2nd Sunday of Lent 2021 - Tests of Faith

 
From the moment we are introduced to the character of Abraham in the book of Genesis, his faith is constantly being tested by God.  

The very first time in Scripture God speaks to Abraham, God gives Abraham a test, and a serious one.  God tells Abraham: Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and your father's house to a land that I will show you. “Leave your home, leave your father and kinsfolk, leave everything you have ever known…trust me, I’ll let you know where you are going when you get there.”

That would test anyone’s faith. But I think it’s a pretty relatable one. Because each one of us are asked by God to go to strange people in unknown places. It’s that feeling or sense we get that there is something we should do that is outside of our comfort zone. My neighbor just lost her husband, should I go and comfort her, should I shovel her driveway, volunteer to get her groceries? Or…for the season of Lent…well I allow God to take me deeper this Lent in prayer? Will I go to stations of the cross? Will I go to confession? Will I go to weekday Mass? Will I open up the bible more often or pickup the rosary beads? 

Authentic spiritual growth always involves a test of faith, trusting God to lead us to unknown places. I know that when I’ve failed to trust God, I’ve always been a little sadder for it.

Another test came when Abraham was traveling through the countryside with his nephew, Lot.  The two men were shepherds. And over time their flocks grew larger and larger.  It became clear that the land could not support both flocks of Abraham and Lot. So, Abraham gave Lot a choice.  The whole countryside is open to you. Take your choice of any section of the land you want. If you want the land to the left, then I’ll take the land on the right. If you prefer the land on the right, then I’ll go to the left.

Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley. The whole area was well watered, it was ideal for raising a flock.  So, Lot chose for himself the fertile plans of the Jordan leaving to Abraham the land to the west, the rocky, hard, land of Canaan. Canaan was clearly less desirable, especially since, at the time, it was filled with wicked people who would likely terrorize Abraham and steal his sheep.  

This was a test, too.  Would Abraham trust God, even when it seemed like he was receiving an unfair settlement.  It's hard to trust God normally, even harder when there might be some suffering involved or when we have a temptation to tip the scale in our own favor. 

There are about twelve such tests of Abraham in the book of Genesis—the most popular and most difficult test we heard today.  God had promised Abraham numerous posterity—God said that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and now he commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  

Why did God test Abraham’s faith, anyway? Didn’t God know the outcome? Didn’t he know Abraham’s heart? Well, yes, of course. God knows all things. God doesn’t test us to make sure that we really love Him. He tests us because it is by that test, that our faith is fortified and strengthened. God tested Abraham’s faith to increase his faith, that he might become the father of a nation of faithful people.

So, too with us, a Christian who trusts God in small matters—who passes those small tests—is able to be used as God’s instrument in great matters. For example, St. Theresa the Little Flower trusted God in the small obediences of her life—she was obedient to her parents, she was obedient to her religious superiors, she undertook small sufferings and small acts of love for the good of souls, and because of it, she became a doctor of the Church to which millions of people look for guidance in their spiritual lives. 

A good priest friend of mine would often say, “everything prepares us for something else.”  Our little sufferings, those little tests of faith, prepare us, to help others in their trials and sufferings. Again, I think of our Lenten penances. We make these spiritual commitments, we undergo these little spiritual tests, and when we are faithful to them—there is spiritual growth--- something good comes out of our faithfulness to these commitments. We are strengthened in fortitude, we build up our spiritual muscles against the powers of temptation and fear. I am less afraid of suffering for the Gospel because I know what suffering is like, I’ve willingly undergone suffering for the kingdom. 

In the Gospel, we see Peter, James, and John, undergoing a little test of faith—they need to follow the Lord up the mountain. Because they trusted the Lord, they are given this glimpse of the Lord in his transfigured glory. And this prepares them for a bigger test of faith. No?

Soon after witnessing his glorious transfiguration, Peter, James, and John would see Our Lord arrested, beaten, mocked, scourged, crucified, and killed.  They would need to remember the glory of the transfiguration when they witnessed the horror of the cross. 

God uses those transfiguration moments of our lives to prepare us for when His glory is hard to see. St. Ignatius of Loyola called these transfiguration moments, “consolations in the spiritual life.” Hopefully, everyone here has had transfiguration moments in their lives, spiritual consolations: maybe at a beautiful mass, or your wedding, or on a really good retreat or Lenten mission, or kneeling in gratitude after a really good confession, or praying with other prayer warriors: in this powerful moments, like at the transfiguration, God’s goodness is palpable and undeniable. In those mountain top experiences of God, we might even respond like St. Peter today, bursting out “Lord it is good that we are here!”  These powerful experience of God’s closeness, inflame our hearts with love. 

But just like with the apostles, those transfiguration times prepare us for future trials, what St. Ignatius of Loyola called the times of desolation, the desert times, when God’s goodness and presence is hard or impossible to detect. In those times, faith is tested—the crucifixion is encountered—the prospect of suffering—the reality of evil is encountered,  but again, in order that we may grow spiritually and be prepared for God’s work out in the world.

Personally, I think I’m in a mountain top period right now: my Lenten spiritual reading and prayer is nourishing my soul, the burden of my Lenten penances is not particularly onerous, I made a good confession right before lent, I’ve been surprised at how moving praying our stations of the cross has been the last two weeks. 

When we are in the period of consolation, we saver it, we thank God for it—it’s a foretaste of heavenly glory, but always with the knowledge that the consolation is likely going to proceed a period of trial. 

In this trial times—those desolate times—we recall the consolations of the past to give us some strength, we recall that the Lord is testing our faith that it may grow, that we may become more effective instruments of his goodness. 

If you haven’t really gotten serious about Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, it’s not too late to make some good spiritual commitments. For our God is so good that the transfiguration can be experienced even in times, maybe, particularly in times of penance.

If you’ve already found yourself failing in these matters, it’s not to late to recommit to them. And there’s an experience of God’s goodness, too—in his mercy and his patience.

Through our Lenten observances, may the Lord continue to lead us deeper into the Paschal Mystery for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2021 - Friday - The paradox of God's impossible standards

Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God.

The scribes and Pharisees were renowned for their zeal, concern for purity, and their conformity to the law of Moses.  The very word Pharisee comes from the word meaning “to separate”. The Pharisees sought to separate themselves from everything that was sinful. They would even avoid eating with sinners, hence, their consternation when Jesus would dine with tax collectors and prostitutes.  

How could our holiness possibly "surpass" that of the people of Jesus' day who obeyed every letter of the law?  It sounds as if Jesus has just set humanely impossible standards for entrance into the kingdom of God. Well…he has.

No amount of fasting will gain you entrance to heaven. No amount of almsgiving will gain you entrance into heaven. No amount of feeding the poor and clothing the naked, on their own, will gain us entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

For there is nothing we can do humanly to gain entrance to heaven. If there was, we wouldn’t have needed a savior. Even the first reading contains the same impossible standard: “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.” Again, the same impossible standard. Who of us has kept all God’s statutes? Not a one. If we had, we wouldn’t have begun Lent marking ourselves as sinners with ashes on our foreheads.

Since my holiness and acts of charity and penances are not enough, what can I do? If there is nothing we can do, what can we do?

St. Paul understood man’s inability to gain entrance to heaven on his own. Which is why he sought for Jesus Christ to take over his life. So much so, that he goes on to say that, “It IS no longer me who lives, but Christ who lives in me.” How can the holiness of my life surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees—when it’s not my holiness—when it is not my will directing my life—but His.

A week into the season of Lent, and we are probably still doing pretty well with our Lenten penances—maybe even taking some pride that we haven’t slipped and snacked when we shouldn’t or given into gossip when we shouldn’t. Today’s readings are a remedy to human pride that can set in when we become focused on good works.  A reminder that our good works are not a replacement for our need for a savior, rather, they are the means by which we repent for not allowing God to direct our lives, and a solemn plea for Him to do what we cannot do, to purify, to cleans, to guide, and direct our lives, to help us decrease that he may increase in us, and to deepen our gratitude for the surpassing righteousness of Christ, who alone has saved us from our sins, 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 to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

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. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families. And for the Church in China and all places where the Gospel is silenced.

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. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Lent 2021 - Wednesday - Lavish, dramatic, and over-the-top repentance

 A week into the penitential season of Lent, we read 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.  

We then read of the Lord Jesus referencing the story of Nineveh in his ministry. The Lord looks around at this crowd of pharisees, scribes, and common folk and he calls them an evil generation for failing to repent at his preaching. If an entire city of non-Jews will repent due to the preaching of Jonah, a lesser prophet, how hard hearted must this generation be for failing to repent at his teaching! some of these folk probably took their religion pretty seriously---and didn’t appreciate his tone, as we might say, these days.

Why are we presented with these readings, in tandem, a week into Lent. Well, for a number of reasons. First, we begin to understand a bit of the hostility toward Jesus. He’s basically telling folk that they’re evil for not accepting Gospel. So we hear these readings so that we are not surprised by calls for his crucifixion come Holy Week.

Secondly, we begin to understand our own need to repent. For unlike that evil generation of the Lord’s day, we are called to imitate the Ninevites in their dramatic, lavish, and over-the-top repentance. Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving should be lavish, dramatic, and a little over-the-top…we shouldn’t let a bunch of Ninevites show us up, after all.

And thirdly, perhaps we remember that in preaching the Gospel in the midst of the fallen world and undergoing our Lenten penances, we might experience some of the same hostility as the Lord experienced. For turning our hearts to the Lord in visible signs of repentance, we might experience from the members of the current wicked generation, mockery or hostility—for pricking their consciences. They might try to convince us that we are wasting our time with all these “silly” penances.

Hostility, will certainly come from our spiritual enemy, who hates to see us taking Lent seriously. The devil hates signs of repentance. The devil hates our efforts to pray more, fast more, and give more. He hates that we seek to spread the kingdom because he knows that we’ll be successful. For just as in the Lord’s time, some people did respond positively to his call, and some people will respond positively to the call to conversion by the Church in this generation.

So may we persevere throughout these 40 days in our signs of repentance, our Lenten penances, that through us the Lord may continue to draw souls to himself 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 to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

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. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

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. Through Christ our Lord.

February 23 2021 - St. Polycarp and the many fruits of Prayer

 

We have many great saints whose feasts days fall within the Lenten season.  Today is the feast day of saint who was born just about 40 years after the death of Jesus. His name was Polycarp, and he was the bishop of a place called Smyrna, which is in the modern-day country of Turkey, not too far from Ephesus, where St. John took Mary to live after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In fact, Polycarp was a student of one of the apostles, of St. John.

In the middle column of stained glass windows here in the eastern narthex is a series of scenes from the life of our Patron St. Ignatius of Antioch. And In the top window, there he is with St. Polycarp kneeling at the feet of St. John the Apostle, as he reads his Gospel. Polycarp and Ignatius were ordained bishops by St. John—and each sent to their respective dioceses—Ignatius to Antioch and Polycarp to Smyrna.

Ignatius and Polycarp continued to correspond after their ordination.

Ignatius begins his epistle to the bishop of Smyrna praising Polycarp’s rock-like faith, the blamelessness of his life, and then encourages him to press forward in the race of the Christian life and to work for the salvation of all people. “In all circumstances be “wise as a serpent,” and perpetually “harmless as a dove”, Ignatius tells Polycarp, quoting our Lord in explaining to his disciples how they must deal with the worldly.

Then Ignatius tells Polycarp, give yourself to unceasing prayer, asking for more wisdom than you already have. A bishop must be a man of unceasing prayer and wisdom. While a bishop must certainly be out in the streets preaching the Gospel, administering his diocese, setting good example for his flock, a bishop must be a man of unceasing prayer seeking God’s wisdom always. 

This is good advice for all of us, too. Our Lord in the Gospel today, tells us that we must be people of prayer, who go to our inner rooms, shutting the door to the distractions of the world, and praying to the Father in secret. It is in that secret prayer that we will derive much strength and wisdom in dealing with all the challenges of our vocations. And in prayer, the word of God, as we heard in the first reading, waters our soul like the gentle rain, bearing fruit. In fact, Polycarp's name means "many fruit", no doubt, fruit cultivated through prayer.

St. Polycarp, like our patron, Ignatius, would go on to be martyred for the faith--the greatest of the fruits cultivated in his spiritual life--the courage to give that ultimate witness--becoming a fruit that nourished the church and continues to nourish us to this day. While he was bishop, at the age of 86, a violent persecution broke out in Smyrna against the Christians. Christians were being forced to give up their faith or face death. Because he was a bishop, Polycarp was arrested.  He was led directly to the roman judge, who ordered him make sacrifice to a pagan God and commit blasphemy. 

Some of his Christian friends had urged him to make the sacrifice in order to save his life.  But, Polycarp responded, “for 86 years I have served Jesus Christ, and he has never abandoned me.  How could I curse my blessed king and savior.” So refusing to give up his faith, Polycarp was sentenced to be burned alive.

No doubt, it was through his prayer, that made his love for Jesus stronger than the flames of his martyrdom. In fact, descriptions of his martyrdom claim that, as Polycarp prayed during his execution, the fire created a sort of dome around him, and instead of his flesh burning, his body was like bread baking in an oven, like gold a silver in a furnace, he began to radiate the light of God. And a sweet fragrance like burning incense filled the place.

May we like Polycarp, cultivate a love for the Lord through prayer that is stronger than any earthly flame, a prayer life that sustains us in all of our challenges and duties, 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 to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

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. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

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. Through Christ our Lord.

Friday after Ash Wednesday 2021 - Fasting and Spiritual Hunger

 This morning I happened upon Bishop Malesic’s reflection for this first Lenten Friday. Apparently, his excellency wakes up and posts composes his daily homily earlier than I do! I will now shamelessly share with you some of his thoughts, as they are so very clear and poignant. 

Our shepherd writes: “There are only two days that most Catholics are required to fast: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  But we are not confined by the minimum requirements.  We can fast on more than just two days a year. 

So, why fast at all?

Fasting reminds us that we hunger for something more.  We hunger for justice for the poor.  We hunger for the presence of God.  We hunger for salvation.   When our stomachs grumble, let it remind ourselves that we are empty and needy.  Only God can fulfill our greatest expectations. Our fast, then, is a sign of our longing for God.

Fasting also reminds us that “not by bread alone do we live.”  There is something more essential than material things.  We live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  

Fasting allows us to give up some of our excesses so that something is left for those more in need than we are.  What we don’t use, or what we save by our fasting, we can give away. This is how food pantries are filled up.

But ultimately, our fast from food is meant to help us fast from sin.  If all we do is give up food for the sake of dietary religious norms, without allowing God to change our hearts, then our fast is empty and meaningless. “

Simple and clear. Thank you Bishop Malesic! 

“The days will come…when my disciples will fast” says the Lord in the Gospel today. Well, those days are here. We will not regret taking seriously the Lenten call to fast. May our Lenten fasting deepen our hunger for the grace and the food and the life that only God can provide and strengthen us in our struggle against sin, 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 sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may respond generously to Our Lord’s call to conversion. 

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

For the sick and suffering and all those affected by severe weather, and the safety of all travelers. 

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. Through Christ Our Lord.

6th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Tuesday - Pre-Lenten Preparations

 What perfect readings for this final day of Ordinary Time prior to the penitential season of Lent—the season of purification and enlightenment.

First, Noah’s preparation for the forty day flood.  At a point in history where humanity had turned away from God, had become so mired in sin, “the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth…that his heart was grieved.”

Today we, like Noah, are called to make preparation for the forty days of Lent. We are to examine the sin in our lives and resolve to repent, and to consider how we will be showing our repentance through acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. For throughout Lent, we must make reparation for our own sins, but also the sins of the world, the wicked of the world, to show our love and concern for the souls even of those who reject God and the call to conversion. We do penance for those unwilling to do so for themselves. Who will you pray for, who will you fast for, who will you engage in sacrificial almsgiving for. Fix them in your mind, hold them aloft to God over the next 40 days. Do penance for them, those outside of the ark of the Church—either because of ignorance or willfulness—for their purification, that they, one day, may accept the invitation to come aboard the ark of the Church—to sail to the promised land.

The Gospel, too, is a wonderful pre-Lenten reading, for the Lord sits in a boat, like the ark of noah, with disciples who do not quite understand everything that’s been happening, everything that he’s been doing and teaching. They have eyes and not see, ears and have not heard.

The season of Lent is also for those who are already in the boat of the Church, to come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of everything the Lord has done for us and continues to do for us. Lent is the season of purification, but also enlightenment. As we contemplate all the Lord suffered, his time in the desert, his march to Jerusalem, his ensuing passion and death, we are enlightened with a deeper understanding of the depths of his love for us and what it means to be his disciples, his apostles sent out into the world. 

May we prepare well for the 40 day flood which brings purification and enlightenment as we engage in the Lenten works and contemplate the depths of the Lord’s love and the call to ever more faithful discipleship, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness and enlightenment in the ways of God.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that the season of Lent will bring them great conversion to way of Christ. 

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

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. Through Christ our Lord.

6th Week in OT 2021 - Monday - The wholehearted sacrifice

 Over the past few weeks in RCIA, I’ve been offering catechesis to our catechumens on the Sacraments. We start with baptism, of course, the doorway to the sacraments, and make our way to the culmination of the sacramental life of the church, the source and summit of the Church’s life, the Eucharist. 

And I begin the session on the Eucharist examining the notion of sacrifice in the scriptures—sacrificial offerings made to God, for the Eucharist, of course, is the sacrifice the Son makes to the Father of his flesh and blood and life for the sake of the world. 

This morning we read from the book of Genesis the first depiction of sacrifice in scripture: Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil, while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.

Both of the sons of Adam and Eve offered sacrifice to God—they made sacrifice offerings from the fruit of their work. Both had no doubt worked hard for the fruits of their labors—by the sweat of their brows they shall obtain fruit. And even though, but were born with the effects of the sins of their parents, both still had this urge to make sacrificial offering to God. 

And yet, God smiled upon Abel’s sacrifice, where upon Cain’s he did not. Why? Well, we read Abel, brought the best of his flock. Cain, by contrast, did not; he gave God the leftovers. The Letter to the Hebrews explains  “By faith Abel offered God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s.”  Abel’s sacrifice was filled with faith and love, Cain’s was lacking. 

Perhaps Cain offered the sacrifice half-heartedly.  This makes us think, perhaps, of the widow in the Gospel, praised by the Lord, who offers not her leftovers, but from her sustenance. 

Perhaps Cain loved the fruits of his labor more than God—loving what is seen more than He who is unseen. Perhaps he wanted to get the sacrifice over as soon as possible so he could go back to worldly pursuits--like the person who wants Mass t
o be over as soon as possible so they can go back to playing Candy Crush on their iPhones—or back to his resentful musings which led to his brother’s murder.

Perhaps, he only offered the sacrifice in order to get something out of it.  Kind of like the followers of the so-called Prosperity Gospel today, who come to Christ because they believe God will make them prosperous and wealthy in this life on earth.  

On the Cross, and therefore, in the Eucharist, the Lord Jesus offers the perfect sacrifice, the wholehearted sacrifice, the sacrifice of his very self to the honor and glory of his father and for the highest good of others, greater even than the favored sacrifice of Abel. Again from Hebrews: “You have drawn near…to Jesus…and to the sprinkled blood which speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.”

In the Eucharist we draw near to the perfect sacrifice, we receive it, that we may become what we receive, that we may give the wholehearted, unselfish, sacrifice of our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all members of the Church will discover and offer their gifts wholeheartedly in service of the Gospel. 

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, that young people may live in faith-filled homes where the Gospel is cherished, studied, and lived-out.

For the grace to set good Christian example, and to courage to share the faith with non-believers and the lapsed.

On this President’s Day, Assist with your spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, Joseph Biden, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides. May he encourage due respect for virtue and religion. May he execute the laws with justice and mercy. May he seek to restrain crime, vice, and immorality.

For all of the sick and suffering, for the grace to unite their sufferings with Christ and to know His consolation and peace.

For our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. We pray to the Lord.

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

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 - Jesus touches the leper

 In seminary each year, each of the seminarians in our diocese are given an apostolate—we are sent outside the seminary walls—to engage in some form of holy work. Each week, the seminarians would go to different sites throughout the diocese to engage in ministry to the sick, hungry, lonely, or poor; we’d visit residents at the Catholic nursing homes or homes for the mentally or physically challenged, and hospital, we’d assist at the Ozanam Center of West Side Catholic Center, or Teaching RCIA or Adult Faith Formation in parishes, we might work with Parish Youth Groups. The holy work was of course good in itself, but it would also provide experience for our future priestly ministry.

Well, my first year of seminary, I was paired with another seminarian, who is now a very good friend of mine and brother priest, Father Jared Orndorff, pastor of St. Joe’s in Cuyahoga Fall, and we were assigned to minister to the inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail under the supervision of Fr. Neil Walters and Deacon Tom Send. Each week we would answer requests the inmates made to the chaplain’s office for rosaries, bibles, and prayer books, we’d take note for Father for requests for the Sacraments, and we’d accompany Father Neil to the prison cell blocks and occasionally even sit down and talk with the prisoner.

It was sometimes a bit intimidating to walk free through the jail hallways. But in the short conversations we’d have with the inmates when handing them a bible or a rosary, or going to pray with them, we knew we were doing to the Lord’s good work—bringing a bit of the Lord’s goodness and love into the lives of others. “When I was in prison, you visited me.”

This weekend’s first reading reminded me of an occasion at the Jail, when we were accompanying Father Neil to the cell blocks, and as we were leaving an inmate calls out to Father, maybe a bit like the leper in today’s Gospel. He comes up to us, and says, “father, can you please take a look at this”, and he lifts up his pant leg to reveal a pretty nasty skin condition. Father took a glance at the sores and wounds, nodded, and laid hands on the inmate, blessed him, and we left.

What was that all about, we asked Fr. Neil. And he referenced today’s first reading. “If anyone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch, he shall be brought to the priest. The inmate must have been reading Leviticus”. In those ancient days, the Levitical priests had this responsibility of diagnosing leprosy. The priests, learned in the law, was tasked with this duty in order to preserve the health of the community. That there are these laws about public health in God’s inspired word, reminds of us God’s care for the health and integrity of his people.  Having diagnosed leprosy the leper was then required by the law to quarantine outside of the common dwelling areas, again to preserve public health. We understand this quite well, don’t we, due to the events of the past year?

Now, we, as Christians, are not bound by this precept of Levitical law to show your skin conditions to the priest. But this reading certainly contains some lessons and foreshadowing’s for the life of the Church. Firstly, we do not show our skin pustules and blotches to the ordained priests, but Church law certainly requires us to bring our mortal sins to the priest in the Sacrament of Confession.

Secondly, we’ve seen this last year Church leaders continue this practical care the physical health of the Church. Almost a year ago now, the bishops relieved us of our obligation to attend Sunday mass due to the virus, and after reopening the churches, the bishops continued to prescribe that those showing flu like symptoms should remain home out of care for others, and that masks be worn to stop the spread of the disease. As attendance at mass is deemed safer and safer by our Church leaders, it is likely we will soon see a reinstitution of the mass obligation. For example, the Archdiocese of Detroit has alraedy announced that the obligation will go back in effect for the faithful of Detroit on March 14.

I was deeply impressed with Detroit Archbishop Vigneron’s letter to the archdiocese because he balances pastoral sensitivity for people’s health with a real religious sense for the reasons why mass attendance is so important. He writes,  “God did not come to us virtually. He came to us—and continues to come to us—in the flesh. As Catholics, unmediated contact with the Real presence of the flesh and blood of Our Lord in offering [the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass] to the Father is irreplaceable and essential”. Again, he says, for anyone who needs to refrain from attending Mass for medical reasons, the obligation will not be binding, but for those who are able to attend Mass, the obligation will again be in effect.

I don’t know the future, but I think we’re likely to see a similar policy here in Cleveland in the next month or two, and for the same theologically sound reasons the Archbishop raises: Real encounter with the Lord Jesus in the Sacraments is an irreplaceable and essential element of our faith.

In the Gospel this weekend, we see the leper, approaching the Lord, and the Lord reaches out his hands to the leper and touches him. That Physical contact with the Lord Jesus, in the Gospel today, that real, not virtual, but real encounter with the Lord who pronounces the leper clean, is a foreshadowing of what happens in the confessional and what happens at holy mass, and in all the Sacraments of the Church.

While  livestreaming mass has made it possible for us to remember our connection to the prayer life of our parishes, there is an ontological difference between watching mass on television or internet and the real sacramental encounter. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, for so many of you have desired that real encounter, and came back to church as soon as possible, and many of you who are still unable to come to mass, have shared with me how much you miss it.

For we know, don’t we, that something happens here that doesn’t happen anywhere else. We gaze upon the Lord in his Holy sanctuary. We kneel before the Lord, acknowledging our sins and our challenges and crosses and difficulties, and he extends his hands to us and touches us, touches our lives, blesses us and strengthens us. He pronounces us in the confessional forgiven of our sins. And in the valid reception of the Eucharist he deems us in holy communion, in right relationship with God.

And that maskless, physical contact with others, it’s part of healthy normal human communication, and showing of affection, and comforting others. Shaking hands as a greeting, or agreement, or making peace with a brother. Serving a meal to a hungry stranger. These physical actions and connections are so important for the Gospel. For as members of the body of Christ we are to be that hand extended to the leper, the hand laid upon the leper.

But we’re not quite entirely back to normal yet, for as you may have read in last week’s bulletin, our practice for ash Wednesday this week will be a little bit different than in recent decades. As you come forward for ashes on ash Wednesday, the Bishops of the United States, following the instruction of the Pope in Rome, have mandated that instead of marking each forehead with a cross, the priest will sprinkle ashes on the head of each person without saying anything and avoiding physical contact. Though, this involves a change from longstanding tradition in the United States, the distribution by sprinkling rather than tracing the sign of the cross is a common practice in nearly every other country around the world.

We will however continue our Lenten tradition of offering stations of the cross each Friday at 7pm here in the Church, and I encourage you all to make a good Lenten confession sometime this season. In addition to the normal confession schedule of Saturdays from 3-4, Sundays from 10 to 10:45 and Mondays from 4:45 to 5:15, I will have three hours of confession the evening of March 24. This is in lieu of the diocesan evening of confession which has been cancelled. But I’ll be here for you, dear parishioners.

As we prepare for the holy season of Lent, let us consider how the Lord desires to draw near to us through our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and wishing to extend his hands to the lepers of our own day, through us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

February 8 2021 - St. Josephine Bakhita - World Day Against Human Trafficking

 For a number of years, February 8 has been designated the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. Today’s saint in fact is the patron saint against human trafficking.  

In 1877, as a young girl, Josephine was taken from her village in Sudan and forced to walk 600 miles to the market where she was sold. Over the next 10 years, she was bought, sold, and regularly abused. 

One of her owners was particularly sadistic and scarred her for life by cutting her with a razor blade and salting the wounds. 

Finally, as a young woman, Josephine was freed from this cruel cycle through the intervention of the Canossian Sisters of Verona Italy, and was housed and employed by an Italian family through whom she became acquainted with the Catholic faith. She would go on to join the Canossian Sisters as a vowed religious. 

During his homily at her canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II said that in St. Josephine Bakhita, "We find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights."  Slavery and human trafficking continue even in our present age, and through the intercession of today’s saint, we pray for its complete abolishment.  

St. Josephine was canonized, not just because she was victim of terrible cruelties and inhumanity. She is now held aloft as a model of virtue and holiness because her life speaks of power of Christ-like forgiveness, reconciliation and love. As a victim of inhumanity and injustice, she could have allowed hatred and resentment to mold her life—many in our society are fueled by much slighter injustices than faced by St. Josephine. Rather, Josephine found liberation from hatred and resentment through Christ. So much so, that she came to say, “The whole of my life has been God’s gift”, and as a vowed religious devoted herself to steadfast charity and compassion through a life of self-donation. was not defined by the abuse that she received, but by the love that she shared.

On this day in 2019, Pope Francis invoked St. Josephine and called upon government leaders worldwide to intervene and stop the trafficking of persons. 

May we join our prayers and steadfast works with St. Josephine, contributing to righting this injustice, and imitate her virtues of forgiveness, compassion, and self-donation for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For all of those children, women and men currently trapped in situations of slavery that God will help to liberate them from their chains. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those vulnerable to being trafficked, especially immigrants and refugees, orphans and runaways that God give them safe passage and safe homes, we pray to the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the conversion of all who perpetuate slavery, human trafficking, child prostitution and evils against humanity. Let us pray to the Lord.

That all government leaders and lawmakers will recognize the dignity of every human person and, free from all corruption, work for the development of all peoples. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

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

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - The priority of the spiritual over the physical

 

Imagine, with you, that you are peter, james, john or Andrew in the Gospel today. Now mind you, this passage is very early on in the Gospel of Mark. You’ve known Jesus for less then a week. You may have heard something about him being called the Lamb of God by out preacher out in the desert, but you aren’t really sure what that means. He’s told you that he’s going to make you a fisher of men, but you don’t really know what THAT means. He’s indicated he needs a place to stay, so you’ve invited him to come to Capernaum, your home town, and just this morning, he did the most amazing thing you ever saw: he walked into the town synagogue, and a demon began hissing and cursing at him, and called him the Holy One of God. He then commanded the demon to be silent, and cast it out, amazing everyone present.

Leaving the synagogue you go to Peter’s house, and Jesus does something else you’ve never seen. He heals Peter’s sick bed-ridden mother-in-law. Then at sunset, his fame having spread throughout the region because of the exorcism, droves of sick people come to him, and he heals them too and drives out even more demons. Who is this person?

I bet it was quite difficult for Peter, James, Andrew, and John to sleep that first night: replaying the scenes of the preceding day, the anguished haunted faces of the demon possessed becoming serene, the deathly ill suddenly regaining health. Questions bouncing around in their head, possibilities for the future. What’s going on here? What does he want from us? Is there a limit to his ability to heal? What’s tomorrow going to bring?

You finally drift up to sleep, and upon waking, He’s gone. Where is he? Where’s the miracle man. Everyone goes out to look for him. He has a lot to answer for, and there will be, no doubt, more people demanding healing. 

And then he says something surprising: he says, let’s get out of here. No more healings today. Because that’s not why I’ve come. I’ve come to preach.

Your first thought might be “come from where?” He’s from Galilee, we’re in Galilee. He speaks with the accent of Galilean. Again, what is he talking about. And what does he mean? Where has he come from? And how is preaching more important than casting out demons and healing the sick? What could be more important than that?

If the first great question in the Gospel of Mark is “who is this person?” The second, is certainly, “how is preaching more important than healing the sick?” How is preaching a greater priority than curing people who are dying? If he has the power to do that, why doesn’t he do that?

Here the Lord intimates the priority of the spiritual over the physical. Preaching the truth of the Gospel is more important, it is the reason he has come. To “preach” in St. Mark’s original Greek is the Greek word “kérussó”—to preach, to proclaim, to herald, to announce, to establish through his Word—the kingdom of heaven. This is the priority: to preach and establish the kingdom of God for the conversion of those held sway by the kingdom of darkness. And in the end, that is everybody. To preach and invite all people of all places and all times to conversion—to faith and new spiritual life though him. 

All those healing miracles, while yes, they show us the love that God has for all the physically sick, they indicate God’s love for the spiritually sick, all of us. Moreover, all those physical healings symbolize on the physical level what Jesus has come to do on the spiritual level. The healing miracles—the healing of the mute, the blind, the deaf, and the leper—are physical analogues of what he’s come to do spiritually. He has come to heal the spiritually mute—those unable to speak the Word of God due to ignorance or fear; he’s come to heal the blind—those who do not see God at work in the world, and those who do not see the dignity of the human person; he has come to heal the spiritually deaf—those who turn a deaf ear to the truth of God and the call of the poor; and he has come to heal the spiritual leper—those who have contracted the deadly spiritual malady of sin that has separated us from God.

Why is there a priority of the spiritual over the physical? Because the spiritually dead will be separated from God for ever. While those who are reborn by grace, those alive in the spirit—they will remain united to God forever, even though they may experience physical death, they will live forever.

Hence the importance of maintaining and nourishing our spiritual lives. Repenting of sin and confessing our sins. Receiving the bread of life, the Eucharist. Engaging in prayer and good works and spreading the Gospel even when there is a physical price to pay for these things. For the spiritual takes priority over the physical.

In less than two weeks, we will begin again the holy and penitential season of Lent, the time of the Church year for identifying those habits, attitudes, behaviors, and attachments that keep us from living for Christ. We identify the physical pleasures and comforts that, however good, we fast from and abstain from, to remember that in this earthly life, I am not meant to live for the physical and the earthly, but to pursue the spiritual and the heavenly. 

I think it is so important for us to be immersed in the history of the apostles and saints and martyrs, because we encounter, in the holy ones, men and women, of every race and age, who have recognized the need to live for God. The apostles imprisonment and  torture to preach the Gospel, and counted it a joy to persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus. The martyrs of the early Church, like St. Ignatius who when offered the opportunity to save his physical life by offering a tribute to a pagan god refused, as it would violate the first commandment? Would you die for the first commandment. What does it profit a man to preserve his earthly life, or gain the whole world, but lose his soul?

In the martyrs and the saints, the Lord takes very weak and very ordinary people and transforms them into heroes of our faith, again to show us, the importance, the priority of the spiritual over the physical. So much so that Paul, as we heard in the second reading today, counts all things as loss—woe to me, if I do not prioritize the preaching of the Gospel over all else…for if I don’t preach it, I don’t have a share in it. If I don’t preach it, I don’t have a share in it. That line should cause us to do some serious reflection on our priorities, no? If I don’t preach the Gospel, I don’t have share in it. Does my life, do my words, do my actions, does my lifestyle, speak of—does it preach—the Gospel of Christ? Does the way I act in public and private stem from and point to the Gospel?

Paul hints at the radical nature of Christianity. Radical, not meaning not crazy or irrationally zealous, like it’s sometimes used, but radical coming from the word radix which means, root. Christianity requires reorientation to God all the way down to the root of our human nature. Again, this is why Paul, imprisoned, sentenced to die, having spent his remaining days preaching the Gospel, so transformed by grace, is able to say, it is no longer me, but Christ, who lives in me. 

When faith is prioritized over all else, it shapes and changes and transforms all else, into the work of Christ—preaching and establishing the kingdom—just as he did 2000 years ago, he continues this work, through us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - February 2021 - Courage in uncertain times comes from the Eucharist

 This morning we celebrated the feast of the virgin martyr St. Agatha of Sicily, so widely venerated by the early Church. For resisting the advances of a degenerate civil official, she was arrested, and when she refused to offer pagan sacrifice to save her life, she was tortured and martyred. 

In 2005, Pope Benedict made a pastoral visit to St. Agatha’s native Sicily and celebrated mass for the people in Palermo. He acknowledged that in Palermo, as in the whole of Sicily, problems and worries and difficulties, he said, “are not lacking” in particular unemployment which gives rise to uncertainty and worry about the future, and also the physical and moral suffering caused by organized crime. Today I am among you, the Holy Father said, “to witness to my closeness and my remembrance in prayer. I am here to give you strong encouragement not to be afraid to witness clearly to the human and Christian values that are so deeply rooted in the faith and history of this territory and of its people.”

In a way, it sounds a lot like our own country, now in 2021. Unemployment, the breakdown of the family, organized crime in the form of vast corruption in government. We come here tonight, uncertain about the future. 

The Holy Father recalled how in past centuries the Church in Sicily was enriched and enlivened by such fervent faith, seen particularly in the lives of Sicily’s saints, like St. Rosalia, St. Lucy, and of course, St. Agatha. And how has inspired and guided family life, fostering values such as the capacity of giving of themselves, and the respect for life that constitutes a precious heritage to be jealously guarded. 

Again this makes us think of our own country, how the Christian faith so shaped and guided the early history of this country and family life. And now, religion is banished from public life, banished from schools, faith is replaced with materialism in many families, Catholic tradition is not kept or upheld or passed on. 

And I think that reading from mass this morning from the letter to the Hebrews is just so pertinent. Let brotherly love continue. Let marriage be honored among all. Let your life be free from love of money. Remember with confidence that the Lord is your helper. And where does true brotherly love come from, but the Eucharist. Where does honor for God's holy institutions like marriage come from, but from the Eucharist. Where does freedom from the love of money and all that keeps us from holiness, but from the Eucharist.

Do not do not fear, Pope Benedict said to the lay faithful of Palermo,  to live and to witness to the faith in the various contexts of society, in the many situations of human existence, especially in those that are difficult! May faith give you the power of God in order to be ever confident and courageous, to go ahead with new determination, to take the necessary initiatives to give an ever more beautiful face to your land. And when you come up against the opposition of the world, may you hear the Apostle’s words: “Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord” (v. 8).

In difficult and confusing times, it is always best to return here, to the Blessed Sacrament, to receive the courage and guidance and inspiration we need to live with the courage we need to testify to the truth, and to remain faithful when faced, like St. Agatha, and the martyrs, with the opposition of the world. May our time with the Lord tonight bear fruit in this life and the life to come, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

February 05 2021 - St. Agatha - Chastity and Martyrdom

 Saint Agatha is one of the great virgin martyrs honored by the early Roman church. She was martyred in the brief but ferocious persecution of the emperor Decius, whose own reign lasted only two years, 249 to 251. Prior to Decius, much of the persecution, was local and sporadic throughout the empire, even with periods of general tolerance toward Christians. 

But, in 250 AD, Decius issued an imperial decree requiring all citizens of the empire to offer a sacrifice to the Roman Gods, renounce the Christian faith in front of a Roman official and obtain a certificate called a libellus proving they had done so. Many Christians publicly rejected their faith by offering the sacrifice; some bribed the public official to obtain the libellus.  

Saint Agatha was a beautiful Sicilian woman who had consecrated herself to Christ—to be His bride—to spend her life in his prayerful service and consecrated virginity.

When she refused the romantic advances of a pagan man, he turned her into the authorities. Since she would not offer the pagan sacrifice, she was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually killed. The popular legend states that her gruesome torture involved the cutting off of her breasts. St. Peter is said to have appeared to her and healed her wounds. She was then put over hot coals and roasted, but an earthquake saved her from the fire. 

For these reasons she is both patron saint of breast diseases and also invoked as a protector from fire, like volcanic eruptions in her native Sicily.

In the Gospel about the beheading of John the Baptist, we see the world’s hatred of the saints is nothing new. For speaking out against the corruption and sexual sins of the royal court of his day, John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. 

Throughout the ages, the Church has been hated for teaching God’s vision for marriage and sexuality and chastity. St. John the Baptist, St. Agnes, St. Anastasia, St. Lucy, St. Charles Lwanga, St. Maria Goretti in our own modern day, were killed for this reason. 

Christians today are surrounded by innumerable pressures to forsake the faith, to make compromises with the world, to embrace errors repugnant to the teachings of Christ. And in this increasingly perverse and degenerate age, it is likely the Church will be increasingly opposed and more ferociously mocked and attacked for teaching the Truth, even from within the ranks of the church, even perhaps by members of the hierarchy. But woe to the faithful if we flee from this task. For the Truth of the Gospel does not change, especially due to the whins of the world. For Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So we do well to increase our devotion to the great martyrs, that we may have the courage to witness clearly and teach clearly and embrace the inevitable sufferings that follow, that the power of Christ and the love of God may shine in our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of February: for women who are victims of violence, that they may be protected by society and have their sufferings considered and heeded. Let us pray to the Lord.

Through the intercession of St. Agatha and the holy virgin-martyrs, for an increase of reverence for the virtues of chastity, purity, and modesty and for greater respect for the dignity of the human body and all human life.

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

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

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

4th Week of Ordinary Time 2021 - Wednesday - Bonum Diffusivum Sui

 

There is an medieval latin aphorism:  bonum diffusivum sui, goodness spreads out from itself. A saint for example, spreads the goodness of God. The light of Christ, like that which we celebrated at Candlemas, yesterday, isn’t to be hidden under a bushel basket, right, but spreads, as it is lived devoutly and generously. 

This truth can be seen even in the life of the Holy Trinity. God is perfect, perfect goodness, perfect joy, and yet, he chooses to bring creation into being, and share that goodness, and life and joy with his creatures, particularly mankind made in his image.

We are happiest and most fulfilled in life when we are engaging in acts of goodness because that’s what we’re made for, not for selfish self-centeredness, but selfless self-giving, even self-sacrifice.

It is true that bonum diffusivum sui, but, in our first reading today, we also find that goodness’s opposite also spreads. “See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.” In other words, the bad apple can spoil the bunch. Selfishness, sin, the deprivation of grace, can also spread and defile and spoil the bunch.

We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of a gossip, for example, that we aren’t drawn into their habit of gossiping. We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of drunkards and gluttons, that we don’t begin to mimic their behavior. 

Of course, we are all sinners, and have the potential to set bad example for each other, from time to time. And yes, we need to be out in the world of sinners spreading the Gospel and doing our best to set good example for each other and non-believers. But we also have to be very careful that we don’t begin to assume to errors and sinful lifestyles of the world.

Discipline, is needed. “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord”, we hear today. Endure your trials as “discipline”; discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

In two weeks, we’ll be beginning once again the great season of Lent, a time of discipline. We do well to identify those parts of our lives that do need to be brought under the Lord’s dominion once again, for God’s Word promises the peaceful fruit of righteousness, to those who endure their trials. 

The disciplined soul, therefore, becomes a tree for others, a fountain, a spring for the refreshment of others, and instrument which draws others to the grace of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, endurance to do the will of God, and peace in our world and our hearts.  Let us pray to the Lord.

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

For the discipline necessary to resist temptation and to build virtue. 

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind:  that the new wine of God’s grace through Christ will bring them consolation and peace.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

February 2 2021 - Feast of the Presentation - Light of Christ, Fill our Lives

 

Many of you know that I was able to live and complete my college studies in Rome. One of the first things I did when I got to Rome was to visit St. Peter’s Basilica. And if you’ve never been there, it is difficult to convey the grandeur and the beauty of that magnificent edifice. 

A few days after I arrived in Rome, it was on this day, the feast of the Presentation, that I was able to attend my first papal liturgy at St. Peter’s. And that too was quite the experience. For on the Feast of the Presentation, the consecrated religious of Rome go to St. Peter’s to renew their vows in front of the Pope. So as we made our way to the basilica the streets and buses were filled with nuns and monks and religious brothers and sisters in their habits.

And as we entered St. Peter’s I got to witness that “mostly controlled chaos” that the Italians are so well known for. But then, the music of the liturgy started and chaos was brought into order. And then to my great surprise, the lights of the basilica, that I didn’t even know existed, came on to full blast. And all the art, and ornamentation, and colors of the marble, were all illuminated, and it was quite breathtaking. 

And I remember thinking how not many years before that, the light of Christ was quite hard for me to see, in the angst of my teenage years. And now, there I was standing in St. Peter’s Basilica filled with light and truth and beauty, amidst all of these good religious men and women who were offering their lives to God, so grateful that the light of the Catholic faith was shining in my life.

I think today is a good day for reflecting on the many ways the light of Christ shines in your life, like Simeon thanking God for the Christ Child. Thank God today for the truth, the beauty, the goodness you’ve experienced. Thank God for the people, parents, grandparents, teachers, priests and religious, who shared the light of faith with you, and pray for them, especially those who’ve passed into eternity. Also, today ask God to help you see ways he might be calling you to share his light with others, with the next generation, with people in whose life the light of God has grown dim, with non-believers.

For the light that we are given, as Christ teaches in his sermon on the mount, is not meant to be hidden, but is to shine brightly before others, shared with others. 

In 1997, St. John Paul II designated the feast of the presentation as world day of prayer for those in consecrated religious life. So we will offer prayers for the consecrated religious who are such a great light in the Church. May we join them in responding more devoutly today to the Lord’s invitation to turn away from the darkness of error and sin toward the light of Christ, to bear that light courageously and generously for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For those consecrated to God by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience that they may seek to live their baptismal promises more intensely and have the grace to persevere in their commitment to the Lord and serve with open hearts and willing spirits. We pray to the Lord…

In gratitude for the consecrated religious who have served this parish and our diocese, for an increase in vocations to the consecrated life. We pray to the Lord…

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

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

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

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

February 1 2021 - St. Ignatius of Antioch (EF) - Crowned with Many Crowns of glory

About 300 years after the death of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the archbishop of Constantinople, the golden-tongued St. John Chrysostom gave a stirring homily about the martyred bishop, which can be accessed for free on the internet, if you have the means, I highly recommend reading it.

St. John begins his homily with a funny even surprising little analogy. He says, Entertainers—theater producers and hosts of athletic competitions and the like—put on frequent and constant entertainments to show off their wealth and to show good will to their acquaintances. In the martyrs, God has done something similar. In the martyrs, God shows the power of his love and grace, in transforming weak and ordinary people, into powerful witnesses of the Gospel. And unlike the theater and athletic competitions of his day, which were limited to just men, Chrysostom says, “both maidens and women, and men, both young and old, and slaves, and freemen, and every rank, and every age, and each sex” are called forth by God for the noble purpose---the contest, he calls it—of the Christian life.

Then, St. John goes on to say that Ignatius of Antioch was so successful in this contest, he won so many crowns he doesn’t know where to begin. He says, “just like when you go into a field and there are roses and violets and lilies and spring flowers, you don’t know where to look, “coming to this spiritual meadow of the mighty works of Ignatius” he doesn’t know where to begin. 

He begins, though, with Ignatius’ selection as bishop of Antioch. Ignatius was crowned by he was crowned by the Apostles, selected as bishop of Antioch by one of the original twelve apostles. The top stained glass window of the eastern transept, shows Ignatius and Polycarp kneeling before St. John the Apostle, as they are being made the bishops of Antioch and Ephesus respectively. 

To be chosen as a Bishop is a great honor, but Chrysostom notes that being chosen as Bishop by the Apostles was an honor greater still. The Apostles knew what the job demanded. Ignatius fulfilled some very specific Apostolic qualifications, like those set forth by St. Paul in his letter to Titus, when he writes “A bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.”

And this leads to the second and third crowns. Ignatius won the crowns of being a competent bishop of a humungous diocese, boasting a population of about a million people. And not only a humungous diocese, but the see that was once presided over by the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter himself.

Another crown, won by Ignatius is evidenced in his writings. In his letters, written to the various Churches visited on the way to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius exhorts Christians over and over to hold fast to the Apostolic faith taught by the faithful bishops.

And, finally,  while each of the other crowns and accomplishments of Ignatius were blessings to the Church, it is in the crown of martyrdom, that truly echoes through the ages. 

For anyone who might ever doubt that the Lord truly rose from the dead: the martyrdom of Christians like Peter, Paul, and Ignatius is proof that the Lord is truly risen. “For in reality, writes Chrysostom, “ [martyrdom] is the greatest proof of the resurrection that the slain Christ should show forth so great power after death, as to persuade living men to despise both country and home and friends, and acquaintance and life itself, for the sake of confessing him, and to choose in place of present pleasures, both stripes and dangers and death. For these are not the achievements of any dead man, nor of one remaining in the tomb but of one risen and living.

Martyrdom is therefore encouragement to every Christian, and proof for every non-believer, to forsake the world and to live for Christ who is truly risen. 

Not only today, therefore, but every day, writes John Chrysostom, let us go forth to blessed Ignatius, plucking spiritual fruits from him. His holy example is a perpetual treasure, a spring that fills us with blessings, with boldness, nobleness of spirit, and much courage, in witnessing to Christ in our own lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Monday - Deliverance from the Demonic

 The episode from today’s Gospel describes Jesus’ first excursion into non-Jewish territory, and it begins in a similar way as his public ministry among the Jews: with an exorcism—the casting out of an unclean spirit—a demon.

Mark’s description of the Gerasene demoniac shows how demonic influence seeks to distort and destroy the image of God in us.  We see this man living away from his family, wild-eyed, shouting, bearing the marks of self-mutilation. The human instinct of self-preservation and health is distorted and overridden by this demonic force.

So too, when we are given over to the powers of addiction, lust, greed, and wrath—when we allow ourselves to be possessed by the spirits of sin—our goodness becomes distorted, an ugly, unclean power begins to fill us.  

St. Mark even shows the futility of society’s efforts to deal with the demonic problem.  The most they can do is attempt to restrain the man physically, and even that is ineffective; the demon fills the man with a strength which breaks the shackles and chains.  Similarly, the world attempts to free man from his demons through silly pop psychology, self-help programs, pagan or esoteric spirituality, “new age techniques” or political promises. Many claim that science is the cure of all man’s ills.  

But Jesus shows, that in the end, it is only the power of the Most High which can free us from our demons.  For the cause of the demonic relationship is a rupture of the relationship with God and family.  

This is why, after the exorcism, Jesus sends the man back to his family to announce the Lord’s mercy. “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the lord in his pity has done for you.” Jesus restores the relationship with God and heals the rifts of family division.

Reminded of the real possibility of the human soul to turn away in demonic fashion from that which is Good—God, family, self, and society, we pray for deliverance. Trusting that the Lord continues to exercise this power to restore the human soul, to redirect it to its highest good, to heal and restore what is lost in sin, may we commit to being his instruments of deliverance and exorcism, through preaching and teaching and works of mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the preaching and teachings of the Pope, Bishops, and clergy may be a source of strength and guidance for the Holy Church.

That those in civic authority may submit their minds and hearts to the rule of Christ, the Prince of Peace and Hope of the nations.

For the liberation of those bound by evil, those committed to sin an error, those oppressed or possessed by evil spirits, and for the conversion of the hardest hearts.

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

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

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