Octave of Easter 2025 - Monday - "To the dead, he has given life."

 "It is without profound sadness to announce to you that At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. We pray too for the Church, that the Holy Spirit may console us, as we grieve the loss of the Holy Father, and that she might be guided in the election of a new Pontiff."

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For much of the secular world, Easter is over now. They're back to normal life. For disciples of Jesus Christ, however today is the second day of a fifty day season of glory—reveling in, celebrating, reflecting upon, basking in the light of the most important thing that ever happened. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, just as he said he would.

News of the death of Holy Father Pope Francis has certainly cast a pall over our easter joy. And yet, we are grateful for the gift of his life, his pontificate, and the fact that he was able to celebrate one last easter with the Church whom he loved and served with his whole life.

We commend his soul to the Lord, and recall, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sign of hope for him and for us all. Had Christ not risen from the grave, our faith and our hope would be in vain. But Christ is risen, and death does not get the last word, for Pope Francis or for any of Christ’s beloved.

The Catechism says, “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross: Christ is risen from the dead! Dying, he conquered death; To the dead, he has given life.”

“To the dead, he has given life.” What powerful words these are! Not merely poetic sentiment, but the very heartbeat of our faith. This truth resounds through every Easter Alleluia we sing, every Mass we celebrate, every moment we live in Christ.

Today, we face the loss of Pope Francis—a shepherd who taught us tirelessly that death is not an end, but a doorway. The sadness we feel today gives way to hope, because the risen Christ extends His victory over death not only to Himself but to each of us.

As we continue our Easter journey, let us renew our commitment to Christ, who transforms sorrow into joy, despair into hope, and death into life. May our hearts echo the Easter proclamation with renewed confidence: Christ has risen; truly He is risen! Alleluia

 

With faith in the Risen Christ, who conquered death and gave life to the dead, we present our prayers to our merciful Father:

For Pope Francis, our beloved Holy Father who has returned to the Father’s house; that he may now rejoice forever in the glory of the Risen Lord, whom he served so faithfully and joyfully.

For the Church throughout the world, as we mourn the loss of Pope Francis; may the Holy Spirit bring consolation, peace, and strength to all believers, and guide the College of Cardinals as they prepare to elect his successor.

For the whole world, particularly those who do not yet know or believe in the joy of the Resurrection; may this Easter season open their hearts to Christ, who gives life and hope to all.

For all who grieve today, especially those who mourn Pope Francis, and all who have recently lost loved ones; may the Resurrection of Christ assure them that death does not have the final word, but that through Christ, life triumphs over the grave.

For our parish community, that during this sacred season of Easter, we may renew our commitment to Christ and become ever more confident in sharing the Good News of His Resurrection.

For all the faithful departed, especially Pope Francis, and those whose faith is known to God alone; may they experience eternal joy and peace in the risen presence of Christ, who has conquered death.

Father of mercy, hear our prayers as we rejoice in the Resurrection of your Son. Comfort our hearts, guide your Church, and make us always faithful witnesses of your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Easter Octave 2024 - Friday - Living the Resurrection with Courage

 Our readings from the book of Acts during this Octave week of Easter, serve to help us understand the significance and impact of the resurrection for the Church.

The apostles' boldness in proclaiming the risen Christ underlines the reality and transformative power of the resurrection. I’ve said it multiple times this week: Easter is not just a historical event in the past. But a living reality that shapes and animates our lives. 

The account of Peter and John’s fortitude in their arrest, imprisonment, and questioning before the Sanhedrin in the reading today shows us how the power of the resurrection enables us to face opposition and persecution with hope and courage—opposition and persecution much like our Lord experienced.

Consider the parallels between Peter and John’s experience, and what the Lord faced. 

Jesus is brought before the Jewish religious leaders who challenge Him and ultimately seek His death. And Peter and John are brought before a similar group of leaders, elders, and scribes, including the high priest. 

Jesus was arrested after being perceived as a threat to the religious and Roman authority due to His teachings, miracles, and the claim of being the Messiah. Peter and John are arrested for proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus, which continued to threaten their authority.

Jesus was questioned about His authority to teach, perform miracles, and His identity as the Son of God. Peter and John are questioned by what authority they performed the miraculous healing of the lame man at the temple gate.

Both Jesus' trial and the questioning of Peter and John highlight themes of faithfulness, witness, and the power of God working through individuals for His purpose. Jesus' trial culminates in His ultimate act of faithfulness—His crucifixion and resurrection—while Peter and John's encounter with the Sanhedrin becomes an opportunity to bear witness to the risen Christ.

The parallels between Jesus' trial and the questioning of Peter and John serve as a powerful reminder that we, as followers of Christ, are called to walk in His footsteps. But, just as the resurrection emboldened Peter and John to witness to the truth of Christ in the face of great adversity, so too are we called to embody that same courage and conviction in our daily lives. The challenges we face may not always be as dire as those of the apostles, but the opposition to truth, to goodness, and to the Christian way of life is ever-present in various forms in our world today.

As we continue to allow the living reality of Easter to shape our lives, may our lives truly reflect the transformative power of Christ's victory over death, so that through us, others may come to know the hope and joy and salvation of the Risen Lord, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Easter Sunday 2024 - The end of the eclipse

 On Good Friday, the world was darkened by an eclipse of the sun, much like the one that we will experience here in Northeast Ohio, a week from tomorrow. 

That eclipse of the sun, causing darkness to fall over the land, was certainly fitting, in response to the mourning and sorrow experienced by Jesus’ disciples, especially his Mother, who stood at the foot of the cross. The eclipse was also a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, such as Amos 8:9, which speaks of the sun going down at noon and the earth being darkened on a clear day. It appeared, for a moment that darkness had triumphed—that the violence of man overcame the goodness of God. The extent to which man would go to secure his power, his comfort, his ego. He would lie, conspire, manipulate. He would torture and slaughter the innocent lamb of God. 

Yes, there for a time, it appeared that Good Friday was a victory, not for God, but for evil. It appeared that the eclipse that began with original sin in the Garden of Eden would last forever. 

But, the eclipse has ended. The stone rolled in front of the tomb, has been rolled back to reveal that the tomb is empty. And easter celebrates a morning when light was so bright it blinded roman soldiers and burnt an image into a burial cloth—a morning when life triumphed over death, where truth trumped falsehood, when hope was victorious over despair, when faith championed doubt, when God put Satan in his place. Jesus Christ is risen today! 

And the Easter proclamation is not a mere historical recollection but a living reality that continues to reverberate through the centuries. The resurrection of Christ offers new life, transformation, renewal, conversion, spiritual resurrection, to all who profess Him.

Old ways, which we have sought to cast aside during the season of Lent, make way for new beginnings. Easter means, “I will not let selfishness keep me from the generosity God wants from me. I will not let fear keep me from the courage God wants from me. I will not laziness keep me from the life giving endeavors God wants for me.” Pride and Envy, Lust and Sloth no more. It is time to live for purity, generosity, goodness, and peace.

For, the extraordinary news of Easter morning is that not only did Jesus Christ conquer death for himself. The good news is that he shares that victory over death and sin and despair and darkness and sin and evil with us. His victory is ours. He invites us to share in his triumph. If that is not extraordinarily Good News, I don’t know what is. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure everybody in this Church could raise their hands in agreement, that there are periods in life that seem more like Good Friday than Easter Sunday. Periods of life filled with death and darkness. Periods of life when we wonder about life’s meaning, when we struggle with sickness or the death of someone near to us, periods of life when we seem stuck on a cross, or overwhelmed, like life has buried us in a tomb, when we struggle to find God amidst all the chaos and violence and evil in the world.

But, the message of Easter is that Good Friday does not get the last word. Easter Sunday does. Our faith in Jesus Christ allows us to be confident that evil and death do not get the last word, that there is truly nothing that can keep us from the love and life God wants for us. That his mercy endures forever and that God will always have the last word over Satan. So, if there is a part of your life, that still seems to be stuck in Good Friday, I invite you to ask Jesus very sincerely today, to enter that part of your life, to transform it. Ask him to come into that Good Friday broken relationship, that Good Friday doubt or confusion, that Good Friday sense of defeat. And to allow him to bring Easter Victory to your Good Friday sufferings.

The Easter Gospel also speaks to our experience of obstacles. In John’s Gospel this morning we hear how Mary of Magdala had come to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mark’s Gospel includes the detail that as she and the other women made her way to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, she wondered  “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” After all, the stone was heavy. It was large. It was truly a foreboding obstacle. It took several people to roll it into place. 

What beautiful fervor, that Mary and the holy women, despite the obstacle, go to fulfill the duty of charity anyway. They could have stayed home. They could have dwelt on the enormity of this obstacle and stayed home. But they go anyway. 

And they find the stone already moved, the obstacle has already been removed by God. The power of the resurrection was already at work. 

And then, Mary ran. Mary ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them of the empty tomb. Talk about overcoming obstacles in order to do the work of God! In first-century Jewish society, women were often marginalized and their testimony was considered less reliable than that of men. In many cases, their testimony was considered inadmissible. And yet she goes, and testifies. The power of the resurrection already animating her mind and heart and will.

The power of Christ’s resurrection is unleashed when we refuse to allow fear to keep us from doing God’s will. 

Good Friday was not an obstacle for God’s will to be done, nor was the stone of the garden tomb. Nor were the social and cultural norms of his day. 

Now there are certainly some social and cultural norms in our own day which want to keep the Church from spreading and continuing the saving mission of Christ. 

Emphasis on personal autonomy over the sanctity of life, romantic permissiveness and the normalizing of perversion, relativism and moral subjectivism which denies the existence of truth—moral, philosophical, or theological. 

And like Mary of Magdala, we cannot allow these dark forces to keep us from spreading the saving Gospel of Christ. God desires our freedom from spiritual, intellectual, and emotional bondage. 

The fact that you are here today is a sign that God wants you to respond to an invitation to believe, and like Mary of Magdala, to become instruments of the Gospel. Unlike so many these days, you are here, which means God has already begun to move away some stones in your lives. The eclipse has already begun to wane. 

So continue to allow the power of Christ’s resurrection to animate your lives every day. Don’t go back into the tomb and roll the stone in front of the light of God. Say yes to God every day. And every week. 

The Early Christians celebrated every Sunday as a “little Easter”. They knew that without this little Easter every week, they’d be allowing those forces which conspired against Christ on Good Friday to have power over them; they were allowing excuses and fears to keep them from serving the Lord. So every Sunday for them was an opportunity open their lives to the Easter victory of Christ, to all Easter to resonate in their lives. And it is meant to be for us as well.

In just a few moments, we will renew our baptismal promises: our resolve to not be mastered by sin, by those immovable rocks, but that through the faith of the Church, we will seek Him who longs to be found, over and over in our lives. For He is Risen. Death couldn’t hold him. Unbelief and human cruelty couldn’t vanquish him. Politics can’t replace Him. Science can’t explain him away. The noise of the world cannot silence him. Perversion, selfishness, human weakness cannot keep him from being longed for. 

For He was bound and now brings power. He was bruised and now brings healing, He was pierced and now eases pain, He was persecuted and now brings freedom, He was killed and now brings life. For he is Risen. Indeed, he is Risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

April 28 2023 - St. Louie Marie de Montfort - Help for living incessantly for Jesus

The priest St. Louie Marie de Montfort is one of the great Marian saints of history. He is one of the patron saints of the Legion of Mary; in fact, he is quoted more than any of the saints in the Legion Handbook.

His words "Totus tuus ego sum” became well known in the last few decades, when they were taken by Pope St. John Paul II as his papal motto. The sainted Pope dedicated his papacy entirely to Mary, and encouraged members of the Church to turn to her as well.

The Easter Season feast of Louis Marie de Montfort provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the need for a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary if we truly wish to experience the fullness of Christian life. 

St. Louie Marie de Montfort wrote: “Mary is the fruitful Virgin, and in all the souls in which she comes to dwell she causes to flourish purity of heart and body, rightness of intention and abundance of good works. Do not imagine that Mary, the most fruitful of creatures who gave birth to a God, remains barren in a faithful soul. It will be she who makes the soul live incessantly for Jesus Christ, and will make Jesus live in the soul”.

I love those words, Mary helps us “to live incessantly for Jesus Christ” and makes “Jesus live in our souls”. That’s certainly what we find the apostles doing in our first readings all throughout Easter so far—living incessantly for Jesus, making Jesus the primary and all encompassing animating force in their lives. 

That was certainly the lesson the Lord was teaching to Nicodemus last week—that to be born again by water and the spirit means to start a new life distanced from sin, a life seeking above all the holy will of God. 

And that’s certainly what the Lord is teaching in the Bread of Life discourse this week. “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.” God desires to make his dwelling in us.

And our Lady helps that happen. She is the auxilium Christianorum, the help of Christians. She helps Christians grow in the grace of God, to obtain virtue, to encounter God more deeply in the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist by which Jesus dwells in us, like the infant Christ dwelled in the womb of the Blessed Virgin.

One of the tasks of the Legion of Mary is to draw people to the Sacraments of the Church; souls who have wandered, souls who have become lukewarm, souls who have never yet responded to the grace of God to accept the faith. And the members of the Legion of Mary and all of us, do well to study the words of today’s saint, St. Louie Marie de Montford, and have a devotion to him. Because if Our Lady will help all those who turn to her find and love her son, St. Louie Marie de Montfort will help all those who turn to him to find and love our Lady.

St. Louie’s feast prepares us well for the upcoming month of May, dedicated to our Lady, in which we are to increase the fervor of our Marian devotion, that the abundant life of Christ might increase in us and willingly be spread by us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For deeper Marian devotion amongst all Christians, that the Church may more deeply share in Mary’s Easter joy over the Resurrection of her Son.

For all mothers, that they may find in Mary the example and strength to carry out their vocation of love, and that all sorrowful mothers may know the consolation and peace of God.

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world.  

That from the moment of conception all children will be preserved from bodily harm; for the overturning of unjust laws permitting the destruction of innocent life; and that the minds of all may be enlightened to know the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

That the sick may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Mary, who intercedes for us from her place in heaven

 

Octave of Easter 2023 - Monday - Easter is more than a day, it's a way of life

 For much of the secular world, Easter is over now. They're back to normal life. For disciples of Jesus Christ, however today is the second day of a fifty day season of glory—reveling in, celebrating, reflecting upon, basking in the light of the the most important thing that ever happened. Christ rose from the dead, just as he said he would.

It is also the second day of the Octave of Easter. The two major feasts of the church year, Christmas and easter, are proceeded by seasons of preparation: Advent and Lent, and then each feast is extended by an octave. A week of feasting. So feast to God’s glory each day this week. Make each day this week a glorious celebration in some way.

In the early Church, the newly baptized would attend Mass everyday this week, wearing their white garments.  Listen to the words the priest speaks to the newly baptized: 

You have become a new creation and have clothed yourselves in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment

and bring it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may have everlasting life.

The newly baptized are a reminder to all of us of the grace of baptism which Easter makes accessible for us. The source of our dignity is easter. For through baptism we rise with Christ the risen one. And are made into a new creation. Having been “clothed with Christ” as St. Paul says, we are to make no provision for the flesh, and keep our baptismal dignity unstained as we await the return of the bridegroom.

Just as the Easter Sacraments brought new life to the newly initiated, Easter rejuvenates the entire Church. These Easter days are to renew in us that conviction that Jesus rose from the dead. Like St. Peter bursting out of the Upper Room, filled with the Spirit, Easter is to energize us into bursting into the world to preach with courage, like St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles this morning, like Mary Magdalene in the Gospel. 

And there will be a variety of reactions to our witnessing. St. Peter’s courageous preaching was met with repentance and belief. But in Matthew's Gospel, we heard that right from the beginning there was a chilling conspiracy to hide the fact of the resurrection.  The chief priests and the elders gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’  The early Church was well-aware of the dark powers that continue to work at odds against the Church, against Christ.

Nevertheless, the first commands Jesus gives to those who first saw Him after His resurrection are: "Do not be afraid! Go and carry the news".  We cannot be afraid to witness.  Non-believers are waiting to meet Christ through our witness.

Some may sneer at us, others may even try to silence us, but some are waiting to meet Christians who are faithful to the promises of their baptism, who give witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, who witness through their integrity of life, through their conversion from sin. A simple, “Happy Easter” might cause someone to realize that there are people who believe Easter is more than a day, it is a way of life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

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

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

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

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

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

3rd Sunday of Easter 2021 - Love of God perfected in us

 At 10am this morning(yesterday), His Excellency Bishop Malesic ordained 5 men to the transitional diaconate. They are called transitional deacons, as their ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon is a transitional step on their way to priestly orders. This is in contrast to the permanent deacons, who will remain in the Order of Deacons permanently. The new transitional deacons will serve in parishes over the summer and throughout the next year as they complete their seminary formation. They are certainly in our prayers.

I’ve mentioned it before, but my favorite moment in the ceremony for diaconate ordination, is when the deacon kneels in front of the Bishop who hands the newly ordained the Book of the Gospels. The bishop then charges him: “receive the word of God whose herald you have become: believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.” Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.

What is the significance of this ritual? The Church needs the ordained to be men of Truth, don’t we. Men who know the Scriptures, know the Gospel, and who teach Truth and live the Truth. We want priests who have encountered Jesus in prayer and will help others meet him and live his teachings. 

Right belief is required for right teaching. Right teaching is required for right practice. Without this harmony of right belief, teaching, and practice in our shepherds, the sheep become scattered. So many divisions in the Church come from church leaders failing in their duties to believe rightly, teach rightly, and live rightly. Rather we need good shepherds whose minds and hearts are in union with the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock.

I meet a lot of Catholics these days who simply don’t know their faith. Some of my young couples that I work with in marriage preparation, they cannot name the seven sacraments, some of them don’t know there ARE seven sacraments, nor do they know what sacraments are. They can’t name the 10 commandments or more than one or two books of the bible. I recently asked a young Catholic if she knew what is meant by “the state of grace”, and she said, “oh, like the Taylor Swift song”. I kind of laughed and cried at the same time.

By the way, googling the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s hit single, I wouldn’t recommend listening to it, one does not find an explanation of the necessary condition of soul at death to attain heaven, the soul’s possession of the gift of sanctifying grace which is lost through mortal sin, without which the soul upon death will be severed from the life of God forever.

In the first reading today, St. Peter guided by the Holy Spirit goes into the streets of Jerusalem and begins to preach. “The author of life you put to death but God raised him from the dead”. Peter, once slow to believe, who even denied knowing his master as he carried his cross, now filled with conviction, speaks the Truth.

And he does so passionately, but patiently, he says, he put the author of life to death, and I know, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did” but now it’s time to believe. He is patient with those who acted out of ignorance. But he’s also very clear. Now it’s time to repent, and convert. 

I remember within my first week or two of seminary. And I remember sitting in my room with the catechism. And my mind was being blown. I’d never encountered the Truth so clearly presented. I had a pretty lousy catechetical education as a young kid. My parents were not at all concerned about the quality of the catechesis I was receiving in my parish PSR program. They did not at all understand that they were tasked to be the primary educators of faith. 

And in seminary I quickly came to discover how inadequate my catholic education had been. So many of the other seminarians, and my seminary professors, knew the faith, very well. And I remember a very pivotal moment, when I was sitting there with my catechism, and I prayed, Lord, if I believe any errors, help me to be free of them. If at any point, I think I know better than the Church, humble me, correct me. Replace my ignorance with your truth.”

Theological knowledge is important. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. We should always be open to doctrinal correction. If I believe or teach any error, may I be corrected. But the third part of that diaconal charge is also essential. Live what you preach. Live the truth of the Gospel.

“Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them,” writes saint John in our second reading. It is not enough to know about God. Head knowledge, theological knowledge isn’t the end-all-be-all measure of the Christian life. The ability to give a theological treatise on grace will not gain us entry into heaven. If we claim to know God and claim to be in right relationship with him but are not keeping his commandments, then we are deceiving ourselves. 

Now of course, sometimes we fall into sin out of weakness. Those falls are easy to confess and repent of. John, rather, is very concerned with the Christians who are allowing sin to take root in their lives and are failing to repent of them.  If you are justifying serious sin, attitudes and activities that holy mother church defines as sin, allowing them to take root, you are deceiving yourself. “Repent, and be converted,” says Peter in our first reading, “that your sins may be wiped away.”

For when we do, and this is good news, they are. God grants mercy and gives us strength to change. Change is scary, but the Lord is with us. He walks with us showing us a new way of living. The one who hears God’s word, who puts that word into practice in his daily life, “the love of God becomes perfected him” writes John. Our love for God increase, and the presence of God’s love in our souls becomes perfected. When we keep his word—through right belief and right practice—God’s love reaches its intended goal, the perfection of our souls. 

The one who goes to confession every two weeks, because he acknowledges the sins of his life, and confesses them because he loves God and wants to grow in perfection, is much closer to the kingdom, than the one who refuses to acknowledge his sins or has justified them and is allowing them to take root.

In the Gospel we see this progression of perfection on display: in the beginning of the story, the disciples are filled with fear, fear stemming from ignorance.  Then as they spend time with the Lord, who teaches them, their ignorance is replaced with understanding. They spend more time with him in conversation. They eat with him. They study the scriptures with him. Their fear is transformed into joy, and the Lord proclaims them and charges them at his witnesses.

Here is a beautiful program of Christian growth for all of us. We study our faith and grow in our conviction that Christ is Risen. We immerse ourselves in the scriptures, allowing God to open our minds to his truth through them. We come to Mass to eat with Him, to be bolstered in our love for Him as we share the Eucharistic meal with Him. And then we are sent out as witnesses—our faith, our relationship with Jesus—having a real, observable difference in our day-to-day lives: our speech, our activities, our relationships, our leisure activities.

Through repentance, conversion, and the embrace of our Catholic faith, may we be free from error and fear; may the love of God be perfected in us, that we may be his true witnesses for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Easter 2021 - Monday (EF) - John's Gospel and the Locked Room

Throughout the Easter Octave last week, the Gospel readings of the different accounts of the Lord’s resurrection and his appearances to his disciples were taken from all four Gospels.

For the remaining Sundays and ferial days up until Pentecost, the Gospels are taken from St. John. The Gospel of John was the last of the Gospels to be written, nearly 60 years after the Lord’s death and resurrection.  By then there were thousands of Christians in places like Jerusalem, Rome, and Antioch. 

And St. John seems to address his Gospel to those who had already received the Gospel—those who had already been baptized. They had already responded to the Gospel call to faith and conversion, even in the midst of early persecutions. By then, many of the apostles, including St. Peter and St. Paul had been martyred. St. John records many deep and often mystical teachings of the Lord, fitting for those Christians who had already begun to grasp the fundamentals. 

It's sometimes said that where Matthew, Mark, and Luke reveal the flesh and bones of Jesus, St. John reveals His Spirit—His Heart. After all, the fourth Gospel was written by the beloved one who laid his head near the heart of Jesus at the last supper. John’s Gospel draws us into a deep, intimately, loving relationship with the Master—invites us to recline our ears, like St. John near the heart of Jesus, to grow in love of him and to hear his love for us.

The story of the Lord’ appearance in the locked upper room would have deeply resonated with the Christians of the late 1st century. Again, with those early persecutions, they would be tempted to lock themselves away from the world, like the disciples in the Gospel. They, like the apostle Thomas were being called to believe and witness without having met the Lord personally, they might not have even met a living apostle. 

But the Lord pronounces a blessedness for those who have not seen, and still believe. Pope Benedict XVI called the Lord’s pronouncement, “the beatitude of faith”. “In every epoch and in every place” Pope Benedict said, “blessed are those who, on the strength of the word of God proclaimed in the Church and witnessed by Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the love of God incarnate, Mercy incarnate. And this applies for each one of us!”

We like St. Thomas, are called to peer lovingly and gratefully at the wounds of the Lord in his hands and side, to come to discover more deeply through the gift of faith his great love for us. Through the beatitude of faith—our lives become filled with that divine love which impels us into the world to draw others to him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Easter Octave 2021 - Wednesday - Emmaus Word and Sacrament

 

As I mentioned yesterday, in ancient days the newly initiated would attend daily mass throughout the easter octave. The homilies would have a catechetical tone to help the newly initiated understand the mysterious meaning of easter, the sacraments they received, and apply the scriptures to their new way of life.

And isn’t that exactly what the Lord does in the Gospel today: shrouded in mystery, he meets a small group of confused disciples, he breaks bread with them in which they recognize his real presence, and he explains the scriptures to them—how what occurred on Good Friday and Easter Sunday was in fulfillment of his Father’s plan of salvation foretold in the Old Testament.

The whole Christian life is like a journey beginning at baptism, in which we encounter the risen Lord, and then subsequently grow in our understanding of discipleship as we walk the Way of Life.

And then like the disciples—hearing the word and breaking the bread—every time we attend Mass, we are encountering the Risen Lord—in the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Word we encounter the Lord challenging us, inspiring us, enlightening us, correcting us, healing us, deepening our understanding, inviting us, equipping us, and sending us out into the world, like Peter in the first reading, to bring the Lord’s good news and spiritual healing to others. Some people zone out during the liturgy of the word, but this dimension of the mass is of vital importance, and we do well having come to mass already having read a bit and reflecting on the scriptures, so that when they are proclaimed during Mass, we are ready for and receptive to the Lord’s life giving word.

And then as the disciples recognized the Lord in the breaking of the bread, we recognize the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist—bread and wine changed into his very body and blood. In all of the other sacraments Jesus gives us His grace, says St. Thomas Aquinas, while in the Eucharist, the “sacrament of sacraments,” He gives us His whole self, His divinity and His humanity.

Something happens within us when we encounter Christ in the Mass.  Our hearts do burn within us, as the Emmaus disciples—they are enflamed with love, enlightened with understanding, purified of selfishness, warmed and consoled, and tempered for the work of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

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

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

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

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

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

Easter Sunday 2021 - Who will roll back the stone for us

 “Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.” Consider for a moment how Mary Magdalene had begun making her way to the tomb with no idea that the stone blocking the tomb would have been rolled back.

In fact, in Mark' version of the Gospel, Mary Magdalene states to the other women accompanying her, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” After all, the stone was heavy. It was large. It was truly a foreboding obstacle. It took several people to roll it into place. And yet, even before the first rays of Sunday-dawn began to fully shine, the faithful holy women went anyway to the tomb anyway—to anoint the body of Jesus. 

And yet, maybe there was something else. A hope. An intuition that something had changed. Perhaps, even an unspoken confidence that God would provide the means to overcome this obstacle. God was drawing them forward, despite the obstacle. And behold, hardly had they arrived when the saw “the stone rolled back”. For the Lord had risen!

We too have a keen desire to find the risen Lord. And we often worry that there are many obstacles to finding Him—wounds from the past, concerns about the present, anxieties about the future, doubts, attachments, preoccupying questions: My life is so busy, however will I find him? My life is so complex, however can I really trust Him. My sins are so great, however will he triumph over my vices?

I can assure you, precisely because you want to find the Lord, you have already overcome many obstacles-many doubts and attachments. God has already rolled back many stones for you.  

Last night at the easter Vigil, two souls in particular were in our midst, who, like Mary Magdalen, like Peter running to the tomb, Angela and Bruce, from our parish RCIA. Let me tell you, they were full of joy last night, seeking and finding the risen Lord in the Sacraments of the Church. We can only imagine the many obstacles that they had to overcome in order to make it here last night—and we are so glad they are—directed by divine providence, in answer to our prayers, and the sufferings of the martyrs and saints. The stone blocking the encounter with the Risen Lord in the Sacraments was finally rolled back. No doubt, a sign of new life, the life of the resurrection in our parish, as for the last two year we didn’t have any new initiates. It’s not too early to start praying for next year’s class, whoever those souls might be. Maybe someone here this morning will come to seek the Lord in Baptism or full initiation. For this we pray!

The search for the risen Christ, of course, is not only for the uninitiated. The search for God is an ongoing dimension of the Christian life. For this reason, following the example of the holy women, every Christian must always have a holy preoccupation about seeking and finding the Lord, daily. “Seek and Ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” Waking up in the early dawn—or whenever that alarm clock rings, and prayerfully committing to searching for him daily will make us industrious and diligent in our spiritual lives. 

And like the holy women, the Christian life also calls us to that confidence in divine aid, that the Lord will take care of those stones which are beyond our own strength to move. God is already at work to roll back many stones—many obstacles to grace—in the life of this parish, as he always has been. But not just the life of the parish in general, God is occupied with the large stones in our individual spiritual lives. For, the Lord desires to draw each of us deeper into His divine life, and will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, when we trust Him.

Trust. It’s not easy for many of us. Especially for those who have been wounded and betrayed in the past. But Easter is a time of new beginnings. So, trust that the Church’s teachings will enable you to walk in the fullness of life. Trust that devout prayer is worth more than all other earthly responsibilities. Trust, that the Church’s pastors will lead you in holiness and truth. Trust that the effort to break your selfish habits is worth it. Trust, not in your own strength, but in God’s grace, to roll back those unfathomably heavy stones.

Every year, Easter marks a time of renewal in our faith lives, our spiritual lives, in our search for God. But Easter is the promise that the Risen Christ can be found even in the emptiest of places, the most sorrowful places, those places once ruled only by death. 

In just a few moments, we will renew our baptismal promises: our resolve to not be mastered by sin, by those immovable rocks, but that through the faith of the Church, we will seek Him who longs to be found, over and over in our lives. For He is Risen. Death couldn’t hold him. Unbelief and human cruelty couldn’t vanquish him. Politics can’t replace Him. Science can’t explain him away. The noise of the world cannot silence him. Perversion, selfishness, human weakness cannot keep him from being longed for. 

For He was bound and now brings power. He was bruised and now brings healing, He was pierced and now eases pain, He was persecuted and now brings freedom, He was killed and now brings life. For he is Risen. Indeed, he is Risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Sunday of Easter 2020 - I am the gate

Since Vatican II we refer to the 4^th Sunday of Easter as Good Shepherd Sunday. Two out of three years of our cycle of Scripture readings, we read of Our Lord saying to his audience in the Gospels “I am the Good Shepherd”. His pronouncement certainly evokes images of shepherds watching over, feeding, teaching, and loving his flock. I always think of an image from my childhood of Jesus carrying the baby lamb in his arms. The good shepherds of Scripture patiently care for their flock, leading them to safe pastures, pulling them out of thorn bushes when they foolishly stray into trouble.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd—he knows us…intimately! And as we spend time under his care,  guidance and protection, we begin to recognize his voice amidst all the conflicting noises and voices of the world. Wonderful.

Every, third year, however, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear a slightly different message, a slightly different image. Before the Lord identifies himself has the Good Shepherd, he first explains, as we heard in the Gospel today, that he is the gate for his sheep. “I am the gate.” He says.

Well, what is the purpose of a gate? For one, the gate is an entry point. “I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.” Our Lord himself is the gate to salvation. He is the open door through which we enter into salvation and good pasture and the life of God. His identification to be the gate, is very similar to his self-identification later in John’s Gospel when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

How do we enter through the gate of Christ? Through faith. Right belief and right practice. Faith is the doorway to salvation Our Lord opened for us through his death and resurrection. Back in 2011, in the seventh and final full year of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI ushered in a special “Year of Faith” with a document called “Porta Fidei” the door of faith, the gate of faith. The gate of faith, the holy Father writes, “is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22).”

What a beautiful image, through faith, through baptism we enter through Christ the gate into the life of God, into the divine life which begins now in this earthly life and endures into eternity.

There is another purpose for gates alluded to by the Lord in the Gospel today. Gates keep-out robbers and thieves. Gates stop those people, those ideas and beliefs, those attitudes and actions, which deprive us of the life of God. When the Jesus Christ is king and Shepherd of your life, he acts as a sort of gate which protects us from evil in the world which seeks to enter our minds and hearts and rob us of the peace and joy and life of Christ.

The truth of Jesus Christ and that of his Church filters and protects us from the lies and heresies promulgated by the devil throughout the world, lies and heresies which cause division in the Church, ruin to souls and our separation from communion with God. The truth of Jesus Christ enables us to discern right from wrong—fallacy from veracity—when we come across it in the media, in propaganda, or from false shepherds.

This image of a gate, a Christian filter, is a important for the moral life as well. Often in the confessional, I’ll hear sins confessed like gossip, you know, speaking things about others which we have no business talking about, or saying hurtful, cutting, or cruel things to our loved ones or strangers when we become angry. Sins of the mouth, right? sins of speech. And I often give the following advice, I say, Christ must always preside over our speech. We need to have a Christian filter of our words. Before we say anything, ever, we must discern, is it true, is it kind, is it necessary, would Christ say these words? As Peter writes in today’s second reading, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten” And so must we.

Part of the Christian life is developing that filter of saying only what builds others up, what is for the sake of the Gospel. Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary? It sounds like a lot of work, but as you develop this filter, this virtue, it becomes easier and easier.

One of my favorite parts of the Mass, is right before the proclamation of the Gospel, we sign ourselves, don’t we, on our foreheads, our mouths, and on our breast, a simple, yet profound gesture. I was always taught to offer a little prayer at that point, to say something like, May the Lord be always in my thoughts, on my lips, and in my heart. We pray, at the point in the mass, that the gates of our minds might be opened to received and contemplate and understand the Gospel message, that our lips might be open to later go out and proclaim the Gospel message, and that our hearts might be open to love and live the Gospel message. But also, we are asking the Lord to keep from our minds, and lips, and hearts, any lies or heresies which might be contrary to his Gospel truth; we are asking Him to serve as a Gate and as Gatekeeper.

So, may the Lord preside over our thoughts, words, and deeds this day. May nothing which is impure pass through our eyes or ears or through our lips. May he save us from the corruption of this generation, and lead us to eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Week of Easter 2019 - Friday - The Life of the Faithful Departed

Today’s Gospel is requested more than any other for Masses of Christian Burial, that is, for Catholic Funeral Masses. Why this one in particular? Why are these words of Jesus at the Last Supper so comforting, so powerful?

Perhaps it is because Jesus answers one of the ultimate questions of the human experience: “where do we go when we die?” And how does he answer that question today? He says that his followers, those who follow him, believe in him and obey him, those who allow his truth to guide their lives, those who preach his truth, and those who allow his life, his spirit, to dwell in them, will go to the Father. Christianity, “The Way” of Christ, leads to the Father, it leads to Eternal Life with God the Father.
Jesus offers this teaching at the Last Supper, before he departs from this life, for a time. Similarly, Christians who pass from this life, depart to go to the Father. We even speak of them as the faithful departed. Where have they departed to? To go to the Father.

When a beloved fellow Christian dies, we are often overwhelmed with grief. And that is quite understandable. Life will be different without them. But grief must be met by Christian hope based on the teaching of Our Blessed Lord: death is not the end for the faithful Christian.

Now, had Jesus died on the cross and not resurrected, if he had stayed dead, his words could be doubted, his words would have no more weight than any other religious leader in history. As St. Paul writes, “had Christ not risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain”. Jesus’ promises to the disciples at the last supper would be empty words.

But unlike Mohammed, Krishna, Buddha, or any other religious founder, Jesus has risen, Jesus is risen. Jesus resurrection is the stamp of guarantee on his teachings: following him, believing his truth, living his life, leads to the Father. Not all roads lead to heaven. In fact, Jesus says, today, there is one road, his road.

As we read through the Acts of the Apostles, this is why the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas are willing to suffer so, because the way of Christ is not man’s best attempt at religion, it’s not some unverified theory, it is the truth. And every person who hears the Gospel preached will have to grapple with this truth, and their acceptance or rejection of this truth will have eternal consequences.

May our easter celebrations deepen our conviction of this truth, and help us to enter more deeply, and walk more faithfully, the way of the Lord Jesus, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 

God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
For the 9 men who will be ordained priests at the Cathedral tomorrow, that their minds and hearts may be united to Christ the Good Shepherd in all things.
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.

3rd Week of Easter 2019 - Tuesday - Where can I see Jesus now?

During the first two weeks of the Easter season, our Gospel readings have been accounts of the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples.  The Risen Jesus appeared in his glorified flesh and blood on the banks of the sea of Galilee, on the road to Emmaus, and in the locked upper room. 

All of this week, our Gospel readings are taken from the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel—known as the “Bread of Life Discourse” because in it, Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life. For 2000 years, Catholics have understood these passages to contain important lessons on the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

In today’s Gospel the people were asking for a sign so they could believe that Jesus was really sent by God. And Jesus said, I’ll give you a sign: the bread of life, the Eucharist.

Pope Benedict XVI said: In the Eucharist “we no longer stand before an imagined God but before the God who has truly given himself to us.”

The Eucharist is God’s answer to our prayer to truly know that He is with us in this life. Again, to quote Pope Benedict: “The Eucharist means God has answered:  The Eucharist is God as an answer, as an answering presence.” The Eucharist is not simply a symbol of God, we don’t simply imagine God to be present in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, God answers our prayers to know that He is with us in our challenges, crosses, temptations, doubts, and disappointments. He is with us in our struggle to love our enemies, forgive those who hurt us, give to those who ask of us.

The Eucharist is God’s answer to man’s question “where can I see him, now, and believe in him”. 
So many of our contemporaries are starving for truth; they go from one unsatisfying event to another, searching for God. All the while, he is here, present on the altar, present in the tabernacle, present in the eucharist tabernacle.

Jesus, help us to see that you are really present in the Eucharist, help us to deeply honor you with all our hearts, help us to receive you with great reverence, that you may nourish our minds and souls and lead us into everlasting life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Church will deepen in her devotion to the Eucharistic sacrifice which is the source and summit of our Christian life.  We pray to the Lord.

That the redemptive power of Christ’s Eucharistic sacrifice will extend to the hearts and minds of all those who govern peoples and nations.  We pray to the Lord.

That the Eucharist will be for priests the source of their joy and their deeper configuration to Jesus Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

That the Eucharistic self-give of Jesus will be found in all marriages, and in all our daily encounters.  We pray to the Lord.

For those who live in want: that Jesus the Bread of Life will be their sustenance, and that Christians may bring the justice and mercy of Christ to all those in need.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], 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.

3rd Week of Easter 2019 - Monday - The Pattern of Jesus' Life

Today’s first reading sees the arrest of St Stephen for proclaiming the message of Christ and the Gospel.  In fact, St. Luke reports many similarities between Stephen’s arrest, trial, and martyrdom, and Jesus’ own arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

First we heard how Stephen was filled with grace and power and working great wonders and signs.  St. Luke records this point to emphasize that the pattern of Jesus’ life is reproduced in his disciples. Just as Jesus performed miracles, so we read in the book of Acts how many disciples, especially the Apostles perform miracles for the building up of the Church. The Apostles fulfill the Lord’s words: “Whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these”

Secondly, just as Jesus’ teachings could not be refuted, Stephen, when debating members of the synagogue, could not be refuted: “they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.”  Though the Gospel is not always what the world wants to hear, doesn’t mean it’s false. In fact, we can be confident that the moral and doctrinal truths of Christianity are true, because they come from God.

Thirdly, when the Jews of the Synagogue become frustrated in arguing with Stephen, they resort to false witnesses, just as occurred in Jesus’ trial.

The powerful witness of the newly ordained deacon Stephen reminds us that successes in Christian ministry, especially in defending the faith against outsider’s attacks, can lead to persecution.  Yet, the Spirit fills us, like Stephen, with grace and power and wisdom and courage, to witness to the truth of the Gospel.

Stephen closely imitated our Lord in proclaiming the Gospel and being rejected and suffering for the prophetic ministry.  Jesus lives with, in, and through those who are united to him in faith. May such faith increase in us, that the pattern of Jesus’ life may be recreated in us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

Through the intercession of St. Stephen, that the deacons of the Church, especially those newly ordained for our diocese this weekend, may be true heralds of the Gospel in their ministry and service.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ, especially for all victims of religious violence.

For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.
For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

3rd Sunday of Easter 2019 - For the sake of the name

Each Sunday of the Easter season, our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, while our second reading is taken from the Book of Revelation. There is a beautiful connection between these two books of the New Testament, if you think about it. The Acts of the Apostles describes the first days of the Church in time and history, Revelation describes the Church that will last forever. Acts of the Apostles takes place in the earthly Jerusalem, Revelation takes place in the new and eternal Jerusalem. Acts of the Apostles describes the Church’s pilgrimage, with all of its difficulties and trials, Revelation reveals the Church having reached her destination—the reward for her faithful perseverance.

In Acts we read how the Apostles, having witnessed the Resurrection of Christ, and having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, go out into the streets of Jerusalem, the very town where Jesus was arrested and crucified, and preach his Resurrection.  “Jesus, whom you killed, has been raised, just as he promised” Peter preached on that first Pentecost Sunday. For their preaching of Jesus’ Gospel, the Apostles quickly gain the attention of the Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders, the same men who conspired against Jesus, to put the Savior to death.

Today’s passage from Acts sees Peter and the gang, having been imprisoned and brought before the Jewish high court. The Sanhedrin demand that Peter and the Apostles immediately cease and desist preaching about Jesus.  Peter says, you don’t understand, this task has been given to us by God himself, and “we must obey God rather than man.” 

Here stands Peter before these corrupt Jewish leaders, knowing that they have the power to totally ruin his lie, even to have him put to death, as they did to Jesus.  Peter had already been arrested and thrown into jail, and he knew there could be dire consequences for resisting their threats. No doubt, Peter would have thought about the scene from our Gospel today. Sitting before the Risen Lord on the seashore. Do you love me Peter? Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, preach the Gospel, build my Church. You will go where I have gone, you will do what I have done.

Peter then looks int Sanhedrin in the eye: and says, “Jesus, who you crucified, has been risen.” But after courageously proclaiming Christ, Peter and the Apostles, “left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” Bleeding and wounded after having been whipped and humiliated, they left rejoicing. Would you or I be rejoicing after that? We find it hard enough to put up with morning traffic! To rejoice in suffering for the sake of Christ is a sign of Christian maturity.

When I was thinking of a modern day example of this form of mature Christian faith, I thought of the parents of Pope Benedict XVI.  Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, grew up in Germany as the National Socialist party was coming to power.  Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. the Pope’s father was a police officer in Bavaria.  The Ratzinger family experienced great hardships because they would not support the Nazis.  The pope's brother Georg said: "Our father was a bitter enemy of Nazism because he believed it was in conflict with our faith." The family knew first-hand how dangerous the Nazi philosophy was. In the late 1930s, the Nazis had implemented a euthanasia program for the handicapped. Pope Benedict had a cousin with Down’s Syndrome, and in 1941, the Pope’s cousin was taken by Nazi authorities for “therapy” as they called it.  Not long afterwards, the family received word that the cousin was dead, labeled as an “undesirable” by the Nazi party. Mr. Ratzinger spoke out publicly against the evils of Nazism, and for this, he faced demotions and the family had to move several times.

The example of Joseph Ratzinger’s parents, their willingness to suffer for the sake of the name, no doubt left a lasting imprint upon the young man, who would later become one of the greatest theologians of the last hundred years, not to mention, a good and holy Pope.

One of the goals of the Easter season is helping us to develop mature Christian faith. Where Immature faith flees from hardship, shirks demands for commitment, self-sacrifice, and selflessness and runs away from preaching the Gospel in fear, mature faith embraces hardship, accepts commitment, places the good of others before the good of the self, and preaches the truth with courage. Immature love seeks only the fulfillment of its selfish desires, mature Love, as St. Paul describes, is patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

In the second reading we are given a vision of heaven, the reward for those who are willing to suffer for the sake of the name.  On the throne of heaven is not some earthly king who never suffered a day in his life.  On the throne of heaven is a lamb who was brutally slain by his enemies.  And surrounding the lamb are those who suffer for him.  This is the fulfillment of Jesus promise in the beatitudes: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Lord was very clear in his earthly ministry, that those who follow him faithfully will likely suffer on his account. We might suffer for reaching out to our fallen away family members, to speak to them of the importance of weekly Mass attendance.  We might suffer for standing up for the right to life, campaign to enact laws for the protection of the innocent unborn and the vulnerable.  We might suffer for refusing to engage in immoral business practices. We might suffer simply for holding fast to the moral teachings enunciated in the catechism.

Pope John Paul II calling to mind the teachings of the Second Vatican Council said, “The truth about ourselves and the world, revealed in the Gospel, is not always what the world wants to hear. Gospel truth often contradicts commonly accepted thinking, as we see so clearly today with regard to evils such as racism, contraception, abortion, and euthanasia - to name just a few.”

To proclaim Gospel truth, to teach Gospel truth, to live Gospel truth, this is the call of the mature Christian in 2019 and of every generation. This is a task that may bring persecution from the world, but faithfulness to the task, is to identify with the ever-faithful Son of God, Our Lord, and to receive the rewards he promised to the faithful.

Our own parish’s patron saint, Ignatius of Antioch, exemplified this truth. As bishop, Ignatius was arrested during the Roman persecution of Antioch. He was put in chains and marched to his martyrdom in Rome where he would be thrown to the wild beasts. En route to martyrdom he wrote to several congregations of Christians including those in Rome. In his letter to the Romans we find the same sentiment as Peter and the Apostles in the first reading. Ignatius writes, “I look forward with joy to the wild animals held in readiness for me… I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the wild beasts that I may be the pure bread of Christ… come fire and cross and grapplings with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushings of my whole body; only be it mine to attain Jesus Christ.”

To attain Jesus Christ. This is the point of our faith. This is the point of enduring suffering for the sake of his name, persevering in faith amidst worldly pressures and satanic temptations. To attain Jesus Christ and to be counted among his blessed ones. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Easter 2019 - Tuesday - Unity of Believers

Early in the Easter season, our attention is drawn by our readings from the acts of the apostles to that early group of Christians, living in Jerusalem, just weeks and months after the resurrection of Jesus. We hear today about the profound unity of this group of Christians, unity which is to serve as a model for Christians of all ages.

Their unity could be seen in their concern for one another, their administration of their material goods, their evangelization efforts, their deference to the apostles, and their unity of belief. “They were of one heart and mind.”

Could we say the same here at St. Ignatius of Antioch? In the diocese of Cleveland?
In some ways, yes, I think. The communal charity of the early Church was seen in their willingness to sacrifice for each other, to use their own goods for the good of the other. This parish has a long history of profound charity. And our diocese, year after year, runs the largest Catholic Charities, not just in the country, but in the world.

And such charity does not come from being compelled. The Church is not Communist in the sense that her functions are compelled by a Communist Dictator. Rather, our Christian Charity here is born from love and freedom.

Unity in the community of Christians, is hard work, just like unity in a marriage. And we are always being challenged, aren’t we, to grow in unity. Are we of one heart, always, with the universal Church, with the Bishop, with the Pope, with the Magisterium? If not, why not? What needs to change in us?
The Lord Jesus in the Gospel today describes the Holy Spirit like a wind, that blows in particular directions, and those “born of the Spirit” through baptism, are to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Are we of one heart in discerning and following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit within our parish and community? If not, what needs to change?

A community of believers of one mind and heart, certainly requires individuals who make every personal effort to work for that unity.  One of the things the Lord Jesus came to overcome through his death and resurrection are the divisions which hinder God’s people from following the Divine Will. May the power of the Lord’s Resurrection heal our wounds of sin and division, and lead us in the ways of the Spirit, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.
For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ, especially for all victims of religious violence.
For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.
For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.
That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Octave of Easter 2019 - Wednesday - Easter Conversion through Word and Sacrament

Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the episode of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “shows the effects that the Risen Jesus works in two disciples: conversion from despair to hope; conversion from sorrow to joy; and also conversion to community life.”

Pope Benedict continued his homily, explaining what is necessary for the daily conversion of the Christian life. He says, “It is thus necessary for each and every one of us to let ourselves be taught by Jesus, as the two disciples of Emmaus were: first of all by listening to and loving the word of God read in the light of the Paschal Mystery, so that it may warm our hearts and illumine our minds helping us to interpret the events of life and give them meaning. Then it is necessary to sit at table with the Lord, to share the banquet with him, so that his humble presence in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood may restore to us the gaze of faith, in order to see everything and everyone with God’s eyes, in the light of his love. Staying with Jesus who has stayed with us, assimilating his lifestyle, choosing with him the logic of communion with each other, of solidarity and of sharing. The Eucharist is the maximum expression of the gift which Jesus makes of himself and is a constant invitation to live our lives in the Eucharistic logic, as a gift to God and to others.”

The Lord wants for us during this easter season the same thing he wanted for the disciples on the road to Emmaus during that first easter season: conversion from despair, sorrow, and isolation, to hope, joy, and community life, to communion.

And the program for us is the same as the Lord’s program for the disciples—their road is our road: listening to and loving the Word of God, sharing in the banquet of the Eucharist, and allowing God to transform us, to become what we have received in the Eucharist—a gift to others for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. And for the victims of the terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka and their families, for consolation in their grief, and assistance in their needs.

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

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

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Easter Sunday 2019 - Christ's Triumph over Death

He is Risen, Indeed He is Risen! Alleluia!

On Good Friday, the world was darkened by an eclipse of the sun. Evil was so tangible that even the earth shuddered with an earthquake. It was a day that lies and conspiracies and plotting seemed to conquer truth, when darkness seemed to eclipse light, when death seemed to have been victorious over life, when Satan seemed to have gotten the upper hand on God.

But enough of that. For now we celebrate a morning when the tomb was empty, a morning when light was so bright it blinded roman soldiers and burnt an image into a burial cloth, a morning when life triumphed over death, where truth trumped falsehood, when hope was victorious over despair, when faith championed doubt, when God put Satan in his place. For He is Risen, Indeed He is Risen! Alleluia!

The extraordinary news of Easter morning is that not only did Jesus Christ conquer death for himself. The good news is that he shares that victory over death and sin and despair and darkness and sin and evil with us. His victory is ours. He invites us to share in his triumph. If that is not extraordinarily Good News, I don’t know what is.

On the High Holy Days, many of us come to Church for a lot of different reasons: perhaps you are here today because it’s simply family tradition, perhaps you’re here because it just seemed like the right thing to do, perhaps you are a life-long Catholic, and there was never a doubt that you’d be at Church on Easter Sunday. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure everybody in this Church could raise their hands in agreement, that there are periods in life that seem more like Good Friday than Easter Sunday. Periods of life filled with death and darkness. Periods of life when we wonder about life’s meaning, when we struggle with sickness or the death of someone near to us, periods of life when we seem stuck on a cross, or overwhelmed, like life has buried us in a tomb, when we struggle to find God amidst all the chaos and violence and evil in the world.

The message of course today is that Good Friday does not get the last word. Easter morning does. Our faith in Jesus Christ allows us to be confident that evil and death do not get the last word, that there is truly nothing that can keep us from the love and life God wants for us. That his mercy endures forever and that God will always have the last word over Satan. So, if there is a part of your life, that still seems to be stuck in Good Friday, I invite you to ask Jesus very sincerely today, to enter that part of your life, to transform it. Ask him to come into that Good Friday broken relationship, that Good Friday doubt or confusion, that Good Friday sense of defeat. And to allow him to bring Easter Victory to your Good Friday sufferings.

A few years ago Pope Francis offered these words on Easter: “Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.”

In just a few moments we will renew our baptismal promises. From time to time I meet a college student or older adult who, though baptized as an infant has left the practice of the Catholic faith: they aren’t coming to mass and they don’t accept the truth behind particular Church teachings.  I ask them why they’ve left the practice of the faith in which they were raised.   And they often say, “well, I was baptized as a baby, so I didn’t get a choice to become Catholic or not.”

Well, to all of you, who didn’t get a choice as infants, today, and every Easter, we renew the promises of our baptism, we renew our faith that Jesus rose, we renew our belief in all the Church teaches in his name.  You will then be sprinkled with the Easter waters, that the Lord may breath new life into your religious commitments.

The Early Christians, in fact, celebrated every Sunday as a “little Easter”. They knew that without this little Easter every week, they’d be allowing those forces which conspired against Christ on Good Friday to have power over them. So renew your faith in him today, renew your commitment to seek that life, seek that joy that he wants to give you through a living relationship with Him.

So today, the priest will ask every one of you here six questions for the renewal of your baptismal promises.  The first three have to do with Sin.  Christ’s Easter victory was a victory over sin, so the Christian is to seek to be rid of anything that has to do with sin.  So the priest will ask, “Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God. Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you? Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of Sin?”

What are we saying, when we say “I do” to these questions?  I’m promising to do everything in my power, with the help of the power of Easter, to put an end to sin in my life, to put an end to all self-absorption and all selfishness. I’m promising to do everything in my own power to change my life, to alter my daily and weekly routines, that they can better reflect the Christian faith as taught by the Catholic Church.  I’m renouncing all of those excuses of laziness which hinder the power of Easter becoming more manifest in me. We readily turn away from these things, for those excuses, those sins, are the most likely culprits for not enjoying the peace and joy God wants for us.

The last three questions of the baptismal promises concern the doctrines of the Faith.  Do you believe in God the Father, do you believe that Jesus Christ suffered and died and rose again, do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church.

These are teachings the Church professes every Sunday when we profess the Creed.  These are the truths upon which our religious life rests.  These are the truths that give us strength in the face of temptation, they are the light of truth in the darkness of the world’s confusion and error. Amidst all of the nonsense in the world, all of the error perpetuated through modern media, all the fake news out there, the Christian can say, I know these things to be true.

We renew our baptismal promises today, and by doing so open ourselves to the power of Christ’s Easter Victory. Through them, we become heirs of the promises of Christ, that we, like him, shall be risen from the dead, and live forever. For he risen from the dead, indeed he is risen, alleluia, alleluia. 

8th Sunday in OT 2019 - Preparing for Lent

Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the sundays before Lent would already have the priest already garbed in Lenten Penetential Purple.

These sundays served as a sort of front porch to Lent. . There was even an old tradition, three weeks prior to Lent, that the parish priest would take a scroll with the word “Alleluia” written on it, and bury it in the church yard, as Alleluia is not said or sung during Lent until we celebrate Jesus rising from the tomb. On the Old Calendar, the Sunday prior to Ash Wednesday was called Quinquegesima Sunday, as we are about 50 days from Easter. Even though Vatican II reformed the liturgical calendar, it is still important to prepare for Lent, which begins this wednesday with the solemn imposition of Ashes on our foreheads.

You may have read in the bulletin this week and last week how during Lent we are to engage in what are called the three traditional Lenten Penitential Practices. We show our commitment to ongoing Christian conversion through the three practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Before Wednesday, come up wit ha Lenten plan for yourself and for your family: what will your Lenten prayer consist of, what will your Lenten fasting consist of, what will your lenten almsgiving consist of. The three Lenten practices are of great importance; by them, the Holy Spirit prepares us for the new life of Easter.

St. Peter Chyrsologus, about 1600 years ago wrote of the importance of the three Lenten practices: He wrote: “Prayer, mercy and fasting: These three are one, and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer; mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing.”

Prepare well for Lent, that Lent may prepare you well for Easter. For, as Catholics we take preparation very seriously, don’t we? Periods of preparation precede the reception of the sacraments.  An adult preparing for baptism goes through a thorough process of learning the Church’s doctrine, learning about the prayer life of the Church, learning about our moral teachings before they are made members of the Church in the sacrament of baptism.

Hopefully, it isn’t too distant of a memory, but when you were preparing for your first holy communion, you learned about the Mass, you learned about how the Lord nourishes us with His body and blood in the eucharist. And as young people you also prepared for the sacrament of confirmation; you learned about the gifts of the holy spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, piety, fortitude, which are strengthened in you in Confirmation.

The seminarian preparing for Holy Orders, prepares 8 or 9 years for the life of ministry as an ordained priest.  And Christians preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage meet with a priest over several months prior to the wedding: they discuss healthy communication and conflict resolution, raising children, they attend a pre-Cana day, and examine the scriptural foundations for Christian marriage and the Church’s doctrine.

The two most important feasts of the Church year, Easter and Christmas, are both preceded by periods of preparation.  The season of Advent helps us to prepare for Jesus’ coming and the celebration of his birth at Christmas.  And the season of Lent helps us to prepare for the new life available to us through Jesus’ Passion Death and Resurrection celebrated at Easter.

We prepare for Easter by getting back to Christian basics: the prayer, fasting, and acts of charity, the repentance of sin, that should mark the entirety of the Christian life.

The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Lencten, which is the lengthening of days as we approach springtime, the season of new Growth. And any good gardener knows that before the spring planting season can begin, you first need to clear away the clutter, the dead weeds.  Or just as our houses need spring cleaning, so that we can live more peacefully, happily, and blessedly, Lent is the time to clean up our souls.

I think this is what makes the Lenten practice of fasting so important. It's certainly not as pleasant as the other two. Most of us typically enjoy and find peace in spending quiet time with God in prayer. Most of us derive satisfaction in engaging in almsgiving and works of charity. The fasting though is the least enjoyable, but it is of the utmost importance.

Many of the great saints spoke of the importance of fasting. St. Thomas More said: “The scriptures are full of places that prove fasting to be not the invention of man but the institution of God...And that the fasting of one man may do good unto another. Even our savior proved this when he said that some kind of devils cannot be cast out without prayer and fasting.” In other words, there are many evils in our world and in our hearts that the Lord wishes to deliver us from, through fasting.

By fasting, I refer to of course, the abstaining from meat on ash wednesday, good friday, and the fridays of lent, and also the restricted food intake on ash wednesday and good friday. But I also mean the fasting of “giving something up for lent”. Something good, something you enjoy, something that makes your mouth water, or something that will free you up to engage more in prayer and charity.

These days, I challenge the kids over in the school to consider giving up for Lent video games and social media. And when I mention that, their groans are almost like those of an exorcism. “No, not that, anything but that.” To which I always respond, that which you least want to give up, is probably a sign of what the Holy Spirit wants you to give up.

For some of us it might be video games or social media or television or youtube. For some it might mean alcohol or snacking between meals, taking second helpings, dessert, junk food, or for the bravest among us, caffeine. Just be careful with that one. I knew a priest who gave up caffeine for Lent, and that first week you couldn’t talk to Father because he'd bite your head off.

Lenten fasting is not the same as dieting, for its primary aim is not the elimination of love handles, but to help us love God more than we love the things of the world, to help us to remember that it is not by bread alone that we subsist, but true human flourishing comes by making our lives into living sacrifices, obedient to God's will in all things.

In the Gospel, our Lord tells us the importance of removing the splinter from our own eye that we may judge rightly and of pruning all that does not bear good fruit in our life. Through Lenten prayer, almsgiving, and especially fasting, we prune that which so often bears rotten fruit, we remove that which keeps us from judging rightly and following rightly the ways of God, that we may live ever more fully and faithfully the new life God wants for us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.