Homily: Nov 30 2015 - St. Andrew - Advent Lessons from Martyred Apostles

On this first weekday of Advent, we honor the first called Apostle of Jesus. The Byzantine Church honors the Apostle Saint Andrew with the title: Protokletos, which means, “the first called” because he was the first of the Apostles to be called and to follow Jesus.

Though he was Jewish, his name Andrew, comes not from a Hebrew word, but a Greek word: andreios, meaning “brave” or the virtue of a warrior.  The Apostle Andrew like a Warrior bravely followed Christ, bravely spreading Christ’s Gospel, and bravely witnessing to Christ in martyrdom. 

Tradition says that he preached the gospel in Greece and in the year 60 was crucified on an X shaped cross.  He hung on the cross for two days before he died, and it is said that he continued to preach the Gospel while hanging from the cross. 

The celebration of the Feast the Apostles outranks the Advent weekday celebration, for, without the Apostles we wouldn’t have Advent. Yet, we can still ask, what lessons particularly for Advent, can we learn from this courageous martyred apostle?

How are we called to have ‘courage’ this advent? We are certainly called to ‘bravely’ enter in to the spirituality of this season, to not be afraid to put aside worldly matters in order to seek after earthly matters.  We’re certainly called to fortify ourselves against all of the secularizing influences of this upcoming month which seek to remove Christ from Christmas. 

Like the apostle we are called to preach and witness to Christ in our Advent gatherings: to engage the culture, to preach to the culture.

And like the apostle we are called to die: to die to sin and selfishness and impatience and laziness. We are called to die to fear that keeps us from witnessing to Christ and keeps us from opening our hearts to Christ in prayer and service.

In the reading from St. Paul, we heard, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord…you will be saved…how will others come to believe, if they have never heard Christ preached?”” We are called to confess Christ this Advent, like the Apostles—like Andrew, the brave fisherman.

Through the help and prayers of the Apostle Saint Andrew may the Gospel of Christ be spread to every corner of the world and into every heart for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Ferial Collect: Keep us alert, we pray, O Lord our God, as we await the advent of Christ your son, so that, when he comes and knocks, he may find us watchful in prayer and exultant in  his praise. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Homily: 1st Sunday of Advent 2015 - Advent Vigilance

There was an old Benedictine Monk, who, through a life of prayer and penance had searched for Christ for 50 years. One night, before the monk went to bed, he said to the Lord in prayer, “Lord, I have been waiting.  I have been waiting my whole life to hear you and see you and meet you.  I have been longing to sense your presence all my life, but I never have, and I’ve become discouraged” Some of us might be able to relate to that. 

The monk then heard the voice of Jesus say, “I will come to you tomorrow.”

The old monk could hardly sleep he was so excited.  And when the sun rose that morning he waited in his room for Jesus who had promised to come to him.  The chapel bells began to ring for morning Mass, and he thought to himself, well, I can’t leave my room because Jesus is coming and I might miss him.  There was then a knock on his door, and the old monk sprung up to open it. But it was one of his brother monks, who asked, “are you alright?  Mass is starting!”  The old monk said “You go ahead and start without me.  I’m not coming today.”

A couple of hours later, another monk knocked on the door, and said, “Come on, it is your day to bathe the sick monks and change the sheets and to feed them their soup and bread.”  Again, not wanting to leave his room because he might miss the coming of Jesus, he said, “I can’t come, you’ll have to cover for me.”

It was getting late, and the old monk began to get worried, when there was a knock on his door. Thinking Christ had finally come, he opened the door and a man stood there with his wife and three children.  The man said, “excuse me brother, but there is a snow storm and we are seeking refuge, could you find us a room?”  And the monk said, “I’m sorry, I wish I could, I’m just too busy, and I can’t be distracted.” And he closed the door.

Midnight came, and the old monk was distraught and frustrated and upset because he felt that the Lord had not kept his promise.  So in prayer he said, “Lord, you told me you would come to visit me today and I’ve been waiting all day and it didn’t happen.” 

The same voice he heard the night before said, “What do you mean? I came to you three times today, I came in the Eucharist, I came in the form of your sick brothers, and I came as a family needing your help, but you did not recognize me.”

Just like that monk who didn’t want to leave his cell, we often fail to recognize the many ways Jesus wants to enter our life.  We can miss him when he comes at Mass because we’ve failed to leave our worldly distractions at the door and prepare well for this sacred time.  We can miss Him in those we are called to serve if we do not look to our neighbor’s needs outside of ourselves. Sometimes, we say, “Lord I want to meet you, but only on my terms”

In the Gospel, Jesus was teaching his disciples to remain vigilant for his coming at the end of time.  “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.” Carousing, drunkenness, anxiety.  These things can cause us to miss the Lord’s coming, not only at the end of time, but also in the course of our everyday Christian living.

Carousing and drunkenness can lead to our missing the Lord’s coming.  Overindulging the appetites of the body can make the mind heavy and dull and unfit for the spiritual and religious exercises which we should be practicing on a daily basis, such as spiritual reading, meditation, and prayer.

We know too well how anxieties about worldly matters can lead us to miss the Lord. Our pursuit of worldly things can lead us to skip our spiritual duties entirely or neglect the quality of prayer and meditation that we should be exercising.  How often have we made that excuse: I’m too busy too pray. I’m too busy to go to Mass, we have company coming over, the kids to get to sports practice. All the while, it is precisely when we feel we don’t have time to pray, that we need prayer all the more. The devil uses the temptation of worldly matters to keep us from spiritual goods.

The month of December is filled with many temptations isn’t it? Temptations to eat and drink too much, shop too much, worry too much, pray too little, study God’s word too little. All these temptations arise, just as Jesus is desiring to enter into our lives more deeply.  The devil cannot stand Advent.  Advent can be a powerful life changing season, where we grow in peace, and hope, and love, and joy.  So the devil bombards us with temptations, to obscure the work of God, to lead us away from the sort of life changing prayer and service Jesus wants for us.

We know all too well how the busyness of December can distract us from the true meaning of Christmas.  So, “take heed” as Jesus says today. This Advent, we need more time in prayer, not less.  More time in quiet reflection on the promises of Scripture, not less.  Take heed, not to let the busyness of December, keep your from recognizing the ways Jesus wants to come into your life this Advent and this Christmas.

Don’t let the world tell you how to prepare for Christmas, allow your faith to guide these Advent weeks that you might be filled with true joy, joy which the world cannot give, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the 34th Week in OT - Quiet budding of the fig tree

Chapter 21 of Luke’s Gospel contains some pretty frightening images.

Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, he tells of the awful calamities which will precede the end of the world and his second coming, he tells how his followers will be persecuted; that Christians will be hated because of his name; and at the great tribulation there will be signs in the sky, people will die of fright.

Then comes today’s Gospel passage: consider the fig tree and the other trees, when you see their buds burst open, you know that summer is now near.  In the same way, when you see these things, know that the kingdom of God is near.

What a contrast: from scenes of destruction to this image of blooming fig tree buds.

The scripture readings from these last weeks of Ordinary Time have been filled with warnings of persecution and violence; Jesus has reminded us to remain faithful to God during these turbulent end times.  In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus called them labor pains; labor pains, which proceed the birth of the new age.

In less than 48 hours we will pass, almost seamlessly into a new liturgical year, the season of advent, the season of peaceful waiting, a season of expectation, which reminds us so much of the last few weeks of a woman’s pregnancy, full of expectation and hope and the birth of her child.

The alarming images at the end of Ordinary Time here remind us to take head, to be aware that we will be tested and tried during these violent end times. Tomorrow’s Gospel will warn us, “don’t become drowsy, rom carousing and drunkenness, and the anxieties of daily life…be vigilant at all times!”

But as we prepare for Advent, we are reminded by this Gospel in particular, that just as flowers and trees bloom serenely and quietly, the full flowering of the life of grace comes about through quiet prayer, daily perseverance, daily waiting, patience, and hope.

Instead of hitting the shopping malls for black Friday sales, today, would be a good day to reflect upon the spiritual practices that the Holy Spirit might be urging us to take up for Advent: to set aside particular books for spiritual reading, to schedule extra time amidst the busy-ness of December for quiet prayer, maybe praying the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours or making extra visits to the Eucharistic adoration chapel.  Maybe you might wish to take up a spiritual journal, doing your own spiritual reflections on the Advent scripture readings.

Though it takes place in winter, Advent is meant to be a spiritual summer, in which spiritual fruit in born quietly in our souls. As we prepare for the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent, may God’s Holy Spirit lead us to the sort of practices which will bear good spiritual fruit, that we may be found faithful the Lord’s service when he returns, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thanksgiving 2015 - Giving thanks in times of darkness

Today, Americans gather around their tables with family and friends in a day for thanksgiving and rest. While the holiday dates back to long before the establishment of the country, Thanksgiving became an official holiday for the whole U.S. when President Abraham Lincoln made it so in 1863.

In the document officially instituting Thanksgiving as a national holiday, In the midst of the American Civil War, Lincoln noted that despite war, the American people had much to give thanks for, and he credited the blessings of our country to nothing else but God’s grace.  He wrote, “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

He then asked everyone in the country “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Lastly, President Lincoln requested that everyone pray for God to heal the country’s wounds, having particular concern for “widows, orphans, mourners or suffers” from the Civil War.

The prophet Isaiah wrote to the people of Judah, as things were really starting to fall apart.  Israel was turning false worship, the kings were growing increasingly evil, and immorality was growing rampant.  In the first part of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah spoke of Israel’s impending doom.  For turning away from God, Israel would be handed over to her enemies.  But then Isaiah spoke a word of consolation.  He said, even when things are dark, even when you’ve been handed over to your enemies, held captive in exile, even when you see your mighty cities fall, “recall the loving deeds, the glorious acts of the Lord”, think of “all the Lord has done for us.”

Much like President Lincoln’s time, the country is greatly divided.  We, may not be in open civil war, but ideological differences are causing great division and great hostility.  Much like Isaiah’s time, we see our countrymen turning to false God’s, corrupt politicians, rampant immorality.

Despite the darkness, it is important for us to continue to gather to give thanks, to consider the loving deeds, the glorious acts of God.

At every Mass, the priest proclaims, “It is right and just, always and everywhere to give God thanks.” Always and everywhere.  We give thanks in times of blessing, we give thanks in times of darkness.  In a sense, the Christian Church is like the eye of the hurricane.  Despite the Chaos around us, we gather to give Eucharistic thanks, and pray, that our attitude of gratitude replaces the entitlement and bitterness of the world. 

So take charge in your Thanksgiving gatherings today, lead your families in turning to God today, to thank Him for his loving deeds and glorious acts, and in praying for our world afflicted by so many wounds, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Nov 25 2015 - St. Catherine of Alexandria, Daniel & Thanksgiving

Our first reading from the book of Daniel today takes place two generations after our reading yesterday.  The king of Babylon Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, was throwing a banquet for his friends. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious hand appeared and began writing on the wall.  None of the king’s wise men or astrologers were able to explain what was happening.  The young faithful Jewish prophet, Daniel, who had been taken captive and brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, now an old faithful Jewish prophet, was sent for to decipher the mysterious writing. 

Think of Daniel’s tremendous moral courage.  Not only had all of the cultural supports of his faith been stripped away, he had been living in exile for two generations.  He is summoned into this blasphemous situation by a bloodthirsty king, and he speaks the word of God in truth.  Here is the mark of true holiness:  he is able to show up, to tell the truth without blame or judgment, and to be open to the outcome. 

St. Catherine of Alexandria, who we honor today, was another soul of great moral courage.  At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan philosophers. Amazed at her wisdom and debating skills, they became Christians.  She was imprisoned for her faith for over fifty years by the emperor. Yet while imprisoned she converted the empress, the leader of the armed forces, over 200 soldiers, and other members of the emperor’s family.  She is venerated as a patron saint of philosophers, preachers, and young unmarried woman: 3 categories of persons who need to practice moral courage.

Many of us will take part in a “great banquet” tomorrow, at Thanksgiving dinner.  The situation may not be as treacherous or lecherous as Belshazzar’s table, yet it may be a table where the Faith is ridiculed, where you are “put to trial”.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus suggests that every Christian must be prepared to stand with moral courage in his name.  Now hopefully, Thanksgiving dinner will be much more like Jesus’ banquet than Belshazzar’s—much more selfless love, humble service, praise of God, and harmony, rather than drunkenness, betrayal, pride, and blasphemy.  Yet no matter the situation, the Christian, sustained and nourished by the bread from heaven, becomes and instrument of God by speaking and acting with truth and moral courage and love, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Homily: Nov 23 2015 - Blessed Miguel Pro - ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

“Viva Cristo Rey” were the last words Fr. Miguel Augustin Pro uttered before he was executed for being a Catholic priest and serving his flock. Viva Cristo Rey, Long live Christ the King.

In 1909, twenty-year-old Miguel Augustin Pro joined the Jesuits as a novice in Mexico. A year later, a revolution erupted and by 1914 the Jesuits were forced to flee. After being ordained in 1925, Padre Miguel was sent back to Mexico.  Since he was not known as a priest, Padre Miguel went about clandestinely, sometimes in disguise, celebrating Mass, hearing confession, anointing the sick, and doing everything he could to relieve the material suffering of the poor. 

In a letter, he wrote: Jesus help me! There isn’t time to breathe, and I am up to my eyebrows in this business of feeding those who have nothing. And they are many—those with nothing…

In 1927, hostility and persecution of Catholics in Mexico reached a boiling point. Churches were closed and Fr. Miguel would celebrate Mass in secret, to provide the Eucharist for Mexico’s faithful. He became known throughout the city as the undercover priest who would show up in the middle of the night, dressed as a beggar or a street sweeper, to baptize infants, hear confessions, distribute Communion, or perform marriages. Several times, disguised as a policeman, he slipped unnoticed into the police headquarters itself to bring the sacraments to Catholic prisoners before their executions.

Finally, Fr. Miguel and his brother Roberto were arrested on trumped-up charges of attempting to assassinate Mexico’s president. Roberto was spared but Miguel was sentenced to face a firing squad on November 23, 1927. Refusing a blindfold, he stood, faced the firing squad, and held his arms outstretched in the form of a cross, a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other. In a clear voice he cried out, 4 "Viva Cristo Rey!"

Here is a normal young man, known for humor and practical jokes, who became one of the 20^th century’s great examples of Christian heroism.

Viva Cristo Rey, Long Live Christ the King.

Saint John Paul II traveled to Mexico for Pro's beatification in Mexico on September 25, 1988, and said:

Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away. Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death.

May the reign of Christ the King be great in each of us, in our minds and hearts. Like Blessed Miguel Pro and countless martyrs before him, may we be filled with courage and fervor in witnessing to Christ and serving the Church for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Christ the King 2015 - King in every sphere of life

The liturgical year ends with one of the most important feasts of the whole Church year: the celebration of Christ the King. Yes, whole liturgical year revolves around the great feasts of Christmas and Easter, but today’s feast of Christ the King celebrates something of central importance.  Namely, that Jesus really is the Lord of our lives; he is the King of the totality of the life of the Christian.

If Jesus Christ is anything less than our King, if we’re only giving Him lip service without fully submitting our whole lives to him, than, we are missing something essential to the practice of Christianity, we’re sequestered from the power of this life changing faith. If we only pay attention to Christ for a few minutes on Sunday, but fail to submit the rest of the week to Him, If we treat Jesus as an harmless symbol, or just one religious teacher among many, If we only allow him into the first few rooms of our house, but not every room—if we keep him out the outskirts…if we sequester him to just a small corner of our life…as if there is this small religious corner of our life, and then the rest of our life…then we are missing something fundamental.

What does it mean to make Jesus the King of your family life? Your marriage? First, it means to put him at the center of everything, every chore, every vacation, every meal, every embrace, every family decision. It means putting him at the center of your marriage, including Him in the decision to bring new life into the world.  For just as our King calls us to be generous in giving our time and talent and treasure to God, Our King calls husbands and wives to be generous bringing new life into the world. 

For now, more than ever, where secularism seeks to replace Christianity as the foundation of our nation, we need strong Christian families, where the faith is practiced devoutly, were Christianity is celebrated in the home, where husbands and wives are generous in bringing new Christians into the world.  Pope Paul VI, back in 1968, spoke very prophetically about the dangers of artificial contraception, in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, how the use of contraception which undermines God’s plan for marriage.  And we’ve seen great falling away from the faith, as Catholics have abandoned the Christian teaching on this very issue.  For when God told Adam and Eve, husband and wife, to be fruitful and multiply he wasn’t telling them to grow oranges and practice their times tables, but to cooperate with his will to bring new souls into the world, children who will turn to God and call him King and Father.

What does it mean to make Jesus King of your professional life? Firstly, it means that if you are in a job that is fundamentally immoral, you need to quit. We can’t justify doing immoral things just because they bring in a lot of money.  Having Christ as King means spreading his Kingdom, but when we are involved immorality, we are spreading not Christ’s Kingdom, but the Enemy’s. So, if your company is pursuing policies or strategies which are immoral, at the very least, you have to protest and refuse to take part in them.

Secondly, having Christ as King of your professional life means bringing your Christianity into the operation of our business.  Putting a crucifix or religious statue in your office, in your locker; making time for prayer, privately and with coworkers, and I know that it’s scary, but to evangelize those around you.  Invite coworkers to come to Church, to go to Bible Study.  Oftentimes, if a coworker will see you reading the Bible, or reading the Catechism, they’ll ask you about it.  How many of your coworkers know that you are a practicing Catholic, do you share with them the joy and strength you find in receiving the Eucharist, the peace you receive when you go to confession? You can form family prayer groups and invite them to pray with you.  You could say, “hey I’m inviting our priest out to the house to enthrone our home to the sacred heart of Jesus, would you like to come?” Or, “hey my family is going to pray the rosary together Friday night for peace in response to the terrorist attacks, would you like to join us?” You don’t have to beat non-believers over the head with the faith, but you can surely invite them, and share with them, the strength and guidance you receive from faith. For the non-faithful are meant to see what it means for Jesus Christ to be King primarily through our example.

What does it mean to say that Jesus is King of your personal life? I don’t want to sound creepy, but are you comfortable inviting Christ into everything you do privately.  If you have habits that you wouldn’t do if Christ were in the room, you need to reconsider the habit.  Are there television shows you wouldn’t watch if Jesus were in the room?  Are there internet sites you wouldn’t visit if Christ were sitting next to you? Are there video games with content which is morally objectionable?

In our permissive culture, there are temptations and evils around every corner, on every channel, every website.  And we really need to fortify ourselves against these things, by clinging to Christ Our King through prayer, study, and healthy fraternity with other Christians. 

And prayer is really important.  How can Jesus be the most important person in your life if you never talk with him, if you don’t study His Word?  If you can quote sports statistics but not a single line from Scripture, there’s a problem.  If you can sing all the lyrics to the new Taylor Swift song, but can’t pray the rosary, there’s a problem. 

What does it mean that Christ is the King of your mind? It means you think deeply about the faith, seek to understand not just what the Church teaches, but why the Church teaches it. Catholicism is an intellectually rich faith.  But we aren’t meant to settle with merely an 8^th grade understanding or a 12^th grade understanding of the faith.  Even after 9 years of seminary and 6 years of priesthood, our last Scripture Study here at St. Clare about the Gospel of Matthew was tremendously enriching. We aren’t meant to waste our mental energies on trivial superficialities, but our study of the faith is meant to enrich our lives, and make us more effective apologists and evangelists. Treasures await you, if you give your mind to Christ.

Finally, what does it mean to make Christ the King of your body? It means you don’t abuse your body, you don’t poison it with excessive alcohol or drugs or excessive snacking or dining, you take care of it, so you can carry out the mission and work God has for you.

Christ is meant to reign in our hearts, in our minds, in our family life, in our professional life, in our private life, every sphere, every dimension, in every relationship of our life.  When we allow Him to be King, everything changes. 

We renew our love and loyalty for our King today, and pray for the grace to never be intimidated by any earthly power or seduced by any earthly pleasures, but to herald the victory of our King over sin and death in our minds, in our bodies, in our private and public lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

[Thanks to Most Rev. Robert Barron for the inspiration for this homily]

Homily: Nov 16 - St. Gertrude the Great - Mystical Bride of CHrist

There are a number of Saint Gertrude’s actually.  Today’s Saint Gertrude became a Benedictine Abbess as is known as St. Gertrude the Great.  She was born of a noble family and placed with the Benedictine nuns for education at the age of 5, with her sister Matilda, who would also become a saint.  Gertrude was very bright, easily learning latin in her youth. She loved the study of theology, and had a uncommon insight into the sacred scriptures.  Our Lord appeared to Gertrude in a vision, telling her that she in fact was spending too much time studying, to the neglect of her spiritual life. So, she united herself more deeply to the Lord, and made Him the first priority in her life. That was really the beginning of a deep mystical life. From that point on, she had a continual experience of the abiding presence of the Lord with her, throughout her whole life, except for 11 days when the Lord decided to test her faith.

Zeal for the Lord’s house consumed her.  Gertrude had a deep concern for the salvation of sinners and the souls in purgatory.  She meditated often on the Passion of the Lord and His love for sinners, and she shed many tears at the foot of the cross for sinners and before the Blessed Sacrament.  Our Lord gave St. Gertrude a prayer to pray for the holy souls of purgatory which goes: “Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”

Gertrude received a number of extraordinary graces throughout her life. She was taken as a mystical bride of Christ. In a vision, Jesus placed the mystical wedding ring on her finger. She experienced ecstasies in which she not only enjoyed the company of Our Lord, but His Holy Mother as well. Even her favorite Saints came to visit her. She was united to Christ in love, but also in suffering for the salvation of sinners. She received the Holy Stigmata of the Heart—feeling deeply wounds of Christ’s heart in her own.  After a long illness, born very patiently, her death finally came in the year 1302.  On her deathbed, the Blessed Virgin Mary descended from heaven to assist her passing, and one of Gertrude’s sisters saw her soul go straight to the heart of Jesus which opened to receive her.

Saint Gertrude is certainly one of the great mystics of the Church.  A journal recording the revelations Jesus made to her continues to be popular spiritual reading.  She records in words the indescribable beauty of the intimate conversation of her soul with Jesus and Mary.

Not a common life.  An extraordinary life, in fact, a life that seems so different from ours.  The Lord Jesus gave this holy soul extraordinary gifts—extraordinary ecstasies, but also, extraordinary sufferings, which Gertrude no doubt saw as gifts.

Gertrude reminds us to put away the pursuits which keep us from intimate union with Christ. To not be afraid, to radically seek Him in prayer and humble service.  She reminds us that things of this world are often distractions, from seeking the one thing that truly matters: the Sacred Heart of Christ. 

May Gertrude assist us in our spiritual journeys, and pray for us, that we may have the courage to open our hearts more fully to the heart of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: 33rd Sunday in OT 2015 - Signs of the End Times

We’ve come to the last two weeks of the liturgical year. The season of Advent begins just two weeks from now.  And our scripture readings return, as they do at this time every year to the last things, the end times—death, judgment, heaven, hell, and eternity.

Our Lord’s discourse with the Apostles from St. Mark’s Gospel today, takes place during the last week of Jesus’ life.  He had entered Jerusalem for the last time, come to the temple and taught there for the last time.  And, after a busy day of teaching and contending with the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Temple, Jesus and his Apostles came to rest on the Mount of Olives. 

There Jesus began to take up some pretty serious subject matters.  He began to discuss the end times:  the tribulations the Church would face from the time of his Ascension to the time of his Second Coming.  He spoke of the destruction of the Temple, and earthquakes and wars and floods, of Christians beings persecuted for preaching the Gospel.  He said, “don’t be alarmed, don’t lose your faith, when these things happen, they are but labor pains.” Labor pains.  They are signs that the old world is coming to an end, and that the second coming of the Messiah is near.

He spoke of these future events with a sureness and clarity that must have been alarming – if not frightening – for his disciples.  He spoke about the end as if it’s right around the corner. But exactly how long it would take, how much time would pass between his ascension and second coming, he did not say.  He just kept repeating over and over, “be watchful, you do not know the day or the hour, be prepared, it can come when you least expect it.”

Will our own earthly life come to an end before his coming again? He did not say.  For both events, our death and our judgment, we must be prepared, by repenting of and confessing our sins, receiving the flesh and blood of Christ as often as we can, and living lives of righteousness, as best we can.

I cannot help but think of last night’s tragedies in Paris.  Normal people, like you and I, went to the theater last night, went out to dinner with friends and family, never expecting that terrorists would strike.  I prayed, and I hope you did too, that the Lord was merciful upon their souls. 

After speaking of the tribulations of the end times, Our Lord spoke of the coming of the Son of Man and the gathering of the elect.  When the Lord comes again, all of the living and the dead from all generations of human history will stand before the Lord and we will be judged.  The elect will be gathered to the eternal kingdom of heaven, and the damned will go to the eternal fires of hell, forever.  When will this mighty event occur? “Of that day or hour, no one knows,” he said, “neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

There have been attempts throughout history to try to figure out the day of the Lord’s coming.  Some have tried to decipher a hidden code within Scripture, or from astrological events, or the events of world history.  The Lord says, the angels don’t know.  Their intellect is as vastly superior to ours, as our intellects are superior to garden slugs. So, if the angels don’t know, it is not something that we can figure out.  So, don’t worry about when it will happen, prepare yourselves, and assume that it could happen any minute—even before the next star wars movie comes out!

Jesus explains not only that he will return, but how he will return.  “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” In Matthew’s Gospel we hear that there will be the blowing of angelic trumpets.  So, what will his second coming look like? It won’t be in a hidden way, like the way he was born in Bethlehem, when he was born into obscure poverty.  His second coming will be a glorious coming.  Nature will resound in a wondrous event that no one still living on earth will be able to ignore.  So don’t worry, even if you are very heavy sleeper and he comes in the middle of the night, you won’t miss it!

There is a great story where St. Charles Borromeo was playing a game of billiards with several other bishops. While the game was going on, one of the bishops posed a question.  He asked the group: “What would you do if you knew that the Lord would return within the hour?”  One bishop said: “I should immediately fall to my knees in prayer, and pray for God’s mercy upon me” Another declared: “I should at once make a confession of all my sins from my whole life.”  Various replies were made by others who were present.  St. Charles kept silent and continued playing pool. Then question was addressed to him, “What would you do if you knew that the Lord would return within the hour?” St. Charles answered: “I should quietly continue the game, because I began it with the intention of honoring God.” 

St. Charles, because he was right with God, his life in order, his priorities straight, his sins confessed, was able to confidently face the prospect of the imminent coming of Christ, not only with peace, but with joy.  St. Charles was not the sort of man to go to bed with a guilty conscience—he did not carry with him the burden of unconfessed sins.  Because he was right with God, in fact, because he began everything he did with the intention of honoring God, he was able to live in the freedom which God wants for all of us. 

St. Charles would have been able to recite right along with today’s Psalm: “Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence?” Does you abide in confidence? Are you prepared? Are your sins forgiven? When was the last time, you made a good confession? Are you in the habit of beginning each of your endeavors with the intention of honoring God above all else?

At the end of history, Jesus’ Second Coming will involve the destruction of the fallen world so as to make way for a new creation.  Now, in the midst of history, we have to be willing to allow his grace to destroy our fallen, self-centered tendencies in order to make way for the new life of grace and charity. We must repent of our sins, and call others to repentance and right relationship with God.

The Lord promises that if we do, we will not regret it; for as the First Reading puts it, the wise will shine brightly, and those who lead the many to justice, shall be like the stars forever. Today, and every day, let us put the Lord first in our lives, repent of our sins, and do everything for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: Nov 13 2015 - St. Frances Xavier Cabrini - Transformation of hearts and relationships

The Pharisees who asked when the kingdom of God would come showed that they still didn’t understand what the kingdom meant.  They couldn’t see that it was already in their midst.  The blind were seeing, the deaf were hearing, the lame were walking—Who could miss these signs? Whenever God’s presence is welcomed, powerful things occur. The Pharisees did not welcome Jesus, they did not welcome his teaching, they did not welcome who he was, what he came to do, and so they did not recognize God at work in their midst.

The kingdom of God is dynamic, powerful, and noticeable to those with faith.  From the very beginning of the Church, people’s lives have been radically impacted by the Gospel.  In every age, including our own, God has moved in mighty ways, revealing his love, rescuing people from sin, and transforming even the hardest of hearts.  When God is welcomed, lived are changed—he changes hearts, he transforms relationships.

In the first reading, we see relationship changed, from the letter to Philemon.  Paul, writes to Philemon to inform him that his missing slave, Onesimus, has become a fellow Christian and to persuade him to receive Onesimus in mercy as the brother in Christ he has become.  God has changed this relationship, Onesimus goes from slave to brother Christian.  Onesimus was an unbeliever, now, he is “no longer a slave, but more than a slave”; as a Christian he will work to build the kingdom of God, as Paul and all Christians are called to.  Again, the kingdom of God looks like the transformation of hearts and relationships.

We can also see God at work in the life of the Saint we honor today, Frances Xavier Cabrini, whose parents both died when she was just 18 years old.  She felt God was calling her to a life of service, but she didn’t know exactly what.  She tried out various religious communities in her area, but they didn’t think she had a religious vocation because of her poor health.  So, her local bishop decided to have her found a new religious order.  She thought she was being called to missionary work in China, to evangelize the Chinese. 

She had a dream one night where the Lord appeared to her, sending her not to the orient, but west.  She was confused by this, because since she was a little girl, she thought she was meant to bring the Gospel east.  So she visited the Pope, and Pope Leo XIII confirmed her dream, so Mother Cabrini came to this country to care for Italian immigrants.

Within a few years, she opened a Catholic school in New York City, founded an orphanage and hospital for the immigrants which had wards which were free to the poor.  She built other hospitals in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, New Orleans, and Chicago.

Mother Cabrini dedicated her life to serving the kingdom of God, and she touched millions of lives.  She allowed the king to reign in her, and became a dynamic, powerful instrument to God.

Today, as we come forward to receive the king of kings in the Eucharist, let us allow the Lord to transform our hearts, our relationships, and impel us into the world as his instruments for the building up of his kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Nov 12 2015 - St. Josaphat, martyr - Healing the wounds of sin and division

St. Josephat spent his life laboring for the unity of the Church and was a martyr for Church unity because he died trying to bring part of the Orthodox Church into union with Rome.  He’s known as the apostle of union because he gave us life working for the unity of the Church.

He was born into an orthodox family in 1580, but as an adult he joined one of the eastern churches that had recently returned to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.  He became a monk of the Order of St. Basil and was just a few years later consecrated an archbishop.  As Archbishop his challenges were many.

Through education, reform of the clergy and personal example, Josephat succeeded in winning over the majority of the Orthodox in his diocese to full communion with Rome.  But those who opposed Church unity and communion with Rome plotted his death, and he was martyred in 1623. With furious cries of “Kill the Papist!”, He was struck on the head and shot and thrown into the river— killed by a mob who opposed his efforts. 

Josephat was beatified just 20 years after his death, recognized as a martyr for the unity Christ came to establish.  On the Feast of Saint Josephat in 1923, Pope Pius XI declared Saint Josephat the Patron Saint of Reunion between Orthodox and Catholics. 

In the Church there is a wonderful, holy and healthy diversity—many people with rich cultural traditions and liturgical heritages enrich the Church, and are endowed with many different gifts for the building up the Church. 

However, at times, we allow our cultural and political differences to become sources of division. But, On the night before his death, Jesus prayed, that we may be one, so that the world might believe. In recent years, Pope Benedict XVI worked especially hard for the reunification of the churches, and Pope Francis continues this effort. In our diversity Christian are meant to profess one faith, one Lord, one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ. Our unity as a Church is meant to show the world that the Church is the authentic Bride of Christ in whom we can find our salvation.  

As we know there are great divisions in our nation, there are many family members estranged from one another, there are many who have set themselves at odds with God through sin. So we must assiduously seek the healing of the wounds of sin and division in the human family and in the Church, and trust that yny division in family, community, nation, Church, or in the human heart can only truly be healed with God’s help. 

St. Josephat labored and died for that unity. May the example of Saint Josaphat inspire us to spend our lives working for the honor and unity of the Church and the healing of human hearts for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Nov 10 2015 - Pope St. Leo the Great and the Barbarian Tribes

Pope Benedict XVI said of Pope Leo the Great, whom we honor today, that Leo was “truly one of the greatest Pontiffs to have honoured the Roman See.” He was the first Bishop of Rome to have been called Leo, a name used subsequently by another 12 Supreme Pontiffs.

Leo a native of Tuscany. And, in about the year 430 A.D., he became a deacon of the Church of Rome.  He had been sent by Pope Sixtus III on a diplomatic mission to Gaul to resolve a difficult conflict, but while he was carrying out his mission of peace, the Pope died.  Leo was elected Pope to succeed him, and his Pontificate lasted for 21 years, which is quite long for a papacy, the ninth longest, in fact.

The times in which Pope Leo lived were very difficult:  constant barbarian invasions, the gradual weakening of the Roman Empire’s authority. There is the famous episode from Pope Leo’s life, when in 452, Attila and his Huns were vanquishing city after city. Attila had already devastated the northeastern regions of Italy and reports circulated that Attila was setting his sights on the rest of Italy.  The 52 year old Pope, rode on horseback to meet the barbarian leader and pleaded with Attila to spare Italy. The leader of the Huns, impressed by the Pope, left Italy.  Unfortunately, a few years later, another barbarian horde, the Vandals, attacked and sacked Rome. Again, the Pope, defenseless and surrounded by his clergy, went forth to meet the invader to implore him to desist. The Vandal leader promised to spare the great Basilicas of St Peter, St Paul and St John, whose dedication we celebrated yesterday, in which the terrified population of Rome sought refuge and were spared. 

We live in barbarous times again, don’t we? We recently heard Pope Francis call for Europe to take in the many war refugees, just as Pope Leo the Great obtained refuge for the citizens of Rome. Dark, barbarous times, with many, of what Pope Francis calls, “dehumanizing elements” where people are treated either as commodities, or are treated as disposable, not worth our time.

But we are called to turn our faces precisely towards those that the rest of our culture of death ignores.  Pope Francis calls us to a practical concern for those who are wounded, those scarred by violence, abuse, those forced to leave their families and homelands. 

Why? Because as Pope Leo showed us, the Church must always show a real concern for people.  The road of holiness is never in isolation.  There is no such thing as simply being concerned for one’s own soul without concern for the other. 

May this eucharist today help us to be attentive to those people who are in need in our families and communities, that we may provide whatever help we can, that our faith may be manifest through concrete acts of charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Nov 9 2015 - Dedication of St. John Lateran - Beautiful churches for beautiful souls

Today we celebrate the dedication of what the Christianity calls “the mother and head of all the churches in Rome and around the world.” After Christianity was legalized in 313, St. John Lateran was the domicile of the Pope for a 1000 years--the place from which he taught and guided the Church for a millennia. November 9 is the date that John Lateran was dedicated in the year 324. 

Now, there is no Saint named Saint John Lateran, of course. The title Lateran, is not the last name of a Saint, but a geographical location.  The whole area where the basilica was built was owned by a Roman Senator, Flavius Lateranus.  And so, the full name of St. John Lateran Basilica is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran. Now you know why we abbreviate the name.

Today, we recall the importance of the Pope in Christianity, for St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of Rome, the place of the Pope’s Cathedra, his seat of authority.  But we also mark the importance of dedicating Church buildings to God, of having sacred buildings, sacred places where the Church comes together to worship.

Priests get phone calls fairly often now from young couples wanting to have their weddings celebrated on a beach.  I got a call recently from a couple wanting their wedding at a farm.  We’ve lost the sense of the sacred, and the idea of sacred space.  And for many young Catholics who never step foot in a church, then I guess a beach or a farm would be more sacred than a church building.

And it’s not entirely their fault. After Vatican II there seems to have been a rash of ugly, uninspiring churches built, churches which don’t look like churches.  Even though Vatican II called for “noble beauty” in Church architecture, the prevailing modernist impulse is to de-sacralize everything, 

including church architecture.  Modernists claim we should treat nothing as holy because they say everything is holy.  We shouldn’t have to go to Church because God is everywhere. But this idea is totally foreign to Catholicism.  From day one, Christians have gathered together in sacred spaces for the celebration of the Sacraments.

And as we can, we are to make them noble and beautiful. A church should be beautiful, and should look like a church from the outside, that it may inspire and draw people from the world encounter God who transcends the ugliness of the world. And a church should be beautiful, and look like a church on the inside, that it may inspire and express the honor we owe to God in everything we do.

So we dedicate our church buildings to God, we adorn them with gold vessels, ornate vestments, and beautiful art, we set them apart as sanctuaries, as places where we encounter the holy, the divine.   For, if we don’t dedicate some things to God, we will end up not dedicating anything to God.  We dedicate church buildings, set them aside, adorn them with beauty, that we may be dedicated, consecrated, and adorned with virtue.

If you’ve never had the chance to visit Rome and the timeless basilicas there, I will be leading a pilgrimage there this May, please consider joining me, as we make pilgrimage to the holy places.  If you have access to the internet, you can also take a virtue tour of St. John Lateran and some of the holy places.

In the Gospel today, we hear of Jesus driving out the ugliness of sin and evil from God’s temple. May the devout celebration of this feast drive out the ugliness and sin which sometimes makes their way into our lives. May the celebration of the dedication of the mother Church reminds us of the beauty and harmony with which we are to live as Catholics, in intimate communion with Jesus, coming together in holy places to listen to the Word of God and to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, that we may be built up into a pleasing temple to God for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

   

Homily: 32nd Sunday in OT 2015 - Poverty of Spirit

 Last week, as we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints, Jesus gave us, in the Gospel, the keys to be numbered among the saints, in the beatitudes.  In the first beatitude Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poverty of spirit is listed first, because it fundamental to the practice of any of the others.  Poverty of spirit is a fundamental attitude of Christians.  We will never come to receive the riches of the kingdom of heaven unless we become poor in spirit. And in today’s Gospel, we see poverty of spirit on display

Here is what poverty of spirit looks like.  It looks like a widow who barely has enough money to pay for food for the month, coming to the temple, and giving to God from the money she depended on for sustenance.

Plenty of rich people were coming to the Temple.  They were no doubt putting larger sums into the Temple Offertory.  But Jesus claimed that it was this widow who was most generous of all because she gave from her livelihood.  It would have been totally understandable if she refrained from putting any money into the offertory; she was incredibly impoverished and had no one to care for her. No one would blame her for spending the money on a bit of food for herself, securing her lodging for the week.  Anyone else would have thought the widow foolish for giving from her livelihood.

But, Jesus praised her, and gave the Church of all ages, an example to emulate. What would the world look like, if each of us did as she did. This story challenges each of us, doesn’t it? Do I look in my heart and find the attitude of that poor widow? Do I strive like her to give to God everything I can, recognizing that everything I have ultimately comes from Him?

This Gospel really isn’t about money. It’s not just Jesus reminder to make sure we are putting enough money into the offertory every week.  It’s about reflecting on, am I cheap with God? Am I cheap in serving Him, am I cheap in praying to Him, am I cheap in allowing his teachings to shape my life?
The widow was rich in the Gospel today, rich in what really counts in the end—in the only thing that counts in the end: our generous service to God.

This fundamental Christian teaching is pretty counter-cultural, isn’t it?  Our culture says only be generous when it is convenient.  Only give when someone is going to notice.  Only come to church when you don’t have something else going on, only pray when you want something.  If you have to choose between a having another child and a Porsche, choose the car that will make you the envy of your neighborhood. But the selfishness idolized by our culture is in the end empty and fleeting, and does not give us authentic life, but rather, takes it from us.

The spirit of the world is really opposite the spirit of Jesus.  Two months ago, before coming to the United States, Pope Francis visited Cuba.  And he had this to say to the Cuban priests, religious, and seminarians gathered at the Cathedral:  “The spirit of the world does not love the way of the Son of God, who emptied himself and became poor. He became nothing — he humiliated himself in order to be one of us.” Every Christian is called to this same poverty.

Fear and attachment to wealth can keep us poor in the only wealth that matters, the Pope said.  Let every Christian nurture the spirit of poverty, of letting go of everything to follow Jesus.

There was a saint who is famous for recognizing that Jesus calls us to be quite different than the world wants us to be.  It is said that this Saint followed in the footsteps of Christ as closely as anyone ever has.  For this he was called Christ’s fool.  Yet, he is certainly one of the most universally beloved saints of all time. Of course, I am speak of Saint Francis of Assisi.  All of the saints glorified God in a radical way.  But Saint Francis embraced radical poverty in order to remind us all that we must not allow the riches of the world, the spirit of the world, to separate us from Christ.

For embracing poverty, the world would think that Francis must be the most unhappy of men.  And yet, we Christians know, that in poverty, Francis found, not unhappiness, but joy; he radiated joy, he would dance down the road pretending to play the violin composing love songs to God, he was at peace and in harmony with Creation, he was filled with an authenticity that the Pope at the time recognized as exemplary.

Do you want the love of God that allowed the widow in today’s Gospel to give so generously? Do you want what St. Francis had that allowed him to surrender his entire life to Christ and embrace radical poverty for the kingdom?  What might you have to change, what might you have to renounce, so that their spirit may dwell in you? The wisdom of Christ seems foolish to the world, but is truly the road to joy and to eternal life.  I hope, each here, desires to become fools for Christ, by becoming poor in what the world considers wealth, and becoming rich in the true treasures of heaven.

As we continue this celebration of the Eucharist, in which the Lord pours himself out in love of the Father, let us unite ourselves to Him, that we may pour ourselves out in joyful service to God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday of the 31st Week of OT - Account of your stewardship

Consider the last line of the Gospel. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”

If Jesus’ followers were as prudent in doing the word of God, as children of the world are in seeking after their own self-interest, how different would the world be?

Would that Jesus’ followers were as diligent at storing up treasure in heaven, as greedy folks on wall street are in acquiring earthly wealth. Would that Jesus’ followers were as meticulous at organizing charitable activity in their parish as the head coaches of professional football teams are putting together their teams for victory. Would that Jesus’ followers were as thorough at disciplining their minds and hearts against temptation, as professional athletes are in training their bodies.  Would that Jesus’ followers were as painstaking in teaching the Gospel to our children, as the culture is in malforming them. What a different world this would be.

This passage is certainly a call to action, isn’t it? Followers of Jesus have so much work to do, but so often, the work of God takes the back seat to our earthly endeavors.  

We are a lot like that dishonest steward in the Gospel today, reported to the rich man for wasting his property.  Who is the rich man symbolic of in the story? God, of course.  God, who has given us charge over his household, who has given us stewardship over creation, and in his Church. His placed his good in our hands; his word, the Scriptures, the Sacraments. He literally places his Son into our hands in the Eucharist.  He has given us the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit. So many talents are at our disposal, so much good health. 

Wouldn’t it be God’s right to say to us, at any time, as the rich man said to the steward in the Gospel, “what is this I hear about you? Squandering the gifts I have given you?” If we were to prepare right now, a full account of our stewardship, how would we do? How many wasted hours in front of the television? How many wasted opportunities for visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, visiting the lonely? How many wasted gifts, unused because we didn’t want to leave our comfort zone?

Have we buried our talents in the ground? Have we wasted in the time, opportunities, and gifts he has given us?

As we come to the end of the liturgical year, we think about certain things.  We think about our death, we think about our judgment.  If death and judgment were to come right now, would I be ready? The end of the liturgical year, is like the end of the fiscal year. You start looking at the balance sheet, taking an account.  What do I need to change for next year, so that I don’t squander as I did. Where were the places where money, time, talent, was misspent.  How different our lives would have been this year, if we would have made us of all the opportunities God gave us.

Let us take serious accounting, and by God’s grace, seek a transformation, a reorientation of values and practices, that our whole lives may be at His service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: All Souls Day 2015 - Sadness, Hope, and Love

A few years ago, All Souls Day fell on the first Friday of November, and so I visiting and bringing Holy Communion to some of our homebound parishioners. My first stop was to a woman named Josephine, and elderly woman with a thick polish accent, to whom I had been bringing Communion for several years. 

I asked her if she had any particular intentions she would like to offer as she received Holy Communion, and she said, since today is the Feast of All Souls she would like to pray for her husband and her father who were arrested and killed in the Concentration Camp at Aushwitz during World War II.  After we prayed, and she received Holy Communion, she asked if I would like to see a picture of her father.  I said I would.

She went into the bedroom and brought out a rectangular photograph of very thin man, dressed in a prison outfit, in three poses: a profile looking to the right, one where he was looking up and to the left, and the middle one, he was looking directly at the camera with a haunted expression.

I thought of the horrors he witnessed—they seemed reflected in his eyes--and I had to sit down. 

Josephine then said, Father, I try to think of good memories, but so often I am overwhelmed with sadness.  Why do we always remember the hurtful things?

After a moment, I said, I think it’s important not to forget our loved ones, as hurtful as their memories are, so that we can pray for them, and to pray that terrible things like war and genocide never happen again.

She said, “All Souls Day is always a very sad day for me, but it is also the anniversary of our coming to this country and escaping those horrors.”  How fitting, I thought because that’s what All Souls is all about. Today we pray that our loved ones arrive at their heavenly homeland.

Today can be a sad day, to remember the faithful departed whom we loved in this life can evoke strong emotions.  And we simply don’t pray for those who were good to us in this life, but also those who may have hurt us—they need our prayers too. No matter who they were in life, how they acted, who they loved or hurt, we pray for all of the souls in purgatory today, that they may be open to all of the purification they need in order to enter eternal life with God.

Today is also a day of hope, because we hope to be reunited with our loved ones in the new and eternal life of the resurrection. That word hope was mentioned in the opening prayer: “Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord, and, as our faith in your Son, raised from the dead, is deepened, so may our hope of resurrection for your departed servants also find new strength.” The preface for the Eucharistic prayer will also speak of the hope of resurrection. 

We also acknowledge today the power of our prayers.  Our prayers are powerful and effective in helping those in purgatory make their way to God and to prepare for the resurrection.

When are overwhelmed with grief for our loved ones the best thing to do is to turn to God in prayer for their souls and to renew our hope in the resurrection. As Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest act of love we can perform on behalf of the dead is to pray for them.  So we continue the celebration of the Mass for the repose of their souls, not as a mere remembrance, but as a powerfully effective way of loving them and helping them, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

That Christ, Son of the Living God, who raised up Lazarus from the dead, will raise up to life all the dead who have been redeemed by his precious blood.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, consoler of all who mourn, who dried the tears of the family of Lazarus, the widow’s son, and the daughter of Jairus, will bring comfort to all those who mourn for the dead.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Savior, will destroy the reign of sin in our earthly bodies, and grant us eternal life.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Redeemer, will look on all those who have no hope because they do not know him, and bring them to faith in the resurrection and in the life of the world to come.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died. For our beloved dead who we pray for in a special way today, this All Souls day and during the month of November, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, that those who we remember in prayer may pass over to a dwelling place of light and peace. We pray to the Lord.

Homily: All Saints 2015 - Ordinary Saints

Over in the school one week, I posed two questions to our 8^th graders:  “Please raise your hand,” I asked them, “if you wish to go to heaven.”  All of them raised their hands, thanks be to God. “Very good”, I said, “I would hope so.”  Then I asked, “Raise your hands if you wish to be a saint.”  There was a little bit of hesitation, and only about half of the hands went up.  I detected there was a bit of confusion.

Why would they hesitate?  Why did only half of the 8^th graders raise their hands?  Why did only half of our 8^th graders want to be saints? When you hear the word saint, what do you think of?  An unfealing statue, a fanatic, a figure in a nice story?

A little over a week ago, Pope Francis made two new saints, or should I say, added their names to our list of saints, Louis and Zelie Martin, a married couple.  Louis and Zelie were the parents of St. Therese the Little Flower, but that’s not what made them saints; they in fact had nine children, that perhaps helped them develop the virtue of patience, but that’s not what made them saints.  Both Louis and Zelie suffered greatly in their lives, Zelie suffered and died from breast cancer, Louis suffered serious anxiety, mental problems, and died after suffering several strokes; both offered up their sufferings to God, uniting themselves to the suffering Lord, but that’s not entirely what made them saints. Both practiced prayer, spiritual reading, meditation, both of course had deep devotion to the Eucharist, frequent recourse to the sacrament of confession, many good faithful Christians do that, and those spiritual practices were definitely part of their journey to sainthood. 

So, what made them saints? Why does the universal Church headed by the successor of St. Peter, now recognize this ordinary Catholic couple as among the blessed? Pope Francis, at their canonization said, “The holy spouses Louis and Zelie Martin practiced Christian service in the family, creating day by day an environment of faith and love. The radiant witness of these new saints inspires us to persevere in joyful service to our brothers and sisters.” There’s why, they gave radiant witness, serving God in their ordinary lives to a heroic level.  And that’s really the story of every saint: they give radiant witness to Jesus Christ by serving God in their ordinary life. 

I told the story of Louis and Zelie Martin, yesterday, at the wedding I celebrated here at St. Clare.  I thought it would be fitting to talk about the saints yesterday, at their All Hallow’s Eve Wedding.  For as the Church gathers these weekend to celebrate the Saints, shouldn’t all married couples, all families, look to the Saints as great examples of radical holiness and love which we are all called to imitate.  And how wonderful that we have the wonderful recent examples of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, a saintly married couple.  They aren’t the first set of married couples to both become saints.  There are many examples: The Holy Roman Emperor, Saint Henry, and His Wife, the Empress, Saint Cunegunda; Saint Joachim and Anne, grandparents of Jesus; Mary and Joseph, of course; the Spanish couple, saint Isadore and his wife, Saint Maria de la Cabeza; there are quite a few couples who have been beatified, and whose causes for canonization are still progressing. Again, ordinary people, who respond to God with heroic surrender.

In the Sacrament of Marriage, bride and groom make promises to love and serve each other.  Someone once said, marriage is a life laboratory in which we can discover the real meaning of faithfulness and unconditional love.  Therefore marriage provides bride and groom and opportunity to become saints.  Yes, that nice couple yesterday, as so many of you, get married because you want to form happy memories with your spouse, you want to start a happy holy family with your spouse, you want someone to accompany you through life’s difficulties.  But the primary duty of spouses, is to help each other become saints, to help each other follow Jesus Christ faithfully, so that you can come to share the wedding feast of heaven.

One of my favorite prayers in the whole wedding ceremony comes in the last blessing. The priest extends his hands over the bride and groom and prays: “may God the eternal father keep you of one heart in love for one another, that the peace of Christ may dwell in you and abide always in your home. May you be blessed in your children, have solace in your friends and enjoy true peace with everyone.  May you be witnesses in the world to God’s charity, so that the afflicted and needy who have known your kindness may one day receive you thankfully into the eternal dwelling of God.”

There’s the key to holiness, there’s the key to becoming saints: “becoming witnesses in the world of God’s charity”.  We hold up the saints today, we honor them, not for their benefit…they are in no need of our praises. They’ve crossed the finish line, they’ve won the race, they’ve made the pilgrimage, they’ve fulfilled their life’s purpose and made it to the banquet!  We don’t praise the saints because they need our praises, but because we need to praise them, we need to learn from them. 

None of the saints had an easy ride.  They didn’t wake up one day, and find that being faithful to God was easy. This great cloud of witnesses in heaven shows us to persevere when faith is hard. And so they pray for us constantly, they teach us by their example, instruct us by their preaching, and they accompany us in our difficulties, encouraging us to remain faithful to Christ, amidst temptations and trials.

And we truly celebrate the Saints with great joy.    When a family member wins an award we are joyful.  My little sister was into gymnastics and cheerleading, and it filled me with joy when she would win medals for her excellent performances.  Or when our countrymen win gold medals at the Olympics, even though we’ve never met them, we are filled with delight. 

Well something greater than Olympic gold is being celebrated today.  The saints, our brothers and sisters in Christ, have won the glorious and imperishable crown, and we rejoice in their glory. 

In the Gospel for this Solemnity of All Saints, we hear Jesus proclaim the beatitudes.  In the beatitudes Jesus promises that if we follow his teaching, we will become holy. He promises heaven to his disciples. Notice he doesn’t promise heaven to those who seek financial success, earthly riches, or worldly pleasures.  He doesn’t say, blessed are you if you earn a million dollars; he doesn’t say, blessed are you if you become the best basketball player in the world; he doesn’t say, blessed are you if people bow down to you and serve you, blessed are you if get everything you want in this life.  No, he promises beatitude, happiness, holiness to those who seek heaven with their whole hearts—those who become humble as he is humble, those who seek purity of heart as he is pure, those who hunger and thirst for justice as he does, those who seek total abandonment to the will of God as he does. 

At Saint Louis and Marie Martin’s canonization Mass, Pope Francis said, Jesus’ life and death are “marked by an attitude of utter service…[so] faced with people who seek power and success in order to be noticed, who want their achievements and efforts to be acknowledged, [disciples of Jesus] are called to do the opposite… Jesus calls us…to pass from the thirst for power to the joy of quiet service.” “Each of us,” the Pope said, “through baptism…can receive the charity which flows from his open heart…and become channels of compassion, especially for those who are suffering, discouraged, and alone.”

The saints are those who have abandoned all to become instruments of God’s compassion, and that is the invitation made to each one of us.  From heaven may the saints continue to watch over us and sustain us by their powerful intercession, that we like them may become channels of God’s charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.