7th Week of Ordinary Time 2025 - Tuesday - Childlike humility and embrace of trials

 

Today we read the familiar Gospel passage of the disciples arguing about who will be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom, but it is clear that their idea of greatness is far from God’s. True greatness in God’s eyes isn’t about attaining a seat of power, status or privilege. Rather, true greatness involves becoming like a little child before God—true power involves becoming a servant to every one. "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."

 Why does Jesus redirect the attention of the disciples to the posture of a child?

 A child does not approach the world with calculated strategies to rise above everyone else; instead, children living trustingly secure in the care of those who love them. By inviting us to become like children, Jesus teaches us that His kingdom values humility, tenderness, and simplicity of heart.

 Moreover, Jesus spells out that the path to true greatness is marked by service, not by accolades. Being “first” in His kingdom means pouring ourselves out for others—looking for ways to uplift, comfort, and accompany those in need.

 In the first reading from Sirach, God’s Word also makes it clear that we will need to embrace hardships to become the people God made us to be. We will have to practice patience, conflicts, hardships, and personal sufferings. “Prepare yourself for trials…in fire gold is tested,”

 Together the readings speak of a purification that is needed. We are to purify ourselves from the un-childlike behavior—the power grabbing, the attempts to live independently from God. And we are to embrace the purification the Lord sends us through our trials. True Christian greatness grows from a heart purified by adversity and shaped by a servant’s love. When we let go of self-centered ambition, fear of suffering for the sake of goodness, but truly trust the Lord in them, and seek to become “the servant of all,” we become truly great in God’s sight for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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With humble hearts, we turn to our loving Father, and we present our needs for the Church and the world.

For the Church: That all her members may seek to leading lives marked by humility and service rather than worldly ambition.

For leaders in society and government: That they may put aside selfish interests and seek the good of the most vulnerable, serving their communities with honesty and compassion

For those who face trials and hardships: That, like gold refined in fire, they may grow in faith and hope through their struggles, trusting that God is with them and working for their good. And for Holy Father Pope Francis in this time of serious illness.

For our parish community: That we may actively seek ways to serve, uplift, and comfort those in need, especially the lonely, the sick, and the marginalized

For our deceased loved ones and all the souls in purgatory: That they may be welcomed by the Lord and share in the fullness of His Kingdom, especially N.

Heavenly Father, hear these prayers and answer them in your mercy, for we make them through Christ our Lord.

7th Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Monday - All wisdom comes from the Lord

 

As you may recall, there are seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude and Fear of the Lord.

 Today’s reading from the very opening verses of Sirach chapter 1 speaks of one of those gifts in particular: wisdom. 5 times in 11 verses he speaks of wisdom.

 Sirach was a teacher, a rabbi from Jerusalem, who lived 200 years before the birth of the Lord. And the book of Sirach is a collection of teachings the rabbi wrote down for his students on various aspects of life. Sirach offers teachings on parenting, marriage, the use of money, politeness, how to stand firm against your enemies, proper use of the tongue, how to avoid sins of the flesh, the duties we have toward the poor, how, as religious people we are to relate to society and the state, and most of all toward God.

But Sirach begins his book, with the words we heard today: “all wisdom comes from the Lord.” Sirach wants his students to know, that he’s not just offering his opinions about these matters. He’s know just offering a collection of his own musings. He’s applying wisdom that he has received from God to help the younger generation order their lives. God has given wisdom, that we might live by wisdom. God has given us a capacity for wisdom. But it’s up to us to seek out wisdom, and to apply wisdom to our lives.

 God has given us wisdom to help us get our priorities straight in this life so that we might live in a godly way on earth so that we might be with him in heaven. Wisdom enables us to judge the things of earth in relation to our heavenly end. The Lord himself says, “seek first the kingdom of God.” That is wise. Because if we aren’t seeking the kingdom of God first and foremost, we might not end up there.

 Wisdom. Wisdom must order all of our conduct. We are to avoid foolishness in our use of time, and money, and the use of our free will. And we need to be about the business of always growing in this gift, nurturing the gift of wisdom, seeking to grow in wisdom, we must long for it ardently, beg for it insistently, and pursue it with untiring efforts.

 The study Scripture and Tradition and the teachings and examples of the saints dispose us to wisdom. Prayer, of course, in which we humble ourselves before God helps to dispose us to growth as well. For a prideful soul, that refuses to kneel before God, lacks the fundamental disposition for growing in wisdom.

 To become wise, you must love (Sir 4:12), seek (Sir 4:12), hold fast to (Sir 4:13), serve (Sir 4:14), obey (Sir 4:15), hearken to (Sir 4:15), trust (Sir 4:16), and walk with (Sir 4:17) wisdom.

 Sirach says “one who loves wisdom loves life and those who seek her will be embraced by the Lord.” 

 As we prepare for the great season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in Lent, let us make use of the gift of wisdom to identify those habits and attachments that keep us from walking with the Lord in all things.

 May we seek and live by God’s wisdom today, that we may serve God as we are meant to and be pleasing to him in all things this day for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Holy Spirit may embolden us in our Christian mission and help us to put our physical, intellectual, and spiritual gifts more fully in God’s service.

 That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

 For the success of the work of Catholic Charities in our diocese: for generous hearts in meeting the needs of the poor, downtrodden, and suffering.

For all those impacted by the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, for the defense of our nation from all threats foreign and domestic, for those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, inclement weather, or ongoing trials of any kind.

 For the deceased members of our family and friends and parish, for the souls in purgatory, and for…

 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.

 

6th Sunday in OT 2020 - Choose Wisely

Last weekend, we didn’t get to spend too much time reflecting upon our scripture readings due to our annual Catholic Charities appeal. We heard an audio message from our bishop, what is probably his last public address to us before his installation as Archbishop of Philadelphia this coming Tuesday. He spoke to us of the importance of living out our Christian unity—joining together to bring relief and assistance to the poor and downtrodden in our midst, joining together to promote life, peace, and justice. When our gifts of time, talent, and treasure are shared, they are multiplied.

Archbishop Perez’s installation can be viewed online on Tuesday at 2pm on both our Cleveland Diocese website and also the website for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We certainly unite our prayers to the Church of Philadelphia and to the Archbishop, that his ministry may be blessed. No doubt the Archbishop prays for all of us, as we await a new Bishop.

My guess is that sometime this week, after Tuesday, the College of Consultors of our Diocese will meet to elect a diocesan administrator, who will cover the day-to-day operations of the diocese until a new bishop is named by the Pope, which could be in a few weeks, a few months, most likely within a year.

Last week, we heard a powerful section of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: “you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, the Lord said, speaking to his disciples atop the mount of beatitudes. Salt and light, that what we are called to be, that is how we are to act. Not hiding our faith, but letting the light of their faith shine in our charitable works and preaching. Not allowing our faith to lose its flavor, its saltiness, not letting our faith become stale or ineffective, but nurturing our faith, doing whatever it takes to ensure that faith is the prime motivation of our life.

This week, we hear a continuation of the Lord’s Sermon. And he continues to teach about who we are and how we are to act. Primarily, he speaks of our need to keep God’s commandments. “Therefore,” he says, “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Who are we? Christians are those called to greatness by obeying and teaching the commandments.

When we hear that word “commandment”, what do you think of? I think of Moses atop Mt. Sinai, delivering to the Israelites the 10 commandments. The commandments of Moses were given by God, so that his people might be holy, that we might have guidance we need in restricting the tendencies of our fallen nature.

Why did God command that we should honor our father and mother? Because it’s not always easy. It’s not always easy to get along with family. Sometimes its harder to get along with family than it is with strangers.

Why did God command that spouses should not commit adultery? Because adultery is a perpetual temptation. In the New York Times, just this week there was an article arguing for what is known as “open-marriages” where spouses ignore the call to fidelity to each other and seek companionship outside their marriage. Not only is adultery being normalized in our modern day, it is being promoted. Not to mention the scourge of pornography and promiscuity rampant throughout our culture.

By evoking the commandments of Moses, the Lord in his Sermon on the Mount is calling his disciples in every generation to keep the commandments.  It is not up to each generation to create a new morality. Morality is not based on popular opinion or majority vote. The commandments are not outdated relics of an ancient past. Rather, they are the timeless Word of God for people of every age. And it’s up to us to trust them and to keep them. As we heard from Sirach in our first reading today: “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live”

The Lord begins this section of his sermon saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.” In other words, don’t believe that I’m doing away with the commandments just because I’ve come to forgive your sins. Yes, your sins are forgiven, but you still need to keep the commandments. And what’s at stake? The Lord is pretty explicit, “fiery Gehenna” is still on the table for those who give n in to anger and hatred and adultery and theft and fail to repent and remedy their sinful actions.

Christians, like the Jews before us, are called to be a people set apart from the rest of the world, set apart by our seriousness in keeping the commandments of God, our seriousness for sanctity. Now, this does not mean that we are joyless, that we become joylessly obsessive about worrying if we’ve violated the smallest part of the smallest letter of the law.

We should know the commands of God well enough that we know when we are following them or not. This is where our Catechism comes in handy. The Catechism gives wonderful and clear explanation of the Commandments, and the Magisterium, the Bishops in union with the Pope continue to apply those Commandments to new moral issues which are not specifically addressed in the Bible: In Vitro Fertilization and Contraception and so on.

We seek to follow the commandments of God because we love God. They come from Him and we want to live lives pleasing to Him.

To those who follow his commands, the Lord promises eternal life. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord, we sang in our Psalm today. “Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.” For following the commands of God, we are promised Blessedness, in this life and the next.

What does this blessedness consist of? St. Paul answers that question in our second readings today. For those who love God, who conform to his wisdom: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it hasn’t even entered into the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him. The blessedness prepared for the faithful is greater than our human comprehension.

For disregarding the commandments of God, we have everything to lose, but following them, we have everything to gain. But, again, as Sirach says, it is our choice: heaven or hell is our choice. “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” May we choose…wisely….for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

November 15 2018 - St. Albert the Great - Deeper Knowledge and Love of God

Saint Albert the Great  was considered the most learned man of his time, the 13th century, and, he was the teacher of the greatest theologian of all time, Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Recall the words of this morning’s opening prayer, “O God, who made the Bishop Saint Albert great by his joining of human wisdom to divine faith.”  God makes all the Saints great in holiness, by raising their human virtues to heroic levels. In the saint, the human intellect, human compassion, virtues like prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance which the wise of every age have sought to develop, are made raised to a whole new level through grace, through faith.

This is one reason why all the saints are our teachers. They show us by their example what is possible when a life is united to God. St. Albert, in particular, is one of only 33 people in human history known as a doctor of the Catholic Church—doctor, coming from the Latin word meaning “Learned One”.  He is “learned” not simply intellectually, but in the ways of Christ.

The proper reading from the book of Sirach spoke of how those who fear the Lord, that should be all of us, shall be nourished with the bread of understanding and given the water of learning to drink. Our minds should crave understanding and learning like our bodies crave food and water. Catholics should always be engaged in some kind of intellectual formation.  Now, you don’t have to sit by the fireside every day with Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, though you can get it for free on your Kindle!  Though it certainly couldn’t hurt, no one will sharpen the mind like St. Thomas. Nor is learning supposed to replace our daily prayer, but daily learning is our way of life...that's what it means to be a disciple--a learner of the way of Christ.

But understanding and learning about our faith, about the scriptures, about the lives of the saints, musn’t end when our grade school catechesis ends. Minds that don’t crave learning like the body craves bread and water, have perhaps been dulled by too much tv, video games, or nonsense.
Albert was called “the Great” even during his lifetime by his contemporaries because of his immense scholarship and knowledge of philosophy.  Yet, he could only truly be called great by history, by us, because of the greatness of his holiness and love—a holiness that put his life—his gifts, his talents, and struggles, at the service of Christ and his Holy Church.

May the prayers and example of the learned Saint Albert the Great help us to deepen our knowledge and love of God, for the building up of the Church for His Glory and the salvation of souls.

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That Pope Francis and all bishops and clergy will help defend the Church against error, and lead her members always in the pathways of truth, righteousness, and charity.

For the conversion of all those who perpetuate error or set bad Christian example for young people and those of weak faith.

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, for whom we pray in a special way during the month of November, 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

Homily: Monday - 7th Week in OT 2017 - Fear of the Lord

One of the most repeated and emphasized statements in the Bible is: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Deuteronomy tells us “fear of the Lord is good always and good for our survival.”

Psalm 112 says “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands”
Proverbs says “Fear of the Lord prolongs life” and that the “reward for humility and fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life”

The book of Sirach (from which we'll be reading until the beginning of Lent) repeats over and over the importance of holy fear, “Fear of the Lord is glory and splendor, gladness and a festive crown. Fear of the Lord warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days."

Here at St. Clare, the first seven stained glass windows on the west side of the church depict the seven gifts of the spirit. Fear of the Lord is depicted as the eye of God watching over the world. What is fear of the Lord? It is the constant consciousness that the eye of God is watching us always. “l'occhio di Dio che sempre ti vede” as Padre Pio said. The eye of God that follows you always.

Coming from the eye of God in our stained glass window are lightning bolts of divine judgment, symbolizing God’s judgment. Christians are to live mindfully that the eye of God watches us always and that we will have to face judgment for our choices in life.

Speaking on this most important gift of the Spirit, Pope Francis said “The gift of fear fills us with awe and reverence for God. It makes us dread the thought of displeasing God because of our love for Him. A right-ordered and healthy fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

Why is the fear of the Lord the beginning of Wisdom? Because if we are to live a rightly ordered life, we must first be conscious that our actions, decisions, and attitudes must be rightly directed to God, and that we will be held accountable for those actions. Without fear of the Lord we cannot remain on the right path of wisdom, we cannot even find it.

The Spiritual masters give us three practices for increasing our fear of the Lord. First, meditating frequently on God’s infinite grandeur and sovereignty. On a beautiful day like today, we do well to behold the beauty and splendor of God’s creation, and being amazed at God’s handiwork.
Secondly we are encouraged to make a frequent examination of our lives in light of the truth of the Gospel. Frequent confession of sin helps us to remain accountable and mindful of our impending judgment.

And lastly, to spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; spending time face to face with Jesus in the Eucharist, prepares us to meet the Lord face to face at the end of our earthly life.
By the great gift of fear, we seek to live lives pleasing to the Lord, seeking never to offend our gracious God, to become worthy of eternal life with Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We pray that the gift of Holy Fear may deepen in the souls of our Church leaders and in the hearts of all Christians.

That our government leaders, and particularly our president, on this president’s day, may be filled with holy fear in seeking to guide our nation according to the commands of God.

For all those who have fallen away from the Church, who have fallen into mortal sin, for their return to the sacraments.

That through the gifts of the Holy Spirit we may respond to the Spirit’s promptings in caring for those most in need.

For the sick…
For the souls in purgatory…