4th Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Friday - Kindness and Courage (school mass)

What wonderful scripture readings we read today in which we hear God calling each of us—no matter our age or situation—to be kind, to stand up for what is right, and to trust that He is always with us. 

In the first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear about “brotherly love” and “hospitality.” In other words, God calls us to care for others, to be welcoming and to treat people with respect. You never know when your acts of kindness might help someone who feels alone or afraid; an act of kindness can change someone’s day, or even change someone’s life. 

In the Gospel, we hear a sad story about King Herod and John the Baptist. John was brave and told the truth about what was right and wrong. But King Herod, wanting to look good in front of his friends, ended up making a terrible choice and had John killed. This shows how dangerous it can be when we care too much about impressing others or doing the popular thing instead of the right thing. Even though John suffered, he stayed faithful to God until the end.

Again, these stories teach us something important: no one is too young or too old, too small or too ordinary, to do what is right. Our challenges are a lot like John the Baptists: do we stand up for a classmate who’s being teased? Do we share with someone who’s lonely or help a friend in need? When we do these simple acts of love, God’s power is unleashed, his light shines in the darkness, his love and goodness is made known--the love and goodness and light of the Heart of Jesus.

But acts of goodness, kindness, and generosity require real effort and real courage. But these are the great deeds God calls us to. May God help us, and may the saints inspire us for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - -  

Trusting in God’s constant presence and His call to do what is right, we bring our needs and the needs of the world before our loving Father:

That we may show brotherly love and hospitality, welcoming others with kindness and respect, and reflecting God’s goodness to everyone they meet.

For leaders of nations and communities: That they may make wise, courageous decisions that seek the common good, resisting any temptation to compromise what is right for the sake of popularity or power.

For all who suffer injustice or feel alone: That they may experience God’s loving care and be protected from discouragement.

For those preparing for the Easter Sacraments: may God’s Word help them experience the grace of daily conversion and the joy of the followers of Christ.  

For the sick, the suffering, and those facing difficult choices: That they may trust in God’s presence, find healing, and receive the compassionate support they need from friends and caregivers.

For our faithful departed: That they may rest in God’s eternal peace, alongside the saints who inspire us to live with courage, generosity, and love, especially N. 

Heavenly Father, You teach us through Your Word to be kind, courageous, and welcoming. Hear our prayers and strengthen us each day to do what is right, sharing Your love in all we do. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

December 28 2021 - Holy Innocents - Savage Violence and the Victory of Christ

 The former Prefect for the Roman Congregation in charge of assisting the Holy Father with liturgy and the sacraments, Cardinal Sarah was asked about the disturbing trend around the world of churches being profaned. “The profanations are multiplying” he said, “we have lost count of the churches that have been profaned and defiled.” Sometimes images and statues of the Blessed Virgin are defaced, “sometimes the tabernacle itself is the target.”

Cardinal Sarah then drew a connection with the feast we celebrate today, the Feast of the Holy Innocents. He said, “let us not be surprised when we experience rejection and hatred. God’s love for mankind, which was manifested at the time of the Nativity, triggered the devil’s anger. Recall that the horror of the massacre of the Holy Innocents followed shortly after the joy of Christmas. When God reveals his gentleness and his love, the devil responds with blind, gratuitous violence. The Church is in the world as a sign of contradiction. The more she preaches him who is ‘the way, and the truth, and the life,’ the more she disturbs and the more she is rejected.” (This is from his book “The Night is Far Spent”, by the way)

We hear in the Gospel today how King Herod was “greatly troubled” over the news of the Christ Child’s birth. And so he orders the massacre of all boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old or younger. 

Herod’s extreme brutality and grasp for power at the threat of the loss of his throne, represents all the powers that stand against Christ.

We can see those powers at work, in a rage and a fury, throughout history, in the persecution of the Church, in the amassing of violent means to protect their thrones. We can see them, in those who lash out against God, as Cardinal Sarah points out—taking their fears and angers and hurts out on God and his sacred places and objects.

And yet, if we are honest, we can even sense a little bit of Herod in each one of us, whenever we refuse the particularly challenging call to conversion, when securing our own personal kingdom becomes more important than the kingdom of God.

Yes, today’s feast is a reminder of the savagery by which God’s kingdom is opposed, but it is also a celebration of the holy martyrs who witnessed to the way, the truth, and the life throughout the centuries. It is a feast of the victory of Christ, the victory of God, the victory of the light over the darkness, the victory of peace over savage violence. For the holy innocents, and the holy martyrs throughout the century are able to share in Christ’s victory, and they pray for us, that we may do the same, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -  

That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

For the conversion of those who bring violence against the Church and the holy places and things of God, for healing in their troubled souls, and for the peace of Christmas to reign in every heart.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice and honesty, and for the reversal of any law which permits or leads to the destruction of innocent human life, and that God may protect all unborn babies, and keep them safe from the scourge of abortion, we pray to the Lord.

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

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

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

2nd Sunday of Advent 2021 - "Take off your robe of mourning and misery"

 

It was the worst of times….and the worst of times…During the most disastrous time in Israel’s history, the time of the Babylonian exile, lived the author of today’s first reading: the prophet Baruch.  The armies of the Babylonians had swept through Judea, killing many, laying siege to Jerusalem and destroying the city, burning the temple to the ground, and carrying-off the elite of the nation into slavery.  

Think of how horrific this must have been.  The chosen people, living in the heart of the kingdom, David’s city, and watching the temple built by Solomon be destroyed.  The Temple was supposed to be the spiritual center where one day all people of the world would come to worship in harmony.  Jerusalem is sacked, the nation destroyed, the temple burnt to the ground, priests and civic leaders carried away.  Think of something like the United States being conquered, Washington DC being destroyed, the capital and the white house burnt, our government leaders taken into slavery AND our churches demolished and priests and bishops arrested and taken away.  That is the background for the first reading today.  It seemed to the Israelites as if God had abandoned his people.

And what was the prophet Baruch’s message? Standing in the rubble of Jerusalem, the prophet says, don't be sad. “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; and look to the east.”  Why the east?  The east is the direction of the rising sun. 

So Baruch is saying don’t mourn. It looks dark right now.  But you will see God arise and set captives free, establishing justice, restoring the glory of Israel. 

And that theme of hope recurs over and over in the Old Testament: that in life’s darkest moments, when things look bleakest, we must trust that God has not abandoned us, that he will ultimately fulfill his promises to deliver us from evil. 

Just about 50 years after Baruch’s prophecies, in the year 538 BC, the Babylonians fell to the Persians, and the Persian King Cyrus freed the exiles, and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

Now fast forward, five hundred years. It was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,

when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.

Again, another dark time in Israel’s history.  Tiberius Caesar the successor of Caesar Augustus was a ruthless dictator—oppressive, violent, capricious.  Pontius Pilate, a name we know pretty well was Tiberius’ equally ruthless and violent local representative in Judea.  Governor Pilate was only too willing to crucify Jews by the thousands; he raised the Roman insignia in the Temple, which was blasphemous.  Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother, were fearsome, hateful, ruthless, collaborators with the Roman Government. 

Annas and Caiaphas the Jewish high priests, as leaders of God’s flock were supposed to be men of righteousness, but they used their religious power for political gain, and instead of conducting the worship of the Temple in righteousness according to God’s commandments, they had allowed corruption to sink into Temple life.

St Luke sets the stage—he calls to mind this corrupt and vicious hierarchy which governed political and religious life in the first century.  And after describing these dark circumstances, Saint Luke tells us that God made his instrument not one of these high and mighty men. God used as his instrument this nobody, John, in the desert.  Not a mighty ruler, but a man eating locusts in the desert.  

And John’s message?  God is about to act again.  To all of you who are oppressed, beaten down, hoping, waiting, tired of the violence, the corruption, and the suffering: 

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

A change is coming, a revolution is on its way.  The destruction of the old oppressive powers is at hand.  God is about to act. So, “Prepare, ye, the way of the Lord.”

How are the people to prepare?  John called them to a baptism of water and repentance.  A baptism of water in the river Jordan, calling to mind the passing through the waters of the Red Sea, when God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.  God is going to free you, just as he freed the Israelites from slavery, leading them into a promised land. 

And John called them to repentance. The word he uses for repentance is metanoia, the greek word, that meant to change your mind, change your heart, change your attitude, change your behavior, so that it is in keeping with the God’s commandments. You can’t and won’t be prepared for God to break into your life without repentance.

The world of Tiberius Caesar, the oppression of Pilate, the religious malaise of Annas and Caiaphas had stunted their hopes, and the chosen people had fallen into mediocrity.  And John was saying, get your hearts and minds ready, because God is about to act, the in breaking of the kingdom of God in your midst.  

During Advent we consider how God has already begun such good work in us, bringing us goodness, freedom, and peace, but also how God, as St. Paul said in the Epistle, wants to bring that good work to completion. He wants to strengthen us in virtue, he wants to drive out hopelessness, he wants to conquer addiction, he wants to transform selfishness into Christ-like self-donation. But we have to do our part. “Prepare the way of the Lord” requires some work on our part. 

If you can’t identify some crooked aspects of your life that need to be made straight, look again. If you can’t identify some valleys of selfishness that need to be filled in with generosity, look again. If you can’t identify some rough parts of your personality that need to be smoothed over, look again.  

If God can break into history in the dark time of Caesar, Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas and Annas, he can break into our lives. The Gospel, however, exposes these men to be on the wrong side of history, for they rejected Christ when he came. But that doesn’t mean we have to be.

May we prepare the way for the Lord to come more deeply into our lives, by repenting as John tells us, by renewing our hope in Christ by taking God’s promises to heart, that the good work God has begun in us may be brought to completion, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 28 2018 - Holy Innocents - The choice to receive or reject

On Christmas morning, we read from the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel: how the Eternal Word took on the flesh of humanity to enlighten and save the world. John wrote how there were those who received the incarnate Word with faith and Love and there were those who rejected Him.

Those who accepted the Christ Child at Christmas were of course, His blessed Mother, who received the Lord into her loving arms, St. Joseph, who received the Christ Child as a foster son—who vowed to guard, protect, rear, and teach the boy as if he was his own; the shepherds received the Christ Child in adoration, and the magi received the child with wonder and awe and worship.

Today, we heard of how King Herod did not receive the child with love and faith. In fact, he plotted to have the child murdered. And when his original plot failed, Herod ordered the massacre of all the young boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, in an attempt to eradicate the Christ.

Through the Gospels, each of the evangelists describe the many ways that Jesus was either received in faith or rejected and hated. All those encountering Him had to make a choice to receive or to reject.
The day after Christmas, we celebrated the Feast of Stephen, the first martyr, who made the choice to receive the Lord and to remain faithful unto death for Him. Yesterday, was the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, who, as well, received the Lord with faith and love, and although he was not martyred, he suffered greatly, and served the Lord as a faithful apostle. The Church honors the Holy Innocents massacred by Herod as martyrs, who received the Lord in a baptism by blood—they died for Christ, and God received them into his Kingdom.

In every age there will be Herod’s who reject the Christ, who will not stop at any extreme to safeguard their own personal kingdoms. Many even who attended Mass this Christmas, who heard the Gospel preached, will reject the call to conversion, to receive the Lord with Love and Faith and Worship. Many will not allow themselves to detach from their worldly ways to receive the Lord.

But there are Herod’s and hard-hearts that can be reached, that can be softened to receive the Christ Child through the witness, prayers, and sacrifices of the Church. So we pray for them, and for ourselves, that we may receive the Lord ever more deeply, lovingly, and faithfully, and reject everything that does not come from or lead us to Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - -

That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice and honesty, and for the reversal of any law which permits or leads to the destruction of innocent human life, and that God may protect all unborn babies, and keep them safe from the scourge of abortion, we pray to the Lord.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

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

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

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

Epiphany 2018 - The Wise still seek Him

On this beautiful Feast of the Epiphany, we reflect on the journey of the wise men—the magi—as they journey to the newborn king in Bethlehem.  The journey of the Magi stands for the journey that all of us must make to come to know Christ. 

But, who were the Magi anyway? To the east of Israel was Persia, Babylon, a periodic oppressor of the Jewish People. In the book of the prophet Daniel, we hear how the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar employed a host of magi as advisers to the throne. The magi engaged in the interpretation of omens and dreams and in astrology—making predictions about the future based on the movement and positions of the moon, stars, and planets.

It’s sort of surprising to even meet these characters in our Sacred Scriptures, as Astrology is expressly forbidden in the Old Testament. Jews and Christians are forbidden from consulting horoscopes, fortune tellers, and palm readers and the like, most of them being charlatans anyway.

It is also extremely strange that these Persian Astrologers had read the Old Testament Prophecies about a star heralding the birth of a Messiah. It must have been the Holy Spirit who inspired the Magi to look outside of their Pagan religion to the Jewish Prophets.

Throughout the Advent season we spoke of the great longing and anticipation of the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah. But the Magi show us that this longing didn’t simply belong to the Jews. I’d venture to say that this longing for a Savior, for God to reveal himself in a human face is a universal human longing. So the Magi stand for all people of all time longing, searching, gazing upwards, waiting for God.

God built us, designed us, created us to look for Him. So this story of these non-Jewish astrologers from the east, teach us that God is working in the hearts and minds of the people on the outside: the family members not going to Church this weekend, the young people with their noses glued to the screens of their idevices. all those people who have grown up without religion, without faith, without spirituality, people worldwide who engage in false religions: this story reminds us that deep down they long for Christ. And we have a job of revealing Christ to them through the living of the one true faith, our charity, our conviction for the Gospel.

Many people refuse to believe that Jesus is found in the confines of the Catholic Church, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking. Most of them are looking for him in all the wrong places, but there is something inside of them, urging them to seek out and truth and goodness and beauty which is found most fully in Jesus Christ. That very same impulse found in the hearts of the magi, can be found in your next door neighbors.

What made the Magi of the Gospel wiser than most, is that realized the importance of this quest. They left their homes, they left their comfort, they left homeland to go searching.

One definition of wisdom I like very much is that wisdom is the ability to put your priorities in order. The wise man values what is truly valuable and eschews what is foolish. The Magi of the Gospel can rightly be called wise, in that they realize that the quest for finding Jesus Christ is the most important thing ever. Political gain, academic status, earthly wealth, fleshly pleasure, economic stability, all these desirable things are nothing if you do not find Jesus Christ and kneel down to adore Him.

Another lesson I’d like to focus upon today from the Magi was the opposition they faced in their journey. Following the Christmas star they make their way to Jerusalem and encounter King Herod. Likely, here too, the Holy Spirit assisted the Magi to detect Herod’s murderous intentions when he asked the Magi to tell him the location of the Christ Child.

The lesson here is that in the spiritual journey, in the spiritual life, we do well to expect opposition. Finding Jesus isn’t always easy, practicing Christianity isn’t always easy. Finding God’s presence in the midst of grief, in the midst of suffering, and in the midst of temptation isn’t always easy. But the Holy Spirit comes to our aid in the midst of difficulty.

A bacon double cheeseburger always sounds best on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There’s always going to be a family member or neighbor who is going to test your patience. Persevering in a particular spiritual practice like daily meditation is going to be hard sometimes. Practicing chastity and purity and limitless forgiveness and boundless mercy is going to be difficult. But resistance isn’t proof that it isn’t the right path; in fact, quite the opposite: it’s often the path of least resistance that leads to damnation. “Broad is the way and wide is the gate that leadeth to perdition.”

Now, Herod’s opposition was subtle, and so we should expect that too. Sometimes temptation and evil even sound like good ideas. So we have to be wise, clever, knowledgeable of our faith, aware of the ruses and tricks of the enemy, to ensure our faithfulness.

The next lesson from the Magi is that upon leaving King Herod’s palace, the Magi follow the star, they come to Bethlehem, they see Mary and the King, what do they do?  They prostrate themselves, and then they bring him gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Gold for the king, frankincense because he is God, and Myrrh because he will die for our sins.  They bring the finest things they can find, gifts worthy of a king. 

And here’s the next spiritual lesson.  When you’ve discerned the presence and the will of God, you’ve overcome hardship and resistance and now you’ve come to Christ, what should you do?  You give him your best.  The great danger in the spiritual life is to just give God the leftovers. We do well to begin the day on our knees, to begin every undertaking with the intention of glorifying God, and giving Him our best.

Finally, having come to Christ, giving him their gifts, they return to their home country, by a different route, having been warned to avoid Herod’s treachery. 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “of course they go back a different route, you never come to Christ and go back the same way you came.”  The encounter with Christ changes you…if weren’t changed you didn’t truly encounter him.

Coming to Mass, offering God the best we have in worship, encountering him and receiving him in Holy Communion, should change us.  We are to go from this mass differently from when we came in.  I hope everyone here comes to Mass wanting, hoping, and expecting to be changed, to be sanctified, to see another dimension of Christ’s beautiful face.

Help us Lord to seek you, to find you, to give you our best, and to be changed by you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 28 2017 - Feast of the Holy Innocents

Historically, Herod was well known for his cruelty. He was believed to have engineered the death of a rival prince. Fearing the schemes of his own sons who Herod believed to be planning to usurp the throne, he had them executed as well. Caesar Augustus, who was no stranger himself to murder and intrigue, was said to have commented that, “I would rather be Herod’s dog than his son.”

Knowing his paranoia and cruelty, it is not surprising that Herod felt threatened by the rumor of the birth of the promised Messiah in Bethlehem. If these rumors were true, such a revelation meant the end of Herod and his dynasty. When he was unable to discover the identity of this child, we heard today how Herod ordered all the young children in the region around Bethlehem to be killed.

Herod’s extreme brutality and grasp for power at the threat of the loss of his throne reminds us of the many “Herods” throughout history—those who stop at nothing to safeguard their own personal kingdoms. 

Cruel King Herod represents all the powers that stand against Christ. Yet, when we are honest with ourselves we must admit that hostility to Christ exists not just out in the world, they lurk within us all. There are parts of ourselves that want nothing to do with Christ: they are the parts of us that resist conversion.

Yet this feast is not focused on the hostility of Herod, but on the witness of the innocents. The Lord Jesus, who was born in order to die for others, begins his life with others dying because of him. Those young children slaughtered by Herod are counted amongst the ranks of the glorious martyrs, whose blood is shed in witness to the Lordship of Christ.

The sacrifice of the Holy Innocents was not in vain. From heaven, no doubt they pray for us now. They pray for the conversion of the Herod’s of our modern day, who put innocent life to death. And, they pray for our conversion as well, especially those parts of us that resemble Herod’s hostility to holiness. They pray that our “Herodness” may be changed into holy innocence, that the darkness in our world may be converted to light, that error may converted to truth, and cruelty be converted to compassion, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -

That the witness of the Church may help all nations come to believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice and honesty, and for the reversal of any law which permits or leads to the destruction of innocent human life, and that God may protect all unborn babies, and keep them safe from the scourge of abortion, we pray to the Lord.
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

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

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

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