip back home where he could be reunited with his loved ones, but San Lorenzo chose to witness to Jesus Christ.  That’s commitment!  Compliancy witnesses to the Faith when it’s convenient.  Commitment witnesses to the Truth even when it comes at great personal cost!

Another illustration: we celebrated on Thursday the feast of St. Vincent de Paul.  As a charming young priest, Vincent made many friends—many wealthy friends, and he could have lived in comfort and luxury in the aristocratic spheres of society.

As Father Vincent walked through the streets of Paris, everywhere he looked he saw the hungry, the homeless, war refugees, neglected elderly men, women, and children, and those who had been spiritually abandoned and were without hope.  He gathered together a group of priests to serve the poor, the Vincentian Sisters who served this diocese for many years trace their charitable work back to St. Vincent. 
St. Vincent said, “It is not sufficient for me to love God if I do not love my neighbor…I belong to God and to the poor.”    That is commitment.  Compliancy gives when it is convenient.  Commitment to the poor, considers oneself the servant of those in need.

In the first reading, the prophet Amos gives a warning to the complacent in Zion who lie upon beds of ivory, who are stretched comfortably on their couches.  He is calling out the self-regarding, self-indulgent, complacent wealthy people in the Southern part of Israel who were ignoring the poor in Northern Israel. 

Likewise in the Gospel, Jesus offers a parable about this rich man, who every night dined sumptuously, dressed in rich linens, while at this door there was a poor man, covered in sores, named Lazarus who would have gladly eaten of the scraps of the rich man’s table.  In his complacency, the Rich Man ignored Lazarus at the gate.  For this we heard from the lips of Christ himself, there were eternal consequences. 

This parable always reminds me how as a young boy, my family would take a vacation to Mexico every year.  My folks weren’t wealthy or anything, they worked hard 6 days a week, and they’d save enough each year to be able to afford a family vacation.  At night, we would leave the hotel, and go into town. And I remember my first experiences seeing real poverty, homelessness, and beggars.  And it struck me, even as a young boy, that just minutes from the 600 foot swimming pool and morning breakfast buffet, there were people, who lived in impoverished conditions that I would never know. 

Feasting and celebration in this world is always colored by the fact that there are real people who are starving, and cold, and sick.

I think those guilty feelings we have when we encounter the homeless or the impoverished are good, because they rouse us out of complacency.  That guilt feeling can be the Holy Spirit pricking our consciences to not take our blessings for granted, as if we were entitled to them, and to remember to pray and care for those in need.
As Christians, can we have warm houses and clean beds? Yes of course.  But never by stepping on others, or ignoring those in need, but always grateful for our material blessings which we are to share.
How do we guard ourselves against complacency, and find life and fulfillment in being committed to our faith?  Developing a vibrant prayer life of course is a necessary ingredient.  Rattling off the our father once a day, if we remember, isn’t a vibrant prayer life.  But spending time with the Scriptures, letting God challenge us and enlighten us by meditating upon his Word. 

Secondly, many of us are not necessarily hesitant to help someone when they ask for it, I know this is a generous parish and should be commended for its generosity.  The Diocese of Cleveland has the largest Catholic Charities not only in the country, but in the world. 

Commitment to caring for those in need, doesn’t just wait for others to ask for helm.  So many of the Saints show us not to wait for others to come to us, but to grow in our awareness of the needs of others so we can go out to them, like Saint Vincent de Paul or Blessed Mother Theresa going out into the gutters of Calcutta to lift up the abandoned.  Every Catholic needs some direct engagement in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, going out and seeking, in order to help, and lift up.

Complacent, Compliant, or Committed?

May we be ever more aware of Lazarus at our door, and Lazarus in the streets; nourished by Word and Sacrament, may we go from this Mass in order to bring Christ to those in need, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

  

Homily: September 28 - San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions - "Courage without Measure"

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr.  He was born in Manila around the year 1600 to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, who were both Christians.  As a young boy he was educated by Dominican priests and served as an altar boy.  He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship, and he was a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.  He married and was a devoted husband and father of two sons and a daughter.

His life took an abrupt turn when he was unjustly accused of murder.  The threat of arrest led Lawrence to flee his home.  He sought asylum with several Dominican priests who were going to Japan to do missionary work.

However, Catholics were being persecuted heavily in Japan.  All those who professed the Catholic faith, and especially missionaries were being jailed and even being sentenced to death by the Japanese.  Lorenzo along with the missionaries were arrested shortly after arriving in Japan and were subjected to unspeakable tortures.

 

When government officials asked, "If we grant you life, will you renounce your faith?," Lorenzo responded: "That I will never do.  I am a Catholic and happy to die for God.  If I have a thousand lives to offer, I would offer them to God. So, do with me as you please."  Lorenzo was martyred for his faith, along with 15 Dominicans from Spain, Italy, France, Japan, and the Philippines.

How would we stand up in the circumstances these martyrs faced?  Would we deny our faith to save our lives?

Existing documents attest that the Japanese promised him a safe trip back home where he could be reunited with his loved ones, but San Lorenzo chose to witness to Jesus Christ.

To be Christian means to witness to Jesus every day, in everything we do.    Every day we face the challenge of remaining faithful, of practicing love towards all, of giving without counting the cost. 

The witness of San Lorenzo is the testimony we need of courage without measure.  Faith and life for Lorenzo was synonymous and inseparable. Life without faith would have been without value...

We must not be afraid to witness to Jesus Christ in the public realm: praying before meals at restaurants, praying the rosary on a lunch break or in front of the abortion clinic, inviting neighbors to Church, all take courage, but are powerful witnesses.

May we know the help of the prayers and example of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz to witness to God’s truth today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: St. Vincent de Paul, priest. Patron of Charitable Services

St. Vincent was born of a poor family in Gascony France in 1581 and had a very simple childhood.   At the encouragement of his father, Vincent entered seminary at the age of 19 and prepared for the priesthood. 

As a charming young priest, Vincent made many friends—many wealthy friends, and he could have lived in comfort and luxury in the aristocratic spheres of society.   As Father Vincent walked through the streets of Paris, everywhere he looked he saw the hungry, the homeless, war refugees, neglected elderly men, women, and children, and those who had been spiritually abandoned and were without hope.  He saw in the poor his brothers and sisters.

A wealthy friend helped Vincent form the Vincentians—a congregation of priests who took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and devoted themselves to work among the poor. Over time, Vincent established many confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick.  Out of these groups grew the Vincentian nuns or Daughters of Charity who have served in our own diocese for many years. 

He also invited the wealthy women of Paris to fund his missionary projects.  He founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for victims of war, and even ransomed slaves from North Africa.

He gave retreats to his fellow priests to help combat the spirit of worldliness which had made some of them lax in their spiritual lives.

Pope Leo XIII named him patron of all charitable societies.  This includes of course, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul founded in 1833, almost 200 years after his death, which was founded by his admirer and devotee, Frederic Ozanam.

His apostolate can be summarized in his saying: “It is not sufficient for me to love God if I do not love my neighbor…I belong to God and to the poor.”   His heart truly belonged to God and the poor—and after 350 years, the relic of his heart is still found to be incorrupt.

So many people cooperating with God’s grace in this story: st. vincent’s father, encouraging his vocation, Vincent himself of course, walking towards the poor instead of away from them, and so many people responding to the call to work and care for the poor. 

May we cooperate willingly and generously this day with God’s grace, particularly in responding charitably to those in need for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 26 - Sts. Cosmas and Damian - Patrons of Physicians and Surgeons

Every time we use the First Eucharistic prayer, we hear the names of Cosmas and Damien.  But who were they?

Cosmas and Damien were twin brothers born at the end of the third century in Syria.  They were physicians and were known as “the moneyless ones”, because they didn’t charge their patients.  They were actually the first surgeons to successfully perform a limb transplant, and this was in the early fourth century.

They together with St. Luke are patron saints of physicians, surgeons, dentists, and pharmacists, so any time we are undergoing surgery or visiting the dentists, we should pray for their heavenly intercession.

Christians who openly professed their faith, in the early fourth century during the persecution of Diocletian, did so at great risk.  For openly practicing their faith, for living and seeking to  pass on the Gospel of Christ, Cosmas and Damien were arrested, tortured and beheaded.

Cosmas and Damien are examples for us of what Christianity is all about.  Sacrificing ourselves for others.  Living generously for others, pouring ourselves out in service, the way Jesus did, witnessing to the love of God, and the truth of the Holy Gospel, even with our lives.

They sacrificed wealth in order to serve the sick free of charge, and they sacrificed their very lives when they were martyred for the faith.

That may sound impossible or unrealistic in today’s world.  But God calls ordinary people to extraordinary things.  We can pray that we, in this day and age, may grow in our ability to be generous with our time, talent, and treasure.

Twice in the first reading, the Prophet Haggai said, “Consider your ways!”  We eat, we drink, we work, but how much of that is to serve our own interests, rather than serving God?  Like the saints, we can only find authentic joy and happiness and fulfillment in this world, when we live for God first, others second, and only thirdly ourselves. 

Through the heavenly intercession of Saints Cosmas and Damien, who imitated our Lord the Divine physicians, may we receiving healing, salvation, and peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 25th Week of Ordinary Time - Tuesday - Rebuilding the Temple

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we hear from the book of Ezra.  Ezra tells part of the story of the Jews return to Israel after the Babylonian captivity.

For over a hundred years, Jews had lived and worked in Babylon, cut off from their traditions, their history, their rituals, their stories, and their worship.  A generation of Jews was growing up without knowing about God freeing their people from slavery in Egypt, they grew up without known the promises God made to Abraham, without the knowledge of the ten commandments or the promised land, and without the Temple, the center of their faith.  They grew up only knowing the gods and practices of Babylon-- a culture which practiced child sacrifice, polygamy, and other behaviors condemned by Jewish law.

The Babylonian King Artaxerxes allowed Ezra, the priest, to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem, which they found in ruins--her walls breached and knocked down, the great temple destroyed.  They wept.

A campaign was launched by Nehemiah to rebuild the temple and Ezra the priest endeavored to reeducate the people who had grown ignorant of their history, of their traditions, rituals and practices—to teach the people who they were, their identity, and the laws of the faith which enabled them to be the people God had chosen them to be.

We heard today of the completion of the building of the Temple, which took much effort and many sacrifices to complete, yet, when it was done, the people celebrated with great joy.

The Temple in Jerusalem was a foreshadowing of the New Temple, the Church, built by Christ.  Though we have great cause for rejoicing, we know that this New Temple was built through the sacrifice of Christ. 

He calls us to continue to work for the spiritual upbuilding of the Church.  What great joy is found by those who are in captivity when the find their home in the Church.  Yet it is up to us to reach out to them, to pray and fast for them, to sacrifice for them, that we may rejoice together in heaven.

May we be faithful today to the Lord’s call to build up the Church, in our labors for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Three very interesting but complex readings this week.

The first reading was from the prophet Amos.  Amos’ name in Hebrew means “burden-bearer”—someone who carries a heavy burden. A very fitting name for a prophet; God’s prophets often carried the burden of speaking difficult things to those who don’t want to hear it. 

The difficult thing that God called Amos to speak about in the first reading was the religious hypocrisy of the Jewish people in that stage of their history.  A hypocrite is one who pretends to be different on the outside than they are on this inside.  Like wearing a mask. 

So Amos was sent to the Jewish people who were being very hypocritical.  They would go to Temple to celebrate the Jewish Feasts—the claimed to be good and faithful Jews, all the while they were cheating people with whom they do business.  They were exploiting the poor, and tipping the scales in their own favor.

God sent his prophet Amos, that being faithful to God isn’t about putting on a good show on the Sabbath and then ignoring the commandments the rest of the week.  The Eye of God sees to our inmost being.  We can’t fool God.  So God sent Amos, not just because he wanted the Jews to feel bad, but because he wanted to set them free from their hypocrisy. 

We thank God for the prophets he sends into our life to speak the truth to us.  Maybe it’s a friend who tells us that we are being selfish, maybe it’s a parent who tells us that we need to get our act together and focus on what really matters.  We also pray that we may be prophets, to speak the truth to others when the time is right.

In the Gospel, Jesus gives us this interesting teaching about being trustworthy. He says, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones”

Jesus is continuing that same lesson from the prophet Amos. We are called to be trustworthy, we are called to be free from that religious hypocrisy that Amos was sent to heal. 

People who are dishonest like to tip the scale in their favor.  They hate when people treat them dishonestly, but they often justify taking the bigger portion for themselves.  They are quick to judge others, while letting themselves off the hook. 

Jesus is saying when we start justifying those little dishonesties, we can end up in big trouble.  As children, little dishonesties with our parents, cheating here and there in school, can develop into full blown habits when we are adults, to the point where it is so easy to be dishonest, we might not even think about it.

Sometimes, like Amos’ audience, we act pious and holy in public, but our private, interior life is another story.

The commandments of God aren’t just when other people are looking.  We need to be honest with God even when no one is looking and no one will notice. 

From time to time when I am hearing confessions for young children, they will confess something like, “I got in trouble last week”.  As if “getting in trouble”, as if “getting in trouble”, “getting caught” was the sin.  I ask, well, what did you do to get in trouble.  It’s not getting caught that we have to confess, but the sin we tried to cover up.

Well, “I got caught stealing”.  And I have to explain, “stealing from your brother or parents or grandparents” is wrong, whether you get caught or not.  We just can’t steal just because it’s unlikely that we will get caught.

Why do we do this?  Why do we hold others to higher standards than we hold ourselves?  Why do we have this tendency to put on a mask and pretend to be holier than we really are? 

Because of our fallen nature, each of us has that tendency toward sin.  And just like Adam and Eve in the Garden who tried to hide from God because of their shame, we have the tendency to deny our sinfulness, and to pretend. 

Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote that "Sin is an integral part of the truth about the human person. To recognize oneself as a sinner is the first and essential step in returning to the healing love of God”

Instead of pretending to be holy, the Lord calls us to authentic holiness.  But the beginning of that road to holiness, is the acknowledgment that I am a sinner.  That all too often I have served Mammon instead of God.  Meaning, I have served myself, rather than God.  But with that humble admission, the way forward opens.

In the second reading St. Paul says, “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.”  That image of someone lifting up his hands to God, is powerful, isn’t it.  Lifting up his hands, why?  That gesture symbolizes that God is the source of the goodness that we long for, God is the source of the peace that we long for, God is the source of the eternal life that we long for.

The priest makes that gesture many times during the Mass.  In the name of the Church, he turns to God asking for the gifts that he promised, he lifts up his hands in holy supplication. 

I found it interesting that St. Paul said, “it is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument”.  In the first part of chapter two, Paul gives a specific instruction to the men of the community.  In the second half, Paul gives an instruction to the women.  But Paul, addresses the men this week to be leaders in their families in prayer.

Recent sociological studies have shown that fathers have a very important role in passing on the faith to their children.  Though women are often shown to be the more spiritual and religious of the two; a particular sociological study showed that when a father goes to church it’s more likely that his children will go to church when they are adults, vs. when it is just the mother who goes to Church.

Paul was acknowledging that it’s a great temptation for men to not take spiritual leadership in their families seriously.  But Paul is saying, lift up your hands, with your families.  A father who leads his family in the prayer, going to Mass, going to confession, is of supreme value to his family.

If the first reading and the Gospel show us that we have a tendency to be hypocritical at times, the second reading shows us the way out.  Prayer.  Let God transform your families and your communities from the inside out.  Let him transform your hearts by taking prayer seriously.  Lifting up your hands, turning your hearts to God, every day, many times a day, allowing him to free us from those little dishonesties.

If we are only seeking to serve the Lord on Sundays and ourselves the rest of the week, we are serving not God, but Mammon.  Rather, when we give the Lord our whole hearts, our whole lives are put in his service, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 23 - Saint Padre Pio, Stigmatist

Today’s saint was one of eight children in a poor peasant family in the small Italian village of Pietrelcina. His parents named him Francesco in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Francesco was very devout even as a child, and at an early age felt drawn to the priesthood. He became a Capuchin novice at the age of sixteen, and took the name Pio in honor of Pope Saint Pius V, the patron Saint of Pietrelcina. and after seven years of study was ordained a priest.

Padre Pio’s love for the Eucharist was experienced as a burning fire; He said, “it would be easier for the earth to carry on without the sun than without Holy Mass.”

On September 20, 1918 Padre Pio was kneeling in front of a large crucifix when he, like his namesake, St. Francis, received the marks of the crucifixion on his hands. The doctor who examined Padre Pio could not find any natural cause for the wounds—they neither healed nor became infected, but would ooze blood continually until his death fifty years later.

The wounds of the stigmata were not the only mystical phenomenon experienced by Padre Pio. The blood of his stigmata had an odor described by many as similar to that of perfume or flowers, and he had the gift of bilocation. Padre Pio had the ability to read the hearts of the penitents that came to him in the confessional in ever-increasing numbers. He, like St. John Vianney, heard confessions for ten or twelve hours a day. Sin caused Padre Pio great suffering, as he realized its horror and how it offended God. Often when he absolved a penitent from mortal sins, his face would become contorted in great pain; afterward, the grave sinner who had just been absolved would sometimes feel as though he were literally walking on air or floating.

When asked if the stigmata were painful, Padre Pio replied, "Do you think that the Lord gave them to me for a decoration?"

So why did the Lord give Padre Pio the stigmata?

At Padre Pio's canonization Mass in 2002, Pope John Paul II said ,”The life and mission of Padre Pio testify that difficulties and sorrows, if accepted with love, transform themselves into a privileged journey of holiness, which opens the person toward a greater good, known only to the Lord.”

And to quote Padre Pio himself, "The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain".

May the example and intercession of Padre Pio help us in our sharing in the suffering of Christ, may we know his love for service and for the poor, may we know his love of the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother and his perseverance in prayer, for the Glory of God and Salvation of Souls.

Homily: September 21 - St. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr - Tax Collectors and Sinners

Saint Matthew was an apostle, an evangelist, a martyr and is probably the most famous former tax collector in the history of the world.  Matthew was a Jew who collected taxes from his fellow Jews on behalf of the occupying Roman forces—he was viewed as a traitor to his own people.   It was as disgraceful as being a murderer, assassin, thief, or prostitute.  People were shocked to hear Jesus call such a man into his band of intimate followers.  

Jesus called Matthew and even shares a meal with him. 

In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was inviting all the wrong people.  In the Gospel we heard them antagonistically ask the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus gives a two-fold response.  First, he explains that his mission is to forgive sins.  Just as a physician must go to the sick to heal them, Jesus goes to sinners. 

Second, Jesus tells the Pharisees that they need to go back and reread the Prophet Hosea to determine what it means that “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  God’s prophet denounced Israelites who were trying to cover up their grave sins with external acts of piety such as having sacrifices offered at the Temple.  So Jesus uses this quotation from the prophet Hosea to challenge the Pharisees to not allow external practices such as their table fellowship regulations to replace the steadfast love that must be shown to God and all his people, including sinners and tax collectors. 

Blessed John Paul II, lamented in our age, the great loss of the sense of sin.  He said, “While sin abounds -- greed, dishonesty and corruption, broken relationships and exploitation of persons, pornography and violence -- the recognition of individual sinfulness has waned.” 

John Paul was speaking about our culture, and also to Catholics, who have a tendency to be sometimes Pharisaical--pointing to all the nice things that they do, all the while having grave sins and harboring hatred toward their neighbor. 

Failing to recognize one’s sinfulness is a failure to recognize our need for the Savior. 

John Paul said, "Sin is an integral part of the truth about the human person. To recognize oneself as a sinner is the first and essential step in returning to the healing love of God”

We ask the intercession of the Apostle Matthew today in the difficult task we have of bringing the Gospel of Mercy to a culture which has lost its sense of sin.  May we have the humility of this repentant tax-collector, who gave his life in service of the Church for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 20 - St. Andrew Kim, St. Paul Chong, and 111 Korean Martyrs

Today is the feast of the Korean Martyrs, Saint Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang together with their 111 companion martyrs. Though they were martyred over the course of many years, they were canonized together by Blessed John Paul II just in 1984.

Saint Andrew Kim is the first priest native of Korea and was beheaded for the faith on September 16, 1846. St. Paul Chong was a layman who lost several family members to martyrdom.

For centuries, Catholicism was often seen as a threat to Korean customs and traditions, so Christianity took root in Korea only after much struggle and effort. But when it did begin to take root, those roots were strong.

Saint Andrew’s own Father had been martyred when he was a young boy, but this did not dissuade him from become a priest, in fact, it strengthened his vocation. As a priest he helped other missionaries to come to Korea to spread the Gospel, but this was soon discovered. So he was was captured, tortured, and killed for his faith, when it was discovered that he smuggled missionaries into Korea from China. St. Paul Chong also risked his life many times making repeated trips to China to find priests to come to serve the young Korean Church.

At their 1984 canonization ceremony, Blessed John Paul II called Saint Andrew Kim, Saint Paul and their 111 companions “the leaven” that lead to the splendid flowering of the Church in Korea.
How are we called to be “leaven” today—the leaven that will lead to the flowering of the Church in our own land? What will we do today that will lead souls to Christ? What will our Christian witness look like today in our own limited capacity?

Andrew wrote to his fellow Christians the following words: “We have received baptism, entrance into the Church, and the honor of being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are Christians in name only and not in fact?” How easy it is to fall into this nominal Christianity, when we fail to allow our faith to influence our conduct, our attitude.


Through the martyrdom and intercession of Andrew Kim, Paul Chong, may God grant us the strength that we too may remain faithful to God’s commandments even unto death, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.  

Homily: St. Robert Bellarmine, Patron Saint of Catechists, Incorrupt

The Opening Prayer for the Mass referred to the Bishop Robert Bellarmine’s wonderful learning and virtue.  St. Robert Bellarmine is celebrated today as a doctor of the Church.  He was a brilliant man.  He was devoted to studying Church History, the Fathers of the Church, and Scripture even from his youth.  He became a Jesuit priest, and taught in Rome, at what is now the Gregorian University, and later became the first Jesuit professor at the University of Louvain in Belgium. 

Robert Bellarmine was made a Cardinal by Pope Clement VIII.  But as a Cardinal Prince of the Church, St. Robert insisted on living a simple life rather than embracing the privileges he could have had.  He abstained from luxurious meals, and gave away many of his possessions to clothe the poor. 

Here was a man totally dedicated to Christ and His Church.  He devoted his life to the study of Scripture and Catholic doctrine.  One Church historian has said, “His first ambition was to be a doctor of medicine. His final triumph was to be declared a Doctor of the Church”

St. Robert Bellarmine is the Patron Saint of Catechists and also Catechumens; he wrote two catechisms, one for children and one for teachers, as well as numerous catechetical and spiritual treatises, commentaries on scripture, and other works. 

What a wonderful Saint for this Year of Faith, as we are reminded of the need to learn and understand our faith in order to defend it when it is under attack and also to spread it when the time is right.  For Catholics are not to mindlessly recite our creeds and doctrines, but we are to always be learning and seeking to understand our faith

St. Robert wrote: ““If you have wisdom, may you understand that you have been created for the glory of God and for your eternal salvation. This is your goal, this is the center of your soul, this the treasure of your heart.  If you reach this goal, you will find happiness.  If you fail to reach it, you will find misery.”

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Saint Robert Bellarmine worked for true reform in the Church through his learning and his integrity and holiness of life.  He reminds us with the example of his own life that there can be no true reform of the Church unless there is first our own personal reform and the conversion of our own heart.

St. Robert's relics lie incorrupt in the Church St. Ignatius in Rome, incorrupt, perhaps to remind us that his lifestyle and dedication to Christ should be imitated by Christians for all ages.  With St. Robert Bellarmine’s help, may we all come to that great rejoicing in the profession of our faith, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: September 16 - Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian, Martyrs

Today the Church celebrates two saints, Cornelius and Cyprian, inspiring examples of dedication to pastoral ministry and constant witnesses to Christ in their suffering.  Both are mentioned in the First Eucharistic prayer for their importance to the early Church in Rome.

Persecution of the Church was so great in the 3^rd century that we didn’t have a Pope for 14 months.  Following that interval, today’s saint, Cornelius was elected Pope. 

During the persecution of Decius, many Christians had offered incense to the gods to save their lives. Others had bribed the authorities and had obtained a document which stated that they had offered such sacrifices. 

The controversy arose when these lapsed Catholics, who publically denied Christ, wanted to be readmitted to the Church and to Communion.

A very talented priest named Novatian claimed that the Church was to be a place of saints and martyrs, those with courage, and  had any power to reconcile apostates--those who had denied their faith.  He also claimed that those who committed the deadly sin of adultery could not be readmitted to Communion.  Novatian had strong support for this rigorist view and was even consecrated the Church’s first anti-Pope. 

In the year 251, Cornelius called a synod in Rome, and declared Catholics could be restored to the Church with what he called, “the usual medicines of repentance”.  That through penance and firm purpose of amendment, a sinner could be readmitted to Communion again. He was supported in this by many bishops, but especially St. Cyprian, the most important bishop in North Africa, who was one of the most important theologians and writers of the time.

Persecutions resumed the following year.  Cornelius was arrested and deported.  A few years later, down in Carthage, Cyprian was also arrested and martyred. 

The letter Cyprian wrote to Cornelius is very beautiful.  “My very dear brother,” he wrote, “we have heard of the glorious witness given by your courageous faith. On learning of the honor you had won by your witness, we were filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your praiseworthy achievements. After all, we have the same Church, the same mind, the same unbroken harmony. God’s merciful design has warned us that the day of our own struggle, our own contest, is at hand. By that shared love which binds us close together, we are doing all we can to exhort our congregation, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings, vigils and prayers in common. These are the heavenly weapons which give us the strength to stand firm and endure; they are the spiritual defenses, the God-given armaments that protect us. Let us then remember one another, united in mind and heart. Let us pray without ceasing, you for us, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve the strain of these great trials.”

Beautiful words to remind us to pray for one another that we may be faithful to all the Lord calls us to, in pouring out our lives in his service, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Infinite Mercy of the Good Shepherd

Our readings from the Holy Scriptures continue to speak to us this week about God’s bountiful love and desire to save sinners. 

We can find similar passages throughout the entire bible, the Old Testament and New Testament.  It’s not as if the Old Testament only talks about God’s wrath and justice and the New Testament only talks about God’s love and mercy.  All through the bible meet a God who is extravagant in his love and mercy.

Yet, we can also find throughout the entire bible passages that speak of God’s justice and what seems like his impossible demands for his people.  Throughout the Bible, God is chastising his people for their sins and their lukewarm hearts and for their idolatry. He sends prophets to call people back to the covenant and back to moral and spiritual perfection. Jesus seems to some this up on the Sermon on the Mount, when he says, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  That’s the moral demand of God for us; it’s that high, it’s that impressive: “be perfect.” 

It seems kind of difficult to hold these two claims together: God’s bountiful, overflowing mercy, on one hand, and his demand for moral perfection on the other.  We have a hard time reconciling these seemingly contradictory claims: we think either God loves me and forgives my sins, or he is a harsh judge ready to condemn my soul.

Recent decades in the history of the Church have shown this tension.  Before the Second Vatican Council there seemed to be an overstressing of God’s judgment, and in the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council an overstressing of his mercy, as if God really didn’t care if we went to Church on Sundays, God didn’t care if we observed Holy Days of Obligation, God doesn’t care if engaged couples live together before their marriage, as if He were now ultra-permissive of sin.

If all you talk about is God’s mercy, you get a skewed understanding of God, you get a sort of God who spoils his children, letting us get away with everything, never really demanding anything of us, and never really holding us accountable for our actions. On the other hand, if all you talk about is God’s excessive moral demands, you end up with a sort of a tyrant: a God who broods over us in an overwhelming way.  Neither skewed view corresponds to the biblical image of God or the teaching of the Church.  Rather, we preach the entire Christ, who both calls us to be perfect and forgives the repentant sinner when we are not.

The good shepherd was one of the favorite figures in early Christian art, Jesus uses the image of a shepherd in the Gospel this Sunday.  In fact this is an image that God uses to describe himself  in the Old Testament as well as the New.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that God is a shepherd who feeds his flock and gathers them in his arms and leads them very carefully. 

In the Gospel, Jesus presents us with this shepherd, who after counting his sheep after a long day of grazing, as the sun goes down, he realizes one is missing.  You can imagine, a shepherd, on a mountain pasture, the air is starting to get cold as daylight fades, and he knows he has to find this lost sheep, and soon.  So he huddles the ninety-nine into a natural hollow underneath an overhanging cliff and he sets out to find the lost sheep.  He stumbles over sharp rocks as the sun sets and the shadows lengthen.  He pushes through brambles and thorns, and pulls his cloak tighter to keep out the chill.  He hears the howling of the wolves, but knows that morning will be too late, so he trudges on.  The mud is slippery, the wind picks up.  And there, in the brambles, bleeding and alone and frightened is the lost sheep who has wandered from the flock. 

This is the image Jesus wants us to have in mind when we find ourselves lost, stuck in the brambles of sin, separated from him.  So abundant is his love, that our Good Shepherd suffers to free us from the deadly thorns of sin; he dies for his sheep, to gather them into one flock—to gather them into the community of the Church where Christian perfection, and holiness, and eternal life, and authentic joy are possible.

The problem with us sheep is that sometimes we forget that, we fall into old habits of wandering, sometimes pretty far from the flock.  This is why we need daily prayer and frequent recourse to the Sacrament of the Eucharist and Reconciliation.  Because the reality is we do have that tendency to wander back into the thorn bushes.

And this is the reason Jesus gave to his Church the Sacrament of Confession. Though it may seem unpleasant to humbly acknowledge one’s sins before God’s minister, have you ever gone to confession and felt worse afterwards?  Of course not.  Jesus tells us that even the angels rejoice when a sinner receives reconciliation.

When we go to confession.  It’s a new beginning.  We receive God’s forgiveness and we are strengthened with sacramental grace that when we are inevitably tempted again in the future, this time we will remain faithful, we will remain true to the high and lofty calling of our Father. 

Christ is our good shepherd.  He has searched us out and brought us back home many times.  But he has included us in that shepherding work, he wants us to be good shepherds too.  Jesus sends us out to gather his flock, to reach into the thorn-bushes of our morally depraved culture, to help the fallen be reconciled to God.

Parents, of course, are so important in shepherding their children, keeping them safe from the evils of the world.  At the 11:30 Mass, the Catechists, were blessed, because teachers of the faith, help to instruct and shepherd us.

I’m very excited to visit our YOSA group tonight, to meet our young people who are the next generation of shepherds, who are called now to encourage each other to grow in faith, and to challenge one another in being generous to God with their time talent and treasure. 

Our upcoming parish retreat offers all of us a shepherding opportunity.  We may think of neighbors who we might like to invite, and to begin praying and fasting for them, that they may be receptive to the invitation.

This week, let us be especially attentive to those opportunities to invite those who have fallen away back into the flock of the good shepherd and those ways in which the Lord challenges us to grow in Christian perfection for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 13 - St. John Chryrsostom

One of the most courageous and holy men of the 4^th century was St. John Chrysostom who was born in Antioch.  He was studying law when Christ drew him to the monastic life.  He was ordained a deacon and then a priest for the Church of Antioch. 

John was immediately recognized as a great preacher, the name “Chrysostom” means golden tongued.  Because of his great gift, the bishop asked John to dedicate himself to preaching.  So for the next twelve years St. John preached and taught on virtually every book on the bible and helped people apply the Scriptures do their daily lives.

His reputation as a preacher and teacher led, against his will, to his election as bishop of Constantinople, the seat of the empire, which was really, at the time, a moral cesspool.  So St. John began to preach once again, calling the people to reform their lives.  Much of this call for moral reform was directed at the imperial court, and this drew the scorn of the empress who was leading a very depraved life and setting a terrible example to the people. 

So, she began to conspire against John, and forced him into exile on trumped up charges.

The people, however, loved John and so he was brought back to Constantinople.  And he didn’t back off.  He continued to preach the truth, to condemn moral depravity and the vanities of the aristocracy and the imperial court.  They were not pleased and they sent him again into exile, into such harsh conditions that he would not return. The old exiled bishop died on September 14, 407. 

As a seminarian St. John Chrysostom always fascinated and inspired me.  He was called the Golden Tongue because he preached Christ.  And he was able to preach Christ because he knew Him, because Christ dwelt in his heart.   John Chyrsostom knew the scriptures and therefore came to a piercing knowledge of our blessed Lord, and was able to communicate Christ’s love and truth to his holy Church.

May we communicate Jesus to all those we meet today, may Christ be on our lips and in our hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 12 - The Most Holy Name of Mary

Today we celebrate a feast that was originally celebrated in Spain in 1513, though honor for the holy name of Mary extends to the early church, and to the angels themselves.  The feast of the holy name of Mary was dropped from the liturgical calendar in 1969, but was reestablished by Pope John Paul II.

The Church celebrates the memorial of the Holy Name of Mary shortly after her birthday on September 8, just like we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus shortly after Christmas.

In accordance with Jewish custom Our Lady’s parents named her eight days after her birth.

In the litany of the divine praises, which we pray at benediction, the church proclaims, “Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother”. 

We show honor to the name of Mary, because no doubt, Our Lord himself honored his mother.  And so we honor the name of our mother, Mary, mother of all Christians, holiest of creatures, the queen of heaven earth.

When we pronounce her name, we affirm her power, we implore her aid, and place ourselves under her protection.  And we should pronounce her name, often: in times of temptation to seek her aid in confronting sin; in times of trial and difficulty to seek her help and prayers in bearing our cross; and like a child pointing out something delightful or beautiful to his mother, pronouncing her name in times of joy and thanksgiving throughout the day.  When we speak her name with love, we imitate our Lord Jesus.

The directives for the liturgy instruct us to bow our heads in reverence at the name of Jesus, at the name of Mary, and at the name of the Saint of the Day when they are mentioned in the prayers of the liturgy. 

It is a privilege to know and to be able to call upon with Love the name of Mary.  At her name demons flee and angels rejoice.

When Jesus was dying on the cross, he gave Mary to us to be our mother.  May all who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, have confidence in her protection and receive comfort and strength for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday - "Empty, seductive philosophies"

Since last Wednesday, the first readings for weekday Mass have been taken from St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. 

It’s a short letter, only four chapters: you can read the whole thing in 10 minutes, this morning or this afternoon with a cup of coffee.

Like most of Paul’s letters, Colossians is divided into two parts.  The first two chapters make up the first part.  They are theological and doctrinal.  The second part, which we’ll read tomorrow, begins the practical application.  And the two parts are connected: right belief and right living are connected by Christ.

The main theological point of Colossians is that Christ is the center of everything. Therefore Christians must put Him first in everything they do.  Because he is the center of reality, “through him and for him all things exist”, He must be the center of our lives. 

We heard today, “See to it that no one captivates you with an empty, seductive philosophy,  according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.”  In other words, see to it that the worldly philosophies do not seduce you away from Christ.  We know all too well how the world seduces Christians away from Christ and away from the Church.

Our young people seem so susceptible to the empty, seductive philosophies of our day.  Sociologist Christian Smith wrote recently that the predominant religion practiced by so many of our young people today is not Christianity but what he called moral therapeutic Deism—meaning young people are only interested in religion insofar as it makes them feel happy and good. 

When they feel particularly religious, much occurs less and less frequently, or when they feel like God can help them with something they will pray or go to Church.

But when the faith is reduced to its feel-good elements there is little thought of repentance from sin and building character through suffering and self-discipline. 

Such is truly an empty philosophy because Christ is not at the center, rather the ego.  But when the ego is the only dictator of truth, we are truly imprisoned by ourselves.  No doubt, one reason for declining Mass attendance.

St. Paul and the saints warn us against this ego-centrist form of religion and call us to practice true religion, worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith.

May we seek to reclaim for Christ all those who have fallen to the empty, seductive philosophies of our day through our commitment to the saving Gospel of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: September 9 - St. Peter Claver - Slave of Slaves

Peter Claver was born in Spain in 1581.  Soon after entering the Jesuit order around the age of 20, he met a Saintly Jesuit lay brother St. Alfonso Rodriguez who urged him to volunteer as a missionary to South America and work amongst the slaves.  He left his homeland in his early 30s to be ordained a priest in Columbia in a time when the slave trade was well established in the Americas.  Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by the Popes of the time, it continued to flourish.

There in Columbia, Peter Claver devoted himself to care of the slaves.  As soon as a slave ship would arrive in Columbia, Peter would go to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers.  While the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals, Peter would be among them administering medicine and distributing food and drink.  With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God's saving love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.

When he was not engaged in his ministry to the slaves, Pater counseled and brought the sacraments to prisoners, prepared criminals for death, visited the city's hospitals and conducted annual missions for traders and sailors. He preached in the city square and tried to convince the merchants and slavers to turn away from the evil of slavery.

In 1650 Peter Claver fell victim to an epidemic that was raging through the city of Cartagena, and was literally abandoned to die in his sickness.

Peter Claver remarked more than once how it took everything in him at times to go down into the disgusting conditions of the slave-ships filled with filth and stench.  He reminds us that true loving service is about liking what we do, we might even be filled with resistance and revulsion, but loving service means being faithful despite our personal feelings.

Saints like Peter Claver remind us that holiness and joy can be found, not by turning away, but when we pour ourselves out in loving service to those in need.  Our Opening Prayer praised God for making St. Peter Claver "a slave to slaves", but the Lord continue to shape in loving service towards all, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Silence as a remedy to worldly distraction

Since my first year in seminary, at the end of august, my seminary classmates and I, who are now priests, have taken a week or two vacation up in the Algonquin Highlands in Ontario, about four hours north of Toronto.  We canoe a little bit, we swim, we don’t really fish much, we really just enjoy the quiet of the wilderness, good food, and good fellowship.  Two weeks without cellphone, internet, television, is a perfect way to get ready for the busy-ness of the school year, when parish life really begins to kick into high-gear. 

And it usually takes a day or two to adjust from going the busy, loud world to the quiet of nature.  That first day and a half, it really feels kind of strange, not having something to do.  But then things begin to settle, we settle into the quiet, and then you really begin to notice the beautiful surroundings: lapping of the lake, the gentle breeze.  It’s a wonderful atmosphere for good prayer and reflection and spiritual reading.

What does this have to do with our readings this weekend?  Well, we need moments, to quiet down and recharge and to focus on what really matters.  That is the purpose of our upcoming parish retreat in October.  This is why we observe every week a day of rest, the Sabbath day, to become quiet and to focus on what really matters.

The Catholic Philosopher Svoren Kierkegaard said that the present state of the world and the whole of life [with so much noise and busy-ness] diseased. And If he were a doctor he would prescribe as a remedy for this disease, “silence”

From the book of wisdom, we hear about our human condition, “For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.” 

We know all to well about the many concerns which weigh down upon us don’t we? Our health, job, family obligation.  And our culture certainly doesn’t help things when it drums into us over and over that we are not happy until we have the next toy, the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect family, the perfect job. It’s not a coincidence how our faith can sometimes take second-place to all of these worldly pursuits and distractions.

But for Christians we need those moments every day where we remember that our first loyalty, our first pursuit, are not the things and riches and pleasures of this world, but God, heaven.

And Jesus explains what exactly discipleship means, in the Gospel this weekend. 

But Jesus, turns to this large crowd and offers one of the most challenging teachings in the Gospel.

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” 

What’s he saying here?  No pursuit, no object, no relationship is to be more important than following Jesus faithfully.  Our deepest identity is Christian, our deepest loyalty is to Christ.  If we are ever caught in a dilemma, caught between what Jesus expects of us and what the world wants from us, we must choose Christ. 

A very powerful story from the life of the saints is that of St. Francis of Assisi.  Francis was the son of a rich merchant and after a deep conversion desires to hand everything over to the Lord.  So he starts giving his possessions away to the poor.  Francis’ father demanded that he stop.  But the words of today’s Gospel resonated in Francis’ heart, “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple”.  Dragged into the town square before the whole town and even the bishop, he renounced his inheritance, he even gave up the clothes he was wearing, and walked naked out of the town.

St. Thomas Aquinas had a similar story.  His parents had big plans for him, but Thomas wanted to join the Dominican order to preach and teach the Gospel.  His parents literally locked him in a tower for a year, even paying beautiful women to visit him, to coax him to get married.  But he resisted, even what his parents wanted for him, the expectations of his parents, knowing that he had a deeper call to follow the Lord in a unique way.  And he did, he joined the Dominicans and became the greatest theologian in history and a saint.

And all of those worldly things: toys, relationships, associations must be hated to the extend that they hinder us from being faithful to Jesus.  Not even family can be our ultimate concern.  Spouse and children are to be cherished, but not more than being faithful to God.

In this day and age, a great danger can be for parents to make their children so central to their own happiness that their relationship becomes disordered.  It’s disordered for parents to try to relive their own childhood or find meaning by living vicariously through their children, and also for parents to let the kids run the show, giving in to any and all of their children’s requests because they want to appear as “the cool parent” or “fun parent”.  Parents do well in instilling modesty and self-discipline. 

Family is to be cherished, but again, not more than being faithful to God.  Yet, here’s the good news: when we are faithful, when we follow the commandments and the teachings of the Church, then, as faithful disciples, we become the people God made me to be.  We become the loving, charitable, generous, joyful people God made us to be.

C.S. Lewis, great Christian apologist said, “You cannot love your fellow man fully until you love 

God…When I have learned to love God better than I love my wife, then I will love my wife as God does.”  

Our love for one another, can only be as strong as our love and faithfulness to God.

We do well, as St. Augustine said, to love God first and everything else, only for the sake of God. 

Everything we do in life must be done to glorify God.  Jesus himself taught us, “Seek first the kingdom of God”.  And he’s not just speaking generally.  Every day, in every choice, seek to glorify God.  It’s impossible to do, if all we have is busy-ness and distraction, so every day we need quiet time for serious prayer, reflection, scripture study. 

The remedy for so many of our ills, so much of our anxiety, so much of our dis-ease, can be found, as Kierkegaard said, in the silence where we can encounter the Lord in prayer, and seek his will, and fall in love with Him above all else.  How much of the violence and anger and tension in the world would dissipate if we put down the cell-phones, turned off the internet, and television, and video games for an extra half-hour every day, and read the bible, prayed the rosary, reflected on our life in light of scripture and the teaching of the Church.

The cost of discipleship is our whole life, our whole self.  May the Holy Spirit assist us in being rid of all that keeps us from giving our whole self to God and encourage us in many good works this week for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 22nd Week of Ordinary Time - Saturday - Day of Prayer and Fasting

In his Angelus address last Sunday, September 1, Pope Francis made an urgent appeal concerning the continuing civil war in Syria. He said,”

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming. I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children [who] will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable!

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

Bishop Lennon is asking all of the faithful to dedicate a day to fast and pray during the week of September 9-13, 2013.  

Why fasting and prayer?  Fasting and prayer bring about a transformation in our own hearts.  It’s not that somehow that God is impressed by the fact that we are hungry, but fasting and prayer reminds us that we depend on God.  And as people of faith and hope  we also need to pray fervently and directly for a transformation of the hearts of others—whether it’s members of the Syrian government and armed and rebel forces or the member s of our own government—fasting and prayer are powerful. 

"Peace," Pope Francis declared, "is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected."

Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Homily: 22nd Week of Ordinary Time - Friday - "Fasting gives wings to our soul"

Jesus said that after His ascension His followers would surely fast. Today, Friday, is the traditional fast day for Christians.

Throughout the centuries, the church fasted for forty days each Lent in imitation of Jesus' forty-day fast in the desert.

Before Vatican II, the Church told us to abstain from meat on Fridays, and many fasted also on Wednesdays.  Many saints, such as St. John Vianney and St. Francis of Assisi were led by the Spirit to emphasize God’s call to fast. 

After Vatican II, the Church's laws regarding Friday abstinence and fasting were changed.  The Church no longer was required to fast from meat.  Some people thought that the Church was de-emphasizing fasting. 

The Church continues to emphasize fasting.  Pope John Paul II has made it very clear that fasting with prayer is extremely important. He stated: "Jesus Himself has shown us by His own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil.” 

Just last week, Pope Francis called for tomorrow, September 7 called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the middle East, especially Syria.

All of the Christian faithful are still obligated to observe at least an hour fast before reception of the Eucharist.  I know many people who fast entirely on Sunday mornings until they receive the precious Body and Blood of Our Lord.  This Eucharistic fast disposes us to experience more deeply the coming of the Lord and expresses our seriousness and reverence for the Lord's coming into our lives

If we do not choose to fast from meat on Fridays, we need  to exercise some other form of penance, some work of charity or exercise of piety.

Fasting is one of our best opportunities to serve the Lord, change human hearts, build the Church, acquire mastery over our instincts, and reconcile a broken world. Voluntary fasting from food creates in us a greater openness to God's Spirit and deepens our compassion for those who are forced to go without food. The discomfort brought about by fasting unites us to the sufferings of Christ, and brings to mind the sufferings of all those for whom Christ suffered.

St. John Chrysostom wrote, “Fasting is the support of our soul: it gives us wings to ascend on high, and to enjoy the highest contemplation.”  May our daily fasting increase in us a great hunger for serving the Lord, Our God, for His glory, and the salvation of souls.

Homily: 22nd Week of Ordinary Time - Thursday - "Put out into the Deep"

When the new millennium began, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the Church and used the words of Jesus to Peter from today’s Gospel.  In latin, they are “duc in altum”—“put out into the deep”. 

You might imagine Peter’s confusion or perhaps rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath, when Jesus, a carpenter, spoke those words to him, a professional fisherman, telling him how to do his job.  Peter and his crew had just fished all night and had just finished cleaning all of their equipment when Jesus instructed Peter to cast his net into deep waters. 

Even though it contradicted his professional sensibilities, trusting his master, he cast out into the depths of Lake Genesseret, and catching so many fish, they had to call for another boat to bring them all in. 

In his uncertainty, he placed his deep trust in the Lord, and that made all the difference.  Pope John Paul II, knowing all of the challenges the Church faced at the turn of the millennium, failing economies, impending wars, a culture becoming bent on instant gratification and materialism, he called us to, just like the Lord did to Peter, to cast out into the deep.  The Holy Father wrote how each individual Christian needed to go deeper in his or her spiritual life. 

He had offered the same message when in Saint Peter’s square in 1978 in the opening address of his pontificate, he said, “Do not be afraid to Open wide the doors of your heart for Christ.”  Cast out into the deep, open wide the doors.  For if we don’t, not only are we at risk of being mediocre Christians, but our very souls are at risk.  For, the key to withstanding the overwhelming barrage of temptations and distractions of the world, the key to avoid assimilated to the culture, and the key to becoming an effective instrument for the spread of the Gospel is to cast into the deep and open wide the door of your heart to Christ.  

In one sense, to put out into the deep, means to be extremely generous in the time we give to God in prayer. 

In that same letter, the Holy Father wrote how our parishes and families must become “genuine 'schools' of prayer” where we meet Christ in prayer not only in imploring his help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion “until the heart truly 'falls in love'". 

If we are only praying when we want something, if we only treat God like he’s Santa Clause, then we will never really fall in love with Jesus.  Rather, the Holy Father calls us to a deeper prayer life: time set aside every day for adoration and contemplation and listening.

In another sense, those words, “put out into the deep” is a call to every Christian, no matter what their state in life, to take up the missionary mandate of the Church: to reach out to those who do not have faith, to reach out to the poor and suffering, and to not be afraid to witness to the truth of the Gospel in the public sphere and the political realm.  Just like Peter casting out into deep waters to bring in this miraculous catch of fish, we too can make a miraculous catch, when we cooperate with Jesus. 

What are the deep waters for us?  Into the lives of the family members who have left the practice of the church, into the public sphere of our culture and the political life of our culture which wants to remove every last vestige of the Christian faith.   Into those places where fishing might seem initially foolish to our sensibilities.