Homily: Friday of the 6th Week of Easter - Guilty as charged!

In the ancient world, the city of Corinth was a mix between Las Vegas and New York City: it was a wealthy commercial center that gathered traders, sailors and slaves from all over the Roman Empire and known for its deprave moral standards, drunkenness, debauchery, and prostitution.  St. Paul came to Corinth and stayed about a year and a half: he would visit synagogues and try to convince both Jews and Greeks of the truth of the Gospel.

While in Corinth, the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to Paul in a vision and reassured him, “Do not be afraid.”  Even though a large group of Jews would rise up against Paul and bring him to court, he would not be physically harmed.  Further, Jesus assures Paul, “I have many people in this city”; meaning, Paul needs to remain diligent, because there were still people in Corinth who needed to be converted.

“Do not be afraid…I have many people in this city”.  Jesus speaks the same words to us.  He does not want us to be afraid to speak the Truth, to engage people in conversation about religion.

Paul was dragged into court and charged with "influencing people to worship God."  That's fantastic! We need to be more guilty of those charges!  Imagine more people worshiping God, opened to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, going to mass, repenting of sin, working for justice because we went out of our comfort zone to persuade them to a greater worship of God.

In the Gospel Jesus says, "I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name.” So what should we ask for?  Not to be popular, not to be a great athlete, not to have the fancy car, or the newest technological device  We should ask God to pour out his Holy Spirit upon us, to make our hearts like St. Paul’s:  Totally convicted for spreading the Gospel.

After Jesus Ascension, the apostles gathered in the upper Room together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and prayed in order to prepare for Pentecost.  And in nine days we will celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, so today is a great day to begin the Pentecost Novena, to pray like Mary and the Apostles to be opened more deeply to God’s Holy Spirit, to deeply thirst that God’s Holy Will be done in our lives for His glory and the salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter - Grief becoming joy

40 days ago, we celebrated the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus on Easter Sunday.  And 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of his Father in heaven.  Traditionally, the Feast of the Ascension, a holy day of obligation, was celebrated today.  It still is in several dioceses throughout the world.
In the rest of the dioceses of the United States, the celebration of the Ascension has been transferred to the following Sunday.  It is still a holy day of obligation because every Sunday is a holy day of obligation.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, the readings in the final weeks of the Easter season, while still emphasizing the Resurrection of the Lord, have begun to focus on the two important glorious events of Jesus’ Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

We may not be celebrating the Ascension today, but we have three extra days to prepare for it.

 “You will grieve, but your grief will become joy”.  Grief may have come at the loss of Jesus’ visible presence, but the Lord’s Ascension means that Jesus has not gone far away from us. Now, thanks to the fact he is with the Father, he is close to each one of us forever.  Each one of us may address him with the knowledge of his closeness.

We get into trouble when we forget that fact—big trouble when we live as if he were not close.  Our greatness sadnesses come when we are not conscious of how close God is to us.  So it important for us to habitually call to mind his closeness, to draw near to him through faith, to express our love for him often throughout the day, so that in those moments of trial, we can remember how near he truly is. When we know his closeness, our grief becomes joy.

Tomorrow is nine days until Pentecost.  And we would do well to begin a Pentecost novena, to dispose ourselves to that great gift of the Holy Spirit, that all of our grief may be turned into joy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 27 - St. Augustine of Canterbury - "Apostle to the English"

Today is the feast of an Italian Benedictine monk who became known as the “Apostle to the English”. 

Though early missionary attempts were made, the Gospel, Christianity failed to take root amongst in England, except in small pockets of Celts.

Around 595, Pope Gregory the Great sent a delegation of forty monks including Augustine.

Augustine and his band of monks heard stories of the ferocious Anglo-Saxons and the treacherous waters of the English Channel.  Augustine promptly made a “u-turn” back to Rome, where Pope Gregory the Great assured him and the other monks that his fears were groundless.

They constructed a church and monastery at Canterbury, on the site where the present and famous Canterbury Cathedral now stands. Augustine was consecrated its first Bishop.  And by 597, thousands of people were coming to actively seek baptism. 

Most of us do not receive letters from the Pope telling us to go evangelize particular nations and regions, but all of us have received the commission of our Lord to go and make disciples of all nations, all of the baptized have the vocation of laboring for the spread of the Gospel.

We also live in a culture much like that which Augustine found upon his arrival to England: vestiges of the Christian faith mingled with pagan elements. 

In a letter to Augustine, Pope Gregory the Great wrote: "He who would climb to a lofty height must go by steps, not leaps." 

The task of evangelization might seem like a lofty mountain, and there will often be that temptation to return home out of fear with our task incomplete, but we can make great inroads through small steps: conversations with non-Catholics, small acts of charity towards strangers, imitating Christ in all of our attitudes and choices.

Through the prayerful intercession and holy example of St. Augustine of Canterbury may we be faithful to all the Lord calls us to this day for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 6th Sunday of Easter - St. Peter's program for Evangelization

In the last few years we have heard a lot about the New Evangelization.  In light of the Christian faith being abandoned in Europe and the United States, the Pope and Church leaders are urging all Catholics to engage in a renewed effort to spread the Gospel, a new evangelization. 

Dr. Peter Kreeft, a catholic philosopher and college professor tells a little anecdote about a visit to a monastery in Connecticut.  At the end of his visit, the abbot, a very wise and holy man approached Dr. Kreeft and said, we ask every visitor to our monastery the same question when they are about to leave, “If God said to you he would give you any one gift for us what would you ask.”  Dr. Kreeft, thought about it for a moment, and said, “I would ask God to make every single one of you fall totally in love with Jesus Christ for the rest of your life.” The abbot smiled and the other monks began to chuckle.  The abbot said, we are not laughing at you or your response, it’s just that last month, Mother Theresa visited us, and she gave the exact same answer.

That you may fall deeply in love with Jesus Christ: that is the work of the new evangelization.  To help others know him, understand him, and fall in love with him.  And that is the task not just of priests and bishops, but all Christians.

In the second reading today, St. Peter gives a wonderful outline for the new evangelization.

St Peter in today’s second reading says, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” 

Each one of us needs to be prepared to give an explanation for the hope that is in us. 

The Greek Word St. Peter uses here is “apologia”—the verbal defense you would give in a courtroom.  Be ready, be prepared Peter is saying to give a reason of why you believe in the Gospel and a full verbal account of what you believe.

Our way of life, our rituals, the teachings of the Church are found strange to non-Catholics. So we need to be able to explain WHY we do these things, WHY we believe things things.

And Peter then explains HOW we are to give explanation for our hope: with gentleness and reverence.  The world of the first century was generally not friendly toward Christian beliefs and practices. Peter is anticipating that non-Christians will often question Christians with an aggressive or even a harsh tone. 

So return harshness and aggression with gentleness and reverence.  Seek to win others to the faith through a gentle and persuasive word.

It’s hard to remain patient and gentle in the face of hostility, but Peter says it’s better to suffer for doing good than to do evil.

Last year we observed a Year of Faith: a year where we were to go back to the books—back to the catechism--to study with fresh eyes and hearts the teachings of our faith that we could be better prepared to give explanation.  Each of us should engage in some sort of bible study or faith study on a regular basis.  It is a sad day when we don’t learn something new about our faith or come to a deeper understanding of a scripture passage.

We need knowledge of the mind in order to be prepared to give explanation for our faith, but we also need knowledge of the heart.  If we are to be leading others to a deep love of Jesus Christ, we ourselves need to be deeply in love with Him.

In the work of the new evangelization we aren’t just reaching out to atheists and secularists and post-modernist that we are supposed to be reaching out to.  Many Catholics need to fall more deeply in love with Jesus Christ. 

St. Peter tells us, “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”

This is why the greatest evangelizers are saints.  Christ is so reverenced, so radiant, in their hearts that he begins to shine through their actions.

How did they get that way?  How did they fall so deeply in love with Christ?  Love of God is always nurtured by prayer.  St. Francis de Sales said every Christian is in need of a half hour of prayer every day, unless he is busy, then he needs an hour.

Prayer is like inhaling and exhaling.  We need both the public exhaling prayer of participating at Mass, and also the private inhaling prayer of quiet, contemplative, meditation. 

Those who say they don’t get anything out of attending Mass are often not praying throughout the week as they should. They have nothing to exhale because they have not inhaled throughout the week.

But those who spend time in God’s presence in prayer of adoration and surrender throughout the week, find participation at Mass to be the source and summit of their prayer life.  If you want to get more out of Mass on Sunday, put more into prayer throughout the week.

Finally St. Peter says, keep your conscience clear.  In other words, in order to give an effective account of the Gospel  we need to be living it.  If you have fallen, go to confession, so that your conscience may be clean.

In the opening prayer of this mass asked God to grant that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy.  “Heartfelt devotion”; “affectus sedulus” in the original latin.  Affectus is affection or love or devotion.  But that word sedulus can mean, busy, diligent, careful, zealous, industrious, unremitting.

In other words, God help me to be busy, diligent, industrious, zealous in my love for you.  Would you describe your prayer life as zealous, diligent?  Are you industrious in your study of the faith?  If not, then let today be a new start. 

In these final weeks of the easter season may we engage in prayer and study with greater zeal, that we can lead others to a deeper knowledge and love of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the 5th Week of Easter - All you need is love.

When I am preparing couples for marriage, I ask them a series of questions about themselves and their relationship.  ‘Where are you from?’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘When long have you dated?’ ‘What kind of activities do you share?’ ‘Do you think your parents set a good example of how to have a happy marriage?’ ‘What will you do differently?

The toughest question perhaps is a true or false question.  ‘True or false,’ I ask. ‘Love is all you need for a happy marriage.’  Is love all you need for a happy marriage?  Some of them think it is a trick question, and they try looking at my face to see what answer I want. 

Is love all we need? The answer really depends on our definition of love.  Sometimes we use the word love to mean a lot of things.  We say, I love ice cream, I love classical music, I love summer, I love bacon, I love the Cleveland browns, which is like saying I love suffering and tragedy, but that goes to show you, the word love has many meanings.  Some even use the word ‘love’ in a very confused way, as in, “I love the pittsburgh stealers”. 

But when Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor, he spoke of love in the truest sense.  True love is not just a feeling or emotion that changes.  For my love for ice cream can change if I eat an entire gallon of it.  In fact, Love of money, love of pleasure, love of fame, love of power, can become something very dangerous even deadly to the human soul. 

When Jesus tells us today, ‘love one another’.  He explains what love means. Love is laying-down your life for someone.  Love means freeing slaves; not controlling other people. 

St. Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. It requires humility, and perseverance.  Paul even says if you go throughout life without this sort of love than your life is like a clashing cymbal—meaning, you are going through life just making a bunch of noise.

When Jesus uses the word love he’s talking about completely unselfish: self-sacrifice for the good of another is the stuff that true love is made of; loving, not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.  Self-sacrificial love is something all Christians are called to practice.  I tell married couples you will have a happy marriage if you practice this sort of Christ-like love for each other.  God designed marriage to be like this.

And the same goes for all Christians.  We will grow in holiness and joy and find authentic fulfillment to the extent that we practice true Christ-like love.  And the rest is just a bunch of noise.

With Christ-like love today may we love God and our neighbor as we should, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 22 - St. Rita of Cascia - Patron of Difficult Marriages

Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow who became a member of a religious community. 

Born at Roccaporena in central Italy in 1377, Rita desired at a young age to become a nun.  However, her parents had promised her in marriage despite her strongly expressed desire to enter religious life.  Their choice proved disastrous: her husband was abusive and unfaithful.  During her 18-year marriage Rita struggled to keep the family together and focused on raising her sons to know God. 

After 18 years of unhappy married life, her husband was killed in a brawl, and a short time later, both sons died as well of natural causes. 

Though deeply pained from this serious of losses, Rita was now free to enter the religious life.  Yet she was rejected three times by the local Augustinian nuns of Cascia who typically only permitted virgins to enter their order. Eventually, she succeeded.

Over the years, her prayerfulness and charity became legendary.  In fact, she meditated often on the passion of Christ, and when she developed a thorn-like wound on her forehead, people quickly associated it with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. 

St. Rita suffered much, yet God brought great goodness and beauty and the sanctification of her soul through her sufferings.  Like St. Jude, she is known as a patron saint of difficult or impossible cases and six hundred years after her death, people still visit her tomb, seeking her prayerful intercession.  She is a also a patron of difficult marriages.

Many of the saints manifest the glory of Christ’s Paschal mystery.  Particularly during the Easter season we focus on the great power of the Paschal Mystery, that God can transform suffering and death into something beautiful.  When Christians are united to Christ in their suffering, they are also united to him in his victory over sin and death.  and God can transform even our  little deaths, our daily sufferings into instruments of his grace.  Through the heavenly intercession of St. Rita may all that we suffer today bear fruit for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 21 - St. Christopher Magallanes and companion martyrs - For the greater glory!

For 150 years, anti-Catholic laws in Mexico made it dangerous to publicly practice the faith.  Churches, schools, and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy and missionaries were expelled.  The government intentionally wanted to weaken the Catholic faith of the people.  Today, we honor 25 martyrs who died between 1915 and 1937.  22 of them were diocesan priests, 3 were laymen. 

Among them was Fr. Christopher Magallanes.  Born in 1869 near Guadalajara.  He worked in the fields before entering the seminary, and following his ordination he worked in his home town organizing catechetical centers and schools in the rural area, helping the poor develop, and encouraging devotion to the rosary.

When the government closed the seminary in Guadalajara, Father Christopher established a clandestine one in his parish.  This was between 1924 and 1928 which was a particularly brutal period of religious oppression which sparked the formation of the Cristero movement, its members pledging their allegiance to Christ and the Church whatever the dangers.  During that period the government made it illegal to be Baptized and for priests to celebrate Mass. 

For Father Christopher, the end came in 1927 when he was arrested and faced the firing squad. His last words to his executioners were "I die innocent, and ask God that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren."

At the canonization of the mexican martyrs in 2000, Saint John Paul II praised them for witnessing their faith and explicitly forgiving their persecutors.  The Pope said, “May the shining example of Christopher Magallanes and his companion martyrs help you to make a renewed commitment of fidelity to God, which can continue to transform society so that justice, fraternity and harmony will prevail among all.”

Many of us have never heard of Saint Christopher Magallanes and his martyred companions: his feast was added to the Roman Missal upon its revision.  Yet they are an example to the whole Church of great courage—that Christians must have courage to keep the faith in times of trial, whether that trial comes from one’s government, one’s family, or daily temptations. 

May St. Christopher Magallanes and his martyr companions help us to have increased courage and faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday of the 5th Week of Easter - To Undergo Hardships

In our reading from Acts, Paul and Barnabas are still engaged in their first missionary journey. And we heard that Paul was stoned by the crowds provoked by the Jews of Antioch and Iconium, stoned nearly to death, and dragged out of the city because they thought he was dead. The next day, he continued his missionary work, beginning a two hundred mile trek to Derbe. If I stub my toe, I am out of commission for at least a week!

After going to Derbe, he goes to Iconium, Lystra, and Antioch. Still bruised from nearly being killed by stoning, Paul strengthens the spirits of the new Christians in those places saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” The bruises on Paul’s body from the stoning must have added to the weight of his words, for he himself was undergoing hardships.

 The spread of the Gospel is not effortless. We do well to think about all that the martyrs suffered that we may receive faith. We do well to think about all the missionaries suffer, the violence and hardship and persecution they endure, that they faith may flourish.

 We do well to think very deeply about all the hardships our fellow Christians suffer for the sake of the kingdom in order that we may be roused out of our complacency. Spreading the Gospel often means going out of our way, doing something out of the ordinary, that the word of Christ may be heard--to go out of our way to perform an act of charity.

In saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God”, Paul echoes so many sayings of our Lord, that we must take up our crosses to follow him, that his way his narrow and difficult. May we be found faithful today to all the Lord asks of us, and willingly embrace hardships for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday of the 5th Week of Easter - "If someone asks you if you are a god..."

Yesterday, I attended the first Mass of Fr. Tim Roth, one of the new priests of the diocese of Cleveland, who has been assigned here at St. Angela as the new parochial vicar.  Fr. Tim did a beautiful job, and it brought back a lot of memories to my own first Mass at my home parish with my family and brother priests.  At the end of Mass, Fr. Tim delivered some special words of gratitude.  He thanked his grade school teachers who planted and nurtured the seed of faith, he thanked his parents for their wonderful example of faith, and then he thanked some priests in particularly whose example inspired him and challenged him throughout his seminary formation.

He then turned to his pastor, Fr. Jack Carlin, and told a funny story from his childhood. Because of the special liturgical role, the priest plays, sometimes children get a little confused.  So Fr. Tim said, "Fr. Carlin, when I was a child, and I saw you in the sanctuary of the Church, I thought you were God.  When you spoke, I thought you were God speaking to us."  Everyone laughed of course. 

In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the pagan greeks confuse Paul and Barnabas for two greek Gods, after all, Paul had performed an amazing miracle, he cured a man crippled from birth.  There was a greek legend that Hermes and Zeus visited that temple in lystra  in disguise once before, and all but an elderly couple recognized them and offered them hospitality; so the greeks didn’t want to make the same mistake; so they began to prepare to offer Paul and Barnabas sacrifices. 

Paul explains that they are not gods, but rather they have come to help the greeks turn away from false idols to the worship of the one true God.  St. Luke tells us that “Even with these words, Paul and Barnabas scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.”

Helping people to turn away from false idols is a primary work of the Church.  Just as it was 2000 years ago, it is a difficult job.  People might initially be confused at the Christian message.  Yet, just because it is hard, and just because people might be confused doesn’t mean we should refrain from spreading the truth of the Gospel

St. Augustine said, 'The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.'  Just preach the truth, don’t worry about how it will be received.  We can trust that the Holy Spirit is preparing hearts to receive the Gospel, but we have to be faithful in proclaiming it.

Inspired by the example of Paul and Barnabas and assisted by their prayers, may we be courageous today in spreading Christian truth for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the 4th Week of Easter - Blending in or Standing Out

In their first of three missionary journeys, Paul and Barnabas traveled over ocean, river, mountain, and bandit ridden lands, to reach this city called Antioch in Pisidia. 

Yesterday we heard how Paul stood up in the synagogue of Antioch and began to preach.  He gave an account of salvation history, beginning with God freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, the establishment of the Davidic kingdom, and how John the Baptist heralded the coming of the Messiah.

Today, Paul continued this exhortation, focusing  on Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.  He explains that Jesus was the innocent lamb who was put to death on a tree and placed in a tomb and raised by God from the dead, and how he appeared to his disciples and made them his witnesses.

Throughout the book of Acts we can read about how the Holy Spirit was challenging Jesus’ disciples to witness in ways they never could have imagined.  Peter, the Galilean fisherman, was thrown in jail for witnessing to Jesus; yet through his efforts he drew thousands and thousands of people to the Lord.  Paul, risks his life over and over again to bring the Gospel throughout the known world.

Their examples show us that the purpose of being a Christian is to witness to the saving events of Jesus Christ with your whole life.  God wants to save souls through the witness of Christians.  As we heard in the Gospel today, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  All Christians are given the great commission to bring others to God through Jesus Christ.

What often hinders us?  Fear of suffering for Him.  Fear of going out of our comfort zones for Him.  

Christians in modern times hide by imitating the pagan culture instead of imitating Christ.  Jesus didn’t die for us that we might blend in by imitating the Pagan culture, but that we might stand out by imitating him.

I love the season of Lent because it is so counter cultural: to fast, to restrain our impulses to indulge every desire, is so counter-cultural.  Just because Lent is over doesn’t mean it’s okay to blend in again.  Easter isn’t about blending in, but standing out with greater courage.

May we be attentive and faithful to those ways God is calling us to witness to Christ today, in our speech, choices, and attitudes for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: St. Isidore the Farmer - Prayer and Generosity

At the beginning of this month on May 1, we celebrated the feast of Saint Joseph the worker.  Today we celebrate the feast of a farm worker.  Not to be confused with Saint Isidore of Seville, this saint was born in Madrid, Spain in 1070 and spent his whole life working as a farm laborer for the same landowner.  He married a girl as poor as holy as himself, and after their one son died in infancy, they lived the rest of their married life in perfect chastity in order to dedicate themselves totally to the service of God.   Both he and his wife St. Maria de la Cabeza became saints. 

The couple practiced great generosity towards the poor despite their limited circumstances.  The poor would often follow Isidore home from the farm, and would enjoy greater portions of food than Isidore and his wife.

Isidore was a man of intense prayer and his life was marked by numerous miracles and supernatural interventions.   He would attend Mass daily, and all day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. 

He was canonized with four very notable Spanish saints in 1662. The group, known as "the five saints", included St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis Xavier, St. Phillip Neri, and St. Isidore. The feast of Saint Isidore is celebrated in the United States with special devotion and he has been named patron of the National Catholic Rural Life conference—that is, he is the patron saint of farmers. 

He is also a model of spirituality for us.  He made his day an offering to God in a simple, but heroic manner.  We should want everything in our day to give glory to God, not just our prayers, but also our humble labors.  As he walked behind the plow and planted seeds in the soil, Isidore offered a simple prayer for someone.  Routine work can be turned into a beautiful prayer to God by saying a prayer with each piece of clothing folded, or each potato peeled, or praying the rosary while driving.

Prayer made his soul more fertile than the soil he worked.  May St. Isidore help us to be led by God in the ways of prayer and generosity towards all for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 14 - St. Matthias, Apostle - Clear Christian Witness

Matthias is mentioned only once in the entire New Testament—that short passage in the Acts of the Apostles describing that resplendent hour when he was chosen as an apostle. 

More than forty days had passed since the unforgettable events of Holy Week.  The eleven were no doubt still astonished by all that took place.  The Lord had risen just as he said he would; the Resurrected Lord had appeared to them multiple times.  He had just Ascended into heaven and promised that the Holy Spirit would descend upon them.

The eleven decided that they had to replace Judas.  So Matthias became the first apostle chosen after the death of the crucified Lord.  One author said, “the dead branch of Judas had to be broken away from the living vine of Christ, that Matthias might be grafted in its place.  What Judas squandered was now entrusted to Matthias; what Judas should have accomplished was now to be completed by Matthias.”  He would be the one, to obey the Lord’s commands and remain in his love.

In a reflection on these events, Pope Benedict wrote: “He was enrolled with the eleven apostles.  We know nothing else about him, if not that he had been a witness to all Jesus’ earthly events, remaining faithful to him to the end.  To the greatness of his fidelity was added the divine call to take the place of Judas, almost compensating for his betrayal” and “we draw from this a final lesson: while there is no lack of unworthy and traitorous Christians in the Church, it is up to each of us to counterbalance the evil done by them with our clear witness to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.” 

To counterbalance scandal and betrayal by clear witness to Jesus. 

In an age, when we have no lack of Christians who have abandoned the commandments, the clear witness of the faithful is needed.  Rather than apathy and listlessness, Jesus commands us to go forth and bear good fruit. 

God has chosen us in this twenty-first century of the Church with all of its challenges to give clear Christian witness.

Through the example and prayerful intercession of the Apostle Matthias, may we also be faithful to this divine call of ours and bear good fruit for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 13 - Our Lady of Fatima - Repent, Do Penance, Pray

Today is the 97^th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady Between May 13 and October 13, 1917 when three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon.  Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia.  Mary also urged an ardent devotion to her Immaculate Heart of Fatima. 

The central message of Fatima is no different from what the Church has always taught and what the Lord himself taught: repent and turn away from sin, do penance, and pray. 

It was on Oct 13 that the great miracle of the sun occurred which Our Lady had pre-announced.  Over 70000 people attested that they were able to look directly at the sun, that it began to dance and spin in the sky and emit various colors, and their clothes, previously drenched because of the rain, were completely dry.

Our Lady spoke of real consequences for ignoring the message of her son; of real consequences for giving in to what she called the sins that cry out to heaven: the violence of war and abortion.

The evils of the world are not because of a lack of grace on God’s part, but a lack of cooperation with that grace on our part.

Many have come to deep conversion through the message of Fatima and its miracles.  Yet there are those who disbelieve and discredit the miracle and the message of Fatima, just as those who discredit and seek to disprove the teachings of Our Lord.

With the help of Our Lady may we be faithful to cooperating with God's grace, and as we prayed in the opening prayer, to persevere in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world, that we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

Homily: Monday of the 4th Week of Easter - Listening to the Shepherd's Voice

Sheep are not the brightest animals.  Yet, over and over the sheep in the scriptures are falling among wolves, falling among brambles and thickets, they are constantly wandering astray or being scattered.
Jesus himself warns that his sheep are constantly being threatened by wolves and thieves that want to steal and slaughter and destroy and scatter them.  False shepherds also threaten to lead the sheep away from the unity of the flock.

Our Lord even says, “behold I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves”.  He intentionally sends us into territory occupied by predators.

It sounds like an impossible task.  Yet, the duty of the shepherd is to stand watch, and guard his sheep.  Even though he sends us out into enemy occupied territory, with all our tendencies to be scattered and be led astray, Christ keeps vigil over us, he labors day and night, through every sort of weather, to protect us.
Today we heard how “Jesus lays down his life for the sheep.”  To rescue us from the teeth of the wolf, He Himself became a victim of the wolves.

Scripture cannot stress enough the importance of the virtue of obedience.  The word obedience come from the latin oboedire, which means to listen, to hear, to incline your ear.  The sheep are only able to obey the shepherd when they listen to him.  And we can only listen to him when we are accustomed to the sound of his voice.

Some portray God as distant and silent.  In fact, sometimes he speaks so clearly, our disobedient ears just don’t want to hear it.

In a culture where the voices of wolves, thieves, and false shepherds are so prevalent, we must all the more accustom our ears to the voice of the shepherd who speaks through the official teaching office of the Church, through the writings and examples of the saints, and in silent moments of prayer.

Will I allow the voice of the good shepherd to penetrate all the other distracting voices today?  Will I open my ears to hear him calling me back if I have strayed?  Will I allow him to strengthen and challenge me to love others more than myself and to obey the Father’s will? For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 4th Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday & Mother's Day

Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.  The people of Israel were familiar with the image of God as Shepherd.  We sung one of our most beloved Old Testament Psalms today, Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me. “

I learned something recently about sheep and shepherding.  Unlike cows and horses, sheep can survive on just about anything.  The shepherds of Israel could lead their flocks of sheep through vast wildernesses, knowing that they could survive even upon scraggly clumps of weeds, scorched brown by the Middle Eastern sun.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.  He is not content to see us barely survive.  He wants us to thrive.  He takes pleasure in plumb, robust sheep, not scrawny and anemic ones.  So the pastures to which he leads us are verdant and lush.  He spreads out a banquet table before us, a true feast.  He doesn't ration our nourishment; instead, the cup he gives us overfloweth. 

The Lord leads us to good pastures because of his great love for us.  He loved us all during His life on earth, all that he did in life and all that he suffered in death and all that he continues to do for us through his Church he does out of his exceeding love us and for our welfare.  The Shepherd’s heart is full of love, affection, and tenderness.  One spiritual writer put it, “No mother is so solicitous, no bride so tender, no loving heart so gentle and yielding, and no title of friendship so well-founded as to equal Him in his love. Before we love Him, He loves us, and even when we foolishly offend Him and neglect Him, He seeks us.  Our blindness and stubbornness can never exceed the gentleness of His sweet mercy.”

Our Catholic heritage is the rich feast the Lord provides for us: Scripture, Sacraments, the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the spiritual masters; the example of the saints, the teachings of the Councils and the Popes, the care and comfort we receive from fellow Christians, and most especially the Feast of Faith which is the Eucharist. 

On this Good Shepherd Sunday we also celebrate Mother’s Day this year.  Good Mothers are a lot like Good Shepherds?  They want us to thrive, and their love for their children is incomparable.  Our mothers remind us to eat our vegetables even when they don’t taste good, take our vitamins, get our exercise. 

A mother also protects her children fiercely from danger.  They warn us not to talk to strangers.

Our Good Shepherd does the same.  Following his voice, he keeps us safe from the voice of strangers and thieves want to steal and slaughter and destroy us.  He’s talking here about the temptations which lead not to eternal life with him in heaven, but eternal ruin.  

I learned something else about sheep and Shepherds recently.  When a disobedient sheep forms a habit of wandering away from the flock, for its own safety, do you know what the shepherd would do?  The shepherd would break the leg of the sheep so it couldn't run off, and carry it on his shoulders while the sheep healed, caring for the sheep and building a bond with the sheep, so the sheep would realize its dependence on the shepherd and love the shepherd and not leave him. It sounds cruel yes, but what is more cruel, letting the sheep go free and be killed in the wild or correcting it and keeping it safe?

Through the teaching of Our Holy Mother the Church Jesus shepherds us.  The Church warns us against the errors and sins of the world, like our own physical mothers warning us against bad decisions.  When we fall into sin or error the Church is there to correct us, just like our physical mothers, at least my mother…

Sometimes the teachings of the Church seem harsh or out-of-date.  But they are for the safety of our souls.

And like a good mother, even, when we ignore her and get hurt, she is always there to welcome us home, to anoint us with the healing balm of mercy.

This Good Shepherd Sunday is also a Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Today we pray in particular for an increase in vocations to priesthood and consecrated religious life. Of course we need faithful moms and dads to help raise their children in the faith, but we also need faithful priests and religious.

One of the ways Jesus shepherds us is through other people.  Priests and consecrated religious are meant to be agents of Jesus shepherding of the Church.  Priests and religious who through their visits to the sick, and their care for the poor, and their preaching and teaching, through their lives of prayer are ways that Jesus shepherds the Church. 

Next week on Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Bishop Lennon, will ordain 5 new priests for the diocese of Cleveland, one of whom, Tim Roth, has been assigned here to St. Angela’s. 

We have so many gifted, intelligent, funny, personable young men and women at St. Angela with so many gifts for service.  And we pray in a special way today that they may incline their ears to the voice of the Shepherd who may calling them to a very special vocation: priesthood or consecrated religious life.

I hope that everyone here today, has in mind one person that they will pray for or encourage to consider a religious vocation.  We need priests to continue the ordained ministry and sacramental life of the Church, we need consecrated religious brothers and sisters to remind us that holiness is possible in the world, and we need families to pray for and promote vocations…vocations come from families.  And to hear from one’s mother or father or aunt or uncle that they are supportive in you pursuing a call to the priesthood or religious life is invaluable. 

May we be obedient members of the Shepherd’s flock, open to the ways in which the Shepherd wants to use us as his instruments, amidst so many evils of the world, instruments filled with joy and his Holy Spirit for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Saturday of the 3rd Week of Easter - To Whom Shall We Go?

This week we've been reading through the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.  This chapter is pivotal in its revelation of the mystery of the Eucharist.

In yesterday’s reading, Jesus flat out declares his presence in the Eucharistic species.  Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you.”

In today’s reading, the disciples remark that Jesus’ words are a “hard saying.”  Yet, Jesus does not soften his words or water down his teaching to make it more palatable to our fallen sensibilities.  He’s asking our trust that surpasses our senses, he’s asking for our trust in Him!  We must profess our Faith even when we do not understand.  Most of the time, “faith proceeds understanding.”  You must first believe that Jesus does have the words of eternal life, before you will understanding those words.

It is interesting to note that the Eucharist was a pivotal point for even Jesus’ earliest disciples.  Those who did not accept this teaching returned to their former way of life.  Does that not continue to happen in our own day? 

It is a sad pattern: first, one begins to make excuses about not coming to Mass.  But when one is removed from the Catholic culture of liturgical worship one’s behaviors then begin to mimic those of the other culture.  Becoming ever more distant to the culture of truth, many fallen away Catholics begin to claim that the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a false teaching, and they begin spouting errors like, “you don’t need to go to Mass in order to be a good Christian.” It is not long before the fallen away Catholic begins to live his life as if God did not exist.

It doesn’t happen like that every time, but it happens like that a lot of the time.

If you know of family, friends, or any one who has fallen away from the faith, who have fallen away from the Church, pray for them, fast for them, talk with them, invite them back to the Sacraments, give them reason to believe in Jesus, to trust in him, to follow him once again.

Jesus’ query of the disciples about staying or leaving also applies to us.  Peter speaks for all of us, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  We have chosen to stay because Jesus gives ultimate meaning to our lives. May our lives witness our faith in him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the 3rd Week of Easter - Ave Verum Corpus

Today’s Gospel is the last in a series of readings from John, Chapter 6, what is called the Bread of Life discourse.  Jesus has talked about how the food he gives is not just physical food, but food that does not perish; how it is the bread of life, and that those who eat this bread will be raised on the last day.

Today Jesus perhaps gives the hardest part of the teaching on the Eucharist, this bread of life is his flesh and his blood; we are to eat of it, if we are to have eternal life with Him.

This shocking statement started a quarrel amongst the disciples; and as a result of their inability to accept this teaching, some of those who had begun to follow Jesus, turned away from him and went back to their former way of life.  Nevertheless, Jesus did not recant or even modify His terminology.

St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that believing that Eucharist is truly the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ is a truly challenging doctrine.  The Eucharist does not look like Christ; thus tests our faith.  But we believe it because this teaching comes from the Lord himself.

There is a short Eucharistic hymn from the 14^th century called Ave Verum Corpus, emphasizing our Catholic belief that the Eucharist is truly Jesus’ flesh and blood.   Mozart has a beautiful rendition of this hymn, which we sometimes sing today when we are daring to sing a latin hymn.  Ave Verum Corpus – Hail true flesh born of the Virgin Mary who having truly suffered, was sacrificed on the cross for mankind, whose pierced side flowed with water and blood: May it be for us a foretaste of the Heavenly banquet in the trial of death.  O sweet Jesus, O Jesus Jesus, Son of Mary, have mercy on me.

This hymn was sung sometimes during the elevation of the host at Mass or at benediction, again to proclaim our belief that in the Catholic Mass bread and wine are truly changed into the flesh and blood of Christ.

Many Catholics leave the faith by first walking away from the table, like those early disciples who walked away when the Lord gave this teaching. 

Saint John Paul II wrote at the turn of the century: “The Eucharistic Bread which we receive is the spotless flesh of Mary: Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine. Sustained by Mary, may the Church discover new enthusiasm for her mission and come to acknowledge ever more fully that the Eucharist is the source and summit of her entire life.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday of the 3rd Week of Easter - Spiritual Hunger

All of this week, our Gospel readings are taken from the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel.  The sixth chapter of John is usually known as the “Bread of Life Discourse” because in it, Jesus speaks of Himself, as we heard today, as the Bread of Life.  In fact, Jesus refers to himself as the ‘Bread of Life’ 11 times. 

St. John Vianney said, “The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it.  Therefore He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls"

In the years leading up to my own ordination as a priest, I realized a deepening desire for the Eucharist.  Occasionally, there would be days where I couldn’t get to daily Mass, and I would feel spiritually famished, something was missing; I’d feel a real emptiness and hunger inside me.  Many of you could probably relate. 

Spiritual hunger is different than physical hunger.  With physical food, the more I eat the less hungry I am.  With the spiritual food that God gives, the more I eat, the more I hunger. 

This is also why 75% of Catholics who do not go to Church are not banging on the doors to receive the Eucharist which they have denied themselves.  With spiritual food, the less you eat, the less you notice the hunger.  

Plenty of false spiritual food from our culture is available every minute of the day; the false spiritual food leaves us unhappy and exhausted.

Saint John Paul II wrote in one of his last letters to the Church: “God has placed in human hearts a “hunger” which will be satisfied only by full union with him. Eucharistic communion was given so that we might be “sated” with God here on earth, in expectation of our complete fulfillment in heaven.

No philosophy or scientific discovery or piece of technology  or earthy pursuit can satisfy our spiritual cravings.  No amount of money, success, fame, or power.  Only Jesus can fully satisfy.

When Jesus is fully embraced we discover he fills all emptiness and satisfies forever.  For the glory of God and salvation of souls!

Homily: Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Easter - Stephen's Martyrdom

Yesterday, in our reading from the book of Acts we heard how Stephen, an ordained deacon of the Church, had been working miracles in the name of Jesus, and how he had, like Jesus, been arrested, and brought to trial where false witnesses accused him of blasphemy.

Today we hear how Stephen gives a sort of prophetic indictment against his accusers, who then stone him to death.  Again, notice the parallels between Stephen’s death and Jesus’.

Stephen, before he dies cries out “receive my Spirit”, as did Jesus, and prays for their forgiveness, as did Jesus.

St. Luke emphasizes these parallels to show that the work of the Holy Spirit sent upon the Church at Pentecost is to reproduce in Christians the life of Jesus—to conform us more and more closely to Christ both in life and death.

Stephen, like Jesus, met hatred and lethal violence with understanding, love, and forgiveness.  He stands up for the Christian faith, and also puts into practice Jesus’ command to forgive our enemies.  In the face of death, Stephen’s eyes are set on heaven, upon the eternal reality, granting him strength, courage, and peace.

Stephen models for us Jesus’ own surrender—showing us that all of us are to surrender our lives to the Father.  The more we practice surrendering our daily cares to God our loving Father, the easier it will be to commend our spirit to him at death.

St. Luke tells us, those who listened to his words were stung to the heart, may Stephen’s words and example sting us out of complacency to a greater surrender to God in all things for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday of the 3rd Week of Easter - Stephen and Jesus

Today’s first reading sees the arrest of St Stephen for proclaiming the message of Christ and the Gospel.  In fact, St. Luke reports many similarities between Stephen’s arrest, trial, and martyrdom, and Jesus’ own arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

First we heard how Stephen was filled with grand and power and working great wonders and signs.  St. Luke records this point to emphasize that the pattern of Jesus’ life is reproduced in his disciples. Just as Jesus performed miracles, so we read in the book of Acts how many disciples, especially the Apostles perform miracles for the building up of the Church.

Secondly, just as Jesus’ teachings could not be refuted, Stephen, when debating members of the synagogue, could not be refuted: “they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.”  When we are preaching the Gospel, we can trust that we will be given wisdom that our adversaries are powerless to resist or refute.

Thirdly, when the Jews of the Synagogue become frustrated in arguing with Stephen, they resort to false witnesses, just as occurred in Jesus’ trial.

The powerful witness of the newly ordained deacon Stephen reminds us that successes in Christian ministry, especially in defending the faith against outsider’s attacks, can lead to persecution.  Yet, the Spirit fills us, like Stephen, with grace and power and wisdom and courage, to witness to the truth of the Gospel.

Stephen closely imitated our Lord in proclaiming the Gospel and being rejected and suffering for the prophetic ministry.  Both the teachings of Jesus and the example of Stephen, the first witness to die for him, remind us that with power and wisdom, the Spirit also brings us the courage to endure persecution gracefully in imitation of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.  

Homily: 3rd Sunday of Easter - Lessons on the road to Emmaus

These Sundays after easter, the six Sundays between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday are joyful ones, as we continue to celebrate the glory of that first Easter Sunday.

And throughout the Easter Season we read in Scripture accounts of the appearances of Jesus to the disciples after his Resurrection, and we have one of the most renowned of the post-Resurrection accounts today: his appearance to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. 

It was the first Easter Sunday, late afternoon; two of the disciples were walking away from Jerusalem, pretty down in the dumps, for it appeared that Jesus had been defeated, all their hopes in Jesus had been crushed.  Jesus had died terribly on the cross and had been buried. 

So, they were walking to Emmaus, trying to get away from the bad news, when Jesus himself appeared to them and began to walk with them.

There have been volumes written about this story; I will focus on three points.

Firstly, St. Luke tells us that these two friends of Jesus did NOT recognize him, initially.  Jesus was no doubt the last person they expected; they had witnessed his crucifixion, they knew his body had been entombed.  You can imagine how so absorbed in the apparent defeat, so wrapped up in recounting the bad news, that 

Jesus rising and appearing to them and walking along with them didn’t seem in the realm of possibility. 

They were so wrapped up in the bad news of the past few days, that the good news seemed neither possible nor relevant.  I’d propose that the same temptation exists for us: to become so focused on or overwhelmed by bad news, by our own worries sorrows, that the good news seems neither possible nor relevant. 

Perhaps when faced by a particularly painful circumstance of life to ask, “God, where are you?”  Maybe to wonder if God has abandoned me, or even tempted to believe, when confronted with such evil in the world to doubt if He ever existed in the first place.  To allow the bad news of the world to overwhelm so much that our eyes are prevented from seeing Jesus Christ walking next to me, is a real danger for any Christian.

Secondly, not only did the disciples lose sight of Jesus, but they started to believe erroneous things about him.  The two disciples concluded that because of the cross Jesus was not divine, he was not God.

They had pinned their hopes on him. “We were hoping he would be the one to save us” they said, “but he was crucified.”  They had believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.   But when because of the cross, and death, and burial, their faith in Jesus as Messiah was shaken.

Then Jesus spoke to them, “How foolish you are being.  Did you not know that God has told us through the prophets that the Christ would have to suffer?” 

This is one of the arguments that Muslims often pose to disprove Christianity; if Jesus was God then he wouldn’t have died because God can’t die.  Christians answer that argument by stating; we believe that That God so loved us that he become like us to suffer for us and really died for us.  Jesus shows us the depths of God’s love for us by taking upon him the sins of the world for us and nailing them to the cross.

We heard this argument during the reading of the Lord’s Passion during Holy Week.  Matthew’s Gospel tells us that while hanging on the cross, the chief priests made the same argument, they said, “if you are really the Son of God, come down from the cross, save yourself.”  Yet, God became man not to save us from the cross, but to save us through the cross. 

Again sometimes we are tempted: whenever the cross enters our life, and does it ever unfailingly, our presumption is that God cannot be there.  Yet, Christian faith is God is precicely on the cross with us,  that as we suffer our crosses we can know, and sense, and experience God’s closeness; we can know his Divine Presence.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you always.  God can be discovered even in terrible agony.

A final lesson: when was it that those two disciples on the road to Emmaus finally woke up and realized Jesus was with them? “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”  They recognized this stranger as Jesus, they recognized him as the Son of God, in the breaking of bread.

He performed those actions once before at the Last Supper, he took bread, blessed it, and gave it to them.  Now again, they recognized Jesus in the celebration of the Eucharist.

In just a few minutes you’ll hear those words again in the Eucharistic prayer, as Jesus becomes present to us here. 

Just as he was truly with at the Last Supper, truly present on the cross, truly present on the road to Emmaus, he becomes truly present here at Mass, so recognize Him once again in the breaking of the bread.

Last week, the Church rejoiced at the canonization of Saint John Paul II.  One of the last letters Pope John Paul II wrote to the Church was called, “Mane Nobiscum Domine” the latin for, “stay with us Lord” the words spoken by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

The disciples urged him, “Stay with us,” Mane Nobiscum Domine, stay with us Lord.” And he went in and he gave them the Eucharist.  That prayer, “stay with us Lord” Saint John Paul teaches us, is answered in the Holy Eucharist.

Christians who have an authentic encounter with Jesus desire that the Lord remain with us.

This is why it is so important for Christians to come to Mass weekly.  When Catholics stop going to Mass they lose sight of God.  Their faith suffers.  And so many other activities and distractions which are not life giving fill in the gaps.

In an article for the Universe Bulletin, Bishop Lennon wrote, where our life is centered on a false God of prosperity, prestige, or mere pursuit of the good life—one will likely reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.  But, the person and family, who places Christ at the center of life, including God in  their weekly schedules and activities, meals, chores, conversations, parenting, work, vacations, civic responsibilities, decisions, problems, crises, accomplishments, losses—the whole of their lives become changed and charged with God’s presence.

Saint John Paul said, “the Eucharist is a mystery of light.”  When we come here to Mass, light is shed upon our lives; our lives become filled with his light.  It is here that we receive the light to see that God is with us in our darkest hours, to see how to love each other as God loves us.

Upon recognizing the Lord,  the disciple of Emmaus “set out immediately”, in order to report what they had seen and heard.  May we go forth from this Mass with greater urgency and faith to proclaim the Good News and imbue our society with Christian values for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 2 - St. Athanasius - Commitment to Truth

Catholics are often called upon by God to make a courageous stand in defense of truth while facing the world’s opposition.  St. Athanasius was one of the great defenders of truth in the Church’s history. 

In the 4^th century, Alexandria, Egypt was a major center of Christian activity and thinking.  Around the year 323 a priest named Arius began to teach what is now known as the Arian heresy, that “Jesus, though more than man, was not eternal God, that he was created in time by the Eternal Father, and could therefore be described only figuratively as the Son of God”.  Though this heresy was quickly condemned by the patriarch of Alexandria  and by the Council of Nicaea in 325, Arianism spread like wildfire. 

In 326 Athanasius was made bishop of Alexandria.  As he stridently defended the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity, he faced opposition from emperors, magistrates, and many intellectuals of his day.

As he often seemed to stand alone in his position, his contemporaries said of him, “Athanasius contra mundi”, or “Athanasius against the world.”

Bishop Athanasius was exiled from his diocese by Arian heretics five times—spending 17 years of his life in exile.  Yet, from exile, he continued to write against the heresy and teach the true faith.  He is known in Church history as the hammer of heretics.

There are times when it seems we are standing alone in preaching the Catholic faith.  But we are never truly alone; when we stand up for truth, we are always in communion with the great fathers of the Church, with the Apostles, and the Lord Himself, who called himself Truth.

Commitment to Christ means commitment to Truth.  In an age of cultural relativism and moral error, our world needs the truth of Christ preached clearly, consistently, and courageously.  May we like the great Saint Athanasius, have the fortitude and perseverance to defend the true faith without counting the cost for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: May 1 - St. Joseph the Worker

The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker was instituted in 1955 by Pope Pius XII to be celebrated on May 1 as a sort of alternative to the Communist May Day marches.   The Church wanted to proclaim that Human Labor is transformed into a very good and holy thing, when it is offered to God.

St. Joseph has two feast days on the liturgical calendar. The first is March 19—Joseph, the Husband of Mary. The second is May 1—Joseph, the Worker

Pius XII raised up for us the wonderful example of Saint Joseph, who offers himself totally to God, to remind the world that human labor is not just about building a communist utopia, or making a name for ourselves.  Our labor is to respect God, reflect God, and always be at the service of God.

The Psalmist says, “Unless God is the builder, our building is in vain.”  Saint Paul says, “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.
The communists proclaimed the State to be the end which all human efforts should support.  For the atheist communist, eternity does not factor into the equation.  When we take God’s eternal plan out of the equation, in whatever we do, we turn our labor into an idol.

Human work, as we know too well, can become an idol, or a means to support idol worship.  In an article for the Universe Bulletin, Bishop Lennon wrote, where our life is centered on a false God of prosperity, prestige, or mere pursuit of the good life—one will likely reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.  But, the person and family of faith, who places Christ at the center of life, including their weekly schedules and activities, meals, chores, conversations, parenting, work, vacations, civic responsibilities, decisions, problems, crises, accomplishments, losses—the whole of their lives become changed and charged with God’s presence.

Saint Joseph is a tremendous example for each of us: he put Christ at the center of his life, he served God in all his endeavors, he labored for the good of his family.  He is a reminder for all laborers to keep God as part of your work, and in doing so we become cooperators with God.  God brings about great goodness when we unite our labors with His.

May St. Joseph whose labors continue to touch us 2000 years later, help all workers and all of us to keep Christ at the center of our lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.