January 3 2024 - Holy Name of Jesus

According to the Mosaic Law, on the 8th day, young baby boys were to undergo circumcision and given their name. Now in many cultures, a child is given a name at the time of birth, chosen by his parents. But for the Jews, the naming of the child was delayed until the child became a member of the Jewish people through circumcision. Only after he entered into that sacred bond with God, invested in the covenant between God and his people, would the child be named.

There is something so powerful and beautiful in that custom. Your name signifies your identity, your deepest self. You don’t really have an identity if you don’t have a name. And the Jews believed that you don’t have a name—you don’t have an identity—until you entered into relationship with God and into the human race as a member of the Jewish people through the shedding of your life blood. Unless you have shed your own blood for your people and for your God you don’t really have a name or an identity or a people.

Jesus: what a perfect name for the Christ Child. For in Hebrew, the name of Jesus—Yeshua—means Yahweh saves, or God saves. No name has better fit a child in all of history. He is God and Savior. He is God who saves. As the angel told Joseph, “you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

And that perfect name, that name given by heaven itself, is as St. Paul writes to the Philippians, “the name above every other name.” It is the name given to us by God, so that we may call upon him. 

The holy name of Jesus is uttered in prayer by holy devout souls, it is evoked for strength by martyrs at their time of death and all those asking God’s aid in carrying their own crosses. By the name of Jesus, demons are scattered, which is why the demons revel in the fact that the holy name of Jesus is blasphemed in so many corners of our culture—in movies and television, on the internet, as an expletive. 

When you hear his name blasphemed, it is praiseworthy to make the sign of the cross in reparation. If you are in the company of someone who blasphemes his name, it is certainly appropriate to request that they stop blaspheming his name in your presence. 

In one sermon on the Holy Name, St. Bernadine said, “Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary” 

When I am waiting in line at a doctor’s office or grocery store, I like to slowly and simply recite the name of Jesus, to quiet the mind down enough where only the name of Jesus fills it. It’s a beautiful, simple, yet powerful way of praying, encouraged by the saints.

May this Christmas feast of the Holy Name help us believe in Jesus’s name, treat the name of Jesus with reverence, give us conviction in to invoke Jesus’ name in our prayer, live in communion with the Holy Name of Jesus, proclaim Jesus’ name to the ends of the earth, and willingly suffer, like the apostles, for the sake of the name. For the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

For the conversion of all those who have turned their hearts from Christ, for those who have fallen into serious sin, for a strengthening of all of the faithful in virtue. And That God may bring the faithless to believe in His Son and increase the faith of those struggling to believe.

For Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, especially those who face martyrdom, that they may have a faith that is constant and pure.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body. 

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

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

January 3 2020 - Holy Name of Jesus

On this 10th day of the Christmas season, we celebrate an event taking place on the 8th day of the Lord’s earthly life. According to mosaic law, Jesus was circumcised and named on the 8th day. One commentary explained why it was fitting to delay the naming of the child until after circumcision. It mentioned how only after the child becomes a member of the Jewish people through circumcision, only after he entered into that bond with God, should the child be given his Jewish name.

A names are important to Jews. They are not as frivolous as they are today. They are to be carefully chosen because a name signifies ones purpose, identity and mission. When God named Abraham, he said you are called Abraham because you are to be father-of-nations. So, those eight days before naming might give Jewish parents time to contemplate their child, to prayerfully consider a name that might signify what God wants from this child.

Mary and Joseph did not have the task of flipping through a book of baby names. For the Christ Child’s name was given to Joseph in a dream. No name has better fit a child in all of history. For the name of Jesus signifies his identity and mission perfectly. Jesus means “God Saves”. So, it is truly the “name above all other names” as Paul sings of today in our first reading.

A name that was whispered by Joseph, has now been uttered with love and devotion by billions of Christians throughout the centuries. It is uttered in prayer by holy devout souls, it is evoked for strength by martyrs at their time of death and all those asking God’s aid in carrying their own crosses. By it, demons are cast out, souls are reclaimed.

In one sermon on the Holy Name, St. Bernadine said, “Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary”

When I am waiting in line at a doctor’s office or grocery store, I like to slowly and simply recite the name of Jesus, to quiet the mind down enough where only the name of Jesus fills it. It’s a beautiful, simple, yet powerful way of praying, encouraged by the saints.

 After healing a man crippled from birth, St. Peter says in the book of Acts, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. May we find healing and salvation from the sins and attitudes and circumstances which cripple us through the name of Jesus, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

For the conversion of all those who have turned their hearts from Christ, for those who have fallen into serious sin, for a strengthening of all of the faithful in virtue. And That God may bring the faithless to believe in His Son and increase the faith of those struggling to believe.

For Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, especially those who face martyrdom, that they may have a faith that is constant and pure.

For the safety of all those celebrating the New Year this evening, safety from physical harm and preservation from sin.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body.

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

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

January 1 2020 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - The Octave Day

It is good for us to gather for Holy Mass on this 1st day of the New Year for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it’s a good day to come to mass, simply because it is a new year. We begin the new year offering the most powerful prayer we can, the holy sacrifice of the mass, the eucharist, looking back with gratitude upon God’s grace and mercy last year, and placing 2020 into His providential hands.

A second reason why this is an important day for the Church is because it is the octave day of Christmas, the 8th day. Biblically, the number 8 is important. Just like the octave note in music resonates with the same tone as its root, biblically, the 8th day resonates and recalls the major feast that proceeded it. The Old Testament prescribes that Passover, Hanukkah, and other major feasts be celebrated for eight days, and so, too the eighth days of major feasts of Easter and Christmas are celebrated have special solemnity.

Another reason for us to gather, goes back a little over 40 years. Pope Paul VI made January 1 a special day of prayer for peace. Pope Paul said, "The world must be educated to love Peace, to build it up and defend it." And so today we gather to pray for peace in our world desperately in need of it—the peace of the Christ Child, offered to all who believe in Him.

Fourthly, the eighth day after Christmas was for many years, centuries really, celebrated the feast of the circumcision of the Lord and the Holy Name of Jesus. For the Mosaic Law prescribed circumcision to occur on the 8th day after birth. It was through circumcision, the shedding of blood that the child would enter into the covenant. For the Christ child, the circumcision would no doubt foreshadow the blood to be shed on Calvary.

And as we heard in the Gospel, Mary and Joseph had the Lord circumcised. And it was then that he was given his Holy Name. The Holy Name of Jesus, given by the angel, signifies his identity and mission. For the name of Jesus, derives from the Hebrew for “God saves”. Jesus the Christ is God incarnate, who brings salvation for his people.

Yet, on our liturgical calendar, January 1 is no longer the feast of the circumcision or the feast of the holy name. A new solemnity was instituted after Vatican II: the solemnity of Mary, the mother of God. This new feast is really a return to an ancient custom of the early church both in the east and the west, to honor the Lord’s Blessed Mother during the Christmas octave.

While much of the world is sleeping off a hangover, having spent last night with little or no reference to Christ, the Church gathers today soberly—with great solemnity and seriousness—to celebrate once again his incarnation through the ever-Virgin Mary, that our year, our life may always be in reference to Him.

As Mary’s life revolved around Him, so must ours. As her life was placed in total submission to God’s, so must ours. As she was found worthy to receive the Author of Life, so may we receive Him in our minds and hearts, and allow Him to reign in our lives completely. May his peace be ours. May his burning charity be ours. May his power to withstand the temptations of the devil be ours. May the Spirit of Him who was not slave, but Son, be ours. May the salvation that comes through Him be ours.

We along with Mary-Mother, keep all these, and reflect upon them in our hearts, that the invisible God may become visible in our lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 16 2018 - St. Margaret Mary - Circumcision of Hearts

In ancient Israel, circumcision was a sign of one’s membership in the community. The uncircumcised was seen as less of a man, who had not fulfilled the prescriptions of the law proscribed by God, and therefore unreceptive of the blessing of God.

Israel, however, would be tempted to consider circumcision sufficient to gain a share in the blessings of God. This led Jeremiah the prophet would go so far as to say that physical circumcision had no value in itself, what mattered was the circumcision of the heart. If the greatest command in the Law was to love God with your whole heart and to love your neighbor as yourselves, to circumcise the heart meant to remove all obstacles, all hardness, which kept one from the love which was to characterize God’s people.

St. Paul develops the teaching of the prophets in our first reading today, when he says, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” What makes one an heir to the kingdom of heaven, is not circumcision, but faith in Jesus Christ which strips the heart of all selfishness, which seeks to imitate Christ’s outpouring of love in his self-sacrifice to the Father. To be a Christian is to seek to make one’s heart like the heart of Christ.
In 1677, Our Blessed Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun in France and revealed his Sacred Heart.

She said, “I could plainly see His heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His heart which so loved humanity.”

The Lord lamented to St. Margaret Mary that he found so few souls on earth who truly loved him. So many lukewarm hearts, so many slothful hearts, so many divided hearts, so many ungrateful hearts, so many hearts indifferent to his sacrifice, hearts that could not care less that the Son of God became man and suffered and died for them. The Lord particularly lamented the irreverence and coldness of his people for the Eucharist, the sacrament of his love.

“Behold this Heart,” the Lord said to Margaret Mary, “which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. In return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt they have for me in this sacrament of love....”

In order to circumcise our hearts, to strip our hearts of indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, and irreverence for the Eucharist, we do well to ponder and behold, like St. Margaret Mary, the Lord’s Sacred Heart, to contemplate his love for us and his suffering for us, to repent of our sins and to engage in the prayer and fasting and penances and works of charity that will enkindle the fire of love for God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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In reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and blasphemy, ingratitude and indifference, we pray to the Lord.
For an increase in faith, hope, and love for all Christians, for a renewed reverence for the Holy Eucharist, we pray to the Lord.
That our children and young people may be kept safe from the poisonous errors of our culture, and that their families may be places where the faith is practiced and cherished.
For all those whose love for God has grown cold, who have fallen into moral laxity or despair of the mercy of God, for all souls in danger of hell, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.
For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased clergy and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.
Holy Father, hear our prayers, and enkindle in our hearts the fire of your love, circumcise our hearts to make them evermore like the Sacred Heart of Your Son, who is our Lord forever and ever.

Homily: Thursday - 31st Week in OT 2016 - "We are the circumcision"

Circumcision is mentioned briefly but prominently in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, as we heard this morning. The custom of circumcising males was an important identity marker for the ancient Hebrews—it was a sign of belonging to the God of Israel, and distinguished them from the non-circumcising nations like the Philistines and Babylonians.

The meaning of circumcision is given in Genesis chapter 17, where God instructs Abraham to circumcise himself and all his male descendants as a sign of the everlasting covenant between God and his people.

The Hebrew Scriptures would often use this idea of circumcision as a metaphor, speaking of the circumcision of the heart, the lips, and the ears. For example, before the Israelites enter the Promised Land, Moses calls them to a renewed dedication to the Lord by saying, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked”. Allowing God to “circumcise your heart”, Deuteronomy says,  will enable you to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

Circumcision is understood as a removal of a barrier, a renewed attentiveness and devotion to God’s Word. To circumcise the ears and lips is to remove a barrier to hearing and speaking the word of God. To circumcise the heart is to renew the barriers in your life to loving God.

So what a strange and amazing thing for Paul to say in “we, Christians, are the circumcision…we who worship through the Spirit of God…and do not trust in our flesh.” Paul is speaking of a vocation isn’t it…a vocation for Christians to help the rest of the world remove the barriers in their hearts to God…and we precisely fulfill that vocation by not putting our trust in vain, empty things.

We, who have had the barriers in our lives removed, need to help others do the same. When we are faithful to that vocation, when we help those lost in sin return to God, there is, as we heard in the Gospel, “much rejoicing in heaven.”

May the Holy Spirit continue to help us identify those parts of our minds and hearts that we do not give to God, so that we may be more effective in the work of mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.