How Long, O Lord? (10-2-16)

The first verses of our first reading from the book of Habakkuk take us right into age old questions such as “Why do bad things happen to good people?,”  and “If there is a God, why does He allow evil to exist?”.  These questions are age old precisely because there is no answer other than the answer that comes from our faith.  One thing we can be sure of, however, is that the scriptures do not run away from these questions, they do not pretend that they are not there.  Rather, they delve right into them as does Habakkuk today, as does the entire book of Job, etc. etc.  The fear that I have is that people who are forced into dealing with these questions in an experiential way will make the only fatal mistake that can be made with regard to living the life of faith.  That is, they will give up.  At some point in their struggle they will conclude that there cannot be a God, and they will give up the chance to meet Him, perhaps when they, unbeknownst to them, were just about to meet Him.  One of my favorite scripture stories (and I know I say this quite often) is the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel.  Jacob wrestled with the angel all night long because he guessed that there must be a blessing on the other side of the struggle, so he did not give up. In the end, you might say the angel gave up. He knocked Jacob’s hip out of its socket and gave Jacob a blessing. For the rest of his life Jacob walked differently, and not just because his hip was displaced.  He had found God and finally fully believed in him.  His journey parallels our own. It might seem as if we also are in a lifelong struggle with the Lord, but our hope must be that it all ends in a blessing.  It is my firm conviction that any one who promises him or herself that they will all always pursue the truth and never give up in doing so will eventually find God in His time and will walk differently because of it.  So please, never give up!  And so you might say, “How can I persevere when I see evil and violence all around me?  How can there be a God in the midst of all this darkness and evil?”  My best response to you is this:  How in a world of darkness and evil is there any good at all?  Why do you do good deeds? Why do others do good?  Why have people done good for you?  The point of course is this. If the existence of evil leads us to question the existence of God, then shouldn’t the existence of good lead us to conclude that, at least perhaps, God is? And so, good people, go on with your struggle and never give up. The Lord’s blessing awaits you.

The Lesson of Lazarus (9-25-16)

Largely because of my father, from whom I learned many lessons, I eventually learned what I call the “Lesson of Lazarus.”  It came about pretty much when I was in sixth or seventh grade.  At that time my school work came rather easily for me and I rarely had to study or ever had difficulty with my homework.  However, one of my younger brothers was not so lucky.  Studies did not come easily for him and he very often pleaded with me for help with his homework.  Sadly, I almost never willingly gave him help, and if I did help him it was pretty much because my dad intervened and forced me to do so. On one of those nights we were in his room and it was quite loud. He was very upset that I was once again refusing to help him and I was very emphatically letting him know that I had better things to do with my time than to assist him. At that rather untimely moment my father stepped into the room.  To me he said “Boy get to your room!” and to my brother he said, “Come with me.”  I quickly scurried to my room but soon realized, because the back stairway was very close to my door, that my father and my brother had gone to the kitchen downstairs.  They were down there for a while and eventually I heard my brother laughing!  This made me a bit distraught so I went down the steps to see what was going on and when I got into the kitchen I could not believe my eyes.  My brother and father were sharing a bowl of ice cream!  I was shocked. I blurted out words to the effect that this was not fair, that really my brother was the one who caused the trouble and that I had not done anything wrong.  Well now I’d thought that I’d really done myself in and that I was going to get it.   But my father simply told me to sit down and said, “Sooner or later you are going to have to realize that life is not so much about the bad things that you didn’t do; it’s about the good things you did do.  Now back to bed and have a good night.”  To me, that is the “Lesson of Lazarus.”  We need to realize that in this parable, the rich man was not condemned for anything he did that was wrong.  He did nothing to Lazarus.  Actually that was the problem. He did nothing for Lazarus either. He ignored him completely and this was the reason for his eternal punishment.  Lazarus teaches us that at the time of our judgment, the Lord is going to be more concerned about the good we did not do than the wrong we did do.

You Really Can't Take it With You...Or Can You? (9-18-16)

Of course it is a cliché, and we probably all get tired of clichés, but the fact is that many of them are true, as is this one.  The monetary wealth that we make and strive for on this earth cannot be taken with us, so it begs at least two questions.  First, what are we going to do with our money and second, what are we working for?  There is no contest that says that at the end of earthly lives, the one with the most toys is the winner.  Actually one of the lessons that can be taken from today’s Gospel, is that it is pointless to focus our lives on attaining earthly wealth that means absolutely nothing when our earthly life ends.  Sadly, we all know too many stories of families (and maybe our family is one of them) who have been torn apart by the wealth left behind by a deceased relative.  But Jesus teaches us a very useful and interesting lesson with, of all characters: the unjust steward.  He, because of his wrongful behavior, finds himself in a bit of a difficult situation from which he needs to escape.  Does this sound like anyone we know?  How about ourselves? We, like this poor fellow, have done wrong and are going to have to make a case for ourselves before God, Himself, are we not?  So what’s our plan, or are we even aware that we are in a tight spot? Jesus says that at least the unjust steward realized his situation and put together a strategy to save himself.  So what about us?  Jesus says that we actually can use the wealth we have amassed on earth to help to ourselves into heaven.  That’s rather amazing news, isn’t it?  Our wealth does not have to be in vain and it can bear fruit eternally!  Only thing is…we have it give it away.  We need to develop a preferential option for the poor, we need to take care of those less fortunate than ourselves.  That’s how we are able to keep what we have earned and gain treasure that lasts forever.  There is an epitaph found on an English grave that says the following: “What I kept I lost. What I spent I had.  What I gave I have.” Again, this might be “cliché-ish,” but it very true.  What we give away with a generous heart, we never lose.  It also answers those two questions, about what we should do with our wealth and what we are working for.  Our wealth, our gifts, our time and talents can never have a more meaningful purpose than to be used for those who are in need, and our ultimate purpose is to work towards getting our souls to heaven.  Maybe that unjust steward wasn’t so bad after all.

On the Outside, Looking In (9-11-16)

Notice what Jesus does in today’s Gospel. In response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes, He tells the parables the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son (aka the Prodigal Son).  And what were they grumbling about?  Well, they were upset that Jesus was welcoming sinners and eating with them.  (I guess that in those days all the tax collectors and sinners wore some kind of identifying insignia, since it seems as though everyone knew who they were.)  Any way, Jesus initially compares the “tax collectors sinners” to sheep and coins which are found after a period of time of being lost.  He says that just after a lost sheep is found, the shepherd rejoices, and just after someone finds money that was lost he/she rejoices as well.  He says basically that He is like the one who has found the lost sheep or the lost coin. He simply must rejoice; tax collectors and sinners are returning to Him. Many who once were lost are now found.  But then He turns up the heat significantly with the story of the Lost Son.  Here, He basically tells the Pharisees and scribes (and remember the Pharisees and scribes are us!) that not only is He going to rejoice in the returning home of lost sinners as the father in this parable rejoices once the prodigal son returned home, He tells them that they will condemn themselves if they don’t join in the celebration as well.  Please pay close attention to the conversation between the father and the elder son at the close of the parable.   The father basically says that both he (who represents the scribes, Pharisees and us) and his brother (who represents the tax collectors and sinners), are his beloved sons. He also implies that they have both sinned; they both have rejected His love. (How do you think the Pharisees and scribes liked to hear that?) Finally, He says that they both are invited to join him at the banquet. At the end of the story the older brother, like the Pharisees, the scribes, and us, have a decision to make. Is he going to acknowledge that he, like his brother, is also sinful and in need of his father’s mercy and join the banquet or not? And what are we going to do? Are we going to do what we need to do to join the eternal banquet, or are we going to find ourselves as did the older brother at the end of the story-on the outside, looking in?

So, How Are You Getting Into Heaven? 9/04/16

Now that we have arrived at Labor Day weekend something is very clear: summer vacations are pretty much over maybe we can take a moment to look back and reflect on them a little bit.  Hopefully they were beneficial to us; hopefully we did get some rest.  I suppose that if we ask ourselves to try to make a list of things that we remember about our vacations we would not get very far before we realized that a significant item on that list would be the time and effort we put into planning them.  Indeed, if we did not plan them, they most likely would not have happened. Planning, saving money and preparation are essential if we are going to be able to get away or go just about anywhere for that matter. And some of us do make very excellent planners, at least when it comes to vacations, as we try to maximize every moment of our time away. Of course, this is all well and good, and having a good vacation is indeed good for us. But Jesus asks us a rather sobering question in this week’s Gospel.  He does, of course, assume, that we all want to get to heaven, and I am sure that He understands as the country song says that “Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to go there now,” but He does want to provoke us to think.  He wants us to think about how we plan out so much of our lives and how we are going to achieve our various goals, and go on this or that trip, etc., etc., and then to ask ourselves how much planning we are putting into getting into Heaven.  It is our ultimate goal, isn’t it?  It is our hoped for final destination, isn’t it? We don’t just think that we are going to show up at Heaven’s door one day and just walk right in, do we?  Hopefully we will not forget about that one last hurdle we have to get through (you know, it’s called our judgment day) before we can gain admittance. So what kind of planning and preparation are we undertaking for this trip? Summer vacations are over; it is indeed something to think about, is it not?

"Conduct Your Affairs with Humility" 8-28-16

This command, which is given to us by the author of the book of Sirach, truly and succinctly sums up the message of today’s readings.  Therefore, it is good for us to reflect what humility is, what it is not, and how it calls us to live.  Obviously, the virtue of humility calls us to make sure that we do not do anything that cultivates within ourselves an attitude or even a pattern of behavior that somehow we are better or superior to any one. We need to be careful here, because we may have a tendency to conclude rather hastily that we indeed are not displaying any kind of arrogance or condescension. I say this because one of the few indisputable facts that I believe I have correctly discerned in my fifty-six years of life is that we human beings seem to have an amazing ability (no matter what we tell ourselves) to compare ourselves favorably with others, especially in the sphere of morality.  (How is that for modeling humility?)  Neither, however, does humility mean that we should see ourselves as lesser than others. That is another pitfall into which we can fall. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Of course, practicing humility means that we do not brag about any talents or special abilities that we might have, it means that we understand that they are gifts from God.  On the other hand humility does not mean that we display a false modesty or that we deny the gifts that God has given us.  Humility demands that we recognize all that we have for what they are-gifts from God to be used for the benefit of His Kingdom. Whatever gifts we have-and we all have gifts; (no one is off the hook!)-are to be recognized acknowledged and developed by us and generously used for the betterment of others. Humility is responsible stewardship. We are not to boast about our gifts or hide them under a bushel basket. Humility is the ability to see the world and everyone and everything in it as God does -with complete and utter clarity- and then to conduct our affairs accordingly.

The Narrow, but Wide Open Gate 8-21-16

“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” is the question that Jesus is asked in today’s Gospel. However if we listen very closely we realize that He never answers it. Instead, He does what He often does- He capitalizes on the opportunity presented by the question to teach his disciples, and us, a lesson.  Basically, Jesus is saying to us today that asking how many or how few will be saved is not a relevant question because that number is largely determined by us.  The real question, as He puts it, is whether or not we will be strong enough to enter it? And what does He mean by that? Basically, He is saying that on any given day there are many, many choices that we have the opportunity to make, there are many “gates” that we have the opportunity to enter, but there is only one gate that leads to eternal life. Of course, we know that in another place, He teaches that He himself is that gate which leads to life.  The problem is that these other gates, which we might correctly refer to as temptations, are rather wide in comparison to the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.  They also might tend to be little more glossy, more brightly decorated, and seem to have lots more people going through them and are easier to go through because of their girth and glitter.  The narrow gate is not advertised as well as the others, does not seem so attractive, requires us to go through in single file and does not allow for a whole lot of baggage, if any at all to go through with us.  But it (He) is the only gate that leads to eternal life.  We have to be strong enough to reject the wide gates that are presented to us each day of our lives. This indeed is very difficult to do. But Jesus is saying to us that if we are strong enough to reject the temptations of the world, we will eventually find the narrow gate that will lead us to life. That indeed is Him.  The gate is narrow but it is open wide open-open to any one who makes the choices and sacrifices that are necessary to go through it.  The question is not whether there are few or many that will be saved but are we strong enough to choose the narrow, but wide open gate.

Sorry, But I Don't think that Jesus was a People Pleaser (8/14/16)

I think it is pretty safe to say especially after hearing today’s Gospel that Jesus was not and is not a people pleaser. He did not come to earth so that He might tend to all our whims and fancies and to make sure that we always feel that we are being catered to perfectly. You might say, of course Father, we know that, but I would say that at least sometimes we don’t live like we know that is the case. Are we not at least somewhat taken aback every time we hear Jesus say that He has not come to bring peace on the earth, but division? He does not even consider the possibility of trying to please everyone, or any one, for that matter, because and, part of me hates to say this, that is not His goal. And besides, He knows that pleasing everyone is impossible. Actually, isn’t it true, that even if we only try to please one person we soon find out that all we have done is to create a monster who expects us to tend to them in perpetuity? What we forget is that Jesus did not come to earth and become one of us because He was just pleased as punch with how things were with the world and with us. He came for exactly the opposite reason. He came because He was not okay with how things were on earth. He came because things had to change, we had to change, and because He was going to be the agent of that change. He did not come to preserve the status quo; He came to topple it. He came to be a leader; You might say He came to be a Pastor. If we are going to be good leaders, and we are called to be such, we cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the fear of rejection.  I know from experience, and I am not proud to say this that I sometimes fall into the trap of trying to please everyone, of trying to keep everyone happy. That is not what Jesus did and it is not a way to help people to grow closer to Christ. The fear of rejection leads so many leaders, and perhaps pastors especially, to compromise away from what could be to what is merely possible or to settle for how things already are, and you know what? People still complain. This might cause them;  it might cause us, to retreat from a position of leadership and to regret that we ever even tried.  We allow our fear of disappointing someone, of possibly offending some one of rendering us ineffective and irrelevant; afraid even to dream.  And that truly is tragic. What Jesus teaches all leaders and pastors is that we cannot focus on the few that we fear might leave but rather focus on the many that we might reach through our exercise of humble but bold leadership. I know one thing, and I need you folks to help me with this one, if you ever see me fall into the trap of becoming a timid people pleaser rather than a pastor who yearns to lead, then give me a warning, because if I do become like that, it is time for this pastor to be put out to pasture.

"And I am That No Less Than He" (8/7/16)

Our second reading for today, which reflects on the tremendous faith of Abraham (who is rightly called our Father in faith) reminds me of the song, “Sometimes by Step,” which was written and performed by the late Contemporary Christian Artist, Rich Mullins. It is indeed a wonderful song and is on youtube. The lyrics to the chorus and first verse are as follows:

Chorus:
Oh God, You are my God.  And I will ever praise You.  Oh God, You are my God.  And I will ever praise You.  I will seek You in the morning.  And I will learn to walk in Your ways. And step by step You'll lead me. And I will follow You all of my days.

First Verse:

Sometimes I think of Abraham.  How one star he saw had been lit for me.  He was a stranger in this land.  And I am that, no less than he.  And on this road to righteousness. Sometimes the climb can be so steep.  I may falter in my steps.  But never beyond Your reach(Chorus)

Imagine for a moment that you are Abraham, and that you are called by God (whom you had never heard of before) to leave everything that was familiar to you behind and to “go to a land that I will show you.”  How would you respond? Well, the fact of the matter is that in a very real way, we are all Abraham.  We are called to walk step by step with the Lord to a place that He will show us. And how do we do this? By faith- “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Abraham realized that God is, even though he could not see Him, and answered His call, even though he did not hear Him. And, no less than he, we are called to do the same.

Vanity of Vanities or Hakuna Matata? (7/31/16)

This might seem a little strange to some of you but the readings for today make me think of Disney’s movie, “The Lion King.”   There is a particular scene in the original production that has always been a point of reflection for me ever since I first saw it.  I will try to recreate it for you, and hopefully a good number of you will remember it.  I’m sure you will remember in the movie when young Simba has to flee the kingdom of his father and run for his life into the jungle.  Eventually he meets up with his soon-to-be new friends, Timone and Pumbaa, and at least for a while has a rollicking good time.  He was almost able to forget about his father’s death and the terrible evil forces that were controlling his homeland. Almost; but not quite. Right in the middle of his time of “Hakuna Matata,” the messenger from his father’s Kingdom, (Zazu, I believe) finds him and tells him how bad things have become and calls him to come back and fulfill his rightful role as the Lion King. At this point we have the scene of the nearly full grown Simbalooking into the oasis, and seeing his father’s face as his own reflection.  Simba realizes in this solemn moment that as much as he would love to stay and continue to enjoy the “good life” with his fun-loving friends, the only real life for him was to fulfill the mission for which he was born. In fact the “good life” was not really life at all but only an illusion-like the illusion spoken about in today’s first reading and by Jesus in the Gospel about the folly of spending so much time building up treasure for oneself on earth only to come to life’s end without ever being able to use it. We need to try to make sure that we are not living by such foolish values, especially because it is so easy for us today to get caught up in the illusion of living the good life. Ironically it is the one who spends himself hoarding earthly treasure who ends up with nothing. By the same token the only way that we can be sure that we can keep all that we have been blessed with on earth through all eternity is to give it away before it’s too late.

Thy Will Be Done (7-24-16)

Many things about my father (may he rest in peace) used to drive me absolutely crazy.  One of those things was the way he prayed and forced us to pray.  Every night during May and October he would drag all eleven of us into the living room to pray the rosary, without ever really giving us a reason why.  It’s amazing how many of us would be asleep by the time we were finished.  And many, many times throughout the year he would force us to come together to pray for things that he thought we needed, but what really got the best of me was the way he would always begin the prayer.  He would always start out by saying, “Lord, if it be Your will, we ask that…,” and finish by saying, “...please give us what we need to accomplish Your will.”  To me that just did not make any sense.  Isn’t the whole point of prayer to ask God for what we want and need and not what He wants?  Why would we ask Him for His will to be done? Usually I didn’t say anything because I was a little bit afraid of him, but his manner of prayer did cause me to stew in frustration.  Then one day during the summer when I was about 12 years old I had enough and I had to say something.  He had called us together to pray for our crops (we were farmers).  He prayed as follows: “Lord, if it be your will, could you provide us with rain so that our corn might grow and sun so that our freshly cut hay might be dry for baling?”  To me that just did not make any sense.  He was asking for sun and rain at the same time for adjoining fields.  I got my nerve up and said, “Dad that does not make any sense!  You asked for it to rain and to be sunny at the very same time!” In response, he said something that I will never forget.  He said, “But son, that is exactly what we need.  We need rain for the corn and sun for the hay.  What would you have asked for?”  At that moment and to this day, I have no response and have learned a great lesson from his wisdom.  And you know what else?  When we pray the Our Father, we are basically praying in the same way that my father always prayed.  We are praying that God’s will may be done and that we may have what we need to accomplish His will.  My father was right again.  It’s still enough to drive me crazy...sometimes!

Do We Ever Really Listen? To Any One? (7-17-16)

Jesus said to Martha, “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”  I am sure we can all relate to how Martha must have felt as she saw Mary relaxing with Jesus. We might think, at first glance, that Jesus’ response demonstrated a lack of appreciation for Martha’s legitimate efforts, but it would be good for us to look at this situation from Jesus’ perspective.  Martha indeed was presenting Him with a wonderful gift in preparing His meal for Him, but Mary was also presenting Him with a wonderful gift. She was listening to Him. Martha could have chosen to sit with Him and listen to Him as well, but she did not, and although Jesus was grateful to her, He was also grateful for the choice that Mary had made.  Imagine how Jesus must have felt after speaking to so many people so much of the time. He must have often wondered if any one ever really listened to Him or if any one ever truly understood what He was saying.  How often does it feel like, although we have to talk to a lot of people, we have truly been listened to?  And how do we feel when we have actually had the experience of truly being listened to?  I think that we would pretty much all agree that the experience of being listened to is one the most positive experiences that any one can ever have.  And so, here was Mary, listening to Jesus.  Of course, Jesus was not going to deny her of this opportunity. Nor was He going to deny Himself of the gift she was giving to Him. He probably needed to be listened to as much as He needed to have nourishment-and so do we, and so do the people we love, and the people who are around us.  Jesus needed someone to listen to Him, He needed Mary to listen to Him, He needs us to listen to Him and we need to listen to Him.  That is one of the main lessons of today’s Gospel: to listen to another human being is no small matter, it is a command of Jesus. To listen is to give a rare gift, to listen is to validate, to listen is to show someone that they matter, to listen is to show that we care, to listen is to heal, to listen is to love.

What will Happen to Me...Or What Will Happen to Him/Her? (7/10/16)

On April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. had the following words to say about the parable of the Good Samaritan:

“It is possible that these men (the priest and the levite) were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

Certainly, that is the point that Jesus is trying to make in today’s Gospel. Being “neighbor” is not something that someone else is or is not; it is something that Jesus commands us to do.

The Kingdom of God is at Hand...whether we want it or not (7/03/16)

There are many interesting points about our scriptural readings this week.  For one thing, the Gospel passage from Luke about the sending of the seventy-two disciples is unique to him. Mark and John do not include a similar story about the “sending out” of Jesus’ followers to proclaim the good news and Matthew’s Gospel speaks only about sending out the 12 Apostles.  Luke, however, describes both the sending out of the 12, which he does in Chapter 9, and the sending out of the “72” in Chapter 10, which we are reflecting upon today.  This is very significant, because one could say that what this means is that Luke is trying to say that not only priests (represented by the 12 Apostles) share in the work of evangelization, but that lay people do as well, because “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.”  It also means that Luke is teaching that the good news is not only for the 12 tribes of Israel, again represented by the 12 Apostles, but for everyone-it was believed in Jesus’ time that there were 70 countries in the entire world. It is also interesting to understand that many of the instructions that Jesus gives them has to do with the fact that He was indeed sending them out “like lambs among wolves.”  In Jesus’ world the traveler’s life was literally in the hands of thieves and robbers and was totally dependent on the hospitality of those that they met. That’s why Jesus told them not to carry with them anything of value but to trust in the kindness of those in the towns they visited. The law of hospitality was taken vary seriously because it was literally a matter of survival, not just being polite as we think of it today. To violate this rule was to commit a most grievous sin. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they failed to show hospitality to Abraham. It was so important to Jesus that He ordered His disciples to publicly “shake off from their feet” the dust of any towns that were inhospitable to them.  But even then, they were still to proclaim the good news while testifying against them.  As they were shaking the dust off their feet they were still to cry out that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand for you” whether those people wanted it or not.

Plow Much? (6/26/16)

That is an interesting question, isn’t it?  I ask it because the topic of plowing comes up in both the First Reading and the Gospel today, which is certainly very unusual. I, while I never considered myself to be a prolific plowman, have plowed a few fields in my day, so I feel like I can say a little something on the topic.  It is an activity which requires focus, yet which can be very relaxing as well. It takes a lot of time and patience. Plowing is not an end in itself, but it must be done before the planting can take place. No field can ever plow itself, nor can plowing ever be undone. A field cannot be “unplowed.” Once one field is plowed there are only two choices. One can either stop plowing altogether, or move on to another field. And by the way, plowing is real work.  Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel that He knows something about plowing as well.  He actually compares plowing to discipleship. Jesus says that if we are going to follow Him, our lives will change and we can never look back, we can only look forward. As Jesus says, and I know from experience, one never plows in a straight line if he/she keeps looking back over where the plow has just been, and it is so very tempting to do just that.  The only way to plow in a straight line is to keep one’s eyes focused in a forward direction. Likewise, the only way to be a disciple is to keep our eyes focused on Him. Jesus is not static, He keeps moving.  If we keep looking back to former ways of life we will lose sight of Him.  Becoming a true follower of Jesus is not a whimsical proposition. It is a serious choice which can only be made after much practical thought and much prayer.  And a little background in plowing just might help us in our discernment process.

Stress, the Saints and the Eucharist (6/19/16)

Stress, the Saints, and the Eucharist:

 Forty Hours Devotions, St. Aloysius Parish

June 19-21, 2016

I first arrived as pastor of Saint Aloysius Parish on June 21, 2010, the feast day of Saint Aloysius.  I immediately noticed that the parish did nothing to celebrate its own feast day and also immediately decided that the week of the parish feast would be a week of celebration including Forty Hours Devotions and a Parish festival. I am very happy to say that this year will mark the sixth consecutive that the dream of the Pastor who arrived 6 years ago on the day of the parish feast has been made real.  This week’s Pastor’s Corner will serve as a bit of a “sneak preview” and promotion of our annual Forty Hours Devotions which begins this Sunday, June 19 and concludes on the evening of June 21, which is our parish feast day. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed at the close of the noon Mass on Sunday until the Evening Prayer Service at 7PM, and then all day Monday and Tuesday as well. All of you are very much encouraged to try to spend some time in prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament during this most special time. There is no better way for you to feel God’s love in your life. If you can commit to a half hour there are sign up sheets available in the Gathering Center. We would like to make sure that Jesus is not by Himself at any time. There will be Evening Prayer services each evening at 7PM. This year I will be preaching during these services. I have entitled my talks “Stress, the Saints and the Eucharist”.  Do you experience stress? Would you like to experience some relief from it? Do you think that maybe the Saints experienced stress and perhaps may have some insights as to how to overcome it?  Do you believe in the wonderful gift of the Eucharist? Do you think that it might hold a key for us to managing stress in our lives? Would you like to learn how we might benefit from the Eucharist in the same way that the saints did? If some of these questions piqued your curiosity even a little bit, then maybe these talks will be helpful to you. Please give yourselves a break and come out. At the close of the Tuesday evening prayer service, will process down Hanover Street to King Street and back with our statue of Saint Aloysius, a relic of Saint Aloysius and the Blessed Sacrament as wonderful witness of faith to our larger community. When we return to Church, the Blessed Sacrament will be reposed and we will enjoy light refreshment in our Gathering Center.  If you have been part of this wonderful celebration before, you know how uplifting it is. If you have not, this is the time to treat yourself and celebrate with us.

Do You Want to Invite Jesus Over for Dinner? (6/12/16)

When I was teaching high school students, we would spend the first 5-10 minutes of class reading and discussing the Gospel that was proclaimed at the previous Sunday’s Masses. After our discussion, I would pose a question for my students’ reflection and ask them to write an answer in their copybooks. For today’s Gospel I asked them to talk about whether or not they would invite Jesus to come to their home for dinner?  Many of the students did in fact indicate that they either did not want Jesus to come to dinner or that they would at least have to think about it after hearing this Gospel. Why would that be, you might ask?  Well, Jesus did take Simon the Pharisee to task while He was at dinner with him, even though Simon had graciously invited Him for that purpose.  Jesus’ behavior was reminiscent of that of Nathan, who was David’s personal prophet. Nathan called out David for committing adultery with Bathsheba and for murdering her husband Uriah.  I wonder if David ever had any second thoughts about keeping a prophet of his very own after that happened?  In any event, I do think that perhaps even if we would still not think twice about having Jesus over for dinner, it would be wise if we did a little, or a lot, of spiritual house cleaning before we did so.  Jesus, like Nathan, will feel compelled to point out the ways in which our relationship with Him is not where it should be.  He will not waste whatever precious time we give Him on anything else. Of course it is true that whatever He tells us is for our own good and for our salvation; it will probably be a bit uncomfortable when He makes us aware of our shortcomings.  So what are we going to do?  Are we still going to invite Him into our homes and our hearts?  Be aware that it will probably be a little bit messy while we are with Him. And then do it any way.

Nothing Better to Do (5/29/16)

The feast of Corpus Christi, which we celebrate today, reminds of a lesson I learned from a First Communion about 18 years ago.  It was a Sunday morning right after Mass; the day after he had received his First Communion.  During the Mass that day I had encouraged all First Communicants to come back to Church on Sunday in their First Communion attire to receive their “second” Communion and to allow the entire parish to celebrate with them.  I was very happy that many of them did indeed come back in all their finery.  Right after one of the Masses, as I was going to the sacristy, I saw one of the First Communicants, dressed in his white suit kneeling so reverently with hands prayerfully folded in front of the tabernacle.  It was such a wonderful sight to see that I stood and watched from a distance for a few minutes.  But, after a while, I went up to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Daniel it is so wonderful for me to see you, just after receiving your “second” communion praying to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! You have made my day.”  He then looked up at me from the kneeler and with the simple, blunt honesty of a child said, “Yea, well, my Mom’s still back there talking, so I really don’t have anything better to do.”  Perhaps it might sound like a typical response that a child would give-but he was absolutely correct.  He taught me a lesson that I try not to ever forget.  He didn’t have anything better to do.  I don’t have anything better to do.  You don’t have anything better to do.  It is a lesson that we all need to learn, to believe and to put into practice: When we have the opportunity to pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament there simply is nothing better to do. 

Three is Not A Crowd (5/22/16)

The practical lesson of the doctrine of the Trinity is that since we are made in the image and likeness of God, the more we understand God the more we understand ourselves. Therefore, the question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be? On this, I have two points to share with you. (1) God does not exist as a solitary individual but in a community of love and sharing. God is not a loner. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means permanent withdrawal away from contact and involvement with people and society.  (2)   Three is not a crowd. You remember the old saying “Two is company, three is a crowd.” The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd. Taking an example from the human condition we see that when a man (A) is in love with a woman (B) they seal the loving by producing a baby (C) Father, mother and child -- love when it is perfected becomes a trinity.  We are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can be fully human only in a relationship of three persons. The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with others and a vertical relationship with God. In that way our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Then we discover that the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unbridled individualism which is acceptable in modern society leaves so much to be desired. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt rather an I-and-God-and-neighbor principle. I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people. May the grace of the Holy Trinity help us to banish all traces of self-centeredness in our lives and to live in love of God and of neighbor.

Pentecost: It's Why I Believe

Well folks, I might as well come right out with and finally say it, and maybe you have already figured it out, but I tend to be a rather skeptical person. I definitely would fall into the “trust but verify” category.   It is not my normal way to just accept things, especially those things that seem to defy reason and logic without at least some kind of serious scrutinizing on my part.  In my late teens and young adulthood, which is probably at least somewhat typical, I did not know what I believed; I wasn’t even sure if I believed in God. I questioned pretty much everything. And I truly questioned the Resurrection; I was not impressed by the fact that the stone was rolled away or that Jesus’ body was not there.  I mean, really, if you were Mary Magdalen, would those circumstances have led you to conclude that Jesus was alive? I don’t think so.  Than we get into the eyewitness accounts, and while they do give more substance, I probably would still remain a doubting Thomas. I mean, after all, like Thomas thought, if the other apostles had seen the risen Jesus, then why did they stay locked in theUpper room?  As a matter of fact, they stayed in that room until guess when?  Pentecost would be the answer.  I have no doubt something really big and really special happened on that day. And whatever it was that did happen put their hearts on fire and allowed them to change the world and literally bring us to our pews today.  I have no other explanation for what happened after Pentecost, except that the apostles were literally transformed on that day.  It is pretty clear that they were going nowhere before Pentecost happened. But after Pentecost there was nowhere they didn’t go. Furthermore, it only makes sense that what they proclaimed was the truth and the inspired Word.  For me, Pentecost is what makes it all make sense. Just look at what didn’t happen before and what did happen after.  I challenge any one to come up with another explanation.  The long and the short of it is that because of Pentecost I believe, and it just might be why you believe as well.