May 31 2021 - Memorial Day Visitation

 Memorial Day coincides this year with the Feast of the Visitation, when Our Lady, upon hearing of the pregnancy of her kinswoman Elizabeth, went in haste to the visit her.

Visitation is certainly at the heart of our Faith. We are to visit the Blessed Sacrament. We are to visit the sick and imprisoned. We are to visit the graves of loved ones. We are to visit the lonely and afflicted to bring them comfort. Though Mary was undergoing her own trials—unwed, pregnant, chosen by God, she left the comfort of her home in Nazareth, in haste. She detected a need, and she acted without fearful hesitation. 

And Elizabeth wasn’t just a drive across town.  She lived in the hill country of Judea—about 60 miles from Nazareth—through bandit infested hill country.  A difficult journey for anyone, especially for a teenage mother traveling by herself.

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

There’s always an excuse not to make visitation—to visit the lonely, to visit the blessed sacrament. But Our Lady shows us the generous spirit that should animate us, the self-forgetfulness. 

Memorial Day is certainly a day for Visitation. It is common today to visit the graves of our servicemen and women who died defending our freedom. I know in my hometown, a parade will process from the veteran’s memorial in the town square to the cemetery to honor and pray for our beloved soldiers. My grandfather, a world war II veteran took part in the parade every year, to remember his fallen comrades. In fact, my mother and nieces are keeping the family tradition alive and taking part in the parade this morning.

It is important to visit the memories of our beloved heroes. To remember to pray for their souls. And to remember the values for which they died. 

It was on Memorial Day last year, that we were able to return to the public celebration of Mass after the long period of quarantine. With a spirit of profound gratitude for all who made it possible for us to be here today, we pray for our beloved war dead, and pray that we may, like them, hunger and thirst and work for justice and peace, for the spread of God’s kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Let us pray to our Heavenly Father, confident that He is generous to those who call upon Him with faith.

That Our Lady’s example of generous charity may inspire us to engage more fervently in the works of mercy and the preaching of the Gospel. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our President and all elected government representatives, may the Holy Spirit grant them wisdom and guide them to promote authentic and lasting peace in the world, an end to terrorism, respect for religious freedom, and a greater reverence for the sanctity of Human Life. Let us pray to the Lord.

On this Memorial Day, we pray that our nation may live with ever-greater gratitude for the sacrifice of those who fought and died for our freedom. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the protection of all those who serve in our nation’s military, and for all wounded servicemen and women, for all those widowed and orphaned because of war. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for N… Let us 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.

Trinity Sunday 2021 - Mysterious Love

 

We have come again to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  I don’t know who dreads this Sunday more, the priests who have to attempt to explain this most mysterious of all Catholic Dogmas in a short homily, or the people, who have to listen to it.  

I think many priests on Trinity Sunday, like Saint Patrick depicted in our stained glass window with the three-leaf clover, try to explain the nature of the Trinity with some analogy: the trinity is like three burning candles twisted together to have one flame, or like a three-stranded piece of rope.  Or the Trinity is like an egg, and the three persons are like the egg shell, an egg white and an egg yolk.  Some have said the Trinity is like Water which can come in three modes: ice, liquid, or steam, or a tree that has branches, leaves, and roots.

The problem with each of these analogies is that they are ultimately wrong, yes, even Saint Patrick’s use of the three-leaf clover.  To say that the Trinity is like some created thing will never fully explain the Trinity.  The three divine persons of the One Supreme Godhead –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not three modes of God, three parts, three divisions, or three different masks that God wears. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three separate entities, like three separate Gods. In a sense, it’s easier to say what the Trinity is not, than what the Trinity is.

In the end, all analogies fail. God is greater than our human comprehension. And I think that’s one of the reasons we celebrate Trinity Sunday: to acknowledge that God is greater than my human comprehension, and I’m okay with it. 

Saint Augustine, who is one of the most profound reflectors on the Trinity said, “Si comprehendis, non est Deus” which means, “If you understand, it’s not God.”  The minute you say, yes, I got it now: that’s not God, says Augustine.  The Trinity is greater than human understanding. 

And that’s a wonderful thing. God is bigger than us. He’s greater than us. He resists being limited by our human categories and prejudices. 

We all know the famous story of the Israelites, after crossing the red sea, they come to mt. sinai. And they fashion for themselves an idol to worship. A hunk of metal. Though their action was way off the mark, and yet, it’s somewhat relatable. It’s a perennial temptation to fashion for ourselves gods which are less mysterious, less demanding, gods that we can see and touch and obtain. Why do people worship money and the accumulation of material things? Because they are right there! Why do people make idols out of athletes and politicians? Because they are right there. Listen to them talk—they’re so charming; they tell me what I want to hear. Watch them play—they’re so talented! It makes me happy.

But we are made for so much more than the happiness offered by the false idols of our own making. We're made for the eternal blessedness of communion with the One True God.

So on one hand, God is mysterious—beyond the comprehension of any created intellect. On the other hand, we were created in order to love God.  And an old proverb says, "You cannot love what you do not know."  God’s nature might be ultimately unknowable, but God has revealed something about Himself--He loves us. 

Catholics don’t believe in some generic faceless nameless divinity like the unitarians because God is not generic—He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Catholic don’t worship some uncaring divine force—but a communion of love whose goodness overflows for us. The Father has a plan for his creation, His Son is sent to enact that plan: to suffer and die for it, the Holy Spirit enflames our hearts and incorporates us into that plan.

While mysterious, the Holy Trinity desires that we seek to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life, that we may be happy with Him in the next. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, the Lord tells us. Okay. How?

Just as you get to know someone by spending time with them and doing work with them, so too, we come to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spending time with them in prayer, by reading what the Scriptures reveal about Them, what the great Church Fathers have written about them, and by spending time in their service.

Why do a growing number of people in this country claim to have no relationship with God? Because they do none of these things. Instead of prayer, they seek the superficial status of social media. Instead of reading the Scriptures, they turn their minds to the perverse entertainments of our day. Instead of engaging in the holy works of mercy, they seek to build up for themselves treasures on earth.

Many people today blame God for their troubles, instead of recognizing God’s desires to help them in their troubles. They say, there is evil in the world, there is evil in my life, therefore God does not exist. In this case, they’ve fashioned such a small, impotent God. Rather, Catholics know, that God is doing something about the evil in the world, he has done something about the evil in the world. The Father has sent the Son to conquer evil and sin and death. And he is victorious. And we can share in that victory by belief in Him, by handing our lives over to Him, by bearing our crosses in union with Him, with the sure and certain Hope, that discipleship leads to resurrection and eternal life.

The Holy Trinity is mysterious, but as we encounter Him in our liturgical worship in our daily prayer, and in our charitable service, we begin to know with our minds and fix in our hearts that the Lord is God. 

In the celebration of Mass, particularly, the Holy Trinity is acting now in history: Father, Son, and Spirit, breathing new life into the Church, nourishing us with the Eucharist, enkindling our hearts for the work of the Gospel. As we continue this sacred celebration and as you go forth from here into the world, let us open our minds, hearts, and souls to the goodness and providence of the Trinity. Let us trust Him, and seek to know Him ever more intimately, and serve Him always and everywhere for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

8th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Friday - Fig Tree, Faith and Forgiveness

 One of the unfortunate decisions of the liturgical reform after Vatican II was what happened to this week after Pentecost. For hundreds of years, this week was celebrated with great solemnity as the Pentecost Octave. The Veni Sancte Spiritus, the Pentecost Sequence would be sung, calling down the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Pentecost Week was also one of the four sets of ember days, corresponding to the changing of the seasons.

Now, after Vatican II, we just kind of starkly find ourselves in the middle of Ordinary Time with no real reference to Pentecost Sunday. Our scripture readings simply resume from where we left off all the way back in February prior to the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

So if you remember, all the way back then, we were reading sequentially from the Gospel of Mark and we were pretty deep into the Lord’s public ministry. In fact, we’ll be concluding Mark’s Gospel within the next two weeks.

Today’s Gospel takes place on Monday of Holy Week. The day prior, of course, the Lord had entered triumphantly through the gates of Jerusalem. And that night, he had made the short trip back to Bethany, where he stayed in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

St. Mark then presents us with these three vignettes from Holy Monday.  First, as he was leaving Bethany the Lord curses this fig tree.  Next, he chases the money changers out of the temple.  Finally, returning to Bethany he gives his disciples a beautiful, yet challenging teaching on authentic faith using the example of the now-withered Fig Tree.  What is going on here on Holy Monday?

The Lord uses this cursed-withered Fig Tree as a metaphor for the state of religious life for the people of Israel. The religious leaders and the people had allowed rot and corruption to enter God’s holy Temple. What was meant to be a place of blessing and worship had become a place of corruption and rotten fruit.

The powers of spiritual rot and corruption are always trying to worm their way into the Church and into their lives. So the Lord teaches his disciples that they must be people of forgiveness and prayer. Their hearts must be rooted in his teaching, in his Gospel, in deep and radical faith. 

We can sense spiritual corruption worming around in our lives wherever there is a failure to forgive from our heart, wherever there is coldness toward the importance of prayer, wherever trust in God’s mighty power grows cold. 

This is a wonderful teaching as we begin, once again the season of Ordinary Time. That in the ordinary course of our lives we need to practice authentic forgiveness, vibrant prayer, and radical faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

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.

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

May 25 2021 - St. Bede the Venerable - Gifts in God's service

 The Church honors three of her Saints today: St. Bede the Venerable, St. Gregory VII, and St. Magdalene de Pazzi.  Two of them, the Venerable Bede, and Pope Saint Gregory were Benedictine Monks.

St. Bede was born in 672 and at the early age of seven began monastic training at the Benedictine monastery in Wearmouth, England.  Talk about someone who gave up mother, father, house, and lands, for the sake of the Gospel!

After completing his schooling complete, he moved to the monastery at Jarrow, England, where he spend the remainder of his life. He spent his whole life in that monastery dedicating himself to the study of Sacred Scripture and the Early Church Fathers.  He was a philosopher, writer, poet and theologian and was considered one of the most learned men of his time.

He was the author of 45 volumes of books on history, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, poetry, grammar, homiletics, philosophy, and Scripture. He is called "the father of English historiography" for authoring the book "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People," and is the creator of the B.C. / A.D. calendar. So it’s no surprise that St. Bede is Patron Saint of scholars and historians and he is the only English Doctor of the Church. 

Though Saint Bede lived in a monastery from the age of 7, his impact on the Church cannot be measured, as his writing, and his thought, and approach to the interpretation of scripture and history is so woven into the life of the church. He is known as Bede the Venerable. Venerable Bede. 

He, too, is a reminder, that a saint is someone who puts their God-given talents and abilities in service to the Gospel. For Bede, his gift was scholarship, writing, and facility with scripture. Yet, each of us have a similar call, to “go out and make disciples” using whatever means we’ve been given. 

For Bede, it was his writing, for the other two saints honored by the Church today, St. Gregory and Magdalene de Pazzi, they poured out the gifts they had been given. Pope St. Gregory, of course, his administrative genius and his labors for the reform of the Clergy, and St. Magdalene de Pazzi, her gift of mystical prayer. But each of us have been given gifts for God’s service. May we imitate the saints great and heroic efforts in putting those gifts in service of the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Through the intercession of St. Bede, there may be a flourishing of intellectual gifts in the Church, and that we may learn the lessons of history, as to not repeat its mistakes.

For an increase in vocations to the religious life, especially among the Benedictine Order, and that consecrate men and women may, through their poverty, chastity, and obedience, draw souls to the love of Christ.

That during this season of Ordinary Time, Christians may imitate the virtues of the saints in the ordinary duties of our lives.

For our young people coming to an end of another school year, that over summer vacation they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

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

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

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

Whit Monday 2021 (EF) - St. Peter in Chains

We celebrate the second day of the Pentecost Octave, called in some places Whit Monday—named after the white garments of the newly baptized. Like the Easter Octave, the Pentecost Octave is aimed at welcoming and praying for the newly baptized, and in earlier days, the newly initiated would wear their new white baptismal garments throughout this Octave as well.

In Rome, the newly baptized would visit a different station church each day of this Octave, and they would receive post-baptismal lessons. The Roman station Church today is the Church of St. Peter in Chains, which I remember visiting a number of years ago. 

Walking into that Church, one almost forgets you are there to pay homage to the chains that held the apostle Peter while he was imprisoned in Jerusalem, because right near the entrance is  Michelangelo’s breathtaking statue of Moses—carved from a single massive block of marble. Moses is the gargantuan figure, with rippling muscles,  grasping the tablet of the law, almost holding back from the righteous reaction of seeing the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf. 

But then the visitor to St. Peter in Chains makes their way, finally, to the reliquary of the chains. St. Peter was imprisoned by those very chains not long after his speech in today’s epistle from the Acts of the Apostles. Imagine, being newly baptized and contemplating those chains. Peter stood in the streets of Jerusalem, and filled with the Holy Spirit, preached the Gospel, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. But those chains—the chains of man—failed at stopping the Gospel from being preached.

The newly baptized were basically being told: this is your destiny too. You now have a share in the mission of the Gospel, you too, now have the holy spirit filling your soul, you too are being charged with preaching the gospel fearlessly, and like Peter, you too may be arrested and imprisoned, but fear not, the chains of man cannot really hold you, the chains of man cannot stop the mission of the Church.

What shall we preach? The newly baptized might think to themselves. Preach the words of today’s Gospel, just like Peter, just like Christians have done for two thousand years: “God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting”

Though we are not newly baptized, we contemplate the feebleness of those earthly chains compared to the power of the Holy Spirit, which impels us into the world, to preach the saving Gospel of God’s love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Monday after Pentecost 2021 - Mary, Mother of the Church

 The title “Mother of the Church” is not new. St. Ambrose, great Bishop of Milan who was instrumental in the conversion of St. Augustine called Mary, Mater Ecclesiae, “Mother of the Church.” 

Fifteen centuries later, the title was still in use when Pope Leo XIII wrote a beautiful document on Our Lady, titled Adjiutricem Populi, Helper of the people in which he invokes our Lady under this title.

 “The mightiest helper of the Christian people,” Pope Leo writes, “and the most merciful, is the Virgin Mother of God. How fitting it is to accord her honors ever increasing in splendor, and call upon her aid with a confidence daily growing more ardent. The abundant blessings, infinitely varied and constantly multiplying, which flow from her all over the whole world for the common benefit of mankind, add fresh motives for invoking and honoring her…She is invoked as Mother of the Church and the teacher and Queen of the Apostles".

So too, As the third session of the Second Vatican Council closed on November 21st, 1964, Pope Paul VI declared: "We declare Mary Most Holy Mother of the Church, that is, of all the Christian people"  writing elsewhere, “We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.”

Just in 2018, Holy Father Pope Francis instituted a new liturgical feast to be celebrated universally the Monday after Pentecost, in honor of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Church. 

The day after we celebrate, the birthday of the Church, so to speak on Pentecost, we celebrate our Mother, who was present, praying for the apostles, as the Holy Spirit descended upon them.

As our Lady was instrumental in the Apostles receiving the new life of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, she is instrumental in all of our lives, praying that we may open our hearts, minds, souls, and lives to the life-giving Spirit of God. She prays that the Spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and good counsel, and fear of the Lord will flourish in us. She prays that we may bear the Spiritual Fruits of patience, courage, and joy.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Our Mother, prays constantly for us. As the Apostles devoted themselves to praying with Our Lady, their Mother, Our Mother, in the upper room, may we too, be devoted to prayer with her—prayer for openness to the full life of God’s Spirit—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, we recommend ourselves and the entire Body of Christ.

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Mary, Mother of the Church: Guide and assist our Holy Father and our Bishops in their apostolic mission, and aid all who help them in their work.

Mary, Mother of the Church: Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope and love! You were given to us as a mother by your Divine Son at the moment of his redeeming death.

Mary, Mother of the Church: Remember us your children, support our prayers to God. Preserve our Faith, strengthen our Hope, increase our Charity.

Mary, Mother of the Church and Immaculate Heart: Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today.

Mary, Mother of the Church: From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, and from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, deliver us.

Mary, Mother of the Church: From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to stifle the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Mary, Mother of the Church: That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting; for our deceased family members, friends, and fellow parishioners, for all the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

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.

Pentecost 2021 - Wind and Flame

Today is the great Feast of Pentecost, the feast that ranks with Christmas and Easter as the greatest of the Church Year.  It is the Feast of the Holy Spirit who enlivens and animates the Church.

Listen again to the account of the first Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago from the Acts of the Apostles.

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Wind and fire are two symbols associated with the Holy Spirit, and they tell us a lot about how the Holy Spirit wishes acts in the Church and in our lives.

First, Wind is powerful. I’ve seen wind knock over trucks. Acts describes the Holy Spirit as a strong driving wind. Tornado winds can devastate villages and cities, and uproot trees, yet it can also turn gigantic turbines to produce power, and propel sailing ships across the sea. The Holy Spirit, propels the Church and grants her power and uproots the vices of her members.

Also, there is something unpredictable about the wind.  You don’t know quite where it comes from or when it will blow. Jesus himself in John’s Gospel says, The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”

That says something about the Holy Spirit, there is something elusive, unpredictable, and wonderfully so, about Him. He is unpredictable, a good of surprises. He surprises us with holy joyful moments and encounters and moments of prayer.

And yet, this also makes Him a little daunting. It’s daunting to surrender to something you can’t control. God might upset our applecart, and that’s scary. But he leads us sometimes where we do not want to go, in order to bring about his kingdom. Yes, it’s scary to surrender to God.  He might ask me to confront my prejudices, kneel down to the level of a homeless beggar, he might ask me to become a priest or a religious sister, speak hard truths to obstinate sinners. He might blow us out of our comfort zones. No doubt, as we return to Church after the long pandemic, he is blowing us into the lives of family and friends, to invite them back to the Sacraments—to remind the fallen-away of goodness and love of God waiting for them here.

On Pentecost, the Church is invited to unfurl her sails once again, to allow the Holy Spirit to propel her into the world for the mission of the Gospel, to uproot our vices, to blow away the dust that has settled through inactivity. 

Wind, fresh air, is needed continually for life itself.  If your faith life or prayer life feels stifled, strangled, or stagnate, make a novena to the Holy Spirit to breathe new life, new enthusiasm, new joy into your soul. 

The other great symbol of the Holy Spirit is Fire.  Fire, can be devastating and destructive.  Yet, it can also be cleansing.  The Holy Spirit is like a cleansing Fire.  

God wants to burn away the attitudes and behaviors which are inconsistent with the life of grace.  God wants to burn away our selfishness, so that not an ounce remains, God wants to burn away our envy, our resentments, our lusts.  If you are struggling with a particular temptation or sin, pray “Come Holy Spirit” burn this temptation away, burn this addiction away.

Fire brings purity. It also brings light. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Those purified by the fire of the Spirit will have the light they need to see God. They will understand more deeply the things of God.  Do you want to come to a deeper understand of the Scriptures, of the Faith. Ask the Holy Spirit. Do you want to understand how to love your unlovable neighbors?  Ask Him! Do you want to understand God’s Will for your life, your vocation in life?  Ask Him!  

Fire also brings warmth of course. In those moments when we are experiencing the coldness, loneliness, isolation, grief. The Holy Spirit will help us to know the closeness and love of God, and the closeness and love of his angels and saints. We also do well of course, to intercede for others experiencing life’s coldness, and to recall our vocation to bring the warmth of God’s love to them, if we can.

Finally, fire symbolizes the passion and courage God wants us to have for the spreading of the Gospel.  After Jesus’ crucifixion, the Apostles hid in the upper room behind locked doors.  Jesus had sent them outwards, out into the world, but they hid.  They were more like Apostates, than Apostles.  But when the Holy Spirit descended upon them with tongues of flame, they burst through the locked doors, into the busiest part of town and courageously proclaimed Jesus risen from the dead.  3000 people converted on the spot.

We need this sort of courage! In an era where our modern culture wants Christians to privatize their faith, to hide behind locked doors and keep our faith to ourselves—we need Christians on fire. 

That is precisely our prayer for our four dear ones who will be confirmed this weekend—that they may filled with fire and wind—filled with the Spirit. Their Confirmation is a reminder to all of us, to dispose our souls, to open our minds, our wills, our hearts to the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit. 

May the Holy Spirit—wind and flame—sanctify us, comfort us, enflame us, uproot our vices and protect us.  Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come Holy Spirit, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

7th Week of Easter 2021 - Friday - "Do you love me?"

 On these last two weekdays of Easter, our Gospel passage comes from the epilogue and the very last chapter of John’s Gospel.  As I mentioned recently, Saint John’s Gospel has often been called, “the Gospel of Love.”  It should be no surprise that the final story of the final chapter of his Gospel is a conversation about love.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asks. For Peter and the Popes that would succeed him the last two thousand years, loving Jesus would require a very specific, unique ministry within the Church. Peter and the Popes are tasked with feeding the flock: leading, shepherding, governing, teaching the flock of Christ, the Church. Peter’s exercise of love for the Church would be modeled after Jesus’ own love for the Church—the love of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. 

“Do you love me” required specific activity for Peter. In fact, the Lord even prophesied that when Peter grows old, he too will stretch out his hands. Peter’s love for the flock would lead him stretching out his hands as he was martyred by crucifixion in AD 65.

“Do you love me, Peter?” Peter answered that question in his pouring out his life in service, willingly embracing the cross. And just as the Lord asked Peter that question, he asks it to each of us. “Do you love me?”

That question isn’t answered with a simple yes or no. That question is answered in the decisions we make today. It is answered in our faithfulness to our respective vocations as priest, spouses and parents, religious, single. It is answered in how we treat people, the time we offer them, the works of charity in which we engage in our community—feeding the hungry and instructing the ignorant—. It’s answered in our fervor in prayer, our willingness to do penance, our embrace of suffering for the good of others.

For we like Peter are called to lay down our lives in imitation of the love of the Good Shepherd for the good of the Church, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Let us pray to our Heavenly Father, confident that He is generous to those who call upon Him with faith.

For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend—that they may open their hearts to the gifts God has in store for them. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our President and all elected government representatives, may the Holy Spirit grant them wisdom and guide them to promote domestic tranquility, national unity, respect for religious freedom, and a greater reverence for the sanctity of Human Life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Like the apostles gathered with Our Lady in the Cenacle, may the Church grow in Marian devotion this month, especially in devotion to the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for …for whom this mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

Gracious Father, hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church, grant us your grace and lead us to the glory of your kingdom, through Christ Our Lord.

7th Week of Easter - Wednesday - Consecrated in the Truth

Yesterday, our Gospel contained the opening verses of chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel. Having already washed the feet of his disciples and sharing the last supper with his disciples, teaching them by word and example how they are to practice love and self-sacrifice in carrying out the mission of the Gospel, the Lord turns to his father and prays.

As we heard yesterday, he prays that he may glorify his Father, that the glory of God might be made known through Him, through his suffering, his passion, and death. Consider that for another moment. Jesus prayed, that in the obedient embrace of the cross, His Father’s goodness, and power, and love for the world might be known. 

The Lord then offered a second petition: he offered a simple prayer for his disciples. He prayed for the ones that look to Him as the Way, the truth, and the life. That they might be faithful.

Today’s gospel contains the third petition of that High Priestly Prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper. The Lord prays for the consecration of his disciples. The Lord uses a wonderful word in the Greek: “hagiazo”, to sanctify, to consecrate, to make holy, to set aside as being holy.

The Lord is clear that he will no longer be in the world, but we will, and he will have to face its hatred in the form of persecutions, hostility, and temptation. And while we are in the world, the Lord prays that we do not become like the world, filled with error, perversion, hatred of truth, and selfishness. Rather he prays that while we are in the world we may be filled with holiness, we may be set apart as holy, by being filled with the Truth and Life of God.

In the world, he says, will face the hostility of the evil one, the son of destruction, the antichrist. But we mustn’t fear, as divine protection comes to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit, by remaining in the Truth of Jesus Christ. 

The language of consecration is also characteristic of liturgy and priesthood. Just as the Levitical priests, the sacred vessels and furnishings were consecrated, literally, taken out of ordinary use and put into the service of divine worship, so to are we. Christian disciples are taken out of the ordinary—the worldly--, and placed into the supernatural—the divine. 

Being a Christian is anything but ordinary—it is the consecrated life. May we be faithful to this great dignity. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -  

Let us pray to our Heavenly Father, confident that He is generous to those who call upon Him with faith.

For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend—that they may open their hearts to the gifts God has in store for them. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our President and all elected government representatives, may the Holy Spirit grant them wisdom and guide them to promote domestic tranquility, national unity, respect for religious freedom, and a greater reverence for the sanctity of Human Life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Like the apostles gathered with Our Lady in the Cenacle, may the Church grow in Marian devotion this month, especially in devotion to the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for …for whom this mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

Gracious Father, hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church, grant us your grace and lead us to the glory of your kingdom, through Christ Our Lord.

7th Week of Easter 2021 - Tuesday - Self-Donation and Heavenly Glory

 At this point in the Easter season, you’ve heard me say a time or two that Chapters 14-17 of the Gospel of John comprise the Lord’s Farewell Discourse—his instruction to the apostles on the night before he was to be crucified, given at the Last Supper. 

Today we begin the final chapter of the Farewell Discourse, where Jesus turns from addressing his disciples to addressing his Father. Chapter 17 consists of a prayer.

And within this prayer you will find five specific petitions. Today’s Gospel contains the first two: First there is a petition for glory—that as the Father has been glorified through the Lord’s earthly ministry, that glory may reach a culmination as the mission of Jesus is completed upon the cross. The Second petition is a prayer for his disciples—the Lord lifts up his disciples to the Father as a way of uniting them to himself.

In this prayer, Jesus opens a window into his relationship with the Father, and we see that it is marked by complete selflessness. His only desire is to glorify his Father and do his Father’s will. Everything that the Father has given to the Son, the Son, in turn gives back to the Father. It is in this total giving of self that we come to some understanding of that mysterious statement that “God is love”.

And that the Lord prays for his disciples in the very next breath after praying to do his Father’s will is also profound. He prays that God may be glorified through Jesus’ loving self-donation, and then he prays for us, that we may come to share in that very same glory by remaining united with the Son by imitating his self-donation, his self-sacrifice.

The Christian life consists of imitating the Love Jesus has for his Father, love that is manifested in self-sacrifice.

This section of John’s Gospel is perhaps the most theologically dense, but that is because it is so theologically rich. We begin to pear into the very mysterious heart of God, and begin to see how Jesus’ own love for his Father is intertwined with his love for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that we may believe in Him and have eternal life” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

Let us pray to our Heavenly Father, confident that He is generous to those who call upon Him with faith.

For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend—that they may open their hearts to the gifts God has in store for them. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our President and all elected government representatives, may the Holy Spirit grant them wisdom and guide them to promote domestic tranquility, national unity, respect for religious freedom, and a greater reverence for the sanctity of Human Life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Like the apostles gathered with Our Lady in the Cenacle, may the Church grow in Marian devotion this month, especially in devotion to the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for …for whom this mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

Gracious Father, hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church, grant us your grace and lead us to the glory of your kingdom, through Christ Our Lord.

7th Week of Easter 2021 - Monday - Did you receive the Holy Spirit?

For a few weeks, I’ve been preparing a number of our young people for the Sacrament of Confirmation, which we’ll celebrate Sunday at the 11am Mass. And I’ve been encouraging our youth to ensure they are praying every day with their Confirmation in mind—praying to be strengthened in the gifts of the holy spirit and the fruits of the holy spirit. I asked them to examine their lives and ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify the Spiritual Gifts that he wants them to grow in: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, fear of the Lord. And to examine their lives and identify the fruits of the Spirit that seem to be lacking: patience, joy, fortitude. And after considering what is lacking, to pray that as they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation they may be strengthened in these gifts.

During his third and final missionary journey, Paul visited Ephesus.  And there he found a group of believers who seemed to be missing something.  He pinpointed the problem by asking, “Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?”  They gave the surprising answer that they had never even heard that there is a holy Spirit.  They had never received the Christian Sacrament of Baptism, and therefore they had never received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  

What caused Paul to ask them if they had heard of the Holy Spirit?  Though they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, likely, what was missing was the sort of activity that should mark a Spirit-filled group of full-fledged Christians.  Remember, by this time, Paul had visited and established many communities.  He would have seen the gifts of the Spirit at work, with his own eyes: prophesying, speaking in tongues, healings, mighty exhortations, Christians teaching the faith, speaking words of knowledge and understanding.

So immediately Paul baptized them and laid hands on them, and the outward signs of the Spirit began to manifest: speaking in tongues and prophecy.  These are among the many charismatic gifts of the spirit listed by Paul in his letters.

If Paul were to visit a typical Catholic parish today, he’d find in most places the Holy Spirit at work: he’d see the gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fear of the Lord; he’d see the fruits, patience, joy. He’d see the charismatic signs: those with the gift of encouragement—strengthening those with wavering faith, he’d see those with the gift of teaching, passing on the faith and correcting error, he’d see those with the gift of mercy assisting the suffering.

As we prepare for Pentecost this Sunday, we’d do well, like our confirmandi, to pray for an increase in the spiritual gifts, the fruits of the spirit, the charismatic gifts, in our own lives, and in the life of our parish, that Church may continuously be built-up, and faithful in her mission of being sent out to preach the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -  

Let us pray to our Heavenly Father, confident that He is generous to those who call upon Him with faith.

For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend—that they may open their hearts to the gifts God has in store for them. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our President and all elected government representatives, may the Holy Spirit grant them wisdom and guide them to promote domestic tranquility, national unity, respect for religious freedom, and a greater reverence for the sanctity of Human Life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Like the apostles gathered with Our Lady in the Cenacle, may the Church grow in Marian devotion this month, especially in devotion to the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for …for whom this mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

Gracious Father, hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church, grant us your grace and lead us to the glory of your kingdom, through Christ Our Lord.

 

Sunday after the Ascension (EF) 2021 - "Have constant mutual charity among yourselves"

This Sunday between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost Sunday leads us to consider the experience of the Apostles during that period of prayer and preparation 2000 years ago. The Introit sang those beautiful words of longing from Psalm 26, “Hear, O Lord, my voice calling to you…I seek your Face, O Lord, do not hide your face from me” This Psalm perhaps puts into words the ineffable sentiments of the Apostles, gazing toward heaven, filled with longing for the Lord to return—hoping to see him once again, face to face.

As long as our earthly pilgrimage lasts, we share their sentiment—our hearts yearn to see God face to face. But, we must not remain idle while we await the end of our pilgrimage. In the Epistle, St. Peter teaches us what we must do to make our life on earth a real preparation to meet God: “Watch in prayers. But before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves.”

This is exactly what the Apostles did as they waited for the Holy Spirit: together in the Cenacle they persevered in prayer in the unity of fraternal love. 

Last week, I spoke of the importance of prayer, daily prayer, gathering for prayer with fellow Christians, offering petitions for the needs of the world and the needs of the Church. Praying with Our Lady, like the Apostles did in preparation of Pentecost.

Consider, this week that second instruction of St. Peter: “have constant mutual charity among yourselves.” Mutual Charity. Mutual Charity is to be one of the hallmarks of the Church. Charity toward each other, toward your fellow Christian. Charity that treats fellow Christians and true brothers and sisters in the Lord. They will know we are Christian by our Love, says the old spiritual. 

Charity of course is not just a feeling. When Peter says, have mutual charity, he’s using that word in the same sense as St. Paul when Paul writes says, “charity is patient, it is kind, it bears all things, forgives all things” Charity requires being patient when we want to be impatient, being kind when we want to be selfish, enduring and persevering when we want to give up, being humble when we want to be pompous, forgiving when we want to brood over injury.  

Is there a fellow Christian that just rubs you the wrong we, we not to take utmost care to practice Charity toward them. That might just mean keeping our lips shut when we are around them, but it might mean, going to them in private and seeking to make peace with them. Correct in private, praise in public. It certainly also means remaining vigilant against feelings of resentment and bitterness—backstabbing or ruining their good name behind their backs.

Rather, we are to be encouraging one another in good works, again not standing around idle, the Lord wants us at work, engaging in the works of charity, helping each other cultivate virtue, practicing kindness and forgiveness.

St. Paul goes so far to say that if you go throughout life without Christ-like love, then you are like a resounding gong, a clashing cymbal; in other words, you are just going through life making a bunch of noise.  The world is noisy enough, we shouldn’t be adding to the problems of the world by failing to love each other as we’re supposed to. It’s even kind of scandalous when Christians fail to love one another.

Rather, charity, St. Peter says today, covers a multitude of sins. In other words, practicing true Christian charity makes up for so many of our faults and shortcomings and selfish behavior. This coincides with the Lord’s own teaching that those who practice mercy, will be shown mercy by God.

In the Gospel, the Lord reiterates His promise concerning the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s promise of the Paraclete must have resonated with the Apostles prayerfully preparing for Pentecost. 

At morning Mass next week, I will be administering the sacrament of Confirmation to a number of our youth. I’ve been encouraging them to prayerfully prepare for Pentecost as well. I’ve encouraged them to examine their lives and consider which of the Spiritual Gifts they think they need to grow in: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, fear of the Lord? Which of the fruits of the Spirit do they see lacking in their life: patience, joy, fortitude? And after considering what is lacking, pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in these things. 

Today, the Lord particularly speaks of how the Spirit will grant courage to the Church to testify to the Gospel, something all of us need to be strengthened in. As we pray together and for one another, as we practice mutual charity toward one another, they are emboldened by the Holy Spirit to do quite amazing things—even to become martyrs for the faith.

As we await the feast of Pentecost, may we make our lives and our families fertile ground for the Holy Spirit who gives us courage to witness to the Saving Gospel of Christ—through prayer and mutual charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Ascension 2021 - The American Dream and Heaven + Information regarding Mass Obligation

 

One of the great American films is the sports drama starring Sylvester Stallone as a small time club fighter who gets a shot at the world heavyweight boxing championship.  Of course, I’m talking about the film Rocky.  It’s the classic rags to riches American dream story.  Rocky starts out boxing in these seedy, sleazy clubs; he’s constantly mocked and told he’s nothing but a “bum” even by his trainer Mickey.  

But then he gets a chance.  The Heavyweight champion of the world Apollo Creed chooses Rocky as his opponent in an upcoming title fight.  Here is Rocky’s chance to prove that he’s not worthless.  With encouragement from his girlfriend, Adrian, and Rocky trains and trains for the big boxing match.  

Rocky is a classic example of the American Dream.  The poor, mocked, and ridiculed can achieve a better, richer, happier life, through hard work, personal sacrifice, dedication, and perseverance.  Through physical training we can become great athletes; through intellectual study we can become great scientists, through practice we can become great artists.  

In the Christian life, too, becoming saints, becoming the people God made us to be requires hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance.  Yet, on this Feast of the Ascension we reflect upon a very humbling lesson. 

40 days after his resurrection from the dead, before the eyes of his closest followers, Jesus Christ ascended body and soul in heaven. Where he has gone, we hope to go. For though the Christian life requires much effort on our part, we do not enter heaven simply by our own efforts.  No amount of physical or intellectual training, no amount of good deeds gains us entrance into heaven.  

It is only through the merits of Jesus Christ, that sinful man has any hope of heaven.  Not even Mary, Holiest of women, conceived without sin, could ascend the steps of heaven on her own.  

Pope Francis reflected on this truth of our faith when he said, Christ opened the path to us. He is like a roped guide climbing a mountain who, on reaching the summit, pulls us up to him and leads us to God.  There’s only so high we can climb on our own. We need God to help us cross the infinite gap between earth and heaven.

One of the famous scenes in the movie Rocky, is during his training, Rocky sprints up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of art. The first time I visited Philadelphia, myself and a group of seminarians sprinted up those steps as well. Not an impossible task. 

The path to heaven, however, is different. It is impassable for man, the mountain road too steep; we need Christ, if we are to have any hope of reaching our heavenly homeland. 

The Feast of the Ascension is so essential, because it reminds us of our complete and utter dependence upon Jesus Christ for heavenly life. Without him we can do nothing. May we be free from all that keeps us from faithfulness, all that keeps us from obeying his teachings and loving Him with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. 

Speaking of Holy Obedience: In the bulletin this week is a copy of a letter written by the Bishops of Ohio. As you know, since the lockdown last year, the Bishops suspended the obligation to attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation, due to concerns for public health. 

Coinciding with CDC recommendations and the lifting of social distancing policies by the governor, the Bishops are reinstituting the Obligation to attend Mass beginning the first weekend in June—the Feast of Corpus Christi. Why have they done this? As leaders and teachers of our faith, the Bishops recognize and teach the indispensable value of attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist. Fully, actively, consciously participating at Holy Mass is an essential dimension  of Catholicism. Just as there is a vast difference between earth and heaven, there is a vast difference between watching Mass on television or the internet and participating at Mass and receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood.

So just to clarify, there was no sin committed in refraining from attending Mass in the last year, but beginning June 6, it becomes a matter of holy obedience to attend Mass. God speaks to us and directs our faith-lives through our Bishops. Missing Mass becomes once again a very serious matter, requiring sacramental reconciliation if we skip Mass before we can have access to the other Sacraments. 

I ask you, dear parishioners, to disseminate this information to the members of your family and friends who haven’t been coming to Mass since the beginning of the pandemic or before. This is a good time for us to remind Catholics who only go to Church once a year or so, that we must attend Mass—our souls depend upon it. “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature,” says the Lord in the Gospel today. We must help the fallen away to return to Mass because, likely, no one else will. For again, we cannot achieve heaven on our own: we need Him. It is here that the Lord is encountered as the mountain guide--giving strength to the weak, teaching us in our ignorance, inspiring us with His Word to persevere in this strenuous effort, feeding us with his body and blood--without which, we do not have life within us.

It is fitting that the obligation to attend Mass will begin on June 6, which is the Feast of the Body and Blood. In celebration, and to honor the place the Eucharist has in our Ecclesial life, we will have a Eucharistic procession around the Church immediately following the 11am Mass that day. The following week, June 13, we will have a parish picnic, here on the church grounds, a nice way to reconnect with each other

A return to Mass, a love for the Eucharist, and cheerful social gatherings will bring great blessings to our parish, and a assist us in fulfilling our Mission of spreading the gospel of Christ in our corner of the world, Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life…for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

May 14 2021 - St. Matthias, apostle - Counterbalancing Evil

Matthias is mentioned only once in the entire New Testament—that short passage in the Acts of the Apostles describing the resplendent hour when he was chosen as an apostle.  

More than forty days had passed since the unforgettable events of Holy Week.  The eleven were no doubt still astonished by all that took place.  The Lord had risen just as he said he would, and over 40 days appeared to them multiple times.  He had just Ascended into heaven and promised that the Holy Spirit would descend upon them.

The eleven discerned that apostolic ranks needed to be replenished after the death of Judas, and as we read Matthias was chosen to take his place. One author said, “the dead branch of Judas had to be broken away from the living vine of Christ, that Matthias might be grafted in its place.  What Judas squandered was now entrusted to Matthias; what Judas should have accomplished was now to be completed by Matthias.”  

In a reflection on these events, Pope Benedict wrote: “[Matthias] was enrolled with the eleven apostles.  We know nothing else about him, if not that he had been a witness to all Jesus’ earthly events, remaining faithful to him to the end.  To the greatness of his fidelity was added the divine call to take the place of Judas, almost compensating for his betrayal.” “We draw from this a final lesson,” writes the Holy Father, “while there is no lack of unworthy and traitorous Christians in the Church, it is up to each of us to counterbalance the evil done by them with our clear witness to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.”  To counterbalance scandal and betrayal by clear witness to Jesus.  

In an age, when we have no lack of Christians who have abandoned the commandments, the clear witness of the faithful is needed.  To counterbalance their apathy, we go strive to bear good fruit.  To counterbalance their idolatry of worldly vices, we fast, do penance, and perform sacrificial works of mercy.

Jesus chose the twelve personally.  But he also chose Matthias through the apostles.  And he has chosen us to be clear witnesses in this twenty-first century of the Church, to be a counter-sign to all the evil in the world—and all the Judas' in the Church--to be a sign of God’s goodness the world so desperately needs.

Through the heavenly intercession of the Apostle Matthias, may we be faithful to this divine call of ours and bear good fruit that will last for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

May we join the Holy Apostles in our prayer for the world and the Church.

As the Apostles witnessed to the Resurrection of the Lord, may we be his witnesses to the farthest corners of the world.

For the bishops, the successors of the apostles: That they may be courageous in stirring up the flame of faith and defending the Church from error.

For all of the sick and suffering, especially victims of natural disaster, poverty, and addiction, may they be comforted and supported by God’s healing love. We pray to the Lord.

For all who long to see the face of the Father, for all 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 Week of Easter 2021 - Wednesday - The Spirit of Truth

 Early in John’s Gospel, Jesus is introduced as the incarnate word of God, filled with grace and truth. “Truth” is an important concept in John’s Gospel, and for Christians. “He who practices the truth comes to the Light”. “The truth will make you free”, the Lord teaches. “I am the way, the Truth, and the life”. “My flesh is true food, my blood is true drink”. Those who believe in jesus will be known by god as true worshippers, who worship in Spirit and Truth.

Today, in anticipation of the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Lord explains “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth.”

“Quid est veritas?” asks Pontius Pilate. What is truth? The Gospel notion is truth is not the same as the accumulation of scientific fact. The sending of the Holy Spirit isn’t so that we can understand quantum physics better or how an air conditioner works.  That’s not to say that Christians should have nothing to do with the world of science.  Science, as we know it grew out of Catholic Europe. Many of the important scientific discoveries were made by Catholics. We can thank the Catholic intellectual tradition for the modern scientific method.

But when the Lord speaks of the truth that “makes you free” he’s not talking about scientific knowledge. Rather, he’s speaking about the truth that frees us from moral, theological, and spiritual evil—the light of truth which frees us from darkness of sin and death.

Ignorance of God and his ways keeps us from the blessedness for which we were created. Moral error keeps us from loving God and loving our neighbor as we should.

About three and a half centuries after the Gospel of John was written, St. Augustine wrote “Victoria Veritatis est caritas”—”the victory of truth is love”. Through Christ, God conquers the darkness of error which debilitates us, which mars the mind and soul of the human person. The weakening of the will—darkening of the intellect through sin—is healed and reversed—when we live the truth of the Gospel.

The Second Vatican Council document, Gaudium et Spes, put it like this: without the knowledge of God, man remains an unsolved puzzle to himself.  Only in light of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light, and it is only Christ by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His Love, that fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear.

A culture that does not know him will become depraved, a government that does not acknowledge Him will always be misguided and devolved into tyranny or anarchy, the soul which does not profess Him as Lord will be lost.

And how many of our family, and coworkers, and countrymen do not know Christ, do not know him really.  The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth—is sent down upon us, that we may make Christ known. That through us the Spirit of Truth will guide men to all truth—the Truth of Christ—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit among all Christians, and that the Spirit of Truth may be enkindled in all those who do not believe, the lukewarm, and those who have fallen away from the Church. 

That during this month of May, Christians may turn to Mary, Mother of the Church, seeking her aid and imploring her intercession with increased and fervent devotion, especially by praying the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the suffering, those in nursing homes, hospitals, and hospice care, for the underemployed and unemployed, for the imprisoned, those with addictions, for those undergoing surgery, those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, that the Spirit of Consolation may comfort them.

For the deceased members of our families, friends and parish, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all those who fought and died for our freedom.

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

6th Week of Easter 2021 - Tuesday - The Paraclete Convicts!

 As we near the end of the Easter season and the growing closeness of the Feasts of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost, the Lord’s teachings in the daily Gospels speak more and more about his going to the Father and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

He must go, he explains, that the Holy Spirit may descend and usher in the final age—the end chapter in God’s Saving Plan in which the world will become convicted of the Gospel. 

The Lord uses a fascinating title for the Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. The Lord calls him, in Greek, the parakletos, the paraclete—a word having legal connotations, sometimes even translated as Counselor or Advocate, titles given to lawyers. One the Paraclete comes, he will act as a sort of defense attorney, to prove the case for Jesus Christ. The Paraclete will defend Christ’s claim to be God, to be the Messiah, to be the Savior. And this legal case will take place on the world stage over the course of the remainder of human history. And the evidence with which the Spirit will use to prove Christ’s case, is us, the Church.

You want to proof that Jesus Christ is truly God and Lord? Look at the evidence produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. Look at the courage of the martyrs; look at the saints he has produced, look at their miracles, their righteousness. Look at the unity he has brought among the disparate people of the world who accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the patience and joy and understanding and knowledge he gives to ordinary people who pray.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, helps us convince—to convict—the world about the error of sin, and the travesty of not believing and following Jesus. He helps us  prove to the world that God is real and Jesus is worth following. He helps us learn our faith, that we may teach it and preach it with clarity and conviction. And arranges opportunities for us to share the faith with those who yearn for truth and righteousness.  

Over half a million adults became Catholic at Easter this year. The Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Church, through the faithfulness of Catholics like ourselves, drew them, guided them to the truth of Christ. 

May we continue to cooperate with the Spirit’s work to convict the world, giving evidence to the truths of our faith by the integrity of our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -  

For an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit among all Christians, and that the Spirit of Faith may be enkindled in all those who do not believe, the lukewarm, and those who have fallen away from the Church. 

That during this month of May, Christians may turn to Mary, Mother of the Church, seeking her aid and imploring her intercession with increased and fervent devotion, especially by praying the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the suffering, those in nursing homes, hospitals, and hospice care, for the underemployed and unemployed, for the imprisoned, those with addictions, for those undergoing surgery, those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, that the Spirit of Consolation may comfort them.

For the deceased members of our families, friends and parish, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all those who fought and died for our freedom.

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

May 10 2021 - St. Damien of Molokai - Leper with Lepers

 The Belgian Priest, Fr. Damien of Molokai spent sixteen years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those of the leper colony on the island of Molokai of Hawaii.  He died in 1889 at the age of 49 after contracting leprosy himself.  

St. Damien wrote, “I make myself a leper with lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.”

This sort of total abandonment to service is incomprehensible to the world.  Father Damien was even criticized by fellow Christians for what seemed like carelessness.  And yet, when he himself contracted the disease, he did not flee into misery and shame.  He became a suffering servant, “a leper with lepers”.  During the last four years of his life, after contracting leprosy, Fr. Damien continued to build hospitals and physical, spiritual, and emotional care for the lepers.

Damien also taught the lepers to farm, raise animals, play musical instruments, and sing. Although the lepers were used to being patronized or bullied, Damien spread among them a new cheer and sense of worth. 

In the Homily for St. Damien’s canonization in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to learn from “the luminous example of” the saints, men and women who “did not put themselves at the center but chose to go against the current and live according to the Gospel.”

What does Pope Benedict mean that the saints do not put themselves at the center? For many people, there egos do not allow themselves to even consider humble hidden service. If they are not going to be seen, if they aren’t going to be recognized, if they aren’t going to be rewarded...they are not interested.

The saint rather enters into the world of the forgotten and the outcast, in order to show them, that they are not forgotten by God. The saints become effective instruments of the life and love and power of God because of their willingness to do so in humility, to go wherever they are sent, without excuses. And they do not let the weight of their own cross, in the case of St. Damien, his leprosy, keep them from continuing to serve with abandon. Notice, too, how his leprosy, his cross enable him to draw even closer. 

How might the Lord be calling you to embody this spirit of hidden, humble service to the outcast and forgotten, to become an ever effective instrument of God’s mercy and love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 - - - - - - - 

That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel, and for the success of the Church’s missionary activity. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those in public office: may they govern with wisdom and compassion for the most vulnerable among us—especially unborn children, the elderly, the indigent, and persons with disabilities.  Let us pray to the Lord.

That the isolated and abandoned may know the love of God through the labors of the Church. Let us pray to the Lord.

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

Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.

5th Sunday after Easter 2021 (EF) - "Ask in my name"

 

Like last week, our gospel places us at the table of the Last Supper---listening to the words spoken by Our Lord to his closest friends on the night before he died. Like last Sunday, we hear the Lord speaking of his upcoming Ascension. “I came forth from the Father and into the world…and I am leaving the world to go to the Father”, a fitting Gospel for us to reflect upon, now just four days until the feast of the Lord’s Ascension.

Beginning tomorrow, the Church will observe three days of rogation, days of penance and pleading God’s mercy upon the world. We will have a high mass with the rogation litanies tomorrow evening at 5:30pm. 

The word Rogation comes from the latin verb rogare which means to petition, to beseech. On the rogation days, we petition the Lord to grant mercy and protection. 

Today’s Gospel is a sort of prelude for the rogation days to come, for the Lord addresses this very idea of making prayerful petition to the Father. We even find different forms of that word—rogare—a few times.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you.” 

First the Lord teaches us that it is good and right and holy for us to make petition to the Father. Making frequent and prayerful petition to the Father is an important dimension of the Christian life. 

Daily we should pray for those who are close to us—spouses, children, parents, and siblings. Daily we should pray for church leaders, the pope, the bishops, our pastors. Daily, we should pray for government leaders—that they may govern in accordance with the laws of God and labor for the protection of the vulnerable, especially the unborn. We pray for the sick and suffering, the infirmed, the mentally ill, the addicts, the imprisoned. And we pray for ourselves, for all the graces we need to grow in holiness, remain faithful in times of temptation, to bear the spiritual fruits the Holy Spirit wants to see flourish in us.

Today especially, we pray for our mothers, both living and deceased. Grateful for these women and for the sacrifices they made for us, we petition God to bless all expectant mothers and new mothers, mothers who are tired, stressed, depressed, or grieving, mothers who are underappreciated or who face physical, mental, or emotional disabilities in themselves or their children. 

So, the Lord teaches us to make petition to God. But even many of the pre-Christian religions do that, what sets our Christian petition apart is that we are to make petition, in his name, in the name of Jesus, the name above every other name, the name which means “God saves”. We fulfill this directive by ending our prayers, “per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum”. Literally mentioning his holy name at the end of our prayers. 

But not only that. To pray “in his name” is to trust that by Christ’s infinite merits, all good things, all necessary things, all that is right and just has been obtained. To pray in his name is to pray in the same filial love and trust with which the Lord prayed so many times in his earthly life, particularly from the cross. 

To pray in his name, we remember that his name, Jesus, means “God saves”. His very name guides us to pray for the eternal salvation of our fellow man—to pray for those whose salvation is in jeopardy, those on their death beds in danger of hell, those who are unrepentant, those who are lukewarm or cold toward God.

To make petition in his name is also to acknowledge that we are but unprofitable servants. On one hand, we have no sufficiency in ourselves;  our sufficiency comes from the Crucified. To pray in his name shows humility—a deep sense of our nothingness.

And yet, the Lord also reveals something quite amazing in the Gospel today. Yes, he goes to the Father to intercede for us. But he also reveals this amazing paradox. On one hand, the ascended Lord, at the right hand of his Father, is forever fixed in that act of love in which he died: making perpetually intercession for his own with the Father.

On the other hand, he says, “I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.”

Christians through the adoption we receive through baptism, have new access to the Father through the Son not previously enjoyed by humanity. We become “sons in the son”. We are so incorporated into that Filial relationship, that when our prayers are rooted in faith, hope, and love, they ARE the very prayer of Jesus. Simply profound!

As we enter into the days of holy rogation, we recall with profound gratitude and humility that which has made rogation possible and effective, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

6th Sunday of Easter 2021 - The Greatest Love Story

 Over the last eight weeks we’ve had Laetare Sunday, Palm Sunday also called Passion Sunday, Easter Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, and Good Shepherd Sunday. Last week, we might’ve called “Vine and Branches Sunday”.  This week we could call “Love Sunday”.  For, in just the second reading and the Gospel, the word “love” is used 17 times.

Love is at the heart of the Christian faith.  When I am preparing couples for marriage, I ask them a series of questions about themselves and their relationship.  ’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘When long have you dated?’ ‘What kind of interests and activities do you share?’ ‘What values or lessons from your parents do you hope to put into practice in your own marriage?’ ‘What do you want to do differently?”

The toughest question perhaps is a true or false question.  ‘True or false,’ I ask. ‘Love is all you need for a happy marriage.’  Is love all you need for a happy marriage?  Some of them think it is a trick question, and they try looking at my face to see what answer I want.  

Is love all we need, as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison sang?  The answer really depends on our definition of love.  Sometimes we use the word love to mean a lot of things.  We say, I love ice cream, I love classical music, I love summer, I love bacon, I love the Cleveland browns, which is like saying I love suffering and tragedy; but that goes to show you, the word love has many meanings.

Even many of the great love stories in literature are very confused about the notion of love.  I remember back in high school reading Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” great love story.  Yet, really…is that love?  A 3 day teenage romance that caused 6 deaths?  Romeo decided that he loved the 13 year old Juliet before even talking to her, and married her two hours later.  Are raging teenage hormones the same as love?  Is this sort of irrational impulsive selfishness the same as love?

Up until 2009, with the release of the movie Avatar, the top grossing movie in the USA was a love story—the movie “Titanic”, raking in over 650 million dollars, world-wide in brought in 2.1 billion dollars.  Dreamy Leonardo DiCaprio played a poor boy named Jack and Kate Winslet played upper-class Rose.  And in this story, Jack and Rose, coming from two different worlds socially, meet and “fall in love.”  And then the romance turns to tragedy as—spoiler alert –on her maiden voyage the ship hits an iceberg in the northern Atlantic and begins to sink.

This movie was really popular all those years ago back in 1997, especially among girls between the ages of 13-18.  They didn’t just go see the movie one or two times, they went to see it 4, 5, 6, 7 times.  

There was a survey done about why these young girls went to see this movie so many times.  And, you may be surprised…It wasn’t because they really liked boats.  And, It wasn’t because they had the hots for Leonardo DiCaprio—after all he was in a number of films before and after Titanic which didn’t make a quarter of the money.  

So what why was Titanic so successful?  In the end, it was a movie about two unlikely people falling in love, and when the chips were down and the ship is sinking, jack is in the freezing water, and making sure that Rose is safe up on the floating plank, and jack begins to slip, and she is calling out his name, and she’s weeping, and every girl in the theater is weeping, her heart is being torn out, because it is a story about a man who sacrifices his life for his beloved.

After Titanic came out in 1997, Carnival cruise lines had records sales, and their stock went through the roof. All these people saw a movie about a sinking ship in the middle of the atlantic, and their first thought was, I have to go on one of those.  No, they wanted the opportunity to meet someone who would love them as Jack loved Rose.  Willing to drown in freezing water so that the love of his life would live.

In many of the great love stories, we detect echoes, of the greatest love story ever told, and it’s not a movie starring meg ryan or tom hanks. Rather it’s the great story starring you and me and Him. “There is no greater love, than for one to lay down his life for his friend.” The Lord Says. Now love one another as I love you.

Deep down, we are not looking for the impulsive romance of Romeo and Juliet. We aren’t looking for the passionate romance of Rose and Jack or Meg and Tom. Rather, we are made to know and recognize and emulate, the love of Jesus Christ.

Many Christians have not truly considered the depths of his love for us. They see a crucifix as religious decoration. But that crucifix is the blue print for a the fulfillment you are longing for. To know that you are loved that much, and to go out and love others that much. That will change your life.

On this mother’s day weekend, we consider those women who were often the first teachers of what authentic Christ-like love looks like—we consider their self-sacrifice, their dying-to-self which enables new life to flourish. And we are so grateful for them and for their love. 

And yet, at the heart of the Christian faith is a love even greater than the love Mothers have for their children.  “In this way the love of God was revealed to us” St. John wrote, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”  We are loved so immensely by God, that he was willing to leave paradise, become man, and without an ounce of selfishness or impulsivity or irrationality, he died for us that we regain that which was lost by sin. The just one died for the unjust. 

This is not Jack dying for Rose because she’s pretty. Jesus died for us because we’re not. The soul turned away from God in selfishness is an ugly soul. Yet, he died anyway. 

And he then gives us a command: love one another, as I love you. The charity we are to exercise toward others isn’t to be based on their good looks, or their merits, their ability to pay us back. We are to love those who are totally incapable of repaying us. Those who tomorrow might turn around and strike us on the cheek. This is the love Jesus has for us, this is the love we are have for one another…for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Week of Easter 2021 - Friday - "All you need is love"

 When I am preparing couples for marriage, I ask them a series of questions about themselves and their relationship.  ‘Where are you from?’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘When long have you dated?’ ‘What kind of activities do you share?’ ‘Do you think your parents set a good example of how to have a happy marriage?’ ‘What will you do differently?

The toughest question perhaps is a true or false question.  ‘True or false,’ I ask. ‘Love is all you need for a happy marriage.’  Is love all you need for a happy marriage?  Some of them think it is a trick question, and they try looking at my face to see what answer I want.  In a sense, it is a trick wuestion because it depends on the definition of the word “love”

What is love.  Sometimes we use the word love to mean a lot of things.  We say, I love ice cream, I love classical music, I love summer, I love bacon, I love the Cleveland browns.  

But when Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor, he spoke of love in the truest sense.  True love is not just a feeling or emotion that changes.  For my love for ice cream can change if I eat an entire gallon of it.  In fact, Love of money, love of pleasure, love of fame, love of power, can become something very dangerous even deadly to the human soul.  

When Jesus tells us today, ‘love one another’.  He explains what love means: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Love isn’t a feeling, or a craving, it’s an action, it requires effort. Love requires being patient when we want to be impatient, being kind when we want to be selfish, enduring and persevering when we want to give up, being humble when we want to be pompous, forgiving when we want to brood over injury.  

St. Paul goes so far to say that if you go throughout life without this type of Christ-like love, then you are like a clashing cymbal, in other words, you are just going through life making a bunch of noise.  I hope that none of you here are just going through life making a bunch of noise. 

We will grow in holiness and joy and find authentic fulfillment to the extent that we practice true Christ-like love.  And the rest is just a bunch of noise.  

When it is the love of Christ—love IS all you need for a happy marriage, for a happy and holy life, for it is the way that leads to eternal life. Imitating the master, may we practice true love toward all today in patience, gentleness, forbearance, and generous self-giving for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -  

Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For lasting peace throughout the world: Christ, the Prince of Peace will put an end to all enmity and division, and unify the peoples of the world.

For Pope Francis and Bishop Malesic, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd and for an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood, and that our priests may serve the Church with the love and devotion of the Good Shepherd.

That during this month of May, Christians may turn to Mary, Mother of the Church, seeking her aid and imploring her intercession with increased and fervent devotion, especially by praying the Holy Rosary. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness, and that the Lord may grant his gift of peace to those most in need of it.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

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.