7th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday - "Do not complain about one another"

 Our spiritual director in seminary, Fr. John Loya, always used to say that we must avoid the ABCs: arguing, blaming, and complaining. ABC. Whether it’s with family, strangers, fellow seminarians, or parishioners, avoid the ABCs, arguing, blaming, and complaining.

St. James, in our first reading, gives a similar teaching: “Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another.”

It is acceptable to grieve over the difficulties of life, and to cry to God over the injustices we suffer. There is an entire book of the Old Testament, the book of Lamentations, which consists of anguished cries over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Many of Psalms consist of lamentation. To bring ones miseries, ones trials and tribulations to God, can be a holy thing. We should bring to God our concerns, for the people of Ukraine, for example, our concerns for innocent life, and peace, and the salvation of fallen away Catholics.

But there is a form of complaining which is sinful. In the book of Numbers, the complaining of the Israelites in the desert displeased the Lord. Numbers 11 says, “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled”.

There is a difference between bringing ones anguish and concern to the Lord and the sort of distrustful complaining the Israelites were manifesting. The Israelites murmured against God himself, his plans, claiming some defect in God’s providence. They hardened their hearts toward God and complained, not because his care was defective, but because his care was not exactly what they wanted. God often gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. This form of sinful complaining is a sin against faith and trust in God’s providence.

St. James, this morning, condemns, complaining, not so much about God’s plans and God’s ways, but about our neighbors.

St. James is realistic about the problems Christians face. Due to our many faults, we often get under each other’s skins. We irritate each other. We fail each other. We don’t live up to each other’s expectations. And so we are tempted to sinful complaining. 

And St. James, this morning, is saying, “stop it.” “Do not complain,” rather, endure the faults of others with persevering patience. “Do everything without complaining or arguing” says St. Paul to the Philippians. 

Both James and Paul are in agreement, that sinful complaining is a form of unholy discord. Complaining introduces bitterness into otherwise sweet conversations. It the sign of an impatient, even a narcissistic heart. Complaining can easily become such a vice that some people’s entire personalities become warped by their constant complaining. “Complaining damages the heart,” Pope Francis said, a few years ago.   

Complaining is not a fruit of the Spirit. In fact, it is detrimental to the peace, joy, and patience that come from the Spirit. It is a poison, an acid, that erodes the bonds of unity and charity. It undermines the work of the Church.

As Christians, we must bridle our tongues, guard our tongues from such evils, and use our tongues, to speak the good things men need to hear, the call to holiness through Christian discipleship, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - 

That Christians may have the grace to love one another with patience, kindness, gentleness, and mercy.

In the recent words of Bishop Malesic, for “an immediate end to the hostilities, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens…[and] for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

For healing for all those suffering disease, especially diseases without known cures, and all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered. 

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

3rd Week of Advent 2019 - Monday - A star shall advance from Jacob

During the first two advent weeks, we read predominately from Isaiah, the prophet of the Babylonian exile, and his promises to captive Israel of the coming Messiah. Well, our old testament readings over the next week will include a smattering of prophecies from the Old Testament, for Isaiah was neither the first nor the last of the prophets to foretell the Messiah’s coming.

We read today from one of the most ancient books of the old testament, from the penteauch book of numbers, one of the five books of moses. Numbers describes the wilderness experience of the Israelites as they wandered 40 years in the desert after departing Mt. Sinai. After wandering for many years, the Israelites come to the plains of moab, on the east bank of the Jordan river. And there a group of Israelite elders encounter a Moabite prophet named Balaam, son of Beor. And it is through Balaam, this non-Israelite, that the God of Israel issues one of the very first prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament.

Balaam prophecies of a king who will rule, who will defeat the enemies of Israel, who will know the thoughts of God, whose wells shall be over-flowing.

Then, Balaam speaks of the king’s birth: “A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel.” In ancient times, stars were considered to be gods and goddesses. Little did Balaam or the Israelites know that this was one of the early references in their history to the coming of the God-man. This star, prophecied about in the time of Moses, was the one Magi from the east would follow to Bethlehem well over a thousand years later. A star which would lead them to the presence of the one true God-made-flesh, the king of kings that would defeat the most ancient foes of Israel—sin and death.

In the Gospel, his audience at the temple asks Jesus by what authority he speaks. He had no need to answer their question, for Balaam had already answered it hundreds of years before. He speaks with the authority of the King of Kings, the authority of God.

Like the Israelites in the wilderness, there are many who continue to wander through this world, looking for God. There are many who seek the one of whose authority they can base their lives. May we be stars for them, pointing them to Jesus, the Messiah, who will cause a spring of the water of eternal life to over-flow within them, if they will but place their faith in him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -
 
We raise up our prayers of petition, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.
That the Holy Father, all bishops and priests, religious and laity may shine with the Light of Christ’s love for the lost and despairing, and that non-believers and fallen away Catholics will look to the light of Christ emanating from his Church, and place their faith in Jesus the Messiah.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

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

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

Almighty ever-living God, who brings salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

August 9, 2017 - St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross - Pilgrimage of Truth

For 40 years, the Israelites were led by God through the desert. God had fed them with manna from heaven, led them with the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. And finally, after 40 years, they get to the edge of the promised land. They go to reconnoiter the land, and they discover…it’s occupied by these giant Canaanites. They are so distraught—they wail with despair; after 40 years, they still didn’t trust God. He had led them and fed them, performed mighty deeds in their midst, brought them safely to the land of promise, and they still didn’t trust Him.

How couldn’t they? Some of us do not make use of the time we’ve been given to be purified of our pride, distrust, selfishness. The story of the Jews is the story of all of us, failing to trust to God even when the beauty of his glory is all around us, the grace of the Sacraments is powerfully transforming sinners into saints, we are being led and fed, and still don’t get it.

For some of us, the journey to discover the Truth of Jesus Christ and to radically conform our lives to Him is a life long journey; some of us make that act of faith early on, some of us make it less than wholeheartedly, some of us never really make the act of faith.

Today’s saint, Edith Stein, who became Carmelite St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross made the journey. An uncompromising search for the truth led her from the depths of atheism to the heights of sainthood.

She was born to a Jewish family in 1891. Her father died when she was very young, and by the time she was an adolescent, she had given up on faith entirely. She looked to philosophy for truth. As a young woman with profound intellectual gifts, she became a pupil of the renowned professor Edmund Husserl in 1913. Through her studies, the non-religious Edith met several Christians whose intellectual and spiritual lives she admired.

In 1921, while visiting friends, Edith spent an entire night reading the autobiography of the 16th century Carmelite nun St. Teresa of Avila. “When I had finished the book,” she later recalled, “I said to myself: This is the truth.” She was baptized into the Catholic Church on the first day of January, 1922.

10 years later she imitated Theresa of Avila by entering the Carmelite convent and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  It was 1933, Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany.
Though the Jews were the principle victims of the Nazi’s in World War II, millions of Catholics, including bishops, priests, and nuns were murdered in the concentration camps.  In 1942, the Nazi’s arrested Sister Teresa.  She and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, were transported to Auschwitz in Poland by boxcar.  One week later, Sister Teresa died in a gas chamber.

At her canonization, Saint John Paul said, “For a long time Edith Stein was a seeker. Her mind never tired of searching and her heart always yearned for hope. She traveled the arduous path of philosophy with passionate enthusiasm. Eventually she was rewarded: she seized the truth. Or better: she was seized by it. Then she discovered that truth had a name: Jesus Christ. From that moment on, the incarnate Word was her One and All. Looking back as a Carmelite on this period of her life, she wrote to a Benedictine nun: “Whoever seeks the truth is seeking God, whether consciously or unconsciously”.

Every human being a responsibility to seek the Truth, to make use of the time we are given, to seek the Truth and to conform our lives to it. May St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross help us to seek and find the Truth of Jesus Christ, and conform our lives to Him, to allow him to lead us and feed us on our pilgrimage to the promised land, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -

For all those who wander in atheism, agnosticism, those who are cynical towards Catholicism, for moral relativists, and those who reject the Faith, and all lapsed Catholics, that the Holy Spirit will help them discover the Truth of Christ.

That the Holy Father, the Bishops, especially our future Bishop, Nelson Perez, and all Clergy and Religious will be shining examples of fidelity to the Truth.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering. We pray.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.

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