4th Sunday of Lent 2019 - The Return of the Prodigal Son

One of the most famous of the parables of Jesus, proclaimed on this 4th Sunday of Lent, is the renowned Gospel we call the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The word prodigal isn’t one we use every day. It comes from the latin “prodigus” which means wasteful, excessively extravagant, or greatly lavish. The prodigal son was certainly excessively lavish and wasteful, selfishly demanding his share of his father’s estate. He took it, he left his father and brother, and went with all that money, and what did he do? He was prodigal with it. He wasted it on drinking, gambling, prostitutes, and soon enough he had squandered it all and was reduced to eating pig food. Finally, he gets the idea that he could go crawling back to his father, and perhaps enter into lowly servitude in order to subsist. He would have to live with the consequences of his prodigality, his lavish waste.

And yet, could we not also call this the parable of the Prodigal Father? Wasn’t the father, in a sense, prodigal? Not Prodigal in wasting money on earthly pleasures, of course, but excessively lavish and extravagant…in mercy, in forgiving his son. For when his prodigal son attempted to return, the father would have had every right to turn the wretch away: “How dare you show up here. You made your bed, now sleep in it.” And yet the father was Prodigal, lavish, in his mercy. He says, “Son, your return here, to my embrace, to the shelter of my house is something to celebrate. Welcome home.”

The point of Jesus’ parable of course is that WE are the prodigal sons and daughters. We waste God’s many gifts, we squander His blessings; instead of using the time we’ve been given to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty, we pursue flattery, selfishness, and the boring ugliness of sin. We are prodigal in our relationship to God. Yet, thanks be to God, God is Prodigal in Mercy. When we kneel before the Father, and say, Father I have sinned against you, I’m no longer worthy to be called your son or daughter, what does God Our Father do? He wraps us in the mantle of His Mercy, He calls for celebration in heaven when a sinner repents. He lavishly showers immense blessing upon the contrite, he welcomes home the wayward and the squandering with open arms. If that’s not good news, if that doesn’t cause us immense joy, what will? How appropriate that we have this message of joyful reconciliation on this 4th Sunday of Lent, which is called Laetare Sunday, Joy Sunday. God’s mercy is the source of our joy.

As you probably know, we have a beautiful print of Rembrant’s painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son in the parking lot entrance way. This was one of Rembrant’s last paintings before his death, and he beautifully depicts the son, in clothes, tattered from his life of dissipation, his sandals deteriorated from his wayward path, kneeling penitentially at his father’s breast. His father calmly embraces his son, laying hands on his shoulders as if to absolve him of sin. The dark scene is illuminated by the father’s tenderness, a symbol of weary and sinful mankind taking refuge in the shelter of God's mercy.

Now here is the challenge though: we must not let the message of mercy become a generic. God’s mercy is not just something that Jesus wants us to think about. Rather, he wants us to experience it, concretely and personally.

We are to really, physically kneel down and utter those words, “Father, I have sinned against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son or daughter. I have squandered your blessings. And here are the precise ways I have sinned.” And this humble acknowledgement and accounting of sin is primarily done in the Sacrament of Confession, the Sacrament instituted by Jesus Himself for the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism.

It is there in the Sacrament of Confession, we hear the words we long to hear, the words of our father saying, “welcome home, all is forgiven, you are still my son, you are still my daughter.”

Our Lord has given us the Sacrament of Confession to be that precise, concrete, personal moment of reconciliation, where we admit our prodigality before God, and we rejoice in God’s prodigality, who lavishes his mercy and forgiveness upon the repentant.  And there is no better time to return to the Sacrament of Confession than the season of Lent, as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter.

To be honest, there has been a great falling away from the celebration of this Sacrament over the past few decades. We are soberly aware of some distressing statistics. In a recent CARA study, only 12 percent of Catholics go to Confession at least once a year. 42% said, they never go. It’s not good. We are in danger of becoming Prodigal—wasteful—of one of the most beautiful, powerful, and life-changing ways that God wishes to encounter his people. “No thanks God, I’m fine, I don’t need your mercy.” How dangerous.

There are various excuses one hears for not going to confession: “the priest yelled at me when I was little, some priest or nun told me that Vatican II did away with the need for frequent confession,” this is not true. “I forgot how to go to confession, I forgot my act of contrition, it’s been too long, I wouldn’t know where to begin” or the worst of all “I don’t have any sins to confess”, which likely means you have failed to thoroughly examine your conscience…there are a lot of excuses, but none of them amount to anything, compared to the mercy God wishes to give you in that sacrament. If we really understood how much the Father wishes to meet us in the Confessional, we would run to the confessional. If you are avoiding confession out of laziness, embarrassment, fear, anger, confusion, or you disagree with the very institution of Confession, it’s time for a change. God, the Father, is waiting for you; for some of you, he’s been waiting a long time, but he is ready, to embrace you as the Father embraced the son in the Gospel today.

In the Lenten Scripture readings and orations today the Church challenges us to consider the joy of being reconciled to God. The Opening prayer spoke of hastening with promptness and eagerness to encounter God. And the prayer before communion speaks of the joy that comes from receiving the remedy for sin. Let’s allow God to answer these prayers in our life.

If you haven’t already, please make a Lenten confession, that you may know the peace and joy of the embrace of our merciful Father. To quote Paul in our second reading: “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

And let us all pray for those who are lost, those who have left the Father’s house of the Church, that the lost may be found, that those dead in sin may through repentance and grace receive new life. There are inactive members of this parish and members of our family who, let’s be honest, are lost. And our prayers and our penances are so important in winning for them the grace of repentance. St. Paul, saw himself as an ambassador for Christ, an ambassador for the reconciliation that comes through Christ. Let us too be ambassadors for reconciliation and mercy.

May we be generous with God, continuing our Lenten penances with great gratitude and joy over the gift of God’s mercy, that his grace and mercy may abound in our parish and in our families for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

3rd Week of Lent 2019 - Friday - Love God with your WHOLE heart

So many of the Lenten themes run throughout our reading from the prophet Hosea this morning: returning to God, pleading God’s mercy, God’s healing, God humbling the proud, leading the wise, and causing the sinner to stumble.

Yet, all of those Lenten themes can be summed up in the word’s offered by the Lord in the Gospel this morning: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Put simply: Lent exists so that we can experience God’s love for us and we can love others better.
God so desires the transformation of our hearts so we can experience all of the love he has for us, so that our hearts can in turn be free to love others with that same sort of love. To paraphrase Hosea again, God wants to heal the defects in our hearts, so that we can be loved more freely—more deeply, more fully.

Our sins have made us afraid of God’s love.  “Well, if I let him in, he might see all of me, he might see my secret sins, he might see the resentment I hold on to, some of the grief I’m not ready to let go of, some of the hurt that I’m not ready to be healed of.”  We are afraid to be encompassed in the consuming fire of God’s love, for we know that God’s consuming fire will change us.  We are afraid to trade anger for forgiveness, lust for purity, selfishness for selflessness. We are afraid to change, but we need to remember that the change God wants for us is always for the better, He has our best interests in mind, and he always provides the grace and help and aid for doing what he asks of us.

The Lord desires so much to heal from our sinful defections, and disordered desires and attachments, addictions, vices, and bad habits.  He so wants to transform our hearts so we can experience all of the love he has for us, so that our hearts can in turn be free to love others with that same sort of love.
At this point in Lent some of us begin to pull away from the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to which we’ve committed. Yet, God wants to heal our hearts through those Lenten penances, again, to trade the love of things, of power, of wealth and fame, for the love of the Divine, love of service and penance, and self-forgetfulness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That love of God and neighbor may mark the life of every Christian.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

3rd Week of Lent 2019 - Wednesday - Simply Obey

Both Moses in the Old Testament Reading and Jesus in the Gospel extol a very important moral virtue this morning: obedience; particularly obedience to the commandments of God.

Summing up the entire spiritual life, Saint Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of Spiritual Directors said: “Simply Obey.  God does not ask anything else of you.”

Obedience to the commandments keeps us in right relationship with God, and obedience to the inspirations of His Holy Spirit make us instruments of his grace in the world.  The word obedience comes from the latin word for turning your ear and harkening to the voice of another.  Communion with God and communion with the Church requires obedience to God’s commands and the teachings of the Church.

All of our Lenten fasting and almsgiving is really at the service of helping us to be more obedient to the commands and inspirations of God.  Fasting can strengthen our wills against disordered tendencies, and almsgiving flows out of that command to love our neighbor as ourselves. Prayer helps us to love God and to hate offending him through disobedience.

Obedience and disobedience have eternal consequences. As Jesus teaches today: whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven, and whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” Adam and Eve jeopardized the eternal life of all of humanity through an act of disobedience. Satan and a third of the angels were expelled from heaven for disobedience. Our own souls will be judged by this measure: did we simply obey, or not.

Simple obedience is not always easy; for we have often allowed rebelliousness to run rampant in our hearts; we have fabricated quite sophisticated justifications for our bending and breaking of the rules; we act as if the rules are for others. But True Faith is the call to simple obedience.

The Lenten journey leads us to encounter Christ who is totally obedient to his Father’s will; the Sacred Heart is an obedient heart, it is the heart of one which has surrendered everything to the Holy Will.  Let us truly harken to the Great Command to love God with our whole hearts, minds, and strengths. By God’s grace may we be free from all that keeps us from following the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter of God’s law and from faithfulness to God’s inspirations for his glory and salvation of souls.

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That obedience to all the commands of Christ and the Church may mark the life of every Christian.
That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.
That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.
For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  We pray to the Lord.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

3rd Week of Lent 2019 - Tuesday - Forgiveness from the heart

One of the great Lenten themes is that of forgiveness.  On Good Friday, we will hear Jesus plead from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  All that Jesus suffered, all that he endured--the tortures, the mockery, the humiliation—he endured that our sins may be forgiven.  Yet, Jesus was willing to die for the forgiveness of sins because of his great love for us.

When GK Chesterton was asked why he became Catholic, his simple answer was “to get my sins forgiven”.

God does not force his mercy upon us.  We must want it, desire it, seek it, and do what it takes to receive it.  The soul stained by original sin must receive baptism.  The baptized soul stained by mortal sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

Asking God to forgive, and asking God to help us forgive is at the heart of the Lord’s prayer: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And immediately following the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

Parable_of_the_Unforgiving_Servant - Claude_Vignon

Today’s Gospel contains a parable about a servant who refuses to forgive. Jesus judges this servant’s refusal to forgive as wicked. A Christian must never say, “I will never forgive you.”  For if we are closed to forgiving others, we become closed to receiving the forgiveness which leads to heaven.  Jesus describes refusal to forgive as wickedness.

Forgiveness is not easy.  It might feel like, say, being crucified.  If upon examining our hearts we detect any resentment or bitterness, we need to bring those feelings to the foot of the cross and let them go.  And if they rear their ugly heads again in the future, to repeat the process over and over.  If you are keeping a list against anyone of times they’ve offended me, rip up the list and consider the slate wiped clean.

The healing of the wounds of sin and division in our hearts and our world requires our openness to forgive others. So as we meditate this Lent upon the Lord’s forgiveness of our sinfulness, we also recall our own need to forgive without limit.  Forgive completely, forgive regardless the cost, forgive from your heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That readiness to forgive may mark the life of every Christian.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

March 25 2019 - Annunciation - Humility leads to joy

The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, is one of the most important in the Church calendar. It celebrates the actual Incarnation of Our Savior the Word made flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary.

The Church's celebration of the Annunciation is believed to date to the early 5th century, possibly originating at about the time of the Council of Ephesus (c 431). Earlier names for the Feast were Festum Incarnationis—The Feast of the Incarnation, and Conceptio Christi—the Conception of Christ.  In the Eastern Churches, the Annunciation is a feast of Christ, but in the Latin Church it is a feast of Mary. The Annunciation has always been celebrated on March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas Day.

The joyfulness of this great solemnity seems jolting as we find ourselves in the middle of the Lenten desert. And yet, the joy of this feast is so important to celebrate, that when it falls on a Friday of Lent, the obligation to abstain from meat is even lifted. The Lenten desert today is transformed into a sort of oasis, as we joyfully celebrate the incarnation of Christ and the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We do well to drink deeply of the waters of this Lenten Oasis: the water which brings us renewal to continue the Lenten pilgrimage tomorrow. And I think the water we are meant to drink today, is to drink—to reflect and take within ourselves the joy that comes from humility.

In the recitation of the rosary, the virtue associated with the 1st joyful mystery, the annunciation is humility.  Humility abounds in that scene at the Virgins house in Nazareth.  The humility of the Blessed Virgin as the Archangel appeared to her, and as the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. The humility of the archangel as he knelt before this human girl who would become his queen.  And the humility of the Eternal Word himself as he shed the glory of divinity to take on the burden of humanity.  As Paul says to the Phillippians, “he emptied himself, and became a slave.”

Humility changed the world, and brought about our salvation. When we are truly humble, when we truly forget about ourselves, there is a joy there, that nothing else in the world can give. Because real humility enables us to put on the mind and heart of God, where joy and humility and love and life and wisdom and beauty are one.

When we humbly say “yes” to God, things change, always for the better. The humility of the annunciation will enable us to derive great spiritual benefit from the remainder of Lent. Humility will enable us to remember WHY we are engaging in so much prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It will enable us to truly appreciate the mystery of Jesus’ passion during Holy Week. Only humility will enable us to begin to grasp the depth of His love.

Let us allow Our Lady to teach us her humility today, and continue to be our guide through the Lenten desert. She who humbly calls herself the handmaiden of the Lord will always help us to surrender to the Holy Will of God and come to the joy of His love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That through the teaching, preaching, and pastoral care of the Church all Christians will grow in their devotion to and imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We pray to the Lord.

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world.  We pray to the Lord.

For those trapped in the downward spiral of sin, that the hope offered through the Incarnation of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin will bring them new life in the Spirit.  We pray to the Lord.

That Mary’s maternal care and heavenly intercession will raise us to the moral greatness befitting true children of God.  We pray to the Lord.

For blessings on all expectant mothers, newborn infants, and young families.  We pray to the Lord.

That from the moment of conception all children will be preserved from bodily harm; for the overturning of unjust laws that permit the destruction of innocent life; and that the minds of all may be enlightened to know the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

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.

Legion of Mary - Acies 2019 - Aligned in Battle Array

The Acies is the great central annual function of the Legion, according to the handbook it is to be held around the 25th of March, the feast of the Annunciation, which commemorates the Incarnation, when God became man and totally dependent on our Blessed Mother. In a sense, what God did at the Annunciation, we do at the Acies. He entrusted himself to Mary for nine months in her womb, he consecrated himself to her care. And this is primary purpose of the Acies, isn’t it. To renew our consecration to Mother Mary, to allow ourselves to be nurtured by her and to be protected by her.

The word, Acies, as I’m sure many of you know, is a Latin word. Like many of the latin terms used by the Legion of Mary, it has militaristic origins. The Acies was the term to describe the army when it was set in battle array. In contrast to praesidium, which is a small military outpost or garrison, at the Acies all the local Legion “outposts” gather as an army set in battle array under the patronage and banner of the Virgin Mary, to renew their love and devotion to her for another year. And just as the handbook says that the grace is given to perform the assignment each week at the praesidium meeting, so the grace for the legionary’s upcoming year’s battle against evil is given at his attendance at the Acies. The importance of this is emphasized in that section of the handbook which states that if any legionaries could attend the Acies but do not, they have little or none of the spirit of the Legion in them, and are no asset to the Legion! Hence we can see why the Legion considers this to be the most important event of the entire Legion year. 

The Roman Legion was a disciplined army clad in military array. Mary’s legionaries put on the armour of God and promise to do battle with the forces of evil. Mary was central to God’s plan of salvation, and Her role is ongoing in the church. So legionaries act in close union with her in a wide variety of activities: in prayer, in your acts of devotion, in your charitable works such as visiting the sick and comforting the grieving, in your evangelization efforts, spreading our wonderful Catholic faith.

Just last night, I was talking to my Aunt who told me that the night before my grandmother died, this last August, the Legion of Mary came to visit my grandmother. You prayed with her and sang "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" with her, and truly lifted her spirits and brought her much consolation and peace in her final hours. For this I will always be grateful to you.

By your prayers, by your works of charity, by your evangelizing efforts, the Legion drives back the enemy who seeks the corruption of souls. To perhaps even regain territory that has been lost. I’ve only been pastor here at St. Ignatius of Antioch for three months, and every week, I am deeply impressed to here the reports of the good holy works accomplished by the Legionaries here. And no doubt, all of you, in your own parishes are such a force for good, that I hope you continue to let your light shine, and continue to draw new members, for this good and holy work.

In the book of Genesis, we hear how God set an enmity between the woman and the serpent, hinting at Our Lady’s role in bringing about an end of the reign of Satan in this world. And today, at this holy gathering, you have recommitted to being her instruments, her servants, her slaves, as St. Louis Marie de Montford would say, in this battle.

The section of the handbook concerning the Acies concludes with a quote from St. Alphonsus Ligouri, who writes “Mary is an object of terror to the powers of hell. She is ‘terrible as an army set in battle array’ (Song 6:10), for, like a wise Commander, she well knows how to dispose her power, her mercy, and her prayers for the confusion of the enemy and for the benefit of her servants.”

The language of armies and battle arrays and the portrayal of Mary as Army Commander might seem a little…intense, but these ideas remind us of the great spiritual war in which the Church is engaged, and the discipline needed, and the grace needed, to be effective in this war of wars. Your holiness is needed. Your holy works are needed. And your devotion to Our Lady and your obedience to her command is needed.

As Mary gave her Fiat to God at the Annunciation, as we will celebrate tomorrow, may you be blessed and full of grace as you give your fiat to God in your consecration to Mary today. Your efforts are vitally important in the Church’s mission, and I pray that through Our Lady, God will bless you all with new vigor, holy inspiration, and divine protection in your fidelity to the Mission of the Legion for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

3rd Sunday of Lent 2019 - "Are you saved?"

“Are you saved?” You may have heard this question asked by “born again” or “evangelical” Christians. A gentleman from a previous parish assignment told me a story how one day of how a pair of nicely dressed fella’s carrying bibles came to his front door and asked him “Are you saved?” To which he responded, “Am I saved? Am I saved? No, I’m Catholic!”

He then said, “Am I saved? Well, I believe that the Lord Jesus by His Death and Resurrection has saved me by my sins, by his blood my sins are washed away, he opened to me the gates of heaven, he gave me the chance to spend eternity with him forever. So yes, I believe I am saved…BUT, I can’t take that for granted. Being saved is something I need to work on every day. There’s nothing I want more than to spend eternity with my Lord and my beloved wife, BUT I can never just presume heaven is guaranteed to me. So every morning I pray, I try my best to get to Mass and Holy Communion, and every night I say an act of contrition, because I know I’m still a sinner. And when I know I’ve committed a serious sin, I go to Confession…I am saved, but I just don’t think we can take salvation for granted.”  Good Catholic answer.

In a sense, this answer encapsulates one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith. On the one hand, you bet we are saved: By Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, Our Lord has saved us from sin and Satan. On the other hand, the reception of that gift of salvation is something we need to be constantly open to. Baptism is not a get-out-of-jail free card. Faith is a living relationship: it requires daily prayer, confession of sin, reception of the Eucharist; and when we cease these things, our souls begin to wither, like the fig tree in the Gospel today.

For if salvation was guaranteed by a one-time profession of faith, why would St. Paul give the warning, we heard in the 2nd reading today? He said,  “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” We need to take care not to fall, because falling is a real possibility. Earlier in the same first letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks about the importance of mortifying—disciplining—his flesh for the sake of his salvation. He said, , “ I discipline by body lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. “Disqualification” from what? From heaven! Paul worried, or should I say, he acknowledged the possibility that he could be preaching the Gospel in one moment, and then, because of his failure to control his sinful appetites that he could lose out on heaven.

Jesus in the Gospels gives many such stark warnings. He says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  He says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, unless you take up your cross and follow me, unless you repent…you’ll perish, as we heard repeated twice in our Gospel today, unless you are born again by water and the holy spirit, unless your righteousness surprises the scribes and the pharisees, unless you become like this little child you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Salvation is a path. Baptism sets us on that path, but it does not assure us salvation. Salvation is not assured simply by pronouncing some formula or creed, it doesn’t just require confessing ones sins and receiving communion. It doesn’t just require offering our sufferings in union with Jesus. It’s not just any one of those things by themselves, rather, salvation requires a living relationship with God through Christ that encompasses the whole of life: the rituals of the Church, humility of spirit, the acts of mercy, obedience to Church teaching, fervent recourse to the saints, all of this is part of salvation that we cannot take for granted.

St. Paul’s warning today in the second reading is an essential warning: “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall”. If you think your salvation is guaranteed you are on slippery ground. None of us here in this place are beyond the danger of earthly pride, none of us have fully achieved the holy perfection for which we were made. We are works in progress. God is working to perfect us and sanctify us and stretch our hearts to be more like His, and hopefully we are cooperating with God’s grace to this end.

But there is the real possibility that we can turn away or obstruct God’s work, especially if pride gets in the way. And this is a possibility to our dying breath, because if we are not free to turn away we aren’t really free. Love requires freedom. Salvation involves cooperating freely with the grace of God. Saying yes, not just once, but every day, every moment.

We look to the saints as our great examples of sanctity, because they are the souls who say yes to God, over and over, without hesitation, not just when it is convenient for them, even when it means being brought out of their comfort zone. They give God the blank check, they approach the burning bush in prayer, even when it means that their egos might be immolated by that holy fire. They undergo serious penances, so that the soil of their souls be might tilled and made fertile and fruitful. They truly dare to utter from the depths of their being “speak Lord your servant is listening.” You should learn everything you can about your patron saints, who want to teach you how to respond generously to God and heroically, like they did.

In the Gospel, the Lord lamented that the religious leadership of Israel had failed to bear fruit: He compared them to the fruitless fig tree, because they had ceased to bear fruit for God. The leadership had failed to lead people to Jesus and ready acceptance of the Gospel. Fruitlessness. The Pharisees thought that “their salvation was assured” because they were observing certain external precepts that they decided were the marks of holiness.

But salvation requires not just external observance, but the humility to acknowledge that I am still in need of help, I am in need of conversion to the depth of my heart, I need that living relationship with God that is nurtured by prayer and manifested in the acts of mercy.

“Are you saved?” Yes, we are saved by faith, and that’s why I’m here at Mass lest I take that gift of salvation for granted. Yes, we are saved by faith, but that faith tells us that we are works in progress. Yes, we are saved by faith, by that faith that requires daily conformity with Christ, conformity of the mind, the heart, and will, assent to all that the Church proposes for belief, humble acknowledgement of my sins, acts of mercy toward my neighbor, and the reception of his flesh and blood.

May our Lenten observances assist us in seeking that daily conversion the Lord wants for us, that will enable us to bear fruit for the kingdom, that we may “take care not to fall” and so come to our eternal reward for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Lent 2019 - Friday - Accepting God's plan

In both first reading and Gospel we hear of rejection.  In the first reading Joseph’s brothers rejected him and plotted to kill him.  In the Gospel, in the parable of the wicked tenants we hear how the tenant farmers reject , seize and kill, not only the vineyard owners servants but also his son.

Jesus refers to himself as the cornerstone which will be rejected.  He too will be seized and killed by those who reject him. He is the son of the vineyard owner who is rejected by the wicked tenants.

The tale of rejection goes back to the beginning when Adam and Eve rejected God’s command, thereby rejecting His plan for them and for mankind.  By rejecting God they forfeited paradise—they rejected God’s gift of paradise.

The sinner rejects God’s truth and God’s plan; he pretends that his life belongs to him for his own purposes. 

Sometimes even Christians reject certain teachings of the Church—they infringe on our sinful habits and attachments—they require change, and change is difficult, and so they are rejected.  Yet, as G.K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

The opposite of rejection is of course acceptance and obedience and faith. We are to accept the prophets who God sends into our lives to wake us up out of our complacency. We are to accept the lessons in humility God sends our way. We are to accept Church teaching, even when they are counter-cultural, even when we don’t understand them fully. We are to accept the calls to repentance, to care more deeply for the needs of the poor and hungry, to give of ourselves in charitable service. We are to accept the call to pray deeply, to hear the Word of God and act on it.

Our Lenten observances help us to accept the grace of God which frees us from envy, impatience, jealousy, violence, arrogance, and self-centeredness. May we embrace God’s truth and God’s plan for us—the ways God wishes to sanctify us and purify us and lead us to life eternal—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

2nd Week of Lent 2019 - Wednesday - Satanic Resistance to the Cross

There are several instances in the Gospels of the Apostles confusion over Jesus’ teaching, or their slowness to grasp his identity and his mission. And sometimes their understanding of Jesus is downright flawed. Peter is usually the spokesman for the Apostles’ confusions, errors, and fears.

The first time Jesus predicts his Passion, in the Gospel of Matthew, Peter, makes an assertion that is bold, even for him. He brazenly rebukes Jesus, the unformed student pridefully rebukes the teacher. And Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan.” And to be honest, Peter’s assertion was Satanic. Jesus came to save us from our sins through the Cross, and Peter was tempting the Lord to turn away from the cross—to forsake his mission of human redemption.

Today’s Gospel contains Jesus’ third prediction of his Passion. He announces that he will be soon handing himself over to be mocked, scourged, and crucified. This time, it is not
Peter who criticizes the Lord. This time it is James, John, and their mother who approach Jesus.

Matthew includes a detail that shows they are off to a bad start right from the beginning: “the do him homage, wishing to asking him for something.” Do you worship God only so that he can grant you requests? Do you treat God like Santa Claus? What should have been a moment of conversion and deeper identification with Jesus and his ultimate mission, James, John, and Mom approach Jesus, with…false worship?

And then, their request reveals something similar to that Satanic resistance displayed by Peter. Their request is not, help us Jesus to bear the cross with you, but is as removed from the cross as anything possibly could. They request an earthly throne. In the desert, it is Satan who is the one who offers earthly thrones, promises of earthly glory, in exchange for false worship.

Jesus’ disciples are not to be known for their pursuit of earthly thrones and earthly glory. “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” Rather than pursuing wealth, power, fame, and pleasure, Jesus’ disciples are to be known for their pursuit of service, their embrace of suffering for the good of others.

Sometimes like Peter, James and John, we put up an almost Satanic resistance to the cross, embracing pride right when we should be embracing humility, embracing greed and lust for power right when we should be embracing generosity and self-abandon. Right when we should be embracing prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we turn to earthly distractions, gluttony, and spending money on ourselves.
May our Lenten observances help to deliver us from all that keeps us from embracing the cross, and from Christian service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Christians will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent.  We pray to the Lord.
That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin, that this evening’s diocesan wide celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation will bring about a return of many hearts to communion with God.
That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.
That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.
For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  We pray to the Lord.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

March 19 2019 - Solemnity of St. Joseph - The righteous man

Today, we celebrate the feast of the great St. Joseph. And throughout the Church’s history, Joseph has accumulate many titles and nicknames. Sometimes he is called “the Guardian of the Holy Family” because of his role in protecting Mary and Joseph. Sometimes is he called the “Terror of Demons” because he did not fall to the temptations of the demons throughout his life and helps us to remain faithful to God and protected from evil, too.

And quite often, Joseph is simply known as a righteous man. A righteous man is someone who seek to understand what is right and to do what is right—always. Sometimes this isn’t always our concern is it?

WEEKDAY MASS:[Is it right to gossip? Is it right to skip the prayers we know we should be saying? Is it right to skip our household duties? Is it right to watch so much television? Is it right to be so undisciplined about our diet?]

SCHOOL MASS:[Is it right to fight with your siblings? Is it right to talk back to and disobey your parents? Is it right to be disruptive in school? Is it right to skip church on Sundays? Is it right to speak cruelly about your peers?]

No. So why do we do these things? Partly, because we aren’t always seeking to do what is right. It’s not a priority. We haven’t made the life decision: I will only do what is right. Some of us make the decision partially, but we aren’t truly committed because we then add a little caveat: “well, I’ll decide what is right when the time comes.” But as Christians, we don’t make up what is right or wrong: we follow the teachings of Jesus and the Church.

But even when we choose to fully embrace the truth that comes from God, to do what is right, always, is still hard. Partially, because of our own weakness. We’ll do what is right, as long as it is not too hard. And doing what is right always is difficult because we have so many bad examples of unrighteousness around us. And we set bad example for each other.

In movies, television, and video games, we see people treating each other horribly. We see athletes who make a bunch of money, but act foolishly. We see actors and actresses who are famous but who live as if God did not exist. We see politicians with foul mouths, greedy hearts, and corrupt morals. Sometimes even are parents don’t set the best examples for us.

That is why it is so important to get to know people like St. Joseph. Just men. Righteous men. Who put God’s will first. You want to see what it looks like to be a good person, go to joseph. You want to see what it looks like to be a good father, a good parent. Go Joseph. You want to see what it looks like to be successful in the eyes of God? Go to Joseph. You want to see someone who listens to the words, and impulses of God, look to Joseph. You want to see someone who is truly just, truly wise, truly generous, truly virtuous, truly chaste, truly prudent, truly knowledgeable, truly loving. Go to Joseph.

Go to Joseph every day. Look to his example. Ask for his prayers for you and your family, especially for all fathers and husbands. Ask him to help you to be righteous always. To look to the truth of Jesus, always. To commit to following that truth no matter now difficult it is. To live always for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
That St. Joseph, “Patron of the Universal Church” may guide and guard our Holy Father, all bishops and clergy, religious and lay faithful from the wiles and machinations of the Enemy.
That St. Joseph, “diligent protector” of the Christ Child, will help protect all children from violence and evil, especially the unborn.
That St. Joseph, “Guardian of Virgins” will help eradicate perversion and immodesty from our culture.
That St. Joseph, “Pillar of Families”, will be an example for all Christian families.
That St. Joseph “terror of demons” will help to deliver all those in sin, and all those under demonic influence, to be open to the saving mercy of Christ.
That St. Joseph “patron of the dying” will help all the dying to know the tender peace of God.
For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

2nd Week of Lent 2019 - Monday - Be Merciful as God is Merciful

During Lent, Our Lord calls us to pray, to fast, and to give alms, that is, to practice mercy. “Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful,” as the Lord instructs us in the Gospel today. Notice, Jesus didn't say, “be merciful....once in while.” “Be merciful, only to the people whom you like.”  “Be merciful, only to people who will be able to pay you back.”  No, he says, “be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful” and his mercy is available to all people at all times.

The call to be merciful is a perennial commandment in Holy Scripture. The covenant people of Israel were to be known for their mercy to widows, orphans, and resident aliens. Israel was often warned about oppressing the poor; the psalms and prophets reminded Israel to show mercy to the poor as they were shown mercy by God who saved them from slavery and captivity.

Because we have such a difficult job imitating God's mercy, God showed us exactly what mercy looks like.  Pope Benedict said, “Mercy has a name, mercy has a face, mercy has a heart...Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: Encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God.”

In Christ we realize that God does not stay at a distance judging us, nor is He is not indifferent to our trials.  He enters into our life to show us what it means to be fully human and what it means to be like God. He shows us how to love. So much of our Christian pilgrimage here on earth, is learning to imitate Christ who gives of himself on the cross for our freedom from the slavery and captivity of sin.  He shows us and teaches us how to empty ourselves of our selfishness and self-concern. Sometimes we are not as generous as we should be because we are overly self-concerned—overly concerned about our own security.

Lent helps us, rather, to identify more and more with the Lord in his own self-giving, and to be free from all that keeps us from giving with His spirit and His heart. Are we indifferent to the needs of others? If we want God to be lavish in his gifts and mercy toward us, may we be lavish in sharing our gifts, in our mercy toward our neighbor, toward our brother.

In Christ may we discover ever more deeply the rich mercy of God and thereby come to discover who we are meant to be, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That those despairing of God’s mercy may come to see the face of God’s love in the charity of the Christian people.

That those preparing for baptism and full Christian initiation at Easter may be strengthened in Faith, Hope, and Love.

For an end to all violence in the name of religion, race, nationality, and all oppression of the weak, and for the protection of the unborn.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence, and natural disaster.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

2nd Sunday of Lent 2019 - The Passion leads to the Glory of the Resurrection

On the 1st Sunday of Lent, every year we hear the Gospel story of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, how he fasted for forty days, how he was tempted by the Devil, and how he remained faithful to his Father.

On the 2nd Sunday of Lent every year, we hear the Gospel story of Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

If the first Sunday of Lent is an especially striking reminder of Jesus’ solidarity with us in temptation, the second Sunday is meant to remind us that the glory that bursts forth from Jesus’ body on Mount Tabor is a glory that he means to share with all who are baptized into his death and resurrection.
In each of the Gospels, the transfiguration takes place immediately after Jesus’ first prediction of his Passion. The Messiah who has been preaching the Gospel and performing miracles, announces to his disciples that in order to fulfill the mission for which he was sent by the father, he must go to the cross and die.

We know how Peter reacted to that news. Peter, truly forgetting his place, rebukes Jesus for saying that he had to die. And Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Peter, like Satan in the desert, attempts to convince Jesus to abandon the cross and abandon his mission.

After rebuking Peter, Jesus teaches, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

To show that the cross is the culmination of his mission and the foundation for Christian discipleship, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to witness this wondrous event. As a foreshadowing of Jesus’ forthcoming climb of Mount Calvary, he first leads his closest disciples up this Mountain. St. Luke tells us that there on Mt. Tabor Jesus’ clothing became dazzling white and he began to speak with Moses and Elijah about his exodus which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Just as Moses led God’s people in exodus out of slavery in Egypt, and just as Elijah preached to those who had forsaken the covenant to return to God through repentance, Jesus would achieve the ultimate exodus, the ultimate reconciliation, in Jerusalem upon the cross.

For remember, Jesus was not simply an enlightened teacher offering a moral program to guide our lives. He came to achieve what we were powerless to do on our own. He came to save us from our sins, to reconcile us to God. As John writes, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins”. And the Transfiguration is a foreshadowing that though he goes to die, death is not the end. The cross leads to the resurrection, for Him and for us; the cross is not the end of the story, rather the beginning.

The preface for the Eucharistic prayer will summarize this truth so beautifully today. In just a few moments, the priest will pray on behalf of the whole Church: “For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death, on the holy mountain he manifested to them his glory, to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets, that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.”
The Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection. This was the lesson he wished to drill into Peter, James, and John. For their faith would be tested when they witnessed their master undergoing his Passion. Our faith is tested, too when we face the cross, isn’t it?

When a loved one suffers, when we are betrayed by those we trusted, when we are beset with temptations, when our Christian faith has consequences in our social lives or financial success. These things challenge our faith. At the sight of the cross, many of us like Peter, flee. And so few of us, like John travel all the way to the cross, and stand there with complete self-identification with Him.

But, the way of the cross is the way of our salvation, it is the way of freedom. Paradoxically, the way of suffering is the remedy for our sin. The cross is the source of healing for the corruption so deeply rooted in our minds and hearts. It is the remedy for our self-destructiveness and shameful selfishness. God only knows how enslaved we are to the worst parts of our own personalities, how in love we are with our own sins, how attached we are to our own egos. It is through the cross, sacrificing our contentment in the present, that we can ever hope to attain the glory for which we were made.

We read from the Transfiguration every year to remind us that we must climb the mountain with the Lord, if we wish to attain glory with him. We must take up our crosses with Him, we must fast with him, pray with him, give of ourselves with Him, suffer with him, allow ourselves to be crucified and die with Him. For the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

Through our own Passion and coming to share in His, we become heirs to the promise St. Paul makes in the second reading today: “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body”: his glorified body which shone in the darkness on Mount Tabor, his glorified Body which rose victorious over the grave at easter. We will experience this glorification, this transfiguration, we will become citizens of that eternal kingdom whose citizenship we forfeited in sin, when we do not flee from the cross, but embrace it.

“Stand firm in the Lord, beloved” St. Paul says. When your faith is tested, when your crosses grow heavy, when you are scandalized by weak church leadership, when the world mocks you for your Christian faith: stand firm. Endure the passion with him, that you may experience glory with Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2019 - Friday - Justice, Mercy, and the Need for Repentance

Our readings underscore today the justice of God, that God is a just judge: the just, the virtuous shall at the end of this life receive eternal life, and the wicked and unrepentant shall go on to eternal perdition. And they underscore the mercy of God: “If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”

What separates the saved from the damned in the readings today? Repentance. Lent is a powerful call to repentance, and repentance is a matter of life and death.

Justice is when you give that which is deserved. Justice demands parents feed and nurture their children. Mercy gives beyond what is deserved. As a matter of justice, all sinners deserve death. They’ve chosen by their own free will to separate themselves from God, and so they deserve the consequences of that separation.

The Psalmist is a little overwhelmed by God’s justice today. “If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand?” The Psalmist is overwhelmed that God knows, each and every one of our iniquities throughout our whole life, and that every deed from our whole life will be brought up on the day of judgment, and we will have to give an accounting for them.

But then the Psalmist recalls God’s forgiveness: “But with you is forgiveness”. God has announced his mercy: He Himself will pay the price of our sins, and that he will forgive those who repent.

During Lent, we show our repentance, our sorrow for sins, our desire to convert from each and every one of our sins, through prayer, fasting, and charity. We make a Lenten confession and confess those sins. By doing so we “Cast away from all the crimes we have committed, and make for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (Ez 18:31).”

We make a grave mistake in saying, “it doesn’t matter how I live, because God is mercifull”. No. It does matter. Repentance does matter.

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees were so self-assured that they did not recognize their sinful pride and their sinful coldness toward the poor. They failed to repent of their pride, their lust, their wrath, selfishness, and for that Jesus announced eternal consequences.

So may we take advantage of this time of mercy, truly examine our hearts and our motivations, not according to the standard of the world, but the standard of Christ, that not a sin of our life will go unrepented of, that the Lord will not find us unrepentant, but full of contrition, trusting in His word, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

1st Week of Lent 2019 - Wednesday - Responding to the call to repentance

Through the weeks of Lent, the scripture readings on Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent are more penitential than the rest.

Our first reading, from the third chapter of Jonah contains one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament—the entire a city of Nineveh—about 120,000 people—everyone, the nobility, the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—all repented when God sent Jonah to preach to them.

When the Ninevites repented, they expressed their repentance by fasting, covering themselves with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. But better yet, they had the highest form of repentance: they indicated their sorrow to God "by their actions how they turned from their evil ways."

The repentance and conversion of the Ninevites was truly miraculous: the Ninevites frequently brutalized and butchered their enemies. They were pagans, spiritually dead, the least likely to repent. Yet the prophetic word pierced their hearts, and they repented en masse. Jesus commended their repentance.

During lent we undertake the external practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to show our repentance, as signs of repentance, and to bring about that entire conversion which will have an effect on our behavior, attitudes, and choices.

In the Gospel, Jesus says, this generation is an evil generation.  Why?  Because it was so resistant to repentance.  It didn’t want conversion, it didn’t want to be open to God’s message as the Ninevites were, it wanted signs, it wanted a magic show, it wanted to be entertained.  Sounds familiar.

When people are in sin, especially family members, leading them them to repentance is not unkind or cruel. It is an act of love, because only in this way can they correct their lives and receive eternal life.

Next week, Wednesday evening, every parish in the diocese will have confessions from 5 to 8pm. If there is anyone in your life who has fallen away from the Church, please invite them to confession. Your invitation might be the prophetic gesture which leads them back to God. Show them the power of repentance, the joy that comes from encountering God’s mercy, of returning to Him with your whole heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Holy Father, Pope Francis on this anniversary of his election to the Papacy, that he may continue to be a beacon of God’s mercy and love.

For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.
Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

1st Week of Lent 2019 - Tuesday - Gentle Rain in the Lenten Desert

With the Gospel of Jesus going out into the desert to pray and fast for forty days this Sunday, I reflected upon Lent as the Desert season of the Church year. We enter the desert, free of the distractions of modern civilization, in order to listen to the voice of God who desires to speak to our hearts, to enter into conversation with God that we miss out on when we are busy about the things of the world.

The paradox is, there is water out here in the desert, there is a gentle rain that will nourish our thirsty souls if we let it. Not a single moment of Lenten prayer is wasted time, listening to God's voice is never wasted, for God’s word, as we heard in our first reading, comes down from heaven and does not return to God void, “it does God’s will achieving the end for which he sent it”.

There is a joy in this penitential Lenten season, joy in simply soaking up the word of God in silent prayer, Lenten prayer brings joyful refreshment and new life. The watering of our souls through prayer in this desert season will make our souls fertile ground to produce good fruit for the next season of our life, but for now, it is good, simply to be watered.

Our Gospel helps us to recall the prayer that Jesus teaches us to pray, the Lord’s prayer. A powerful Lenten practice is to meditate upon the Lord’s prayer very slowly. Take the Lord’s prayer, line by line, word by word, and ponder over its meaning: the meaning the Lord wants you to understand at this point in your life, in the concrete details of your life.

What does it mean that you share in the relationship with Jesus that enables us to call upon God as “Our Father”? What does it mean that he gives you “daily bread” in all of your needs? “What does it mean that he wishes to deliver you from evil”?

We are to return to the Lord’s prayer over and over, for it is a never-ending stream of water flowing from the very heart of Jesus, and the Lord wants us to drink deeply of this water.

In your Lenten prayer, do not simply babble, like the pagans, but allow Jesus to teach you to pray, to lead you into the conversation He is having eternally with the Father, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring purification from sin and selfishness to all people.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

1st Week of Lent 2019 - Monday - Holy Compunction

The readings and prayers of the first half of Lent are aimed at arousing in us the disposition of compunction. There’s a word you might not have heard for a while: compunction. Actually, the prayer of blessing before the dismissal on Ash Wednesday used that word, “Pour out a spirit of compunction, O God, on those who bow before your majesty.”

Compunction comes from the word puncture.  It is something that pierces us.  It pierces through our illusions, it pierces through the haze of our self-delusions and lack of recollection and our failure to repent.

Compunction is the profound realization of the effect of our sins—we offend God with our sins, our self-indulgent behavior has real damaging effect on our relationships. Our sins are real missed opportunities to grow in holiness.  Compunction is a real reminder of time wasted by our laziness, and how often we have turned to worldly things to fill our hearts instead of engaging in the works of the Spirit

Just like a pin stuck in a balloon causes the balloon to deflate, so too, holy compunction deflates our inflated egos, it pierces through our self-deceptions and brings us to sorrow for our failures to live faithfully as disciples of Jesus.

Compunction: a great word—knowledge of our sinfulness, sorrow for our sins, repentance, the desire for God’s mercy, the desire for deeper conversion, all wrapped up into one word.

Examining our conscience in light of the commandments, such as those who read this morning from Leviticus should bring us to compunction: “Have I stolen, have I defrauded another, have I born hatred for my neighbor, and loved my neighbor.”  Compunction moves us to repentance for not seeking to be holy, as God is holy.

Likewise, the reading from Matthew’s Gospel should move us to compunction: acknowledgement and repentance for turning away from the calls of the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned, and the sick. Failures for which we will be judged.

May our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, may bring us to compunction, and ready our hearts to bear the cross with Jesus, to die with him, that we may rise with him and be judged worthy of eternal life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring purification from sin and selfishness to all people.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

1st Sunday of Lent 2019 - Jesus' Desert Temptations

On the first Sunday of Lent every year, we are presented with the Gospel of Jesus fasting and praying and being tempted by the devil out in the desert wilderness. Why? Why this Gospel every year?
For one, to remind us that Lent is the desert time of the Church year. The desert is barren of all of the distractions of civilization, it’s a place where you can focus. And so during Lent, we are to cut down on the distractions, and focus on the basics of the Christian life: prayer, fasting, charity, repentance from sin.

In the Old Testament, the desert was a place of divine encounter. Hosea the prophet spoke of a time when God would lead his people into the desert and speak to their hearts. The silence of the Lenten desert enables us to hear the Word of God speaking to our hearts. In the bulletin this week, you’ll see some suggestions for your Lenten prayer. For God wants to lead you out into the desert and speak to your heart. He wants you to know His love for you and the strength you wants to give you. Our modern culture abhors the silence of the desert. For in the desert God sometimes shows us some uncomfortable truths about ourselves: our need to be gratified constantly, truths about our broken personalities and sinful attractions. But God, leads us into the desert, because that is the place where he wants to bring about healing through encounter with His love.

In the Old Testament, the desert was also a place of purification and testing. The Jewish people, having lived in Egypt for 400 years, had adopted many of the pagan Egyptian practices, they’d lost touch with the God of Israel, they had hard hearts toward God. And so God brought them out into the desert to teach them to trust him, to be shed of their pagan tendencies, and to be led by him to the promised land. The faith of the Jews was also tested in the desert. They had it pretty good in Egypt, they had food, water, shelter, work, sure they had to put up with Pharaoh. At one point, they complained to God and said they’d rather be well-fed slaves in Egypt, then hungry free persons in the desert. They failed to trust that God had their best interests in mind, so there in the desert God was purifying them of their mistrust of His Holy Will.

And this leads us to the second reason why we hear this Gospel of the Desert ever year. Wherever God is working to bring about spiritual purification and encounter with God, as He is in us, this Lent, there will be resistance. The Lord Jesus himself faced resistance from the Devil in his Divine mission for the salvation of the human race. Immediately after his baptism in the Jordan, right when he is fortifying himself in the desert through prayer and fasting for the work of God for human salvation, the devil shows up to tempt Jesus away from doing God’s work, away from His mission.

“Jesus, you are so hungry, why are you fasting anyway, does it really matter? Change these stones into bread. Satisfy your physical hunger.” Here the devil tries to convince Jesus that the needs of the body are more important than the work of the Spirit.

Many of us have faced this temptation. We make a spiritual commitment to God, the Lenten fast, and then we begin to rationalize. What would it hurt If I gave in to my cravings? Is it really a sin? What’s wrong with eating meat on Fridays anyway? I know I promised not to eat dessert, but this cake looks so good. I know I’ve promised not to watch Netflix, but this show looks really interesting. I know I’ve said I’m not going to shop for myself, or gamble, or play video games, but if I don’t, I’ll be so bored, I’ll die. And many of us fall for it. I know I have.

There is a spiritual battle going on during Lent. We face the same enemy as Jesus faced in the desert. As the Devil sought to tempt Jesus from doing the will of God, the Devil seeks to tempt us from embracing the cross. But the cross is the royal road to eternal life.  The devil seeks to obscure God’s work to bring about new life in our souls and in our parish. So the fasting, the prayer, and penance of Lent will help us remain open to God’s work and protect us from the Devil’s work.

In the second temptation, the devil took Jesus higher and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.”  Now he is tempting the Lord, not with sensual pleasure, but with power.  “Think of all the good you could do Jesus, with power. Think of the change you could accomplish if you were king.” Here again, the Devil seeks to turn Jesus away from the cross. Jesus did come to establish a kingdom, but not an earthly kingdom. To Pontius Pilate he says, my kingdom is not of this world.
So too, we are often tempted to establish our own kingdoms without consideration of what God’s plan or God’s commandments. In the political or corporate world and maybe even in the Church, this temptation abounds. “You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.” “You look the other way for me, I’ll look the other way for you.” Or, “If I just skip Sunday Mass, if I just cheat a little bit, then I’ll be able to get the promotion.” Temptation is tempting. Satan will often hold up very enticing offers, at the expense of our souls. But, as the Lord teaches, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”

For Jesus the temptation was real. To be ruler of all the kingdoms of the world. Think of the good he could have done, and he wouldn’t have to suffer and die! But God’s plan involved a greater good, the salvation of souls, and Jesus counters the devil’s temptation, with a proclamation that we are meant to worship and serve God, certainly not the devil, and certainly not ourselves.

Finally, “the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on the parapet of the temple, and said, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.” No place in Jewish life was more central or important than the temple: economically, politically, culturally, religiously.  Jesus has been placed at the parapet of the temple: the “the pinnacle of Jewish society”  The temptation here is not so much about power, but glory. Above all here, the temptation is glory, honor, being seen and admired, to be at the tip-top where everyone watches you.

I wonder if Jesus dismisses this temptation so easily, because earthly glory is so obviously not why he became incarnate. Jesus dismissed this temptation easily, but not so with us. Peer pressure, worrying about what others think of us, not wanting to appear too devoutly Christian to our coworkers and family; fame, popularity, social standing, these are powerful motivating factors.

We take our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving seriously, so we are not controlled by these things. Our Lenten penances toughen us up for the battle, of doing what is right always, even in the face of the hostile mob, even when we have something to gain, even when it might bring us pleasure.
May this Lent be for each one of us a time of getting back to the basics, to reset our focus, to recommit to God, particularly in the face of temptation. Through our journey through the desert, may we strip away all that gets in the way of living our faith, courageously, of encountering Our Lord daily, serving our fellow man, and living  and working for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday after Ash Wednesday 2019 - To remedy dissonant chords

Last Year on Ash Wednesday, Holy Father Pope Francis said that “The season of Lent is a favorable time to remedy the dissonant chords of our Christian life…[a time] to allow our hearts to beat once more in tune with the vibrant heart of Jesus.”

The Christian life is to be lived in harmony with Jesus and with one another. It is a remedy to that first discordant note in human history, Original Sin, which has rendered every soul out of harmony with God.

Most of us know how unpleasant musical dissonance can be. When something is out of tune it is jarring, perhaps even repulsive or ugly. So, too is the life of sin. There is an ugliness to sin; for sin is out of tune with God’s goodness, truth, and beauty. At times in our life, our hearts may have been in such discord that they rejected God's truth, Jesus'  call to repentance.

But Lent is the "acceptable time" we heard proclaimed on Wedneday, to turn back to God through  repentance from sin, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, to be brought ever more deeply into harmony with Christ, with what is right and just.

Today’s readings on this first Lenten Friday speak of fasting. “The days are coming when my disciples will fast”, well, here they are. How does fasting remedy the discord of human sin?

St. John Climacus wrote, “fasting ends lust, roots out bad thoughts, frees one from evil dreams. Fasting makes for purity of prayer, an enlightened soul, a watchful mind, a deliverance from spiritual blindness. Fasting is the door of compunction, humble sighing, joyful contrition, and end to chatter, an occasion for silence, a custodian of obedience, a lightening of sleep, health of the body, an agent of dispassion, a remission of sins, the gate, indeed, the delight of paradise.”

Fasting is a spiritual self-discipline that makes us conscious of our dependence on God.  We voluntarily experience physical hunger in order to become aware of our true spiritual hunger.  That the deepest hunger of the human soul comes for the peace and joy and life that can only be satisfied by communion with God.

Fasting remedies our discord with created things. We eat too much and pray too little. We engage in the pleasures of the flesh too much and engage in the works of the Spirit too little. And fasting brings our lives back into the order of goodness that God desires, that will bring us true joy.

We will not regret taking seriously the Lenten call to fast. Through fasting we pause our tendency to seek ultimate fulfillment in the things of the world, and recommit to living once more for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

Ash Wednesday 2019 - "Return to me with your whole heart"

“Return to me with your whole heart”, the first words of the first reading of Lent, sums up pretty well, the entire purpose of the Lenten season. We have ashes imposed upon our foreheads as a stark reminder of the need to return to the Lord with our whole heart. It’s the purpose we abstain from meat today and fast: as a reminder that we need to return to the Lord with our whole heart.

You and I are here today because there is at least a portion of our heart is for the Lord—a portion of our heart which recognizes the need for God—the need to love God, follow God, and serve God. But God doesn’t want just one piece of our heart-he wants all of it. “Return to me with your whole heart.”

Since the Garden of Eden, from that first sin, mankind has had that terrible affliction of keeping our whole hearts from God. But we were meant to, and we were made to love God with our whole hearts. As ashes are placed on our foreheads we will hear today those words, “Remember you are dust” recalling that we were made by God from the dust of earth. This is the call to remember who made us, and why He made us. He made us to love Him and each other, he made us to trust Him, to obey Him, to follow Him…always. He made us from the love in His heart, that we may love Him back with our whole hearts.

“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a reminder of the consequences of our failure to love God with our whole hearts, our sin. “The wages of sin is death”. We return to the dust of the earth from which we were made as a result of sin. We are excluded from heaven because of our sin, for heaven is the place not just for those who love God with some of their hearts, but for those who love God with all of their hearts.

We place ashes on our foreheads, we fast, we pray, we give alms, we make a Lenten confession, as a way of saying, God help me. I fallen into sin, I have failed to love you, help me, to return to you with my whole heart.

Each of us have strayed from God in our own ways: my sins are different from your sins, but what brings us all together today is the recognition that we have sinned, and we need God’s help.  For we are in such a sorry state, we can’t return to God on our own, we need God’s help, we need the grace of His Son Jesus.

Allow the grace that flows from Jesus’ Sacred Heart to repair your broken hearts, to enflame your tepid hearts, to purify your lust-filled hearts, to expand your selfish hearts, to humble your prideful hearts, to embolden your fearful hearts, to discipline your rebellious hearts, to teach your foolish hearts, to heal your wounded hearts.

Look to Jesus this Lent as often as you can, that you may have Him as your example, of the one whose heart is on fire with Love for the Lord, whose heart is wholly and fully devoted to doing the will of God no matter the suffering involved. Let his Sacred Heart help you to love God with your whole heart that you may be counted among his blessed ones in eternal life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Church will experience the graces of profound renewal during this season of Lent.  We pray to the Lord.

That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  We pray to the Lord.

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

8th Week in OT 2019 - Tuesday - Offering ones life to God

God's Word commands us not to come before the Lord empty-handed (Sir 35:4). This means we must come to the Lord with our offerings — with the fruit of our service, finances, parenting, work, and life.

One of the prayers you may have learned in Catholic Grade School is The Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.

It is good to begin the day calling to mind the need to offer everything to God, to not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

One of the great mysteries of our faith which we contemplate during the upcoming season of Lent, is the Lord’s willingness to give everything to His Father. He was “obedient unto death, death on a Cross” writes Paul to the Philippians. And Our Lord himself said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.

Following the commandments to love God and love neighbor, imitating Jesus, all require this willingness to give of ones-self, to hold nothing back in service to God. This of course does not mean we need to spend 16 hours a day in Church. We give of our selves at the altar, in order that, we might give of ourselves OUT THERE.

When Peter says today in the Gospel, 'We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus detects that Peter was just giving lip-service. He hadn’t given up everything, for he did not possess the willingness to give his life.

The OTHER St. Ignatius—Ignatius of Loyola—also has a wonderful prayer of offering, called the suscipe prayer, that we do well to pray often: “Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.”

By offering everything to God in union with Jesus we becoming receptive to an abundance of graces which can truly transform the world for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the upcoming season of Lent may be a source of renewal and spiritual growth for the entire Christian Church.

For the freedom and willingness to make of ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

For the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of March: for respect for the rights of persecuted Christian communities and their closeness to Christ.

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 clergy 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.