May 31 2023 - Visitation 2023 - Our Lady's Charity

 On this final day of May, the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother, we honor Our Lady in celebrating this joyful feast of her visitation to her kinswoman Elizabeth who herself was pregnant in her old age.

We can learn so much from our Lady in this joyful encounter. 

First, upon hearing that her elderly cousin had conceived in her old age, how did Mary respond? Mary left “in haste” to help. Even though Mary just had a life altering experience, an Archangel had appeared to her—giving her a task no human had ever been tasked with before, Mary left the comfort of her home in Nazareth, in haste. If anyone ever had an excuse to stay home, it was her. But she doesn’t remain isolated in anxious worrying.  She detected a need, and she acted without fearful hesitation.

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

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

Mary teaches us to look beyond our own problems and worries to the needs of others. Look beyond the difficult road ahead to that opportunity for charity. Charity isn’t always easy, but charity mustn’t stop just because I have my own problems. 

Thirdly, notice how Mary brings incredible joy to Elizabeth and even the infant in Elizabeth’s womb. How? Because she bore the life of Jesus inside her. So soon after the annunciation, Mary likely showed no visible sign of pregnancy, yet mysteriously Elizabeth detected the Christ child within her. “How is it that the mother my Lord comes to me?”

Mary shows us here the vocation of every Christian, to cultivate such faith, hope, and love that others can detect the life of God inside of us.  Daily prayer, daily self-sacrificing charity, daily meditation, the renunciation of sin and cultivation of the virtues: these things cause our hearts to catch fire with love and joy and cause us to radiate the life of God so that God can be detected by others.

“A joyful heart, Mother Theresa explained, “is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love for God and for neighbor.” And that joy is a net for which to catch souls. There are souls out there, neighbors, family members, people who have left the Church, that can only be brought to God by witnessing our joy. So there’s our third and final lesson from our Lady: we are to do everything in our power to cultivate the life of God in us that we become nets to catch souls for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the leaders and members of the Church may fulfill with joy their calling to proclaim, celebrate, and serve the Gospel of Life.

That God may protect all unborn babies, and keep them safe from the scourge of abortion, and for the safety and welfare of all pregnant mothers, and that all mothers and fathers will know the assistance of the Christian Church in nurturing and raising their children. 

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

8th Week of Ordinary Time - Tuesday - "Give up Everything"

 Depending on the year, the 8th Week of Ordinary Time sometimes falls before Lent. So every few years we would be hearing today’s readings on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. We’d be thinking of the types of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving we’d be engaging in over the Lenten season. We might be removing the chocolate and the candy from our kitchens in order to remove temptation. We might be having one last punchki. 

And today’s readings would be a perfect preparation for Ash Wednesday. Hearing the Lord in the Gospel calling his disciples to “give up everything” and follow Him would challenge us to “give up everything” that keeps us from the holiness God is calling each of us to.

But even though we are on the other side of Lent, the call to holiness remains; the call to pray, fast, and give alms, isn’t just for Lent. As I’ve said before, there was an order of monks who took as the motto of their order, “Semper Quadragesima” always Lent to remind the Church, that those spiritual practices are indispensable, whether during Lent, or Easter, or Ordinary Time. 

The call to holiness echoes always. It's truly universal, not just for a season, but for the whole of life. And it is up to us to respond to the invitation: to allow the Holy Spirit every day to reveal those worldly attachments we need to fast from; to allow the Holy Spirit every day to the prayer that will nourish us, particularly meditation upon the Sacred Scriptures; to allow the Holy Spirit every day to help us to be attentive to the needs of the poor and inspire us to the works of charity. Detachment is necessary for Ordinary Time--an ordinary practice for every ordinary Christian.

If tomorrow WERE Ash Wednesday, what’s the one thing God would be urging you to do or to give up? And really, shouldn't we always be vigilant in "giving up everything" in order to follow who he gave everything for us?

May we respond generously this day and all days to the call to holiness, the call away from self-centeredness, to the ways the Spirit wishes to bear ever-more abundant spiritual fruits in us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Christians may respond generously to the perpetual call to prayer, fasting, and works of charity. 

For the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of May that the lay-faithful may fulfill their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today.

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

That protection for the unborn child may be enshrined in the laws of every nation and in every human heart.

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

Pentecost 2023 - Renewing the Covenant

 Happy Pentecost everyone. 

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word “pentecostes” which means “fiftieth.” Originally, Pentecost was the Greek Name for the Jewish spring harvest festival of Shavuot in the Hebrew. On Shavuot, Jews gave thanksgiving to God for the completion of the spring harvest, at which the newly harvested barley would be baked into two loaves of bread and offered to God. Shavuot was a celebration of God causing the crops to live and grow and bear fruit, which allow God’s people to live and grow and fulfill their purpose. 

On Shavuot, the Jews also celebrate God’s covenant with Noah, which took place fifty days after the great flood, a second chance for the human race that had become deeply corrupt with vice and sin. Shavuot therefore celebrates God’s mercy and a new beginning for humanity called to goodness, faithfulness, and virtue. 

Thirdly, Shavuot celebrates the Covenant God made with Moses at Mt. Sinai occurring, you guessed it, fifty days after the Exodus from Egypt. At Sinai, the Spirit of God was given to the jewish elders, enabling them to prophesy and teach and lead God’s people. Therefore Shavuot also celebrates a new and deepened relationship with God as a chosen people. 

In these three ways, the Jewish Feast of Pentecost foreshadowed the Christian Feast we now celebrate.  For today, like the Jews thanking God for the harvest that allows them to live and grow and bear fruit, we express our gratitude for the gift of the Holy Spirit which allows the Church live and grow and bear fruit. Like the Jews thanking God for the covenant with Noah, a second chance for the human race, so too the Church thanks God for the new beginning offered to humanity through Christ and the Spirit. And like the Jews who celebrate the covenant at Sinai and the imparting of the spirit upon the elders, we Christians celebrate the giving of the Spirit upon the whole Church; for through Baptism, every Christian is given the gift of the Holy Spirit and the task to preach and prophecy and order our lives in a way that glorifies God and draws souls to Christ. 

In the Acts of the Apostles all throughout the Easter Season, we’ve heard of the early Church faithfully carrying out that mission begun on that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in the upper room in presence of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit filled the apostles with a fire for the mission of the Church—evangelization. And we find them bursting out of the locked doors of the upper room, speaking in all the tongues of the nations, so that all peoples could understand and believe the saving Gospel of Christ. So too, we must speak in all of the languages of the world today, to draw souls to Christ. The animating fire given to the Church 2000 years ago that first Pentecost continues to burn and spread wherever the Gospel is preached and the fruits of the Spirit are manifest and shared.

On Pentecost Sunday in 1978, Blessed Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, said, “It will always be Pentecost in the Church provided the Church lets the beauty of the Holy Spirit shine forth from her countenance.  When the Church ceases to let her strength rest on the Power from above which Christ promised her and which he gave her on that day, and when the Church leans rather on the weak forces of the power or wealth of this earth, then the Church ceases to be newsworthy.  The Church will be fair to see, perennially young, attractive in every age, as long as she is faithful to the Spirit that floods her and she reflects that Spirit through her communities, through her pastors, through her very life" 

The blessed Archbishop reminds us that we have a duty to cooperate with the Spirit, to cultivate the life of the Spirit, and the Church, our way of life is attractive when we do so. But he also reminds us that there are a lot of forces in our world that seek to extinguish that fire—a lot of vices that vie for our attention and sap our spiritual energy—that make us boring and unattractive. Why would anyone become Christian if we just looked like the rest of the world?

The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said something similar. He said, "Even though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like God's frozen people--frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our Faith." And that happens when we return to the sin and vice and fear that God desires to deliver us from. Pope Francis said something similar when he warned of how Christians due to fear of living out the Gospel can become “spiritual mummies”. Encased in tombs, inanimate, unenthusiastic.

So today is a powerful day to ask the Holy Spirit to show you how your sins or fears might be keeping you from bursting out of locked doors like St. Peter. 

The Holy Spirit descended upon the Church to embolden us for the Gospel, and also to help purify us, like a fire, from our sins, vices, and earthly attachments. 

And he does so, most radically, in the Sacrament of Confession. “Receive the Holy Spirit” t Lord commanded the apostles: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

The prayer of absolution in Sacramental Confession echoes today’s Pentecost Gospel when the priest says, “God, the Father of mercies, through the Death and Resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and poured out the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins.” 

Frequent Confession is a powerful means of making our lives fertile soil for Spiritual Fruit to grow. It renews the covenant in us, it is one of the works of the Holy Spirit now, in the Church, to bring about fecundity and growth and life. Sacramental Confession is a Pentecost. Embrace Pentecost by embracing Confession. Please, don’t let fear keep you locked and frozen and mummified in your sins. But allow the Holy Spirit to revivify you and renew his Fire within you frequently, regularly. 

Pope Francis himself pleaded with the Church to make good use of the Sacrament of Confession. He said, we cannot remove our sins by ourselves. Only God takes [our sin] away, only he by his mercy can make us emerge from the depths of our misery. Like those disciples [who had run away from the cross and locked themselves in the upper room], we need to let ourselves be forgiven, to ask heartfelt pardon of the Lord. We need to open our hearts to being forgiven. Forgiveness in the Holy Spirit is the Easter gift that enables our interior resurrection. Let us ask for the grace to accept that gift, to embrace the Sacrament of forgiveness…Confession is the Sacrament of resurrection, pure mercy.” Whatever you are going through in life, there is always a desire for that "interior resurrection" that Holy Father speaks of of, to be lifted out of some misery, through the spirit. And that can happen when we make good use of Sacramental Confession.

Pentecost is the capstone of everything we've been celebrating from the beginning of Lent, through Easter: the forgiveness of sins is available to us through Christ. And Sacramental Confession renews that covenant in Christ's blood which forgives the sins we commit after baptism. It is good for us to go to Confession during Advent and Lent of course, but we have a long stretch of months before Advent, so make sure you get to confession regularly, in order for the Holy Spirit to remove some of those road blocks to God’s grace. 

We’ve got work to do as God’s people, God’s work, and the fire of Pentecost needs to be emblazoned among us. So make use of Confession, and all the ways God wishes to kindle his life within you. Veni Sancte Spiritus. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

7th Week of Easter 2023 - Tuesday - Eternal life consists in knowing the One True God

 For two weeks now, our Gospels readings for weekday mass have been taken from St. John’s account of the Last Supper beginning in John chapter 14. And now we’ve come to the final chapter of that account: John chapter 17. To conclude the last supper, his final evening with his disciples, the Lord offers a prayer. It is a very profound prayer, times called the High Priestly Prayer, in which the Lord does what all priests do, they pray on behalf of others to God, they pray that God's children and God might be one, priests pray that they may be joined to God, that they may share the life of God, that they might know God. 

Always the teacher though, the Lord offers a prayer that teaches, as well. He leads us deep into the truth about his relationship with the Father. He reveals—he teaches, expanding on themes that he has only hinted at in preceding chapters and discourses. 

The Lord prays and teaches at the same time. We had a professor in seminary, Fr. Larry Tosco, our best scripture professor, may he rest in peace who would do the same thing. Seminarians would take notes during his prayer at the beginning of class because of their profundity. 

Prayer to God and learning about God are closely related endeavors. In fact, what does the Lord say in his High Priestly Prayer, “eternal life consists of knowing God”. The Lord uses that word a lot in his prayer, “to know”. The Greek word is ginosko. 

Ginosko is the same word that Mary utters at the annunciation, when she says, how can I be pregnant, for I have not known relations with a man. That word ginosko can mean both knowing an idea or a fact, and also having intimate relationship that is open to new life. 

And the Lord seems to equate those two connotations: heaven, eternal life consists of knowing God, believing in Him, encountering Him as real—the source and foundation of reality in fact—and also knowing Him in intimate relationship. 

And that heavenly relationship can begin in this earthly life—as we are open to God’s revelation of Himself to us—through Christ. To know Christ is to know God is to begin new and eternal life.

May we continually seek to know God, this day, with minds and hearts open to his truth and his life, who is Jesus Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit among all Christians, and for all who are persecuted for the faith. For those who do not believe in God and for those who have fallen away from the Church.

For those priests of the diocese who celebrate their jubilees today with the Bishop, in gratitude for their service, and for continued blessings on their ministry. For the sanctification of all priests and an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood.

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 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 22 2023 - St. Rita of Cascia - A woman of peace

 At the 100th anniversary of her canonization in the year 2000, Pope St. John Paul II said of St. Rita that she was a woman who was “small in stature but great in holiness, who lived in humility and is now known throughout the world for her heroic Christian life as a wife, mother, widow and nun. Deeply rooted in the love of Christ, Rita found in her faith unshakeable strength to be a woman of peace in every situation. In her example of total abandonment to God, in her transparent simplicity and in her unflinching fidelity to the Gospel, we too can find sound direction for being authentic Christian witnesses at the dawn of the third millennium."

Born in central Italy in 1377, Rita desired at a young age to become a nun.  However, her parents had promised her in marriage despite her strongly expressed desire to enter religious life.  Sadly, her husband turned out to be abusive and unfaithful.  During her 18-year marriage Rita struggled to keep the family together and focused on raising her sons to know God.  

After 18 years of unhappy married life, her husband was killed in a brawl, and a short time later, both sons died as well of natural causes.  

Though deeply pained from this series of losses, Rita was now free to enter the religious life, yet she was rejected three times by the local Augustinian nuns of Cascia who typically only permitted virgins to enter their order. Eventually, she succeeded. 

Over the years, her prayerfulness and charity became legendary.  In fact, she meditated often on the passion of Christ, and when she developed a thorn-like wound on her forehead, people quickly associated it with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns.  

St. Rita suffered much, yet God brought great goodness and beauty and the sanctification of her soul through her sufferings.  Like St. Jude, she is known as a patron saint of difficult or impossible cases and six hundred years after her death, people still visit her tomb, seeking her prayerful intercession.  She is a also a patron of difficult marriages.

As we begin the final week of the easter season, we have this truly remarkable saint who shows us what life can look like when we allow Christ’s Paschal Mystery to manifest in our life. The grace of Christ’s Paschal Victory transformed her as she practiced christ-like patience and forgiveness, trust in divine providence, as she sought strength in prayer and contemplation of Christ’s passion..Easter grace enabled her who lost both husband and sons, drew her to become a bride of Christ and a spiritual mother to many, a woman of peace in every circumstance. May Christ's peace transform our lives as well, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Christians may grow in grace by uniting their sufferings to the Sufferings of Christ and know God’s presence with them in their sufferings.

For all those in difficult or abusive marriages, that the Lord will protect victims of abuse and bring healing and reconciliation where it is possible.

That all young people may come to value discipleship of Jesus Christ above all earthly pursuits, be preserved from sin, and grow in grace and holiness. For the newly ordained priests of the diocese of Cleveland, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.

For the consolation of all of the afflicted and for all those impossible cases which only the grace of God can remedy.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for all of the pour souls in purgatory…

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.

Ascension Sunday 2023 - Christ lives and reigns in power and majesty

 A few years ago, a Catholic missionary was preaching in the open square of a mostly Muslim village in North India. And as he finished preaching, a Muslim man approached him and said: "You must admit: we Muslims have one thing you Christians do not, and it is better than anything you have." The missionary smiled and said, "I should be pleased to hear what you think Muslims have and Christians do not." And so the Muslim went on, and said "You know, that when Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca, to the burial place of Muhammed, we have our founder’s coffin, his body to venerate to embolden us. But when you Christians go to Jerusalem, your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave."

The Missionary again smiled and replied, "Ah ha! But that's just it, and it makes all the difference. Mohammad, the founder of Islam, is dead, and he is in his coffin. But our Leader has risen from the dead and has ascended to the throne of heaven."

Some people these days say that all religions are the same. But the Feast of the Ascension celebrates one of the things that makes Christianity different from all the other religions in history. 

Most religions, of course, have a founder. Someone who was born, who lived, who taught, and started the religion, and who eventually died. A man named Zoroaster born in somewhere around the Iranian Peninsula around the year 1000 BC, compiled the ancient religious ideas stories of his day, mostly from the old polytheistic religions into a new monotheistic religious system containing a lot of very noble ideas. But, Zoraster died. He was buried. And now all his followers have is a memory, and some ancient texts.

Gautama Buddha was born in modern day Napal around 500 BC. He practiced meditation and asceticism, he taught and built a monastic order. And again, his religious system contains some very noble ideas. But, he died. And now all his followers have is a memory, and some ancient texts.

Muhammed was born around the year 570 AD in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. He was a cunning social and political leader and claimed to be divinely inspired in founding the religion of Islam. But he died, and is buried. And yes, his followers have a tomb and some ancient texts. Good for them. 

But Christianity is a bit different. Yes our founder was born, he gathered and taught disciples, and died. And, yes his followers continue to reflect upon and incorporate his teachings into our lives. But our founder was God Himself. And while he suffered death in the flesh, he also rose from the dead in the flesh. And not only did he rise, but he has Ascended, in the flesh, to throne of heaven where he lives and reigns now and forever. 

And in ascending to heaven, Jesus has not abandoned in his Church. He because he is in heaven, and not some geographical place, he is able to be present to his Church in all places and all times. Not simply his memory, but supersubstantially. In his Papal Audience a few years before his retirement, dear Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “Dear brothers and sisters, the Ascension does not point to Jesus’ absence, but tells us that he is alive in our midst in a new way. He is no longer in a specific place in the world as he was before the Ascension. He is now in the dominion of God, present in every space and time, close to each one of us.” And so we are never alone, simply with a memory, or even simply his example.

The Ascension means we are never alone, and that is something no other religion can claim about their founder. The followers of Zoroastrianism can’t invoke the assistance Zoraster to help them in their trials. He’s dead and powerless. The followers of the Buddha can call to mind his teachings, but they cannot know his immediate assistance. He’s dead and powerless. The followers of Islam, can imitate the example of Muhammed and read the book that he compiled, but he’s dead and powerless.

But Jesus Christ lives and reigns from his throne in heaven in majesty and power. And, through Divine Grace, he makes his dwelling in the thrones of our hearts. Not in a metaphorical way, like when we say, I carry my grandma in my heart wherever I go. That’s just a memory of grandma. Christ truly reigns in us. He is truly close to us. Our souls become an extension of heaven itself, when Christ dwells in us. 

I saw a sign outside of a protestant Church one time, it said, Jesus’ ascension means that he works from home from now on. And that’s true. He is at work from his heavenly throne and truly in our lives. He’s not just a memory, or a character in a fairy tale. Christ is alive and he reigns and works in His Church and through his faithful ones. The Church IS his body on earth through which God is really at work.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard St. Luke’s account of the Lord’s ascension: how the Lord ascended before the very eyes of his apostles. And St. Luke offered a very interesting detail. He tells us, “While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” As if to say, why are you just standing around. The Church isn’t supposed to just stand around, immobile, paralyzed. Don’t just stand there. It’s time to act, in order to allow Christ to act through you. It’s time to preach--to allow Christ to preach through you. It’s time to be the hands and feat and mouth of Christ. And his hands and feet and mouth are anything but immobile. 

A few years ago, Pope Francis reflected on this line from the acts of the apostles He said, “Christians who stay still and don’t go forward in their Christian lives, who don’t make the Beatitudes bloom in their lives, who don’t do Works of mercy… they are motionless. Excuse me for saying it,” the Pope said, “but they are like an (embalmed) mummy, a spiritual mummy. There are Christians who are ‘spiritual mummies,’ motionless.  They don’t do evil but they aren’t doing good.” 

Christians, rather, are to be on the move, using our hands and feet and lips to spread the kingdom, to console the sorrowing, to instruct the ignorant, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. 

Christians are to be so much more than spiritual mummies. The Lord said, I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.  Christ is alive and his life is to animate us and propel us and guide our hands and feet and fill us with the conviction and spiritual gifts for the building-up of the kingdom, but so often fearful to step forward, afraid of making a mistake, fearful of appearing too Christian. 

But Christ truly works, when we go forward, into the world, when we engage in the works of mercy, when we share the Gospel we strangers, when we console them in their afflictions. May we be attentive to those opportunities the Lord gives us to speak and act and console and heal and preach and teach in his name, that others may encounter Him through us for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

6th Week of Easter 2023 - Friday - "you will grieve, but your grief will become joy."

 These last few weeks of the easter season we’ve been reading from John chapters 13-17, Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper. And throughout these chapters, the Lord prepares his disciples for his passion and death on the cross, while also preparing them to take up their own crosses in the evangelizing mission.

The Lord explains in today’s passage that the Apostles experience will sometimes feel like the sufferings of childbirth. Now, none of the Apostles had ever experienced the pains of childbirth, themselves; but no doubt, they knew it to be one of the most intensely painful human experiences.

The Apostles would truly experience great suffering. They would see their Lord and Master crucified in what appeared to be ultimate defeat. Then they would experience the feeling of abandonment following the Lord’s Ascension. And then in their work for the spread of the Gospel around the world, we know they would undergo terrible sufferings for the sake of the Gospel. They would face persecution in nearly every corner of the earth. 

“You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices.” Not only will discipleship bring a cross, but you’ll have to carry that cross in the midst of a world that will appear to rejoice without the cross. The wicked will prosper while you will suffer for being Christian. You’ll agonize over practicing chastity while the world delights in promiscuity and perversion. You’ll fast while the world feasts. You’ll make less money, you’ll have less power, you’ll enjoy less fame for being Christian. The world will hate you, and mock you, and persecute you. 

 But, just as a woman is in anguish as she gives birth, the Lord explains, once the baby is born, the mother no longer remembers the pain but is filled with joy, the Church’s grief will pass away, and be transformed into joy over the new life experienced through Christ.

Many of our contemporaries are hellbent on trading their souls for pleasure, power, fame, and wealth. They hate the very thought of the cross. But, we are tasked to convince them, or at least invite them to consider, that It profiteth not a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul along the way. That following Jesus Christ will result in a joy that outweighs all of the pleasures of the world.

It would be a tough sell. But not only is Christ with us, but the Holy Spirit is producing tremendous fruits in the lives of those who follow Jesus. You don’t have to simply take our word for it. Look at the saints. Look at what happens when you trust Jesus. Look at what happens when you generously dispose your souls to growing in the grace of God. Look at what happens in the lives of those who take the Gospel seriously. They are transformed by grace. Look at how our grief is transformed into joy.

Today, by the way, begins the annual Pentecost Novena. Nine days of prayer perhaps corresponding to the nine months of pregnancy. Nine days of prayer praying for the divine life, the gifts of the spirit and the fruits of the spirit, to grow in us. 

Let us pray fervently these nine days and endeavor to follow the Lord more closely today, to persevere in carrying our crosses, and being transformed by grace and engaging in holy works, be the proof needed to convince the world to follow Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That through the preaching and teaching of the Church and all that she suffers, all people will come to recognize Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

That those charged with civil authority will show Christian compassion to the poor and marginalized, particularly for the safety and defense of the unborn.

For all Christian families: that the mercy, purity, and peace of Jesus will reign in their hearts and homes. 

That the Church may cooperate with God’s grace for a flowering of new spiritual life during this Pentecost Novena.

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 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 2023 - Wednesday - Meet people where they are

 Paul’s preaching in the Areopagus of Athens is a definitive moment in Paul’s evangelizing mission. 

The people of Athens were not jews, of course, nor were they atheists—they worshipped a multiplicity of gods. Paul calls them a “deeply religious people” for religious observance permeated every aspect of Athenian daily life. If you went to the marketplace, there was a little altar there at the entrance where you would make a sacrifice to Minerva, the goddess of commerce.  If you wanted a child, you made a sacrifice to Diana, goddess of fertility.  If you were going to war, you would make a sacrifice to Mars, god of war.

For the Athenians, if you wanted good health, protection, healthy babies, financial stability, you better keep the gods happy. In fact, in the first reading, we hear that the Greeks even had an altar to an unknown god, just in case they missed one.  

So Paul stands in the Areopagus, and gently but ardently tries to teach them about the one true God, responsible for creating and sustaining all things.  And you don’t have to go far to find him.  For in him we live and move and have our being. And in fact, the One True God became man. Of course he’s speaking about Jesus. And Paul, assures the Athenians Jesus provided confirmation of his message by his resurrection from the dead.  At the mention of the word ‘resurrection’, Paul’s audience is spontaneously divided into two camps.  Many people scoffed at him, but some were open to hearing more about this Resurrected Messiah.   

Paul certainly gives us a model for preaching to non-believers. Meet them where they are with the truth of the Gospel. Go out to them. Seek to respectfully understand what they value, their religious aspirations and practices and gods. Be respectful. But also demonstrate the fullness of truth of Christ. And invite them to consider it. You want proof about Christianity. Let me tell you about the proof: the saints, the miracles, the unity, the spiritual fruits, the deliverance from demons in Christ’s name, the endless works of charity inspired by the Gospel. Now some, like those in Athens will scoff, but some will be open to hearing more. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his apostles, “the Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth.”  The gift of the Spirit enables us to glorify God in our words and deeds, and to lead people to the Truth about Jesus. In fact, the Spirit leads us to people SO THAT we can lead them to truth. 

Don’t be afraid of those conversations with strangers. Take genuine interest in people—in their beliefs, their traditions. Be friendly. Learn their vocabulary and values. Meet them where they are. Again, we literally see Paul going into a place where sacrifice was offered to pagan Gods to speak to people about Jesus. That’s something for us to imitate. May the Holy Spirit who fills our lives, use us to lead others to the Truth of Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That all bishops, priests, catechists, and parents may be faithful in preaching and teaching the saving Gospel of Christ.

For an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit among all Christians, and for all who are persecuted for the faith. For those who do not believe in God and for those who have fallen away from the Church.

For all priests, that they may be ardent yet gentle preachers and faithful stewards of the sacred mysteries. For the sanctification of all priests: for the endurance to remain faithful to their calling amidst so many challenges, and for an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood.

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 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 2023 - Tuesday - Advocate for Christ

 The Gospel of John’s account of the Last Supper is quite different from the other Gospels. For one, St. John omits the institution of the Eucharist and includes the washing of the Apostles’ feet.  John’s Last Supper is also a much longer text, spanning several chapters compared to just a few verses in the other Gospels. The bulk of those chapters consists of one scholars call the Lord’s Farewell Discourse in which Jesus delivers one of the most moving, theologically rich, and mystical passages in the whole New Testament. 

We fittingly read from the Farewell Discourse as we near Pentecost, for in that passage, the Lord speaks about how upon his departure to the Father, the Holy Spirit will be sent upon the Church, ushering in a brand-new chapter in God’s Saving plan in which the world will become convicted for the Gospel. 

And in this announcement of the Spirit’s coming, the Lord Jesus uses a fascinating title for the Spirit, the Jesus calls him, in Greek, the parakletos, the paraclete—a word having legal connotations. The word is even translated as Advocate, in our English translation, a title given to lawyers who defend their clients. 

And that’s precisely one of the tasks the Holy Spirit is sent to do. He acts as a sort of defense attorney, to prove the case for Jesus Christ. The Paraclete throughout history defends Christ’s claim to be God, to be the Messiah, to be the Savior. He advocates for Christ and for belief in Christ. And his work: the case for Christ, takes place on the world stage in every age until the Lord’s return. And the evidence with which the Spirit uses to prove Christ’s case, is us, the Church.

You want 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.

Every Christian is to be a piece of evidence in the Spirit’s case that the world might believe. The words and works he inspires, the spiritual fruit he cultivates, are all testimony to convince and convict the world that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That all bishops, priests, catechists, and parents may be faithful in preaching and teaching the saving Gospel of Christ.

For an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit among all Christians, and for all who are persecuted for the faith. For those who do not believe in God and for those who have fallen away from the Church.

For all priests, that they may be ardent yet gentle preachers and faithful stewards of the sacred mysteries. For the sanctification of all priests: for the endurance to remain faithful to their calling amidst so many challenges, and for an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood.

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 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 15 2023 - St. Isidore the Farmer - Pray without ceasing

 At the beginning of this month on May 1, we celebrated the feast of Saint Joseph the worker.  Today we celebrate the feast of another laborer, a farmer. 

Not to be confused with Saint Isidore of Seville, Isidore the Farmer was born in Madrid, Spain in 1070.  He spent his whole life working as a farm laborer.  He married a girl as poor and holy as himself, and after their first and only son died in infancy, they lived the rest of their married life in perfect continence in imitation of the Holy Family.  His wife Maria de la Cabeza is also a canonized saint.

This holy couple also practiced great generosity towards the poor despite their limited circumstances.  The poor would often follow Isidore home from the farm, and would enjoy greater portions of food than Isidore and his wife.

Despite his poverty, his intense labors, and his life of charity, Isidore was a man of intense prayer. He would attend Mass daily, and all day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God.  He made his day an offering to God in a simple, but heroic manner.  As he plowed the field and planted seeds in the soil, Isidore offered simple prayers for others.  

St. Isidore is a wonderful model of prayer. As we sit at our desk, walk or drive from one place to another, as we work in the kitchen, garden or garage, we can call to mind the presence of God. I’m reminded of a family friend from my hometown, who told me that as he worked his vineyard, he would sometimes drop to his knees and thank God for the wonderful gift of creation; or how he prayed as he tended his vines, and was then able to rightly thank God as he drank the fruit of his labors. 

Routine work can be turned into a beautiful prayer to God by saying a prayer with each piece of clothing folded, or each potato peeled, or praying the rosary while driving. In this way, we can grow in experience of God’s presence with us and to commune with Him and to “pray without ceasing”, as St. Paul exhorts Christians to do.

God calls farmers to be saints, as he calls doctors, teachers, retirees, priests, and the unemployed. By the heavenly intercession and holy example of St. Isidore, may we seek to make the whole of our day, our work and our rest, an offering to God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For ever deeper faithfulness in following the commandments of Christ and for the grace to love those who are difficult to love. We pray to the Lord.

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

That those chosen to represent us in government will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the welfare of the most vulnerable. 

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

For all souls who await the resurrection, 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.

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 Sunday of Easter 2023 - Selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love (Mother's Day)

 

Throughout the Easter season, we read each sunday from the Gospel of John. Six weeks into Easter now,  we’ve read St. John’s account of the Risen Lord appearing in the locked room, and showing the signs of his crucifixion—signs of his love—to the apostles. We then read the risen Lord’s appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, setting their hearts on fire with love as he explained the scriptures and broke the bread. We then read St. John’s account of the Lord’s teaching that he is the good shepherd who lovingly lays down his life for his sheep. Do you see a theme emerging? Love overflows throughout the easter season.

Today’s Gospel was another beautiful message from St. John’s gospel about Love. At the Last Supper, St. John reports over and over the Lord Jesus teaching his disciples that their lives must be characterized by love, we must practice love. Love of God. Love of Neighbor. Love for your fellow Christian. Love for your enemies.  

The Gospel of John is referred to sometimes as the Gospel of Love, for John’s Gospel finds Jesus teaching about love, speaking about love, commanding his disciples to love.  He shows us signs of love, he sets hearts on fire with love, he lays down his life in love. This is how they will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. 

St. John stresses throughout his Gospel that Jesus’ actions are manifestations of God’s love for us. Jesus makes known the love of God. Jesus himself tells us that he loves us. “I love you” are on the very lips of Jesus himself: “as the Father loves me, so I love you.” 

Augustine said, “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” God’s love is made known by the hands of Jesus, the feet of Jesus, the eyes of Jesus, the ears of Jesus. And our hands, and feet, and eyes, and ears are to become instruments of God’s love as well, as we hand our lives more and more over to the call to “love one another”. 

In St. John’s original Greek version of today’s Gospel, the word translated as “love” is the word agape, which you’ve likely heard is one of a number of words the Greek’s used for love. Agape is not simply brotherly affection, or even the love between really good friends. It is more than the loving loyalty the patriot has toward his country or native land, nor is it the romantic, emotion-driven passion of lovers that ebbs and flows depending on mood. Rather, agape is the highest form of love: selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional. 

And the Lord says, that’s the type of love we are to cultivate toward God and toward our fellow man and Christians. Selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. For this is the love that God has toward us. God is love, St. John tells us.

Today, we celebrate Mother’s Day, the beautiful loving souls of our mothers. And for many of us, our mothers are our first real encounter with love, our frame of reference for love that is selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional. Our mothers loved us in the womb; they loved us as we cried to be fed and changed as infants. They lovingly tucked us in and sang us lullabies and calmed our fears when nightmares disturbed our sleep. They showed us that love is patient and love is kind, when as children we surely pushed the limits of patience and kindness. Our mothers lovingly corrected us when were selfish and misbehaved and required motherly discipline. 

Our mothers showed us that love comes in many forms: love comforts, it feeds, it corrects, it weeps with those who weep, it nurtures, it teaches, it embraces hard days and sleepless nights.

If human love is always a reflection of God’s love, then our mother’s love is one of the most clearest and brightest reflections. One might say that God’s love for us and a mother’s love for her children are intricately woven. Mothers show us what love looks like. 

God gave us mothers to love us, so that we might be able to grasp his infinite love for us, and how we are to love Him and love one another. Our mothers are our first teachers that life is better when we practice love. 

Love of God is the key to following all of the commandments. The Lord says in the Gospel today: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them, is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Why should we follow the commandments and spend ourselves in service and seek to forgive and give to the poor? Because we love God and want to please God.  God is supremely loveable and therefore His commandments supremely right and just.

The love of God transforms us from the inside out. Love of God enables us to suffer wrongdoing patiently, to be kind to those who slander or mock us. Love enables us to overcome jealousy, pride, rudeness, and every earthly attachment. It enables us to bear all things,  believe all that the Church teaches, hope in the promises of Christ, and endure every trial. Love never fails.

The saints show us what agape-love is capable of doing. Agape turns selfish troubadours like St. Francis into great champions of love. It makes simple peasants into doctors of the Church who counsel kings. It enables us to be delivered from resentments and hurts from the past. It turns fishermen into globe-traversing preacher-martyrs.

It makes ordinary people like us into extraordinary instruments of grace for the kingdom. It makes us not just hearers of the word, but doers of the word.

Pope Benedict, in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, writes: “Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world.

Our world is in desperate need of Christians bringing the light of God into the dark corners of society. Just this morning, I saw an alert, that there were three homicides in Cleveland in the last twelve hours. We can be certain, that the perpetrators of these crimes have allowed loveless darkness to fill their lives. This city is in desperate need of Christians bearing the light of the love of God. No one else will do it. No one else has been tasked to do it, but us.

May 09 - St. Louise de Marillac - Patroness of Social Workers

 After the death of her husband in 1625, Louise de Marillac at the age of 34, discerned a calling to devote the rest of her life to caring for the sick and poor alongside the holy priest, St. Vincent de Paul.

St. Louise was intelligent, self-effacing, and possessed a supernatural endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. Her rented home in Paris became a training center for other women who discerned a call to serve the sick and poor. 

The number of women who joined her grew rapidly and soon there was the need for a so-called “rule of life.” Louise herself, under the guidance of St. Vincent, composed the rule for the Daughters of Charity. Their dress was to be that of the peasant women. Of this community, St. Vincent wrote: “Your convent will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital.”

At the time of her death on March 15, 1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France.

Originally her feast day was March 15, the anniversary of her death, but in 2016 Rome decreed that her feast day be changed to today, May 9, the anniversary of her beatification by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.

Her holy life certainly serves as an inspiration to the members of our St. Vincent de Paul societies, and to all of us. We all do well to discern in what ways we can bring the goodness and compassion and charity of God to the sick, poor, and downtrodden of our own native places. How we are called to organize with other people of good will, to carry out the holy work of God.

Service to the poor is often a daunting work—their needs are so great, their obstacles so seemingly insurmountable. But writing to one of her sister Daughters of Charity about their often difficult work, she said, “I know, my dear Sister, that it is very difficult for us to carry out our responsibilities well, but God who has given them to us will not deny us His grace. Let us humble ourselves profoundly so as to obtain it. This we can do by manifesting holy distrust of ourselves and great confidence in His goodness, which will lead us to ask Him quite simply what He wants us to do.”

Through the intercession of St. Louise de Marillac, may we all humble ourselves profoundly in order to receive the grace needed for all of our great responsibilities, in our daily lives, in our service of the poor, in the mission of the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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That all Christians may grow in charitable attentiveness to the needs of the poor in our midst.

That all those searching and longing for Christ may find him through the witness of His Holy Church.

That the work and ministry of all Vincentian organizations and charitable institutions may bear fruit for the spread of the Gospel.

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

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

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

4th Sunday after the Easter Octave (EF) 2023 - Coronations and Noble Speech

Yesterday, in London, a new monarch of Britain was crowned: King Charles III. You may have watched his coronation ceremony. 

I read that breaking a bit with tradition, the King offered a prayer, out loud, as part of the ceremony: 

Listen to the words of the King’s prayer. They are really quite nice. Charles prayed: “God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

I share with you this prayer of the king of Britain because this month we think about another coronation, not of an earthly king, but our heavenly queen. 

King Charles prayed to be filled with grace, well Our Queen has been filled with grace by God from the moment of her conception. King Charles prayed to be able to serve God. Our Queen is the handmaid of the Lord. King Charles prayed for profound knowledge of God’s Truth; Our Queen possessed this knowledge, after all, she carried him in her womb and nursed Him at her breast. King Charles prayed to be blessing to all people; Our Queen is Most Blessed among women, mother of the Church, model of gentleness.

And she is the queen mother of a nation of royal priests, not a geographical nation, but a spiritual one, the Church. She is the queen mother of that “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own” for He is called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Christians are royalty in the kingdom of heaven. 

Our Queen Mother is the noble example the Church and the world most desperately needs. She is the model of gentleness, purity, self-control, and selflessness. She shows us what life looks like what we allow ourselves to be animated by Christ, when we cooperate with the Holy Will of God.

St. James in our epistle today says that Christians need to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Certainly, our queen models those characteristics. Like her, we are to be “quick to hear” both God’s word as well as the cries of our neighbor. 

She was quick to hear the message of the archangel, and quick to hear the needs of her cousin elizabeth, who conceived in her old age.

We live in an age where we are tempted to do just the opposite, don’t we. It’s almost a national vice to be quick to anger. The internet certainly doesn’t help. Anger, outrage, rash judgment, bombastic attention seeking, gossip, and shaming. We need to be very careful when using social media, to be slow to speak, slow to wrath, responsible in what we share, especially in public forums. Our speech needs to remain noble--whatever the forum. Lest we cause division or scandal.

On this fourth Sunday after Easter, the Gospel is taken from a portion of the Lord’s Last Supper farewell discourse. The Lord’s announces that he will return to the Father in order that the Holy Spirit may descend upon the Church.

Our Lady was present at Pentecost, she prayed with the Church, with the apostles, that they would be filled with the Spirit of Truth in their mission. During this month leading up to our celebration of Pentecost, we do well to invoke our Lady, to honor her as Our Queen, our model, our mediatrix, that we may be open to the manifold gifts of Pentecost the Lord wishes to bestow upon our church.

To our Queen, we recommend ourselves and the entire Body of Christ. May she guide and assist our Holy Father and our Bishops in their apostolic mission, and aid all who help them in their work. May she  Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope and love! May she remember us in all of our trials, and help us to overcome the malice of evil which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today. May she help deliver us from disdain and negligence of the commandments of God, and make us aware of the needs of the poor in our midst. May she help nurture in us the fruits of the spirit, and make us faithful in our Gospel mission, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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 A reading from the epistle of St. James

Dearly beloved, all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.

A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. John

Jesus said to his disciples, But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

5th Sunday of Easter 2023 - Jesus is the Way

 

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  Imagine the apostles hearing these words for the first time. 

For centuries, the apostles and their Jewish ancestors had been praying to God in the psalms “Teach me your way, O Lord” and here Jesus was saying, “I am the way.” They like their ancestors had been imploring God in their daily and weekly prayers, “Teach me your decrees” that “I may walk in your truth,” and here Jesus was saying, “I am the Truth.” They had been begging God in times of difficulty and oppression, “Show me the path of life,” and here Jesus was claiming, “I am the Life.” 

In this profound declaration, Jesus declared to the apostles to be the answer to their deepest and most insistent prayers. 

But these desires and prayers were not exclusively Jewish, of course. They point to the deepest religious desires and needs of every human soul.

I’d like to focus today on that first pronouncement, where Jesus says, “I am the Way.” He is the answer to our desire to be rescued from being lost. Probably every single one of us has had the experience of being lost. I used to wander off and get lost in big department stores all the time as a kid, and the front desk would have to page my mother: “Would Charmaine Estabrook please come to the front desk. Your child is lost.”

We hate getting lost. Many of us carry around sophisticated Global Positioning Devices and satellite-connected maps with us wherever we go at this point. Being lost can be terrifying. It’s destabilizing. Many people avoid traveling because being in strange places with strange people is unsettling. 

Sometimes we even reach points in our life where we feel lost in an existential sense. The loss of a job, the death of a spouse, a financial blunder or setback, leads us to question, “what do I do now?” Seniors in high school often feel lost amidst choices about their future: do I go to college, to get a job, do I join military service, or volunteer with the peace corp, or do some missionary work. They stand lost at a crossroads.

Sometimes we feel lost when faced with an ethical or moral decision: what is the right thing to do? This question is at the heart of so many of our decisions. What is the right thing to do? What is the right thing to do to be happy. What is the right thing to extend my health. What is the right thing to do with my money, with my time? 

For thousands of years, in nearly every culture, we’ve seen humans asking this question regarding their ultimate destination. If I want to live forever, if I want to enjoy the best possible afterlife, if I want to avoid eternal punishment, if I want to live in a way in which I can rejoin my ancestors? What is the way to the best possible outcome of my existence? 

And as Christians, we believe we have the answer to that question. Jesus is The Way. What is the best way to live. Look at Him, follow Him, listen to Him, learn from Him. What is the way to endure your trials: Jesus Christ. What is the way to live forever and be happy in eternity? Jesus Christ.

Now, many people don’t believe this simple truth. They think they can be happy without him.  But let’s be honest, there are a lot of people, who are settling for so much less than what they are capable of, and what God wants for them. And they are exhausted, unhappy, and unfulfilled because of their lack of faith. 

Christians proudly profess that we should not settle for anything less than the best way—the only way: Jesus Christ. We are lost without Him. And if you meet someone who has dismissed Jesus, or who downplays the importance of following Jesus. They are lost. They are wandering in darkness. They are settling for less. And they are likely deluded in the belief that they are okay without Jesus. They don’t need him, not really. 

Why do people choose not to follow Jesus? His Way is not always easy, it’s certainly not popular. It’s a blow to one’s ego to admit you need God. Americans especially, we like to pretend we are so self-reliant, that we can build a life on our own. We don’t need anyone telling us how to live, thank you very much. God, we wrongly believe is an affront to our freedom. 

But we know that not every use of our human freedom leads to happiness, not every avenue leads to human flourishing. Just like at the data. Look on the nightly news or the cleveland west side police blotter. Look at what happens when God is replaced with drugs, with promiscuity, with the pursuit of internet celebrity. A life centered on the false gods of the world will always result in exhaustion and unhappiness. But when we seek to follow Jesus in all the multiple facets of our lives, we become grounded in reality because He is the author of reality, we become grounded in Truth because he is the truth, we walk along the way of righteousness because He IS righteousness itself. 

St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “If you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way. If you are looking for a goal, hold fast to Christ, because he himself is the truth, where we desire to be…If you are looking for a resting place, hold fast to Christ, because he himself is the life. Therefore hold fast to Christ if you wish to be safe. You will not be able to go astray, because he is the way. He who remains with him does not wander in trackless places; he is on the right way. Moreover he cannot be deceived, because he is the truth, and he teaches every truth. And he says: For this I was born and for this I have come, to bear witness to the truth. Nor can he be disturbed, because he is both life and the giver of life. For he says: I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly”

During the easter season, Christians seek to follow Jesus more deeply, with more seriousness, conviction, and courage. And when we do Jesus becomes evident in our lives--in our speech, works, prayer life, gentleness, joy, and charity. May we follow Jesus The Way with all of our minds and hearts, and draw others along with us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Week of Easter 2023 - Friday - Let not your hearts be troubled

 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus gave these words to us on the night before he died for us. He uttered these words knowing what would happen in the following few hours on Good Friday: his disciples would see him arrested, mocked, tortured, crucified, killed and buried.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled” as you witness these things. 

So often our hearts are filled with all types of troubles and concerns. Anxieties about the future of our nation, about the future of our parish, or the Church. Uncertainties about future employment and financial stability. Concerns regarding our physical health. Apprehensions perhaps about a certain vocational path God is slowly revealing before us. Jesus knows that we are susceptible to this emotional and spiritual state.

This is not the only time Jesus speaks about our troubled hearts. On the road to Emmaus, the Lord asks the disciples why they were troubled and why they had allowed doubts to arise in their hearts. The Lord also diagnoses Martha’s anxious heart: Martha, Martha, you are anxious about many things, but only one things is necessary. 

Interestingly, in the Greek, the word for “troubled” is the same word St. John uses to describe the pool of Bethesda. It is also the word St. Luke uses in Acts to describe the Jews who were stirring up the crowds into antagonism toward St. Paul’s preaching in Thessolonica. 

Our hearts can become so stirred-up that we become irrational, overwhelmed, unable to discern the truth because of our agitation. And Jesus says, stop it. Stop working yourself into a tizzy whenever you experience hardships. Stop allowing your worldly cares to keep you from focusing on matters of faith. Stop allowing worldly people to stir you up into such a frenzy you lose sight over what matters. I think of the flurry of voices on the internet, speaking of matters of politics and the church, that stir people into a real unhealthy anxiety. 

So, the Lord diagnoses the sickness, but then provides the remedy. 

“Have faith in me” the Lord commands. Faith which is oriented toward eternity helps us see all of our earthly issues in perspective. 

Don’t let your hearts be troubled on Good Friday, for Easter Sunday will come. Don’t let your hearts be troubled when you are persecuted, for Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, for their reward will be great in heaven. Don’t let your hearts be troubled by the fact you will be mocked and misunderstood, when the powers of hell seem poised against you, don’t be afraid, I’m with you.

Faith enabled Paul and Barnabas in our first reading, to embrace the hardship of evangelization: the anxiety of unknown places & unknown peoples, physical dangers, mental exhaustion—all of it is worth it, because when our earthly labors and earthly sufferings are done for God, we will reap eternal reward.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. These words of the Lord Jesus are not a suggestion, but a command—for his disciples and for all of us.  We are to view all of our earthly sufferings through the eyes of faith, that this world is but a preparation for the next. We are to have untroubled hearts when we face our own serious illnesses, when we see loved ones pass away, when earthly minded-leaders persecute us, when enemies of the Gospel conspire against us, when we are called upon to spread the Gospel to unknown people in unknown lands for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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

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.

For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ and his tender love for sinners and for the poor.

For members of Christ’s flock who have wandered far from the Church: for the desire and will to return to the Sacraments; for deliverance from all spiritual evils and an increase in virtue for the faithful. 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.

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

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

May 2 2023 - St. Athanasius - God is accessible through Christ

 Pope Benedict XVI summarized the life of St. Athanasius, whose feast we celebrate today, by saying, “The fundamental idea of Athanasius’ [life] was precisely that God is accessible. … It is through our communion with Christ that we can truly be united to God. He has really become ‘God-with-us.'” 

We might take this fundamental truth of our faith for granted today, but during the times in which St. Athanasius lived, it was not universally acknowledged—that Jesus Christ is truly and fully God.

The first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 was convoked to deal with the teachings of the Egyptian priest named Arius who was claiming that Jesus, as Pope Benedict summarized the position, “was not a true God but a created God, a creature ‘halfway’ between God and man who hence remained forever inaccessible to us.” 

The brilliant Athanasius, still a deacon at the time, helped lead the charge against Arius’ teaching, which he persuaded the Council to condemn. But even with the heresy of Arianism condemned, their false theological ideas were not entirely extinguished. And after Nicaea, the arians gained the upper hand in civil and Church politics—including arian bishops, priests, and emperors. 

The Arians maneuvered to have St. Athanasius, now a bishop, exiled from his diocese—5 times in fact. 17 of his 45 years as Patriarch of Alexandria he spent in exile. 

But Bishop Athanasius continued to teach the fullness of truth about Christ’s Incarnation. As the Lord himself taught in today’s Gospel, “The Father and I are one”. 

Each week, we profess the dogma rightly taught and suffered for by St. Athanasius: that the Son is consubstantial with the Father.

Through Christ, God has truly made himself accessible to us. God didn’t come just symbolically in Jesus, he really came.  God really came in search of the straying sheep.  Man can really find his way to God by coming to Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. In fact, no one comes to the Father, except through Him. 

Jesus is divine.  If he were not really God, we are not really saved by his death and resurrection.

Even though Arianism was condemned by Nicaea and many times afterwards, still many of our contemporaries struggle with this heresy.  It is nearly impossible to prove that Jesus didn’t exist. Even the atheist has to acknowledge the historicity of the Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, many, even some claiming to be Christian, will claim that Jesus was not God, that he was just a holy man, a preacher, a revolutionary, or an enlightened individual with some ideas worth incorporating into one’s life. 

So may St. Athanasius lend us prudence, wisdom, knowledge, patience, and courage in teaching the fullness of faith, that unbelievers and believers as well, may draw near to God who has made himself accessible in Christ, and come to enjoy eternal life through Him, 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 the shepherds of our souls, the pope, bishops, and clergy, that grounded firmly in the Truth of the Gospel, they will assist the faithful in proclaiming the Truth with humility and conviction.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

That our parish may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

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

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

May 1 2023 - St. Joseph the Worker - Open to the mystery

 For many years, the Soviet Union and other Communist countries held massive rallies and marches on the first day of May, which they called May Day,  to celebrate the contribution of workers to the Communist State. “Celebrating the dignity of work”, sounds like a noble ideal.  In fact, in our own country, we celebrate Labor Day on the 1st Monday of September, as a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII instituted this feast of St. Joseph the Worker, as a sort of liturgical labor day. And, he did so, partially, to counter Communist error. Remember, that Communism is essentially atheistic. For the Communist, the highest good is not to serve God, but to serve the state. The Communist labors under the error that human effort can create a utopia on earth, and that God is neither necessary for human flourishing or for eternal life.

According to Communism, the individual is a mere cog in the wheel for the prosperity of the collective, rather than a unique being created in the Creator’s image.

So, when Pope Pius XII instituted today’s feast in 1955, he wished to remind the world that the good of the individual and the good of a society are inseparable from God—that our human labors are to serve God, point to God, and reflect God’s goodness. As Psalm 127 says, unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.  In other words, when our work or any of our endeavors are merely self-serving, we are wasting our time.

But Pope Pius didn’t just call today Holy Labor Day. Rather, he gave us the example of a holy laborer to celebrate, contemplate, and imitate, St. Joseph.

In the daily work of his carpenter’s shop, Joseph labored mindful of God and his vocation and husband and father. He labored with patience, took joy in producing things of value, knowing that his sweat and effort would enable him to provide for his family through an honest living. Joseph’s sturdy, quiet, contemplative, providential, and faithful image is an example for the type of man we should strive to become. 

 Some 50 years after the institution of today’s Feast, Pope Benedict wrote, “Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life (Pope Benedict XVI).”

In other words, Joseph shows us the attitude and orientation we should possess in all of our earthly endeavors. “Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.  Be mindful of God and the reasons why you are doing what you are doing. Slow down and be diligent, focused, find joy in hard work, grateful to God for the time you’ve been given to produce something of value, that put food in people’s bellies and roofs over their heads. 

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That the Holy Catholic Church, entrusted to the protection of Saint Joseph, may continue to labor faithfully for the salvation of souls.

That our young people, especially those at risk of disengaging from society, may come to discover the fulfillment found in work and self-sacrifice.

For the unemployed and underemployed, and that all who work may receive a just reward for their labors.

That St. Joseph patron of the dying may help all those who will die today to know repentance of their sins and the grace of a peaceful death.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, those who have supported us by their work, those who fought and died for our freedom, for all of the souls in purgatory and for X, for whom this mass is offered.

Gracious Father, you created us in your divine image, hear our prayers, and grant us the help we need to work always for your Holy Will, through Christ Our Lord.  

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A reading from the epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians

Brethren: Over all these things put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one Body. And be thankful. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ.

A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

At that time, Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

4th Sunday of Easter 2023 - Good Shepherd Vocation Story

 

During Holy Week, before the Chrism Mass at which the Holy Oils are blessed for the year, the priests of the diocese gather together with the bishop for an afternoon of prayer and fraternity and to hear a spiritual talk. This year, Fr. Eric Garris, the new vocation director for the diocese spoke on the importance of priests sharing their vocation stories. And Fr. Garris recommended that this weekend, on Good Shepherd Sunday, that the priests of the diocese share our vocation stories at Mass. Since, that is something I haven’t really done here in my four and a half years as pastor, I’d like to take Fr. Garris up on that invitation.

I grew up in the furtherst northeastern edge of the Cleveland Diocese in Madison, Ohio. I attended public school from kindergarten through my senior year of high school, as about half of the seminarians do these days.  From very early on, I would help out in the family business. My family ran a Party Center, DeRubertis Party center out in Madison. So I grew up working alongside cousins and aunts and uncles, and of course my mom, dad, and sister, very hard workers, all of them. 

I attended PSR at my home parish, Immaculate Conception in Madison, and was an altar boy from fourth grade to eighth grade. My parents were not very active Catholics. It was my grandparents who would bring me to Mass. I can’t imagine how I’d be a priest today, had my grandparents not gone out of their way to pick me up and bring me to mass every week, promising me breakfast after church didn’t hurt in getting me there. So never underestimate the role that grandparents have in sewing seeds of faith in their grandchildren.

In high school, I enjoyed hanging out with friends, I was in the computer club, tennis team, chess team, math team, show choir, jazz choir and was very involved in the drama club, performing in plays and musicals. I also acted at several local theaters. Having very little support from my parents, my faith drifted quite substantially during high school. I quit PSR before receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation and quit attending mass and really stopped praying. I described myself as an atheist, debated and even mocked people who were Christians. So I certainly strayed from God in those years, but God was working behind the scenes to bring me home.

Out of the several colleges to which I applied, it was John Carroll University which awarded me with the most significant academic scholarship. So, I enrolled at John Carroll where I planned on majoring in Mathematics.  

During that first semester, my cousin asked me to be the godfather for her new baby. Now there were several problems there. Firstly, I had never received the Sacrament of Confirmation, so I didn’t even qualify to be a godparent in the Catholic Church. Secondly, after four years of extremely secular public education, I didn’t even know if I believed in Catholicism at that point. So, I was honest with my cousin. I made her a deal. I said, I would attend Confirmation classes with an open mind and start going to church again, but if I could not embrace Catholicism, then she would have to find another godparent for her child.

Well, it only took one or two sessions of the faith being presented in a clear articulate way by Fr. Luigi Miola, pastor out in Madison at the time, that I fell in love with the faith again, so much so that I began to seriously consider what God was calling me to do with my life and how I could best serve Him. Fr. Miola encouraged me to visit the seminary, and I attended a vocation program at Borromeo seminary on Pentecost weekend. I then raced home to Madison that very same weekend to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. And the week after that, I proudly stoodd up at the baptismal font as godfather for my cousin’s baby, who is now 21 years old.

At that vocation weekend on Pentecost Sunday, things became pretty clear. I remember kneeling down in the seminary chapel—Resurrection chapel and praying, “Lord, I think I am here for a reason. If you want me to be a priest I will be a priest, if you want me to be a monk or a hermit, I will be a monk or a hermit. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Well, God spoke in a number of ways that weekend. He spoke particularly in the example of the seminarians I met that weekend. Here were young men: smart, funny, devout, and personable who loved the Church and loved God enough to give their lives in celibate priestly service. If they were willing, why couldn’t I? I wouldn’t be alone. I’d have brothers who shared my values and ideals—the highest ideal I could think of: to give one’s life for the glory of God and salvation of souls. Is there anything more important?

And God also spoke as in the examples of the priests I’d known: Priests who celebrated beautiful masses. Priests who delivered stirring, inspirational and thought-provoking and challenging sermons. Priests who offered the consoling words of mercy in the confessional. Priests who were shepherds for their parishes and equipping the members of their flocks to fight off the wolves of this dark and fallen world. I had encountered some wolves, and fallen prey to their teeth, after all. But the good shepherd had come to my rescue through these good faithful men. 

So, I entered Borromeo Seminary that Fall in 2001 as a college sophomore. Some young men struggle in their discernment of the priestly calling even after entering seminary, but my discernment was fairly “easy”. Some guys really struggle with the idea of celibacy. Now, I had girlfriends in high school and college freshmen year. I had an inkling that getting married and starting a family could lead to a happy fulfilling life, and we need holy families to carry out the mission of the Church. But, again it didn’t take but a few months to be fairly certain, that God was inviting me to holy celibacy, and he would give me the graces to live out of that call. 

During my seminary years I was able to serve at Cuyahoga Country Jail with Fr. Neil Walters, Mary Mount Hospital with Fr. Joe O’Donnell, and Holy Redeemer Parish in Collinwood with Fr. Marty Polito.  I interned at Holy Trinity Parish in Avon with Fr. John Misenko, worked with adolescents struggling with chemical dependency at New Directions Treatment Facility in Pepper Pike, and served as a transitional deacon at Holy Cross Parish (now Our Lady of the Lakes Parish) in Euclid with Father John McNulty and Fr. Jack Jenkins God rest his soul.  What do these priests have in common? Not much, except they are holy priests and desire to serve the Church with their lives.

I enjoyed my years in seminary, (and what a blessing to have our own seminary in the diocese!), and formed some of the most important friendships of my life with the men I now call my brother priests. I was ordained by Bishop Richard Lennon on May 16, 2009 along with Fr. Anthony Suso, now pastor of St. Columbkille in Parma, Fr. Matthew Pfeiffer, now pastor of St. Paul’s in Akron, Fr. Sean Ralph, rector of the Cathedral, and Fr. Christopher Trenta, who Bishop Lennon sent to study liturgy in Rome, who is now back home in Cleveland, and teaching at the seminary. 

My life could have turned out very differently, had it not been for faithful Catholics living their faith, Catholics like YOU: My grandparents who brought me to mass every week, my Aunt who would pick me up from John Carroll and bring me back home to Madison so could attend Confirmation classes; my pastor, Fr. Miola for his clear and faithful teaching...I don't think I would have been convinced by watered-down theology, even back then; the priests and seminarians who witnessed to their love of the priesthood; and, yes, it’s hard for me to say, even the Jesuits at John Carroll. As I was rediscovering my faith, it was a Jesuit Priest, Father Joseph Schell, may he rest in peace, who helped me develop a personal prayer life with the exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and encouraged me attend silent retreats.

I had very very secular anti-Catholic friends who thought I was crazy for going back to the Church, who began to look at me almost as an enemy after committing to the truth of the Catholic faith. But, once you realize that the Catholic faith is true, you are forever changed by that realization.

So, again, never underestimate the power of sharing your faith with non-practicing and fallen away Catholics...I know...I was one! or those who do not seem as committed to the faith as you are. The Good Shepherd sought out lost sheep, he went to the places where sinners ate, meeting them where they are with the truth of the Gospel, and we must do the same.

So, that’s part one of the vocation story: from altar boy to atheist to seminarian and priest. Part two: the first fourteen years of priestly service, will have to come at another time. 

Please pray for vocations, that young men will hear the Lord’s call to discern a priestly vocation. We will need priests until the end of time, so pray that the Good Shepherd will inspire young men to follow in his footsteps. And consider how the Good Shepherd might be calling you to reach out to those nephews, nieces, and grandchildren who have drifted away. My grandparents promised me breakfast after church: the promise of hashbrowns, toast and jelly, bacon and sausage links is all that it took. Bribe them with food. Get them to Church. It’ll change their lives. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.