Homily: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - "It is right and just"

With school about to start, I was thinking recently about my own school days.  Particularly, how from kindergarten to high school graduation we began each school day, as did children across our nation, with the “Pledge of Allegiance”.  We pledged allegiance to the flag, to the republic, and to the ideals of liberty and justice for all. 

The prophet Isaiah speaks of Justice to the Jews in our first reading saying, “Observe what is right, do what is just."

Justice is one of the most important principles for any society.  By justice we live in right relation to each other.  Justice demands that the rights of individuals be protected and defended; it demands that we treat each other honestly, that we are governed honestly.  Justice keeps the strong and powerful from trampling upon the helpless and lowly, it safeguards us from the abuses of power by those in authority.

Institutions, like businesses and governments become corrupt precisely when the precepts of justice are ignored, when people take more than their fair share, when they abuse their power, they act unjustly.  We have a justice system precisely to safeguard us from injustice, to distribute just punishments for crimes as well as settling debts. 

Children owe respect and obedience to their parents.  Parents owe food, shelter, clothing, education, and discipline to their children.  Spouses owe to each other love, fidelity, patience, and forgiveness.  We owe to our fellow man common courtesy and patience.  A parish priest owes to the Church providing for the spiritual needs of his parishioners, preaching the Gospel in its entirety, praying daily for the needs of the Church, celebrating Mass and other liturgy according to the rubrics, providing parents with the tools necessary to raise their children in the faith, making the Sacraments readily available.  This is what we owe to each other whether it’s convenient or not.

When French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville visited our country in 1831 he became so impressed with how Americans treated each other, by the way we upheld Justice, how justice flowed from the practice of our faith that he went home and wrote his famous book, “Democracy in America”. 

He wrote, “there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.”  Though the many Christian denominations differed in the way we worshiped God, our moral unity, as a nation, became the source of our country’s greatness. 

Though government is absolutely excluded in determining matters of religion, the religious morality of the American people is meant to shape and determine how our nation is governed.  In fact, the founding Fathers insisted that public officials should NOT be chosen if they were lacking in virtue and failed to demonstrate wisdom.  Samuel Adams would often quote Proverbs 29 verse 2 which says: when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn.”

That many of our public officials could not even quote the 10 commandments let alone show proof that they live by them, should cause us great alarm.

“Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come,” Isaiah reminded the Jews.  The road to salvation involves living justly.  Justice includes what we owe to each other, but also what we owe to God. Our Lord himself tells us, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God, what belongs to God’s.”

What does belong to God?  What do we owe God?  Well, everything of course.  Psalm 116 says “how can I make a return for the goodness of God.”  He gave us the gift of life; every breath we take is a gift from God.  How can we possibly pay him back for that?  He gave us parents and caretakers to provide for us, to feed us, to clothe us, and protect us when we couldn’t do those things for ourselves.  How can we make recompense to God for that?

Well, as finite creature, justice demands that we must give back to God what we are able to. 

One writer stated, a just man is foremost a grateful man.  He realizes that the good things he has are gifts.  So we owe God our gratitude for the blessings we’ve received from him.  Even the celebration of Mass recognizes this.  At every Mass, the priest says, “let us give thanks to the Lord Our God,” and the people respond, “it is right and just.”  It is right and just, our duty, and our salvation, always and everywhere to give God thanks.

The word Eucharist comes from the greek new testament word meaning thanksgiving.  First and foremost at every Mass we give God Eucharistic Thanksgiving for the gift of our salvation, we give God thanks for the blessing of life, and the blessings which fill our lives.

What else do we owe God?  We owe him our daily prayers.  Because it is right and just that we give God adoration simply for being the God of the universe and Creator of all things and the redeemer of our souls.  Praying daily as a matter of justice.

What else do we owe God?  Because he is the giver of every gift, it is right and just that we make requests to Him for the things only he can grant.  There are gifts that God wishes to give us which can only be received through our prayers.  He’s waiting for us simply to acknowledge that they come from Him.  And so it is right and just for us to pray for them. 

Like the Canaanite woman in the Gospel today, we need to persevere and persevere in our requests to the Lord, because it is also right and just that at times our faith be tested.

What else do we owe God?  Because he is right and just, and the source of rightness and justice, we owe him obedience to his commandments.  We owe him faithfulness.  And when we’ve wronged, when we’ve disobeyed his commands, when we’ve sinned, it is right and just to give God our sorrow, we owe him our repentance.  If we commit a mortal sin, it is right and just for us to go confession before we can receive Holy Communion again.

We attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, we abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we contribute financially to the works of the Church, because it is right and just to keep the precepts of the Church which he established. Again, whether it’s convenient or not. 

This week we celebrated a Holy Day of Obligation, and I must be honest it’s often worrisome for us priests when we see Holy Day attendance and Sunday attendance starting to decrease, not so much because  the offertory also decreases.  But we start to wonder and worry, what is going on in the hearts and minds of our people, when they no longer believe it’s important to go to Mass.

That there were less than 15 15 to 35 years olds who attended Mass on the Holy Day of Obligation this week, is deeply troubling.  We priests begin to wonder, have we as priests committed the injustice of failing to pass on the faith?  Have we failed to help parents raise their children in faith?

In the saints, we see men and woman, who not only satisfy the bare minimums of justice, but truly go beyond justice to heroic acts of charity.  On Thursday, the Church celebrated the feast of the priest, Father Maximillian Kolbe.  In 1939, the Nazis bombed and invaded the polish town in which Father Kolbe was stationed.  He was arrested and transported to the Nazi concentration camp at Aushwitz.  One day, several prisoners managed to escape their unjust imprisonment.  But in retaliation 10 people were sentenced to die.  When a married Jewish man with a family was among them, Fr. Kolbe asked to take his place.  He was starved for 10 days then given a lethal injection.

We like the Saints, are not called to give God the bare minimum of what is right and just because really there is no bare minimum.  Our whole lives are meant to be poured out in service to God who has given us everything. Father Kolbe’s sacrifice was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism.  His priesthood, his life of prayer and generosity prepared him for that act of heroic love, laying down his life for another.

In a few moments, we will utter those words, “it is right and just”.  May our lives become right and just in the eyes of God through the celebration of these sacred mysteries  for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Assumption 2014 - Mary and the Devil

In the first pages of the book of Genesis we read of the temptation and fall of our first parents—their original sin—the first time that human beings rebelled against the will of God.  The devil, was successful in convincing Eve that her happiness was found not in obeying God, but in disobeying Him. 

What history would have looked like had our first parents not sinned and lost paradise, we can only imagine.  But, from the beginning we see the powers of darkness working to oppose the plans of God—a great battle between the powers of sin and the power of grace continuing to our own day until the end of time.

As a result of their sin, death and suffering and toil entered the world, yet immediately following the fall, God announced a message of hope, what theologians call the Protogospel, the first announcement that man will be redeemed.  God says in Genesis: “I will put enmity between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers.  He will crush your head while you will strike at his heel”

Yes, the children of Eve will be cursed by the perpetual harassment of the devil and his minions; the enemy continues to tempt us to rebel against God just as he rebelled, just as he led our first parents to rebel.  But, in the end, the enemy will be crushed by the offspring of the woman.  

Saint John Paul II wrote about the ProtoGospel of Genesis in an encyclical called Redemptoris Mater, the Mother of the Redeemer.  He wrote, “In the salvific design of the Most Holy Trinity, the mystery of the Incarnation constitutes the superabundant fulfillment of the promise made by God to man after original sin, after that first sin whose effects oppress the whole earthly history of man. And so, there comes into the world a Son, ‘the seed of the woman’ who will crush the evil of sin in its very origins: ‘he will crush the head of the serpent.’ As we see from the words of the Protogospel, the victory of the woman's Son will not take place without a hard struggle, a struggle that is to extend through the whole of human history. The ‘enmity,’ foretold at the beginning, is confirmed in the Apocalypse, the book of the final events of the Church and the world.  

Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word, is placed at the very center of that enmity, that struggle which accompanies the history of humanity on earth and the history of salvation itself.  In this history Mary remains a sign of sure hope”

At the end of her earthly life, Mary’s body was taken directly into heaven.   Earthly remains are normally buried—earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Yet Mary, her body and soul, unstained by sin, was assumed, taken into, brought into the heavenly realm by God.  Where she has gone, we too hope to go.  The Assumption is like the light at the end of a dark tunnel, or a lighthouse guiding into safe harbor.  That’s why the pope calls Mary a sign of sure hope. 

The feast we celebrate today, the assumption of the Blessed Virgin is infuriating to the devil.  It is proof that the enemy has lost.  Death and corruption don’t get the final say.  Sin doesn’t get the final say.  Jesus Christ’s victory shines and radiates in the blessed Virgin Mary.

Satan, on account of pride, was cast out from heaven, and Mary, a creature, on account of her humble submission to God in all things is brought body and soul to heaven.

St. Louis Marie de Montfort:   “What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility.  What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience.  By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary, by her perfect fidelity to God, saved her children with herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty."

Where Mary at Cana told us, “do whatever he tells you”.  The enemy continues to speak to our hearts, “do whatever you want”. Mary stood faithful at the foot of the cross, the enemy tells us that the cross is too hard for us, and to run away from it.  Mary shows us the importance of prayer, the enemy tells us that prayer is a waste of time.  Mary rejoices in her lowliness, the enemy tells us we can’t be happy unless we are in charge and get our own way.

She continues to pray for us from her place in heaven.  She is our most powerful intercessor to whom we can turn in any difficulty.  She prays to expose the tactics of the enemy in corrupting our souls, and prays to obtain the grace that we can be faithful in times of temptation. 

Vibrant Marian devotion is part of vibrant Christian discipleship and brings us great protection from evil and assistance in performing the works of charity.  The praying of the rosary, the angelus, the memorare, wearing of the scapular and marian medals, beginning and ending the day with prayers to Mary, showing our love for Mary deepens our love for Jesus Christ. 

And like St. John Paul II said, she is at the center of the spiritual battle.

Again to quote St. Louis Marie de Montfort: “Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother.  From the time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself.  This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin's since her attributes are limited.  It simply means that Satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God.”

In the darkness and storms of life, in the spiritual battle to remain faithful to God against the hosts of temptation, Mary’s example and prayers will never fail to show us the way to follow Christ.  May her prays set our hearts aflame with the fire of love for Christ and his Church for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time - Childlike or childish

In his teaching about the Kingdom of God, besides his employment of a lot of agricultural imagery, Jesus often used the image of the child. 

Children are eager, energetic, and ready to learn and grow.  So should we be.  Eager to please the Lord by our conduct.  Energetic in our charity and generosity towards others.  And always ready to learn about our faith and grow in holiness.

Children are dependent on their parents for life, security, and education.  And so are all of us upon God.

And Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” 

Childlike humility is characterized by its deep trust.  Imagine the child gazing into the eyes of their parents in wonderment, listening to every word they are saying and believing it, taking it into their heart.  That is supposed to be every Christians attitude toward God—straining our ears wanting to hear him, wanting to sit in his lap, lay our heads on his chest.

Being childlike however does not mean being childish. Childishness is childlike humility gone sour. 

Childishness is the pouting and throwing temper tantrums when you don’t get your way.  It’s the irresponsibility and behaving as if the world revolves around you.  It’s the petty demands and selfish complaints.  

When someone is being childish, you get that feeling that this is not how human beings are supposed to act; it’s ugly behavior, and that’s true if the person is 5, 25, or 85. 

St. Paul in 1^st Corinthians wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 

We put away the childish things by always keeping God at the center of our life, by being more concerned for our neighbor than we are for ourselves,  by practicing sacrifice for the good of others.

May the Holy Spirit continue to teach us and shape us, that we may have the dignity of being called children of God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: August 11 - St. Clare - Not a Disney Princess

On the feast of Corpus Christi this year, I told the story about how St. Clare, already a professed religious for 30 years, turned away a barbarian army from sacking the town of Assisi.  As the army approached, she prostrated herself before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and prayed for the protection of Assisi.  She heard the voice of Jesus assuring her from the monstrance, “I will always have you in my care.”  Clare, took the monstrance in her hands and raised it in front of the approaching army, and at its sight, the attacking army was filled with fear and fled the town.

This is why statues and religious art depict St. Clare holding the monstrance, as does the statue near my confessional, and the stained glass window in the choir loft.

There is another story of her great love and devotion to the Eucharist.  Toward the end of her life, when she was too ill to attend Mass, the Holy Spirit would project the Holy Mass on the wall of her room so that she could watch it from her bed.  This is why this saint from the 1200s was named the patron saint of television.  And it’s not a mere coincidence that a poor clare nun, Mother Angelica founded the first worldwide Catholic Television network, EWTN. 

The reading from the letter to the Philippians is so fitting.  Paul speaks of “forgetting what lies behind” and “straining forward to what lies ahead.”  St. Clare was born in a family with great wealth.  She could have married a very wealthy suitor and lived in luxury and comfort her whole life.  But this beautiful woman chose to follow the Lord in poverty, chastity, and obedience as a cloistered nun.  She gave up everything to follow Jesus and she became a saint.

In fact, in that first group of women joining saint clare in the monastery, were women who were eligible to marry dukes and kings.  But they followed Clare’s example to follow the poor Christ.  Agnes, princess of Bohemia broke off her royal engagement  to the emperor Frederick II to join Clare’s monastery in Prague.

The idea of entering a monastery in order to pursue a life of prayer and joyful communion with the Lord is quite foreign to many today.  Our modern culture infects our young girls with a lie that they cannot be happy unless they, like a Disney princess, marry prince charming and lives in a castle filled with all the luxuries money can buy. 

In Clare, that lie is untwisted.  She did marry a king, but a poor king, who suffered and died for her.  She reminds all of us that the greatest happiness in this life and the life to come is found in deep, intimate communion with Jesus Christ. 

Here are the words Clare wrote to princess Agnes: “I am filled with joy and gladness, for though you could have enjoyed the magnificence, and dignity, and honor of the world, you have rejected all these things.  Keep in your heart the burning desire to unite yourself to the poor and crucified Christ.  What a wonderful and praiseworthy exchange!  To leave the things of time, for those of eternity, to possess a blessed eternal life.”

Through the example and intercession of St. Clare may we too leave the things of time, for those of eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Going up the mountain to pray

Having just finished a very long day teaching the crowds, healing the sick, and performing the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, as the sun set, Jesus climbed a mountain in order to pray in solitude, and he didn’t emerge until about 3 o’clock in the morning, about six hours later.

Scripture tells us that Jesus frequently went off alone to pray.  You can be sure that his daily prayers consisted of much more than rattling of an “Our Father” and “Hail mary”, so it must be for us. 

This week we celebrated the feasts of two great Saints: Monday was the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests; Friday was the feast of St. Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans.  Both were men of great prayer. 

When John Vianney was assigned to the small parish of Ars, the center of activity of the town was not the parish Church, but the four taverns.  The people of Ars were given to excessive drinking and rowdiness; they had become weak and indifferent towards their religious practices.  This was all pretty typical for a town in the wake of the French Revolution, and pretty typical now in America following our nation’s own cultural revolutions and rejections of Christianity.

Prayer was at the heart of Father Vianney’s mission to gather his sheep back into the fold.  He would wake up early and go to the blessed Sacrament to pray for their conversion.  He would visit homes and businesses and hand out rosaries.  He offered 6am weekday catechism lessons before the people went off to work, teaching them how to pray.

It took 8 years of much fasting and praying and laboring before there was a real transformation of faith in this little town.  There is the great story of the blossoming faith in John Vianney’s parish, and also teaches us something a little about prayer.  An old farmer began coming into the Church to pray in front of the tabernacle.  Day after day, week after week he would come.  John Vianney asked him, what do you do when you come here?  The old farmer said, “I do not know many prayers, I simply look at the good God, and he looks at me.” 

Prayer consists of not merely the multiplication of words, but turning one’s heart and the gaze of one’s mind to God who is love.  We need this type of prayer daily, where we go to a quiet place, the blessed sacrament chapel or a quiet room in our house, and become quiet in God’s presence where we allow him to speak to our hearts.

In the first reading we heard how the voice of God was not in the earthquake, it was not in the fire, it was not in the wind, it was a tiny whispering sound.  Perhaps we cannot hear God speaking to us because we have failed to become quiet enough to hear Him.  He wants to speak quiet words to our hearts which help us to fall in love with Him; but if we have the television going, the iphones going, the video games going all the time, then we will not hear him.  When we fail to pray as we ought, we fail to love God as we ought.

John Vianney wrote, “When we pray with attention and humility of mind and heart, we quit the earth and rise to Heaven.  We reach the outstretched arms of God.  We talk with the Angels and the Saints.”

St. John Vianney would encourage the people of his parish, the farmers, the laborers, the young, the elderly to attend daily Mass.  He said, “when you think of going to Mass on working days, it is an impulse of the grace that God wills to grant you.  Follow it.”  He knew that the Eucharist was the key to bringing powerful renewal to his parish.  This is why in our own day we priests are making an urgent appeal to you to reach out to the fallen away Catholics and to invite them back to Mass. 

When we receive Holy Communion and adore the Host at Holy Mass, when we kneel before the tabernacle or the monstrance, we are like Peter in the Gospel, fixing our gaze on Christ the Lord.  When we do that, we walk on water, we experience a little bit of heaven here on earth.  We know that Peter got in trouble when he took his gaze of Christ, and began to focus not on Christ, but on his own fear.  So we come to Mass weekly, and pray daily, in order to keep our gaze fixed on Christ.

If our mission as Catholics is to be spreading the love of God, we must be in love with God, and that happens in prayer; particularly at Mass and praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Though the reformers of the French Revolution tried to destroy Christianity in France, St. John Vianney helped to bring a new blossoming of faith. 

About six hundred years before the anti-Catholic, anti-Clerical French Revolution, a new heresy called the Albigensian heresy began to sweep through the land; the heresy led to a weakening of people’s faith and falling away from true religion.   The young Spanish priest, Father Dominic Guzman had been traveling with his bishop on diplomatic missions throughout Europe, and saw the great damage this heresy was doing.  With the blessing of the Pope, Father Dominic began a religious order, the Order of Preachers, known today as the Dominicans, for the preaching of the true faith throughout Europe, to bring the fallen away back to the truth of the Gospel.

Dominic prayed and fasted fervently for the defeat of this Albigensian heresy.  One day, as he knelt in prayer for the conversion of the Albigensians, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him.  “Dear Dominic, do you know what weapon the Most Holy Trinity wants to use to reform the world?” Our Lady asked him.

St Dominic replied: “O my Lady, you know it much better than I do, because, next to your Son Jesus Christ, you have always been the instrument of our salvation.”

Our Lady continued: “ I want you to know that in this kind of warfare the ‘battering ram’ will be the “Angelic Psalter.”  So, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them to God, preach my Psalter!”  Of course the Angelic Psalter to which she referred is the Rosary. 

Our Lady herself called the rosary a ‘battering ram’.  Of course a battering ram is a large beam, handled by many people, used to knock down the gate of a castle.  It only works with the repetitions of blows on the wall.  In the spiritual warfare of conquering error and heresy, the Rosary is the battering Ram.  It takes many faithful Catholics, praying all those Hail Marys to knock down the gates of hell.  And…the weapon, the rosary, worked…after all, have you met any albigensians lately?

When we hear of all the great darkness in the world today: diseases, war, the persecution of our brother and sister Christians in the middle east, we are meant to do so much more than wring our hands in worry or simply go back to playing “Angry Birds” on our iPhones.  At Fatima, Mary urged Catholics to pray the rosary to obtain peace in the world.  This last May, Pope Francis urged Catholics around the world to pray the rosary.

When we pray the Rosary, when we come to Mass weekly or even daily, we keep our gaze fixed on Christ, we allow him to speak to our hearts amidst all of the distractions in the world.  Through our dedication to prayer, may we receive all of the grace and strength and purification we need to do the work God has for us for the building up of the Church for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: August 8 - St. Dominic & the Holy Rosary

In 1214, Our Lady appeared to Dominic as he was undergoing penance and prayer for the conversion of the Albigensians heretics.   “Dear Dominic, do you know what weapon the Most Holy Trinity wants to use to reform the world?” Our Lady asked him.

St Dominic replied: “O my Lady, you know it much better than I do, because, next to your Son Jesus Christ, you have always been the instrument of our salvation.”

Our Lady continued: “ I want you to know that in this kind of warfare the ‘battering ram’ will be the “Angelic Psalter.”  So, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them to God, preach my Psalter!”  Of course the Angelic Psalter to which she referred is the Rosary. 

Dominic and His Order of Preachers spread devotion to the Holy Rosary throughout those areas of Europe afflicted with error and ignorance of Christ.

Our Lady herself called the rosary a ‘battering ram’.  Of course a battering ram is a large beam, handled by many people, used to knock down the gate of a castle.  It only works with the repetitions of blows on the wall.  In the spiritual warfare of conquering error and heresy, the Rosary is the battering Ram.  It takes many faithful Catholics, praying all those Hail Marys to knock down the gates of hell.

To this day, the Dominicans wear at their side the beads of the Rosary and pray it every day.  Pope Benedict called the Rosary a true school of faith and piety, rich in gospel values and so dear to the Christian people.  When we contemplate the mysteries of the rosary we ask God to place in our hearts the humility and trust of mary, the courage of our Lord undergoing his Passion, the joy of the angels at the glorious events in the lives of Christ and his Mother, and to fill us with the light of the Gospel.

There is a story that while his mother was pregnant with Dominic, she dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb and began to set the world on fire.  Dominic, surely did set the world of his day on fire.  The rosary is prayed in every corner of the earth. 

Our Lady’s weapon against the heresy of the day was effective.  After all, have you met any Albigensians lately? 

And if the Rosary was effective in forming Christian disciples and bringing down the gates of hell in Dominic’s day, surely it can be effective in our own. 

May we, like St. Dominic, share the fruits of our prayer in love and set the world on fire with the truth of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: August 4 - St. John Vianney - "wonderful in pastoral zeal"

When St. John Vianney arrived in the small village in Ars as their new priest, it was just like other villages in France in the wake of the French Revolution, that is, there was the loss of faith.  The local taverns seemed to be the center of the life of the village.The people were given over to worldliness and pleasure seeking; they were weak and indifferent to the faith and the things of religion. 

He ventured out to gather in his scattered sheep: he visited families, got to know them, got to know their moral situation; above all, he prayed:  he was seen to wake up early and go to the blessed sacrament to beg conversion for his parishioners. 

Two prayers the bulwark of John Vianney’s prayer life, the Divine Office and the Holy Rosary.  He could be seen going from home to home praying his office as he traveled, and also the rosary, asking Our Lady for that grace of conversion.  He would also hand out rosaries to encourage that devotion among his parishioners.

After 8 years, there was a transformation in the village of Ars.  What was at first a place of lukewarmness with respect to the faith became fervent.  There was regular attendance at Mass and Catechism lessons.

As we prayed at the beginning of Mass: Almighty and merciful God , who made the Priest Saint John Vianney wonderful in his pastoral zeal, grant, we pray, that through his intercession and example we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ and attain with them eternal glory.

St. John Vianney is the patron of priests, a shining example and a challenging example for us.  The job description for the priest is pretty simple if you think about it—to save and sanctify souls.  And we priests must always look to the example of Our Lord and our patron saint to never neglect prayer in our efforts to save and sanctify souls.

He is also an example for all faithful Christians. There will always be an excuse to neglect prayer, there will always be an excuse not to evangelize and talk to our fallen away family and friends about Christ.  We too can so easily fall into that worldliness, if we do not go daily to that silent place to spend time with the Lord. 

St. John Vianney said: ”My dear brethren, not only is prayer very efficacious, but, even more, it is of the utmost necessity for overcoming the enemies of salvation.”  The enemies and obstacles to salvation in our day are great, may we be fervent in prayer for all those who have fallen away or do not know Christ, and that we may be faithful in working for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: August 1 - St. Alphonsus Ligouri, The Virtuous Life

What does it mean to live a good life, a virtuous life?  What distinguishes a moral choice from an immoral one?  What does it mean to use our human freedom responsibly?  What is sin?  What does it mean to make a prudent decision?  What does it mean to have a formed conscience?  What does it mean to be perfect?

Such are the questions of moral theology.  And the Saint whom we honor today, Saint Alphonus Ligouri is the patron saint of moral theologians and confessors.  He was a lawyer, creative writer, a gifted artist and musician, and even tried his hand at church architecture.  He was a wise confessor, a loving pastor, a priest of the poor, a doctor of prayer, and a bishop who was considered a saint long before his death.

He had been a priest for only six years when he, on November 9, 1732 gathered with a small group of brother priests and committed his life to preaching to the Gospel to the abandoned and the poor, founding the order known today as the Redemptorists, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

He wrote one of the great tomes of Moral Theology in a time of theological debate, primarily between the Dominicans and Jesuits.  Alphonsus’ moral teaching took the middle road between rigorism and laxity emphasizing both God’s great mercy and our responsibility to live in right relationship with Him.

In the great moral questions, to be good, to be moral, to be holy, to be perfect, to be free, we see the answer in Jesus Christ, calling us from slavery and the debasement of fallen human nature, to the freedom of the children of God and the fullness of life.  Alphonus said, “All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ Our God”.  The one whose love for Jesus Christ is authentic will seek to rid his life of sin, not wanting to offend the Lord or break his communion with Him, and grow in the virtues to please Him.

It was while working with the abandoned poor that he came to the great conviction that God’s mercy is greater than any human tribulation or sin. 

Through the intercession of Saint Alphonus and the example of his virtuous life, may we come to experience the great plan God has for each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.