December 31 2018 - Christ and Anti-Christs

December 31 is a retrospective day for many people.  A day to look back on the experiences of the year: to recall God’s blessings and interventions in our lives and to give thanks and to look forward that next year be better than the last. 

Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “It is our duty, as well as a need of our hearts, to praise and thank the Eternal One who accompanies us through time, never abandoning us, and who always watches over humanity with the fidelity of his merciful love.”

How has the Lord accompanied us through 2018, a difficult year for many people? Three hundred sixty-five days this year Jesus has offered himself to us—in his teaching, in his Sacraments, most especially in the Eucharist.  365 days he has offered to forgive our sins, and invited us to make a new beginning in the life of grace—turning to him for strength in times of temptation, turning to him for guidance in times of confusion. In the darkest moments of 2018, he was there. Did we turn to him? Did we turn to the Christ, or did we turn to the voices and empty promises, of those St. John calls in our first reading, the anti-christs.

“Many anti-christs have appeared” John writes. Each of us faced anti-christs in 2018, whether we know it or not. These were the voices that sought to deceive us, to follow them and depart from the way of Jesus. They tried to convince us to give up faith, give up hope, and give up charity and to despair of God's mercy for sinners. By their example, perhaps, they sought to sway us to hate our neighbor, ignore the commandments, deepen division in our family, and snub the poor. They’ve sewed seeds of error, caused scandal and weakened the communion of the church. They’ve led Christians to leave the Church and non-believers to look elsewhere for salvation. There were anti-christs in John’s day, there were anti-christs in 2018 and there will be anti-christs in 2019. God forgive us if we were anti-christs to anyone, and God preserve from being anti-Christs to anyone.

As we prepare to end one year and enter another, we look back, to reflect upon and give thanks for the blessings of the year, we gird ourselves to continue the spiritual battle ahead, and we look forward with hope and trust that the Lord Christ is stronger than all the anti-Christs, His “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Today is not a day for disappointment over how little we have achieved, but a day for thanks over what God has achieved, and joyful anticipation of what He desires to achieve through us, with us, and in us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

For the conversion of all those who have turned their hearts from Christ, for those who have fallen into serious sin, for a strengthening of all of the faithful in virtue. And That God may bring the faithless to believe in His Son and increase the faith of those struggling to believe.

For Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, especially those who face martyrdom, that they may have a faith that is constant and pure.

For the safety of all those celebrating the New Year this evening, safety from physical harm and preservation from sin.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body.

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

Holy family 2018 - 3 Holy Family Lessons

The Solemnity of Holy Family gives us the opportunity to reflect on God’s plan for the family.  We could spend time today considering advice about making your family psychologically healthier, more functional, happier, etc.  In fact, our first reading from the book of Sirach gives a fair amount of advice on this topic: “he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother; take care of your father when he is old even if his mind fails, be considerate of him.” Sirach is filled with such good practical bits of advice, and all of us would do very well to sit down with this wonderful book and consider how its advice could be applied to the concrete details of our life. 

St. Paul, too, in the second reading, gives some wonderful advice: Put on, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.” Again, good advice for families, especially that last part.  Sometimes family members are the hardest to love; we come face to face with each other’s faults and vices; but when we fail to forgive one another and be patient with one another, our families fall apart.

These readings offer, sound advice; if you are a Christian or not, a member of Christ’s faithful or a person of no faith, you would be hard-up to disagree with any of that advice. 

But today, on this Holy Family Sunday, we need to go a little deeper than psychological advice. We need to consider what it means for the family to be holy, to be a place where family members can grow in sanctity.  So let’s look to the Gospel to the members of the Holy Family to learn how our families may become holy like theirs.

First, it’s easy to forget, that the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, was a real family. We have all seen paintings and holy cards that depict them in a super-pious, unrealistic way. But they were real human beings, just like us, and they lived in the real world, the fallen world, just like us. The fact that Mary and Jesus were unaffected by original sin and that Joseph was a saint doesn't change the reality of their family life and their struggles.

In today's Gospel, we hear how Mary and Joseph were filled with “great anxiety”—they were worried sick—over the loss of Jesus.   We have all experienced “great anxiety” in relation to our families and relationships.  So being holy doesn’t mean we don’t have anxiety, challenges, struggles, or trials. 

Here’s the first lesson we can learn from the Holy family—HOW they endured their anxiety.  Mary and Joseph were filled with anxiety over the losing Jesus, but they did not lose faith or curse God.  Notice how Mary and Joseph don’t stand around blaming each other for losing Jesus.  They endured the anxiety together, and they went to look for the Christ, together. 

Husbands and wives, families, the lesson is clear isn’t it: in times of anxiety, fear, anger, uncertainty, sadness, frustration, helplessness, stick together and don’t lose faith.

In a way, God used their anxiety over losing Jesus for three days in Jerusalem in order to prepare them for a bigger trial.  About 20 years after this incident, Mary would have to undergo a greater trial of faith, she would have to witness her Son undergoing his Passion and Death. 
So again, A mark of holiness is the ability to undergo suffering with faith.  God allows sufferings to cross our paths, not because he likes torturing us, but because he wants to purify us, to help us grow in wisdom, to strengthen us for greater trials to come, to draw us closer and closer to his own suffering heart. A priest friend of mine often says, “everything prepares us for something else.” The suffering of yesterday and the suffering of today prepares us for the greater inevitable suffering of tomorrow. 
A second lesson. Notice, how Jesus responded to Mary.  He doesn't apologize for having gone off on his own without telling them. Instead, he simply says that they should have known that they could find him in the Temple, which he calls "his Father's house."
Jesus was not guilty of breaking the Fourth Commandment to honor your father and mother by going to His Father’s House.  Jesus was twelve-years-old, the age of adulthood in the Jewish Community.  And he made a choice to seek out His Heavenly Father’s House to attend to his heavenly Father’s business.
The second mark of holiness Jesus shows us is that our primary responsibility in life, our primary mission, is to find and follow God's call. Nothing, not even the strong, deep ties of family affection and loyalty, should interfere with doing God’s will. We sometimes experience a tug-of-war for our loyalty—God or family, God or country, God or place of employment.  Our primary loyalty is to God.

Prioritizing faith over worldly concerns is rarely easy. During the holidays, we know how easy it is to become overly concerned with the secular dimensions of Christmas, and the struggle of keeping Christ at the center of our celebrations. And throughout the year, there is the struggle of putting faith first. Sometimes the kids or one’s spouse aren’t always enthusiastic about coming to Mass or praying together throughout the week.  Sometimes one’s spouse might pressure you to disobey Church teaching concerning the use of artificial contraception.  But remaining faithful to our Heavenly Father is of the greatest importance.  In a sense, we are each members of two families, aren’t we? Born as children to biological families and born in baptism as children of God.  I know this is hard, but our greatest loyalty is to God. 

I’ve known several priests whose parents kicked them out of the house for entering seminary. Recall the story of St. Francis of Assis.  His father wished him to take over the family business.  Francis’ father publically disowned his son for turning away from the family business in order to follow God’s call. Sometimes children face tremendous pressure from parents wanting their children to be successful in the eyes of the world instead of the eyes of God.  But, Christian parents have as their vocation not just ensuring their children become psychologically well-adjusted, athletically competitive, or financially successful, but that their children know and follow Jesus Christ.

Finally, after discovering Jesus in the temple, St. Luke tells us that Mary “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She examined the events of her life, the trials of her family, her experience of anxiety, her fervent searching for Christ, and pondered them in her heart.

Here a third mark of holiness: Meditating on God’s will, examining our life in the light of Scripture and the teachings of the Church.  Even the pagan philosopher Socrates knew that the unexamined life is not worth living.  We like Mary are to examine how God is working in our life.

Every day, we do well, to set aside time for this sort of prayerful reflection.  Without this sort of reflection and meditation we will never achieve the emotional or spiritual growth God wants for us. Without prayerful reflection we miss the life lessons God wants for us, and we fail to appreciate and give thanks for the blessings of God and seek forgiveness for our failings. You might consider in the new year to begin a spiritual journal, in which you reflect on your life in light of the Scriptures or the life of the saints. A family does well too, to discuss scripture throughout the week.

On this Holy Family Sunday let us commit to making our families holy by assisting each other in discerning and following God’s will for our lives, in bearing our anxieties, trials, and sufferings with faith, and encouraging each other in engaging in those life-giving practices of mind and soul for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 28 2018 - Holy Innocents - The choice to receive or reject

On Christmas morning, we read from the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel: how the Eternal Word took on the flesh of humanity to enlighten and save the world. John wrote how there were those who received the incarnate Word with faith and Love and there were those who rejected Him.

Those who accepted the Christ Child at Christmas were of course, His blessed Mother, who received the Lord into her loving arms, St. Joseph, who received the Christ Child as a foster son—who vowed to guard, protect, rear, and teach the boy as if he was his own; the shepherds received the Christ Child in adoration, and the magi received the child with wonder and awe and worship.

Today, we heard of how King Herod did not receive the child with love and faith. In fact, he plotted to have the child murdered. And when his original plot failed, Herod ordered the massacre of all the young boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, in an attempt to eradicate the Christ.

Through the Gospels, each of the evangelists describe the many ways that Jesus was either received in faith or rejected and hated. All those encountering Him had to make a choice to receive or to reject.
The day after Christmas, we celebrated the Feast of Stephen, the first martyr, who made the choice to receive the Lord and to remain faithful unto death for Him. Yesterday, was the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, who, as well, received the Lord with faith and love, and although he was not martyred, he suffered greatly, and served the Lord as a faithful apostle. The Church honors the Holy Innocents massacred by Herod as martyrs, who received the Lord in a baptism by blood—they died for Christ, and God received them into his Kingdom.

In every age there will be Herod’s who reject the Christ, who will not stop at any extreme to safeguard their own personal kingdoms. Many even who attended Mass this Christmas, who heard the Gospel preached, will reject the call to conversion, to receive the Lord with Love and Faith and Worship. Many will not allow themselves to detach from their worldly ways to receive the Lord.

But there are Herod’s and hard-hearts that can be reached, that can be softened to receive the Christ Child through the witness, prayers, and sacrifices of the Church. So we pray for them, and for ourselves, that we may receive the Lord ever more deeply, lovingly, and faithfully, and reject everything that does not come from or lead us to Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice and honesty, and for the reversal of any law which permits or leads to the destruction of innocent human life, and that God may protect all unborn babies, and keep them safe from the scourge of abortion, we pray to the Lord.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness, addiction, or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body.

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

December 26 2018 - St. Stephen, martyr - Christmas Gold and Christmas Crimson

Yesterday, we were solemnly celebrating Christ’s Birth.  Today we commemorate the birth into Heaven of the first martyr of the Church, the Deacon Stephen.  In the atmosphere of Christmas joy, this reference to martyrdom might seems out of place.  Just yesterday after all we were wearing Christmas Gold, and now gold is traded for Christmas Crimson, the color of the blood. Yet, the juxtaposition of glorious birth and gruesome martyrdom is not totally unintelligible. The Christmas story contained it’s fair share of suffering. The long journey of the Holy Family in the final stage of Mary’s pregnancy, their being turned away from the inn, the birth of Jesus in the uncomfortable, dirty stable. Even, the Cross and Christ’s own death is foreshadowed by the wood of the manger. And orders for the slaughter of the Holy Innocents have already been issued by King Herod.

So, the commemoration of the Church’s first martyr is not so strange, the day after Christmas. Christmas and the feast of St. Stephen are certainly linked.  “Yesterday, the Lord was born on earth, in order that Stephen might be born in heaven.” Christ was born to be our Savior, and that salvation is won on the cross.

As we contemplate the divine Child in Mary’s arms, we know his destiny. He will grow to be the man who says in the Gospel today, “You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved”. St. Stephen was hated because of Christ. We heard in the first reading how he infuriated the Jewish leaders, just as Jesus had, because he preached that salvation is found through Jesus Christ, “and Him Crucified.”

You might think, can’t we just have a few days without the cross? And I think the Church answers, no, not really. Even at Easter, when we celebrate Christ’s victory over the cross and tomb, we begin to hear how the apostles willingly undergo suffering and persecution for the sake of the name. The lesson I think is to not let our guard down too much, even at Christmas. The world still hates us because it hates him. The devil will continue to tempt us, even in such a holy season. The flesh will continue to rebel against the spirit, until it is fully surrendered to God.

So, we echo the words of Stephen, the words of the psalm, the words of Christ Crucified, “into your hands Father, I commend my spirit” unto the cross, unto martyrdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

That all Christians who joyfully celebrated Christ’s birth may be strengthened in Christian charity toward all.

That through the intercession of St. Stephen, all ordained deacons, may be strengthened in faith, hope, and love.

For Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, especially those who face martyrdom, that they may have a faith that is constant and pure.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body.

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

Christmas 2018 - Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

There’s a story about a New York City Police Detective who traveled to Los Angeles one Christmas in the hope of reconciling with his estranged wife. While he was attending her office Christmas party, the office was taken over by terrorists looking to steal $640 million in bonds from the company vault. The terrorists did not anticipate the competence or commitment of Police Detective Lieutenant John McClane, who foils there plans. On Christmas Eve, on a night just like this, John McClane defeated the terrorists, and saved the hostages including his wife, Holly.

Does the plot of this story sound familiar? It’s from the 1988 action film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis. And there has been a debate on the internet these past few years, of whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, a Christmas story or not.

Well what makes a Christmas story? Compare Die Hard, perhaps, to Christmas Classics like “it’s a Wonderful Life” or Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” In A Christmas Carol, the cold, miserly heart of Ebeneezer Scrooge is softened as God intervenes in his life in a surprising way. Through the 3 ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, Scrooge comes to discover the true meaning of Christmas: humility, generosity, empathy for Bob Cratchet and his crippled son Tiny Tim, and a deepened empathy for all mankind.

And In “It’s a Wonderful Life”, George Bailey, depressed and suicidal over his failure to save his community from the machinations of the corrupt local millionaire, comes to rediscover the light of love which makes life worth living, when God intervenes in his life through the Angel Clarence. Through God’s intervention, George Bailey rekindles his commitment to those enduring Christmas values: family, friends, caring for others, seeking the welfare of one’s community.

A Christmas Carol and “It’s a Wonderful Life” are perennial Christmas classics because they echo the original Christmas story so well: God breaking-in to human history 2000 years ago in an unprecedented way, urging us to welcome the Christ-Child to break in to our lives, that we may live a fully human life, reconciled to God and one another. Christmas is the story of God breaking in to the hearts of the Scrooges of our world, to teach them how to love, that will bring about actual human flourishing. And Christmas is the story of God breaking in to the lives of the George Baileys of the world, those who are weighed down by sorrow and injustice and darkness, to teach them that they are loved, to be filled with light once again.

So, is Die Hard a Christmas movie or is it an action movie that takes place on Christmas? Whatever you decide, the question raises a very pertinent truth. There’s a big difference between a true Christmas story, and a story that happens to take place on Christmas. A true Christmas story involves transformation, a handing of one’s life over to something bigger than yourself, allowing God to be your savior.

Now, what about your story? What about the story of your life, which has brought you here tonight, to this beautiful place. Is your life part of the Christmas story of God breaking in to human history in the person of Jesus Christ or does your story just happen to take place on Christmas? For it is entirely possible to have Christmas music, Christmas decorations, Christmas food, Christmas gatherings, without allowing Christ to be in one’s heart.

I can promise you that God doesn’t want to stay on peripheries of your life, he doesn’t just want you to nod in his direction every once in a while. Jesus doesn’t want to be a Christmas decoration, or a relic mentioned in some old Christmas hymn. He wants to live in your heart. He wants the transformation for you, that we see in Ebeneezer Scrooge, in George Bailey, in the dark of night of a Bethlehem stable.

The Christmas gift that God wants for each one of you is the gift of deeper Christian faith: faith that what happened 2000 years ago in Bethlehem can happen in your heart if you allow it. He will fill your mind with knowledge of His Truth, he will fill your eyes and ears with the glory of his Humble Beauty, and he will fill your hearts with the experience of His Goodness, if you allow it. He will break into your life, if you allow it.

On Christmas Eve a few years ago, Pope Benedict wrote, “God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenseless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendor and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us.” So love Him. Allow yourself to Love Christ more deeply, that you may follow Him more faithfully.

[5:00pm Christmas Eve] In the powerful Gospel reading for Christmas Eve Mass, we hear that the one to be born of Mary is called, Emmanuel which means “God is With Us”. I pray that this Christmas each of you comes to a deeper understanding of what that means. What it means that God wants to be with you, and urges you to take the journey of humility, the journey of self-emptying, that you may be filled with His Life. I hope that tonight is the beginning for all of you of a new story, of allowing Jesus Christ, Savior, to transform your lives, to be more like His, humble and obedient.

 [Midnight Mass] In the powerful Gospel reading for Midnight Mass we hear of the angel challenging the shepherds not to be afraid of God’s intervention in their lives. “Do not Be Afraid” to make the one who is wrapped in swaddling clothes as the Lord of Your Life, that his favor may rest upon you always. “Do not be Afraid” to take the journey of humility, the journey of self-emptying, that you may be filled with His Life. “Do not be afraid” to begin a new chapter tonight, a new story of allowing Jesus Christ, Savior, to transform your lives, to be more like His, humble and obedient.

[Mass in the morning] In the powerful Gospel reading for Christmas morning, we read from the beginning, the Prologue of John’s Gospel in which we hear of the Eternal Word taking on flesh, God breaking in to human history to become man. No doubt, Christmas can be a new beginning for each of you, if you allow that Eternal Word to make his dwelling in your heart more deeply, to manifest the power of the Eternal taking on flesh to save us from our sins.

We gather to celebrate the greatest story ever told: the story of the Eternal and All-powerful God’s humble self-emptying to become a child, in order to save us from our sins and our darkness, when we were completely incapable of saving ourselves.

St. Paul of the Cross said, “Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit”. Being a Christian is rooted in loving this Child not just once a year, but every minute of every day: worshiping him, surrendering our life to him. 

May we allow God to transform our lives, to deepen our faith, to illuminate our darkness, that our lives may give evidence of His incarnation, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 24 2018 - To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death

Today's Gospel is the Canticle of Zechariah, also called the "Benedictus" because of its opening line in Latin, “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel”—“Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel”. This song of thanksgiving is prayed every day in the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, as part of the Church’s morning prayer.

The Benedictus is fittingly proclaimed today, on Christmas Eve morning Mass, for is the prayer of the faithful, hopeful soul, Zechariah who  anticipates the rising sun of God just about to break over the horizon of the history of Israel. Zechariah, sees in the birth of his son, John the forerunner, a sign of hope, that the Messiah must be coming soon. And in his Canticle, Zechariah celebrates how the good things God was doing in his family were part of God’s larger plan for Israel and for the salvation of the human race. What is our Canticle? Could we sing a similar song? Do we have the eyes of faith to see how God is working in our families, to save the souls of our family members, to use our family members as his instruments for his plan for human salvation?

Zechariah recognizes that his son John is the “prophet of the Most High” who will “go before the Lord to prepare His way”. But, aren't we all called to do the same, especially in the context of our family gatherings this Christmas: to be prophets pointing to Christ. How does God want to loosen our tongues to proclaim His praises in the context of our families, like he did to Zechariah?

The Lord certainly desires “to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death”, in our world, and in our families. And he wants to do so through us. May we bring the light, the joy, the beauty of his saving birth, into our Christmas gatherings and celebrations today and always, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Rejoicing in the Lord's nearness, we raise up our prayers of petition.
 
May Christ, the Wisdom which comes from the mouth of God, guide us in knowledge and love.

May Christ, leader of the House of Israel, bring protection to all of the oppressed.

May Christ, the Root of Jesse, come to the aid of nations and leaders of nations to walk in the ways of peace.

May Christ, Key of David, free all those captive to sin.

May Christ, the Morning Star, enlighten those who dwell in the shadow of death.

May Christ, King of the Nations, be the desire of the entire human race.

May Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, bring comfort to all those who suffer and who mourn, and for the deceased priests of the diocese of Cleveland, for whom this Mass is offered.

4th Sunday of Advent 2018 - Mary Traveled in Haste

Two short weeks ago, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we heard the story of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel came to the virgin of Nazareth, and announced God’s will for her to be the mother of the Savior. The angel Gabriel also announced to Mary the good news that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, had conceived a child.

Mary immediately set out to visit her kinswoman, and thus we have the beautiful, powerful story of the Visitation, the final Sunday Gospel before Our Christmas festivities. And I propose four short lessons for preparing for Christmas from the story of the Visitation.

First, upon hearing that her elderly cousin had conceived in her old age, how did Mary respond? Mary left “in haste” to help. Even though Mary just had a life changing experience, God was intervening in her life in an unprecedented way, Mary left the comfort of her home in Nazareth, in haste.  She detected a need, and she acted without fearful hesitation.

There’s lesson number one: when we detect a need, we are to act in haste.  Whether it’s a change we need to make in our own life, or if we hear how a neighbor needs our help, we are to act in haste.  We don’t put off for tomorrow, what should be done today. 

Someone once said, the devil’s favorite day is “tomorrow” because he tells us, “you can always change, tomorrow. You can always quit drinking tomorrow. You can always visit your lonely neighbor tomorrow.” And what happens? When we say we are going to change, tomorrow, the change rarely comes. The fire of inspiration starts to die away.  Procrastination rarely serves God. So Advent lesson number one: if something needs to change in our life, we need to make that change, in haste.

Secondly, think of what the journey from Nazareth to Judea meant for Mary.  Elizabeth and Zechariah weren’t just a drive across town.  They lived in the hill country of Judea—about 60 miles from Nazareth—through bandit infested hill country.  A difficult journey for anyone, especially for a teenage mother traveling by herself.

But anxiety did not hinder the blessed Mother from making the journey of love. Mary was concerned that Elizabeth’s pregnancy would be difficult for she was advanced in years.  So, prompted by love and charity, she put Elizabeth’s needs ahead of her own.

Again, Mary had her own problems: she was with child, she was betrothed to Joseph but carrying a child that was not his.  She could have stayed home and figured about how she was going to explain her pregnancy to her parents, let alone her fiancé. How was she going to provide for her child if Joseph divorced her, as was his right?  She could have stayed at home feeling sorry for herself.  At least Elizabeth had a husband, and a home. 

Here’s lesson number two: Mary teaches us to look beyond our own problems and worries to the needs of others. If I’m overly concerned about myself, I might miss out on those opportunities God gives me to help others. Mary had a number of reasons to justify staying home, but true charity pierces through the excuses.  Mary’s journey teaches us that charity isn’t always easy, nor does charity stop just because I have my own problems. So lesson number two: stop making excuses not to engage in charity.

Next, as Mary traveled those 60 miles from Nazareth to the Judean hill country, she was only newly pregnant.  Jesus would still only have been the tiniest of human embryos, well before a tiny infant would develop feet to kick within her womb. Not having the physical signs of pregnancy, Mary knew of her pregnancy only through faith. And no doubt, as she traveled, she meditated upon the words of the Archangel, and how all the prophecies of the Old Testament were converging in her. 

As we travel through Advent, we like Mary traveling to Elizabeth are meant to be meditating on the promises of Holy Scripture. Every day of Advent we should be meditating on the Scriptures, particularly the prophets.  For it was through the prophets that God communicated his promise of a savior.  So, if we can’t get to daily Mass to hear the words of the prophets, we should be doing some sort of personal daily meditation in order to deepen our understanding and appreciation of Jesus’ saving birth. St. John Chrysostom said, “the Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should merely enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.” 

So there is our third lesson: as she traveled, Mary meditated upon the Scriptures that she had engraved into her heart. And so as we travel through Advent, ensure that you are meditating on some scripture every day.

Finally, upon reaching her destination, we see how Mary brought incredible joy to her cousin. Having left in haste, having put the needs of another before her own, having meditated on the word of God, Mary must have been bursting with joy over the good news that the long awaited for Messiah, the Savior, was to be born. 

The lesson?  We are meant to follow Mary’s example of spreading Good News joyfully. We are to be excited about Jesus and excited about our faith.  The cause of our joy this Christmas are not the gifts that Santa brings, but the gift that God has already given in Jesus Christ.  He is the cause of our joy.
“Joy,” Mother Theresa said, “is the net by which you catch souls.” There are souls out there, neighbors, family members, people who have left the Church, that can only be brought to God by witnessing our joy.

“A joyful heart, Mother Theresa explained, “is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love for God and for neighbor.” So our final advent lesson today: Mary shows us that during Advent we are meant to prepare our hearts in such a way that we discover new joy through our faith.  Daily prayer, daily self-sacrificing charity, daily meditation: these things cause our hearts to catch fire with love and joy.

I think of that wonderful Christmas song, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come…Let every heart prepare him room.”  Why are we not as joyful as we should be, why are we not bursting with joy in the Lord, why are we as not as effective evangelists as we should be…we all too often have not prepared our hearts and made room in our hearts as fully as we should for the Lord. 

So, in these final Advent days, may Mary continue to teach us how to prepare our hearts for the Lord, that following her example of faith, we may share her joy this Christmas, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 21 2018 - The light of God's love

Throughout the church year, we do not read very often from the Song of Songs, yet this book has been the favorite of many great Saints.  The Song of Songs has been called “the Great Love Story between God and the Soul”, yet, it is the only book of the Bible that never once mentions the name of God.  But when you read it, with the eyes of faith, you find God everywhere, in the symbolism of this book’s poetry, and song-like dialogues.

Song of Songs is a series of love poems about a Bride and her Groom.  The traditional Jewish interpretation identifies the Groom as the God and the Bride as the people of Israel.  Early Christian interpreters understood the Groom as Jesus and the Bride as the Church.  Especially in light of Saint Paul who refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ several times.  In just a few short verses, we realize that the Bride and Groom in the Song of Songs are passionately in love.  If you wish to more deeply encounter the love God has for you, meditate with the eyes of faith, on the Song of Songs!

The Song of Songs is very appropriate for Advent.  For as two lovers joyfully anticipate being in each other’s presence, they call out to each other, they speak their desire for each other, so the Church joyfully and passionately awaits Christ.

Hark! my lover–here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills.

He rises over the mountains, much like the rays of the morning sun. Which is why, in the O Antiphon for today, the Church calls out to Christ, “O Oriens” O Rising Sun, O Radiant Dawn, come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. On the eve of the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, the Church announces Christ as light.

I hope your advent preparations have helped you encounter this God who loves you.  I hope you have encountered Him as light that pierces through the darkness of your life.  Each of us have struggles, anxieties, darkness.  The relationship with Christ may not eliminate the darkness from your life, but in Christ we encounter the light shining in the darkness, a love which accompanies us amidst all of our worldly trials. This light is so powerful, that even in the midst of darkness, we are able to cry out with St. Paul, “death, where is thy sting?” Darkness may be present, but it has no power over the Christian who walks in the light.

Rejoice, the Lord, our Lover is coming to meet us. Let us open our arms and hearts to Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.
That those in the darkness of error and faithlessness may be enlightened by the light of Christ through the witness of the Church
For the protection of the unborn, and the overturning of all laws lacking respect for the dignity of human life.
That those struggling with winter depression or addiction may find peace and joy in Christ.
That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.
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.

December 19 2018 - Already and not yet

The third week of Advent is characterized by joy. We began the week, lighting the 3rd candle of the Advent wreath, donning the rose colored vestments, and singing, “Gaudete in Domino Semper, Rejoice in the Lord Always, For the Lord is near.”

Our joy is similar to that of Manoah and his wife. Not only did the angel announce that Manoah’s wife would bear a son after years and years of barrenness, but that child, Samson, would be especially consecrated to the Lord, and would begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines.

Our joy is similar to the sentiment of the psalmist: trusts that the Lord is a rock of refuge, who knows that God will give him strength to fulfill his life’s purpose.

And our joy is similar to that of Elizabeth and Zechariah. God intervened in their lives as well to bring an end to decades of barrenness, decades of shame. To an even greater degree than Samson in the first reading, their son, John, would be especially consecrated to God, and be filled with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous. What could bring greater joy to these parents?

And yet, our joy is greater still, because of the nearness of God. The Eucharistic Preface since Sunday and up until Christmas proclaims that “already we rejoice at the mystery of His Nativity”. Christ has already been born into history, and for this we “already rejoice”, yet we reflect upon these wonderful Advent scripture passages, that our understanding of the miracle, the impact of the incarnation, may deepen. And as our understanding and wonder and awe deepen, so too does our joy.

The O Antiphon for December 19 speaks of Jesus as the “Root of Jesse” who is a sign for people, before whom kings are silent, and to whom the nations make their supplications: “come to deliver us, and tarry not”.

We pray that we may know times of Advent silence, we may be fervent in our Advent supplications, and pray that the Lord will deliver us from all that keeps us from knowing him, loving him, and following him, and experiencing the joy of his presence in our minds and hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That God may bring the faithless to believe in His Son and increase the faith of those struggling to believe.

For all expectant mothers and for those who struggle with barrenness and infertility, that God may grant them strength and grace.

That children and young people may seek to be consecrated to the Lord in word and deed and become instruments of Christ’s Truth and Love.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

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.

December 18 2018 - O Adonai - He shall save His People

One of the things that has always struck me about today’s Gospel story, of the archangel’s visit to St. Joseph, is that the archangel tells Joseph what he is to name the Christ child. Modern parents will often spend a lot of time flipping through books of baby names, actually they have websites for that now, to help them decide what they will name their child. They might pick a name in honor of a grandparent, a celebrity or saint, or they might pick a name whose meaning contains characteristics they hope their children will embody. My first name, for example, Kevin, has irish or gaelic roots, and means gentle, noble, and kind. I think my parents did a pretty good job with that, don’t you?

In ancient Israel, the child’s father was responsible for naming the child. Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, we hear how Zechariah names his son to be John. That God chooses the name of the Christ child shows that the son of Mary is the true Divine Son of the Heavenly Father. And God too chooses a name that will characterize the Son’s identity and mission. The Archangel announces the Father’s will, “You shall name Him Jesus”  The name ‘Jesus’ is derived from the Old Testament name “Joshua” which means, “God is salvation”.  What a perfect name. Jesus is God, and He is our salvation.

Now, first-century Jews were expecting God to save them from their political enemies.  Rome was occupying their land, controlling their religious life, cruelly torturing and murdering Jews who spoke out against Rome.

But the angel tells Joseph, that Jesus wasn’t going to save Israel from their earthly enemies.  Jesus was going to save Israel and all mankind from their sins.  For sin is a greater threat than any political enemy. Sin brought about not just an enemy’s occupation of one’s homeland, but the occupation of one’s soul. Sin threatened not just one’s national identity, but a defacement of one’s identity as a child of God.

The Advent O Antiphons for this morning applies another name from the Old Testament to the Christ Child. I sang “O Adonai”.  O Lord and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. 

Jesus is identified as the God who led Israel out of Egyptian slavery, who gave them the law that they might be a holy nation.

These names and titles help us to truly prepare for Christmas because amidst all the busyness, they help us to focus on who Jesus is, and what really matters.  That to us is born a savior who came to free us from being separated from God, from our destructive habits.

That Jesus is Lord, Adonai, means that we belong to him, we owe our loyalty to Him we owe our obedience to his law, and we owe worship to his glory, bringing to him the pure and acceptable offering of the total submission of our minds, hearts, and lives. May our honor of him help every tongue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

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.

December 17 2018 - Jesus, Wisdom of God

December 17 begins what is called “Deep Advent” or “Late Advent”.  We hear on this first Deep Advent Day from the Gospel of Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus, tracing Jesus’ family tree all the way back to Abraham, who the first Eucharistic prayer calls “our father in faith”

St. Matthew the apostle, the Jewish tax collector, wanted to show the Jewish people of his day how Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promises to the Jewish nation and the prophecies of the Old Testament. So Matthew, carefully derives the genealogy of Jesus through 42 generations, to show that Jesus is the true Messiah, promised by God to Abraham, to save the human race. Jesus is the fulfillment of their deepest hopes.


During Deep Advent the Church also sings the ancient O Antiphons both in her official evening prayer and also during the Gospel Acclamation at Mass. Today we sung of the Sapientia, the wisdom, that comes from the mouth of God, by which we are to order our life.

Nearly every culture of human history has had some sense of wisdom which helps us to judge right from wrong and to lead a good life. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom” (1 Cor 1:22) well, Jesus is the sign of God’s providence, He is the wisdom that comes from God, He is our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption (I Cor 1:30). We are saved by wisdom, because Jesus is the Wisdom of God,  the Word spoken by God, who teaches us to live an ordered and prudent life on earth, that we may come to eternal life.

How different would our world, our city, and our families be, if more men and women, (Christians too), allowed themselves to be guided and taught and saved by the wisdom that comes from God. We long for peace, we long for justice, but these things are only attainable by learning and practicing and making room in our minds and hearts for the Wisdom who is Jesus Christ. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with divine wisdom, justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

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.

3rd Sunday of Advent 2018 - Rejoice in the Lord Always. Always!

A few weeks ago, at my previous parish assignments, I was meeting with our parish youth group, a great group of kids in 8th through 12th grade. The discussion that week centered on the commandments: how the commandments of God are not always easy to follow, sometimes we are tempted to break or ignore them; how the commandments of God are often differ from the attitudes of the culture—how civil laws can even allow what the law of God forbids. The conversation then turned to examine how following the commandments and the teachings of Jesus bring us a joy that nothing else in the world can give. This led us to differentiate between happiness and joy. Our culture treats those two words virtually synonymously. The word "joy" is used modernly to mean a great quantity of happiness. I’m happy, for example when the Cleveland Browns bring home a victory, but joy is reserved for births and weddings and ordinations and pastor installations.

Christians, though use these words a bit differently. Happiness is satisfaction with temporary things. Again, I’m happy when my chicken wings are the perfect level of crispiness, I’m happy when the traffic light turns green at just the right time and I can cruise right through the intersection.

But no amount of crispy chicken wings or green lights or browns victories can bring joy…ever. Because joy comes from our relationship not from temporary earthly things, but with being in right relationship with the eternal things of God: Truth, Goodness, Beauty. Our hearts are filled not just with happiness, but joy, when we learn the Truth that comes from God, when we engage in truly good acts, caring for the poor, caring for a sick family member, feeding the hungry, forgiving those who hurt us. And we are filled with joy at the sight of beauty, true beauty, the beauty of God’s creation, beautiful and timeless Christian art and architecture, like that we are able to behold when we come to St. Ignatius of Antioch church, “The Cathedral of West Blvd.”

If you remember, a few weeks ago, the story of the rich young man. Jesus invites him to give up his possessions and to follow him, and the rich young man rejects the invitation, he goes away sad, why? Because he was unwilling to detach himself from the love of his temporary, earthly possessions. He chose happiness from passing earthly things, over the joy that comes from the truth and goodness and beauty of Jesus Christ.

I reflect this morning on joy as we celebrate Joy Sunday—Gaudete Sunday. On this 3rd Sunday of Advent we allow ourselves to revel in the joy that Christ is near. Rejoice, for the Lord is near, as St. Paul writes in our second reading. The eternal one, the eternal word made flesh, whose incarnation brings about a reconciliation between man and God, man to finally be saved from slavery to the flesh that he might live for what is eternal.

Last week, I announced an increase in the availability of the Sacrament of Confession here at St. Ignatius: a full hour on Saturday, and confession between the two Sunday morning masses. In Confession, we acknowledge the times we have lived for the earthly rather than for God: for the pleasure of the instant of lust, the pleasure of sharing that juicy piece of gossip, the dark satisfaction of stunning someone into silence through hurtful words in an argument, relying on ourselves too much and trusting in God too little, for the acts of selfishness which, yes, bring some earthly gratification, but in the end, diminish authentic joy in us.

St. Paul’s exhortation to rejoice always, is quite challenging, isn’t it? . Rejoice in the Lord always?  Really Saint Paul?  Would Paul dare to say those words if he knew the horrors of the 20th century, the godlessness taking root in so many places in our world today? Does he dare to utter those words to a parent grieving the loss of a child? To a widow? To slave? To a cripple? To the terminally ill?

Well, yes, I think he would. Because his message is timeless. Now of course he’s not saying rejoice on account of all the evil in the world. Evil is not a good thing. Tragedy is not a good thing. Nor is Paul exhorting us to pretend like the evils in the world “Aren’t that bad.”

What he’s saying is, rejoice because Jesus is real and Jesus is near to us, even in tragedy, especially in tragedy. In the aftermath of senseless tragedies many ask “where is God?”  And the Church, in all honestly and conviction, says, “here.”  God is here, with us, now, with his consolation for those who mourn, with the promise of eternal life for those who die in his friendship. 

And because God is near and because God can transform every occasion into a moment of grace, the Christian can truly rejoice always.  God can transform the most painful cross into the most redemptive sanctifying moments of our life.

Echoing the words of St. Paul, Saint Therese of Liseaux from her death bed said, “Everything is grace”.  Again, in those three words, Thérèse does not mean it makes no difference what I do, that every choice is good. I cannot choose evil and think grace is in that choice. Saint Thérèse is explaining that God is never distant. Wherever we are, in that exact place in that moment, even on your death bed, even when nailed to the cross, there is the choice, to turn to God and know his closeness.  God is with us, always, and He is wholly concerned about our eternal well-being, always.

Our Advent days are literally brimming over with opportunities to encounter the Lord, to remember the Lord’s Christmas nearness. In our daily prayer, in the sacraments, in serving our neighbor, in the little crosses God gives us to bear, doing small deeds with great love. Our successes and our failures and even tragedies can be turned into moments of grace, and increase in joy, when we realize God is near. But the choice is ours to turn from darkness and self-reliance, from the bottle and pills, from the iphone screen, from the need to control the lives of others, or to turn to light, to the eternal one, the fount of true and lasting joy.

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again, Rejoice” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 14 2018 - St. John of the Cross - Advent self-denial

John was a reformer, mystic poet, and theologian priest. He was ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at the age of 25. John noticed that his brother Carmelites had strayed from the primitive Carmelite rule, which stressed poverty, austerity, and discipline. And so he resolved to bring reform to his order, calling his community back to its original intent. His efforts however were met with increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, and eventually imprisonment. His own religious brothers imprisoned him within the monastery in a cell 10 foot by 6 foot, barely big enough for his own body. He was also regularly flogged in front of his community.

There, in the darkness, John prayed, uniting his own suffering with that of our savior. He would spend his hours reciting scripture and composing poetry for God. Though he suffered physically, his interior life began to bloom, and he laid the foundation what would become some of the most beautiful mystical poetry in our Church’s tradition, his books and poems with titles like “The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, the Spiritual Canticle, and the Living Flame of Love.”

His poems contain timeless lessons for discipleship, and highlight the great Gospel paradox: the cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial of self to union with God.

During the last years of his life, after escaping imprisonment, John traveled throughout Spain, establishing new houses of prayer, many which endure to this day.

Another wonderful Advent saint. Who teaches us to practice penance, prayer, solitude and reflection, as the way to perfection, to open our hearts to the joy, communion, light, and peace God desires for each of us.

We are challenged by the mystics to examine our prayer lives.  Do we willingly go into the dark cell to encounter God? Do we put away all attachments that we may come to possess Him? Do we embrace the cross or shy away from it?  For as John writes in his Spiritual Canticle: “the gate that gives entrance to the riches of God’s wisdom is the cross.”

May this Advent help us to love the cross and thereby come to love and imitate more closely the One who suffered and died upon it out of love for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.
That through self-denial and embrace of the cross the Christian people may experience ever-deeper union with Christ and a more faithful proclamation of the Gospel.

For the members of the Carmelite Order, that their life of prayer and penance will be for the Church a source of renewal and strength.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

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.

December 12 2018 - Our Lady of Guadalupe - Mother of the Author of Life

When Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531, Mexico was one of the most depraved cultures in human history.  The number of human sacrifices by the Aztec culture is virtually incalculable.

Our Lady came bearing the message of her Son and a message of life.  Mary to Juan Diego said: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...”

A Church was built.  The Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most popular pilgrimage site in North America built near the site where Our Lady appeared to the poor farmer, Juan. It is second in the world only to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

What was in 1531 an almost entirely pagan culture almost entirely converted to Christ.  According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Aztecs became Catholic in a very short time.  It is only in recent decades that Catholicism in Mexico has begun to revert, as the culture of death, which is so prevalent in our culture, attempts to regain its lost territory.

At Tepeyac, Our Lady of Guadalupe showed herself to be a lover of humanity and a lover of life.  She is depicted with a ribbon around her waist, indicating that she is with child.  She is also depicted standing on a moon, the symbol of paganism. History shows that cultures which worshiped the moon are very depraved.  And so Mary, standing on the moon, as if crushing it, points to the victory of Jesus Christ, the God of Life, over the powers the false pagan gods of death.

The Feast of Guadalupe is an important Advent feast, to remind us that we prepare during Advent to celebrate the birth of Christ the Savior, victor over the powers of sins and death.

Saint John Paul II, his great Marian Document, Redemptoris Mater, writes:  For Mary, present in the Church as the Mother of the Redeemer, takes part, as a mother, in that monumental struggle; against the powers of darkness" which continues throughout human history.

And so throughout Advent we do well to invoke Our Lady in our prayers for the conversion of our culture, especially for those who, because of their errors and false beliefs spread and participate in evil intentionally or unintentionally.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and the Right to Life Movement, pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.


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We bring our prayers to God through Mary.

Please respond to the petitions: “Mother of the Redeemer, intercede for us”

That Our Lady may protect the Church from all evil, and aid us in the mission of the Gospel.

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of each human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death.

For all mothers, that they may find in Mary the example and strength to carry out their
vocation.

For all refugees forced to flee from their homes, that God bring peace to them and their country of origin.

That the sick may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Our Lady, who
intercedes for us from her place in heaven.

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

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Week of Advent 2018 - Tuesday - Seeking Lost Sheep

Yesterday, we heard of the two friends who lowered the paralyzed man through the roof to be healed by Jesus; friends who exerted great effort to bring the paralyzed to Jesus.  We were challenged to consider how the Lord is calling us to make extra effort to bring others to Jesus for healing. It is an act of love to bring others to Jesus. Advent stretches our hearts to love as God loves, who desires that no one perish, but that they may have eternal life. To love others is to have concern for their eternal soul, as God does.

Jesus says in the Gospel that God doesn’t want a single sheep lost. So the Good Shepherd goes out, and sends us out, to seek the lost. We all know lost sheep. They are our family members, our neighbors, our old high school classmates. Friends, who for whatever reason, have stopped going to Church, who have hardened their hearts to the Truth of the Catholic faith. And those who have never heard the Gospel proclaimed convincingly.

We are to announce to them, like Isaiah, in the first reading that the comfort, the peace they are looking for, cannot be found “out there” away from the Church. It’s found here, in the presence of the Good Shepherd, when belief in Him and obedience to His ways fills ones life. Isaiah said, “Go up onto a high mountain, and fear not to cry out, here is your God.”  God desire to break into their lives, to help them repent and be purified and be filled with faith. And he wants to use us, our words and our deeds, our acts of kindness and charity, to help them wake-up from their slumber, to speak truth to them in their errors, to be a light, a beacon, for their journey home, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That the Holy Father, all bishops and priests, religious and laity may shine with the Light of Christ’s love for the lost and despairing.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated from God through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

That our young people will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.

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

O God, you 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.

2nd Week of Advent 2018 - Monday - Advent Love

As I mentioned last week, the four candles of the Advent wreath traditionally represent the four Advent themes of hope, love, joy, and peace. The second candle symbolizing Christian Charity has now has been lit. So, this week we meditate on the love infusing this beautiful season—the love of God which transforms us to love others.

In the fourth century, Saint Augustine wrote, “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.”

In the Gospel, we see Christian love beautifully illustrated in the companions of the paralyzed man. Aware of their friend’s misery, they use their hands and feet to overcome obstacles to bring their friend to the Lord.

To grow in Advent charity, our eyes, ears, hands, and feet are to be placed in greater service of God, greater service of those in need. We are to become that 2nd Advent candle, shining with good works, works of charity. As the Lord teaches, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Pope Benedict XVI wrote his first encyclical on Love. Love, which is not a sentiment, not an emotion, but an action which seeks the healing and the wholeness of others. My favorite line from any papal encyclical in the past 20 years, and probably the only line from a papal document I can quote from memory comes is this: “Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim.”

Whose dark world will you make brighter today? Whose paralysis will you bring to the Lord? How will you be a true loving friend today, by bringing someone to Jesus in your words and deeds? Who needs the use of your hands, feet, eyes, and ears?

May our love increase, and may the light of Christ’s love be evident in us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

For an increase in charity among the Christian people, that we may be cleansed of every vain and selfish desire in order to become instruments of the love of God.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.

For all the sick and suffering, the homeless, the unemployed, those suffering from addictions, and anyone in any kind of distress.

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

O God, you 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.

2nd Sunday of Advent 2018 - Prepare the Way through Sacramental Confession

At my first parish assignment at St. Columbkille in Parma, concluding Mass every Christmas, the choir would break into a full-voiced, exultant rendition of the Halleluiah chorus—a song praising Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The well-known Halleluiah chorus is just one movement of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah oratorio—which begins, not with loud jubilation, but rather softly—with single voices, singing verses from the prophet Isaiah. Music lovers and aficionado’s would probably tell you that you can barely begin to really appreciate the Halleluiah chorus, only when you’ve allowed those soft melodies to lead you to that point.

Similarly, with Christmas as a whole. Advent is very subtle and soft season, only with hints of Christmas jubilation. Primarily next week, the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday is rather jubilant, but most of Advent is quiet and reflective. In fact, those eight days before Christmas, beginning December 17, are especially solemn and quiet. We call those days late Advent or deep Advent, like the deep of night during which Christ was born.

Advent beckons to us to seek Christ in the quiet, to listen to the voice crying out in the desert, as we heard in the Gospel today. Many of our contemporaries seek to “get in the Christmas spirit” by listening to Christmas music piped over department store speakers, but Christians prepare for Christmas best, not by way of the bombardment of the senses, but with the contemplation of messages nearly drowned out by modern noise—the promise of God’s desire to come to souls who wait in expectant longing.

What was the message of the voice crying out in the solitude and quiet of the wilderness, in the Gospel today? It was a message of repentance, the call to conversion, to seek the Lord’s help in straightening the crooked parts of our life.

St. John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. The Greek word for repentance, you’ve probably heard before is Metanoia. Metanoia involves a change of heart, a change of mind, a willingness to change one’s life, a willingness to hand over to God the coldness, the impatience, the lust, the self-centeredness that always seeks to take root in us.

Jesus wants to live in you and reign in you.  What’s the obstacle to that?  Us, our sin and our selfishness. How do we open the pathways of our life best to Christ? Through the Sacrament, Christ himself has given us. In the Sacrament of Confession we seek that Metanoia, that change, that encounter with Christ that changes us forever.

As you will read in my bulletin column this week, I will be increasing the availability of the Sacrament of Confession for this season and for the indefinite future. Confessions will be available for a whole hour on Saturdays, from 3:30 to 4:30, and also in between the Sunday morning masses. Additionally, our area’s annual communal penance service will be on Tuesday, December 11 at 7pm at St. Mel’s.

If it’s been more than a few months since your last confession, it’s time! Make a good thorough examination of your conscience, an examination of your life in light of the 10 commandments and all the teachings of Christ and the Church. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you identify some of those crooked parts of your life, that parts God desires to convert and transform.

Envy, callousness, pride, all these things threaten God’s life in us—these attitudes drive out the life of God in us, and confession prepares our hearts for God to once again dwell and live and reign. Confession banishes darkness and reignites the light of Christ in our souls dimmed through venial sin or extinguished through mortal sin.

God is so eager to wash us and purify us in the Sacrament.  And Advent is the time the Church eagerly runs toward encounters with God. Our Collect for this 2nd Sunday put it well, asking God to not allow any earthly undertaking to hinder us in setting out in haste to meet God’s Son. What an important prayer, as so many people are running toward Christ but, in all honesty, running away from him.

In the confessional, we receive a comfort that nothing in the world can possibly provide. The comfort, the consolation and the joy of hearing from the priest that our sins are absolved. We cannot absolve ourselves, though many try. But, unabsolved guilt will always eat at us until it is absolved, through the means Christ instituted. So, the sooner we go to confession the better. The fear, perhaps, of confessing an embarrassing sin cannot compare to the relief we receive when that sin is confessed.
To hear those quiet, subtle words, I absolve you from your sins…your sins are forgiven…are probably the most consoling words we can hear this side of eternity. For they are a true sign of God’s love for us and his mercy. I don’t know about you, but I’ve often emerged from confession wanting to sing the Halleluiah chorus myself. The angels are certainly rejoicing, for as the Lord himself taught, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine who do not repent.

We willingly undergo acts of repentance, we seek to make straight the paths of our lives so that not only we can walk in the ways of righteousness, but so Christ, the Righteous One may walk the corridors of our lives. He desires to seek out the lost through us, to challenge the complacent and comfort the afflicted through us. And the absolved soul is eminently more hospitable to Christ than the one who does not think he is in need of confession.

I may be belaboring this point, only because I know the Lord wishes to meet many of you in the confessional this Advent. And I hope you respond to his invitation.

For there is no greater way to prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for Christmas, than by taking seriously the call to Advent conversion, metanoia. that in the words of our second reading today: “you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God” and the salvation of souls.

December 07 2018 - St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor - God works through intermediaries

Throughout Advent, we are confronted with quite an interesting dimension of God’s plan for human redemption: God works so often through intermediaries. He works through angels, angels who bring the announcement of his will. He works through Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of Christ. He works through Isaiah the prophet preparing the minds and hearts of God’s people to ready themselves, to put their trust and confidence in the goodness of God and his care for the poor in spirit. God works through a sinless virgin, literally coming into the world through her.

Again, we celebrate another wonderful Advent saint, who himself was an intermediary through whom God worked to bring souls to himself. For it was through the preaching and teaching and personal holiness and integrity of life of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, that God worked to bring the fallen soul of St. Augustine back to himself. Augustine wrote in his Confessions how he had fallen into the foulest and most wicked of lifestyles, his mind corrupted with worldly error and vice.

Augustine describes anguish, in fact, hearing the words of Ambrose—anguish because Augustine began to recognize the errors of his ways, his arrogance. Through Ambrose, Augustine claims that God pierced his heart with his love. Powerful. Ambrose we know wasn’t the only intermediary in Augustine’s life. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica, shed a lifetime of tears and countless prayers for her wayward son.

Each one of us here today is able to profess the Catholic faith because that faith was shared with us by others. For many of us, it was our parents who gave us the gift of faith. Priests and religious sisters and catechists, too, strengthening our faith. Brother and sister Christians, through their own lives of holiness, inspiring us to be more selfless and humble. We all have a part to play in sharing the faith, and we must never underestimate the value of solid preaching and teaching and good Christian example.

It was because that Ambrose had cooperated with the grace of God in his own life, forming his mind through study of Latin, Greek, rhetoric, philosophy, literature, and of course sacred scripture, that he was able to be such an effective intermediary, a powerful instrument of evangelization.

Advent challenges us to prepare the way of the Lord in our minds and hearts, making straight the paths of our own life, that Christ may travel them, to brings souls to himself for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God.

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.

 That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

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

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Advent 2018 - Wednesday - Dare we hope?

Of the four weeks of Advent, this first week is characterized by hope, the second by love, the third by joy, and the fourth by peace. But we begin with hope.

Hope is a universal human experience—every human person ever has hoped. They’ve hoped that their lives not be filled with so much suffering; they’ve hoped for happiness. Hope motivates the human quest for happiness. The ancient Greek philosophers, for example, hoped to discern the right way of living that lead to a eudaimonia, as they called it, a happy life.

The hope of the Jewish people fills the sacred scriptures: their hope that God will save them from their enemies, from famine and disease, from political discord, from sin and earth. We hear throughout the Advent season Israel’s hope expressed especially through the prophet Isaiah. We heard today their hope that God would ultimately gather his people upon a holy mountain, where all nations would live in harmony, where they would be fed richly, where they would be saved, and where they would see God face-to-face, because God is not always easy to see amidst the sufferings of life, is He? Even Christians have a hard time seeing God when a loved one dies, when the innocent suffer, when doubts arise about how I’ll feed my family, how I’ll make it to another day. God is hard to see when the powers of death seem to rule and reign.

St. Luke describes Jesus today going up a mountain, and healing the lame, the deformed, the mute, and many others, and then going on to feed a multitude through miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of all peoples.

Many people, as we know, do not acknowledge Jesus to be the fulfillment of all hope, and they are sadder for it. Pope Benedict writes, “Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. So it must be stretched” Advent stretches our hearts through prayer and charity. Our hearts are stretched to be filled with God’s very life, as we encounter him through prayer and meditation on scripture, and our hearts are stretched as we grow in our awareness of the needs of our suffering brothers and sisters.
This Advent dare we allow ourselves to hope in Jesus more deeply, and to seek him in prayer and charitable service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through the witness of the Christian Church, Our Lord will bring hope to the hopeless and joy to the joyless.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, feed every authentic hunger, ward off every affliction, and bring peace to the suffering.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for the Deceased members of the Yurick & Becker familiesfor whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Advent 2018 - Tuesday - Hope for Salvation

Throughout Advent, as we await and prepare for the coming of the Savior, so many of our scripture readings are taken from the prophet Isaiah.  The name Isaiah literally means “God is salvation”.  That’s the bottom line of Isaiah’s prophecies—God is salvation.   What is salvation?  What does it mean that God is our Salvation?

In today’s reading, Isaiah gives us a picture of what salvation looks like in that beautiful passage speaking of peace and harmony.
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat;
The baby shall play by the cobra's den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin an all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea.

Isaiah foretells God bringing all of creation under his peaceful and just dominion.  This is what we long for, this is what we hope for, this is what we desire.

The promise of salvation is certainly a comfort amidst all of the evils we face. We look around to see a world falling apart from strife, jealousy, violence, fear, destruction and perversion, man at odds with the forces of nature, man at odds with his brother, men and women at odds, man living as if God did not exist. And God promises that he will save us from all of that. He’ll put an end to all of that.

This is the truth that is “hidden from the wise and the learned” as Jesus says in the Gospel today. Because the wise and the learned think that science will save us, or politics will save us, the right socio-economic policy will save us, psychology will save us. But Christians have a knowledge that not even the prophets and kings of old had, it is Jesus Christ who saves us from evil, sin, and death.

So much of our Advent preparation is deepening our hope in the one who saves, acknowledging that He is the peace we long for, His is the face we long to gaze upon, He is the end to the destruction and ruin and misery and hatred and oppression and violence, He is Our salvation, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through the witness of the Christian Church, Our Lord will bring hope to the hopeless and joy to the joyless.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and bring peace to the suffering.

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

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.