13th Sunday of OT 2018 - Healing and Hopeless Causes

I’ve discovered that one of the beautiful traditions here at Holy Family Parish is that every Tuesday morning after the weekday mass is a special set of prayers, a perpetual Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. If you aren’t familiar with it, I invite you to visit the icon after mass today, say a prayer before this beautiful image of our Lady, tightly holding the Christ Child. Join your fellow parishioners in invoking her help for our parish, our families, our broken world. We face so many difficulties, and it is so good, to turn to Our Lady, who is united to Her Son, in bringing healing and peace to the world.

It is said that among the saints whose heavenly help and intercession is sought by the faithful, second only to Our Lady, is the apostle St. Jude.  Even many non-Catholics venerate St. Jude as the patron saint of Hopeless Causes. The patron of hopeless causes is so popular because so many of our difficulties seem hopeless: the terminal illness, the seemingly endless cycle of addiction, the corruption of government leaders, the plights of the poor—they seem hopeless.
Our readings this weekend speak to the experience of hopelessness.

Jairus, the synagogue official goes to Jesus for his very sick little twelve-year-old daughter. Is there any hopelessness like a parent who knows their child is dying? Jairus who feels he has nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to, turns to this itinerant preacher, this wandering miracle worker from Nazareth. Without saying word, at least St. Mark doesn’t record any spoken reply, Jesus begins to travel to the home of Jairus, to the bed of his dying daughter.

Jairus’ own servants emphasize the hopelessness of the situation. They meet Jesus en route, and say, “it’s no use, it’s hopeless, you are wasting your time, the little girl is dead.” And here we see the difference between Jesus Our Lord and so many of the charlatans of his day and our own. At the prospect of death, the charlatans, the fakers would find an excuse to turn away, for nothing exposes man’s limitations like death.

But Jesus brings to this hopeless situation, not the limitations of man’s science, but the grace of God. To God, death is as easy to be conquered as waking up a child from a nap. So, to this hopeless case, a dead little girl and her desperate Dad:, Jesus brings light and life.

St. Mark reports this weekend not just one hopeless case, but two. While on the way to the house of Jairus, a suffering, desperate woman, inflicted with terrible, mysterious hemorrhages, approaches Jesus. She had visited doctor after doctor, tried medicine after medicine, her savings were depleted, a truly hopeless case.  And then she hears of Jesus, who brings healing to the hopeless cases. She presses close as he is passing by, just hoping to touch his garment; and when she does, she is healed. 
It doesn’t take a great skeptic to say “well,  these stories from Jesus’ earthly ministry are fine and good, but what about my hopeless case: what about my sick child, my unemployment, the addict in my family, my broken marriage, the fallen-away Catholic, my unanswered prayers?”
So what is the Christian to do in our very own hopeless cases?

Like Jairus and the woman, we are to draw close to Jesus, in the sacraments and in prayer and ask for help. Jesus wants us to bring our needs to him.  He may not answer them in the way we want.  But God is not bothered by our prayers.  There are prayers he wishes to answer through our persistence in asking for them.

Now some of us confuse prayer with anxious worrying. Just because we are thinking about our hopeless cause, or worrying about our hopeless cause, doesn’t mean we are praying about our hopeless cause. Worry and fretting are bad, often sinful. Worry wastes time, prayer is powerful and productive.

So what do we mean by prayer? The 6th century bishop and doctor of the Church, St. John Damascene, said, “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” Prayer shifts the focus from the object of worry to God the giver of peace. St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Prayer is a request, not a demand. Prayer certainly does not mean telling God what to do. Jairus uses the word “please”, please help me, please help my daughter, if it pleases you, if it’s your will, if it will bring about the greatest good for my soul. Prayer does not seek to make God an instrument of our wills, but to change our wills to become instruments of his.

I think this is one reason why people don’t pray. Prayer requires surrendering control. We get our lives just like they like them, and to introduce God into the equation is to introduce an element we can’t control. Prayer requires giving up control, and such surrender is unacceptable to the willful heart.

We want healing, we want eternal life without having to change much, we want the healthy marriage and peaceful nation without having to expend too much energy, we want healing for ourselves without having to suffer for others.

You’ve probably heard it said that prayer is less about changing God than changing us. And many don’t turn to God because they know God calls them conversion. But it’s precisely through the converted heart, the surrendered heart, the obedient heart, it’s through you and me becoming saints, that God wants to bring healing into the world, into the hopeless causes.

So what is the Christian to do in the face of hopeless cases? We seek to become saints. We go to Jesus, we go to the Blessed Mother and the saints in heaven, with a truly open heart, a heart willing to be changed, to suffer for others, a heart willing to give up its vices and selfishness, a heart willing to say, “I was wrong”, “I’ve not trusted God enough”, “I’ve spent so much time on selfish pursuits rather than on your holy will, help me.”

May the Lord bring miraculous healing and peace to our hopeless cases, through our cooperation with his Holy Will, through our humble prayer and repentance and service. May he continue to shape us and form us to bring faith to the faithless, hope to the hopeless, love to the loveless, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

12th Week of OT 2018 - Tuesday - Two Ways, Narrow & Broad

A very early Christian text, written around the turn of the first century, known as the Didache—the teaching of the twelve Apostles—speaks of two ways: the way of life and the way of death: the very first lines of the Didache are: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.” 

The theme of two ways has been taken up again and again by the Saints and teachers of Our Faith throughout the centuries.  St. Paul speaks of the way of the flesh vs. the way of the spirit. 

St. Augustine, in his book City of God presents all of human history as a conflict between two cities, two types of people: the City of Man and the City of God.

The Didache, St. Paul, St. Augustine, and so many saints, echo the teaching we find in the Gospel passage today where the Lord speaks of two ways: a narrow way and a broad, wide way.

The way of the flesh, the way of death, the way of indifference to God is broad and wide, and many follow it.

The way of the spirit, the way of life, the way of faithfulness is narrow: few walk it.

If the one way leads to death, why do so many walk the road that leads to perdition? For one, they ignore the warning signs: the broken relationships, the growing inner emptiness. It’s walked by so many because it’s tempting, it’s easy. You get to be like everybody else. It takes less mental energy just to walk in the same direction as the people you see on tv. And at the same time you can believe anything you want. You can make yourself into a god. No fruit is forbidden. No heavy crosses, no penances.

There are people headed in the wrong direction that we will meet today. And the only sign-post that they are headed toward eternal perdition, might be us, walking in the opposite direction.

The way that Christians love each other, our sanctity, our integrity, it might be mocked by some, by many, but shouldn’t we be willing to be mocked, to save souls from hell?

Our vocation today is to continue to walk the narrow way that leads to life, but that includes witnessing to the truth of the Gospel, perhaps even being a stumbling block, or an object of derision for those walking the wrong way. A priest once said, we might be the only Gospel they encounter today. So may we be faithful to proclaiming it, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Pope Francis and all bishops and clergy will help defend the Church against error, and lead her always in the pathways of truth, righteousness, and charity.

For the conversion of all those who perpetuate error or set bad Christian example for young people and those of weak faith, for those who have fallen away from the Church, and for those in mortal sin.

For the grace to spread the Word of God with clarity, patience, and courage.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

12th Week of OT 2018 - Monday - Remove the speck from your own eye first (Nursing Home Mass)

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches many lessons about the attitudes and actions that Christians need to practice: we need to pray, fast, give alms, we need to forgive if we wish to be forgiven, we need to be willing to make peace with our brother, and be willing to suffer for the Gospel.

We heard from the part of his sermon today where Jesus teaches his followers about judging others, the tendency to condemn what needs to change in others without willingness to acknowledge what needs to change in ourselves, criticizing others while letting ourselves off the hook for similar behavior.

If we are to live and witness to the Gospel successfully, the Gospel must be rooted in our hearts. We are to practice what we preach, to be extremely patient with those who fail, to avoid any semblance of moral hypocrisy.

So how are we to “remove the specks from our own eye” as the Lord teaches? Before getting into bed, it is an indispensable spiritual practice to examine our conscience in light of God’s commandments and the moral virtues.  To ask ourselves a series of questions about the choices we made, the attitudes we displayed, the words we chose to speak.

Did I treat the waitress, the cashier, the custodian, the nurse, my roommate, the stranger in the hallway, with the patience, the respect, the gentleness that is befitting a Christian? Did I hold my tongue when I was tempted to spread that juicy piece of gossip? Did I pray enough? Where did I waste my time on frivolous pursuits? Where did I fail to control my tongue, my eyes, my heart today?

Many of us put off the daily examine or engage in it with minimal effort because we are afraid to discover just how far from Christ-like love we’ve been.  Faithfully examining our conscience takes real humility—the humility to admit that my heart has a long way to go. But without humility there can be no growth in the spiritual life.  And if we are not growing spiritually, it is likely that we are stagnating, perhaps even rotting on the vine.

The Lord is always challenging us to grow in holiness, through the perfection of the virtues.  May we cooperate with the grace of conversion he desires for each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may practice the humility mandated by the Gospel mercy.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace. 

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ. 

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for Eli and Cora Perish Cole, for whom this mass is offered

June 24 2018 - The Nativity of John the Baptist - Birthdays, Bridges, and Boldness

When the Church celebrates the feast day of a saint, we are usually celebrating the day of the saint’s death. For example the feast of Aloysius Ganzaga earlier this week was on June 21, because June 21 is the anniversary of the saint’s death: June 21, 1591. 

But the Church also celebrates the birthdays of three people:  Jesus, of course, on the feast we call Christmas; the Blessed Virgin Mary, on September 8th, and today, June 24, the birthday of Saint John the Baptist. 

3 months ago, on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, as the Christ child became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Gabriel announced that Elizabeth, who had been barren throughout her long life, had through the grace of God become pregnant, six months prior. After the annunciation, Mary would travel in haste to the hill country to assist Elizabeth in her pregnancy, and we know the story well, of John the Baptist leaping for joy in his mother’s womb as Mary approached.

In some traditions, John’s conception is celebrated nine months prior to today. Just as Mary’s conception, the Immaculate Conception is celebrated nine months prior to her birthday and Jesus’ conception, March 25, is celebrated nine months prior to his birthday on Christmas.

The Church’s commemoration of John’s birth is ancient--today’s solemnity going all the way back to the 4th century.  But the exaltation of the birth of John goes back even farther, to the lips of Jesus himself, who says “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John.” We exalt John’s birth because Our Lord exalted John’s birth.

The Virgin Mary too, must have rejoiced over John’s birth. We know that Mary was present for the delivery of John. She was there to care for Elizabeth, to help her, in her old age, to safely deliver John, and she no doubt rejoiced with Elizabeth and Zechariah over the baptist’s birth.

So it’s good for us to celebrate as well, so good, in fact, that as you’ve noticed, if this feast day falls on a Sunday, it replaces our normally scheduled Ordinary Time Sunday mass—Ordinary Time Green is replaced by Festive White (and gold, perhaps).

St. Augustine wrote to the Church about this feast in the 5th century. He wrote: “The Church observes the birth of John as a hallowed event. We have no such commemoration (for anyone else besides Mary and Jesus)…so, it’s significant that we celebrate the birthday…of John. This day cannot be passed by. And even if my explanation does not match the dignity of the feast, you may still meditate on it with great depth and profit.” So even if my homily today is less than exceptional, each of us should still meditate on its lessons.

John’s great vocation was to point to Jesus, to proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Augustine, saw John pointing to Jesus even in the events surrounding his birth. Listen to how Augustine holds the birth of John and the birth of Jesus side-by-side: “John is born of a woman too old for childbirth; Christ was born of a youthful virgin. The news of John’s birth was met with incredulity, and his father was struck dumb. Christ’s birth was believed (by Mary, by shepherds, by the magi…and was heralded by angels.)…John was a voice that lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal.”

Christians have a special devotion to John, as I mentioned because Jesus himself exalted John, but also because John reminds us of our Christian vocation to point to Jesus with our lives. So I’d like to draw out a few short lessons for us to ponder.

Elizabeth conceived John after a long period, a lifetime, of barrenness. Most everyone thought, as Augustine mentioned, she was “too old” for childbirth. But this miraculous event reminds us we are never too old for God to bring new life in us. Biological age is not a hindrance to the work of God. God is not limited by our old age, only by our refusal to allow Him to work, our failure to cooperate with His grace. Places of barrenness, spiritual barrenness, creative barrenness, even physical barrenness can be brought to life when they are brought to God. So today’s feast reminds us that God always wants to work in the barren parts, to bring about new life for his purposes.

Secondly, as we heard in today’s Gospel there was some incredulity concerning John’s birth, even John’s father, Zechariah was slow to believe. But John the Baptist was proof that God was still at work, his plan, his promises were coming to fulfillment.

We live in a time of incredulity. Our culture treats the Holy Scriptures, the commandments, our Catholic faith as irrelevant, outdated, and therefore valueless.

But just as John was proof that God was at work, so we need to be proof.  John was bridge who helped people cross from unbelief to belief. So, too, we must become bridges to help people cross from unbelief in God to communion with Him. We do this by sharing our faith generously and clearly.

We do well to share the stories and lessons of our faith with children and grandchildren, share with them what being Catholic means, why it’s important. Don’t be afraid to share with them the stories of the scriptures and the saints. Tell them about Padre Pio, tell them about Francis of Assisi, tell them about Mother Theresa and Theresa of the Child Jesus. Teach them about the foolishness of Adam and Eve in the garden and to be weary of the cunning serpent who makes false and empty promises. Don’t be struck dumb and silent like Zechariah, but loosen your tongues.

John, we know grows up to be the great herald of Christ, crowds were coming to him to be baptized. But he didn’t start surrounded by crowds of people all flocking to listen to him. He started off in the wilderness. A solitary voice crying out in the wilderness. So we too mustn’t be afraid to proclaim Christ when it seems like no one is listening. If John can proclaim Christ in the wilderness, then so can we.

Finally, John’s personal motto must become our own. He says, I must decrease, that Christ may increase. Each of us have a lot of decreasing to do, and I’m not simply talking about waistlines. Our egos need to decrease, our notions of self-importance and entitlement, our ambitions for doing our own will over doing the will of God. Lot’s of decreasing to do.

Today let us renew our faith in the ability of God to bring new life to barren places and barren souls, let us commit to being bridges for the incredulous to come to believe in Christ even when it seems like we are proclaiming Christ in a wilderness or to a brick wall, and let us commit to the penance and prayer that will enable our egos to decrease that the goodness of Christ and the presence of Christ may increase in us and in the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

11th Week of OT 2018 - Tuesday - Love your enemies

Throughout Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount he teaches us a number of things: how to be holy, how to love our fellow man, how to be in right relationship with God and how to imitate God in your generosity, how to get to heaven.

Today the Lord offers one of his most difficult teachings:   He tells us today that not only are we to love our neighbor, but our enemies as well: those who persecute you, those who sin against you, those who your country is at war with, those who cut you off in traffic, those who may have bullied you a half a century ago in grade school, those who have come into your country illegally. Love them.

Love them, forgive them, be patient with them, feed them, clothe them, teach them, serve them, hold no grudges toward them, visit them, pray for them, seek what is best for them. Love them even when it feels like they are scourging you at a pillar, even when they are forcing you to march to your crucifixion.

Not an easy teaching! We find it hard enough to love someone who is a stranger, who is simply different from us, let alone our enemies. We can think of a million reasons why loving our enemy is a bad idea, but Jesus is saying, “do it!”

Maximus the Confessor expounded upon the “love of one’s enemy” to include those who actively hate you. He said, “Readiness to do good to someone who hates us is a characteristic of perfect love.”

Many people in our highly-offendable culture walk around ready to attack those who offend them, to verbally assault those who inconvenience them, they are just looking to unveil someone as their enemy so they can pummel them with their pent up frustrations, to make them into a scapegoat for all of their problems.

But, we Christians are to be ready to love our enemy. If we look into our heart and don’t find that readiness to love, we’re the one’s that need to change. We’re the ones that need to trust Christ, and obey Christ.

May the Lord bring about that change of heart in each of us, to readily love with Christ-like love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. We pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

11th Week of OT 2018 - Monday - Turning the Other Cheek (Short Homily for Nursing Home Mass)

“When someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”  This teaching of Jesus was counter-cultural back then, and it is counter-cultural now. The world would say, when someone slaps you on the right cheek, slap them back, harder, get them back, teach them a lesson so they never think to slap you again.  Rather than responding with vengeance, Christians respond to violence as Christ did. Remember, during his Passion, as he was beaten and mocked by Roman Soldiers, he offered his sufferings to the Father for our salvation.

To turn the other cheek, sounds like weakness, it sounds like foolishness.  Our abuser might continue to slap us, they might continue to take advantage of us.  But the way of forgiveness, the way of peace, transforms weakness into a strength that glorifies God and witnesses to Jesus who is Prince of Peace. So when we are hurt, by a neighbor or someone in authority over us, we must resist the impulse to immediately retaliate with a violent word or action. We must remain calm when things don’t go our way.

Instead of returning “evil for evil”, we are to return “good for evil”. This not only stops the cycle of violence, but allows God to reverse and transform it.  Injury suffered with forgiveness will be rewarded in eternity. Christians should stand against injustice, especially toward the most vulnerable, but never out of vengeance or malice toward the perpetrators of violence..

Through our Eucharist today, may our hearts be opened to ever-deeper faithfulness to Christ’s Way of Peace, his way of transforming love for the glory of God and  salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may be faithful to Christ’s way of mercy.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace. 

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ. 

For the response of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for Ken Cole, for whom this mass is offered

10th Week of OT 2018 - Friday - Tiny Whispers and Clear Teachings

What an interesting dichotomy of readings.

On one hand, from the first book of Kings, we hear the beloved account of Elijah, listening on Mt Horeb for the voice of God. And the voice of God was not in the fierce rock-crushing, mountain-rending wind, the earthquake or the fire, but in the tiny whispering sound. And it was this barely detectable whisper that sent the prophet Elijah on his sacred mission.

On the other hand, in our Gospel, Jesus is giving this rather blunt-force moral teaching on how to avoid sexual temptation and the sinfulness of illegitimate remarriage after divorce.

Our scriptures hold these two readings side-by-side for us, to remind us, perhaps, that it is not either-or, but, both-and.

Yes, God speaks to us in the quiet, in the silence. And so we have a duty to listen to him there, in the silence, the duty to quiet down our lives every day to hear that whisper. The inspiration to go out to serve the needy, to reach out to a down-trodden neighbor, the impulse to offer one’s life by following a religious vocation, these messages often come in a whisper.

But then, God knows that we also need the very clear, loud voice of the moral teaching of the Church. When it comes down to the difference between right-and-wrong the voice of God is pretty clear.

I think part of today’s religious confusion is that we want inspiration to come in the form of undeniably loud signs or bright-neon lights,  “bring food to the hungry”, “join the seminary.” And some want the clear moral teaching of the Church to be hushed, to be left to the individual to discern for themselves. But we must develop an ear, an obedience, to both ways the voice of God, the Word of God, comes to us: obedient to those quiet inspirations and obedient to the clear moral teaching of the Church’s magisterium.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear” and follow the Lord’s voice faithfully and courageously, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For all the priests of our diocese beginning new assignments this week, for their attentiveness to the needs of those they serve.

For those experiencing discouragement or despair, that they may know the goodness and closeness of God through the charity of faithful Christians.

For the unity of the Church, for the conversion of those in error, for those who deny God’s existence or despair of his mercy.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

June 11 2018 - St. Barnabas - Words of Encouragement

Though he was not one of the twelve, the liturgy and tradition gives St. Barnabas the title of Apostle. Barbabas was a levite Jew born in Cyprus. His birth name was Joseph and was changed when he was given a share in the apostolic mission to “Barnabas”. The book of Acts tells us the name Barnabas means “the son of encouragement”

We heard in today’s reading how Barnabas was sent to Antioch and rejoiced and encouraged the Christians there to remain faithful to the Lord and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and faith, and through him a large number of people were added to the Lord. 

After Antioch, Barnabas met up with Paul and accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey, through very dangerous territories. After completing the missionary journey, Barnabas and Paul attended the Council of Jerusalem, after which, the scriptures are silent about him.

Some Church writers believe him to be the others of the letter to the Hebrews since he was a levite and the letter to the Hebrews often uses very priestly language. 

Tradition holds that he returned to Cyprus, and was stoned to death while preaching the Gospel on the steps of a Jewish synogogue in the ancient Cyprian city of Salamis. His body was recovered by his cousin St. Mark, and brought to Constantinople, where it is venerated to this day.

Barnabas, the “son of encouragement” is a model for all Christians. We are all to be about the business of encouragement. We are to encourage our fellow Christians to remain faithful to the Gospel, to live more fully for the Gospel. 

“But encourage one another daily…so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness,” those words from the letter to the Hebrews, as I mentioned, were perhaps written by the “son of encouragement”, St. Barnabas himself. Paul writes, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.”

Through the encouragement of Barnabas, the apostle Paul was first accepted by the church in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). Through the encouragement of Barnabas, Mark was given a second chance after an abject failure (Acts 13:13; 15:39).

Mutual encouragement is essential to Gospel living, for as Jesus himself in the Gospels says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” Being a Christian in this fallen world is difficult business. The world hates us, temptation seeks to overcome us, perseverance is difficult, and we are caught in the crosshairs of spiritual battle.

Whether you have the highest ecclesiastical office, newly baptized, a widow, spouse, or single person, we need encouragement, that we may remember that our sufferings for the Gospel are meaningful, that we are not abandoned by God when suffering seems to overwhelm us.

Encouragement helps us through times of discipline and testing (Hebrews 12:5). Encouragement nurtures patience and kindness (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Galatians 5:22-26). Encouragement makes it easier to sacrifice our own desires for the advancement of God’s kingdom.

To borrow from proverbs, Encouraging words are “a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing down to the bone”. May we be sensitive to all those in need of encouragement today, and respond generously to them for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For all the priests of our diocese who will be changing assignments this week, and for their parishes, that we may all be encouraged for the continuing work of the Gospel.

For those experiencing discouragement or despair, that they may know the goodness and closeness of God through the charity of faithful Christians.

For the unity of the Church, for the conversion of those in error, for those who deny God’s existence or despair of his mercy.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

10th Sunday in OT 2018 - The Good God is in the details... (farewell Mass)

There is an idiom you hear from time to time, that “the devil is in the details.” The phrase is usually meant to describe how it is often the small details of a task which make it difficult or challenging. The great violinist Itzhak Perlman might use the phrase “the devil is in the details” to describe the challenge of getting a piece of music just right, through hours and hours of practice. What separates an amateur from a professional or a great artist is oftentimes that painstaking attention to detail.

Well, in his new apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis wrote about how attention to detail is part of the universal call to holiness. Holiness often involves paying attention to the details and needs of people’s lives. “Let us not forget” the Popes writes, “that Jesus asked his disciples to pay attention to details. The little detail that wine was running out at a party. The little detail that one sheep was missing. The little detail of noticing the widow who offered her two small coins. The little detail of having spare oil for the lamps, should the bridegroom delay. The little detail of asking the disciples how many loaves of bread they had. The little detail of having a fire burning and a fish cooking as he waited for the disciples at daybreak.”

When I first read that passage, I immediately thought of our pastor, Fr. Klasinski. Father, if you didn’t know, is detail-oriented. “A place for everything, and everything in its place”, whether it be the sacristy, the church, or the rectory. If you’ve ever attended the easter vigil, you know that Father is practicing with his elite team of servers right until we light the easter fire, to get their movements and maneuvers just right for that most sacred of all nights.  Hopefully these last four years over in the rectory weren’t too much like a four year long episode of the Odd Couple: you can guess who the clean one and who the not-so-clean one was.

But, I believe Father’s attention to detail, is a lot like Jesus’. His care for the church, for liturgy, for the rectory, is because he cares, he loves. “A community that cherishes the little details of love,” the Pope writes, “whose members care for one another and create an open and evangelizing environment, is a place where the risen Lord is present, sanctifying it in accordance with the Father’s plan.”

Many of us can relate to the Holy Father’s words. When it comes time for the holidays, or having house guests, we pay attention to the little details, out of respect, out of love, for our guests and family. It takes a lot of attention to detail to make relationships work, to make marriages work, to make parishes work.

The phrase the “devil is in the details” actually derives from an earlier French phrase, “Le bon Dieu est dans le detail”—"the good God is in the details.” Christian charity isn’t simply a vague sense of love for all of humanity, it’s about making God’s love present in the concrete details of people’s lives.

And, I think the Pope points to Our Lord’s own attention to detail, to show us that holiness is found in loving attention to other people. For the Lord’s love for us is not just this vague sense of love for humanity as a whole; God’s love reaches the details of the concrete difficulties and challenges of every human life. God knows every obstacle we face, every joy we celebrate, every hair on our head, every yearning in our heart, and he wants us to know that he is with us, in every detail.

Jesus in the Gospel today speaks of the divided house of Satan, of unclean spirits, and there really is something unclean, isn’t there, of the ego-centric attitudes which lead us to ignore the details of the lives and burdens of others. So many of our own divided houses and divisions in our nation, would be healed if we were ego-centrism was replaced with other-centeredness.

I think that is one of the great blessings of priesthood. Priests get to share in the details of your lives. They are not always pretty: the details of the confessional, the details of grief and suffering and illness which afflict the body of Christ. They aren’t always pretty, but they are important, for God is present in them, inviting us to discover him there. And so many of the details are beautiful and edifying.

I’d like to take the opportunity to say that, after four years here at St Clare, I’ve been edified by your dedication to making St. Clare a vibrant parish. I’ve been edified by all of your generosity, especially the hard work I’ve witnessed in running the parish festival, the school and academy and psr programs, and celebrating such beautiful liturgies.

I ask for your prayers as I begin my new assignment this week at Holy Family Parish in Parma. Please always pray for your priests, daily, for Fr. Klasinski and for Fr. Cosgrove, as they seek to serve you with hearts of our Good Shepherd, Christ the Lord.

And one more request, one I’ve made before and I make again: parents and grandparents, encourage the young people in your lives often to prayerfully consider God’s call to the priesthood or consecrated religious life. Help them to be courageous in discerning God’s call, and to turn away from the voices and vices that obscure that call. The religious vocation offers the happiness I know you want for the young people in your lives—joy and fulfillment, a sense of closeness to the Lord and to his people, that nothing else can imitate. Our world needs young people willing to hear and answer the call, and when we do that, we’ll never be disappointed.

As Fr. Klasinski and the bulletin have mentioned these past few weeks, there will be a reception after the noon mass in the academy gym. Please join us if you can. I’d love the opportunity to say farewell to you face-to-face.

Thank you to all those who have dropped-off delicious pastry for us to share, and to the pastoral council for organizing the reception.

May the Lord in his kindness bless all of you and your families in all the details of your lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Sacred Heart 2018 - The Flesh of His Heart

In 1996 in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, then under the care of Archbishop Jorge Bergolio, now Pope Francis, an investigation was conducted of a possible Eucharistic miracle. A consecrated Host was found on the ground and soon placed in a glass of water to dissolve. Days later, the Eucharist hadn’t dissolved at all — it had turned into bloody Flesh. It was stored in the tabernacle for three years, and when it did not dissolve, Archbishop Bergolio summoned a neurophysiologist to have samples from the Host examined in a laboratory environment.

The scientist brought the sample to San Francisco without telling anyone there what it was or where it came from. Blind testing revealed the samples were constituted of human heart muscle, specifically from the myocardium of the left ventricle. Further, the tests showed the blood was human, with human DNA, and of the rare AB-positive type — the same as found on the Shroud of Turin.

A similar miracle was recently confirmed as authentic in Poland. In this case too, a Host had fallen to the ground, so it was placed in water to dissolve. Not long afterward, the Eucharist began turning red, as if bloody.

The bishop allowed scientific tests to be conducted, which indicated that the host had become human tissue, specifically heart muscle, and more specifically heart muscle, under great strain, as if it were undergoing great agony.

We celebrated last Sunday, the great gift of the Eucharist, how the Lord left us the Eucharist as the memorial of his suffering and death. These miracles in a sense link last Sunday’s feast with today’s feast of the Sacred Heart: that the Eucharist comes from the heart of Christ. The Eucharistic Preface today, in fact, calls the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the wellspring of the Church’s Sacraments. The Sacraments are born of the love of Christ, the heart of Christ, who willingly undergoes the excruciating agony of crucifixion, that we might be redeemed from our sinful rejection of God, of which all men are guilty.

His love encompasses all. Salvation is offered to all. The Gospel is preached to all. And the Sacraments are offered to all who will humble themselves to acknowledge and confess their sins and to profess the Christian faith of Christ’s one true Church. No one is excluded from the invitation to repent and believe.

Now some people want salvation without repentance, and some want it without belief, some people want it without engaging in the Sacramental life of the Church. So we pray for them, we do reparation for them, and we share the truth of the Gospel with them, that all may come to drink from the wellspring of Charity, the heart of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That the Church may be continually cleansed and sanctified by the blood and water that gave us new birth.

For all who have fallen away from the Church, for those who lack faith, and in reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and all blasphemy.

For all those who are sick or burdened in any way, may come to know and experience the refreshment of Christ’s love.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

9th Week of OT 2018 - Thursday - Imparting the Truth without deviation

Last night, I attended the installation of the new pastor of St. Patrick Church in Ohio City, Fr. Mike Gurnick. Bishop Perez reflected on the importance of vibrant parishes in the life of the Church, and the pastor’s role in leading, nurturing, strengthening, comforting, and challenging his parishioners. Bishop Perez drew from the words of Pope Francis, in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelium Gaudium.

Pope Francis writes, “The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”.

With the Holy Father’s words in mind, the bishop reflected how the parish is a place of arrival and gathering. We gather from our homes, some of us from foreign lands, as God’s people, to hear the Word of God preached and to experience the presence of Christ in the Sacraments. But the parish is not simply a place of arrival, it is a place of sending. We go out from her to bring the word of God to others.

St. Paul writes to Timothy, as we heard in the first reading today, Timothy, who is a pastor. The letters to Timothy are even known as the pastoral letters, because Paul is giving pastoral advice to Timothy for ordering his flock.

“Remind the people” Paul says, of who they are, that since they have died with Christ, they are to live with him, and if we deny him, he will deny us.

That’s a challenging message. That in everything we do, we are to reflect that Christ is Lord. Timothy was to prepare the people for the real possibility that they will be pressured to deny Christ. Pressured by who? By the culture. By the anti-Christian culture. They will be pressured to forsake Christ, to hide their Christian faith, to pretend just like they are everyone else.

But Paul, like Pope Francis, like Bishop Perez, reminds us that we are not to abandon the word, leaving the Word here in within the walls of the church building, but as missionary disciples, we are to carry the word, and infuse the culture with the Word.

My favorite part of the installation mass, is when the new pastor stands at the altar, and promises, using language reminiscent of today’s reading, “to impart the word of truth without deviation.” The priest, the pastor, imparts truth, so that members of the flock, will be equipped to live and spread that same word of truth in their own lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Pope Francis and all bishops and clergy will help defend the Church against error, and lead her always in the pathways of truth, righteousness, and charity.

For the conversion of all those who perpetuate error or set bad Christian example for young people and those of weak faith.

For the grace to spread the Word of God with clarity, patience, and courage.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

9th Week of OT 2018 - Tuesday - Growth in grace and knowledge of Christ

(Today, June 5, is also the Memorial of St. Boniface)

The second letter of St. Peter has a few major themes: to remind its readers of the truth of God’s Word, to warn Christians against false teachers who would lead them astray, and to rouse them to await Christ’s return by living a holy life.

Those three themes are evident in our passage today, which comprise second Peter’s final verses. These three themes also coincide with three themes of our liturgical season, of ordinary time.

During Ordinary Time, we turn to God’s word for constant reminders of who God is and who God calls us to be. Every Christian should have some exposure to the Word of God every day. The truth of the Gospels is easily forgotten, especially in times of stress, times of grief, times of temptation. Moral and theological errors bombard television and the internet, the university classrooms and social media. So when views contrary to the Gospel are actively propagated, as they are in our culture, we need to be reminded often of God’s word.

Secondly, second Peter teaches Christians to be on their guard against false teachers who introduce what he calls “destructive heresies”. In our passage today, Peter writes, “be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.” Peter recognizes that even Christians who are pretty stable in the faith, in the truth, need to be on guard. How easy it is to follow the bad example of the unprincipled!

Thirdly, Peter calls Christians to live in constant anticipation of the Lord’s return by always actively pursuing a holy way of life. “Grow in grace and knowledge” of Christ, he says today. The priest wears green during Ordinary Time, the longest season of the Church year, to remind us that we are to be always seeking to grow in grace.

We do well to ask the Holy Spirit to help us identify those virtues and gifts in which he wants to help us grow. Is he calling us to grow in patience, in gentleness and generosity, and as we heard yesterday, in self-control, devotion, mutual affection, and charity.

Peter helps us to "render to God what belongs to God", as the Lord teaches in the Gospel. So Let us, as Peter tells us, “to make every effort” to grow, to be on guard, to be reminded of Christ’s presence with the Church and his imminent return, and to be a reminder to others, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Pope Francis and all bishops and clergy will help defend the Church against error, and lead her always in the pathways of truth, righteousness, and charity.

For the conversion of all those who perpetuate error or set bad Christian example for young people and those of weak faith, and that social media may be used responsibly and for the spread of the Gospel.

For “growth in grace and knowledge of Christ” for all people.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

9th Week of OT 2018 - Monday - Sharers in Divine Nature

The second letter of Peter contains one of the highest, sublime and mysterious promises found in the whole New Testament. Peter says, fidelity to the Gospel leads to us sharing in the divine nature (II Pet 1:4). We find similar promises throughout the New Testament. Hebrews says that we are called to “share” in God’s own holiness (Heb 12:10); and that we are made “partakers” of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes that we have “communion” with the Spirit (2 Cor 13:13; Phil 2:1); and “communion” with Christ in the Eucharist (1 Cor 10:16).

Peter’s promise here is quite lofty. Yes, through Christ we have friendship with God, restored communion with God, and new openness to the gifts of the Spirit. But Peter alludes to something else, doesn’t her? That through Christ we become “sharers in the divine nature.”

I don’t think I’m making a big deal about an obscure line of scripture here, either. II Peter 1:4 is cited at least eight times in the catechism. Very early on, in CCC 51, we read that God’s overall purpose for us, all his activity through history, including his incarnation, is that we can become “sharers of the divine nature.”

And Christians do not have to wait until our earthly journey has come to an end. Though, in a sense, it does begin when we begin to die to ourselves at baptism. CCC 1265 says “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature," member of Christ and coheir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

This language has even made its way into the rituals of the Mass. As the priest prepares the chalice, he pours wine into the chalice, and then adds a few drops of water, saying: “Through the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

Our “Sharing in the Divine nature” deepens as we receive the sacraments with well-disposed hearts, as we listen attentively to God’s word and become doers of the word, as we practice the virtues, as Peter says today, when you live the “faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”

What a great vocation we have, what a great new identity. May we make “every effort” as Peter says, to cooperate with God’s work within us, that his power, his grace, his life, may be manifest in us and through us, drawing all men to Himself, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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Let us pray, imploring the mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus..

For a deeper openness to the sanctifying grace of the Sacraments, for the return of all who have fallen away from the Church, and all those who lack faith. We pray to the Lord.

For our young people on summer vacation, that they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

That the protection for the unborn child may be enshrined in the laws of every nation and in every human heart.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

June 01 2018 - St. Justin Martyr - The Folly of the Cross

The month of June, traditionally in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, begins each year with the feast of St. Justin, one of the most important apologists of the early Church.

St. Justin used his tremendous gifts of intellect and reason to win converts to Christ. He went from town to town giving lectures about the faith to those hungry for the truth of Jesus Christ and debating pagan philosophers. It was in Rome, that a pagan philosopher named Crescens became enraged when he could not defeat Justin in debate. So Crescens had Justin arrested for the faith, and when Justin refused to offer pagan sacrifice, he was beheaded along with other Roman martyrs whose names we shall only discover in eternity.

Prior to his conversion, Justin was a student of pagan philosophy himself, but his longing for God was not satiated by his students. His deep longing was satisfied when he began to read our Holy Scriptures.

Today’s Collect speaks of how God wondrously taught St. Justin the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ through the folly of the cross. The folly of the Cross. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “The message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Like St. Justin, St. Paul was quite familiar with the philosophies of the world. Remember, how Paul preached to the philosophers in Athens, the seat of Greek art, science, learning, and culture. And there, Paul was rejected, Christ was rejected, the message of the cross was rejected as foolishness.
To the pagan Greeks, as well as so many of our contemporaries, wisdom is what brings you success, wealth, fame, pleasure, and power. That we are called to “lose our life in order to gain it” is madness to the world. Death brings Resurrection? Madness!

So, to the world, preaching the cross is foolishness, preaching Jesus brings you scorn and mockery. We see the consequences of preaching the truth of God in the Gospel today. For preaching in the Temple, driving out corruption from the Temple of God, the scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests conspire to put Jesus to death: he was bad for business!

But we know, as did Paul and Justin, that the cross isn’t foolishness, it’s power, it’s wisdom, it’s goodness, it’s truth, and we are called to preach that with “steadfast faith.”

The cross is a stumbling block because it requires us to reject worldly vice, worldly error. But we trust in the promise of our Lord, that those who pick up the cross and follow Him daily, shall have eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For openness to the Holy Spirits gifts, that the Christians may be always bold and clear in spreading and defending the Gospel.

That the faith of the martyrs may give us courage in times of persecution.

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept close to the truth and heart of Jesus.

That our parish festival may be preserved from inclement weather and may be an instrument for the strengthening of our parish and the spread of Christ’s saving truth.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.