3rd Week of Lent 2026 - Monday - Naaman and Nazareth: A challenging contrast

 

Each year, I’m always struck by the contrast between Naaman in our first readying, who came to believe, and the people of Nazarath, who hardened their hearts toward Jesus.

You would expect the stories to be reversed, no? You would expect Naaman, a pagan, a gentile, to reject the God of Israel. But he takes a  leap of faith—he follows the strange instructions of the prophet Elisha—he bathes in the waters of the Jordan, and he is cleansed, and comes to proclaim “there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."

And then contrast Naaman’s faith, with the faithlessness of the people of Nazareth. They drive him to the edge of town to throw him over a cliff.

Mother Church presents us with this contrast during this Lenten season, no doubt to challenge us—to ensure that we are responding to God in faith and not hardening our hearts when we are presented with the call to conversion.

Naaman in a sense makes us think of the Catechumens—pagans, who have now come to believe in the one, true God. During Lent, they are praying, and fasting, and preparing for their Easter Sacraments—to wash in the saving waters. And they are doing so wholeheartedly.

Contrast that to the attitude of many life-long Catholics, who fail to seek any real conversion for themselves during the Lenten season. Many harden their hearts when their priests encourage them to go to confession, practice mortification, pray more fervently.

These scriptures present us with a warning, don’t they: be careful that familiarity and habit don’t  become obstacles to faith. The people of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus already. Their self-certainty became not just an obstacle to faith, but the genesis of hostility toward the Lord’s prophetic call to conversion.

We’re about halfway through the Lenten season, and we’re challenged to ensure that we don’t fall into this same trap. To say: I know God as well as I can, I already know what it means to be Christian, I am as conformed to the Word of God as I possibly can be.

Like Naaman, the Lord will certainly invite us to encounter him in some new way: new prayer, new penance, new act of charity. Let us respond like him in humble faith for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

3rd Week of Lent 2024 - Monday - Naaman and Nazareth

 On this Monday of the third week of lent each year I’m always struck by the contrast between Naaman, who came to believe, and the people of Nazarath, who hardened their hearts toward Jesus. 

You would expect the stories to be reversed, no? You would expect Naaman, a pagan, a gentile, a Syrian, to dismiss the strange words of Elisha. After all, he didn’t worship Elisha’s God, the God of Israel, and Naaman even visits Elisha on the word of a little jewish slave girl. It is somewhat farfetched, that a powerful general listens to such a small voice, but he does. And because of his faith, he is cleansed.

And then contrast Naaman’s faith, with the faithlessness of Nazareth. Is this an example of familiarity breeds contempt? Were the people of Nazareth so hardened toward Jesus because they had known him as a young boy? They knew his mother, and father, they didn’t appear to be special. They certainly didn’t conform to the royal family from which the Messiah would be born. But you’d at least think that someone would have been compelled by Jesus’ testimony in the synagogue. 

This contrast raises important questions about the nature of faith and the barriers that often obstruct it. Naaman's openness to the voice of God, even when it came from unexpected sources, allowed him to experience the power of God's healing. In contrast, the people of Nazareth's hardened hearts prevented them from recognizing the divine presence in their midst, despite the evidence before them.

In reflecting on these stories, we are challenged to examine our own hearts and attitudes towards God's presence in our lives. Are we open to encountering God in unexpected places and through unexpected people, like Naaman was? Or do we allow familiarity and preconceived notions to blind us to the divine presence, like the people of Nazareth? 

Sometimes, Catholics may become so accustomed to the rituals and practices of their faith that they lose sight of the deeper meaning behind them. Attending Mass, saying prayers, and participating in sacraments can become mere routines rather than opportunities for spiritual growth and connection with God.

Catholics have a rich tradition of Scripture and teachings handed down through the millennia. However, when we fail to engage personally with these sources, relying solely on what we’ve been told or what they remember from childhood, if we shy away from engaging with the intellectual aspects of our faith, we miss out on the depth and richness of our faith.

And even worse, constant Catholic Church teaching reminds us that all believers are called to holiness and to live lives of virtue and charity. However, complacency can leads us to neglect this call, settling for a comfortable, morally lax existence rather than striving for spiritual growth and transformation.

Rather, to combat complacency and foster growth in faith, we must cultivate a spirit of openness and humility: recognizing that there is always more to learn and understand about God and the faith. We are to strive to deepen in our prayer lives through meditation and contemplation. And we are to take seriously the call to holiness—to cultivate virtues in a heroic manner, and never settle for moral mediocrity. As we journey through this season of Lent, may we cultivate hearts that are open and receptive to God's word, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. 

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

22nd Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Tuesday - Nazareth vs. Capernaum

 For the first nine weeks of Ordinary Time, the weekday Gospel readings are taken from the Gospel of Mark. And then for about 12 more weeks, the Gospels are taken from Matthew. From now until the end of the liturgical year, we read from the Gospel of Luke. 

Yet, we don’t start with chapter one of Luke’s Gospel, for those are read throughout the advent and Christmas seasons. So we begin at the beginning of Our Lord’s public ministry, about 30 years after his birth, in Luke chapter 4.

And chapter 4 begins with the Lord in Nazareth, the place where he grew up, and he enters the synagogue on the sabbath, reads from the prophet Isaiah, basically claiming to be the fulfillment of the Messiah prophecy, and is then driven to the edge of the cliff by the townsfolk and almost killed. 

Today, the Lord comes to another synagogue, to the town of Capernaum, about 25 miles to the northeast. It’s the sabbath again, so perhaps only a week has gone by. 

And again he teaches. But, unlike the people of Nazareth who were filled with fury, the people of Capernaum were filled with astonishment. And then he performs an exorcism. 

In an atmosphere where Jesus is accepted and believed and listened to, demons are driven out. Where he is rejected, man allows the demons to remain in control, and push Jesus to the edge of their lives.

The task of the Christian is to bring Jesus into the lives of the peoples of our world, into their families, and homes. Will they reject him, like they did at Nazareth, or will they accept him and allow him to cast out their demons like in Capernaum? Well, we don’t find out until we are faithful to our task of bringing him into the synagogues of their lives. But we can’t be afraid to bring Jesus into someone’s life because the reaction might be a Nazareth and not a Capernaum. 

Nor can we give up on someone just because a demon shows up that is initially hostile. We must spend enough time with folks where we give Jesus the time to cast the demon out. 

There’s certainly some missionary instruction in today’s Gospel, and some of us are called to be missionaries. The missionary mustn’t be afraid of demons, rather, the manifestation of the demon is a sign that the Lord wants to cast it out. When the demon bares its teeth and calls for Jesus to be silenced, you don’t run away. You rebuke that demon in the name of Jesus, and pray for it to be cast out. Then the healing can begin, and the conversion to Christ.

And that’s true in our own life, when an old demon, an old temptation, bears its teeth, remain calm, and pray for the Lord to cast it out.

May our lives, our parish, our neighborhood be places where the Lord is encountered and believed, may his authority over the powers of darkness cast out demons and bring the light of faith, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For a flourishing of spiritual gifts needed for the missionary work and evangelizing mission of the Church.

For all those afflicted with demons, those who are overwhelmed with the Spirit of the World, that, through the ministry of the Church, they may know the cleansing power and mercy of Christ.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster, those who suffer from war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for those who struggle to practice Christian chastity, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. 

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; and for N….

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.

22nd Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - A tale of two Galilean towns

 For the first nine weeks of Ordinary Time, the weekday Gospel readings are taken from the Gospel of Mark. And then for about 12 more weeks, the Gospels are taken from Matthew. From now until the end of the liturgical year, we read from the Gospel of Luke. 

Notice though, that we didn’t begin with Luke Chapter 1, we’ve skipped already to chapter 4, and that’s because those first four chapters of Luke are the infancy narratives and we read through those chapters throughout advent and Christmas. 

Our Ordinary Time reading of Luke begins with the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry.

Had we not celebrated the memorial of The Passion of St. John the Baptist, yesterday, we would have heard how the Lord’s public ministry began with rejection. He comes out of the desert, having fasted for 40 days, filled with the spirit, he goes to Nazareth, opens the scroll, begins to read how the prophecies of old are now being fulfilled in their midst, and he is driven out of town by his townsfolk, and they attempt to hurl him over a cliff.

So, today, we hear that the Lord decided to take his ministry to Capernaum—a distance of about 25 miles, the distance from downtown Cleveland to Akron or Madison. . Perhaps a week had passed since Nazareth. For the rejection at Nazareth took place in a synagogue on a sabbath, and today’s passage, which immediately follows, takes place, again, in a synagogue, on a sabbath. And the reaction to his teaching couldn’t have been more drastic.

Instead of rejection, like there was in Nazareth, in Capernaum there is astonishment, miracles, healings, and exorcisms. He is not driven to the edge of town, he is welcomed into a home in the heart of town, to the home of Simon, who will be later named Peter. A tale of two cities, a tale of two responses to Jesus—to his Gospel.

The reader of the Gospel is presented with an immediate choice: do I want to be like the people of Nazareth or the people of Capernaum. Do I drive Jesus from my midst through my sins and hard-heartedness, or do I welcome him and his Truth and become open to the healings and miracles and deliverance that he brings.

The people of Nazareth claimed to know him but really did not. Their familiarity had led them to contempt. People of faith, even life long Catholics, however, know a secret, that we can constantly rediscover Jesus anew, if we are honest in our spiritual lives, and welcome him deeper into the recesses of our lives and hearts.

Throughout the remainder of Ordinary Time, reading through St. Luke’s beautiful Gospel, may we allow the Lord to challenge us, teach us, heal us, and deliver us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the flourishing of spiritual gifts in the universal Church and our parish, for the sanctification of our parishioners, the conversion of the faithless, and the grace to be not just hearers of the word but doers of the word. 

For an end to indifference to the Gospel, to God and human dignity in our government & educational institutions, businesses, and personal attitudes.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster, those who suffer from war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for those who struggle to practice Christian chastity, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. 

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.

August 24 2022 - St. Bartholomew - Without duplicity

 Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a pious Jew who lived in daily expectation of the coming of the messiah. His home was at Cana. And even though Cana was twelve miles away from the Sea of Galilee, it is likely that Bartholomew, was a fisherman. For when St. Peter stood on the Sea of Tiberias after the Resurrection and announced he was going fishing, Bartholomew called out with the other apostles, “we are going with you”.

Bartholomew was evidently a close friend of Phillip. The two of them seemed to be actively looking for the Messiah, and had initially thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah. But after Philip had encountered Jesus at Galilee, Philip, as we heard in the Gospel today, runs to announce to his friend Bartholomew, that it wasn’t John, but Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth, who was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets 

We can only wonder what Bartholomew meant when he said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nazareth was just a couple miles—just nine miles—from Bartholomew’s hometown of Cana. Perhaps he was speaking with a bit of mockery so often found between two neighboring villages. But his small-town prejudices did not keep Bartholomew from venturing with Philip to see Jesus.

And in this encounter, Jesus himself gives us an insight into St. Bartholomew’s character and faith, “there is no duplicity in him”. The Lord peered into his heart and found him to be a man of impeccable honesty, forthright, open, plainspoken, straightforward, upfront, earnest, innocent, and unpretentious. “Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” says Psalm 32.

All Christians are to be without deceit, without duplicity. We are to live for the Lord and die for the Lord. We cannot serve two masters. 

After the resurrection, the apostle Bartholomew labored in the master’s vineyard, spreading the Gospel throughout the Iranian Empire and along the Persian Gulf. Around the year 69 he was martyred, skinned alive and crucified. He is sometimes depicted in Sacred Art, holding a knife, which was used to flay him, and sometimes even carrying his skin over his arm, like in Michaelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Due to the nature of his martyrdom, Bartholomew is patron saint of those with skin diseases, dermotologists, leather workers, tanners, and butchers.

Honesty, guilelessness, is not a popular trait. Many people prefer comfortable lies. Many act one way in public and another in private. Some live double-lives. But Christians are to be people of Truth, for our Lord says, “I am the Truth” honestly acknowledging our faults and vices and sins, that they may be healed. We are to speak the truth and live the truth in love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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May we join the Holy Apostles in our prayer for the world and the Church.

As the Apostles witnessed to the Resurrection of the Lord, may we be his witnesses to the farthest corners of the world.

For the bishops, the successors of the apostles: That they may be courageous in stirring up the flame of faith and defending the Church from error.

For all of the sick and suffering, especially victims of skin diseases, natural disaster, poverty, and addiction, may they be comforted and supported by God’s healing love. We pray to the Lord.

For all who long to see the face of the Father, for all our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. We pray to the Lord.

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

4th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - Identifying obstacles to faith

 In our Gospel passage this last Sunday, we heard of the people of Nazareth reacting with great hostility to Jesus’ proclamation. They doubt his claim to be the Messiah, minimizing the possibility by asserting that he is merely the son of a carpenter. Then when he challenged them for hardening their hearts against him, they seized him to throw him over a cliff.

Today’s Gospel contains three different reactions to Jesus.

Jairus, a man of considerable eminence in hos own town, approached Jesus and fell at His feet, asking in faith for him to heal his daughter. In the incident that followed, when Jesus asked who had touched him, the hemorrhaging woman also approached and fell at his feet, her faith a conduit for healing. The servants of Jairus’ household, on the other hand, approach Jesus, and show little faith, doubting Jesus possessed the power necessary to save the little girl. 

Hem Of His Garment is a painting by Wayne Pascall 

I think the Gospels highlight so many different reactions of Jesus to help us identify how we are reacting to him. Maybe there were points in our life when we do react to him like the people in Nazareth, wanting to silence Him by all means necessary. Maybe, now, after coming to faith, we fluctuate. There are moments where we fall down at his feet in worship like Jairus, we reach out to the hem of his garment to be healed like the woman with the hemorrhage, and maybe sometimes, even after following him, even after hearing what he has done over and over, working miracles, delivering souls from evil, we still doubt he has the power to save us. Our faith fluctuates. Why?

What did Jairus have that we do not have? That’s important to identify. Personally. If there was something keeping you from that level of faith, isn’t important to identify it? Because whatever it is, it might be hindering the healing power of Jesus to be unleashed in my family or in my life.

Is it an attachment to sin? Is it a failure to practice self-discipline in my prayer life? Is it laziness? Is it my ego that defies the need for savior, that insists on trying to save itself?

During Ordinary Time, seeking to identify the things, the attitudes, the behaviors, that keep us from perfect faith, or at least, growing in faith, is to be an ordinary part of our meditations and self-reflections. Thanks be to God, our daily scriptures, once again, help us to identify the path of life, and wholeness, and healing, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, endurance to do the will of God, and peace in our world and our hearts.  

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

For the discipline necessary to resist temptation and to cultivate the virtues of faith, hope, and love. 

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

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

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2022 - Murderous Intent or Rejoicing with Truth

 How did the people of Nazareth, in the Gospel today, go from amazement and hope in Jesus’ announcement that he was the Messiah, to murderous fury? That’s certainly the big question, isn’t it? What happened? Was it something that Jesus said? Hope do you explain hope and amazement transforming into doubt and then hatred?

I thought to myself, is there anything that I could say, that could elicit such a response? If I told a bad joke, there would likely be a few groans. Like, how much does a pirate pay for corn? A buccaneer. If I gave my prediction about who will win the superbowl, there might be a few scoffs, but you wouldn’t run me out of Church. If, instead of preaching on a theological topic, I simply talked about my favorite movies from the last year and sit down, you might stare at me quizzically, but you wouldn’t come at me with murderous intent.

Things might get a little bit more heated if I, say, spent the homily sharing my incredibly niche and polarizing political opinions. I don’t know how this parish reacted, but I remember in my first assignment, when the bishop had us read his statement on the HHS mandate which was to force Catholic institutions to pay for medical procedures contrary to Church teaching, we had a few mass goers walk out during the bishop’s message.

I came across a very telling article this week, that sited a study regarding the relationship between people’s political and religious beliefs. It claimed, that for a majority people, their political opinions take a higher priority than their religious ones, and that the Church they attend coincides more with their political beliefs than if that Church is purporting to preach the truth. 

So, again, if during the homily, I got too political, well, that might elicit a response of sorts.

But what if I started preaching heresy? I starting making claims about the Nature of God, the efficacy of the Sacraments that were contrary to the ancient tradition of the Church. What if I belittled beloved devotions. Well, you should get angry, shouldn’t you. That should elicit jeers, letters to the bishop, calls for my removal as pastor. You don’t come to church to be lied to, to have the faith demeaned and disparaged. I should be removed, if I did that. 

But it wasn’t a lie that caused the people of Nazareth to drive him to the edge of town to murder him. He wasn’t simply offering a bad joke or a divisive political opinion, though some may have interpreted his words in that way. Jesus was stating the truth. He was the Messiah. 

And when his townsmen began to contemplate the implications of that truth, amazement turned to doubt and doubt turned to murderous hatred.

When we are presented with truth, truth about God, truth about ourselves, we have some choices to make, don’t we? For example, if I’m in the habit of stealing from supermarkets, and I am confronted with the truth that stealing is evil, as taught by our faith, I have a choice to make. Reject the truth outright, that I know better than the Church, I try to rationalize my sin, saying it’s not really stealing if I want it really bad, or quit stealing and confess my sin to God.

Another example, if I was under the impression that Eucharist was only a symbol of the Lord’s Body and Blood, but then I’m confronted with the unchanging truth about the Eucharist rooted in scriptures and evident in the church fathers including our own St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, I have a choice to make. Reject the truth, thinking I know better than 2000 years of consistent church teaching, I try to minimize the importance of the doctrine, saying to myself, it doesn’t really matter, does God really care if believe this or not?” Or, recognize I was wrong, the Church was right, Lord, help my unbelief, in the words of the man in Mark’s Gospel, wanting to believe that Jesus could cast the demon out of his possessed son.

There are a lot of reaction to Jesus in the Gospels. And those reactions are the consequences of choices, choices to believe in the truth about who Jesus says he is, or not. 

The townsfolk of Nazareth, they discredit Jesus’ claim. He’s just the son of a carpenter. He can’t be the Messiah. They allowed their personal prejudices to hinder their ability to believe. 

Then, when Jesus explains how their choice to discredit him was akin to the hardness of heart and lack of faith described in the old testament stories about Elijah and Elisha. Well, they had another choice. Recognize the pattern of their unbelief and the veracity of Jesus’ claim, or, silence him, drive him out, murder him. Rejection of the truth leads to violence. 

Why is our culture so polarized, so ready to erupt into violence? In many places, in many homes, even in many so-called Christian communities, it is no longer rooted in the Truth. But Truth leads to love and peace. “Augustine says, nothing conquers but truth, and the victory of the truth is love.”

When we are rooted in truth, we are able to truly love. Love that is patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, not seeking its own interests, not quick-tempered, not brooding over injury, not rejoicing over wrongdoing but rejoicing with the truth., as St. Paul explains in our second reading today. 

The townsfolk of Nazareth certainly did not rejoice with the truth, but Christians, we must. For, truth is the only firm foundation for culture. We understand this. We hate fake news because it’s the dissemination of lies. Pope Francis, this week spoke about how spreading “disinformation” about COVID-19 is a violation of human rights. He said access to accurate information, based on scientific data, is a human right that must be especially guaranteed for those who are less equipped to separate out the morass of misinformation and commentary masquerading as fact that is available online.

At the same time, Francis asked for a merciful, missionary approach to those who fall prey to such distortions so they are helped to understand the truth.

"Fake news has to be refuted, but individual persons must always be respected, for they believe it often without full awareness or responsibility," he said. "Reality is always more complex than we think and we must respect the doubts, the concerns and the questions that people raise, seeking to accompany them without ever dismissing them."

The Holy Father’s approach is consistent quite enlightened compared to the anger and vitriol you see from people on “both sides of the issue” . Seek the truth, don’t lie to people, don’t minimize people’s concerns, but also don’t overinflate your claims, don’t violate people’s consciences, but patiently help people identify misinformation. 

Not one person in Nazareth stopped and said, “let’s listen to what he has to say, let’s entertain this possibility. If he is in error or a madman or a charlatan, the truth will be revealed.” No one was calm, rational, careful, or discerning. They jumped to discredit, and when they were challenged, they defended their prejudices with murderous intent. 

May the Lord deliver us from our prejudices, those which keep us from loving God, loving our neighbor, loving the stranger, and loving ourselves, those which keep us from rejoicing always with the truth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

22nd Week of Ordinary Time 2021 - Monday - When prejudices are challenged

 During Ordinary Time, we read on weekdays from the three Synoptic Gospels: first the Gospel of Mark for the first 10 weeks of Ordinary Time, then from Matthew for a good chunk of the year, and finally from St. Luke, which we begin today, on this Monday of the 22nd week of Ordinary Time. Notice, though, we begin a few chapters into Luke’s Gospel, skipping the infancy narratives and commencing with the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry around the age of 30, after his baptism and time in the Galilean desert. Filled with the Spirit, the Lord returns to his hometown, where he is rejected.

There in the synagogue of Nazareth, the Lord explains how the time is at hand for the Messiah to begin ushering in the new ear of human history, which the poor and downtrodden of God’s people will be raised up; the new and ultimate era of human history, where God’s people will radiate God’s glory to all nations is about to begin.

Initially, the Lord’s words are met with approval, but then when does it turn from approval to rejection? The Lord begins to explain that not only the Jews will be included in God’s kingdom, but Gentiles, like Naaman the Syrian and the widow of Zarephath as well. And this inclusion of the Gentiles filled with people of Nazareth with fury.

Their fury is something of a surprise because there were plenty of Old Testament texts that promised that the Gentiles would be included in God’s plan of salvation, and even that Israel’s restoration would occur with the help of Gentiles. Why were they so furious at this? Why did approval turn to rejection, in fact, an attempt to murder the messenger? 

Perhaps, it was due to Roman’s occupation of Israel at the time. Gentiles were the oppressor. In the not too distant past, Gentiles like the Greeks imposed harsh restrictions on Jewish life. Whatever the reason, this episode is a sort of preview for the Lord’s public ministry as a whole.

Most people will approve of large portions of the Lord’s message. But the whole message, especially the parts of the message that challenge my prejudices, that’s another story. The parts of the message that challenge me to change, the parts of the message that are critical of my vices and errors and biases, the parts of the message that call me to conversion, the parts of the message that claim our enemies aren’t as bad as we make them out to be,  we must be careful not to reject because we find them difficult. For to reject the message, we reject Him, and treat him like the citizens of Nazareth, running him out of town, ready to hurl him over a cliff.

Today and always may we accept and heed the whole Gospel, the whole Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the flourishing of spiritual gifts in the universal Church and our parish, for the sanctification of our parishioners, the conversion of the faithless, and the grace to be not just hearers of the word but doers of the word..  

For an end to indifference to the Gospel, to God and human dignity in our government & educational institutions, businesses, and personal attitudes.

For resolution to the atrocities in Afghanistan, for the safety of innocent bystanders, for captive Christians, and for an end to all terrorism, for those effected by hurricane Ida, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: may they know God’s deliverance, strength and peace 

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.

3rd Week of Lent 2020 - Monday - How Ordinary!

Naaman, the Syrian army commander, afflicted with leprosy, was appalled at the suggestion that to cure his leprosy, all he had to do was to bathe in the Jordan River.  That river?  It’s so ordinary!

Jesus, after forty days in the desert, comes back to his home town and is rejected by its citizens.  They knew him as a young boy.  Perhaps they had heard some story about him being lost in Jerusalem for three days while Mary and Joseph looked for him. Or saw him working with Joseph in his carpenter’s shop. How could He be a prophet? How could he be the messiah? How could God be at work in Him?

So too, our sacraments: water, bread, wine, oil, confessing past faults, a man and a woman making promises to each other—ordinary things. One of the great difficulties that the very earliest Christians had was convincing their neighbors, accustomed to great religious spectacles, that baptism—just being washed with water—really did bring with it the promise of living forever.  “Washing in water?  Just ordinary water?”  The power of the sacraments comes not from the water or oil, but from God. God is so powerful he can work through ordinary things.

Sometimes our faith seems so ordinary.  Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, following rules, being patient, forgiving, it all seems so ordinary.

Many fallen away Catholics claim they don’t go to Mass because it’s boring and ordinary.  They don’t read the bible because, well, that’s so simple.  I’ve also talked to Catholics whose family members have fallen away from the Church and have fallen into to some pretty deadly sins.  They looked at me with surprise and doubt when I suggested they pray a rosary for their children.  A rosary, how ordinary!

I’ve talked to self-proclaimed atheists who claimed that they’d believe in God if He appeared to them in some great supernatural vision.  But when I tell them, God has appeared in ordinary flesh and begun His Church, they laugh.

During this time of this viral global pandemic, what should we do? Carry on and be faithful to the Gospel. Go to confession if you need to. Read the bible, pray the rosary, spend time in quiet meditation on the word of God, study the faith and the example of what the saints have done in time of pestilence and plague. Clothe the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the lonely, pray for the living and the dead.

And keep your Lenten commitments. At this point in Lent you may be starting to be disillusioned with your Lenten penances, they might seem so ordinary now.  But I urge you to persevere, God is working through them.  Through them, God will bring about great conversion including your own, if you let him.  For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the Holy Spirit to guide the appointment of our next Bishop—that he may be a man of true faith and courage.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

17th Week in OT 2019 - Friday - Jesus rejected in his native place

When Our Lord’s public ministry brought him back to his hometown of Nazareth, he was met with rejection. Why? News of his miracles, parables, and teachings had proceeded him, you’d think the townsfolk would embrace him wholeheartedly.

But, the prophet is often rejected in scripture. This is why so many prophets are reluctant to take up the prophet’s mantle. Prophets are put to death for speaking a message many don’t want to hear: the word of God, the call to conversion. The prophet points out the infidelities and idolatries, and he doesn’t change his message just because he’s speaking to relatives because his message is true no matter who he is speaking to.

The prophetic role of the Church, the prophetic role of bishops, and indeed of every baptized Christian provokes the same kind of reaction.  Many Bishops and priests shy away from the prophetic role because it brings such consternation.  Many have chosen to remain silent because of the resistance they would face.

Many of you may have at some point run into a similar attitudes in your families or at work when the topic of religion is brought up.  We often face cynicism, mockery, or simply hardheartedness from fallen away Catholics. Personally, I’ve met Protestants more open to discussing topics of faith than fallen away Catholics, or Catholics who dissent from Church teaching. I know I’ve ended up saying the words of Jesus to myself with a sigh, “a prophet is not without honor except in his own house”.

In such situations I’ve found that it’s best to put the situation or the person in God’s hands. God is the One who brings about the conversion and the understanding. Our job is simply to preach the truth, to explain the teaching. And we might be rejected, but that’s the job we signed up for at baptism. The Lord leaves the preaching to us, and the conversion of heart we leave to him.
“Woe to me,” as St. Paul says, “if I do not preach the Gospel.”

May the Lord sustain us when we do experience rejection. May He assist us in preaching and teaching clearly and with conviction. May he increase our willingness to suffer for those who are in darkness, that the light of His Truth may shine in every human heart for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
That the Ordained may be faithful and courageous in preaching the Gospel in its entirety, and that all the baptized may be faithful in their prophetic role in the Church.
For the conversion of those who do not believe in God, for Catholics who have left the Church, those guilty of heresy or schism, and for a return to the sacraments of those who have fallen into serious sin.
That our young people may turn away from the empty promises of the world and from all self-centeredness, for blessings upon all Christian families, for the protection of the unborn.
For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for those recovering from surgery, for victims of natural disaster, war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. We pray to the Lord.
For all the souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.
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.

4th Sunday in OT 2019 - Miracles and Christian Faith

One of my favorite subjects to talk about with the children over in the school is miracles of Jesus. I like to see how many of Jesus’ famous miracles the school kids can list off: changing water into wine, walking on the sea of galilee, bringing sight to the blind, calming storms, multiplying the loaves and fishes, raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead, raising his friend, Lazarus. Once, a school kid said that one of Jesus’ miracles was curing big cats. “Big cats”, I asked? Yeah, he cured the leopards. Never a dull moment in the priesthood.

Jesus was famous for performing miracles. “ But, why did Jesus perform miracles?” I ask the school kids. And they usually do a pretty good job with that too. Jesus performed miracles because he loves us, he and he wants people to know that He is God.

People from all around galilee came to know that Jesus could perform miracles. They would come to him in great crowds. And many came to believe in his Divinity, when they saw his signs and heard his teachings.

After the Ascension of the Lord into heaven, the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders, as they spread the Gospel in fidelity to their great commission.  There are stories of Saint Thomas performing miracles in India, Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, Paul healed the sick at Malta and raised the dead. Saint Jude the Apostle has been known throughout the centuries as the patron saint of hopeless causes—his prayerful intercession has brought countless miraculous cures.
And throughout the history of the Church many saints could perform miracles: Saint John Bosco, whose feast was on Thursday, performed so many miracles that Pope Pius XI said that in the life of Don Bosco, “the supernatural almost became natural, and the extraordinary, ordinary”.  Don Bosco performed many healings; he once even raised a young boy from the dead who died in a state of mortal sin so the boy could make a sacramental confession.   Countless miracles fill the lives of saints like Patrick, Catherine of Siena, St. Kevin, Benedict, and Clare.

I personally witnessed what I believe to be a miracle from a modern day saint.  I was attending world youth day in Toronto and we were all camped out in a field on Saturday night, as we were to celebrate Sunday Mass in the morning with Holy Father Pope John Paul II.  At about 5 a.m. it started to rain.  Everyone woke up and covered themselves in tarps and umbrellas, but it was pretty miserable as sprinkling quickly turned into downpour.  When Mass started it was raining harder than ever, and everyone was totally soaked. 

You might know that during the Easter Season it is common to use The Rite of Sprinkling: the priest sprinkles the congregation with Holy Water to recall the saving waters of Baptism. At Mass that morning, Pope John Paul II looked out at the crowd in the pouring rain and declared, "Today we will have the Rite of Sprinkling by natural means!" He then said, “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.” And within seconds…seconds, the rain stopped and the sun came out, and Mass continued with the Gloria.

Speaking of miracles, February 3rd is the feast of Saint Blaise. Saint Blaise was a bishop and martyr from the 4th century who miraculously cured a young boy who was choking to death. St. Blaise is invoked as the patron saint of throat ailments, and so we will bestow the blessing of throats at the end of Mass today.

In the Gospel today, Jesus had come to Nazareth, into the synagogue of his youth, and read from the scroll a passage of how the messiah would come performing miracles: the blind would see, the deaf would hear, and a time of favor from the Lord would be inaugurated.  Jesus explained how this prophecy was being fulfilled in their hearing.

The people had already heard of some of the healing miracles Jesus had performed.  So what was their response to his radical claim—the claim that he was the long-awaited for Messiah?
Well, initially they were favorable toward him.  They thought, hey, this is the son of Joseph, the carpenter.  If this guy is really the Messiah, we are his home-town boys, this is going to be favorable for us.  He’s been performing miracles, I could definitely use one of those.  A miracle-working messiah, and I’m his next door neighbor.

But, Jesus knew their hearts, and he detected a problem—a stumbling-block.  They wanted the miracles without discipleship.  They wanted the fame without the hard work.  They wanted the glory without the responsibility.  They wanted resurrection without the cross. 

Detecting this problem, Jesus tells two stories from the Old testament, one about the widow of Zarapheth, and the other about Naaman the Syrian. These two people were non-Jews, non-Jews who received healing and blessing and miracles from the God of the Jews, while Jews were passed up and deprived of blessing and miracle because of their lack of faith.

In relating these stories what is Jesus saying here, first to the people of Nazareth and secondly to us? Just because you are from Nazareth doesn’t mean you will inherit the kingdom. Salvation requires faith, it requires discipleship.

Jesus’ miracles, as our school kids point out, are to help us know and follow Jesus. Sometimes I think we are deprived of miracles for good reason, because God knows that we’ll receive the miracle and then go right back to the life of sin and unbelief.

Incited by Jesus’ insinuations, the townsfolk rose up, and drove him to the edge of a cliff to kill him. A few minutes ago they were saying how great he was, praising the gracious words coming from his lips; now they were filled with murderous fury? Why?  Jesus exposed some darkness in them, some hard-heartedness. And some people are not willing to change.   Jesus did not come to satisfy selfish requests. But rather, to help us, once and for all to overcome all selfishness, and to show us that it is the path of self-sacrifice and Christian belief which leads to heaven. 

This has everything to do with who we are as members of the Christian Church in this 21st century.  For we can easily fall into the same trap as the people of Nazareth, we can start to take Jesus for granted, or we can become bitter or angry when God doesn’t grant us miracles on our terms. We, like the citizens of Nazareth, all too easily driven Jesus to the fringes to throw Jesus off the cliff, so we didn’t have to think about him, so he wouldn’t prick our consciences, so we wouldn’t have to change our life, so we wouldn’t have to get off the couch.

The saints and the Christians you know have not driven Jesus to the fringes. Rather, through lives of  prayer, lives of service, they live in grateful response to have received salvation in Jesus Christ.  For the thrust of the Christian life is gratitude for already having received the miracle, the only miracle, that in the end truly matters: the gift of new life through baptism, the second chance at heaven. That’s the miracle. The most important miracle. The revivification of souls dead in sin brought about by Jesus’ own self-sacrifice, his suffering and death on the cross.

This is why weekly mass is essential for Christians. Without weekly mass we begin to take that miracle for granted, Our Lord’s self-sacrifice, his suffering and death for granted. And then we know how easily worldly preoccupations can creep in, Christian devotion are set aside, Christian service is left for others. Soon, the things of the world take on greater importance than the things of God. And our souls begin to separate from the source of life and goodness.

When we receive the Lord in faith, we begin to become our best-selves. We begin to see the amazing miracles God is working in the world now. May we make the choice to believe in the miracle of new life through Jesus, and change our lives accordingly, that he might make us his instruments of bringing sight to the blind, liberty to captives, and good news to the poor for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

3rd Sunday in OT 2019 - Jesus brings us God

Over in the school these past two weeks, I’ve finally had the opportunity to do a little teaching. I’ve visited each of the grades now, and I taught a lesson for each of them on the liturgical year: how the seasons of the Church year celebrate the different seasons of Jesus’ life so we can follow Jesus more faithfully. So I reviewed with them how Advent and Christmas helps us to prepare our hearts to believe in Jesus and love Him, and how now in Ordinary Time we hear about many of the wonderful miracles Jesus performed and his preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God. Again, Ordinary Time helps us to put the lessons of Jesus’ miracles and preaching into practice into the ordinary events of our life.

Last Sunday, those who braved the snow and cold, heard of Jesus’ first miracle: his miracle at the Wedding at Cana—how Jesus changed water into wine at the urging of his mother. We, like the servants at the wedding, should, as Jesus’ mother teaches us, to do whatever he tells us. And like the disciples who witnessed the miracle, we are to glorify God for the amazing things Jesus does in our lives.

And now this weekend, we hear Jesus’ very first homily recorded in Luke’s Gospel. Emerging from the desert, having fasted and prayed for 40 days and having faced the temptations of the devil, Jesus goes to the synogogue in his native place, Nazareth. There Jesus reads from the scripture and teaches people what God is doing in their midst. Jesus explained how those ancient prophecies of Isaiah were being fulfilled in their midst. God promised that He would bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind. And Jesus make the amazing claim that those promises were being fulfilled in Him.

Well, what does this event in the life of Jesus mean for our Ordinary day to day lives?

In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI asks this question another way. He asks “What did Jesus actually bring us?” We still have wars. We still have famine. People still suffer. People still get sick and die. So what did Jesus actually bring? And Pope Benedict answers the question by saying: “Jesus brought us God. Jesus brings us God.”

Jesus is much more than a social worker. He’s not just a nice guy who came to teach us a few useful things about living together in harmony. He’s not just a philosopher who gives us a theory about life, the universe, and everything. He’s not just a politician who promises to fulfill every wish we could ever have.

Jesus brings us something that nothing else and no one else on earth can give: the gift of God Himself. Jesus is God, and Jesus is God’s gift of Himself to Us who need Him. Only God can give us the liberty we need to truly be free. Only God can forgive sins. Only God can give us the gift of eternal life. Only God can give us the good news that changes our life from the core. Jesus shows us the face of God. Jesus reveals the heart of God. Jesus brings us God. For He is Truly God who gives Himself that we may have life.

One of the errors of our modern day is that we think we can save ourselves, that we don’t need God, we can do it on our own. If we just elect the right politicians. If just enact the right law. If we just force everyone to adopt the right set of public policies, if we just get the right sized house or the right amount of cash in the savings account, if we just outlaw certain “triggering” words, then we’ll be free…then we’ll be happy.

This attempt to save ourselves—this belief that we can live rightly without God—is a symptom of the deepest soul sickness, going all the way back to the garden of eden, when adam and eve grasped at a reality divorced from God. They chose to ignore God’s command, to ignore God’s plan for humanity. And each one of us does the same when we choose sin over faithfulness.

And the wars, the violence, the hostility between men and women, the brokenness in families,  the addictions, the penchant for self-destruction is a result of this attempt to build a life and build a world without God. Who will save us from this? Who will save us from the tendency of “not doing the good we want to do, and doing the evil we don’t want to do” as St. paul says? Who will give us the strength to be able to love one another as deeply as we yearn to do? Who will teach us what humanity is meant to be? Who will reconcile us? Who will bring us peace? Jesus “Jesus brought us God. Jesus brings us God.”

In our first reading, we heard a foreshadowing of this amazing truth. From the book of Nehemiah we heard how the Jews fell face-down and wept when the priest read to them from God’s Word. 70 years they had been captive in Babylon. An entire generation did not know God, they did not know the promises of God, they did not know the commandments of God that help us to live a holy life. And they wept when they discovered what God wanted for them, they wept when they discovered that they were not created to be captives to the powers of the world, they wept when they learned they were created to be God’s chosen people, chosen by God to manifest His goodness, his truth, his beauty, his light.

And the Jewish people had this reaction simply from reading from the first five books of the Old Testament. What should our reaction be, how immense should our gratitude be, to come here, and to receive the very gift of God, the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist. I have known Catholics, similarly to break down and weep in gratitude after encountering Jesus in the confessional, they weep to discover that their sins are forgiven.

This, too, is why daily prayer and daily reading of the Word of God is so important. Because daily we, God’s chosen people are meant to encounter him, to open our hearts and minds to him. We are meant to prayerfully encounter the God who desires to free us, to illuminate us, to guide us in being his holy people, members of his mystical body tasked at manifesting his goodness, his life, his beauty, his truth in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, and bringing sight, freedom, good tiding to those in need of it, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

3rd Week of Lent 2018 - Monday - The Cycle of Rejection

Very early on in his Public Ministry, Jesus returned to his home town of Nazareth, where word of his preaching and miracles in Capernaum proceeded him. We are familiar with the story of Jesus attending Synagogue, there in Nazareth, unrolling the scroll, and reading from the prophet Isaiah, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed.” His townsfolk began to speak highly of him, they no doubt were excited about the prospect of receiving these blessings, and receiving healings from Jesus.

The townspeople of Nazareth were surely happy to welcome home the local-boy-made-good, drawing praise across the synagogues of Galilee. However, when it came to actually choosing to believe that he was the Messiah, admiration quickly turned into violence.

Jesus detected their hardheartedness and began to preach about how Israel often rejects its authentic prophets who call them to conversion and faithfulness to the covenant.

These events at Nazareth foreshadow the events leading up to the Lord’s passion. Relative openness to Jesus’ healings and teachings, turn into opposition, as Jesus is rejected by many of His own people, who succeed in having Him put to death on the Hill of Calvary.

We can smugly condemn the townsfolk of Nazareth, but I think this Gospel calls us to acknowledge the times when we have become like them.

This pattern, this cycle, reveals a truth of our fallen human nature. We love blessings, we love healings, we love when God fits into our conception of Him, we love when he doesn’t demand much of us. And how we hate change, conversion, being led out of our comfort zones in order to grow in faith.

Here is certainly a reminder to persevere in our Lenten observances, that just because they grow difficult at Lent progresses, doesn’t mean we should reject them. And here is also a reminder that the Christian life is aimed at our conversion from comfortable familiarity to apostolic witness that takes us out of our comfort zone in order to bring the Gospel to others.

Our Lenten penances prepare us to perhaps be rejected like Christ, to risk embarrassment, rejection from family, even to face apparent failure in the eyes of the world, but to remain faithful to God nonetheless, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

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

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.