31st Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - Strive for Unity

 St. Paul, in his mission to build up the Church, both sought to convert non-believers and also strengthen the faith of those who had already begun to believe.

Scripture contains fourteen letters attributed to St. Paul in which he helps to lead Christians deeper into union with Christ. But each of those letters has its own unique themes and goals. The letter to the Philippians is neither a treatise on systematic theology, like Paul’s epistle to the Romans, nor is it a practical, moral letter answering many specific questions and local problems, like I Corinthians.  Rather, Philippians is a pastoral letter in which Paul expresses his love for the Philippians and shepherds them to a deeper love of Christ and each other.

And he states this pretty clearly in today’s reading, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love”

Through faith and baptism Christians are joined together and joined to God. Unity of divided humanity has been brought about by God through Christ. But…unity also requires work on our part.

The Catechism speaks of this when it says, “Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her (CCC 820).”

We are united to God through Christ. And we are united to each other through Christ so much so that every Christian who has ever lived in any part of the world is called our brother and sister. Our unity is part of Christ’s victory—he died to rejoin what was severed in sin—a loss of unity with God and each other. And that unity heals and restores what was lost. And by our unity, we witness to the world of what God has done for us through Christ.

We have a vocation—to be one—to be united in faith and united in love, as St. Paul explains today. And this requires that we cooperate with the grace of God—through real effort and will on our part. Again, the Catechism lays this out nicely:

Permanent renewal in unity, the catechism says requires constant “conversion of heart” on the part of the faithful, seeking to live holier lives according to the Gospel." It is the unfaithfulness to the Gospel which continues to cause divisions, so we must seek constant conversion.

Unity requires common prayer. The family that prays together stays together, and that’s true for the Church. But also people who are experiencing division also need to pray together, for change in heart, and unity, comes through seeking God’s will in prayer. 

Unity comes through fraternal knowledge of each other. Christians should seek to know each other, share our lives with each other, and our needs and trials with each other. We can’t know everyone perfectly, but people who pray together should share their life stories with each other. Spaghetti dinners and clambakes and parish picnics and nametag/donut Sundays and opening up your homes for small prayer groups serve this purpose. 

There shouldn’t be a single person who comes into this church building for more than a few weeks, who would say, “no one knows me, no one reached to me”. If you see a stranger, please greet them.

Concern for achieving unity "involves the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike” may each of us respond to God’s grace in fulfilling Christ’s Last Supper prayer, that we may be one as he and the Father are one, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Gospel may be for divided humanity the source of unity and peace, and for a healing of sinful divisions within the Church.

That those seeking political office in the upcoming Election will be dedicated to authentic justice, peace, and the good of all.

As the month of October comes to a close, may the rosary of Our Lady be a source of great graces for the Church and for the world. 

For the impoverished and sick and those experiencing any sort of trial: that Jesus the Bread of Life will be their sustenance.

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

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

Priesthood Sunday 2022 - Calling imperfect men

 About 6 or 7 times in my priesthood, I’ve taken my annual retreat at Trinity Retreat Center in Larchmont, New York, about 25 minutes outside of the city. Franciscan Priest Fr. Benedict Groeschel, after his retirement, came to reside there, and I heard him speak on a few occasions, and was edified by his practice wisdom and holiness. But another priest, Fr. Gene Fulton, of the Archdiocese of New York, ran the retreat center. And Fr. Gene had an interesting story: earlier in his priesthood, he had spent time with the Russian mystic, the Baronness Catherine Doherty, at her home for troubled priests up at Madonna House in Ontario. 

Baronness Catherine had a deep love for priests going back to her childhood. She told the story of how, as a young girl growing up in Russia, she and her mother were walking down the street one day and they found their parish priest lying in the gutter drunk. The mother got the priest back to his rectory and returning home the mother spoke to her daughter, “Catherine take the flowers out of the ornate vase on the dining room table and put them in the toilet.” Catherine thought her mother’s command to be strange, but she did it. She took the flowers and put them in the toilet.

And then her mother asked her, “Catherine, are the flowers any less beautiful in the toilet than they were in the vase?” “No mother” Catherine said, “the flowers are no less beautiful” To which her mother responded, “remember that about priests, Catherine. No matter who the man is or what he has done, his priesthood is always beautiful.” And like I said, Catherine went on to devote her life to helping troubled priests whose priesthoods were in the toilet. 

On this priesthood Sunday, we can admit that some priests are ornate vases of beautiful flowers…and some priests are not. But their priesthood is always beautiful because their priesthood is the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus called the twelve apostles to himself, he didn’t call perfect guys. He called the most unlikely characters you could imagine: gruff fishermen and conniving corrupt tax collectors. Guys who had some serious issues like the political zealot, Simon, whose feast day was yesterday, and guy who stole from his friends, a thief, Judas Iscariot. He called not the perfect, but he called them nonetheless, and at the last supper ordained them the first priests. And those first priests would become the avenues by which the Gospel would be spread, the Church would be led, and the sacraments would be celebrated. 

Every priest, no matter how sinful, has the ability to raise his hands and call down heaven, spiritual fire, upon the Church, and not because of the priest’s intellect, his wisdom, or his sparkling personality, but because he has been ordained, configured to Christ through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. 

One of the things about the priesthood that attracted me to begin discerning my calling is that priests enter people’s lives and are present to them at very critical moments: times of great happiness, like a baptism or wedding, times of sickness, times of sadness. I’ve been called into a hospital room where parents grieve a dead child. And the priest helps souls to know that God is with them, and that God invites them to holiness no matter what they are going through.

The priest announces the Gospel in these critical moments, and the priest celebrates sacraments in these critical moments, sacraments which are signs of God’s presence and grace entering into the concrete and often gory details of our lives.

When I entered seminary in 2001, the church was months away from being scandalized. News would soon be hitting every major newspaper that there were some priests who had failed to live up to their calling in grievous grievous ways, and some bishops had also failed to protect their flocks. 

And when the news hit of the terrible scandals: every seminarian at that time had some questions to ask himself: do I stick with this? Is this the sort of priest this seminary produces? Should I be here? 

And when I went to grapple with these questions, the call remained. Just because there were men who ended up as bad priests, doesn’t mean I wasn’t being called to be a good priest, or at least to try to be a good priest with God’s help. 

I think that realization was a great grace—it’s helped me to remain focused on the work and on God in the midst of some very sad moments, even some very bizarre and occasionally anti-Christian behavior from my brother priests. Strangely, remembering that priests are imperfect men, has helped me to remain focused on being a better priest. 

And I share this, on this priesthood Sunday, in the year 2022 of Our Lord, because things are still pretty chaotic out there, aren’t they, for Catholics. Liturgy wars are still being fought. We are having internal disputes over how to minister to the divorced and those with same-sex attraction and the trans-gendered, and over what it means to be pro-life. 

The Church needs young men now to answer the call to the priesthood, even in these chaotic times, because the Church will always need young men to answer the call to the priesthood. For this is how Jesus Christ designed his Church.  Some Christians don’t like the hierarchical constitution of Mother Church. Some even form splinter communities without priests, at their own peril, by the way.

But the Church will always need priests to help the faithful know and follow Christ’s teachings, to provide for the poor, to bury the dead, to pray with and pray for the Church, to lead in silence without a lot of support, to care for those who others have forgotten. 

This isn’t a call for everyone, but it’s a call for some. And Priesthood Sunday, it’s not for Catholics to congratulate priests. Priesthood Sunday is not for me. Priesthood Sunday is for the Church, to recognize that we all have work to do to help young men respond to God's call to discern the priestly calling--to make a visit to the seminary.

Our seminary in Cleveland isn’t perfect. It is very good, but not perfect. The presbyterate of Cleveland isn’t perfect. There have been some flowers in toilets in these parts. But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t calling young men to the priesthood (maybe someone here). Priests aren’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t needed, or joyful, and fulfilled like no other profession on the planet. We are. Surveys continue to show this.

Dear people of God, pray for priests; pray that young men may hear and answer God’s call despite all the chaos and scandal in the world and in the Church, pray that priests with lukewarm hearts may catch fire, pray for priests whose priesthood is in the toilet, pray that priests who suffer unjustly may be sustained in their ministry, pray for these imperfect men, that our Good God will continue to grant his divine assistance through these imperfect hands and lips, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 28 2022 - Sts. Simon and Jude - Political Zealots and Impossible Causes

 Much like our own day, in the time of the Lord’s public ministry, there were many different political parties and attitudes in the kingdom of Israel in the time of our Lord.  One of the groups was known as the Zealots.  Today, if someone called you a zealot it would mean that you had great passion for some subject or issue.  Well, the Zealots of the 1st century were passionate about their national and religious identity, and they wanted to overthrow the Roman government of their nation. The Zealots saw the Romans as this idolatrous, immoral, and oppressive occupying force that had no business in Israel, as God had given this land to the Jewish people, not to the Romans. 

Today, we celebrate two of the apostles, one of whom, Apostle Simon, was a member of the zealots. 

Peter, James, Andrew and John, abandoned their fishermen’s nets in order to follow the Lord. Matthew abandoned his lucrative career as a tax collector. And Simon gave up his political affiliations. Perhaps, Simon initially thought that Jesus was the Military-Messiah he and the rest of the zealots were hoping for. That Jesus would lead the Israel in a military uprising that would successfully overthrow its enemies once and for all. 

No doubt, very early on, it became clear to Simon, that Jesus had not come for this purpose—his kingdom is not of this world. He had not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual one. And Simon, recognizing the superiority of the Christian Gospel--allowed Christ to change his life.

We do not know much more about the Apostle Simon, and we know even less about the apostle Jude, who shares a feast day with him. It is unclear if he Jude is the author of the New Testament Letter of Jude. 

Simon and Jude are celebrated together, perhaps due to the historical tradition that they preached the Gospel together in what is modern day Armenia and were martyred together. 

St. Jude is celebrated as the patron saint of impossible causes. Even this tradition has mysterious origins. It could be perhaps that even though Jude was martyred in Armenia, the Armenians did not initially convert to Christianity. Their conversion was thought by the Church to be impossible.  It took 250 years after the death of the apostles. But it did eventually happen: the impossible cause was granted through the intercession of the Apostle Jude.

So, if there is a real tough nut, a family member whose heart appears completely hardened to the faith, bring that family member daily to Saint Jude. Or, you may know someone who is zealous about politics but couldn’t care less about religion. They have passion and fire and anger. Those sentiments can be converted, they have been many times. So bring that family member daily in prayer to Saint Simon. St. Simon, your political zealotry was converted to zealous faith in Christ, convert my family member. 

These men were instrumental in the Gospel being spread to all corners of the world, and that mission continues, into the hearts of those hardened to the Gospel, those who hearts are a little misguided by attachment to worldliness and politics. Simon and Jude, pray for us, that the Gospel may be received in every place, in every heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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May Simon and Jude obtain courage for all bishops and priests to preach the fullness of the truth and teach authentic Christian doctrine.

May the holy apostles help all Christians to be strengthened in the faith, hope, and charity.

For the conversion of unbelievers, for Catholics who have fallen away from the faith; for the salvation of all men. 

On this special day of prayer and fasting for priests, that priests may be sustained in their labors by the example and intercession of the holy apostles.

That the sick, suffering, overburdened, and destitute, may know the help of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

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.

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

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - The Narrow Gate

 When asked about how many will be saved the Lord responded, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”. 

In Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord says something similar. He says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

The narrow way is one of effort rather than ease—work and toil, rather than sloth. Hesiod, the old Greek poet writes: “Wickedness can be had in abundance easily; smooth is the road, and very nigh she dwells; but in front of virtue the gods immortal have put sweat.’ When the Lord says, “strive” to enter heaven, the Greek word is agonozomai—agonize. Heaven needs to be sought with struggle and strain, like an athlete straining toward the finish line, all muscles taut and “giving his all” in the effort.

And that means the narrow way is one of discipline and self-control rather than undiscipline and indulgence. Many fail to achieve something of substance in their careers or in the earthly realm because they abandon discipline—they let themselves go. And the same is true for the spiritual life. St. Peter writes, “the end of all things is at hand, so be self-controlled and sober-minded”.  St. Paul writes to Timothy, “Train yourselves for godliness”. Training requires discipline—sticking to the regiment of prayer, study and good works, when the temptations of the world beckon for our attention. 

And that means the narrow way is also one of discernment rather than thoughtlessness. We must discern what is good with the help of God. Not everything that glitters is gold. Not every path leads to heaven. So we must be discerning, learning to distinguish good from evil, learning to see through the tricks and illusions of the devil and the world.

For the narrow way is also one of detachment from the works of the devil, including seeking conversion from habitual sin. Entering the narrow gate requires us to change.  We are cling to habits and attitudes that have no place in heaven, and should have no place in our earthly life: our grudges, our resentments, our perversions, our fears of suffering to obtain what is good.  We must let go of all that keeps us from following Christ more wholeheartedly.  

With God’s help, may we strive to enter the narrow gate, through effort, discipline, discernment, detachment and the help of grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the conversion of unbelievers, the sanctification of the faithful; for all hearts to be more receptive to Christ’s Gospel.

That government leaders at every level may be free of corruption and work for common good.

During this month of October may souls increase in faith, hope, and love through newfound devotion to Our Lady’s Rosary.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease; for those overwhelmed by life’s burdens; for the grieving and the fearful.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for deceased parishioner Kenneth Casey who died last week, for all of the poor souls in purgatory.

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.

October 24 2022 - St. Anthony Mary Claret - Apostolic Zeal

Today we celebrate St. Anthony Mary Claret, saint of the 19th century, bishop and missionary.  St. Anthony Mary Claret was known for his zeal as a preacher; there’d be so many people who wished to hear him preach that they couldn’t at times all fit in church, and he’d have to preach in the city squares.

In the 1840s, anti-Clerical sentiments began to stir in Europe, especially spain, where Anthony Claret was a diocesan priest. So Fr. Anthony went to preach the Gospel in the Canary Islands. This time in a foreign land enkindled a fervor for missionary work, and returning to spain, St. Anthony Claret founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart, which exist to this day as a missionary order.

Pio Nono, Blessed Pope Pius IX became aware of Anthony Claret’s apostolic dynamism and competancy and appointed him to the very difficult position of Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, a Spanish colony at the time.

Arriving in Cuba, he found the archdiocese to be in a less-than stellar state: lax discipline among the clergy, the seminary was in poor condition, spiritually and otherwise, economic poverty throughout the archdiocese was being unaddressed, and something like 9000 irregular marriages. The first official act of the new Archbishop was to consecrate his diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He then began the systematic reconstruction of the Diocese, visiting every parish, personally conducting retreats for all the Clergy, and missions for the faithful of the extensive and extremely difficult territory. He instituted a Seminary for the native Cuban clergy and founded an order of teaching Sisters. He published a simple illustrated catechism and devised a system for teaching religion which was later approved by the Vatican Council for the entire Church. He established hospitals, cooperative Farms, Parish Credit Unions, and Boys' Town and Girls' Town, and addressed the rampant unemployment by establishing quality schools—teaching trades to the poor.

His personal sanctity, fueled by prayer, were well attested to. He would give off light when he preached and celebrated mass. He fended off earthquakes and storms through prayer. He had visions of Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, and purportedly walked on water.

He fought the injustices of wealthy European land owners, and defended the rights of the working classes.  This made enemies, unleashing a host of bitter attacks upon the Holy Archbishop and his pastoral efforts. Every available means was used to discredit his name and render him inactive. He was stabbed in the face by a would-be assassin. His enemies rested only when they had succeeded in having him banished from the country. And even then, their relentless persecution followed him into exile.

From his exile in Paris, the Archbishop traveled to Rome for the first Vatican Council.  Soon after he suffered a stroke, and died in a Cistercian Monastery.

Saint Anthony Claret described the ideal Claretian in these words, "A son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set everyone on fire with God's love. Nothing daunts him: he delights in privations, welcomes work, embraces sacrifices, smiles at slander, rejoices in all the torments and sorrows he suffers, and glories in the cross of Jesus Christ. His only concern is how he may follow Christ and imitate him in praying, working, enduring and striving constantly and solely for the greater glory of God and the salvation of humankind."  What a beautiful directive we all do well to emulate.

And if that is too lofty, the saint said, “Christian perfection consists in three things: praying heroically, working heroically, suffering heroically”.

Through the intercession of bishop and missionary St. Anthony Mary Claret, may we be set on fire with zeal for building up the Church, embracing hardship for spreading the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Church leaders may help us to spread the flame of faith in all our endeavors.

That we might not be daunted by difficulty in working for the spread of the Gospel and for Christian missionaries to be sustained in their work.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, and a sanctification of all marriages and single Catholics.

For all those struggling with addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind: that they will be fortified and blessed with God’s special love, favor, and peace.  We pray to the Lord.

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

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

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - Taking Risks for God and Spiritual Growth

 

One year, for my new year’s resolution, I attempted to learn how to play the violin. I grew up playing a little bit of piano and trumpet, and sang in the choir in high school and in seminary; so I was pretty familiar with reading music, and figured, how hard could the violin really be? So I got a hold of a violin, and realized pretty quickly that if I was going to progress in this instrument, I was going to need to take some lessons: I didn’t even know if I was holding the thing correctly.

And I have to admit, those first few violin lessons, were very humbling. I admitted to my violin teacher that I was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed: a grown adult, a priest, several college degrees, and I could barely get through “Mary Had a Little Lamb” without the violin sounding like I was torturing some poor animal. 

After several months there was some progression and discerned that I had fulfilled my new year’s resolution. But, I really have to admit, those first few weeks, were very humbling, and very uncomfortable. The violin didn’t care about my degrees, about the time I spent visiting the sick, or teaching in the classroom. And to sit with this professional violin player was kind of embarrassing. I felt like a little child. 

But, I’m so glad I risked a little embarrassment, because now I can pick up the violin every now and then—one of my favorite musical instruments—and enjoy playing it a bit.

You may have had a similar experience: learning a new skill always involves that initial moment when you feel a bit like a child. But that’s not a bad thing: children are often much more courageous than adults. They don’t worry about what people think of them, they just engage. They’ll try new things because they look fun. They play without self-regard. They quickly make new friends—they are able to do things that many adults would be humiliated over doing—but that’s the key to their joy isn’t it…not fearing humiliation.

Would we honor Saint Francis of Assisi, if he had allowed his fears of what others thought of him to control his life? If he worried about being considered “overly religious”? Or St. Paul, what if he had allowed his fear of offending the sensibilities of the Gentiles keep him from his missionary journeys. Or Saint Clare? What if she let social pressures keep her from leaving behind her family wealth to pursue radical holiness. So many of the great Saints risk humiliation, they risk failure, they risk mockery, in order to pursue true greatness.

Many of our young people do not consider entering the religious life or going to the seminary. “What will they think of me if I joined the monastery.” But, in the Christian life, each one of us absolutely needs to ask ourselves: do I want to be great in the eyes of the world, or in the eyes of God?

I pray that fear—fear of being considered “overly religious” or—is not keeping anyone here from become more active in the life of holiness and the life of the parish. The parish needs your creativity, the parish needs your efforts and your mistakes, the Church needs your Courage. 

In today’s Gospel of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus praises the child-like humility of the tax collector while denouncing the arrogance of the Pharisee. 

Here are two men, both go to Temple, both go to church, both engage in something they call prayer, but one is pleasing in the eyes of God and one is not. 

There is a parallel here with Cain and Abel. Remember, all the way back in the beginning of Genesis: both Cain and Abel offer sacrifices to God, but only Abel’s sacrifice was found pleasing to God, while Cain’s was not. For Abel’s sacrifice was filled with faith and love, while Cain’s was not.

Similarly with the Pharisee: his prayer in the Gospel today is filled with self-congratulation and ridicule of those he judges as lower than himself, while the tax-collector, becomes childlike and takes the lowest place, recognizing that before God he is but a humble sinner and only God can save Him. 

The Pharisee acts as if the point of prayer is to talk about how great he is, instead of approaching God, humbly like the tax collector to recognize how great God is. 

The tax collector thus teaches us an indispensable lesson for the Christian life: we must start off each day beating our breast, saying, “God, I don’t know what I’m doing here, I’m just a lowly sinner. Teach me. Teach me how to pray. Teach me how to live.” 

Notice, too that, the tax collector beats his breast, as he says “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”. Be merciful to me. Have mercy. We say those words at the beginning of every Mass. Lord, have mercy. We begin Mass with those words, with that gesture, with that posture of humility because that attitude is to animate the whole of our lives. 

Beating our breasts in humble admission of one’s lowliness, of one’s sinfulness, symbolizes our desire to break down the barrier between our heart and God’s heart. Whatever it takes Lord, break the hardness in my heart, break the coldness, break the selfishness, break the attachment to sin, whatever it takes, even if it requires me being humiliated. 

It’s not easy to admit that we are sinners. It requires us to admit our faults, our wrongs: it’s humbling. As hard as it is, as hard as it is to go Sacramental Confession after a particularly embarrassing sin, humbling ourselves before God is often the beginning of something great. Humility allows God’s power to begin to change us, fill us, and bring us true joy. 

The proud Pharisee is impervious to growth because he doesn’t believe he can grow—or needs to grow—he knows everything, he believes he already is better than everybody. The Pharisees throughout the Gospels fail to recognize that Jesus is God because the Pharisee doesn’t really acknowledge a god outside of himself. And like Cain, the Pharisee becomes a murderer of his brother, condemning Jesus to an unjust death.

The Lord concludes the parable by teaching, “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Christian who recognizes his need for God’s mercy, who becomes like the child before God, like the tax collector shall experience exaltation in eternity; while those who go throughout life convinced of their own self-righteousness, like the Pharisee, shall be humbled when Christ returns as judge. There can be no spiritual growth without humility, there can be no salvation without recognizing one’s need for a savior. 

At holy Mass, today, at every holy Mass, we have a choice: do we come here, entering God’s Temple, in the spirit of the Pharisee or the tax collector. The one who keeps God out, or welcomes God into one’s heart, one’s soul—the one who feigns perfection, or the one who acknowledges sin. May all that is Pharisaical be transformed by God’s love for us and our willingness to practice humility and faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

29th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday - Responding to the Signs of the Times

 

Earlier this month we celebrated the feast day of Pope St. John XXIII, good Pope John, who, much to the surprise of the Cardinals and Bishops and the rest of the world, convoked an ecumenical council—the Second Vatican Council.

The Holy Father detected great changes in society such as rapid technological development, the development of the working class, changes in women’s role in society, and the gradual disappearance of colonialism. In the Papal Bull calling the Council, Pope John wrote about the Church’s need to pay attention to the “signs of the times”. He wrote, “We renew our confidence in our Savior who has not left the world he redeemed. Instead we make our own the recommendation that one should know how to distinguish the signs of the times (Mt 16:4) and we seem to see now in the midst of so much darkness a few indications that argue well for the fate of the Church and humanity (sec. 3).”

After the death of Pope John, the new Pope, Paul VI, also continued this idea, that the Church needed to pay attention to the signs of the times in order to effectively speak to the world in the midst of all of these changes and challenges. 

In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus remarks that his contemporaries are adept at forecasting the weather by reading the signs, but they were missing something more important than weather, which was happening in their midst. Signs of God’s presence were all around them: loaves being multiplied, the lame walking, hardened sinners repenting, and the good news spreading. But with all these signs many refused to believe.

Similarly today, even amidst all the political chaos, natural disaster, war, and sickness in the world, God is present. There are miracles and healings, restored relationships, souls trapped in cycles of destructive behavior being freed through faith in Christ, Catholics pouring out their lives in teaching the young, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, so much evidence—if we take time to look and listen—of the presence of God. 

And yet, there are dark clouds on the cultural horizon, that the Church also needs to read and respond to. The rise of artificial intelligence, sexual immorality and gender confusion being imposed on young people, war mongering, unnecessarily risked national security, the threat of the use of nuclear arms, rampant, rampant corruption on every level of politics, the negligence of the media, the rise in the popularity of communism and atheism and witchcraft and the occult, the scientific community being compromised by financial and political interests. 

The Church has the duty to point to God, but she also has a duty to call souls to turn away from evil, and to call men of good will to work against the tides of evil. In fact, one could argue that the Church is being faithful to her mission when she is actively and publicly combatting evil, for the Lord said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. 

The darker the world becomes, the more worldly evils provide reasons for unbelief, the brighter the Church need to shine, the clearer the Church needs to teach, and manifest God’s goodness through works of charity, providing hungry souls with reasons for belief for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For those who have fallen into error, for Catholics who have grown lukewarm in their faith, for those who have left the Church, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

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

That our young people may will turn away from the evils of our culture in order to pursue the goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

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

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

October 17 2022 (school mass) - St. Ignatius of Antioch - Powerful Prayers of the Righteous

 Today is the Feast Day of the Patron Saint of our Parish, St. Ignatius of Antioch. Happy Feast Day.

What does it mean that St. Ignatius of Antioch is the Patron Saint of our parish?

That St. Ignatius is the patron Saint of our parish, means that we venerate and honor him in a special way, we look to his holy example and ask for his prayers intercession in a special way.

Every day, when I cele
brate Mass, before I ring the bell and process into the sanctuary, I look up at the crucifix, and I ask for the prayers of four very important saints. I say, “Holy Mary, Mother of God: pray for us; St. Joseph: pray for us. St. John the Evangelist: pray for us. St. Ignatius of Antioch: Pray for us.”

I ask for Mary’s prayers, because she is our heavenly queen and mother, and Jesus told us to take her as our mother. I ask St. Joseph for his prayers because he is the patron of the whole church. I ask St. John the Evangelist for his prayers, because he is the patron saint of Cleveland. And I ask St. Ignatius of Antioch for his prayers, because he is the patron saint of our parish.

I ask for their prayers every day, for one, because the bible says that the prayer of a righteous person has great power. It is very advantageous and beneficial for us to make good friends with holy people. They help us to be better followers of Jesus. And their prayers are very helpful to us.

As you grow older and wiser you come to realize how much we need God’s help. We need God’s help in order to follow Jesus as we should. We need God’s help in order to be as patient as we should, loving, kind, courageous, and strong against the devil’s attacks, strong against temptation. It is a very foolish person who thinks that they can get to heaven on their own, that they can make it in life on their own. We need help.

And God loves giving help to us, especially through other people, and most especially through his heavenly saints.

The fact that you are students at St. Ignatius of Antioch school means that God has arranged your lives to be here. And he has given you a powerful intercessor, a powerful helper to assist you in growing in . faith and holiness. Why should you ask St. Ignatius for his help and his prayers every day? Because God wants you to. And God has help that he wants to give you through him, if you would but ask for help.

St. Ignatius, help us to love the Church and to be devoted to the building up of the Church as you were, as bishop of Antioch. And help us to willingly accept hardships and sufferings like you, in order to help others know and love Jesus. St. Ignatius, help us to be faithful when our faith is under attack. St. Ignatius of Antioch, help us to be courageous like you in spreading the Gospel. St. Ignatius of Antioch, your righteousness makes you a powerful intercessor for this parish, obtain for us the graces we need to be faithful in our mission to make disciples of all nations. St. Ignatius of Antioch, pray for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

 

October 15-16, 2022 (Sunday Masses) - Patronal Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch

 On this feast of our parish Patron, the bishop and martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch, our first reading and Gospel are taken not from the normal Sunday lectionary readings, but from the readings proper to the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch. And these readings are chosen by the Church because they have some relevance to the life and lessons of St. Ignatius. And so, I’d like to reflect on these readings a bit.

“Be imitators of me” says St. Paul. A command that certainly sounds a bit strange to our modern ears, but in the ancient Greco-Roman world, it was a common and acceptable practice for teachers to point to themselves as examples. And if anyone could say this, it was Paul, for he had so taken the Gospel to heart, had so centered his life on Christ. Christianity wasn't just part of his life; Christianity was his life. And, remember, Paul wasn’t just giving God lip service: he is writing this letter from prison. We do well to imitate Paul in taking the Gospel so seriously that the world wants to lock us up for it. And like Paul to seek such a seek to imitate Jesus Christ to such a degree that our identity and personality is merged with His so much so that people detect and see Christ in us. 

Paul then says, don’t just imitate me but “observe those who conduct themselves according to this model.” Paul humbly recognizes that he is not the only model, and instructs all Christians to look to the sains.

Protestants are sometimes perturbed, as they often are by us Catholics, because of our great devotion to studying the lives of the saints. Why go to the saints, they say, when you can just go to Jesus. But we do so because the Word of God, Sacred Scripture, tells us to. “Observe those who conduct themselves according to this model”. 

From the earliest centuries, Christians have looked to the saints—to learn from them and also simply to glorify God who shines his light through them. God transforms ordinary people, like you and me, to become powerful instruments of His goodness. And we’re to study them; study their prayer lives, study how they put the gifts of the Spirit into use; how they use their time, how they turn away from the world in order to turn to Christ.

But, remember, the saints weren’t just born super Christians. Sometimes we are tempted to think, “Oh, I’m too insignificant to do much for God”, “I don’t have what it takes to convert non-believers, I can barely balance my checkbook and remain patient with my kids”. But, over and over throughout history, God chooses the weak and insignificant to accomplish mighty deeds. 

With so many of the saints, we know nothing about where they were born, who their parents were, what their education looked like. And that’s fitting because most of them were nobodies. No one was chronicling their lives because they were unimportant in the eyes of the world. And it’s not until maybe even their final days do we have the details of their heroic works of charity or martyrdoms or words of preaching.

Such is the case for our patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch. We don’t really know where he was born. We don’t know the names of his parents or if he had siblings. There is a legend that he was the young boy who Jesus called over to sit on his lap in the Gospels, but that is just a legend. He may or may not have been Jewish prior to his conversion to Christ. We just don’t know these details…he kind of emerges out of the mist of history when he is ordained a bishop by St. John the Apostle in the year 66. 

We can surmise that Ignatius was pretty trustworthy—as he was placed by one of the original twelve apostles as bishop of Antioch—which was the largest city in the empire outside of Rome. Antioch had a population of a million people two thousand years ago—that’s three times the size of modern day Cleveland.  Ignatius not only trustworthy, but he was deeply orthodox—meaning—he took very seriously a bishop’s duty to teach the Gospel without error--the duty of “guarding the deposit of faith—as St. Paul describes it to the bishop St. Timothy. 

Like St. Paul, bishop Ignatius was arrested; he was marched to his death in Rome. But while he made his death march to Rome, Ignatius, like Paul, wrote letters exhorting and instructing the Church. Seven of those letters have survived the centuries. We have Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians and Romans, to whom Paul also wrote, and also Ignatius’ letters to the Magnesians, Trallians Philadelphians and Smyrnaeans. And he wrote a letter to his brother bishop St. Polycarp, who was also consecrated bishop by St. John the Apostle. In fact, both Ignatius and Polycarp are depicted together in the stained glass window in the east nave, depicted at the feet of the Apostle John. Under that window, Ignatius is depicted in his pastoral care for his flock at Antioch, his arrest by the emperor, and finally, his martyrdom.

In his letter to the Romans, Ignatius writes: “I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God…Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.”

And that is why, dear brethren, we hear the Gospel today--St John’s Gospel, of Our Lord’s teaching about the grain of wheat: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” St. Ignatius, took this teaching to heart, imparted to him by the Apostle who ordained him. 

St. Ignatius died a martyrs death, devoured by lions in the Roman coliseum. But Ignatius, like Paul, believed that imprisonment and martyrdom is not a failure for a Christian, but a victory. Martyrdom is the ultimate witness. The martyrs embrace suffering and death for Christ, and their witness helps us believe with greater faith that the Gospel is the Good News. Witnessing that Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again, is more important than anything else. 

“Come fire and cross, gashes and rending, breaking of bones and mangling of limbs, the shattering in pieces of my whole body; come all the wicked torments of the Devil upon me,” writes Ignatius, “if I may but attain unto Jesus Christ.”

If the grain of wheat dies it produces much fruit. Well, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and the saints and martyrs, continue to bear fruit in our lives when we allow ourselves to become like the grain of wheat: imitate him in courageously putting to death worldly pleasures in order to attain Christian perfection, embracing hardship and suffering to help others know and love Jesus.

Upon the small table in the middle of the sanctuary, is a relic of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a piece of bone. And I invite you to direct your prayers to St. Ignatius today, asking him to help you to love Jesus today, to obtain blessings for your family and for this parish, to assist you in bearing witness, despite all of your weaknesses, to become wheat for Christ—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 14 2022 - St. Callistus I, Pope & martyr - Rescued from slavery

 

Often times, the Collect Prayers for the saints reflect something of their lives.  Today’s collect contained a prayer asking God to rescue us from the “slavery of corruption.”

The saint we honor today, Pope Callistus I was originally born a slave in Rome, in the late 2nd century.  Seeing natural intelligence in him, his Master appointed him to oversee a bank, but after a while the bank failed; Callistus fearing for his life, fled Rome.  He was caught and sentenced to hard labor as punishment in the mines of Sardinia. But, as providence would have it, Callistus wasn’t in Sardinia long, thanks to the Pope, who bargained with the emperor to free many of the prisoners. 

After his release, Callistus studied theology and became a deacon.  10 years later, Pope Zephyrinus , who had very little theological training, summoned Callistus, to serve as his theological advisor.   Callistus soon became a powerful force in the Church, and was elected Pope in 217. In 223, an anti-Christian riot swept through Rome, and Pope Callistus was martyred. 

During his pontificate Callistus dealt with a controversial topic: the early Church had very strict rules about readmitting back to Holy Communion public sinners and those who were guilty of adultery, fornication, murder and schism—those who renounced Christ during times of persecution. 

Pope Callistus ruled that excommunicants could be received back into communion with the Church after they had performed public penance. 

Callistus, the one who was shown mercy, freedom from slavery and imprisonment, directed the Church to be lavish in her mercy to the penitent.

And you’d think this would edify the whole church, but sadly, the Callistus’ merciful ruling enraged his opponents, and even caused a group of Christians to splinter off and elect their own-anti Pope, Hippolytus who was eventually reconciled to the Church and named a saint himself.

From slave to merciful Pope. God works in mysterious ways. “He casts down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly. He chooses the weak and makes them strong in bearing witness to Christ.”

Each of us may not have been physically enslaved and imprisoned, but sin has resulted in a certain spiritual slavery in all of us. But God lavishes his mercy upon us, and we gain freedom and growth in the Spirit, so that we, may in turn, become instrument of that mercy to others.

Through the intercession of Pope St. Callistus may we recognize the many ways, today, that God has mercifully freed you from sinful selfishness, and give thanks. And filled with gratitude extend that mercy to all those you meet, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That each member of the Church may manifest the mercy of Christ in their lives. 

For wisdom and mercy to guide the life of the Church, the decisions of government leaders, and the ordering of our personal lives.

For our young people, that they may be raised in homes where the Word of God is studied, cherished, and practiced. 

During this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, may Catholics take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession.

For all victims of war, For hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for all of the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

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.

28th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - Fruits of the Spirit

 

Friedrich Nietzsche once told a group of Christians, “You Christians disgust me, if you really are redeemed, why don’t you look redeemed?”  Now of course Nietzsche and others are so hardened to Christianity that they are blinded to goodness and truth when it is right in front of them. But, he does have a point! Why don’t we look redeemed?

In today’s first reading (Gal 5:18-25) St. Paul explains that the fruits of the Spirit need to be evident in our lives.  The fruits of the Spirit are to be evident in us; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”, they need to be seen, obvious, apparent, manifest in word and deed, clear to believers and unbelievers. 

Why should they be evident? Because they point to God. They are signs that God is real and that his Spirit dwells within us. They are signs that we take our faith seriously. But most importantly, they point to God. And our job—our mission—is to point others to God. In the Gospels, the Lord says, “let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” 

Making evident the fruits of the spirit is not a selfish endeavor—it’s not prideful for us to display kindness, generosity and joy. We don’t seek to make the fruits of the Spirit evident in our lives for worldly attention or fame: “Look at me. Look how holy I am.” No, of course not. Christians are to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit for the sake of the mission, for drawing souls to Christ. 

When people detect the fruits of the Spirit in us, they become intrigued, they are our best advertisement for God. Wow, the world is so full of hatred and jealousy, but look at this Christian, their kindness, their generosity points to something else, something bigger than them. 

Are the fruits of the Spirit evident in my life? If not, why not? Is it because I have not cultivated them through prayer and good works? Is it because I’m too busy indulging in the works of the flesh?  Sometimes cultivating the fruits of the Spirit is difficult because we’ve lacked good role models. Sometimes it’s hard for us to be patient or joyful because our parents were not really patient or joyful people. Or it’s hard to practice self-control because we really didn’t have good teachers of that fruit. So we have to really struggle to bear those fruits.

But the Holy Spirit will teach you all these things and cause them to grow in you, if you really till the soil. 

Homework: identify which fruit of the Spirit is most evident in your life, and identify which is most lacking. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make use of your strongest fruit, and help you to identify what you need to do to strengthen your weakest fruit, that the life of God may be evident in you, for the glory of God and Salvation of Souls.

 

For “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. 

For wisdom to guide the life of the Church, the decisions of government leaders, and the ordering of our personal lives.

For our young people, that they may be raised in homes where the Word of God is studied, cherished, and practiced. 

During this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, may Catholics take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession.

For all victims of war, For hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for all of the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

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.

 

October 11 2022 - Pope St. John XXIII - Aggiornamento

 Pope Saint John XXIII was canonized along with Pope Saint John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2014. 

He was called “good Pope John” because he was beloved by the Italian people; he was dearly affectionate and had a good sense of humor.  The phrase “Santo Subito” – “sainthood now” was chanted at his funeral. Pope Francis referred to Pope John XXIII as a “model of sanctity.”  He is a model of holiness not just for the bishops and Popes of the Church, but for all of us.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was the first born son of poor, sharecroppers in the small Italian village of Sotto il Monte near Borgamo in northern Italy. Following his ordination in 1904, he served in increasingly challenging ecclesiastical assignments. He studied canon law; he served as a diplomat in the second World War, and helped save an estimated twenty-four thousand Jews. 

Though, many of the Cardinals thought John was going to be more of a “caretaker Pope”—Pope John helped resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis, and shocked the church and the world when he called for a Second Vatican Council—not so much for the purpose of condemning the errors of the day, like previous councils, but for the purpose of Aggiornamento…letting in some fresh air to the life of the Church. Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed… errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.” No doubt, Pope John was an influence on our current Pontiff, Pope Francis. 

Pope John promoted dialogue with the Orthodox as well as with Protestants; he was the first Pope to meet the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. He also encouraged positive relations with Muslims, Jews, and men of good will around the world.  

Pope John also set an example for all Christians in performing the works of mercy—he, like John Paul, Benedict, and now Francis, would leave the walls of the Vatican in order to visit the imprisoned and the sick. 

In his last encyclical in 1963, one of his most famous, called Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth, he urged all people to think not just of themselves, but work for the common good, paying great attention to the less fortunate members of society, that as members of the universal family of mankind, we need to work together to attain our flourishment. 

For those of you who might be a little disheartened by the current state of politics, I encourage you to read that encyclical, to let some fresh air into your mind and soul

And yet, in the words of that great encyclical, Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order. Yes, humanity must work together for peace, but peace is only obtainable by faithfulness to God.

Strengthened by the example of Good Pope John’s holy life, taught by his words of preaching, may we aspire to work together for the spiritual flourishing of all mankind, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Holy Father Pope Francis, that the saintly Popes may intercede for him and obtain for him great graces in his pontificate.

That government leaders make work together to safeguard and promote authentic human rights, especially the right to life; and that the temporal order may be ever-more infused with the goodness and truth of God.

That during the month of October dedicated to the Holy Rosary, we may be strengthened in devotion to Our Lady and trust ever-more in her maternal intercession. 

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

For all victims of war, For hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for all of the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

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.

28th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - Repentance and Wisdom

 In today’s Gospel, The Lord contrasts the failure of his audience to believe in Him and heed His call to repentance with two Old Testament stories. 

First, he references the repentance of the Ninevites at the preaching of Jonah. Jonah, a mere man, preaches God’s message of repentance to a pagan nation, and the entire kingdom enthusiastically heeds his words, from the king all the way down to the humblest stablehand. the Ninevites repent in sackcloth and ashes of their wickedness.

So, Jesus contrasts the dramatic, enthusiastic, nation-wide repentance of the Ninevites with the unbelieving, hardhearted, near nation-wide rejection of His call to repentance. The Church is challenged by the Lord to make sure that we are a lot more like the Ninevites than those he calls an evil generation for their failure to repent and believe.

Next, the Lord references a second Old Testament story: that of the queen of the south. When it became known throughout the world that Solomon was the wisest of rulers, the Queen of Sheba traveled over 1,660 miles to hear of his wisdom—a journey that took at least three months, to meet him, not to mention the lavish expense of the journey—feeding her courtiers and whatnot. The book of proverbs says seek wisdom at all costs. Wisdom is more precious than gold and silver, and the one who cherishes wisdom, shall prosper. 

So again, Jesus contrasts the dramatic, enthusiastic, spare-no-expense search for wisdom of the queen of Sheba, with the foolish, hardhearted rejection of his Godly wisdom. Jesus is essentially calling his audience fools to their faces, for Proverbs says, fools despise wisdom and instruction. The Church is challenged here to make sure that we are doing everything we can to grow in wisdom, to live according to the wisdom of God rather than the foolishness of the worldly.  

Repentance and wisdom go hand-in-hand. Wisdom acknowledges that we have been foolish in our sins and leads us to repentance. It is a fool who fails to acknowledge his sin. Repentance opens us up to the wisdom that we have foolishly disregarded. Repentance means a new beginning.

St. James says, “if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it.”

Today and all days, may we lavishly and enthusiastically pursue wisdom, the wisdom of God revealed in his scriptures, in the lives and writings of the saints, in the teaching of the Church, and with the help of God, may we apply that wisdom to our lives, wisely considering all of those attitudes, behaviors, and selfish choices of which we need to repent for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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That all people may seek the wisdom that comes forth from the mouth of God; that Church leaders may wisely order the life of the Church, and that government leaders may conduct their affairs with wisdom, prudence, and justice.

For our young people, that they may be raised in homes where the Word of God is studied, cherished, and practiced. 

During this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, may Catholics take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession. {Cantor will sing}

For all victims of war, For hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for all of the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

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.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - Obedience and Gratitude

 

In ancient Israel, no one was more pitiable than a leper.

The book of Leviticus prescribed that in order to avoid contact with others, the leper had to shout “Unclean! Unclean!” as they passed by and couldn’t come within 50 yards of a healthy person. They were prohibited from entering towns, they were cut off from their family, they were barred from Temple worship. Theirs was a life of total isolation: no friendship or family, no sense of belonging, no affection. And in today’s gospel we meet 10 of them.

10 Lepers stood off at a distance and shouted to Jesus. But instead of shouting “Unclean” they cry out to be cleansed. “Jesus, master, have pity on us!” Their cry echoes so many of the psalms in which the suffering cry out to God for healing, strength, relief, protection, and forgiveness. And Jesus heard them and heeded their plea. 

In Jewish law, in order for a leper to be readmitted to society, a priest had to declare them cured of their disease. So, Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. And on their way to the priest, the 10 were miraculously healed. 

Earlier in the Gospel of Luke an individual leper was healed by the Lord, and given the same instruction to show himself to the priest after he was healed. In the case of the 10 lepers, they are instructed to show themselves to the priest before the healing takes place, and they are healed on the way to the priest. It’s as if their obedience to the command of Jesus was the catalyst for their healing miracle. 

And there’s a lesson for us there. All 10 lepers show obedience to the Master, all 10 are healed, for obedience to God is healing. Our first sin—the sin of Adam and Eve was one of disobedience. God told them, do not eat of the tree. And they disobeyed. They ate. 

And every subsequent sin of ours—is one of disobedience. God tells us to guard our tongues and speak no evil—we disobey. God tells us to avoid gluttony and lust and greed and pride—and we disobey. Jesus tells us to love our enemy, forgive those who wrong us, feed the hungry, repent of our sins—and we disobey. 

And whenever we disobey God—that introduces disorder—the world and our lives are not as they should be. Our souls are further wounded and diseased, our minds our clouded, our wills are weakened against further sins. And we require healing and mercy that can only come from God. And thanks be to God he offers us that healing and mercy lavishly. Especially in the Sacrament of Confession.

Disobedience brings disorder. But all 10 lepers in the Gospel story, obey, and all are healed. Obedience heals, as well. It heals our willfulness, our arrogance, it corrects the waywardness that is ours.  Obedience reclaims the trust we are to have in our creator, to realign our hearts to his. Obedience brings the disordered will back under the dominion of God where it belongs. 

Anyone who is serious about obtaining Everlasting Life in Heaven will do all he can to increase in the virtue of obedience to God. God give me perfect obedience to your Divine Laws and Holy Will.  As one grows in the love of God—obedience becomes lighter than liberty, for His Will becomes our delight. For really, there is no joy to be found outside of the Holy Will of God.

So 10 lepers obey and receive healing. But then…next in the Gospel..we read about the one leper progresses beyond obedience, who returns to Jesus in thanksgiving. After recognizing that the miracle for which they had prayed and longed for had been granted, we would have expected that all 10 lepers would have returned rejoicing to Jesus as if he had raised them from the dead. After all, the curing of their disease meant a new life for them—a restoration to their communities and families and temple. But only one of the ten returned to thank the Lord. He falls on his face in gratitude.

When a parent tries to teach their small children to remember to say “thank you” when after receiving a gift, or if someone does an act of kindness, they usually explain, because it is the nice thing to do.

In Saint Thomas Aquinas’ discussion of the virtues, he explained Justice is the virtue of rendering unto someone what is due to that person.  We pay our debts because it is the just thing to do.  We are faithful to a business contract, because it is the just thing to do.  According to Aquinas, to fail to show gratitude by appropriate words, signs or symbols is a sin against justice. Gratitude is not just a kind thing to do, like icing on the cake—nice but unnecessary. Gratitude is demanded by justice. 

What does the priest say, every single time mass is celebrated, as part of the eucharistic prayer, “It is right and just, our duty and our salvation to give God thanks.” Thanksgiving is demanded by justice. And it gratitude to God is modeled by the Lord himself. As part of the consecration what does the priest say, also, every time mass is celebrated, Jesus took bread, and gave thanks. He took the chalice, and again gave thanks.

Ten lepers were cleansed, but only one fulfilled the demand of Justice, returning to the Lord "throwing himself on his face at the feet of Jesus" and giving him thanks. 

This leper becomes a model for us—he is a model for all Christians. Recognizing the healing that God has worked in our life—we must return to God to give thanks. Every day. Look at the healing God worked in your life, and thank Him. Do not allow yourself to become ungrateful before God. How sad. How terrible is ingratitude.

Chesterton said, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” We act atheistically when we are ungrateful. Ingratitude is poison, it begets atheists. Atheists are born from ingratitude. So it should not surprise us, as atheism and irreligion have increased in our culture—that Ingratitude is one of, if not the defining characteristics of our culture. A man who is ungrateful to God will soon treat his fellow man with disdain.  

One way we show our gratitude to God is at Holy Mass of course. The word Eucharist—Eucharistia—means thanksgiving. We come to Mass week after week, not to be entertained, but to fulfill our duty to God—to thank Him—to thank Jesus--for the gift of our salvation. 

Additionally, each week, we do well to get to Mass early, in order to call to mind those additional blessings for which we need to thank God: health, family, material security, the strength we needed to get through that really awful day last week, the grace I needed to bite my tongue when I could have really let loose, the wonderful company I’ve shared lately, the new skills I’ve developed. We do well to count our blessings in the presence of God, and to unite our gratitude with the holy sacrifice of the altar.

But gratitude needs to be more than lip service, no? Gratitude for blessings received is to spill over into our activities: in good works, acts of kindness, goodness, and beauty. 

Ingratitude may be one of our defining vices, but gratitude is a virtue that can be developed, practiced, expressed, and shown. And it is the key to happiness. The grateful soul is a joyful soul. Why are the saints so joyful? Because they have made gratitude to God so central to their identity. Their life is a grateful response to their salvation in Christ.

With the help of the saints, may we cultivate joy by cultivating gratitude, good works, and obedience, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - October 2022 - Eucharistic Adoration and the Holy Rosary

 This morning, on the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, the priests of the diocese concluded our week long convocation with Bishop Malesic, and at Mass this morning, His Excellency, the bishop, evoked a beautiful image that I’d like to share with you.

The bishop spoke of a statue that he encountered in a parish Church in Kentucky, of Our Lady, kneeling in front of the blessed Sacrament with a lighted lamp in her hands. He said, that often, when he kneels in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he recalls that statue, of Our Lady, in adoration of her Son, holding that lighted lamp, like the Wise Virgins in the Gospel parable.

Our Lady models for the Church the posture we are to take, and the attitude we are to have for the Blessed Sacrament; we kneel in adoration, for He is God with us. Falling to our knees in adoration is the appropriate response to His Presence. And He is the lamb worthy of Our Love. “Worthy is the Lamb to receive honor, glory, and blessing” We bend the knee to Him, Our King, Our Savior—the Victor over Sin and Death.

The feature of the statue, of Our Lady holding a lighted lamp, is also a poignant one, and recalls the parable of the wise virgins, who keep their lamps filled with oil, as they await the return of the bridegroom. We are to keep faith, hope, and love for Him burning, like the lighted lamp, until his return. In fact, by our devotion to Him, we pray that faith, hope, and love might be kindled elsewhere, in the dark places of the world, where faith has grown dim.

Our Lady models for us why Eucharistic Adoration is so important. Catholics need to fervently express our belief that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist here in Church, so that we can bring that faith out in the world, to draw souls back to Him. And don’t we see our Lady modeling for us that task of deepening belief so that we may draw others to Him. “Do whatever he tells you” she says, at the Wedding Feast of Cana. She teaches us to lead others to submit their lives to Him, a submission that is renewed everytime we celebrate the Eucharist, and every time we receive the Eucharist, we are to do whatever the one whom we encounter and receive tells us. 

On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, it is also good for us to consider the connection between the Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.

The U.S. Bishops write that the Rosary, 'a prayer inspired by the Gospel and centered on the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption,' 'should be considered a prayer of deep Christological orientation,' and may rightly be counted among the prayers designed to 'direct the attention of the faithful to the worship of Christ the Lord.' ... [T]he recitation of the Rosary before the exposed Sacrament should help lead the faithful back 'to a knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him, finding great encouragement and support in liturgical prayer before the Eucharist.'"

Every time we come and kneel before the blessed Sacrament it is good to spend time in silent adoration, listening to Our Lord in the Silence, and allowing our Hearts to offer worship that is too deep for words. But also, it is praiseworthy to pray Our Lady’s Rosary—which directs us to union with the one whom we adore.

May this time with the Lord allow us to stir into flame our faith, hope, and Love of Him whom we adore, and may Our Lady, and her rosary, draw us deeper into union with Him, that we may in turn draw others to Him out in the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 4 2022 - St. Francis of Assisi - Leper, Rebuilding, Stigmata

 St. Francis is one of the most well-known saints of history. Francis’ conversion from a soldier, troubadour, and spendthrift to saint captivates our hearts.

The first major turn in his life took place when he was riding his horse outside the city and met a leper who came out from a leper colony to beg him for alms. Francis dropped him something and sped away, not being able to stand the sight and smell of the leper and also phobic about catching the disease. But a short distance away he was pierced to the heart by his lack of genuine love. He turned around, sped to the leper, dismounted, and then embrace him and kiss the lands he wouldn’t touch earlier when dropping coins. It was a conversion to charity. 

“After 25 years of a mediocre life full of dreams, spent in the pursuit of worldly pleasures and success,” Pope Benedict described, Francis “opened himself to grace, came to his senses and gradually recognized Christ as the ideal of his life.”

From there, we know the famous story of Francis making pilgrimage to the crumbling Church of San Damiano. As Francis was praying in front of the Crucifix, Jesus spoke to him from the Cross and summoned him, “Francis, rebuild my Church which you can see is falling into ruin.” Francis, at first, took the Lord literally and, selling some of his father’s precious fabrics, with the proceeds began to reconstruct the dilapidated house of God. But the Lord had a far bigger building project in mind, bringing renewal to the Church, through his preaching and penance and poverty, making disciples for Christ one living stone at a time. 

Francis’ radical embrace of the Gospel very quickly attracted a band of his Franciscan brothers, and then the Poor Clares, and then the lay Franciscans, and so many hearts which were enkindled with faith and charity by witnessing a living saint.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world,” we heard in Paul’s words to the Galatians this morning. Francis, like Paul sought that perfect-identification with and identification with the crucified one who suffers for our salvation. And Like Paul, St. Francis would go on to bear the marks of Jesus on his body, signs of his union with Christ in his willingness to suffer for the Gospel.

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” we hear in the epistle today. Francis, like Paul sought that perfect-identification with the crucified one who suffers out of love for our salvation. And Like Paul, St. Francis would go on to bear the marks of Jesus on his body, the holy stigmata, which he received on the mountain top of La Verna. Pope Benedict said, that signs of his union with Christ in his willingness to suffer for the Gospel.

May we like Francis open our hearts to the lepers in our midst, may we attract souls to Christ through our penance and living out of the Gospel, willingly uniting our lives to the Crucified one, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Holy Father Pope Francis on this his patronal feast, for the grace to bring renewal to those parts of the Church which are crumbling—especially, a renewal of true faith, where faith has diminished or been corrupted.

For blessings upon all members of the Franciscan Orders, for vocations and that their witness may bring renewal to the Church.

For hope for the despairing and all those who suffer.

For the grace of perfect charity to fill our hearts for those in need.

That all God’s Holy People will be filled with the wisdom and discernment needed to know and obey God’s Holy Will.

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

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

27th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - Asking the right questions

 Of all the questions he could have asked Jesus, the scholar in the law from the Gospel today asks Jesus a pretty good one, likely the most important of all religious questions: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

It’s one thing to be focused on worldly prosperity. What must I do to live the American dream? But this expert in the law seems to have his priorities straight. The time we spend in this earthly life is a drop in the ocean compared to eternity. It is very wise to be eternity minded, rather than earthly minded. It profits a man nothing to gain the whole world, if he loses his soul. So, this expert in the law seems to have his priorities straight. He’s turning to Jesus for answers to the ultimate question. Would more of our modern day contemporaries get into that habit, the world would be in a different shape! And perhaps, as people of faith, we would progress in the spiritual life more steadily, if we began asking the Lord the right questions. “What must I do to grow in holiness?” “What must I do to grow in patience?” “What must I do to overcome my habitual sin?”

Now, there are a lot of people who ask Jesus a lot of questions and for a lot of different reasons in the Gospel. The Lord’s disciples ask for clarification on his teachings; Pharisees and Scribes ask Jesus questions to try to trap him or discredit him. But we don’t really know the intentions of this scholar of the law, only that he rightly turns to Jesus for answers. Maybe the scholar of the law is trying to prove himself more learned than this itinerant preacher, but whatever his motives, this encounter ends with the Lord confirming that the greatest commandment is to love God with your whole mind, soul, being and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself, and that our neighbor isn’t just the person that looks like us, acts like us, believes the same thing we believe, our neighbor includes the stranger, the man in need on the side of the street, the one who has fallen victim to unfortunate circumstances, the one that every else is ignoring.

You want eternal life? You must expand your heart to love everyone. You must overcome your tunnel-vision of looking past those in need. You must eliminate the earthly-minded excuses that keep you from exercising mercy. Like the good Samaritan who pays out of his own purse for the lodging and recovery of the poor victim, eternal life will cost us something: our time, our talent, our treasure must be put at the service of our fellow man. 

“Do this and you will live” the Lord says. May we know the divine assistance that makes up for our weaknesses in striving for eternal life, in living out the Gospel mandate of mercy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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

That during the month of October dedicated to the Holy Rosary, we may be strengthened in devotion to Our Lady and trust ever-more in her maternal intercession. 

For the priests of the Diocese of Cleveland gathering this week with the Bishop at their bi-annual Convocation, may the Holy Spirit guide their time and inspire them for their continued ministry. 

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, and those whose lives are upturned by the terrible storms in florida, for victims of 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 the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our benefit, and for N. 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.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - "Increase our Faith"

 

If you could ask Jesus for anything—if you had one request—what would you ask for? In the Gospel today, the apostles made a simple, but profound request. Did you catch it? They didn’t ask the Lord for riches or material security; nor did they ask for health or a long life. They asked him for something they had discovered was far more important than all of these things combined. They begged him, “Increase our FAITH!” They asked for faith.

The very first encyclical Pope Francis issued back in June of 2013 dealt with Faith.  It was called “Lumen Fidei” – The Light of Faith. He wrote, “The Church never takes faith for granted, but knows that this gift of God needs to be nourished and reinforced so that it can continue to guide her pilgrim way.” Like the apostles we members of the Church on earth need to turn to the Lord and ask him to increase our faith. And we have to do our part in making sure that our faith is as strong as it should be.

But what is Faith?

In one of my favorite passages from his encyclical on faith, Pope Francis wrote, “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light.”

Do you get what he is saying here? What is faith? Faith isn’t some sort of magical power that forces God to remove our obstacles. Nor does faith eliminate the darkness in our life. Rather, faith enables us to walk rightly in the midst of difficulty because it involves the experience of God’s abiding presence with us. 

So professing the Catholic faith, being a person of faith, doesn’t mean that at any point we should expect God to remove all our difficulties and sufferings. Rather, to be a person of faith is to trust that God will provide enough light for us to make way through the darkness, enough strength to bear the weight of our sufferings; the fortitude to withstand the powers of evil that assail us.

What caused the apostles to make this request of the Lord to increase their faith in the Gospel today? Well, in the preceding passage, the Lord had given his famous teaching on scandal: “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” And so, the apostles hear this warning, and immediately ask for faith. Why? Well, this is an instance of the apostles showing some real humility. They knew how easy it is for us to cause scandal and so they pray for all the trust and faith and guidance they need to avoid this terrible sin Jesus is warning them against. 

Think about it. Non-believers are to come to faith by the way we conduct ourselves. Young people, new Catholics are to learn what it means to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ by our example—by the way we speak, by the way we treat people. Jesus’ Lordship is to be seen in our self-control, our charity, our chastity, our patience. People are watching us, and so need God’s help if we are to be successful in drawing them to God and not driving them away.

The apostles, as the first bishops, knew that people would be looking to them especially. Anyone in a position of authority, including parents, should conduct themselves with fear and trembling, knowing that people are looking to them. A misstep, a public sin, a moment of weakness on their part, could lead a non-believer, or the weak of faith, to discount Jesus’ Lordship.

So yeah, the request, “increase our faith” so that we may not lead anyone astray, is a good petition. It’s a good petition for any of us, “Lord increase my faith, that by my conduct, I may not lead anyone away from you, today.”

I think of how the abuse scandals, 20 years ago already, had such devastating effects on the Church’s mission. I was in my first year of seminary when the abuse scandal hit the news. It was shocking. It was disgraceful. It was terribly heartrending, right? And yet, thanks be to God, somehow, I was blessed with a faith, that helped me to remember, that the sins of priests and bishops or any other Catholic does not prove that Christianity is flawed. The members of the Church are flawed. And their sins can cause great scandal. But Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And the Church is Our Mother. 

And God chose us to be Christians now, in 2002, in 2022; with that terrible wound in the background—to be part of the solution. And It’s our task to be people of great faith, now; that the light of Christ may shine brighter than the darkness caused by our sins. 

But if we’re going to be people of great faith, we certainly need to stir into flame, as St. Paul says in the second reading, the gift of faith given to us. We have a mountainous task before us, to evangelize this confused, fallen world in 2022, but, faith, the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. I hope you trust in this saying to the depth of your being—faith can move mountains. We are capable of doing great things when we trust God—when our faith is strong. And the more we nurture our faith—the more faith grows in us—the more faith is stirred into flame—the more room God will have to do truly wonderful things in us and through us.

You may have heard the old aphorism: “pray as if everything depends on God, act as if everything depends on you.” So we completely surrender to God in our prayer to increase our faith, but we most also identify what effort is necessary on our part to grow in faith. 

Growing in faith requires daily effort. We must read the bible daily. Study Catholic doctrine. Engage in daily devotions which nurture our faith like the rosary, the chaplet of divine mercy, the liturgy of the hours, praying of litanies. We must confess our sins—those times when we have neglected, ignored, or violated our Catholic faith in order to pursue selfish ends. We must make time for silent listening to God, for meditation and contemplation. 

If you can, come to daily mass throughout the week. At daily Mass, I love preaching on the lives of the saints, for the saints are our heroes and great exemplars of the faith. If you can’t make it to mass, read about the life of the saint every day. 

In the first reading, from the prophet Habakkuk, we heard, “the just one, because of his faith, shall live.” Faith is the light we need as not to stumble, the armor we need to withstand the attacks of the enemy and the hatred of the world, the wisdom we need to avoid causing scandal and to draw souls to Christ, and the lever we need to move the mountains God wants us to move.

May the Lord increase our faith, and may the Eucharist we celebrate, nourish us, and unleash the power of faith in our lives and our families and world, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.