March 3 2025 - St. Katharine Drexel - Serving in undivided love

 

Mother Katharine Drexel was born into wealth in mid-19^th Century Philadelphia. Her father was a very successful international banker, and she was an heiress to a large fortune. As a young woman she was involved in many of her family’s philanthropic and charitable works.

Around the age of 30, aware of the plight of the poor and the marginalized, and she was touring Europe, when she met Pope Leo XIII, and she asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor.  The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?”

This question led Katharine to consider God’s calling. She could have easily dismissed the Pope’s suggestion and left the work to someone else.  She could have married, and used some of her wealth for this good and holy work, but, she heard God calling her to something more. 

She made the decision to give herself to God, along with her inheritance, through service to Native Americans and African Americans as a consecrated religious. Initially she entered the convent of the Sisters of Mercy in Philadelphia, and then went on to establish a new religious order for women called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, for in the Eucharist Katherine saw the total gift of Christ as the model and source of strength for her and her community.

One of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Sister Jane Nesmith, is the director of African American Ministry here in the Diocese of Cleveland.

Listen to what Pope John Paul II said at his homily when he canonized Katharine in the year 2000: “From her parents, she learned that her family’s possessions were not for them alone, but were to be shared with the less fortunate.  As a young women she was deeply distressed by the poverty and hopeless conditions endured by many native americans and African americans.  She began to devote her fortune to missionary and educational work amongst the poorest members of society.  Later, she came to understand that more was needed. With great courage and confidence in God’s grace, she chose to give, not just her fortune, but her whole life, totally to the Lord.  St. Katherine Drexel is an excellent example of that practical charity and generous solidarity with the less fortunate which has long been the distinguishing mark of American catholics.  May her example, help young people in particular, to appreciate that no greater treasure can be found in this world than in following Christ with an undivided heart and in using generously the gifts we have received for the service of others and the building of a more just and fraternal world.” 

As we prepare for the upcoming season of Lent, we do well to consider what the Lord is calling us to give up, so that we may be more fully in his service. How is God calling me to be more attentive to the needs of the poor and suffering?

In the Gospel, the rich young man went away sad because he was unwilling to give up his possessions. His heart was divided. St. Katharine shows us the fulfillment that comes when we trust the Lord, in serving him with an undivided heart, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Let us bring our prayers before the Lord, confident in his mercy.

For the Holy Father, Pope Francis in this time of serious illness, that he may know the grace, strength, consolation of our merciful Savior.

For the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and all religious communities That they may be strengthened in their charisms and continue faithfully in their mission of education, outreach, and prayerful devotion, touching lives with compassion and mercy,

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, especially in those areas of the world most in need of them.

For the grace to serve the Lord in undivided love: That each of us may surrender whatever hinders us from fully giving ourselves to God, so that we may serve Him with a pure heart and bring hope to others,

That the poor, sick, downtrodden and marginalized may know the closeness of the Lord through the charity of the Church.

For the deceased, that they may be welcomed into the eternal kingdom of God, rejoicing in the reward of the just, especially N.

Almighty and ever-living God, You inspired St. Katherine Drexel to give her life and treasure for the sake of the poor and the spread of Your Gospel. Grant us the grace to follow her example in serving You with an undivided heart. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - Wisely trusting God

On October 11, the Church celebrates the feast day of Pope Saint John XXIII. Some of our elder parishioners may even remember Good Pope John, as he was Roman Pontiff from October 1958 until his death in June 1963.

He was known during his pontificate as “good Pope John” by the Italian people who adored him for his affection sense of humor, and sanctity. At his funeral, the phrase “Santo Subito” was chanted…”sainthood now”. When Pope Francis canonized John XXIII 10 years ago already, he referred to Pope John as a “model of sanctity.”  

Again, his sense of humor was renowned, and a number of Pope John’s quips and jokes are still told today.

In reply to a reporter who asked, "How many people work in the Vatican?", he reportedly said: "About half of them."

When a cardinal complained that a rise in Vatican salaries meant a particular usher earned as much as the cardinal, the pope remarked: "That usher has 10 children; I hope the cardinal doesn't."

Not long after he was elected pope, the rather portly Pope St. John was walking through the streets of Rome. A woman passed him and said to her friend, "My God, he's so fat!" Overhearing what she said, he turned around and replied, "Madame, I trust you understand that the papal conclave is not exactly a beauty contest."

The saint was also known for his practical wisdom. When asked how he slept at night, with all the problems facing the Church, and with all of his responsibilities he said that instead of worrying all night long, he simply prays, “It’s your Church, God. I’m going to bed! It’s in your hands now”

And there is an important lesson for us there. As Christians, we are called to do our part in spreading the Gospel, defending the vulnerable, righting injustice, being peacemakers, accompanying those with little faith or no faith, so that they might find their way to Jesus. But it’s okay to get a good night’s rest, to put the troubles of the world, and the troubles of our families, and all those things that are beyond our control, into God’s hands. 

While we must have deep trust in God, we must also do our part. In the Gospel, the rich young man approaches Jesus and says, what must I do? It is clear that we must follow the commandments of God. But what else? The Lord is clear that we must follow the Lord wherever he beckons us. For the rich young man, that meant leaving behind his wealth, and following the Lord in service and charity. The Lord Jesus was inviting the rich young man to trust him, leaving his earthly cares aside to cultivate greater holiness. 

And, the rich young man was unwilling to that, and St. Mark’s Gospel tells us that because he was unwilling to trust Jesus, the rich young man went away sad. Sadness comes when we fail to respond to those invitations the Lord gives us to follow Him for closely, especially in the way of generosity and self-giving.

I love the juxtaposition between Pope John’s practical wisdom of entrusting the needs and problems of the Church to God, one on hand, and the Lord’s invitation to do everything you can to grow in holiness on the other.

Do you sense the tension there? On one hand, entrust everything to God, and make sure you get the sleep and rest to remain healthy and in good spirits. And on the other hand, do everything you can to serve the Gospel. Trust and pray as if everything depended on God, and act, as if everything depended on you.

I think that’s tough for a lot of people, because it requires mature faith and personal responsibility. You and I have the responsibility of discerning, using our God given reason, to personally investigate what can I do, honestly. If I were to really move beyond my comfort zone and trust God, what could I do for the parish, for the poor, for the good of my fellow man, what could I do for the spread of the Gospel.

Why is it so hard? Well, many of us get swept up into our habits and routines, don’t we? So much so  that the thought of doing something different, doing something challenging or uncomfortable doesn’t occur to us. We push those possibilities out of our minds very quickly because we like things easy and predictable.  

But that is a real reason, that, like the rich young man in the Gospel, we are sadder than we need to be. We are sad because we do not trust the Lord as much as we could. The joy that we observe in the saints eludes us, because, of our fear to make the leap of faith to follow the Lord into the unknown, into the uncomfortable, and in the way of the Cross.

In the first reading, we hear the prayer of this devout soul who deemed riches as nothing in comparison with the Divine. Priceless gems, gold, are as sand, compared to the joy and goodness that God offers us and wants for us from following Christ more closely. 

This week, consider what would I do for the Lord if I was fearless. What would I do for the Lord if I didn’t care about my material possessions. 

The Lord is likely not calling any of us to the radical poverty of saint francis of assisi, but he is calling all of us to be a little less concerned about our worldly possessions and our comforts and more concerned about storing up treasure in heaven. 

On top of that, we should consider what, we like Pope St John, should leave to the Lord. What can I do, and what do I need to entrust more fully to the Lord. For therein lies greater peace and joy for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

8th Week of Ordinary Time 2024 - Tuesday - The last shall be first

 

In the ancient world, wealth, power, and privilege were considered signs of blessing from God. But the Lord gives a contrary teaching. 

“Many that are first will be last, and the last will be first". Here Jesus reverses the expectation of the worldly minded.  

Greatness in the kingdom of God comes not from power, but humility, not from wealth, but generosity, not in gaining possessions, but in giving oneself away. 

And to the extent that we give ourselves away in loving service—we will find meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and joy that nothing else in the world can give. It is by giving ourselves away—giving of our time, talent and resources, that we store up treasure in heaven.

In yesterday’s Gospel passage from St. Mark, we heard of the rich man who goes away sad after his encounter with Jesus. He had asked the Lord what it takes to inherit eternal life, and the Lord instructed the rich man to go and sell his possessions and follow him.

Due to his unwillingness to detach from his possessions, the rich man departs from Jesus, not with the joy of discipleship, but with sadness. There is always sadness when we are unwilling to follow where Jesus beckons, to give-up with God invites us to give-up!

Jesus is the model and master of self-giving. He doesn’t just tell us the way to heaven, he shows us the way through his self-emptying, his self-giving, his total donation of himself to the Father.

May we seek that holiness of life shown to us by Our Lord, and thus come to share with him in the joys of heaven for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That Christians may respond generously to the perpetual call to holiness through prayer, fasting, and works of charity. 

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

That during this month of May, all people may turn their hearts to the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeking her aid and imploring her intercession with increased and fervent devotion, imitating her example of Faith, Hope, and Love.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For 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

24th Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Friday - "the love of money is the root of all evils"

 Throughout the centuries, Christians and non-Christians alike have recognized the dangers of loving money—making an idol of wealth.  Money, in itself, is not evil; many wealthy people have given generously of their resources out of love for God and neighbor.  So what does Paul mean when he writes to Timothy that famous line, “the root of all evil is the love of money.” 

It is evil to make anything an idol. And the love of money is one of the most common idolatries in history. Money promises happiness, pleasure, and luxury, not to mention security. It can be used to attract romantic partners, and to fulfill our base desires. 

But God’s Will must be the highest priority for Christians. We are to “Seek first the kingdom of God”. But when money is made into an idol, it leads us away from what truly fulfills, the pursuit of God. 

Many Christians have lost the joy pursuing God as they pursued the riches of the world.  They have even lost their souls because riches. The rich young man left the company of Jesus because of his attachment to his riches. 

The love of money is behind so many of the evils that afflict the peoples of the globe. Turning money into an idol results in the abandonment of religious duties, and the exploitation of one’s fellow man. The lover of money begins to view all things and all people through this distorted lens.

Nearly three centuries after Paul wrote to Timothy about the love of money, the holy Archbishop of Constantinople and Doctor of the Church St. John Chrysostom warned his congregation: Evil is not caused by wealth …but by the wicked will of those who do not know how to use it… Take away the love of money, and you put an end of war, to battle, to enmity, to strife and contention…The covetous man never knows a friend…He knows not God himself, driven mad, as he is, by the passion of avarice.”

So many of “the human roots of global and ecological crisis” as Pope Francis as said, comes from this disordered love of money.

The use of money is inescapable, so St. John Chrysostom also taught his congregation about the right use of money. He writes, “our money is the Lord’s, however we may have gathered it.” God allows us wealth “not for you to waste on prostitutes, drink, fancy food, expensive clothes, and all the other kinds of indolence, but for you to distribute to those in need.” 

This does not mean that we must give away all of our wealth and possessions, leaving ourselves in abject poverty. Neither Saint John Chrysostom, nor Christ Himself, teaches us to do this. Rather it means that all that we have is meant, not our own selfish pursuits, but for the purposes of furthering the kingdom of God.

We have a duty to be honest about our motives regarding wealth. Am I accumulating wealth for a disordered purpose? Is my use of money selfish? If so, we require conversion. 

For the Lord teaches we are called to store up treasure, not on earth, but in heaven, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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In great gratitude for the benefactors of this parish, and for those who generously provide for the needs of the Church. 

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

During this month of September, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, we pray for all those who grieve, and that we may grieve sufficiently for our sins.

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

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.

January 17 2023 - St. Anthony Abbot - Armor of God vs. the Devil's Tactics

 Around the age of 19, a young man named Anthony, the son of two wealthy Egyptian parents, was attending Mass one day. He heard the Gospel of the Lord telling the rich young man, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor.  You will then have treasure in heaven.” Anthony felt as if the Lord were speaking these words directly to him.

His parents, having recently died, Anthony gave away some of the family estate to his neighbors, sold the remaining property, donated the funds to the poor, placed his sister with a group of Christian virgins for her education, and became the disciple of a local hermit in the desert, and devoted himself to God.   This first period in the desert lasted around 13 years.  Though he had not sought it, a group of hermits grew around him, and he became their spiritual father, or an “abbot”, thus beginning monasticism as it is known today.

He went to the desert because it is a place without material attachments and earthly pleasures. And yet, like Christ, in the desert, Anthony also encountered the devil. The devil would send Anthony great temptations which took great effort and prayer to overcome. The devil would also physically assault Anthony, and beat him to the point of unconsciousness.  

But another scripture passage that Anthony took quite seriously was our epistle this morning: “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.”

The Devil hates when any soul endeavors to grow in holiness. The Devil likes us complacent and sleepy; he likes us attached to modern conveniences. He likes us soft and vulnerable and ill-equipped. 

One of the weapons that Anthony and the desert hermits would wield is the Word of God. They would memorize the Gospels and memorize the Psalms so that when the devil came with his temptations, they had the guidance necessary to see through his lies. The Lord himself utilized this tactic. Remember, when the devil said, “turn these stones into bread”, the Lord retorted with a line from scripture, “man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Due to his holiness and wisdom, many souls would seek out the advice of the Desert Abbot St. Anthony. St. Athanasius, Anthony’s biographer, even writes how the emperor Constantine, sought out Anthony’s advice on the administration of an empire that was now officially Christian.

Anthony wrote back to Constantine, advising him “not to think much of the present, but rather to remember the judgment that is coming, and to know that Christ alone was the true and Eternal King.”

May Anthony Abbot through his heavenly intercession and holy example assist us in detaching from the things of the world, seeking the perfection of Christ, putting on the Armor of God against the wiles of the Devil, and living in expectation of our own judgment in hopes of living eternally with Christ the King, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may preserve harmony among us.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for all monastics and hermits, and that all Christians may seek the perfection for which they were made.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, 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.

8th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - "We have left everything to follow you"

 In yesterday’s Gospel passage from St. Mark, we heard of the rich man who goes away sad after his encounter with Jesus. He had asked the Lord what it takes to inherit eternal life, and the Lord instructed the rich man to go and sell his possessions and follow him.

Due to his unwillingness to detach from his possessions, the rich man departs from Jesus, not with the joy of discipleship, but with sadness. There is always sadness when we are unwilling to follow where Jesus beckons. 

In reaction to the rich man woefully departing from the presence of Jesus, Peter chimes in: “well, we have left everything to follow you.”

Have you Peter? Have you really? The more I read the Gospel of Mark, the more I’m convinced that we should be a little suspicious whenever Peter speaks. For with that question, it seems Peter is all too enthused to attempt to draw a contrast between him and the rich man, a little like the Pharisee, who says, thank goodness I’m not like that tax collector of there, “I’m holy, I’m enlightened.” Meanwhile, it was the tax collector who was not far from the kingdom because he acknowledged his sinfulness.

Peter, don’t you know that you can’t fool Jesus? The Lord can see into your heart and right through your antics?

Knowing that Peter could use a bit of humility and self-reflection, the Lord responds to Peter by explaining what it means to really follow him: his disciples are to give up “house and brother and sister, mother and father, children and lands for his sake and the sake of the Gospel.” Our possessions, our inheritances, our most intimate familial relations, even our own lives, are to be subordinate to doing the will of God and our Gospel mission. 

We know that conversion hadn’t really taken root, that Peter was not fully abandoned to the will of God, as in just a few chapter we’ll find Peter denying his Lord. 

Now we shouldn’t give Peter too hard a time, for the Gospel narrative is an unfolding drama, an unfolding of the revelation of who Jesus is, fully revealed in his death and resurrection. 

For we know that Peter, after resurrection embraces true discipleship wholeheartedly. He suffers for the Lord, and dies for his Lord, but not before writing the powerful words from our first reading: “Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely grace”…above all “seek holiness”, not compliance with your former way of life, your former attachments, but above all holiness.

During the holy season of Lent beginning tomorrow, may our Lenten penances aid us in acknowledging this parts of our lives where we have failed to follow the Lord. May we be assisted in living soberly, abandoned to grace, seeking above all holiness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, 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.”

That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the conversion of those who reject the Gospel, for grace to break through to hearts hardened toward God, for the protection of young people from the errors and perversions of our culture.

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

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.

8th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

 

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

One of the great concern many priests and probably many of you have is that fewer and fewer people seem to be concerned with this question: young people, our family members, over 80% of Catholics who aren’t even going to Church on Sundays anymore. What happened? What changed?

It’s certainly one of the symptoms of the secularism and materialism of our age: this indifference to eternity. Many ask questions  like, “what must I do to get into Harvard, what must I do to be a famous athlete, what must I do to make my first million by the age of 30?” Maybe, many people do not even have a driving question.

This man in the Gospel today, he had this driving question. So much so, notice, St. Mark tells us, that he runs up to Jesus, he falls to his knees, to ask this question. 

Perhaps so few are asking about eternity because so much information is available at our fingertips now. People figure, well, when the time comes to start asking ultimate questions, I can just look up the answer on the internet. Perhaps, they are so caught up into the trivial, they don’t even think to concern themselves with what comes next.

Or, perhaps, they have thought about eternity, and instead of turning to God for answers, they’ve concluded that, well, eternal life is a guarantee, everybody goes to heaven.

And that would make things everything easier. Rich, poor, religiously devout, religiously neglectful, everyone goes to heaven. I’ve come across this belief among many Catholics. 

But this answer is at odds with what Jesus teaches in the Gospel. There are a lot of things that can keep us from heaven. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” And that’s just one situation. Read through the Gospels, and note how many times Jesus uses the word “unless”. Unless you do this, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you are born again by water and the holy spirit, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood” and so on.

The young man went away sad in the Gospel, because the Son of God told him that unless he gave up his love of possessions he couldn’t go to heaven. Many refuse to ask that ultimate question, what must I do to inherit eternal life” because they are unwilling to face that “unless”. For some people, it’s just easier to provide their own answer, write their own Gospel—an anti-Gospel—where can have your cake and eat it to, where you can have heaven without having to change anything about yourself on earth. I’m already perfect is the great anti-Gospel of our age. Because why would you need God if you’re already perfect?

In a few days we begin the great season of Lent, a time for us to acknowledge what in us, in our attitudes and behaviors and attachments need to be given up, in order to be perfected by God. The world is confounded by this, those who already believe themselves perfect, can’t imagine why we would do penance. But God work through our penances to bring about a change of heart for those who live the anti-Gospel, that all hearts may come to long and seek the life that can only come from Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, 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.”

That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the conversion of those who reject the Gospel, for grace to break through to hearts hardened toward God, for the protection of young people from the errors and perversions of our culture.

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

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.

28th Sunday in OT 2018 - Joylessness and the Rich Young Man

This weekend, Pope Francis is celebrating in Rome the Canonization of six new saints. Three of them were founders of new religious orders, one of them was a humble diocesan priest, one is the great and courageous Archbishop Oscar Romero who denounced the violence of the civil war in El Salvador in 1980 and was assassinated offering mass in a hospital chapel. The sixth is Pope Paul VI, whose Papacy from 1963-1978 was marked by his deep sense of prayerfulness, as he led the Church to become a greater instrument for evangelization and conversion to the modern world.

The temperaments and lives of these new saints could not have been any different. Yet, their commonality, is certainly their love and obedience to Jesus Christ.

Like the young man in the Gospel today, they each approached the Lord, fell to their knees and asked the question: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” For three of them it was founding a religious order for ordinary men and women like you and me to live a life of prayer and penance that points to God. For Archbishop Romero, it was standing up to a corrupt government. For Paul VI it was leading the Church in a time of social and cultural upheaval. But, “what must I do to find joy, to find eternal life?” That is probably the most important question anyone could ask.

One concern I know many priests and many of you have is that so many of our young people and so many of our family members do not consider this question important.  One of the symptoms of the secularism of our age is an indifference to eternity. Plenty of young men and women ask questions like, “what must I do to get into Harvard, what must I do to be a famous athlete, what must I do to make my first million by the age of 30, what must I do to have as much pleasure as I can?”  These are all valid questions if one is merely concerned with earthly happiness and temporal success.  But these are not concerns about ultimate reality.  So this young man in the Gospel is in a much better place than many of our contemporaries.

How did the Lord answer this young man’s questions? He first begins to list off the commandments of God’s law.

Rules are important. We have rules for good health—you can’t eat a bag of pork rinds every day if you want to be physically fit; we have rules for good finances—don’t spend more than you make. So, too, if you want to have good mental health, there are some rules—learn to let go of anger and grudges, read a book once and a while to keep your brain active, maintain supportive relationships, develop a sense of gratitude for life’s blessings.

Every relationship has rules; rules which prescribe what is good and prohibit what is bad. When a bride and groom stand up in front of the Church and their families and recite their wedding vows, they are agreeing to the rules of their covenant relationship: we are going to be faithful even when we are tempted to be unfaithful, we are going to care for each other in times of sickness, in times of economic hardship, when physical beauty fades, we are going to raise our children to be good Christians.

Families have rules which support the harmony and happiness of the family. Don’t talk back to mom and dad, don’t fight with your siblings. When I was growing up, we had a lot of rules about keeping the house tidy: make your bed, clean your room, dirty plates and dishes weren’t to be left lying around, they were to be placed not just in the kitchen sink, but the dishwasher, and they had to be rinsed off first.

The spiritual life has rules, too. If you want to spiritually fit, if you want your relationship with God to be healthy—if you want this earthly journey to lead to eternal life with God, we must follow spiritual rules. And the commandments of God are the basic rules for that end.

Now of course, we all fail to keep these commandments for a variety of reasons. And the Christian recognizes the necessity of repentance, of confessing the serious violations of our covenant relationship with God. We admit to God even our smaller, venial sins, as well as we can, so that they do not pave the way for graver violations.

The young man in the Gospel, seems like he was doing pretty well. "Teacher,” he says “all of these commandments I have observed from my youth." Okay, good. Jesus recognizes that in this young man, the fundamental are in place, the aspirations are right, but the Lord sensed a restlessness in the young man. “You are lacking in one thing”, the Lord said. What was he lacking?

Despite his fidelity to the law, the young man was unwilling to detach himself from his possessions and follow the Lord radically.

“Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." The Lord knew that the man’s possessions had become a stumbling block to his salvation, so he illuminated this fact, and showed him what he had to do. This does not mean every single one of us has to get rid of all of our earthly possessions to follow Christ, but it certainly means that we must be spiritually detatched from them and dedicate them to God's purpose rather than our own selfish ends.

At that statement we then hear one of the saddest lines in all of the Gospels. “his face fell, and he went away sad.” The encounter with the Lord is meant to bring us conversion, joy, and life, but the young man walked away from that which would have brought him joy and that is always a sad story.

Last week in our parish youth group, we talked about joy, how following the commands of God leads to joy, how prayer and service bring us a joy that nothing else in the world can possibly give. Joy, is very different from happiness. Happiness is satisfaction with temporary things. I’m happy when the browns win, I’m happy when my chicken wings are at the perfect level of crispiness, I’m happy when the traffic light turns green at just the right time.

Joy, however, comes from our relationship with the eternal things of God: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Our hearts are filled not just with happiness, but joy, when we learn the Truth that comes from God, when we engage in truly good acts, caring for the poor, caring for a sick family member, feeding the hungry, forgiving those who hurt us. And we are filled with joy at the sight of beauty, true beauty, beautiful and timeless Christian art and architecture, the beauty of God’s creation.

The young man turns his heart away from joy because he chooses to value passing, temporary, earthly things, his possessions, over the truth, and goodness, and beauty of Jesus Christ.

I guarantee, that each of the saints being canonized this weekend, knew this secret to joy. Now, that doesn’t mean their lives were easy. Each faced tremendous suffering, but that did not diminish their joy. Because authentic joy does not diminish in the face of suffering, but can intensify it, when that suffering is embraced for the good of the Church and the spread of the Gospel.

As we celebrate the Eucharist today, may the Holy Spirit help us identify those attitudes or habits that we need to turn away from in order to experience the joy and eternal life God wants for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.