It's What It's All About [11/17/19]

“By patient endurance you will save your lives.”  That’s the strategy Jesus gives us for life on the penultimate Sunday of the Church’s year. He makes it clear that we will face wars, insurrection, death, destruction, persecution, etc., etc. and through it all, the way to secure our lives is through perseverance. It’s how to win the prize. It’s how to win.  It’s how to be successful.  It’s how to save our souls. It’s what Jesus did when He came to earth. It’s what He did throughout His public ministry. It’s what He did while He was being scourged at the pillar and while He struggled on the way of the Cross. Finally, it’s what He did on the Cross. He persevered and thus saved His life and our lives too. It is the hope and the example He gives to us. It means that we might witness the crashing down of our places of worship, our societal value structure, of our very way of life. It means that we will be persecuted for our faith, that there will be times that we will have to stand alone for our faith, that those closest to us may be the ones ridiculing us. It means that we may have to endure every hardship we can imagine and even those we cannot.  And that we do so in order to remain true to Him and to ourselves. That’s what patient endurance is, it’s always remaining who we are and preserving ourselves because of it. That’s what Jesus did on the Cross; He saved us through His perseverance. He gave us the secret.  It means being ready to accept martyrdom if being true calls for it. Patient endurance-it’s what it’s all about.

Don’t be a “Sad You See” [11/10/19]

This week Jesus is challenged by the Sadducees, who did not believe in eternal life, so they were “sad, you see!” You see, if we don’t believe in God, if we don’t believe in His message, if we don’t believe in the Resurrection, if we are not living out our discipleship in a day in/day out fashion we can really be nothing else but, well, sad; whether we know it or believe it or not.  Doing what God wants us to do is how we find peace.  Disciples will give priority to those tasks which are of God and will proceed to do those things in a resolutely determined way. In doing so, he/she will experience a sense of accomplishment and peace because he/she will discover that the things that are supposed to be getting done are getting done.  All these things, the poor Sadducees were not doing. Their goal was not the cross, they did not believe in Jesus, they did not believe in the Resurrection, and they were not faithful to the moment in which they found themselves.  Here they were in the presence of Christ and what did they do?  They asked a stupid, inane question.  Now of course none of us would ever do that, right? None of us would ever come into Church and have a question or a concern that has nothing to do with our path to the Cross, now would we?  But in any event, we always should give our questions and concerns that test. Are they keeping us on the path, or are they taking us off?  And we should make sure that our questions, comments and remarks do not cause others in any way to veer off their paths. We all should be helping each other to live in a way that keeps us focused on our path to Jesus and we should not allow anyone else to pull us off our paths either.  No one can rob us of our peace unless we let them do so. Do not let the small stuff hinder us, and remember like the book says, it is almost all small stuff.  If we let the small silly stuff get us off track, then we are going to hear the same answer that Jesus gave to the poor Sadducees.  They were trying to trap him, they were trying to get him off His path, but one of their many problems was that their agenda was different than His. Jesus says to them, “God is a God of the living and not of the dead.”  In other words, “If you are not in moving towards me, you are not really living. If you want to live, then come and follow Me down the path.”  He is saying that for us to be truly alive we need to be disciples of Him who follow Him to the Cross. Remember, the path to the Cross is the path to life. When we step off that path we are not living. So, let’s stay on the path and let’s not be a “Sad You See.”

Out on a Limb [11/03/19]

Out on a Limb

The more I think about Zacchaeus, the more I am convinced that Zacchaeus is us.  I know that I’ve also said similar things about the Pharisees and Sadducees- whenever an evangelist tells us that Jesus was talking to them, we need to understand that He is also talking to us. I believe that the same is true with Zacchaeus. We should see ourselves as Zacchaeus and apply all the words that Jesus says to, and everything He does for Zacchaeus to us.  Indeed Jesus does want to have dinner with us-at the eternal banquet in Heaven. And we are so much like Zacchaeus.  We all have our baggage; we all have something-our sins, our history, the unfriendly crowds-that we allow to hold us back. But there will come a time when Jesus will be passing through; there will be opportunities for grace like the one experienced by Zacchaeus in which we will realize that Jesus has been there all along, waiting to share His life with us.  What would we do right now, if Jesus told us He wanted to have dinner at our house, how would we prepare?  Would we do what Zacchaeus did, would we make a spectacle of ourselves would we put ourselves on a limb, for Jesus sake?  Would we beg forgiveness, would we make up for our sins four times over, would we give the Lord a tithe of our possessions? How will we prepare for our eternal banquet with Jesus? Whatever it might be we can be sure of this: there is something that we have to do for Jesus in order to fully experience that wonderful transformation, that new birth that Zacchaeus experienced in today’s Gospel.  We have to do what Zacchaeus did.  We have to put ourselves out on a limb. And we can be sure that if we do just that, He will not leave us hanging there, He will welcome us with open arms.

Holier than Thou ? [10/27/19]

Well folks, I’m afraid that today’s Gospel reminds me of another conversation that I had with my Dad (actually, with my Mom too).  I can remember that when I got old enough to do so (whenever that was and whatever that means), I found myself making judgments about people in our parish congregation.  You see, a little bit of real and/or perceived knowledge in the hands of a self-righteous individual with a strong sense of right and wrong can be very dangerous- for others, yes; and for him or herself as well.  Much to my chagrin, I would be punished for saying things about people which were clearly (at least in my mind) known to be true.  Sometimes I would say things to my parents like, “Can you believe that Mr. and Mrs. So and So did this or said that the other day, but there they were in Church looking all holy and everything anyway?”  That kind of talk certainly did not do well with them and I pretty much always paid the price for it.  But they also taught me a lot about, things like how it’s wrong to judge, and that I should only worry about keeping myself on the right path and not whether or not someone else was in the right path in my opinion. My Mom and Dad said things to me like, “Do you think those people are looking at us and saying the same things about us as you are saying about them?,” and “Well I guess that means that Church is only for the good people, and that bad people should not go to Church at all?”  After a while and after many questions and statements like that, I finally got the point that I was neither quite as righteous nor as smart as I thought I was.  Now, I know that it’s tempting for us to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others, especially when we think that we are of a higher stature than someone else. But, please try to remember what Jesus said. He said, “You must be perfected as your Father is perfect.”  Therefore the next time we feel a temptation to compare ourselves to someone else, let’s be sure that we don’t compare ourselves to other people, but to God.

Persistence, Persistence, Persistence [10/20/19]

There is at least one thing we can say for sure about the widow in today’s Gospel parable. She was persistent.  Of course, it is clear that through His parable He is teaching us that He wants us to persevere and persist in prayer. He does not want us ever to think that we are bothering Him. He wants us to resolve to never give up in bringing our prayers of petition to Him. In fact, and I know have said this before (just last week perhaps!) that the scriptures teach us that the only fatal mistake that we can make in the spiritual life is to give up. I firmly believe that if we persevere in trying to live a life of faith according to the will of God, we will get to Heaven. That is the task before us and part of that task is being persistent in our prayer.  Jesus is also teaching us in this parable that He listens to our prayer, that He responds to them, and that He allows Himself to be changed by them.  This to me is a very important point because there are those who argue that our prayers do not change what God is going to do; they just change us. I do very much agree that we are changed by our prayers and that the more we pray sincerely, the more our minds and hearts are conformed to God’s holy will, but I do not believe it ends there. I believe that one of the points that Jesus is making in this parable is that if even the unjust judge in the parable allows himself to be changed by the persistent widow, how much more will a loving God allow Himself to be changed by the prayers of His beloved children? Those who disagree with me will say something like, God is eternal, He knows all things, and He knows the future. Therefore, our prayer doesn’t change Him; it only changes us.”  My response would be something like this, “Well then, how do you explain this parable? Is Jesus only kidding?  Further, while I cannot explain how or why an all knowing, omnipotent Lord could ever allow Himself to be changed, by mere humans, I also don’t understand why or how Jesus allows a piece of bread to become Him, but I believe it.”  Therefore my friends, pray without ceasing, and trust that our loving God, if it is best for our salvation, will allow Himself to be changed by the prayers we pray.

Do We Realize His Gifts? [10/13/19]

In our Gospel reading today Luke tells us of the ten lepers who were cleansed by Jesus, but he describes only one of them as “realizing” that he was healed; the one, of course, who returned to Jesus to thank Him.  We might ask how is it possible for someone who is healed of leprosy not to know that they were healed, but it seems to me that Luke is saying that the other nine failed to do just that. And why does he characterize them that way?  Because they failed to say “thank you!”  Now, I’m not sure about you, but this truly gives me a reason to pause. Luke is pretty much saying that if the other nine realized that they had been healed that they would have also rushed to thank Jesus as a pretty much automatic response. Jesus takes us even a bit further. He says “Were not all ten made whole? Where are the other nine?” It sounds to me as if He is actually wondering if the others were healed at all. Before we go any further let’s consider that, in fact, it is quite possible, even most likely that there is an abundance of gifts that the Lord has sent us of which we are absolutely unaware. But then, that leads me to the next question-if we are unaware of a gift, if we do not realize that it has been given to us, have we received it at all? If Jesus heals us but we are not aware of the healing, are we truly healed? And how can we determine if we truly are aware of and have fully received a gift, a blessing or a healing? I would daresay the best way to make this judgment is whether or not we, like the one leper, run to the Lord in thanksgiving. No other response makes any sense. If we are not constantly giving thanks to the Lord for the many blessings that He continually bestows upon us, we can rest assured that there are many, many gifts that He has sent our way that we have not fully realized and therefore not fully received. Let us ask the Lord to help us to fully realize the many gifts that He constantly sends our way so that we might offer Him fitting glory, praise and thanks.

Lesson of Lazarus [9/29/19]

The Lesson of Lazarus

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 any thing 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 at least as much concerned about the good we did not do than the wrong we did do.

On the Outside, Looking In [9/15/19]

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 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?

Costly Discipleship [9/08/19]

So you want to be a disciple, do you? Wonderful!  So you want to follow Jesus, wherever He goes, wherever He may lead you? Well isn’t that special!  At this point I will ask you to pardon my tinge of sarcasm, but I do think that while it is wonderful that probably all of us have a desire to follow Jesus, I do wonder how many of us have actually sat down and thought about just how costly being a disciple actually is.  As we are, perhaps somewhat sadly, just getting past vacation season we know that even going on a short vacation takes a good deal of planning, and effort and also costs a fair amount of money. In the Gospel today, Jesus is telling us that our desire to be a disciple must be much more than a whimsical desire to let Jesus know that we affirm Him.  Jesus is telling us that discipleship is something that involves real costs, real planning and real skin in the game.

He lets us know that He is quite demanding. The disciple must put Jesus first, even before family. The disciple must pick up his/her cross and follow Jesus straight to Jerusalem. Remember, Jerusalem? That’s the place where prophets go to die.  The disciple must be able to renounce his/her worldly possessions and put them to the service of Jesus and His Kingdom. Of course, that means that before any one proclaims that he/ she truly wants to be a disciple, he/she must first sit down and determine what the costs are, because they are real. He is not trying to chase us away or dissuade us, but He doesn’t sugarcoat it and pretend that discipleship is something that it is not. More than anything Jesus wants us to follow Him to and past the Cross to the resurrection, but we will never be able to accuse Him of false advertising. So, do you still want to be a disciple? Wonderful!

Conduct Your Affairs with Humility [9-01-19]

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.

Fire and Ice (8/14/19)

I am sure that a good number of us might find ourselves a little bit unsettled by Jesus’ rather strong language in the Gospel this Sunday.  Many of us probably would not be expecting Jesus to say that He has come to set the earth on fire or that He was coming to establish division rather than peace, but that is exactly what He says today.  On the other hand we probably simply expect Him to be full of mercy and love and forgiveness, and certainly He is just that. We have become so very accustomed to the stories of His miracles and His many mighty deeds as well as His teachings, His parables, and His proclamation of the Good News, that the language of today’s Gospel may be a bit startling. But, then again, that is perfectly Ok if His word does jolt us a bit because that is exactly what it is supposed to do. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus did not come into the world because everything was just fine with the world, but precisely because every thing was not. If everything was the way it was supposed to be, there would have been no need for Him to come into the world at all. He came into the world to change it, to make things right and to confront and challenge what was not right with it. Of course, whenever the status quo is challenged, there is discord. Let’s face it, we do not like change. We can tend to lull ourselves into thinking that Jesus never did intend to bring anything like fire or brimstone because He was just an all around “nice” guy. But that kind of understanding of Jesus would not be correct. Not that there is anything wrong with being nice-being nice can be a nice thing to be. But, if all we are is “nice” in the face of sin and injustice, I don’t think we will do as well as we would like on Judgment Day.  Sometimes we have to confront evil; sometimes we have to breakout of our own comfort zones and disturb the comfort of others. And sometimes, Jesus’ words and teachings will be at odds with our own practice and put us in opposition to others, perhaps even our own family members, etc.  There is no Beatitude that says “Blessed are the nice.” While we should always approach life with a pleasant disposition, we cannot be “nice” no matter what. Like, Jesus, every now and then, we likely will have to set a fire on the Earth for the sake of the kingdom.

Vanity of Vanities or Hakuna Matata? [8-04-19]

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 Simba  looking 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 [7-28-19]

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 11 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 just that 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? [7/21/19]

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 of 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. 

In Christ,

Fr. Joseph L. Maloney

Nothing Better to Do [6/23/19]

The feast of Corpus Christi, which we celebrate today, reminds me of a lesson I learned from a First Communicant about 25 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 the 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.

Caught in the Act [4-7-2019]

They thought they had Him this time. Here was a woman caught in the act of adultery. The law demanded that she be stoned to death.  But what about Jesus’ message of mercy? Note how the Pharisees did not care at all about the woman or the sin. They only cared about putting an end to Him.   And this time they thought they had Him dead to rights. If He let her go, He was clearly breaking the Mosaic Law. But if He did not let her go, then what about all of His talk about mercy and forgiveness? They thought for sure there was no way out for Him. So what does Jesus do? Well, basically He turned the law on them.  The law also called for two witnesses who were known to be free from any suspicion of wrong doing to make the official accusation. They did not have two such witnesses. Therefore there was no one to cast the first stone at her.  They could not fulfill the prescriptions of their own law so the woman was not condemned; she was off the hook on a technicality.  But what about the law-it called for death?  Where was the justice? The woman would not die for her sin but the story was not over. Jesus knew that when He saved this woman’s life and let her go free that He had sealed His own fate. He knew He had not seen the last of the Pharisees. He knew that they would be back in force, especially after this latest humiliation and would not stop until He was gone. He knew that because of His action He would most definitely die. But He saved her life anyway and upheld the Law by choosing to die in her place. What He did for her, He does for us.  We commit sin, and because of our sin He dies and sets us free, urging us to sin no more. We might wonder about the woman in this story. Did she turn away from her sin? But really we should wonder about us. Will we ever turn away from ours? 

"Lord, It's Hard to be Humble..." [03-17-19]

As we journey through this season of Lent, I think it is very important that we reflect on what I have come to see as perhaps the most important one.   I believe that it stands before and provides a foundation for all the others. It comes from the Latin word “humilitas,” which means “ground.”  We can say that one who lives by this virtue is well “grounded.”  The virtue that I am talking about is humility. Being humble is very hard for us even when we want to be and are trying to be humble, and let’s face it, there are lots of times that being humble is the last thing we want to try to be. We see humility as presenting weakness or a low or even negative opinion of ourselves. We see it as a sign that we have very little or no ambition and therefore not much hope of achieving or accomplishing much in our lives.  But that is not what it means at all. To be humble does not mean to see ourselves negatively, it means to see ourselves clearly, too see ourselves as God sees us and for us to see God as He truly is. In the brief moment of the Transfiguration that is exactly what happened. Peter, James and John saw Jesus clearly, exactly as God the Father saw Him. If we truly live by the virtue of humility, we would see ourselves and others as God sees them, as His children, as we and others truly are. The humble person does not lack ambition or leadership ability. Indeed studies have shown that the most successful leaders are those who practice true and sincere humility but who are able to channel their great strength and ambition onto their mission or those they are leading. Please pray for me as I strive to learn, apply and live this virtue. We need to learn to channel our strength and our ambition onto something greater than ourselves. One of the major lessons of God’s relationship with the Israelites is that without God, they were nothing and nowhere. That needs to be our starting point. We need to see humility as a starting point to success and as strength because that is what it is. Scripture clearly teaches that success with God rests on humility. He exalts the humble and scatters the proud. It grounds us in the reality that there is a God and that we are not Him, that everything that we achieve and everything that we are gifts from Him. It also teaches us the reality that we need others; that we are made for relationships. It helps us to be kind, merciful, forgiving, compassionate. It might be hard to be humble, but it is much harder to exercise these other wonderful virtues if we are not humble first. Humility makes us attractive to others. Just ask yourselves, who is it easier for you to be with, someone who is humble or someone who is proud? Yet we find ourselves moving away from humility so very often! The humble person recognizes as Peter did that when we see ourselves and God and others clearly, it is indeed “…good for us to be here.” Let’s strive to get and stay there.  Remember, it is not that humble people think less of themselves. They just think of God and others more.

Blessed are those who Know that they are in Need of God....For the Kingdom of Heaven is Theirs...(2-17-19)

It is good for us, while we are still in the early weeks of the season of Ordinary time (or, as I like to call it, the “season of real life”) to contemplate and reflect on the Beatitudes, which we hear today from the Gospel of St. Matthew, since of course they are the centerpiece of Jesus’ teaching for us and for all people of all time.  If we read them with fresh eyes, listen to them, with fresh ears, and receive them with a newly opened mind and heart, we will indeed be better able to live these days of Ordinary Time in an extraordinarily good way.  First, it is probably good for us to remember the context in which they were given and to whom they were spoken.  The crowd to which Jesus spoke was made up precisely of those who were poor, who were suffering, who were mourning, who were persecuted, who were hungering and thirsting for justice, etc. and He told them that they were blessed for heaven would be theirs. Imagine what His words must have felt like to people who were seen and treated as the outcasts of society and realize that in hearing them we should feel the same way.  However, He is not saying that we should strive to be financially poor, or to be in a state of mourning or that we should want to be persecuted.  He is saying that if we are wealthy by worldly standards, if we are not  hungering for Him, if it does not sadden us if our loved ones are not following Him, and if the world thinks well of us, than we face the ominous peril of being cursed to an eternity without Him because we perceive no need of Him. However, if we recognize our dependence on Him, and not for the things of the world, if we hunger for His justice and mercy, if we mourn for those who do not realize their dependence on the Lord or hunger for His kingdom, and if we stand up for the kingdom in the face of persecution than we are truly blessed. Why?  Because if we live as people who are fully aware of our need for Him, of our true poverty, than the kingdom of heaven is indeed ours.

Here I am Lord, Send Me (2/10/19)

Those words from Isaiah haunt me till this very day. I remember when I first felt the call to the priesthood, I could not get the words of the hymn “Here I am, Lord” out of my mind. What I remember so clearly during that time was the sobering realization that I/we only have one shot at life.  We only get one life.  We need to make the very best of it- we need to get our vocation right.  We need to serve God in every aspect of our lives. Some of you might be asking yourselves, as I often ask myself, “Am I good enough to serve God in the way that He wants me to serve Him?” All three readings this week answer that question.   Isaiah was not good enough at first.  Then an angel touched Isaiah’s mouth with the ember from the fire.  He was made clean.  In the second reading Paul reminds us that he started off by persecuting Christians. He was mean. He would round up men, women and children and bring them to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem.  He watched and approved as an innocent and meek Stephen was stoned to death by a mob.  Paul was a spectator at the lynching, but he cheered on the mob and left excited to find the mob’s next victims. But despite all this Jesus transformed Paul into an apostle.  “I am who I am,” St. Paul says, “through the Grace of God.”  In the Gospel, Peter wants Jesus to leave him because he is so aware of his own sin.  Jesus basically says, “No way.  I have work for you, you will be catching men.” And Jesus says to you and to me, “Stop hiding behind your human failures.  How dare you say that I cannot send you?  I am God.  I have work for you to do.  I will cleanse you.  I will send you.”  I remember when I left home to go to the seminary, my pastor, the priest who inspired me said to me that the priesthood is the life. I do believe that over the years I have come to a deeper understanding of what he meant when he spoke those words but I have also learned something else: when it comes right down to it the only life worth living is the life into which the Lord sends us. Therefore, our response to Him should always be, “Here I am Lord, send me.

Louie Knew (2-03-19)

Although it is very hard for me to believe this, it has been over 25 years ago now, that I, while as a seminarian on break,  can remember visiting with parishioners one Sunday after Mass at my home parish, Sacred Heart in Oxford, PA.  As I was greeting many people whom I had not seen for a while, a young man of about 13 or 14 who I knew from the parish CYO came up to me to say “Hi” I said “Louie, It’s great to see you, how are you?” He said “OK” in a less than an enthusiastic manner to which I responded, “Are you sure; is there something wrong?” “No,” he said, “it’s just that I have to go to CCD class.” (CCD is what we in Oxford used to call religious education classes for children who did not attend Catholic School). “That’s not so bad is it?” I asked. “I guess not,” he said,” except for the fact that they keep on talking about the same old things, things I already know all about.” “Oh,” I said, “can you give me an example of something that they keep on talking about of which you already know?” He said “you know, Love.” Now, it is very true that I am not so sure that young Louie’s understanding of love would match that which is displayed in the words of St. Paul in our second reading which are as follows: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.” However, it did show me that there was something very valuable that he did understand; there was a connection that he had made. He may not have known all about Catholic Education, but he definitely had a sense that it always pointed to love.  As we conclude Catholic Schools Week that is indeed a connection of which we need to be aware. All the wonderful learning that we experience in all of the different grade levels and all of the different subjects and activities is always about helping us to know, to understand, to experience and to share the love of God. That is what it is always about. We learn about the truths of God’s universe so that we can better receive and share His love.  And this education does not stop. We never ever get to the point, even though Louie thought he had done so, where we can say that we know all about love. And that is what makes our lives so adventurous and exciting. So, my young friend Louie does have a lesson that remains valid and valuable to each and every one of us to the present day and throughout eternity: Catholic Education is indeed always meant to be all about love. That’s what Louie knew.