Homily: April 29 2016 - St. Catherine of Siena, virgin & doctor

Listen again to the opening prayer of Mass for the virgin and doctor of the Church, St. Catherine of Siena:

O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of his glory.

The Collect touches upon several characteristics of the virgin doctor’s spirituality: her meditation on the sufferings of Christ, her ardent love for God, and her service to the Church.

She wrote much: 382 letters, prayers, and a treatise entitled the Dialogue of Divine Providence.
In her letter reflecting on the Lord’s Passion, she wrote: “Remember Christ crucified..make your aim the crucified Christ; hide in the wounds of the Crucified Christ and drown in the blood of the Crucified Christ.”

Her life was filled with extraordinary mystical phenomena such as visions and revelations, raptures, mystical marriage, and the stigmata, and also great works of charity: nursing the sick and comforting prisoners in jail. She received the holy stigmata on her hands, feet and heart.  Originally, her stigmata were visible, but in humility she prayed that they not be seen by others, and her prayer was answered.  However, at her death, the stigmata reappeared.  Catherine, also lived many years, eating nothing, save the flesh and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  Catherine also had the gift of tears, as the Lord wept at the death of Lazarus, those with the gift of tears weep in union with the sorrowful Christ for souls.

St. Catherine’s body is also totally incorrupt, and is preserved in the beautiful gothic basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.  I visited her a few times in that amazing basilica.  I also had the honor of attending Mass on, this, her feast day, in the small chapel behind the sacristy of the basilica.  During her life, the Pope, instead of residing in Rome, resided in Avignon, France.  Rightly, St. Catherine prayed for the return of the Pope, she wrote him letters pleading with Him to return to the Holy See.  She would attend Mass make a daily pilgrimage from that small chapel to St. Peter Basilica in the Vatican.  Catherine lived to see Pope Gregory XI move the See of Peter back to Rome, in 1377.

This great saint died in Rome in 1380. Even though she barely reached the age of thirty-three her accomplishments place her among the great women of the Middle Ages.  She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius II in 1461. In 1970, Pope Paul VI declared St. Catherine a Doctor of the Church.

As a universal doctor, Catherine teaches all of us to fervent seek God and to serve Him with our whole hearts. Listen to her words from this morning’s office of reading’s: “You are a mystery as deep as the sea;” she says, “the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I search for you.  But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more.  When you fill my soul, I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light.”

May each of us like Saint Catherine be set aflame with divine love, be united to the Lord in his sufferings, and be devoted to the building up and serving his Holy Church for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday - 5th Week of Easter 2016 - The Secret of Joy

Today’s short Gospel is often chosen for wedding masses by the couples, perhaps because they are hoping for a short homily due to the short length of the reading.  Most likely, and I’d like to think, it is because the couples are truly hoping for a joy filled marriage.  Jesus, in the Gospel promises joy to those who remain united to Him.

So, why are so many marriages ending in unhappiness and divorce, why does the joy of the wedding day so quickly evaporates.  Why in the last 30 years has the number of Americans taking antidepressants increased 400%? Why in the greatest country on earth are citizens unhappier than ever? What accounts for the 40 thousand suicide attempts in this country every year? When our deepest desire is for joy, why are we so joy-less?

Joy is the by-product of a life lived with God at the center. Possibly never before has a culture been so preoccupied with feeling good, pleasure-seeking, and selfish pursuits, and so far from the authentic joy that comes from God. We push God out of politics, education, and family life, and why wonder why our country is so miserable and our fellow citizens acting like beasts.

Bishop Lennon wrote a fantastic article for the universe bulletin on Marriage, titled “Marriage, a Sacrament of Conversion”.  In it he wrote that a couple will develop a shared spirituality that encompasses the whole of the married life.  If that life is centered on a false God of prosperity, prestige, or mere pursuit of the good life—they will likely reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.  But married couples who place Christ at the center of life, including Him in their weekly schedules and activities, meals, chores, conversations, parenting, work, vacations, civic responsibilities, decisions, problems, crises, accomplishments, losses—the whole of their lives become changed and charged with God’s presence.

The question is, do we really want the Joy that Jesus promises or rather the cheap, temporary, empty joy that comes from the world?  Joy is a gift from God, but it also requires a lot of work on our part.  For to obtain the Joy Jesus promises we have to become unselfish and die to ourselves—we must obey God in all things, seeking what He wants, rather than what we want.

Perhaps there is such a lack of joy in the world because Christians are failing in seeking the joy that comes from Christ.

May we open our hearts to the joy that comes from deep union with Our Lord, through the enlightening of our minds by His truth, seeking Him in fervent prayer, and perfect charity. Lord Jesus, give us this joy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls

Homily: Wednesday - 5th Week of Easter 2016 - Joy amidst controversy

Ever come home from a long hard day of work, and find the kids bickering?  Well, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, from a thousand mile journey, much of it by foot, where they had drawn thousands of Gentiles to Christ, had been stoned nearly to death, and they find some of the Christian converts from Judaism were instructing the community that “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” 

In the Old Testament, Gentiles could become part of God’s people through circumcision. Adult circumcision, however, is not entirely pleasant, and so this claim, we read, caused “no little dissension and debate.”

This topic really became the Church’s first serious controversy.  In the Old Testament, Gentiles could become part of God’s people through circumcision. The first followers of Christ were circumcised Jews, Jesus himself was a circumcised Jew, Paul was circumcised. And so the question arises: do the Gentiles essentially need to become Jewish first, and preserve the tenets of the Mosaic law, in order to be a faithful disciple of Jesus?  Is circumcision necessary for salvation?

So Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others journey to the apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem to discuss this topic at what is known as the Council of Jerusalem, the first Official Council of the Church.  Over the next few days we’ll hear how this issue is resolved.

But one of the most important aspects of this reading today is that while they were making their way from Antioch to Jerusalem, through Phoenicia and Samaria, Paul and Barnabas shared the stories from their first missionary journey, he told of the conversion of the Gentiles, and this brought great joy to all the brothers.  They did not allow this church controversy to get in the way of the work of God. You don’t see Paul and Barnabas demonizing the opposition, belittling the other side in the debate, in the midst of controversy he continues to spread authentic joy.

Paul gives the modern church, riddled with many controversies, a power example of authentic Christian living. We have to be very careful when controversy arises, within our church and our families, that we do not blow our differences out of proportion, that we do not demonize others, but that we continue to act in charity.

A second important insight, is that when this controversy arises, Paul doesn’t make an authoritative claim about Church policy, Paul turns to the authority of the Apostles, and points others in that direction as well.  Whenever we don’t understand a Church teaching, or have a disagreement with Church policy, we are to submit to the Apostles, who offer teaching consistent with the Gospel and Sacred Tradition.

No, Jesus never spoke directly about issues of In Vitro Fertilization, Gay Marriage, contraception, or human cloning. But the Pope and the Bishops faithfully apply the Gospel to these issues, and we are to form our minds according to their authoritative apostolic teaching.

By not allowing controversy to rob us of our Christian joy, and to subjecting ourselves to the rightful authority of the Church, we remain united to Christ, as branches to the vine. Through faith, obedience, and charity, may our earthly work bear fruit that will last unto eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday - 5th Week of Easter 2016 - When the world knocks you down...

Our Easter readings from the Acts of the Apostles continue to give us stories of the amazing courage and fortitude of the early Church in spreading the Gospel.  Imagine, on his first missionary journey, Paul had already traveled hundreds of miles through treacherous mountain paths, storm-ridden seas, rapid rivers, bandit ridden lowlands.  He is preaching the Gospel up in modern day Turkey; a group of Jews appear from the south, where he had been preaching some time before, and they turn the crowds against Paul to the point where they stone him, injuring him so badly, they thought he was dead, and so they drag him out of town to be devoured by the carrion feeders.

Remember in second Corinthians, when Paul says: “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked” well, this is probably the stoning he was referring to. Some Christian disciples gather around his body, probably to start planning his funeral, perhaps though, the pray for his resuscitation, he might have been actually dead, mind you; Paul stands up, brushes the dust off, and walks right back into the city.

Misunderstanding, slander, rejection, the trauma of physical torture, and even the threat of death---these things do not stop the apostles’ mission. One might expect the apostle to relax his mission in the face of such extreme resistance.  Paul gets up, and goes to the next town.

Not to belittle Paul’s great suffering for the Gospel, but sometimes it feels like life stones us and leaves us for dead outside of town.  The loss of a job, the death of a loved one, the betrayal of friends. Or those of us who are involved in ministry, trying to do the work of Christ, sometimes it feels like the deck is stacked against us, even some members of the Church seem to be working against us.

Authentic Christianity involves the cultivation of the virtue of fortitude.  St. Paul, said it well this last Sunday, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

The great apologist C.S. Lewis said, “Hardship often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”

We heard in the Gospel today, on the night before he died, Jesus promises his disciples a gift: “the gift of peace; peace, not as the world gives.”  When the world speaks of peace, it means a life without crosses, without suffering, a numbness to the suffering around us.

The Lord however promises us a peace which we can experience while carrying the cross, a peace which we can know while being crucified.  The peace that Jesus gives isn’t a nice feeling that comes from pretending that our crosses are no big deal or running away from crosses, setting them down when they get to heavy or scary or demanding or inconvenient. 

Christian peace comes from enduring our hardships with Christian faith, knowing that what suffer is for the sake of the kingdom, it is done out of love for God and love for souls. Peace is not promised to us for any task, we aren’t promised peace or success in our selfish pursuits. But peace and strength and courage are promised for the spread of the Gospel and building up of the Church.

This is a peace, St. Paul says, which “is beyond all understanding.” As we come forward to receive the Eucharist today, let us ask God for a purifying of our intentions, that our pursuits might not be out of selfish, lazy or ambitious motives, but that through our endurance of hardships for the sake of the kingdom, we may know God’s gift of peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: April 25 2016 - St. Mark - "Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista Meus"

Often when a new church is being built there is some memento to the current pontiff and diocesan bishop. So here at St. Clare, in the sacristy are two stained glass windows, with the coat of arms of Pope Saint John XXIII and Archbishop Hoban, who were both in office at the time Fr. Fitzgerald built the church building.  On ecclesiastical coats of arms, are often symbols of the diocese in which the priest is serving, and perhaps some other religious symbol. So, on Archbishop Hobans coat of arms, there is the heraldry for the diocese of Cleveland accompanied by the bishop’s miter with the dove of the Holy Spirit resting upon it, perhaps reminding us of the phrase “the spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring glad tidings to the poor”

The coat of arms for John XXIII was identical to the one he used as patriarch of Venice. On the upper third of the coat of arms is the winged golden lion of Venice, the symbol for the city, also the symbol for the evangelist and martyr St. Mark, whose feast is today.  The lion of Venice is usually depicted with its paw on an open book that contains the text “Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus” – “Peace be to you Mark, My Evangelist”.  Venetian legend has it that, while visiting the region of Italy that would later become Venice, St. Mark was approached by an angel, greeted with those words, “Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus. Hic requiescet corpus tuum” – “Peace be to you Mark, it is here that your body will rest.”

For almost 800 years, the remains of St. Mark were housed in Alexandria, the place of his martyrdom, but in 828 his body was stolen by Venetian Merchants, and brought to Venice. So Venice ultimately is the resting place of his body. Thank goodness those venetian criminals helped the angel’s prophecy come true!

St. Mark is represented as a lion because his Gospel begins with the voice of John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness.  The voice of one crying in the desert: Make ready the way of the Lord. 

The Lion is also a symbol of courage, and Saint Mark courageously faced a martyr’s death.  While he was celebrating Mass in Alexandria, his persecutors seized him, tied a rope around him and dragged him through the streets, then imprisoned and killed him.

The Entrance Antiphon, like the Gospel of the Mass, recalls the missionary apostolate mandated by Christ: “Go out to the whole world, and preach the Gospel to all creation.”

All of us are called to be lions for the Lord—full of courage, roaring the Gospel from the housetops. As the shortest of the four Gospels, Saint Mark Gospel can be read easily in a single sitting. If you’ve never done so, today would be quite a fitting day to read it straight through.  For how can we proclaim what we do not know?

May Saint Mark’s example and prayers help us to cry out the Gospel of Christ throughout the world, proclaiming it to all creation, for the Glory of God and Salvation of souls.

If anyone would like to view the stained glass windows I mentioned, feel free to visit the sacristy after Mass today, making proper reverence to the tabernacle of course, as you pass by it.

Homily: 5th Sunday of Easter 2016 - Shakespeare, Heaven, Love

On this 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, I draw for this homily some inspiration from the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon. In Act I, Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and a group of friends are investigating the sudden appearance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father.  Each of the men have their own responses to this mysterious visitor. Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend takes the stand of the skeptic—ghost’s do not exist, this is too “wondrous strange” to be happening.  Hamlet, turns to Horatio, and utters those famous words: “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy”

In a sense, Horatio symbolizes the modern materialist philosophy which denies the existence of God, angels and heaven.  Materialism says man is simply an animal, instead of a creature made in God’s image with soul of intellect and spirit.  Is it any wonder why more and more people are acting like animals—savage, uncaring, ruled by their passions? It’s because the world has told them that’s all they are! The world says there is no soul to cultivate, no God to worship.

Where the Catholic faith honors truth, goodness, beauty and Sabbath worship, the world knows only cold, calculated, efficiency. Hamlet’s utterance to Horatio therefore is a very Catholic thought: “there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy”, and those things exist, whether Horatio believes in them or not. Our Catholic faith even gives us a glimpse into heaven.

In our second readings, since the 2nd Sunday of Easter we’ve read these marvelous passages from the book of Revelation. The veil has been pulled back as we’ve read of the heavenly liturgy, the procession of white-robed saints, the worship of the lamb on the throne of heaven. I don’t know about you, but sometimes, as I’m celebrating Mass, it as if the veil is lifted, and you can sense the presence of the angels offering their adoration of the lamb of God in the Eucharist. Angels sing with us, and adore with us at Holy Mass. Though their presence is veiled to our earthly senses, we know they are here with us, through faith.

Well, this week the whole book of Revelation comes to a climax. That for which all of creation has longed comes to fulfillment, as God makes his dwelling in the new and eternal Jerusalem: “The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” As beautiful, and as full of amazing creatures, as it is, this world is but a precursor, a foretaste, a prologue to the new heavens and new earth that will last forever. In eternity we will dwell with God and be in his presence in a way “no earthy eye has seen, nor ear has heard”.

Again, this is in contradistinction with the earthly philosophy that says this life is all there is—the material world is all there is—our human consciousness is but a consequence of random natural forces creating the illusion of free will.  Our Christian faith, rather, not only tells us that there is an afterlife, but faith orients us to it, helps us to reach it and prepare for it.

In the first reading, Paul exhorts that early “band of brothers” the disciples to persevere in the faith. If you wish to enter the kingdom of God “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships.” In other words, only through the Cross can we reach the Resurrection; only through self-sacrificing love can we experience true Christian joy. St. Paul here offers more than “words, words, words”; he backs up his words through his own heroic endurance of hardship for the sake of the Gospel. He is imprisoned for the Gospel, undergoes journeys 1000s of miles to spread the Gospel, he is martyred for the Gospel
In this reading we are reminded once again of the crux of the Christian life. If you wish to have citizenship in the eternal heaven, you must embrace the Cross of Jesus Christ in belief and practice: orthodoxy and orthopraxis.  We must not only believe, but act in accordance with the teaching of Christ.
"I give you a new commandment... As I have loved you, so you also should love one another." Loving one another, going to the cross for one another, forgiving one another, is not a mere suggestion, it’s a commandment.  To love each other with Christ-like love, to love each other as Christ loves us, this is his commandment.

Why is this so hard for us? Well, another part of creation which the materialist philosophies explain away, is the devil.  The devil exists, not simply as a symbol for all of our psychological weaknesses and violent tendencies, but as a real being who works to lead us away from the love of God and loving like God.

The devil whispers in our souls encouragements to harbor resentments, greedily hoard our wealth, lust after flesh, indulge our every impulse.  He works to weaken our patience, self-control, and faith. He tells us that reading scripture is only for fanatics, works of charity are for other people to do.  He tempts us to exempt ourselves from the teachings of Christ because they are too hard, too inconvenient, too demanding.

The devil also works to harden our hearts towards people we are called to love.  And let’s be honest, sometimes people are hard to love. Mother Theresa said, “People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway…People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.” Sometimes it is hard to love, but to quote Shakespeare again, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

And so we need to fortify ourselves against the devil’s attacks by remaining rooted in the truth of our faith, studying the catechism, reading the scriptures, praying for protection. We must remember that “not all that glistens is gold." We need to make us of the sacramentals like scapulars and holy water and novenas. We should receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly, several times a year, and receive the Eucharist weekly, several times a week if possible.  For how can we every “undergo those many hardships’ if we try to do it on our own? And each of us needs to be involved in some sort of charitable activity. It might mean volunteering at the school, or in PSR, or as an usher, lector, or member of the choir; it might mean inviting the widows on your street over for dinner or tea, but we must be doing something so our hearts do not harden toward our neighbor.

“Be not afraid of greatness”—we are called to great love of God and neighbor. God has given each of us “A heart to love, and in that heart, Courage, to make love known” to quote Macbeth. May each of us use that courage to love as we are called to by Christ, our enemy, our neighbor, and our God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday - 4th Week of Easter 2016 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled"

Today’s Gospel reading is one of the most famous and consoling passages, it is chosen quite often for Catholic Funeral Masses.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus gave these words to us on the night before he died for us and for our salvation. He said these words knowing what would happen in the following few hours and on Good Friday.  His disciples would see him arrested, mocked, tortured, crucified, and killed.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled” as you witness these things. How could their hearts not be troubled, as they saw their Lord expire and breath his last? Yet he wished for them, not to let the sufferings which they witnessed obscure that for which he suffered.

Why is this reading chosen so often by grieving family members for Catholic funeral Masses? When overwhelmed with tremendous grief, our faith pierces through grief, transforms grief. Faith helps us to gaze into the promised eternity, where every tear will be wiped away—where the promises of Our Lord will be fulfilled, promises of eternal life and resurrection.

Faith enabled Paul and Barnabas in our first reading, to embrace the hardship of evangelization: the anxiety of unknown places & unknown peoples, physical dangers, mental exhaustion—all of it is worth it, because when our earthly labors and earthly sufferings are done for God, we will reap eternal reward.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. These words of Jesus are not a suggestion, but a command—for his disciples and for all of us.  We are to view all of our earthly sufferings through the eyes of faith, that this world is but a preparation for the next. We are to have untroubled hearts when we face our own serious illnesses, when we see loved ones pass away, when earthly leaders persecute us, when we are called upon to spread the Gospel to unknown people in unknown lands. 

Having “untroubled hearts” does not mean we have to be Pollyanna, ignoring the corruption in the world, or the divisions in the Church, pretending like our suffering isn’t that bad. We aren’t to view the world through rose-colored glasses, but through the lens of faith, which sees all things—our sufferings, our trials, even earthly death—from the divine perspective.

Not naïve optimism, but faith, preserves our hearts from becoming overwhelmed by earthly suffering. Faith, orients us to eternity, helping us even to embrace suffering, like Our Lord, for the good of others, enabling us to observe all he commands, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday - 4th Week of Easter 2016 - Explaining your faith

Yesterday, we heard how Paul and Barnabas embarked on their first missionary journey which would take them on their first thousand mile missionary journey.  Today we hear just how St. Paul went about his missionary work.

Upon arriving in a new town, his method was first to go to one of the local synagogues and bring the gospel message to the folks who, by heritage, were most entitled to it, his fellow Jews. After the readings of that Sabbath from the scrolls of the Law and the prophets, the leader would ask if the visitor had any message for the congregation. Did he ever!

Today we heard Paul’s visit to the synagogue in the town of Antioch in Pisidia; this is not the same Antioch from yesterday’s reading.  Remember they had started in Antioch in modern day northern Syria, traveled southwest down to Seleucia, then sailed over to the island of Cyprus, then up to Perga on the southern coast of modern day turkey, which is as far west as his first journey will take him. Today we heard how he travels up the river and over what are now Turkey’s Anatolian highlands to a place called Antioch in Pisidia.  You might want to trace his journey in those handy maps in the backs of your bibles sometime today, for it was definitely a treacherous route.

So Paul comes to this synagogue and presents this exhortation to the Jews and others gathered there, summarizing beautifully the history of the people of Israel—with the surprise ending that the whole thing had been climaxed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Tomorrow we’ll hear the rest of his exhortation.

The Jews were pretty familiar with their own history and the biblical prophecies of the Messiah. Imagine the surprise when Paul preaches that the Messiah had come, and the sort of Messiah he turned out to be!

Now Paul had been educated by the great Rabbi Gamaliel. He knew the law and the prophets of the Old Testament.  Paul was able to preach and teach his fellow Jews because of his familiarity with God’s Word. For many of us, we find the Old Testament daunting, and giving a biblical teaching about Christ may be out of our expertise.

However, St. Peter wrote: "Should anyone ask you the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply".  We may not be able to give an exhortation on the faith as a master’s level biblical theologian, but each of us should be able to give a clear explanation for why we are Catholic, why we remain Catholic, why we believe Catholicism to be the one true faith, where we find strength, and guidance, and the fulfillment of our hopes in our Catholic faith. And to share that story easily with others.

May we, by knowing our faith and knowing the Scriptures, and knowing and loving the Lord Jesus, give witness to Him in all of our words, actions, and decisions this day, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: Wednesday - 4th Week of Easter 2016 - Living Faith and Mercy

Yesterday, we heard in the book of Acts about that Breakthrough moment, where the Gospel begins to be preached and received by the Gentiles.  Today we hear of the inauguration of Saint Paul’s first missionary journey—the first of three—a sojourn of about a 1000 miles.  This first journey is going to take Paul and Barnabas through some pretty dangerous territory.

Yesterday, I spoke about breakthrough moments that are needed in spreading the faith—the need to go outside of our comfort zone to spread the faith. Today, we consider the great readiness and courage of Saints Paul and Barnabas to take up this mission.  Think of how strong their faith must have been: faith that would impel them through rapid rivers, steep mountains, malaria-plagued lowlands, and bandit-ridden roads.

In the Gospel today, Jesus speaks about the important of faith—faith that hears Jesus’ words and observes them, faith that brings light in darkness.

Saint Margaret Mary said, “faith is the torch which illuminates, animates, and sustains you, so that all your actions and sufferings may be for God.”

Remember, a few years ago, Pope Benedict opened a Holy Year of Faith.  He invited us during that year to study our faith and spread the faith.  “Faith grows,” Pope Benedict said, “when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy.” Pope Francis, during this Year of Mercy, has called us to this same sort of living faith—faith that is lived through concrete acts of mercy.

Conversion to the Lord entails turning towards others, to bring the Lord more deeply into their lives. When we look to our neighbor in need with charity, we begin to see with the eyes of Christ. Pope Francis said, “Jesus [has] made mercy…a criterion for the credibility of our faith: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7): [is] the beatitude to which we should particularly aspire in this Holy Year.”

May we work to spread the light of the Gospel in a world grown so dark, through concrete acts of love and mercy, enduring hardship for the sake of our neighbor, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday - 4th Week of Easter 2016 - Breakthroughs

The readings from the Book of Acts throughout the Easter season continue to give us a glimpse into the activity of the early Church. 

Well, for the last four weeks, we’ve heard how the Gospel was spread in Jerusalem and Judea—the Gospel was preached by the apostles primarily to the Jews.  But today, we hear of one of the great breakthroughs of human history. 

Heavy persecution hit Judea. And so the Christians there scattered, like seeds to the wind, to the surrounding regions, “to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.” Some of the displaced Christians were Greek-speakers, and they began to share the good news of the Lord Jesus with some of the Gentiles in Antioch.  This may seem very natural and inevitable to us now, but this really was a breakthrough: the disciples were leaving their comfort zones, preaching to people of different nationalities and languages. And the Gospel was being received through their efforts.

The Easter season for all of us means new ways of living the Gospel, new ways of sharing the Gospel. Where do the breakthroughs need to occur in your own life?  When’s the last time you shared your faith with a stranger?  Could you see yourself talking to a stranger at a coffee shop or the rec center about Jesus and about the Catholic Church?  There are people out there who want to know more about Jesus, they want to know about Catholicism, but they have no one to talk to.  Just like the early Christians, the Holy Spirit is urging us into new missionary territory.

Could you see yourself praying the rosary peacefully outside an abortion clinic with other fellow Catholics?  Could you see yourself leading your family in prayer the next time they came to visit?

Notice how, in the reading, this new missionary activity takes place after the suffering and death of the first martyr, Stephen. The blood of the martyrs are the seeds of the Church.  What we suffer prepares us for new missionary activity and the new work of the Spirit. We may feel ill-equipped or scared to share the Gospel with strangers. But trust in the Lord: he has prepared us through many trials of faith for the spreading of that faith. Jesus says in the Gospel today, “my sheep hear my voice”.  He wants to use to gather his scattered flock.  May we each respond generously to the Lord’s call to spread the saving faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday - 4th Week of Easter 2016 - Abundant Life

Landscape with a Flock, by Charles Émile Jacque, painted 1872

Where last week our Gospel readings were taken from chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel, what is called “the Bread of Life” discourse, following Good Shepherd Sunday yesterday, today, our readings are from chapter 10, what is called “the Good Shepherd discourse” in which Our Lord draws upon very powerful shepherding imagery.  The Old Testament is steeped in Shepherding imagery. Over and over God is described as a Shepherd.

The most beautiful expression of God’s shepherding care in the Bible and probably all of literature, is Psalm 23.  The Psalm tells us that God is the Shepherd who feeds us in green pastures, who leads us to safety, who protects us in dark valleys.  He feeds, he guides, he protects.

On Good Shepherd Sunday yesterday, I celebrated baptism for a baby girl. I thought about how parents are called to be good shepherds for their children. Parents of course feed their children, protect their children, guide their children. Most importantly, parents need to help their children know and follow the voice of the One Shepherd, Christ the Good Shepherd.

For in Baptism, we become members of God’s flock the Church. We enter the Church through Christ, through his saving waters of baptism. Within the Church, Christ our Shepherd, he guides us by his teaching, feeds us with his body and blood, protects us from spiritual evils which seek the destruction of our souls through grace which helps us to resist temptation. 

Human shepherds like parents and priests work together to help the young ones to have a deep, personal, intimate love of the Shepherd. And that is accomplished by handing on the faith, and by our own personal example. 

At baptism, parents have such high hopes for their children: they want what is best for them. Parents want to see their children grow to live full, happy lives. And so does Jesus the Good Shepherd. He says today, “I came so they might have life and have it abundantly”. 

Jesus offers abundant pasture to us—abundant graces flow from Christ to His Church in the Sacraments to enrich the lives of the flock on our journey of salvation.  God is not stingy with his blessings; nor does he want us to live a joyless, miserable life.  Graces are available to us in such abundance, yet often, we deprive ourselves from them because of fear and attachment to sin and worldly pursuits.

Medical science seeks to add years to our lives, but only Jesus can add life to our years. In our Easter journey may we continue to learn to trust the Shepherd, to be protected and fed by the shepherd, that we may be ever more faithful to Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Homily: 4th Sunday of Easter 2016 - Hearing the Shepherd's Voice

The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called Good Shepherd Sunday.  It has also been designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.

Speaking of vocations, on Friday, I had the pleasure of leading our 7th and 8th grade boys on a field trip to our diocesan seminary.  We joined 7th and 8th graders from several schools, about 150 boys and girls in all. We began the morning with a presentation by our diocesan vocation director, Father Mike McCandless, accompanied by three young beautiful Mercedarian Sisters, dressed in their clean, white habits.  They spoke about how each us of are called in our own way to build up the Church every Christian at the time of our baptism is given a share in the mission of the Church, and how every Christian is endowed by the Holy Spirit with gifts for that mission.   We might be married, we might be religious sisters or brothers, we might be priests, we might be widowed, we might be single, but all of us share in the mission of the Church.

Pope Francis shared this same teaching during his recent visit to these United States.  In Philadelphia, he said: "Every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission. Each one of us has to respond, as best we can, to the Lord's call to build up his Body, the Church"

We then split off into small groups.  And I led our boys down one of my favorite corridors in the seminary, where you find hanging on the walls pictures of all of the men who have graduated from Borromeo College and have been ordained from Saint Mary Seminary.  So they got to see the college photo of a young, handsome Stanley Klasinski, and the edifying picture of young Father Robert Wendelken ordination class of 1961, and of course my own.

My favorite photos, however are those of the priests ordained at the turn of the 20th century.  Black and white photos from the ordination classes of the 1910s and 20s.  None of us would be here without the tremendous efforts of priests and religious from previous generations. And maybe, God willing, some of our boys will join those esteemed ranks one day.

I then took the boys down to one of my other favorite parts of the seminary, what the boys quickly called “the man cave.” Yes, seminarians relax from time to time: ping pong and pool tables, musical instruments, even tv and an occasional video game from time to time.

We then split up the boys from the girls; the ladies visited with the sisters, and the boys with the priests, and we watched an excellent video about the vocation stories of two priests; we heard from some of our local seminarians, and I shared my own vocation story with the boys.

We celebrated Mass with the seminary community and then had a nice pizza lunch.  You can all be very proud of our St. Clare boys: they were very respectful, took part in conversations with the sisters and priests, and patiently indulged me as I waxed nostalgically about my seminary days.

At lunch I asked one of the boys if anything surprised him about the day.  He said, he was surprised to find out that the seminarians are normal guys who like basketball, music, games, but who also take their studies and faith seriously.

Seminary formation is something the Church does very well.  Where all colleges provide academic and professional training, seminary forms the whole man: the mind, through rigorous philosophical and theological training, the body, through daily exercise, sports, and of course the soul, through daily prayer, daily mass, daily devotions.  The man’s heart is also formed through apostolic service. In the course of my seminary I was able to serve at several hospitals and nursing homes, Cuyahoga county jail, an inner-city school, and was able to work with teenagers with drug and alcohol problems.  Not everyone who enters seminary leaves a priest, but everyone who enters seminary leaves a better man.  So I encouraged our young men to visit the seminary again during high school and prayerfully consider if God is calling them to the priesthood.

I know it took my own mother several years to really warm up to the idea of her son becoming a priest. But as she visited the seminary more and more, saw the happy priests serving at the seminary, saw the other very happy and dedicated seminarians, she began to see my priestly call as a blessing.  It is a normal part of every young Catholic’s life to consider how God is calling them.  Parents should be overjoyed when their children consider the possibility of a religious calling because you know they are seeking to become the people God made them to be.

We often carry around these ideas of what we think we need to be happy. “I can’t be happy without the nice house, the expensive car.” Sometimes these images are downright dangerous to our souls: “I can’t be happy without another drink, another trip to the prostitute. I can’t be happy unless I am controlling others.” But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, our greatest happiness is not found in indulging these worldly notions of happiness; our greatest happiness is not found in doing our own will..  Our greatest happiness is knowing and following the voice of the One Shepherd, the Good Shepherd: The one who doesn’t promise earthly success, but eternal life.

And that’s true for all of us—married, religious, single, or priest.  Life in today’s world is noisy, it is not always easy for us to hear the voice of our good shepherd.  We are bombarded with some many competing voices, images, and ideas.  There are even very powerful, influential people who claim that the Church is misguided or flat-out wrong or intolerant.

That’s why each of us need to tune in to the voice of the shepherd every day—accustoming our ears to the sound of his voice.  We do this through prayer, through study of our faith, and by listening to his voice in the cries of the poor and the needy and responding to them.

Following the voice of the shepherd is not always popular, sometimes it’s counter-cultural, sometimes it will bring us persecution, demotions, the scorn of the wicked, even division in families.  But he asks us to trust him, to follow him. When we seek God’s will as our own personal highest good, we become the best version of ourselves, we are see our best qualities flourish.  We will always regret the time, talent, and treasure we do not give to God.

Parents and grandparents, you are in such a critical position for helping the next generation hear the call of God to service by making your homes places where the shepherd’s voice is louder than the television, iphones, and internet. Please be faithful to that, your vocation. And let us each pray for a new openness to God’s will in our own lives, how God is calling each of us to build up the church, to draw in new disciples of Christ, to pass on the faith to the next generation, and to work always for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday - 3rd Week of Easter 2016 - Many Names, One God

A few weeks ago, the second grade teacher down in the school asked me to talk about the Eucharist with the kids.  They were getting confused because the Sacrament of Holy Communion has so many names. It’s called Holy Communion, Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Holy Sacrifice, the Bread of Angels, the Bread of Life and Cup of Eternal Salvation, and several others.

Why so many names for just one Sacrament?

Well, in Scripture, God himself has many names. He is called Elohim, the mighty one, El-Shaddai, God Almighty, El Elyon, The Most High God, El Olam, The Everlasting God, Adonai, the Lord God, and he reveals his name as, Yahweh, He Is Who Is. He is called Creator, Father, Deliverer, the Ancient of Days, the Holy One, King, Judge, Lawgiver, Light, Redeemer, Shepherd, Salvation.

Jesus himself has many names, he calls himself “The Son of Man, the Son of God”. He’s called, Son of the Most High, the Alpha and the Omega, The Word, the Righteous One, the Lion of Judah, the King of the Jews, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Bridegroom, He calls himself the Bread of Life, the gate, the good shepherd, the way the truth and the life, the true vine.

So, in a sense, it is fitting that Holy Communion, the Eucharist has so many names, because Jesus has many names, and the Eucharist is Jesus.

And each of the names reveals something about Him.

The Sacrament is called Holy Communion” because through it our bodies and souls are united to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This sacrament is often called the “Blessed Sacrament” because unlike the other Sacrament where Jesus performs a holy action, this Sacrament IS Jesus, the Holy One.

This sacrament is sometimes called the “Holy Sacrifice” because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior on the Cross. As he gave himself on the cross, he gives himself in this Sacrament for us and for our salvation.

Sometimes this sacrament is called the “Bread of Angels” because the angels adore this Sacrament because it is Jesus Himself. Though they cannot be seen, countless hosts of angels are with us in the celebration of Mass to offer their worship and adoration along with ours.

The Sacrament is called Eucharist because it is through this Sacrament that the Church gives the ultimate, highest thanksgiving to God for Jesus’ saving death on the cross.

The Sacrament is called the Bread of Life because Jesus says that whoever eats this bread will live forever.

The Sacrament is called his Body and Blood because at the Last Supper he transformed bread and wine into His Body and Blood, and in today’s Gospel equates the Bread of Life with his Flesh and Blood.

A biblical theologian said, the name of God is given so that he might be adored by that name.  As we celebrate and receive the Most Blessed Sacrament today, let us recognize with ever greater love and devotion the one in whose name we are saved, Jesus the Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday - 3rd Week of Easter 2016 - Practicing Good Religion

One of my favorite Catholic philosophers, Dr. Peter Kreeft, wrote: “Christianity is not a system of man's search for God but a story of God's search for man. True religion is not like a cloud of incense wafting up from special spirits into the nostrils of a waiting God, but like a Father's hand thrust downward to rescue the fallen. Throughout the Bible, man-made religion fails. There is no human way up the mountain, only a divine way down.”

Think of the Tower of Babel, man’s attempt to pierce the heavens through his own power. He fails.  Think of the Northern Kingdom, the new flashier rival religious system fail, because it severs itself from the root. Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden, their grasping at the forbidden fruit is probably the first example of bad religion in human history; instead of eating what God has provided for them, believing the devil’s lie, they grasp at another way because they think it will make them like God.

Jesus explains this in the Gospel, how God is drawing men to himself, feeding us himself.  In Christianity, God doesn’t expect us to discover some hidden road, he has laid the road for us, he has become the road for us, he is the way, the truth, and the life. And he has given us food along the road, in the Bread of Life, the Eucharist.

We see God’s drawing souls to himself in the first reading. In the Acts of the Apostles, God has placed that desire for life and truth in the heart of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The eunuch is a seeker: he has a copy of the scriptures, he’s reading through them, but does not understand them. On so, on the road, God orchestrates a divine collision.  God’s angel sends the apostle Philip to minister to this Eunuch, to explain the Scriptures and baptize him if the eunuch responds in faith.

Who are we in this story? Well, at one point we were all the eunuch, searching for God. God sent an apostle to us, perhaps a parent, or a neighbor, or a friend, or a religious sister, or a priest, to explain the scriptures to us. Through that spiritual friend, God drew us deeper into his divine life, thanks be to God. And of course, we are all meant to be Philip in that story too, attentive to the quiet voices of angels, sending us out to bring souls to Christ.

There are seekers out there, seeking for Christ, seeking for truth, seeking for the road that leads to eternal life.  And sometimes we don’t hear God’s angels sending us to meet them because we are so focused on ourselves—building our own towers of babel, grasping at forbidden fruit, fixated on the flashy glamours of the modern false religions. 

To be God’s instrument in the great work of the Church, we must subjugate our egos to God, seeking His will above all, walking by the light of His truth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday - 3rd Week of Easter 2016 - A sign from heaven (School Mass)

During the first two weeks of the Easter season, our Gospel readings have been accounts of the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples.  He has appeared in his glorified flesh and blood on the banks of the sea of Galilee, on the road to Emmaus, in the locked room.  Doubting Thomas was even able to touch the marks in the Risen Lord’s flesh.

All of this week, our Gospel readings are taken from the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel.  The sixth chapter of John is usually known as the “Bread of Life Discourse” because in it, Jesus speaks of Himself, as we heard today, as the Bread of Life, given to us as real food and real drink.

In today’s Gospel the people were asking for a sign so they could believe that Jesus was really sent by God. And Jesus said, I’ll give you a sign: the bread of life. 

Who here wants to see Jesus, as he really is? Who here wants to look upon him, touch him, receive him into your hearts and minds? Today that is truly possible, because of the Eucharist.  He really comes to us at Mass.

If we were to ask God the very same question the people asked to Jesus in the Gospel: “where can I see him, now, and believe in him”, the Eucharist IS God’s answer to our plea.  Pope Benedict XVI said: In the Eucharist “we no longer stand before an imagined God but before the God who has truly given himself to us; before the God who has become for us Communion and who thus frees us and draws us from the margin into communion and leads us on to Resurrection.”

I think sometimes our young people forget when they come into the Church that Jesus is really here in the tabernacle. This is why we bend the knee, we genuflect, because he is really here.  Our King and Our God is really here, and the least we can do is bend the knee to recognize his presence and honor him. 

And even when your teachers are watching, sometimes it seems like you are embarrassed to genuflect, or you have to do it as quickly as possible.  Don’t let your genuflections be hurried and empty. Put meaning into it.  Bend your knee all the way to the ground and don’t get up until you are sure you gave Jesus proper respect.  To bend the knee before God is to recognize that we need Him, that he truly is the bread of life our souls need to live. 

If you can’t put your whole heart into honoring God, what makes you think you can put your whole heart into anything? Without honoring God as we should, the whole of our lives begins to empty of meaning and of joy.  But when we do honor God and love God as we should, everything becomes transformed into an act of worship, and our daily activities can become filled with joy.

Jesus, help us to see that you are really here in the Eucharist, help us to deeply honor you with all our hearts, help us to receive you with great reverence, that you may nourish our minds and souls and lead us into everlasting life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: April 11 2016 - St. Stanislaus, Martyred Bishop of Krakow

Our regular cycle of readings throughout the Easter season is, of course, from the Acts of the Apostles.  How fitting that on the feast of the martyr Saint Stanislaus, martyred bishop of Krakow, Poland, our reading takes us back to the trials of the first martyr of the Church, Saint Stephen. 

At Sunday Mass yesterday, we read how the apostles rejoiced because they were able to suffer “for the sake of the name” of Jesus. As the number of disciples continued to grow through the preaching of the Apostles, so did the number of those who would be called to suffer for Christ.

Not long after he was ordained one of the first deacons of the Church, Stephen was arrested and brought to trial before the Sanhedrin much like Christ.

St. Luke, in fact, reports many similarities between Stephen and Jesus.  Like Jesus, Stephen faced his trials with a calm peace and trust in the heavenly Father’s divine plan.  As Stephen was interrogated by the Sanhedrin, like Jesus, Stephen’s arguments could not be refuted, he spoke with God’s wisdom, which the Sanhedrin refused to understand.  As it was in the trial of Jesus, when the Sanhedrin become frustrated in arguing with Stephen, they resorted to false witnesses, in order to put him to death.

The powerful witness of the martyr Stephen reminds us that successes in Christian ministry, especially in defending the faith against outsider’s attacks, can lead to persecution. Yet, when we are faithful, the Spirit fills us, like Stephen, with grace and power and wisdom and courage and peace.

Today’s saint, Saint Stanislaus was bishop of Krakow.  Stanislaus was outspoken against the evils of the day, from the immorality among of the peasants to the need for reform among the poorly educated clergy. He also vigorously opposed the corruption in the king’s court and the unjust wars conducted by the king.  At first, the king repented, but soon he relapsed into his old ways. Stanislaus continued his open opposition in spite of charges of treason and threats of death, finally excommunicating the king. The king, enraged by this, ordered soldiers to kill the bishop. When they refused, the king killed Stanislaus with his own hands.

John the Baptist, the martyred Apostles, Felicity, Perpetua, Thomas Becket, John Fisher, Thomas More, Stanislaus and many others are courageous examples for us.  Earthly kings and high rulers can bring tremendous suffering through their greed and wickedness. And Christians have a duty to speak truth to power. How many lives have been lost in our own day because our political leaders continue to conduct unjust military campaigns and refuse to work to protect the innocent unborn? How many young people are lead into confusion and error because morally corrupt political leaders and teachers push the secular agenda?

All of us, priest, bishop, peasant, and king, are called to put our lives under the government of God’s commandments and the Lordship of Christ; to seek radical holiness no matter our state in life.

Saint Stephen, Saint Stanislaus and the Christian martyrs remind us to seek courage to stand up for and spread the truth of Christ, to seek wisdom to govern the whole of our lives, to put the whole of our lives under the dominion of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: 3rd Sunday of Easter 2016 - "For the sake of the name"

Each Sunday of the Easter season, our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, while our second reading is taken from the Book of Revelation. There is a beautiful connection between these two books of the New Testament, if you think about it. The Acts of the Apostles describes the first steps of the Church in time and history, Revelation describes the Church that will last forever. Acts of the Apostles takes place in the earthly Jerusalem, Revelation takes place in the new and eternal Jerusalem. Acts of the Apostles describes the Church’s pilgrimage, with all of its difficulties and trials, Revelation reveals the Church having reached her destination—the reward for her faithful perseverance.

In Acts we read how the Apostles, having witnessed the Resurrection of Christ, and having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, go out into the streets of Jerusalem, the very town where Jesus was arrested and crucified, and preach his Resurrection.  “Jesus, whom you killed, has been raised, just as he promised” Peter preached on that first Pentecost Sunday. For their preaching of Jesus’ Gospel, the Apostles quickly gain the attention of the Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders, the same men who conspired against Jesus, to put the Savior to death.

Today’s passage from Acts sees Peter and the gang, having been imprisoned, brought before the Jewish high court. The Sanhedrin demand that Peter and the Apostles immediately cease and desist preaching about Jesus.  Peter says, you don’t understand, this task has been given to us by God himself, and “we must obey God rather than man.”

Here stands Peter before these corrupt Jewish leaders, knowing that they have the power to totally ruin people’s lives, even to have them put to death, as they did to Jesus.  Peter had already been arrested and thrown into jail, and he knew there could be dire consequences for resisting their threats.

But after courageously proclaiming Christ, Peter and the Apostles, “left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” Bleeding and wounded after having been whipped and humiliated, they left rejoicing. Would you or I be rejoicing after that? We find it hard enough to put up with morning traffic! To rejoice in suffering for the sake of Christ is a sign of Christian maturity.

Immature love will do anything it can to flee from any sort of hardship, any demand for commitment or self-sacrifice.  Think of the immature love in our own culture: how many people go from one romantic relationship to another because they are not willing to do the hard work of a serious mature relationship. In fact, studies show how many in the younger generation cannot hold down serious jobs because they are so used to being coddled, babied and overprotected.  Hence, their dangerous attraction to socialism. Grave immaturity permeates our culture.

Mature Love, on the other hand, embraces hardship and sacrifice for the greater good.  Mature love is not only open to generous giving, it looks for opportunities to give. When our love for Christ is mature, we are glad to suffer for his sake, just as he was glad to bear his cross for our sake.

Throughout Church history there have been many times and places where Christians were persecuted.  1000s of Christians were martyred in those early centuries.  When the narcissistic Roman emperors were forcing people throughout the empire to renounce their personal faiths and offer burnt offerings in worship of the emperor, the true Christians were those who refused to compromise their faith.

When I was thinking of a modern day example of this type of faith, I thought of the parents of Pope Benedict XVI.  Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, grew up in Germany as the Nazi party was coming to power.  Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. the Pope’s father was a police officer in Bavaria.  The Ratzinger family experienced great hardships because they would not support the Nazis.  The pope's brother Georg said: "Our father was a bitter enemy of Nazism because he believed it was in conflict with our faith." The family knew first-hand how dangerous the Nazi philosophy was. In the late 1930s, the Nazis had implemented a euthanasia program for the handicapped. Pope Benedict had a cousin with Down’s Syndrome, and in 1941, the Pope’s cousin was taken by Nazi authorities for “therapy” as they called it.  Not long afterwards, the family received word that the cousin was dead, labeled as an “undesirable” by the Nazi party. Mr. Ratzinger spoke out publically against the evils of Nazism, and for this, he faced demotions and the family had to move several times.

Friends, similar evil philosophies are growing again in this country, and Christians who speak up against the growing evils are facing great hostility.  Just this week, a man named David Daleiden, who had exposed the illegal and disgusting practices of Planned Parenthood, had his home raided by the pro-abortion Attorney General of California. His home was ransacked, his property confiscated because he stands up for the Christian Gospel of Life.

Enemies of the Gospel are gaining positions of very high influence. Parents are beginning to be penalized for opting their children out of the secular state’s indoctrination programs. The Church’s teaching on sexual morality and marriage is labeled as bigoted, intolerant, hate-speech. Those in authority are seeking to silence the Gospel, as they did in the first reading, and in the life of Jesus himself. But we, like the Apostles, “must obey God rather than man.”

And that’s why today’s Second Reading is so important.  In the second reading we are given a vision of heaven, the reward for those who are willing to suffer for the sake of the name.  On the throne of heaven is not some earthly king who never suffered a day in his life.  On the throne of heaven is a lamb who was brutally slain by his enemies.  And surrounding the lamb were those who suffer for him.  This is the fulfillment of Jesus promise in the beatitudes: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

How might we be called upon to suffer for the sake of Christ? Well, how are we being called in this 21st century to witness to the truth of Christ? With only 20% of Catholics attending weekly Mass, we certainly are being called upon to reach out to our fallen away family members, to speak to them of the importance of weekly Mass attendance.  We are certainly called to stand up for life and campaign to enact laws for the protection of the innocent and vulnerable.  We might be called upon to refuse to engage in immoral business practices, perhaps even to quit a job where there is institutionalized corruption.

You may have seen in the news yesterday, Pope Francis new document on the dignity of marriage and the family.  In a world which seems to glorify and celebrate unhealthy and immoral sexual practices, Pope Francis gave beautiful clear teaching on the importance of healthy, holy families. He speaks against adultery—calling Christians to witness to the truth of marriage.  As well as condemning abortion, Pope Francis’ document contains many references to Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae and John Paul II’s writings on the sinfulness of artificial contraception, as well as the teaching that marriage can only be understood as being between a man and a woman.

For this reaffirmation of Catholic teaching, the Holy Father may experience ridicule, backlash, and threats from those with different agendas. Yet, he also equips us with the language we need, forming our faith, for the challenges of spreading the faith in this secular age.

Each of us are called to whole-heartedly embrace the truth of Christ as taught by the Church, and to spread that truth with patience, courage, and compassion.  This might bring the attention of our enemies, but it also might lead others to embrace Christ.  Let us not be afraid to stand rooted in the truth of Christ, for the sake of the name, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Friday - 2nd Week of Easter 2016 - An unstoppable Spirit for a never-ending job.

As we’ve heard this week from the Acts of the Apostles, the untiring preaching of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Apostles infuriated the Sanhedrin.  Remember, the Sanhedrin had conspired to put Jesus to death. Remember, on Easter how we also heard how they conspired against the Apostles, claiming that the Apostles had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb to make it look like he had risen.

Yet, on the Sanhedrin was a Pharisee named Gamaliel. This is the same Gamaliel who was the teacher of St. Paul. Gamaliel argues that if the message of the Apostles is not from God, it will eventually die out…” But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

The Gospel message has endured, two thousand years. We’ve survived every attempt to destroy us.  The Roman Empire, the Nazi Regime, the Communist Party.  Yesterday, I spoke of our current secular State’s attempts to silence the Gospel message. In the end the State will lose; the Church will endure until the end of time, for she is from God.

The Church is not a man-made institution, though she is made of men. Really, she is not an organization, but an organism—a living being, with a soul.  Just as our soul animates our body, the Holy Spirit animates the Church. The Church is the most powerful force on earth not only because she has the highest ideal—the glory of God, but above all because she has the greatest power within her.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against her, for Jesus died for her, rose for her, gave the Spirit to her, for the most important mission of all time: the salvation of souls.

The secret of the Church’s enduring power throughout the centuries, through the persecution of her martyrs and saints, the source of the truth of her doctrines, her infallibility and consistency in faith and morals throughout two thousand years is not dumb luck.  Nothing less than God could perform this miracle in history. 

However, this does not give us the right to relax our efforts.  Evil prevails when good men do nothing.  So our efforts of spreading the Gospel must be constant, like the Apostles. 

In the Gospel reading, Jesus feeds the hungry crowd of 5000 with 5 loaves and two fish. There are souls who are hungering to know Jesus, to know his truth, to be fed by his word and his body and blood.  Our Lord wants to feed the hungry souls of the world through us. For us to neglect our mission of evangelization is to allow hungry souls to starve. God gives us an unstoppable Spirit for never-ending job.

Bringing the food of God’s word and sacraments is not someone else’s job, it’s our job.  We can never give the excuse “well, I’m too ordinary, I have nothing to offer.” For the same Spirit which animated the Apostles has been given to us—the same Gospel message, the same Sacraments.

May we be faithful and courageous in our mission bringing hungry souls to the table of the Lord, to be fed as we are by Word and Sacrament for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday - 2nd Week of Easter 2016 - "We must obey God rather than men"

Since Easter Monday we’ve heard day after day in the Acts of the Apostles about the apostles’ unflagging determination to spread the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, very early on in their preaching mission, Peter and the Apostles’ began to face the same hostility Jesus faced in his ministry.  Yesterday, we heard how the Sanhedrin and the high priest had the apostles imprisoned for their evangelical activity, but God sent an angel to free the Apostles from prison and told them to continue to preach about the new life available in Jesus Christ. Upon being freed from prison, they went right back into the marketplace to begin preaching again.

Today, we heard how they were brought back before the high priest and Sanhedrin and threatened, but we heard the Apostles boldly say: “We must obey God rather than men.”  And they resumed their preaching.

We are all called to the same courageous conviction of the apostles: preaching the truth without compromise. “We must obey God rather than men.” When the earthly powers seek to silence the message of the Gospel, we must preach it all the more fervently.

In America, the Gospel message is under attack by the earthly powers.  We see the message of life silenced.  Parents are beginning to be penalized for opting their children out of the secular state’s indoctrination programs. The Church’s teaching on sexual morality and marriage is labeled as bigoted, intolerant, hate-speech.  And, unfortunately, we see many Catholics buying into the secular agenda. Many Catholics claim that the Church’s 2000-year-old message is wrong, and that we must change our teaching to fit the secular philosophy. 

Jesus explains the consequences for abandoning his teaching; we read today: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” Woe to us, if we preach anything other than His Gospel.

We must not be afraid to engage our fallen away Catholic family members. It is not sinful or judgmental to teach Christian morality, or to correct those who are in error—it is an act of love to help someone in error to return to the truth.

In order for us to be like Peter, Paul, and the apostles, we must be courageous and competent. Sometimes we don’t pass on the faith as effectively, because we really don’t understand the faith as well as we should.  Study the faith, study not just what the Church teaches, but why she teaches us: read the catechism, listen to solid lectures on the faith, discuss the finer points of Church teaching with each other. So many of us know that the Church’s message leads to moral and spiritual freedom, but we lack the confidence in spreading that message. 

Don’t be afraid. Study the faith, pass on the faith, for it is the message that leads to eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Easter 2016 - Spiritual Rebirth

The prophet Ezekiel, about 600 years before Christ, taught that God would one day cleanse his people with “clean water” and put his “spirit within them” and that God’s redeemed people would receive “a new heart…and a new spirit.”

In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus teaches that those promises are being fulfilled through the spiritual rebirth available through Him.  In Baptism, each of us has experienced a spiritual rebirth.  Yet, the Christian life requires constant rebirth and renewal.  Our rebirth isn’t just a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, we are to have an openness to the change God wants for us, constantly growing in the virtues of fortitude, temperance, prudence, and justice, constantly growing in patience, and generosity, and joy.

This rebirth brings a new relationship with God’s Spirit.  Yet this relationship can be challenging for us. “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Our Christian life, the new life of Christ entails an openness to God’s Spirit. But, that spirit can’t be controlled by us, just like the wind can’t be controlled. It can propel us, it can empower us, but it can’t be controlled by us; in the spiritual life, we aren’t the ones in charge.

In the Acts of the Apostles we get a glimpse into the life of the early Church, what attentiveness to the Holy Spirit looks like—we read how the Holy Spirit was guiding and empowering this community.  “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.” That’s the work of the Holy Spirit, to make believers of one mind and heart—God’s thoughts and God’s love guided and unified this community.  And one of the marks of this love and unity was that no one claimed their possessions as their own.

That is certainly not to say that they had adopted Communism as their form of government.  They weren’t compelled by some Communist Dictator—forced to own nothing.  Yet, they had this profound willingness to sacrifice for each other, and use their own goods for the good of the other because they really loved each other—so much so that if anyone had a need, each one considered themselves responsible to meet that need.

Here’s the challenge for us today: Is your love for the people in this parish community so profound that you are willing to sacrifice everything for them? If not, why not? Are we here at St. Clare of one mind and one heart with the universal Church, with the Bishop, with the Pope, with the Holy Spirit? If not, why not? What needs to change in us? We are called to new life, and attentiveness to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

May each of us consider how the Holy Spirit is propelling and empowering us to greater generosity and patience and faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.