Good Friday 2026 - Press the Cross to your heart

 There was a young boy, about 8 years old, who liked to have his own way, and would become very angry anytime his will would be contradicted.  He would talk back to his parents and teachers, fight with his brothers and schoolmates. He would be disciplined in school and at home, but nothing seemed to alter his behavior or attitude, and his parents began to despair.

One day, there was an unexpected change.  His selfishness seemed to entirely disappear; he became one of the most obedient and gentle children.  His parents began to wonder about this change of behavior, and then they noticed that from time to time, the boy would put his hand to his chest, and press something under his shirt close to his heart.  

The boy’s father asked what he was doing.  The boy said, just something grandpa gave me to help me.  The boy took out a crucifix which hung from a thin chain which he had been wearing underneath his shirt.  “When I am angry that I’m not getting my way, I press this image to my heart, I think of what Jesus suffered, and then I find it easy to be good.”  

Today we press the cross to our hearts.  

An eastern orthodox saint named St. Symeon the Theologian who was a monk in the 11th century wrote, “The only way to protect oneself against the devil is by constant remembrance of God: this remembrance must be imprinted in the heart by the power of the Cross, thus rendering the mind firm and unyielding”.

Today, we press the cross to our hearts, that its power might be imprinted there—the power of self-emptying love. When the Cross is pressed to the heart, it teaches us how God loves us, and it teaches us how to endure trial, temptation, and suffering. The devil tempts us toward pride, resentment, despair, and self-will. The Cross teaches us humility, forgiveness, hope, and surrender to the Father.

We venerate the cross today in some outward sign of devotion, so that we may venerate it every day in our actions, in our attitudes, in our speech. Self-emptying love is to mark everything we do, because Jesus self-emptying love has marked us. 

We press the cross to our hearts because we have been pressed to God’s heart, by God himself. In the Passion of the Lord, we see just how near God has drawn to us. He has not loved us from a safe distance. He has entered into our suffering, our betrayal, our loneliness, our fear, even into death itself. The Cross is the proof that there is no human misery Jesus has refused to touch, no sinner is unwilling to seek.

Today we offer solemn intercessions on behalf of the world and the Church, pressing our needs and struggles to his cross and those of the whole world.  We also solemnly venerate the wood of the cross, we press the cross to our lips, or our foreheads, to remember his great love, and that we may be rendered firm and unyielding in the face of temptation and confirmed in the desire to carry our crosses in union with the Son of God, and to bear the message of his love to a world in desperate need of it for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - "The Cross is a mirror"

 

On the liturgical calendar, September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Even though the feast (is replaced by our celebration of the vigil for Sunday/was yesterday) I’d like to focus on the cross a bit, after all, we hear about the cross in our Gospel, where the Lord tells us that  whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

A little girl at the funeral yesterday, seeing all the crosses and crucifixes here at St. Ignatius asked her father, “why are there so many Jesus’ in this church.” Our church is adorned with many crosses for a reason. Saint John Paul II called the cross THE symbol of Christianity. Most of us marked ourselves with the sign of the cross upon entering the Church today, we began mass with it, we’ll end Mass with it.  Essentially, every time we Catholics pray, we begin and end our prayer with the sign of the cross. Many of you have crosses throughout your homes, perhaps in your bedrooms—so that the cross is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning. 

All types of people where crosses around their necks, from bishops to baseball players to musicians.   The priest holds his arms in this shape during the Eucharistic prayer.  

Worn around our necks, adorning our homes and churches, beginning and ending our prayers, the cross is not a good luck charm, it is a reminder that by the cross we are saved. As is sung on Good Friday every year, “Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the salvation of the world.”

St. Anthony of Padua in a sermon on the cross said: “You cannot better appreciate your worth than by looking into the mirror of the Cross of Christ; there you will learn how you are to deflate your pride, how you must mortify the desires of the flesh, how you are to pray to your Father for those who persecute you, and to commend your spirit into God’s hands.”  

Let’s consider his words in depth. Firstly, St. Anthony called the cross a mirror in which you can appreciate your worth. The cross is proof—a visual reminder--that God believes that your soul and mine are worth dying for. Jesus willingly embraced the cross, taking upon himself the weight of all of our sins because we are worth something to God. God believes that saving our souls from hell is worth suffering the greatest suffering. And he wouldn’t believe that unless he loved us more than we love our own children, friends, and family—with love beyond all telling. So the cross is a mirror in which we can see our worth to God.

Secondly, St. Anthony says looking at the cross deflates our pride. How so? Well, again, it shows us that God’s ineffable love. It humbles us to fully realize how much we are loved, and how much Jesus suffered. His willingness to suffer puts our willingness to suffer—and often our unwillingness to suffer—to shame.  Many of us are willing to suffer for even those who are good to us, but Jesus suffered for all, including the most despicable, the most perverse, the most wicked, the most obstinate of sinners. So, the cross humbles our inflated pride.

Next, St. Anthony says looking at the cross show us how we must mortify the desires of the flesh. What does that mean? Contemplating Jesus’ embrace of suffering on the cross, reminds us of the need to practice self-denial as well, turning away from indulgence and the pleasures of the flesh in order to pursue the higher calling—the will of God. St. Anthony is echoing Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

The self-denial that Jesus is talking about here, which every Christian must pursue, involves voluntarily giving up personal desires, comforts, and preferences in order to follow God's will more closely, grow in virtue, and resist the temptations of sin

We are to detach from any worldly comforts and pleasures that distract us from their relationship with God, especially those pleasures that are expressly forbidden by the Word of God and the teaching of the Church.

This is one good reason why it’s good to have a cross in your bedroom. If the cross is the first thing you see upon waking up, it’s a reminder that I’m in this life not just to pursue my own wants and desires, but the will of God, which will likely involve turning away and saying “no” to a lot of things today, so that I can more fully say “yes” to God.

Next, St. Anthony says that the cross shows us how we are to pray to the Father for those who persecute you. The Gospels tell us that the Lord prayed for his persecutors from the cross. He prayed for everyone responsible for his crucifixion—the romans, the jews, and all of us as well. He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. 

We do not really comprehend how terrible are sins are—the damage that they do to our minds and souls and to one another. Every sin wounds us. Every sin wounds our relationship God. And every sin wounds our relationship with others. And most of us choose not to really think about the terrible wounds our sins inflict. But we’ll hold grudges against others for smaller slights than we commit, won’t we? We’ expect others to forgive us, we expect God to forgive us, but we’re really quick to trash talk those who we perceive as threats to us. 

Well, the cross is a reminder that we are to pray for those who threaten us, for those who commit injustices against us and our families and nation. The cross reminds us to pray as Jesus prays, to forgive as Jesus forgives. Instead of carrying around anger over the injustices we encounter, it is better for us to pray, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Lastly, St. Anthony says, the cross shows us how to commend our spirits into God’s hands. The cross shows us to practice another thing that many of us are not very good at: trusting God. In his final breaths, jesus said, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”.

To "commend" means to entrust or place something in the care of another. Jesus deeply trusted his Father, even from the cross—that his cross, his suffering, his death, would bring about the supreme good. Jesus was fully aligned with the Father's will, even when it involved death. And the crosses that we put in our homes and churches, whenever we make the sign of cross, remind us of the daily trust, the daily faith, we are to cultivate and practice. 

In the week ahead, I invite you, as a spiritual exercise, to spend 10 minutes meditating upon a crucifix, considering how it is a reminder of God’s love for you, how is calls you to deflate your pride, mortify your desires, pray to forgive others, and entrust yourselves for fully to the will of God, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

August 6 2024 - Transfiguration and the Cross

 Today, August 6, is the feast of the transfiguration of the Lord. But why August 6? No where in scripture are there any hints regarding the date Jesus was transfigured.

This liturgical feast is not quite as ancient as others. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, was adopted in the liturgy in about the tenth century in many dioceses, and was celebrated mostly on 6 August. In 1456, Pope Callixtus III extended the feast to the Universal Church in memory of a victory over the Ottoman Turks in Belgrade on August 6, 1456.

Many have noted that August 6 is 40 days prior to the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, which is a much older feast, going back to Constantine’s dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 335. 

And that explanation makes sense to me, as there is a very strong theological connection between the transfiguration and the cross. 

The Transfiguration occurs in Luke’s Gospel directly after Christ calls His followers to pick up their Cross and follow Him: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.”

In St. Luke’s account of the Transfiguration, Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah about the exodus—the deliverance—that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem, namely his saving death on the cross. 

The Transfiguration cannot really be understood apart from the cross. The liturgy itself makes this connection. In the Eucharistic preface, we will hear that Jesus “revealed his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses and filled with the greatest splendor his bodily form which he shares with all humanity, that the scandal of the Cross might be removed from the hearts of his disciples”.

Not long after the Transfiguration, Christ and His Apostles had to leave the mountain in order to endure the Cross. But he provided this glimpse of glory as a consolation, to strengthen them, for the dark road ahead. 

Likewise, God provides us with beautiful consolations—even the ability to come into a beautiful church like this every week—or every day if we want—is a consolation that strengthens us. We climb the summit of the altar—to be consoled with bread from heaven—so that we might have the strength to bear our own crosses, which again, the Lord teaches us, that each of us must take up our crosses daily, or we will lose the life God desires for us.

In our sufferings, challenges, crosses, temptations and trials of faith may the hope of glory, the hope of heavenly life, sustain us, that we may merit to become coheirs with the beloved Son of the Father, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - -  

For the Church, that she may always be a beacon of Christ's light in the world, illuminating the path of faith for all believers. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all Christians, that we may have the courage to take up our crosses daily, inspired by the glimpse of glory revealed in Christ's Transfiguration. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our parish community, that our participation in the Eucharist may transfigure us, giving us the strength to bear witness to Christ in our daily lives. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those facing trials and sufferings, that they may find strength and consolation in the promise of Christ's glory, just as the apostles were strengthened for the journey ahead. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who have died, that they may share in the fullness of Christ's glory in heaven, which was glimpsed on Mount Tabor, especially N, for whom this mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our personal intentions, that we may offer them to God with trust, knowing that He who was transfigured before His disciples hears our prayers. (Pause for silent prayer) Let us pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, You revealed the glory of Your Son on Mount Tabor, strengthening the disciples for the journey ahead. As we bring these petitions before You, transfigure our hearts with Your grace, that we may faithfully bear our crosses and reflect Your light in the world.

October 20 2023 - St. Paul of the Cross - The Cross is the School of Love

 The saint we honor today was born the son of a wealthy merchant near Genoa Italy, in 1694.  He received his early education from the Capuchin Franciscans.  As a young boy he was marked with great sanctity.  Not only did he excel in his studies, but he was deeply reverent, and devoted to prayer, especially the Holy Mass.  Shortly before his confirmation, he had a miraculous vision: the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Him wearing an all-black habit.  This became the habit of the religious order he found later in life, called the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, known today as the Passionists.  

When he was 26 years old, Paul had a series of prayer-experiences which made it clear to him that God was inviting him to form a community who would live an evangelical life and promote the love of God revealed in the Passion of Jesus. It was his life-long conviction that God is most easily found in the Passion of Christ.

“It is very good and holy,” today’s saint said, “to consider the passion of our Lord and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. In this most holy school we learn true wisdom…love is a unifying virtue which takes upon itself the torments of its beloved Lord. It is a fire reaching through to the inmost soul.”

The Cross is the school of love—how much God loves us, and how our lives are to be redeemed, transformed, and transfigured by imitating that love and growing in that love. Love requires self-donation, love requires daily sacrifice, love requires forgetting ourselves in order to give ourselves more fully to others—there is no greater love than for one to lay down his life for a friend. 

In our moments of weakness and failure, it is easy to grow discouraged and to lose hope. That’s why in our sinfulness it is so important to meditate on how much we are loved by God. He didn’t die for the perfect, he died for us. He embraced us in our most unlovable state. Meditating on the cross of Christ, then, is to be a key which opens up and transforms our hearts and makes them more like the one who embraced the cross for our salvation. 

The love Christ showed on the cross is, as the first St. Paul—St. Paul of Tarsus—wrote in our first reading this morning, is a love which surpasses all knowledge. God’s love surpasses our human understanding, if you think you understand God’s love—his love is greater still. But also, seeking to grasp and experience God’s love is more valuable than any other knowledge we can gain in this earthly life. “More precious than gold, than fire-refined gold” is the law of God’s love. The psalmist is not just speaking poetically here, but rather, calling us to realign our priorities—to seek to truly value God’s love over everything else. 

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be ever in our hearts. May we meditate often on the cross of the Savior, and encounter “the breadth and length and height and depth” of God’s love for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For unity in the Church, faithfulness to right teaching, detachment from worldly vices, generosity in the works of charity, and courage in the Church’s evangelizing mission. 

Through the intercession of St. Paul of the Cross, we pray for the spiritual good of the Passionist Orders—and that all members of the Church may be more deeply conformed to the Cross of Christ.

For all victims of war, for peace in the Holy Land, an end to the violence and suffering, and healing for those whose lives have been tragically disrupted. May God come to the assistance of the communities and families devastated by the horrors of terrorism and war; and may world leaders work together for peace. 

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s consolation, healing, and grace.

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

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

 

 

Good Friday 2023 - Be hold the wood of the cross

 When visitors come to St. Ignatius, one of the things they often point out, is how the shadow cast by the cross in the main sanctuary here, remind them of the three crosses of Calvary on Good Friday. The two thieves crucified on the right and the left, with our Blessed Lord in the middle.

I do not know if this lighting trick was intentional, it was not part of the original design, for some of you may remember the baldachino that stood behind the high altar for…oh, about 80 years.

But the removal of the baldachino allowed for the placement of one of the most beautiful crucifixes in the diocese, if you ask me. 

The crucifix, the cross, is the great symbol of our faith. Many Catholics wear crosses and crucifixes around their necks, some of them simple gold or silver, some decorated with precious jewels. We hang crucifixes in our homes, some of us in every room. 

In a sense, this is a strange tradition. After all, the cross is an instrument of cruel torture - the cruelest torture perhaps ever invented by man: nails driven through the nerve bundles between the wrist and the palm of the hand, so every time the crucified moved - which he had to do if he wanted to keep breathing - the nails rubbed against the raw nerves and shot lightning pain through the body.

A cruel instrument of torture, and yet, wherever you go in the world, you will see crosses and crucifixes beautifully, exquisitely decorated with gold and jewels, adorning churches, crosses clutched tightly in moments of fear, sadness or held delicately by the pious to help direct their prayer.

Why adorn our crosses, why venerate them, why grip them so tightly?

It is certainly a reminder. The most important reminder of the most important truth: the very intensity of the suffering of the cross represents the ineffable intensity of love that God has for each one of us.

While dying on the cross, Jesus looks out at each one of us, whose sins have nailed him there, and he says: I forgive you, do not fear, come back to me, I want your friendship. 

This is why we reverence, we venerate, we kiss the cross today. For by doing so we kiss the heart of God, who forgives us…all sins.

The love shown on the cross, which is manifest for us today, embraces us in our sinfulness, and invites us to conform our hearts to his, to trust in Him, to follow in Christ's obedient footsteps, never fleeing from the vocation to which God has called us, so that we can deepen our communion with him and experience the fullness of life that comes from that communion.

Venerate the cross with all the love and contrition and gratitude you can muster today. Kiss it, bow your head to it, kneel before it. By doing so you express your faith, hope, and love in our crucified Savior, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Tuesday - All things are subject to Him

 

Until the beginning of February, the first readings on normal weekdays will be taken from the Letter to the Hebrews.  The Church does not know who wrote the letter to the Hebrews, for many years, a certain verse of chapter 13 seemed to point to Saint Paul, but the jury is still out.

This Letter seems to be addressed to Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution for their new belief in Christ. The letter itself states how these converts to Christ "endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword's point".

And so, the sacred author of this letter wrote to encourage them—to persevere in their faith even unto death because Christ is victorious. He is Lord. He is the True High Priest. He is the perfection that was promised, who established a new covenant in his blood. All things are subject to Him.

But today, just in chapter 2 of the letter, read a verse that is brutally honest: “at present we do not see all things subject to him.” Ain’t that the truth! The Church proclaims Christ is victorious. Well, to those who are experiencing persecution, or anyone whose eyes are open, it sure doesn’t look that way, at least not initially.

If all things are subject to Christ, why were the powers of the world still holding such sway. Why were the Romans so bloody efficient at putting Christians to death? Why were there still imposter kings imposing their godless wills. The Messiah was supposed to usher in the eternal kingdom of justice and peace. So where was the justice, where was the peace? Why are the wicked still in control? 

And why should those who are being persecuted, keep the faith, if this promise of peace and justice has not been fulfilled? 

This letter is grappling with some serious questions. It’s the same question that Job grappled with. The problem of evil. If God is omnipotent, why is does evil persist? If the claim is that Christ is victorious, why doesn’t it look that way? 

The answer probably has to do with the cross, doesn’t it? The victory came through the perfect one’s suffering and death. And to share in his victory will also require us to share in his cross. And the evil in the world, the persecution, is in a sense, our cross. “Endure your trials,” Hebrews says.  As you are experiencing them, “they seem a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained” by them.

During this season called Ordinary Time, we are to learn from our Lord, how to endure our trials patiently, with endurance and faith, that they may produce the fruits of righteousness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - -  

To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

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

Trinity Sunday 2022 - God revealed in Creation, Cross, & Church

 Throughout the Church year, the feasts and solemnities of the liturgical calendar celebrate different dimensions of our Catholic faith. We celebrate events from the life of Jesus: like his joyous birth at Christmas, his salvific death on Good Friday, his glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We also celebrate the feast days of the saints, typically on the anniversaries of their martyrdoms or natural deaths – like the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch on October 17.

But today, on this solemnity of the Holy Trinity, we don’t celebrate an event from the life of Jesus or one of his holy saints, we celebrate the nature of God, who God is, and what God has done.

And as a way of gently handling this most august and mysterious of topics, I’d like to reflect on three C’s. Three C’s. Creation, Crucifixion, and Church.

In the first reading, we heard of the glories of Creation: mountains, hills, fountains, fields, earth and dirt, the heavens and skies, sea and water. God Created all these things and therefore must have pre-existed all of these things. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has existed from all eternity—and the three divine persons, working together, have brought all aspects of creation into being. 

What is the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited? A mountain top, the grand canyon, the ocean, a lush forest, a secluded lake? I’ve been blessed to have been able to travel to a lot of different locals. I remember vacationing in Canada one year, up in the Kawartha Lakes of Northern Ontario and waking up one early morn and seeing the first glimmers of sunlight on the glassy lake, the morning mist just gently hovering over the waters, the calm ever-green forest lining the shores of the lake, just being moved to tears at how grateful I was to take in the beauty of Creation.

Creation is beautiful-- because God—the Creator—is infinitely beautiful—and He has made creation very good. Pope Pius XII back in 1955 reflected upon how finite Creation hints at God’s infinite beauty. He said, Creation, “which offers itself to the inspection of the attentive observer, reveals an inexhaustible wealth of goodness and beauty, reflecting back with transparent sincerity the infinite superabundance of the perfection and beauty of nature's Creator.”

“Sometimes one is enchanted and overcome by the majesty of towering mountains, at other times by the irresistible fury of the ocean tempest, the solitude of polar glaciers, the vast stretch of virgin forests, the melancholy of the desert sands, the loveliness of flowers, the limpid quality of water, the violent rush of waterfalls, the distinctive beauty of the Northern Lights... Greater astonishment and wealth of knowledge are offered by... the secrets of the animal kingdom... in forests and in inhospitable deserts, on rivers and in the depths of the sea. What a testimony to the richness and manifold variety of nature... to soothe, recreate and refresh the spirit."

So, on this Trinity Sunday, reflect, perhaps on the beauty of nature, tell someone about the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited. Thank God for his beautiful creation. And endeavor to be a good steward of that creation.

The first C—Creation. The Second C--The Cross. The Cross too reveals something about God to us, it reveals God’s love. On the Cross we see the love of God made visible. The Father so loved the world, that he sent his Son to suffer and die to redeem us. God is love, and there is no greater love than one who lays down his life for others. Creation was a labor of love, well, so was the cross, the greatest labor of love: the labor that saved us from the grasp of hell. 

And through the Cross, through the Crucifixion, the Holy Trinity has transformed the ugliness of suffering into an instrument of human sanctification and redemption. Suffering now has meaning and redemptive power, so much so that we can say with St. Paul in our second reading: “we are able, now to boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

On this Trinity Sunday, turn to a crucifix, contemplate the love of God for you, in suffering for you, dying for you, you a sinner, loved with love beyond all telling. Ask the Father to help you to love as much as he does, Ask the Son to help you to love as much as he does, as the Holy Spirit to help you love as much as He does.

Creation, Cross, and finally, Church. The Church also reveals something about God—she reveals that God is still at work. The Church’s very existence is willed by God, she is sustained by God, animated by God, taught by God, directed toward God, protected by God, ordered by God, sent out by God. The Church reveals that God involves us in His work—to save souls. 

Also, St. Basil the Great, the fourth century doctor of the Church, taught that the Church has the duty to reflect God’s nature. The world is to know that God is a Trinity—a Communion of Love—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—through the way we worship and treat each other.

The Trinitarian nature of God is certainly seen in the way we worship. In the celebration of Mass, we unite ourselves to the Son, who offers Himself to the Father, that the grace of salvation may redeem the human race through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our sacred hymns today especially invoke, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Sins are absolved in Sacramental Confession in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. The dying are comforted and the sick are brought healing and strength in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

But the nature of the Triune God is not just revealed by the Church’s worship and sacramental life, but the Church acts in his name out in the world. We seek to be faithful to the Commands of the Father, as Christ was obedient. We seek to imitate Christ’s goodness, his self-sacrifice, his self-donation, his endurance, his love for sinners. And we seek to be animated by the gifts of the holy spirit and the fruits of the holy spirit for the building up of the church and the mission of spreading the Gospel. Just like the beauty of God can be detected in creation, just like the love of God was revealed on the cross, the truth, goodness, and beauty of the living God—Father, Son, and Spirit, are to be manifest in the life of the Church.

So, on this great Solemnity consider how your life is called to mirror, reflect, make manifest, make known the Triune God—His Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

May 10 2022 - St. Damien the leper - Our crosses open doors

 
For the first four weeks of the easter season, we’ve been reading from the book of Acts— how the Gospel was spread first in Jerusalem and then throughout Judea amongst the Jews.  But today, we hear of one of the great breakthroughs of human history.  

Last week, we heard how following the death of St. Stephen, Christians were scattered due to persecution. But the Christians took advantage of their scattering. They preached to the Jews, as we heard today, as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.

As some of the new Christians were Greek-speakers, they began to share the good news with some of the Gentiles in Antioch.  This may seem very natural and inevitable to us now, but this really was a breakthrough—the first time the Church became truly faithful to the Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations…not just the Jews of the Holy Land—but all nations.

Each of us are called to work for converts by sharing the Good News. So, where do the breakthroughs need to occur in your own life for that to happen? What do you need from the Lord do be able to share the faith more confidently with strangers?

Jesus says in the Gospel today, “my sheep hears my voice”.  He wants to use us as his mouthpiece.  There are people who long to hear the voice of Jesus calling them into the flock of the Church. They are waiting for us to share what we know of Jesus, of Catholicism, but they have no one to talk to. The internet can’t do our job for us.

Today, the Church celebrates St. Damien of Molokai, the apostle to the lepers. He spent sixteen years tending the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs on the island leper colony of Molokai of Hawaii.  And when he contracted leprosy himself, he continued to preach the Gospel. 

We aren’t just to preach the Gospel from a top an ivory tower, we are to enter into the world of the forgotten and the outcast, in order to show them, that they are not forgotten by God. 

For the Christians in the book of Acts, the persecution led them to preach to an entirely new group of people. For St. Damian, his leprosy enabled him to draw closer to the other lepers, to preach even more effectively by entering their world.

Our own crosses are keys that open doors into the lives of others who suffer, who are longing to hear the voice of the Shepherd. May we embrace those crosses, and enter through those doors, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 - - - - - - - 

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

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

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

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

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

1st Sunday of Lent 2022 - Desert Temptations and the Road to the Cross

 Each year on the 1st Sunday of Lent, we hear the powerful Gospel passage of Our Blessed Lord facing temptation in the Judaean desert. The mere fact that we even know about this story is significant. For remember, the four Gospels were based on eye witness accounts. Matthew and John were two of Lord’s twelve apostles: they heard him preach and teach, so we know where they got their material. Mark likely received most of his details from St. Peter, and Luke, as he tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, thoroughly investigated the events of the life of Jesus as accurately as possible. 

But, none of the four evangelists were with Jesus in the desert, so the details of this story must have come from the lips of Jesus himself. He wanted us to know about this profound experience. “Yes, even I was tempted, just like you.” 

The Letter to the Hebrews explains the Lord’s solidarity with us poor sinners, saying: “because he Himself suffered and had been tempted, he is able to help all those who are tempted.” “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.”

We hear this Gospel each year, at the beginning of Lent, firstly, because during Lent, we are to be confronting our demons, our temptations. Lent is a time of honesty, acknowledging sin and temptation, going to confession, seeking conversion, and learning to trust in the Lord in times of trial. 

We hear this account of our Lord remaining faithful to God in the midst of temptations, to help us finally come to the conviction that He is with us even in our temptations. The faithful high priest lives in the hearts of all of the baptized. His faithfulness can conquer the devil in our lives, so much so that we can say, “I do have the power to say no to temptation because He lives in me. I can remain faithful to God in my trials because Christ lives in me.”

But this reading plays such a central role each Lent because something else is going. While there are many important events in the life of Jesus prior to his desert temptations, this reading is pivotal for his mission. The events of his infancy and childhood, his activity in the Temple at the age of 12, even his Baptism in the Jordan, serve as a sort of prelude to this event. Those early stories point to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, God incarnate. But it’s this event, which in a sense, is the beginning of his way to the Cross. For his spiritual battle with the devil shows him rejecting the way of earthly power and glory and accepting the way of suffering and the cross. Let’s examine how.

Firstly, the Lord rejects the temptation to turn stones into bread. Why? After 40 days of fasting, “he was hungry” as St. Luke tells us. And since Jesus is God, he could surely transform the limestone rocks of the Judaean wilderness into food for himself. But, the deeper temptation: His divine power could be used to feed others. He could feed the starving of the world. That would benefit the Gospel mission. In a sense, the Devil here is tempting Jesus, not just to feed Himself, but to win people over with material things. “If you want people to follow you, use your wonderful powers to fill their bellies. They’ll follow you if you feed them.

But Jesus rightly says, I’ve not come just to feed their bodies, but to feed their souls with the truth, with the Word of God. And so the task of the Church is not to create some utopia on earth. The task of Christianity is to bring people to faith, that they may live in such a way as to live forever—to be reconciled with God through Christ, that they may live forever.

In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus: “I will give you everything you want, if you worship me.” Now again, Jesus knew his mission was the salvation of our souls. And the devil was saying, I can do that for you. I can release souls from hell without all that suffering, without the cross. I can do anything you want, just give me the praise, honor and glory due to your Father. I’ll give you everything you want, all you have to do is compromise the first and greatest of the commandments. And Jesus was tempted by this. 

This temptation isn’t unlike the first temptation of Adam and Eve…I’ll give you everything you want, you’ll be like gods; only don’t listen to God, listen to me. The devil is always offering us this empty promise, tempting us to compromise our faith to obtain some apparent good without paying the price, the cross. But it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world and lose his soul. So too, in our lives, in order to achieve some good, we must never compromise the commandments. 

The third temptation Jesus faced was to use his divine powers in such a way that no one could deny who he was: to jump off the roof of the temple like Superman and survive, that would prove to everyone once and for all that he was who he said he was. And the Lord could have done this if he wished; this and more. He could have continued his earthly life for two thousand years and healed everyone who ever entered a hospital without medicine or surgery. He could have performed a miracle a day, inviting the skeptical scientists to investigate them. He could have performed undeniable miracles, just as God could appear to everyone right now—everyone on earth at the same time—and give us undeniable proof of His existence. 

But the Lord resists this temptation. For, it is part of the mysterious plan of God, that God wants us to cultivate faith. He doesn’t want to force us to believe in Him by making his existence as undeniably as the sun undeniably shines in the sky. Rather, God desires that we have Faith, for Faith can move mountains. 

Rejecting these temptations, St. Luke tells us that the tempter departed from Jesus for a time. The Lord would be tempted again before facing the cross, just as each of us is tempted to turn away from our own crosses. 

During the desert of Lent, the devil will no doubt appear to each of us. Likely, he already has. Maybe you’ve already been tempted to reject the call to do penance, to skip out on prayer, to eat meat on Ash Wednesday and Friday, to just go ahead and do what you’ve always done. And what shame if you’ve given in. But, Lent is just beginning. And it’s not too late to recognize the game the devil is playing: trying to keep us complacent and satisfied with mediocrity, trying to get us to harden our hearts toward God little by little. 

But it’s not too late to recognize that we do not live by bread alone, that we owe God worship from the depths of hearts, that God invites us to trust in Him in times of trouble, to repent and believe in the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

31st Week of Ordinary Time - Wednesday - Discipleship: Everything to lose, everything to gain

Three times in the Gospel this morning Jesus lays down the conditions for discipleship.  Strikingly, Jesus says that we must hate our fathers and mothers, spouses and children, and hate even our very lives, that we must carry the cross, and that we must renounce all our possessions.

First, the one who will be a disciple of Jesus must “hate” father, mother, spouse, and children. The word ‘hate’ seems at odds with the Lord’s teaching elsewhere to love one another, not to mention the third commandment, to honor one’s father and mother. Without a doubt, the Lord uses hyperbole here, common for Jewish rabbis, to emphasize the radical commitment of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus, He must come first—before family, nation, ethnicity, race, politics, or any other earthly relationship. Christian Discipleship come first, before all else, or it’s not really Christian discipleship.

The second condition is that the Christian disciple must “carry his cross”.  Discipleship entails hardships: of proclaiming unwelcomed truths, of real personal sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom.  Following the Lord will often entail suffering, persecution for his sake, mockery from the world. Many people claim that anything worth doing is worth suffering for, but many are unwilling to suffer in order to follow Jesus’ teachings and the teachings of the Church. But discipleship requires the cross—change, effort, cost no matter how great that cost might be.

The third condition for discipleship is the renunciation of all possessions. This does not mean that we must become socialist and renounce private possessions, BUT, it does mean that everything we have is first at the disposal of God. In a sense, my possessions are not my own. They belong to God, and has put me in charge of using  my possessions at His discretion

Discipleship sounds costly.  And it is.  The cost of discipleship is everything. But through discipleship we gain eternal life and merit glory. If we are counted among his disciples on earth, we will be counted among the Blessed in heaven. Rejecting discipleship we have everything to lose, but embracing discipleship we have everything to gain.

The Saints who we celebrate this week show us why discipleship is so important. Through discipleship we cultivate love. And the degree of love we cultivate here on earth, corresponds to the degree of glory the disciple will experience in eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in faith, hope, and love among all of Jesus’ disciples, and that following the Lord’s teaching, we may take up the missionary call to make disciples of all nations.

That all newly elected officials may head the Lord’s teachings in their civic duties, personal and private lives, and labor always for the good of all.

That we may be ever more attentive to the needs of the sick, the poor, the despairing in our midst: for their comfort, relief, strength, health, and peace.

We pray in a special way during this month of November for all the faithful departed, for all the souls in purgatory, for our parishioners and benefactors who died this last year, for those who fought and died for our freedom and for X. for whom this mass is offered.

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 2021 - Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch - Wheat and the Cross

 
Over a month ago already, we heard in the Gospel the Lord offered an invitation to anyone who wished to be his disciple. A stark invitation. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” To follow Jesus we must take up the cross. 

The cross is the common denominator for all modes of Christian life. Whether you are married, single, a priest, a consecrated religious, a widow, a teenager, a grandparent, or a stranger in a strange land, you are called to embrace the cross. All walks of Christian life take the shape of the cross.

If you are single, you are called to die to self-centeredness and live a life of love and obedience to God and service to others. If you are married, you are to sacrifice your life for your spouse and for your children. Priests are to pour out their lives in loving service to the Church through the duties entailed by their ordination: teaching, governing, sanctifying the Church. Consecrated religious carry the cross through their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and the particular works of their religious orders. 

In the Gospel, the Lord did not specifically mention the cross. But in teaching his disciples he did employ the image of the grain of wheat which is a veiled image for the cross. The grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die is a symbol for the Christian life. The grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die, just like our Lord had to go to the cross to die on Good Friday, just like we his disciples must go to the cross and die, and in a sense live out Good Friday, every day.

We hear this Gospel passage on the fifth Sunday of Lent, the Sunday before Holy Week. During Lent this Gospel helps us to understand why the Lord must suffer and die. This Gospel passage is also used for the liturgies for the Ordination of Priests and for the profession of Vows for consecrated religious. Consider, as the priest lays down on the cold marble of the cathedral this image of the dying grain of wheat is presented to him. And also, as the religious novices kneel before the bishop or abbot and make those promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they hear the Lord telling them, that they must become a grain of wheat and die.

And yet, this image doesn’t just end in death, it contains a promise: if it dies, it will produce much fruit. Here is the complete image of the Paschal Mystery. Good Friday is not the end. The Lord’s death on the cross is not a victory for the powers of death, but for the goodness of heaven. Jesus dies on the cross and is buried in the tomb, in order to be raised by the Father on Easter, destroying death. He is lifted up from the earth, in order to draw everyone who believe in Him to God—to eternal life.

So too in the life of the Christian, when our life bears the shape of the cross, when we put pride and lust and disobedience and envy and selfishness to death, the grain of wheat produces much fruit. Good Friday is to be lived out every day, but so is Easter, and so is the Fruit Bearing Feast of Pentecost.

A single person, whose life is devoted to self-sacrificial service enriches the church with spiritual fruits. A married couple who loves each other with Christ-like sacrificial love, draws each other to God, they become blessings to each other, their children, the church, and the world. Priests, though celibate, become instruments of new life in the church. Religious by living out the evangelical counsels infuse the Church with learning and healing and compassion and joy.

Why is this Gospel passage proclaimed particularly on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch? Listen to the words our patron, the holy bishop Ignatius wrote to the Romans as he was being marched to his death in the Roman Circus, “I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God… Permit me to imitate my suffering God…Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat.” This Gospel, this teaching of the Lord Jesus, echoed in the mind, and heart, and soul of this holy bishop. He willingly embraced becoming wheat, crushed in martyrdom, so that he may obtain the promises of the Lord. In willingly going to his martyrdom, Ignatius sought to imitate the suffering and death of Jesus. 

Now many Christians, most of us, are scared to death of death. Most of us run away from suffering. We seek to avoid any conversations or posturing or activity that might result in our martyrdoms. We hide our faith.

But not Ignatius. Ignatius demonstrates the freedom from fear that belongs to those who have grown mature in faith, hope, and love. Faith that Christ is God. Hope in His Promises. Love that impels us to Imitate Him even in suffering and death, that the Christian faith might be spread. 

And that’s a freedom—freedom from fear—the Lord wants for all of us because that’s a freedom we need to fulfill our Gospel mission. We need freedom from fear in order to stand up for our Catholic faith when it is being attacked in the public sphere and to teach that faith amidst so many cultural errors. We need freedom so that the sinful tendencies of our flesh do not control our lives. We need freedom from fear in order to bring the light of the Gospel into the dark places of the world.

“Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips, and the world in your hearts” St. Ignatius writes. On this feast of St. Ignatius our patron, we celebrate his witness, his faith, his freedom, his conviction, that those holy fruits may be produced in us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 - Take up your cross

 The author of today’s Gospel passage, St. Mark, was not a member of the Twelve Apostles. There’s a little dispute over when he encountered the Gospel One tradition states that he was among the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus during his Galilean ministry, another tradition, held by the third century church historian and bishop St. Eusebius, states the Mark became Christian through the post-resurrection preaching of St. Peter. Peter, after all called him “my son Mark” in his first epistle. So, likely, St. Mark got his information about Jesus from Peter; some ancient writers even called Mark’s Gospel “Peter’s Gospel” for that reason.  

So even if St. Mark was not an eye-witness to Jesus, his Gospel, which we’ll be reading through for the duration of the church year, is based on an eye-witness account, that of the prince of the apostles, St. Peter. 

Like St. Peter, St. Mark eventually traveled to Rome, and wrote his Gospel there around the year 60 A.D.  St. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels: it is clear, precise, orderly, and direct—certainly pleasing to the Roman ear. 

The ancient Romans, to whom Mark wrote, were in many ways like modern Americans.  They were a practical, pragmatic people who emphasized deeds more than words, action more than theory.  The Romans got things done.  They conquered the known world.  And since his audience, the Romans, admired people who got things done, St. Mark emphasized these aspects of Jesus’s life. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, the Lord is confronting and expelling demons, curing contagious diseases, undergoing the terrible sufferings of his Passion, only to rise again victorious over sin and death. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus affirms, explicitly and uncompromisingly—very clearly, so even Romans could understand—that he and all of his followers must "take up the cross"—talk about action. For following Jesus is about more than calling oneself a Christian, to quote same James, “faith without works is dead.” And, the Lord goes so far to say that those who refuse to take up the cross “will lose their lives”—they will lose the promise of eternal life in heaven. Again, you can’t call yourself a Christian without the works that back-up that claim. 

The Lord gives this stark teaching in response to Peter really sticking his foot in his mouth. The Passage begins with Peter seemingly understanding that Jesus is the Messiah—the promised one—the one anointed by God to save us from our sins and restore unity to the fallen human race and restore humanity to right relationship with God. 

But then the conversation takes a turn: when Jesus tells the group that the Christ must suffer greatly, be mocked, and killed, Peter, the disciple, attempts to correct Jesus, the teacher. Big mistake. But who could blame him. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to go to the cross, because Peter doesn’t want to go to the cross. In fact, throughout the Gospel, Peter is often running away from the cross. In the Passion story, Peter denied Jesus three times, so he wouldn’t be arrested and crucified with the Lord.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah about going to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die like the prophets before Him, Peter says, no, Lord, let’s just stay here. Peter doesn’t want the Lord to be subject to suffering, because Peter doesn’t want to have to suffer. And again,…who can blame him. Most of us spend a lot of time and energy avoiding or at least minimizing suffering.

“Get behind me Satan”, the Lord says to Peter. You can imagine Mark’s surprise when Peter recalled the events in today’s Gospel: “He called you what?” Why does the Lord offer this sharpest of rebuke? This passage gets to the heart of who Jesus is and what he’s all about. The Lord Jesus wasn’t just a teacher, he wasn’t a community organizer, he wasn’t political leader, he didn’t come to simply encourage humanity to work for social justice. Of course, it’s good to feed the hungry, it’s good to stand up for someone being bullied, it’s good to speak up for the vulnerable. But the Son of God took flesh in order to accomplish something we couldn’t do on our own, the greatest good imaginable: he embraced unimaginable suffering, the greatest suffering, to obtain, to purchase our salvation. 

So when Peter said, you mustn’t allow yourself to suffer, it was akin to Satan opposing the holy will of God to save us from hell. Of course Satan doesn’t want Jesus to suffer and die. The Lord’s Passion freed us from hell’s grasp. And so the Lord rebukes Peter, he rebukes Satan for opposing the salvific plan of God. 

And then the Lord teaches his disciples, that we must, like him, bear our crosses. Fulfilling the will of God is not easy. There is a weight to it, a cost to it. And we know this: it’s good to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. But, we often draw a line, don’t we? We willingly engage in these good works…to a point: and that point usually is, when it costs me something, when I will have to sacrifice something I enjoy or can utilize—cash, leisure time, my favorite television show, my reputation among less religiously fervent peers or family members. When I have to sacrifice these things to build up the Church and to do good works, well, most of us like to leave the hard work to someone else. 

This is a difficult Gospel. Perhaps the most difficult. It was certainly difficult for Peter, so we are, at least, in good company. Peter continues to run away from suffering throughout the Gospel—we run away often. We allow Satan to whisper in our ears, “the cross is too heavy, leave it to someone else, God can’t possibly be asking you to carry this cross, you can carry the next one”. 

But, the Christian life is about learning to carry crosses for the sake of the Kingdom. And just as our Lord brought ineffable goodness from his cross, so to with us. Lives our touched, souls are saved, miracles are wrought, saints are made through the cross. 

There’s the story, which you have likely heard, when Peter finally gets it. After the Lord’s Ascension, of course, Peter labors with the rest of the Apostles to spread the Gospel, in Jerusalem, then to Judea, then throughout the empire. And around the year 64, Peter having been bishop in Antioch for some time, comes to preach and minister to the Christians in the Imperial City of Rome. And for a while Peter knowing that he was likely to be arrested and killed for his ministry, showed great courage preaching the Gospel and ministering to the small community of Christians there. 

When he began to agitate the local Roman authorities, the threat of the cross again loomed too close for comfort. So Peter began to flee Rome. But as he began to flee through the city gate, something happened. He had a vision. Before him he saw the Lord Jesus walking through the gate, into Rome carrying the cross.  Peter, falling to his knees asked him, “Domine, quo vadis?  Lord, where are you going?”  And the Lord replied, “I have come to Rome to be crucified, since you will not.”  Peter recognized that he had been fleeing the cross, yet again., and the Lord’s words struck Peter and gave him the resolve to do what he must do. 

Peter returned to his ministry, preaching the Truth of the Gospel, and for this he was arrested, and like our Lord, Peter was crucified; only he asked that he be crucified upside-down because he felt he was unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. His sacrifice no doubt bolstered the faith of the Roman Christians who would undergo terrible persecution, and has bolstered the faith of the Church for 2000 years because he finally took up his cross.

What will it mean to take up your cross this week? To pray, to fast, to visit the lonely widow next door? Will it be to bear wrongs patiently, without complaint, without seeking to get the last word in when arguing with a spouse, or refrain from talking back to your parents? Will it mean finally forgiving someone who hurt you, or going out of your way to find a intentional act of charity each day, to invite a coworker to pray? Daily upon waking, ask God for the strength and courage to carry that cross, the willingness to pay what is costly for the spread of the kingdom for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

July 14 2021 - St. Kateri Tekakwitha - The blossoming of real holiness

 Kateri Tekakwitha was born at Auriesville, New York in 1656, near the place where the Jesuits St. Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf had been martyred—tomahawked by Iroquois warriors just nine years before. 

Kateri’s mother was an Algonquin who had been baptized, but she was taken captive by the Iroquois and given as a wife to the chief of the Mohawk tribe.   Two children were born of this marriage, but only Kateri survived; her parents and her brother died in a smallpox epidemic when Kateri was 4 years old.  Kateri’s own face was permanently disfigured and her eyesight was impaired because of the disease.  

New Jesuit missionaries were granted permission by the new chief of the Mohawks to minister to the Christians, most of them Iroquois captives like Kateri’s mother. And Since her mother was Catholic, Kateri was allowed to study the catechism with the Jesuits.  She was baptized on Easter Sunday at the age of 19.

At 23, she took a vow of virginity, consecrating herself to the Lord. But the celibate life was not held in high regard among the Mohawks, and Kateri was subject to constant abuse and insults.  She was ridiculed for keeping Holy the Sabbath and for praying the Rosary. 

On the advice of a priest, she fled the abuse and walked two hundred miles to an Indian Mission village near Montreal.  There she devoted herself to prayer and works of charity and penance and her sanctity blossomed.  She is known as the Lily of the Mohawks.  

Kateri herself said: “I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus.  He must be my only love.”  She was beatified by Pope St John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

At her canonization, Pope Benedict said, “Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God. She lived a life radiant with faith and purity.  Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help…”

Kateri repeats the example of so many saints before her: Holiness thrives on the cross, it blossoms on the cross. Faith grows when its tested. Charity grows when it costs something. Holiness is like a muscle that grows through resistance training: it only gets stronger as it’s strained. 

St. Kateri had to face quite difficult circumstances, hostility, open hostility by those closest to her for loving Jesus. She is a model for all those who are rejected by their own because of their fidelity to Christ. 

May Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks, help us all to endure our crosses faithfully and to blossom in holiness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That every nation, tribe, and tongue may be gathered into the Church of Christ and magnify Him through works of praise.

That all those persecuted for their faith may know the strengthening grace of the Lord and come to receive the reward of the saints for their perseverance.

For the consecrated virgins of the Church, that as Christ as their spouse, they may inspire us to seek Him above all things. 

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

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 deceased priests and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, we pray to the Lord.

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

9th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Friday - The healing of Tobit's Blindness

 Last week our first readings came from the Book of Sirach; this week they’ve been from the Book of Tobit. But because of all the wonderful feast days of the saints, we haven’t really been reading from Tobit. 

So firstly, who is Tobit anyway? Tobit describes himself in the first chapter of his book as a Jew from northern Israel taken to Nineveh in slavery by the Assyrians. He was a very successful businessman, he was faithful to all his religious duties and generous to the poor, married to a beautiful and pious wife.

One day, through a strange act of providence, he went blind—bird droppings fell into his eyes and blinded him and he developed cataracts. For 4 years, he goes to doctors, and his blindness only gets worse. His life becomes unraveled. His marriage becomes rocky. Tobit becomes so despondent that he wants to die. He reminds us a lot of Job. He seems cursed. His faith was certainly being tested.

And yet, through their sufferings, both Tobit and Job come to a deeper understanding of God. In many of the speeches of Tobit and Job, why find them crying out to God, “Why me?” What did I do wrong to deserve this suffering? I diligently obeyed God’s rules, why is this happening to me? Both Tobit and Job seemed to be operating under this very prevalent idea, that If I obey all God’s rules, He will bless me with earthly prosperity. 

But, both Job and Tobit come to discover that God is worthy of worship and adoration and love not just when things are going well in our lives, but also when things aren’t going well. 

This realization, this deepening of faith in Tobit and Job, is a foreshadowing of the Lord’s teaching in the Gospels on the cross. Jesus promises his disciples a share in the cross. Each of us will bear a cross, many crosses in life—temptations and sufferings and setbacks and losses and bodily ills. 

The Christian disciples is called to a much more radical faith, than of those who only praise God when things go well, or who only worship God in hopes of earthly prosperity. We are to be bearers of the cross, who trust in God’s providence, who worship God even when we are sharing deeply in the sufferings of Christ. 

When he finally comes to trust in God’s providence, Tobit receives a healing from God. His son returns with medicine—his cataracts are able to be removed—reminding us of the scales that fall from the eyes of St. Paul—when he comes to faith in Christ Jesus. 

Deeper faith, deeper trust brought spiritual healing for Tobit, the healing of spiritual blindness. This story helps us to yearn for a healing of all of our spiritual blindnesses which keep us from trusting in God and embracing God’s will for our lives. May we come to see God’s goodness and God’s majesty in the crosses of our lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

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

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept close to the truth and heart of Jesus, that young people may live in faith-filled homes where the Gospel is cherished, studied, and lived-out.

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

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

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

Holy Week 2021 - Tuesday - 3 Responses to the Cross

 Each of the Gospels relate scenes from the night before Jesus died.  On this Tuesday of Holy Week, we are taken to the table of the Last Supper, where Jesus predicts his death and his betrayal.

Three characters have three different responses to Jesus. John, the beloved disciples lays his head on Jesus’ chest.  Peter, confesses his desire to follow Jesus even unto death, but at the sight of the cross flees in fear.  And Judas, with betrayal in his heart goes into the night.  

Sometimes we are like John: we have moments of great intimacy with Jesus, of deep prayer and unshakable love for the Lord.  Of all the apostles, it is John who stands at the cross with the Blessed Mother.  

Sometimes, we are like Peter: we can be so pious and enthusiastic one moment, saying, “Master, I will lay down my life for you”, and then the next moment, when discipleship becomes difficult and costly, we are running away in fear. 

And then sometimes we are like the silent Judas, rejecting the light and slinking off into the darkness—to sin. 

We’ve have all been like Judas, from time to time. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, we betray him often for so much less, a moment of passing pleasure, a juicy morsel of gossip shared on social media, a greed for money and material things that keep us from charity towards the poor.

How will we ever overcome our fear of the cross like Peter? How will we finally overcome those moments, when we, like Judas prefer darkness and sin to faithfulness and trust?

First, we must ask the Lord to increase our faith. Faithfulness to Jesus must become more important than anything else—any earthly pleasure, relationship, or activity. Pray to the Holy Spirit for faith. For Peter’s faith does not truly become rock-like, until the descent of the Spirit on Pentecost.

Secondly, practicing fasting,  abstinence, mortification, acts of humility, and acts of mercy, not just through Lent but throughout the whole year, increases our hope. Our hope is not in the passing things of earth, but in the promises of Christ. As hope increases our fear of the cross decreases. So, small sufferings and humiliations prepare us for willingness for sacrifice in larger things, and increase our hope for life eternal. 

Thirdly, we must like John, lay our heads on the chest of Jesus in daily prayer.  In prayer, our love for Jesus in increases. If you are not putting your ear next to Jesus heart, how can you learn to love him and love others as he loves? Getting serious about prayer, especially fervent devotion to the Mother of Jesus, like St. John, will help increase our love.

Faith, hope, and love. The three theological virtues unite us with the life of God.

As we enter into the most sacred three days of the Church year—the sacred triduum—may our faith, hope, and love increase, that we may have the courage to journey with Jesus to the cross, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That God may be pleased to grant all necessary graces to the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. 

That those in need may find assistance in the charity of faithful Christians and that peace and security may be firmly established in all places.

For strength to resist temptation, and the humility to sincerely repent of sin.

That through fasting and self-denial, we may be ever more conformed to Christ.

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

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

5th Week of Lent 2021 - Tuesday - The Remedy for Death

 Discontent with the food God has provided. An encounter with a serpent. Certain aspects of the story from the Book of Numbers this morning have certain parallels with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

God had provided food aplenty for Adam and Eve. They could eat from any of the fruit trees in the Garden of Eden.  But they were discontented with the food God provided, and looked to the fruit of the forbidden tree.

Similarly, the Israelites in the desert: God had provided manna from heaven. But they were discontented. They wanted more. Their complaining was a sure sign that they were failing to trust God and be grateful to God.

Like the Israelites, who are bit and poisoned by serpents, Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be proverbially bit by the serpent at the forbidden tree. They are poisoned by the serpent’s bite, and that poison brings death, not only for them, but for the entire human race.

The story from the Book of Numbers not only looks back to Adam and Eve, but foreshadows the victory of the New Adam, in the Gospel. The bronze serpent, mounted on a pole, becoming a source of life for the poisoned Israelites, foreshadows the saving death of Jesus Christ, mounted on the cross, which becomes a source of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

The drama of Adam and Eve, the drama of sin, the drama of the Israelites in the desert, plays over and over again in our lives.  We allow trust, love, and gratitude to God to die in our hearts whenever we turn to sin. We allow ourselves to grow discontent with the good food God has provided for us and seek to satisfy our hunger for God in so many artificial substitutes. We allow the serpent to whisper to us, that we should grasp for more than what God has provided. And then the serpent strikes. We yield to sinful temptation. 

Even a venial sin would bring eternal death, if not for the saving grace of Christ. For the poison of sin is eternally lethal if left untreated. But thanks be to God, the divine physician has become the remedy of sin through his death.

There are many that refuse to turn their gaze to the saving cross of Christ out of stubbornness, ignorance, or attachment to sin. Yet, we are called to lift him up for all to see nonetheless, in our speech, in our liturgical life, and good Christian example.

As Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum near, let us look to the cross and lift high the cross that the Lord may bring healing and deliverance to those who love him. May the poison of sin which continues to linger in us in the form of selfishness, mistrust of God, or disordered attachment to earthly goods and activities, be eradicated in us through the grace of the Savior for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in faith for the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. And That the Church might be delivered and protected from all spirits of error, heresy, schism, and unbelief. Let us pray to the Lord.

That during this Year of St. Joseph, the Church may discover a deeper devotion to our Universal Patron. That through St. Joseph’s intercession families may be strengthened, priestly and religious vocations may increase, demons may be scattered, and the sick and dying may know the peace of Jesus. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

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

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

August 23 2019 - St. Rose of Lima - A life of penance

St. Rose of Lima was a third order Dominican, the patroness of South America, the first canonized saint of that continent. She is also one of the patron saint of gardeners. Born in Lima, Peru in 1586 she worked even as a child to help support her family, growing flowers and doing embroidery and other needlework.

She was physically very beautiful, but consistently refused offers to marry, for she took a vow of virginity, and at the age of 20 became a third order Dominican and undertook serious penances and mortifications, modeling her spirituality after the extraordinary third order Dominican, St. Catherine of Siena. Rose lived a mostly secluded life, but also labored often amongst the poor and sick natives and slaves. She died at the young age of 31.

She has been given the title St. Rose of Penance, and wrote on the importance of penance for all Christians, saying “Without the burden of afflictions, it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases.”

To do penance and to labor for the Gospel even when those labors bring suffering upon ourselves, is to enter into the divine life, for Jesus himself embraced suffering on the cross for the salvation on our souls.

And When we hear in the Gospel today the command from the lips of Our Lord to love God and love neighbor, remember, love is not just a sentimental feeling. Love is the embrace of hard work for the good of others, it is the willingness to suffer for the one you love. So we should not shy away from the difficulties of living and spreading the Gospel, the difficulties of the works of charity, the self-sacrifice, the discipline, the fasting and penance, for they are opportunities to show our love and grow in love, as we are commanded to do.

St. Rose said, “No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him if he could come to know the scales on which they are weighed” by God, the graces obtained when we embrace our cross with faith.

Listen again to the powerful collect for the st. rose today: “O God, you set St. Rose of Lima on fire with your love, so that, secluded from the world in the austerity of a life of penance, she might give herself to you alone; grant, we pray, that through her intercession, we may trad the paths of life on earth and drink at the stream of your delights in heaven.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For an increase in vocations to the consecrated religious life, and that our consecrated religious may continue to be a shining and burning light in the Church.
That the carrying of our crosses and penances may bring about deep conversion for ourselves and others.
That the young students of our school beginning classes this week may know the love of Christ in their families, that each school family may seek to practice right religion to the honor of God.
For mercy and peace for all those who suffer: for the sick and diseased, for those undergoing surgery this week, for the destitute and despairing, for all victims of war, violence, and abuse, and for those who will die today and the consolation of their families.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this mass is offered.
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.

August 9 2019 - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Chosen for the cross

Today we celebrate Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  She was born—Edith Stein— the 11th child of a large family of orthodox jews in Germany in 1891.  Her life came to an end 50 years later in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.  By then she was a Carmelite nun who had converted to Catholicism.  Though the Jews were the principle victims of the Nazi’s in World War II, millions of Catholics, including bishops, priests, and nuns were murdered in the concentration camps.

While attending university, the young jewish girl, Edith Stein began to develop a strong interest in Catholic belief and thinkers. After reading the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila, she asked to be baptized.

10 years later she imitated Theresa of Avila by entering the Carmelite convent and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  It was 1933, Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany.
In 1942, the Nazi’s arrested Sister Teresa.  She and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, were transported to Auschwitz in Poland by boxcar.  One week later, Sister Teresa died in a gas chamber.

Perhaps St. Teresa Benedicta had today’s Gospel in mind when she wrote, “One cannot desire freedom from the cross when one is especially chosen for the cross.” As Christians we have been chosen for the cross. Our Lord says, each of us must “take up his cross, and follow” him to the cross.

Jesus demands a commitment of faith that is ready to embrace the will of God wherever it leads, even unto death. We in 2019 Cleveland were chosen for the difficult task of spreading the Gospel in an increasingly secular culture. We were chosen to endure sufferings for the Gospel—for the difficult conversations, for speaking truth in the face of relativism.

Those who seek happiness in life only by pursuing their own interests will never be fulfilled. Only by giving one’s self to God and others do we experience the lasting fulfillment God wants for us, only by embracing the cross will we find salvation for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For all those who wander in atheism, agnosticism, those who are cynical towards Catholicism, for moral relativists, and those who reject the Faith, and all lapsed Catholics, that the Holy Spirit will help them discover the Truth of Christ.
That the Holy Father, the Bishops and all Clergy and Religious will be shining examples of fidelity to the Truth.
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.
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.

June 16, 2019 - Trinity Sunday - In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

We do that so naturally, so instinctively, don’t we?  I’m speaking of course about the sign of the cross.  It’s almost as reflexive to us Catholics as breathing or blinking our eyes.  And it should be! For the sign of the cross is the first prayer most Catholics learn—invoking the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity while marking ourselves with the sign of our salvation—the Holy Cross of Christ.

Most of us were taught by our first catechists, our parents, how to sign ourselves. I always love to see parents picking up their little ones, dipping their little fingers in the holy water font and tracing the cross, forming a habit that they will take with them into eternity. We do well to begin each day invoking the trinity with the sign of the cross, signing ourselves before getting out of bed—hopefully, even before checking our iphones.  Most of our formal prayer, as Catholics, begins invoking the trinity with the sign of the cross. We are absolved, we are confirmed, we are anointed, and we will be buried with that sign of the cross. 

We invoke the Trinity in moments of danger and difficulty and penitence. Sometimes we even find baseball players making the sign of the cross as they come up to home plate. Whenever I go to restaurants I look around to see if people are making the sign of the cross before they eat.  At funerals and weddings you can often tell who the non-Catholics are by who makes the sign of the cross or not.  And this makes sense because the sign of the cross signifies an IDENTITY!  You know if someone is Catholic if they begin their prayer “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

The sign of the cross professes the two most important doctrines of our Faith.

The first doctrine is of course the Doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate in a special way this Trinity Sunday. God is a Trinity of Divine Persons—the Divine Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are consubstantial, coeternal, coequal, distinct, yet united.

The catechism says, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life.  It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the ‘hierarchy of the truths of faith’. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”

I had a class in seminary one semester simply called “Trinity” in which we studied the theological history of the Church’s understanding of this great mystery. It was one of the most difficult classes in seminary—as we attempted to grasp infinite mystery revealed in the primary Christian doctrine.

The second doctrine expressed in the sign of the cross flows from the first: by the cross we are saved.  Every time we sign ourselves with the cross, we confess our faith that by the cross, the incarnate Son, the second person of the Trinity, won for us eternal life.

Trinity and Cross. It’s no accident that these two themes converge in the Church’s most fundamental prayer, the sign of the cross: for the cross is an image in time of the Trinity’s life and love in eternity. The love poured out on the cross is the most powerful sign of the love of God in himself and his love for us. So when we make the sign of the cross, we call to mind the love that conquers all sin and death and evil, the love which is the cause of our salvation.

St. Francis Xavier, perhaps the greatest missionary in Church history after St. Paul, baptized thousands of people. As a missionary in the far east, he wrote about the difficulty he had in catechizing all these people—preparing them for baptism. Thousands of people would be in the villages, clamoring for baptism, yearning for membership in the Church.  Francis Xavier wrote that he considered it enough if he could properly teach them that in making that sign of the cross they were professing their faith in the one true God—God the Father who creates us and loves us, God the Son who took flesh and died for our salvation, and God the Holy Spirit who strengthens us with his gifts—if he could teach them that, and that Jesus, God the Son offered them salvation through the cross that he would trace over them—he felt that that was enough for baptism.

When we stand before the judgment seat of Almighty God, our passports won’t help us, any academic degrees aren’t going to do much good, any stock portfolios, our check book, our driver’s license, our proof of American citizenship or lack thereof aren’t going to do us a bit of good.  But by the sign of the cross, we are claimed for Christ, we are identified as those children of God redeemed by the Cross of Christ, members of God’s Holy Church, who profess, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be our Loving and Almighty God.

Just as we make the sign of the Cross each time we pray, in order to direct our prayer to the one true God, may this Trinity Sunday, help direct our lives. The true God is not a creature of our own making, a product of our imaginations. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we bow our lives to his majesty, we surrender our wills to His Divine Will, his commandments, and plead his mercy.

Everything we do is meant to be directed to the Holy Trinity, done to honor the Holy Trinity, out of love for the Holy Trinity. May we invoke the Trinity many times every day, that God’s very being, His Life, may infuse us, change us, propel and animate us, that our choices may lead us to his presence, that he may possess us, in the words of our first reading, and that we may possess the mind and heart of Our Lord and Redeemer.

May our faith in the Triune God keep us from all sin, protect us from all evil, and may all of our actions, all of our choices, all our decisions, all of our sacrifices be done for the glory of the Triune God and salvation of souls. 

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”