There is Always a Ram Caught in the Thicket [02/28/21]

At one point in the story of “Testing of Abraham,” as Abraham and Isaac are on the way to carry out what Abraham believed was the Lord’s will that he sacrifice his son, Isaac presented him with the inevitable and pointed question: “Father,” he said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”  Now, imagine that you are Abraham; imagine how you would feel if your son, the son of the promise that was at long last fulfilled miraculously by God, the son whom you loved above anything that you could possibly imagine, the son whom you are at that very moment taking to the place where you are about to offer him in sacrifice to the God who gave him to you, asked you that question?  How on earth would you answer him? Could you answer him? Would you tell him the truth?  Would you lie to him?  Well, this is how he did answer him: “My son,” Abraham said, “God Himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.” So, did Abraham lie to his beloved son?  I contend not.  I argue that he shared with his son the only truth that his faith would allow him to believe and on which he depended.  I believe that the only hope that kept him going was the hope that somehow, provided that he was totally obedient to what he truly believed was the will of God, he would come back down that mountain with his son by his side.  And that is what did happen. God did provide the sheep for the sacrifice.  There was a ram caught in the thicket. That, I believe, is the invaluable lesson of this story.  For those who are faithful and obedient to the Lord no matter what He asks, no matter what it costs, no matter how much sense it does not seem to make, there will always be, at the very last moment, a ram caught in the thicket and the promise of the Lord will always remain intact.

Fighting Temptation...Is it Even Relevant Anymore? [2/21/21]

As it is the First Sunday of Lent we hear of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Mark does not go into as much detail as does Matthew and Luke, but we know that Jesus faced the same kinds of temptation that the Israelites experienced as they wandered in the desert for forty years. And these temptations are also very similar to the temptations we face throughout our lives. Of course, we know He know that He won a dramatic victory over Satan and that His victory is meant to inspire our own victory over temptation during this season of Lent. However, I can’t help but thinking, does anyone ever fight temptation anymore?  I mean, really, does any one see any value in such an arcane struggle in the present day?  Perhaps I am seeing the glass as half empty, but I do think I have valid reasons to be concerned. We are so affected by modern culture that I even wonder if we recognize sin any more or the value of trying to stay away from it – and that is the very reason that Jesus died on the cross! Have we actually gotten to the point where we no longer really value trying to stay away from the very reality (sin) from which Jesus came to save us?  We are so very much affected by the world that I am truly very worried. The world teaches us that any action is perfectly acceptable as long as no one gets hurt. This is the old “victimless crime” theory. The problem with this is that there is no such thing. If we commit sin, no matter how “private,” someone always gets hurt. It is not okay to hurt ourselves or anyone else or to offend God and sin always involves all three. The world teaches us it is psychologically harmful to deny ourselves of anything that we want-and really, if we want something, we need it; don’t we? Therefore, if I want something, I am harming myself if I don’t act to get it.  We are also taught human beings cannot overcome temptation so there is no reason to try to overcome it or teach our children to do so. Therefore parents should supply their teen children with means of birth control, and provide them with “safe havens” to abuse alcohol etc. because they would not be able to refrain from sex or beer etc.  This kind of thinking denies young people of the human dignity to which they, believe it or not, want to be held. Last, but certainly not least the world teaches us that since we are living in modern times we need a whole new set of moral guidelines. Because things have changed so much and because we are have learned so much and have become so “enlightened,” we simply can no longer be expected to  abide by the antiquated values of the past. Therefore, no one can be expected to refrain from sex before marriage, and certainly we now realize that same sex marriage is to be regarded in the same way as traditional marriage and we certainly should not trap people into biological genders.  What is amazing about this one is that, while we think we are so enlightened, we are not quite enlightened enough to realize that countless cultures bought this lie before us. And guess where they are now?  Well they are exactly where we will be if we also buy it-on the ash heap of history just like the Romans at the hands of the barbarians. You see, the bottom line is this:  there is good, there is evil, there is right there is wrong, and they are here to stay. And human beings are always tempted to sin. But Jesus gives us the means to victory. His lesson is that we don’t have to be slaves to sin. All that we have to do is struggle to resist temptation, and when we fall we turn to Him and keep on striving-and the victory is ours. The only question is does any of this matter to us anymore?

Jesus' Desire to Heal Us is More than Skin Deep [2/14/21]

The story of Jesus healing the leper is another one of those stories of which we are very familiar and which we have heard over and over again. And as I have said before, this can be very dangerous. Why? Because we might have a tendency to consciously or subconsciously “tune it out” as soon as recognize it because, after all, it is a “rerun.”  But in so doing we cheat ourselves of the blessings and benefits of the “always new” message of the scriptures and we eliminate another opportunity for the Lord to inspire us. So let’s go.  Imagine the leper. Imagine the courage he must have had to leave his leper colony, the suffering he must have endured on the way, both physically and from every encounter with another human being he had to endure before he got to where Jesus was. Imagine also, his sense of desperation.  Maybe we have felt something like that before; maybe we are feeling something like that right now. But desperation is not all bad. It might be sometimes just what we need to finally bring ourselves, like the leper to the feet of Christ, where he cried out, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  St. Mark says that Jesus was ‘moved with pity.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of any other reality in the entire Gospel ever “moving” Jesus other than human suffering and His desire to heal it. Not war, not evil, not sin, or anything else causes Jesus to be moved-but human suffering does. We also need to understand that His desire to heal us goes much deeper than our own desire to be healed.  I am sure that sometimes we have been to the doctor when we were in pain and so much wanted to be relieved of it. The doctor will do what he/she can and then tell us how we need to change our behavior so that we might not experience that pain again. At times like that we might realize that we actually are much more interested in getting rid of the pain than getting rid of some of our behaviors that might have led up to the pain.  It is much the same with Jesus.  He desired to heal not just the leper’s skin, but his heart and soul as well.  Jesus does not only want to heal the pain that evil brings us, but the cause of that evil as well. But He will not take away our free will.  We have to choose to bring ourselves to Him, despite all the very real obstacles in our way and cry out just as the leper did.  And when we do, we will discover that Jesus’ desire to heal us is much more than skin deep.

Jesus' Authority: What a Beautiful Thing [1/31/21]

I remember once as a teacher in high school I happened to be walking down one of the school hall ways a few minutes after the bell to begin classes had rung and I saw a teacher standing just outside his classroom door.  As I came closer, I noticed that he looked a bit distraught and then he said to me, “Father, I’m pretty much at the end of my line. I can’t do anything with this boy. He doesn’t listen to a word I say.”  As I was listening to him, I saw just inside the door that there was a young man, a sophomore, standing on the teacher’s desk entertaining the rest of the class.  I did not know him that well as he was not in any of my classes, but I did know his name. I stepped inside the room, snapped my fingers, pointed in a downward direction and in what I thought was a rather gentle voice, said “Yo Phillip, sit down.”  I spoke briefly to him and to the class about proper classroom decorum.  As I was about to leave the teacher thanked me profusely for my help and said he didn’t know what he would have done if I had not passed by.  As I left I found myself wondering why Phillip and his classmates listened so readily to me and would not give their teacher the time of day. I also remembered how during my first year of teaching it was very difficult for me to maintain discipline in my classroom, but that, beginning with my second year, I had very few discipline problems.  It really was all about authority. The teacher I helped that day did not have it. I did not have it my first year.  But I did, at least to an extent, develop some authority as I went along.  All of this helps me to recognize the authority of Jesus.  What gave Him His authority?  I think it has to do with the a couple realities: who He was, what He said, why He was saying it, and who He said it for.  Jesus, in one of my favorite quotes says, “All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete.”  I think that He answers pretty much all those questions with that statement.  Jesus is the Messiah who speaks the truth that is easily recognized, and spoken for the benefit of His listeners for whom He cares deeply.  One of the things I learned about my students is that, whether they knew it or not, they wanted their teachers to have authority.  When they recognized authority in their teachers they felt safer.  The same is true with us and Jesus. His authority allows us to have peace. It truly is a beautiful thing.

Jonah, Jonah, Jonah!!! [1-24-21]

I’m sure that we remember Jonah, who, although fictional, is one of my favorite biblical characters.  Jonah found peace in a rather strange place- the belly of a whale. But before we chuckle, we should take a moment to reflect on the rather odd places where we have either found or have attempted to find peace, albeit a peace that was at best only temporary.  You see Jonah had sinned against God.  God called him to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh, but he hopped onto the first boat going in the opposite direction because Jonah hated the Ninevites. But then a great storm erupted, as storms do erupt when we try to run from God, and Jonah had himself, thrown overboard so that his shipmates might be saved.  That’s where the whale enters the scene and rescues him. Inside the whale, Jonah was basically able to go on retreat: he offered praise and thanksgiving to God and repented for his disobedience. He found a kind of peace, but only for a while.  But what about the Ninevites?  They were still there, and they still needed to be saved, they needed to be set free of their slavery to sin.  If his story ended here we would not be talking about Jonah today.  After Jonah repented, the whale immediately spewed him out onto dry land and God once again called him to go to Nineveh.  This time he went and the Ninevites were saved.  So Jonah went off and lived happily ever after, right?   Wrong!!! He cursed God and climbed the nearest mountain from where could watch the city and prayed to God to destroy the city.  Remember he hated the Ninevites. Also he lamented the intense heat and thought he was going to die because of it.  So God raised up for him a large plant that he used for shade and Jonah found relief-but only for awhile.  The plant quickly shriveled up and died and Jonah once again cursed God-this time for destroying the plant. Now this is where God steps in and teaches him a lesson. God points out to him that Jonah’s priorities were way off.  He cared more about the silly plant than the thousands of Ninevites who desperately needed the message given them.  So, aren’t we thankful, that we are not like Jonah since of course we have all our priorities lined up with the will of God and cheerfully live our lives accordingly?

Listen, Lord, Your Servant is Speaking [1/17/21]

“God has created me for some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have a mission.  I may never know exactly what that mission is in this life. I shall be told it in the next.  I have a part in a great work.  I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for nothing.  I shall do good.  I shall do His work.  I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, even if I do not realize what I am doing. But, if I keep His commandments, I will serve Him in my calling.”

These are not my words, although I wish they were. They are the words of John Henry Cardinal Newman who was an intellectual who lived in England from 1801-1890. His study and thought led him to convert from the Anglican Church to Catholicism. He entered the priesthood and later became a Cardinal. He has been beatified by Pope Benedict.

 I have to think that the words of our Scripture passages this weekend were close to his mind and heart when he penned this quote, but even if that is not the case it certainly is true that his words are close to my mind and heart as I ponder these passages.

Like Newman’s words, the words of the readings make it clear that we are all called by the Lord and that we have an innate need to stay connected to Him and that the only way for us to experience true fulfillment is for us to find and carry out the specific purpose for which we were created.

 We all have general callings and specific callings. All of us in this parish are called to serve God. But our individual calling is more specific than simply a general call to serve the Lord. We are called to serve Him in the specific vocations to which he leads us. There are young men here at St. Aloysius who are called to serve the Lord as priests or religious.  There are young women here who are called to serve the Lord as religious sisters. There are many who are called to serve the Lord by faithfully living out a vocation to the married life and there are some who are called to joyfully serve the Lord in the single life.

 But His call does not stop there. It’s not as if once we discern our vocations the story is over and we live happily ever after. That is just the beginning. Besides, happily ever after is so very boring. We are not finished discerning God’s will simply because we have determined that we are called to the consecrated life, the married life or the single life. We are still very much discerning the specific purpose that God has for us and pray that we are on the right track to fulfilling it.

 During my father’s funeral Mass it struck me that perhaps God’s specific purpose for me was actually to gift my dad with a priest son to celebrate his passing from this life to the next. The more I thought about it I thought maybe that could actually be the case.  Who’s to say what is in the mind of God?  However, while I obviously don’t know for sure, I wonder if that is still the case, simply because I am still walking around on this earth.  Although, I can’t say this for, sure my guess is that once we have fulfilled our purpose in life, He takes us home, but then again, what do I know?  I’m just trying to continue my discernment like every one else.

 So how do we discern God’s calls- from the general to the specific?  I think we can take some clues from our readings and from Cardinal Newman’s words. We have to stay connected to the Lord on a very regular basis. We need to stay with Him. Remember, Samuel was sleeping in the Temple of the Lord. The two disciples stayed with the Lord that day and then stayed with Him as he walked the earth for the next three years. Because they stayed with Him their lives were changed forever.  If we look at our own lives just a little bit we can see that we have a great need and desire to stay connected with our peers and with the world around us. We don’t want to miss anything. How much time do we spend on facebook, or sending and receiving text messages or checking scores etc? How hard is it for some of us to even imagine the thought of missing some game or TV show or some social event? We have a vested interest in staying super-connected.  It’s as if modern means of communication have become our lifeblood.

 The same needs to be true of our relationship with God.  The need we have to stay connected is only a sign that points to our deep spiritual need to stay connected with God. He will not impose Himself on us but He so desires for us to bring ourselves to Him continually so that He can reveal Himself ever more deeply to us. He has so much to show to us and He doesn’t want us to miss a thing, and He knows that that is what we so much need in our lives so that we can experience fulfillment.

 In addition to staying connected with the Lord through prayer, we need to study, listen to and reflect on His word in the Scriptures. The Scriptures help us to hear His words in our prayer time with Him. We also need other people to help us in our discernment. Discernment is not something that we can do on our own. While our peers and friends can be of value in this area, we do need to go beyond them and seek guidance from trusted folks who just might be a little bit more experienced in the spiritual life. The two disciples in the Gospel had John the Baptist; the boy Samuel had Eli.  John the Baptist literally pointed Jesus out to the disciples; Eli told Samuel what to say when the Lord called.

 “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.”  These of course, are the words that Eli gave to Samuel, but they signify much more than just words. They point to a whole disposition of openness and listening to the Lord. We can’t just simply at some arbitrary point  decide that we are going to pull ourselves away from our frantic lives, shut off our ipods, smart phones or whatever, quiet ourselves down and say, “Ok, Lord, you can speak now; I’m listening.”  As a matter of fact, I would daresay that when we do make time for prayer, it’s usually more like we’re saying, “Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking,” rather than the other way around.   When we pray we so often are very rushed and feel like we have to voice every need and concern and petition to Him and before you know it we’re off and on our way and God never had a chance to get a word in edgewise.  And besides, God doesn’t work that way any way. He’s going to speak softly, in His time, in such a way that can only truly be heard in the context of a well nurtured relationship.

 After consistently spending truly quiet time with Him for an extended period of time, we start to discover that we do in fact have a relationship with Him. We don’t so much feel the need to dominate our time with Him with our voiced prayers and petitions because we begin to realize that He knows what we need even more than we do ourselves and that He is always there for us. We gradually begin to want to simply “be” there with Him and even for Him.  We start to understand that He pretty much always has a little something for us and we don’t want to miss it, we realize that He is ever so gradually inviting us into the depth of His plan for us. Eventually our disposition changes and more and more we want to serve Him because we know that is how we find our peace. Finally we find ourselves disposed like the psalmist to say “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will,” or as Samuel to say, “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening,” as a way of inviting, not commanding the Lord to reveal Himself to us.

 All of this takes a great deal of time and effort, just like it takes time and effort to keep up with all of our peers etc, but we do so, because staying connected is so important to us and we don’t want to miss anything. The Lord invites us as into a life long relationship which leads us to discovering the very purpose of our creation and fulfillment in this life.  And we can be sure that this is not something that we want to miss.        

In Baptism He/She/We Died with Christ... [01/10/21]

At every Funeral Mass the priest prays in these or similar words: “In Baptism, N died with Christ. May he/she share with Him everlasting life.”  Indeed, it is an integral part of our faith that in the sacrament of Baptism, we do experience a spiritual death.  As the Father, in this same sacrament claims us as His beloved children, we accept the call to die to ourselves and our selfish wills so that we might live fully for Him as His true sons and daughters. Perhaps we know the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the priest who, while in a Nazi concentration camp, gave up his own life so that another man would live. When asked how he was able to make such a choice, he explained that he was a Catholic priest, and that in a very real way he had had already given up his own life-on the day of his ordination. Actually, all of us have already given up our own lives, if we are truly living out our baptismal calls.  So-what about the baptism of Jesus?  If we believe that in our own baptisms, we have died with Him, then isn’t it correct to say that it was at His own baptism, that He died with us-every bit as much as He died for us on the Cross?  Jesus’ Baptism is so significant because it marks the time of His decision to follow the will of His Father. It was on the day of His Baptism that He laid down His life for us. From the day of His Baptism, He never strayed from His journey to Jerusalem and the Cross. No wonder it was at this time that His Father proclaimed Him as His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased.  Now, what about us?  Have we truly died with Christ at our baptisms or have we strayed away from our baptismal callings and from our own personal Crosses?  Are we living for Christ, or for ourselves? We are doing either one or the other-which is it?  Do we believe that Christ is in fact the one who was pointed to by all the prophets, etc. during the Advent/Christmas Season and proclaimed as such by God the Father Himself as the season comes to its end today-or not?  The answer to these questions will become clear to us as we examine how we live out our baptismal calls during the days of Ordinary Time-which begin tomorrow.

Mr. Rose's Epiphany [01/03/21]

Over 25years ago, I met a man named Mr. Rose who was a parishioner in the first parish to which I was assigned as a priest.  My guess was that he was about 45 years old but I never really knew for sure. I don’t think I ever learned his name until my second year in the parish but I had become familiar with his face almost as soon as I had arrived in the parish.   He came to Mass every Sunday and attended almost every parish activity by himself.  He sat in the middle of the center pew of the church, he wore one of two very similar looking suits every time I saw him, and although he was very polite I don’t know that I ever saw him engage any one in an actual conversation.  If I ever encountered him personally it was after Mass while I was greeting parishioners. He would simply nod as he went by.  He was intriguing because of his almost complete silence, his persistent presence and the sadness that always seemed to emanate from him. I wondered if I was ever going to get to know him and his story; and then one day he called the parish office for an appointment and wanted to see me.  We met several times over the next few months.  He was a single man who worked at a grocery store. He explained that he had been feeling sad ever since his mother died and he did not know how to shake it. At first I told him that it was very normal to feel sad after losing a parent and that at the very least it would probably take a full year before things would begin to feel somewhat normal again. But he explained that it had been several years and he still felt pretty much the same way. I asked him how long it was since his mother had passed and he said that it was now well over 10 years ago.  I have to say that this was very surprising to me. Here was a middle aged man who had been talking to me as if his mother had died in the very recent past but now I realized that he had been in this state of malaise for over a decade and saw no way to ever change his life situation. It was as if the life he had lived had simply been dealt to him and that he had no control or even influence over it. He was an only child who had lived in the same house from the time he was born and was now living there by himself since his mother’s death. I saw, however, that he did want to rise above his sadness, and although, I did not know the answer, I hoped very much that I could help him. Then finally at one of our meetings I asked him the following question.  “Mr. Rose,” I said, “have you ever done anything for anyone?”  He kind of looked a bit puzzled at first, as if he wondered what my question had to do with his situation, but after a bit of a pause he said that he really could not remember any time that he extended himself to anyone.  I explained to him that helping other people always tended to lift my spirits and I thought maybe it would help him as well. The rest, as they say is history. Mr. Rose agreed to help out at a local soup kitchen and became a regular there. Eventually he became very involved in the parish, and especially in any service activities. He became much more socially outgoing and his spirits rose almost exponentially. He wrote to me a couple years after I had been transferred and thanked me for the time I had shared with him and that he come to see my question as an “epiphany,” that literally brought him to new life.  You know what, folks?  I think Mr. Rose’s epiphany can be an epiphany for each of us. If we ever feel like we are in a rut that we can’t get out of, there is nothing like asking ourselves what we can do for others to pick ourselves up. Isn’t that what the three wise men did?  They took themselves out of their own safe little comfort zones and ended up walking differently for the rest of their lives. That’s what happened with Mr. Rose. He brought himself to new life. I’m thinkin’ it could happen to us too.

Yes, Your Family is Holy [12/27/20]

Every time I am about to celebrate Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family, I always very carefully scan the congregation. Why, you may ask?  Well to make sure that none of my immediate family members are there in Church, of course!  You see, almost twenty years ago now, as I came to the center of the sanctuary to preach the homily, this little two year old young lady came running up the aisle and stopped short about two pews away from me gleaming at me with a big smile on her face. Sure enough, it was my niece Katie and I quickly saw that my brother, his wife and family were there a little ways back; they had come up to pay me a surprise visit. Looking down at her, I said  “Well hello there little Miss Katie, it certainly is wonderful to see you, your Mom, your Dad and your two brothers, Donny and baby David here today! But now I am in a bit of a tight spot; do you know why? Because since today is the Feast of the Holy Family, I was, and still am, going to spend the next few minutes talking about you and them.  Family. You never know when they are going to turn up, do you?  It’s no wonder that we celebrate the Feast of the Holy family just a few days after Christmas. It’s right around this time of course that so many of us had a chance to see them again and spend time with them again. And therefore it’s also right around now that so many of us are also thanking God for already doing so or begging Him to send them home.  Yes this time of year reconnects us with our families, warts and all; the good, the great, the bad and the ugly.  For me it reminds me of so many things, and perhaps most of all of how important forgiveness is in a family. Forgiveness that I must humbly seek.  Forgiveness that I must readily give.  And why is it so important?  Because a major part of the Christmas message is that the Father chose to send His son into the world as part of a family. A specific family-Jesus’ family was not chosen randomly, but handpicked by the Father.  The same is true with each and everyone of us. God chose us to be part of His creation, but He didn’t just do so randomly. He handpicked our family, just like He handpicked Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Yes. As Jesus’ family is holy, so your family is Holy. Happy Feast everyone! 

Fourth Sunday of Advent: From Mary to Jesus [12/20/20]

Because of Mary’s eternal “yes” to God, all His love is poured out and made available to us. The great wonder of it all is that in Jesus Christ, who is at once both God and Mary’s son, each one of us can be another Mary. Each one of us is now a temple not only of God’s love but God’s very life living within us. Each one of us is a sacred space. In each one of us others can sense the presence of the Living God. Like Mary, the living presence of God the Son abides within us, not just for our own sakes, but so that we, like Mary, can give Him to the world around us.  Each one of you, and I along with you, can make an infinitely significant response to God’s offer of love. When we are told that we are loved, and we respond with a “yes”, our lives are changed. Something is placed within our hearts that never goes away.  This Christmas give God a most precious gift – some of your time. Give Him your undivided attention, a period of time in which you do nothing but open yourself up to His presence. Even if you think that nothing happens, something will happen. We are all so concerned about what we must do, particularly at a time when we’re so caught up in doing things. The best thing we can do is to simply “be” in God’s presence.  Think of three good attributes that pertain to you, three really good ones, and then thank God for each of them individually and specifically. They are God’s gifts of love to you. Wouldn’t it be a nice gift to give Him your gratitude? Wouldn’t that be a nice gift to give Him for this Christmas? There’s a hidden benefit for you in doing that. If you have an attitude of gratitude you cannot at the same time have a sour or negative disposition. Also you could ask God what He wants for you. Ask God to reveal what He wants to say to you, what He wants to show you or give you. That’s another wonderful, precious gift to give God.  He so very much is longing for you simply to give Him your undivided, loving attention.  When you’re with a friend, what do you want? Isn’t it simply to be with your friend? We all know that being is more important than doing; that it’s who we are that’s more important to those who care for us than what we accomplish. Well, that’s true with God, as well.  God has gone to great lengths, unreasonable lengths, to be our Friend. This Christmas, why not let Him?

Gaudete Sunday [December 13, 2020]

Today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent, which is also known as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin word that means “rejoice.”  Today is a day that the church calls to focus on the realities that we are near to both the celebrations of the birth of Christ and His Second coming. And so we hear the wonderful words of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.  I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.”  And we hear Saint Paul saying, “Rejoice always in the Lord,” and we hear St. John the Baptist described as a man who was sent to testify to the light. We also light the third candle which is rose colored, rather than purple, and we wear  rose colored vestments (yes, they are rose, not pink; not that I would have any problem if they were pink, mind you, but they not, they are rose!) because rose symbolizes rejoicing. However, I must admit, that this whole theme of rejoicing does present me with a bit of a challenge. I wish I could say that it never presents a challenge for me, but indeed it does. But it shouldn’t. Not for me and not for you. Ultimately there is never a reason for us not to rejoice in the Lord. No matter what we are facing in this life, the Lord is always there loving us, consoling us, healing us, forgiving us and giving us hope. But we let other, small realities pull us down. Now I don’t mean we don’t face real challenges and real suffering, but they all fade in comparison to what God has for us, what He does for us and who He is for us.  If we keep our focus on preparing the way of the Lord, as John the Baptist exhorts us to do throughout the ages, we will be able to rejoice heartily in the Lord. For me, one of those things which keep me from rejoicing at this time of year are those confounded lists to which we keep subjecting ourselves. You know what I mean-especially now that we are within 12 days of Christmas.  I’m talking about those “people to see, places to go, things to do, gifts to buy, cards to write, etc. etc. lists.  Of course we make up these lists to try to get ourselves organized- which is all well and good, but one of my problems is that I can never even finish writing the lists, any list. They just keep growing and expanding. Before you know it, we become slaves of the list, and can no longer see the forest for the trees. This doesn’t mean that lists can’t be useful; it does mean we can’t let them take control of us. What we need to do is to keep our focus on our goal which is to rejoice heartily in the Lord. Always. And at all times-especially now when the celebration of the birth of the Lord is near.

Faith = Gratitude in Advance [12/06/20]

Last week I was saying that in order to truly experience and live the season of Advent we must intentionally strive to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.  We said that ingratitude is absolutely incompatible with happiness yet it remains a trap into which we are very susceptible to fall. We fall into it even though we know that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a much better way to live. There are all kinds of reasons why we fall into this trap but perhaps one of them is that we are trying to do too much too fast perhaps especially during this time of year. When we do this the trials and tribulations always seem to become more and more difficult to navigate and this makes it very difficult to focus on the goal that lies ahead-if we can even remember what that might be. The goal of this Advent/Christmas season needs to be positioning ourselves and our families etc. in the best way we can to receive all the blessings that God has for us during this wonderful season. If we are practicing gratitude we come to realize that just as God has continually blessed us in the past and in the present, He will only continue to do so in the future.  We come to know that there are blessings behind every burden and this knowledge inspires and encourages us to go forward, to keep moving toward the blessings and to even thank God for them before we receive them. That is what faith is. Faith is gratitude in advance of the blessings that lay beyond the burdens. On this Second Sunday of Advent St. John the Baptist offers us the great hope that one day our path to the salvation which God offers will be made level and straight. We can help to straighten our own paths by thanking God in advance for the blessings to which they lead. In so doing, even the burdens begin to look a bit less burdensome we might even find ourselves focusing even more on the Lord than the blessings that He has for us. We come to understand more clearly what we are looking for.  And what we are looking for we tend to see.

An Advent Attitude of Gratitude [11/29/20]

We all know that traditionally in the secular world the beginning of the Christmas season has been associated with Thanksgiving and the appearance of Santa Claus at the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade.  Not to give in to the secular world, but I do think that the Thanksgiving spirit, leads wonderfully into the season of Advent. And the First Sunday of Advent is usually the third day after Thanksgiving, so hopefully we are in a “grateful mode” when Advent begins. Also, I do think that to experience and even celebrate the season of Advent as it should be celebrated we must practice gratitude. So many times, and we know it is true, we live in a way that displays ingratitude even though ingratitude is absolutely incompatible with happiness.  So why do we do it? My guess is that there are many reasons. Maybe we have unfair expectations of other people or of the world. Maybe we are too proud. Maybe we have a sense of entitlement or maybe we are so wounded that we can’t see any good possibilities around the corner. Or maybe we allow ourselves to fall into laziness and slothfulness. On the other hand there is no practice that is more effective in leading us to feeling better about ourselves than practicing gratitude. And we really do have a choice- we can go one way or the other. There was a study done in which two groups of people were given opposite tasks for period of 10 weeks. One group was asked to list everything for which they were grateful every day. The other group was asked to list everything that was bothersome or annoying to them. Guess what happened? In both groups, the lists became longer and longer as the weeks went on. Each group became either more and more aware of their blessings or more and more aware of things that made them unhappy. So, it really is true that we find what we are looking for. On this First Sunday of Advent the Gospel calls us to be watchful and alert. I believe that a good way to begin practicing vigilance is to be aware of the many blessings that come to us from the Lord. We need to look for them and count them. Writing them down would not be a bad idea. And this Season of Advent is a perfect time to do just that. Through these coming weeks we will be given the opportunity to reflect on the blessings that God has given us through salvation history. By recognizing and counting our gifts and blessings our attention will be refocused from the gift to the Giver, who is, of course God Himself. GK Chesterton once said that the worst thing about being an atheist is that you have no one to thank. Our attitude of gratitude leads to a deeper relationship with the Lord and to a greater desire to give of ourselves in ways that we might never have imagined. It is very true that life does not always seem wonderful to us. But it is always true that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a wonderful way to live. Happy Advent, everyone!

Solemnity of Christ the King [11-22-20]

Solemnity of Christ the King

For a number of reasons I often say that this month presents us with a wonderful opportunity to move into a very reflective frame of mind. The change of the seasons, the colder weather, the shorter days, the celebrations of All Saints, All Souls and Thanksgiving all come together and call us to take a closer look at our relationships with the world, with those who have gone before us, with each other and with God.  Today’s Solemnity of Christ the King indeed provides us with a wonderful opportunity to bring these thoughts to a kind of conclusion.  As we ponder our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of the Universe we can focus on His purpose and ours.  Jesus was sent by God the Father to open the gates of Heaven so that we might spend eternity in Heaven with them. Indeed, we and all those who have gone before us are or will be defined by where we are on the path to Heaven. The souls in hell are those who have refused to accept the love the grace and the mercy of God and in so doing have rejected Heaven. You might argue that you don’t believe in hell because why would a loving God create it and why would He send anyone there?  The answer is that He didn’t and He doesn’t.  As far as the existence of hell I certainly believe in it and I can tell you why. It’s because you can see it on earth. Just look around. We don’t have to wait until we die to choose to get there. The saints (the Church Triumphant) are those souls who are in Heaven. The souls in Purgatory (the Church Suffering) are all those souls who are experiencing a purification in order to be prepared for Heaven and who depend upon our prayers to get them there. And, finally there are all of us (the Church Militant) who are striving to conform our hearts, minds and souls to the Lord so that we might share eternity in Heaven with Him.  And so, as we conclude this month and prepare to begin another liturgical year on this Christ the King Sunday, we once again ask the question, “So, how do we get to Heaven?”   Well, the short answer is that we can’t and that there is nothing that we can do to get us there.  Have a good day!  Just kidding; sort of.  But it is the truth; we can’t do any thing to get us into heaven, at least not by ourselves, and you might say that that is bad news. But there is good news. And the Good News is that we are not alone.  God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, to us to make it possible for us to get to Heaven. Through the sacraments (especially baptism) and through faith in Him the gates of Heaven are opened for us. What we do with our lives as we strive to live the virtuous life is all about developing our character which is the only thing about us that we can take to Heaven. That’s what this life and even Purgatory is about. What Jesus does for us is God the Father’s gift to us.  The development of our character is our gift to Him. Jesus Christ the King shows us how to do that and gives us the grace to make it possible. So, how do we get to Heaven? Well you might say it’s like this. I remember quite clearly that my Father was very much uncomfortable with the fact that as we grew up we could, well, leave the house. He could not sleep until we were all back from wherever we felt compelled to go.  I used to think that if he could he would build a fence around our property that would keep us in. Forever. Remember God is our Father. He wants all His kids to be home. Accordingly, He does everything He can, short of taking away our free will to get us there-including sending His only Son to die on a cross.  That is the message of the Solemnity of Christ the King and of the end of the Church’s year. And so, with the season of Advent we begin. Again.

November State of Mind (All Saints) [11/01/20]

Well folks, we have arrived at the month of November. Already. I know it’s hard to believe, but here we are. November 1, 2020, the feast of All Saints; this means, of course,  over the last several years I have come to see this month as special gift, as a very real opportunity for reflection, for meditation, for growing in our relationship with the Lord.  So much about November lends itself to a receptive way of being. The coming of the month of November signifies for me that it is time to turn the page, a time for me to enter into what I call my November State of Mind. In November, we celebrate the great saints who have gone before us to urge us on the victory. We pray for our beloved souls who have gone before us that they might soon fully realize eternal unity with the Lord. We experience the change in the time, the change in the weather, the increase of dark over light, the barrenness of nature. In the coming weeks in our liturgies we will be called to reflect on our need for sacred space with next week’s celebration of the Feast of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The following week we will hear once again the Parable of the Talents with its exhortation to share the gifts God has given us. The following week brings us to the end of our Liturgical year with the recognition that Christ is the King of the universe. Then with the last week of the month we celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving which calls us to realize all the gifts God has given us and to express our gratefulness to Him. But that is not the end; it is only the beginning because November leads us into the Church’s New Year with the Season of Advent, which beckons us to prepare for the birth of Jesus, and so begin the cycle of life and holy living once again. That’s what I mean by the November State of mind. And central to the very essence of the month is this commemoration of the Saints and Holy Souls which we celebrate today and tomorrow. These celebrations make this month and this time of year so very very personal and real to each of us.  It is largely because of the saints and our beloved who have gone before us we all have a stake in salvation history.  As we move into November, I begin to very much think of my own father, who passed away on December 2, 1999 and was buried on December 6.  I see this time of year as moving toward a very graced period which I like to call my “Dad’s time.”  I find myself being for whatever reason more aware of His presence during this time of year and simply expecting miracles to be accomplished though his intercession. I do think that this is what November is all about. It’s about the Lord reminding us that our loved ones who have passed are still very much with us, both depending on our prayers and praying for us in real tangible ways.  But I think it’s even about more than that. I think that this month of All Souls is very practically the advent of Advent. It is a time for us to get ready to prepare; to prepare as it were, for the birth of the Lord, along with all of our loved ones with whom we are walking the earth; and with those who have gone before us. And so we begin.  Again.

Much, Much, More Than a Feeling [10/25/20]

We often associate the word “love” with some pleasant feelings, or intense and delightful emotions.  But the word Jesus used for love means something much deeper.  It is the word "agape" [AH-gah-pay], and it refers to the love that means desiring communion with something that is good in itself.  If we say that we “love” ice cream, of course, we mean that we very much enjoy eating it.  We probably do not mean that we want to enter into a spiritual communion with ice cream. If we love a person, (using Jesus’ word “agape”) it means we love spending time with them, getting to know them, and sharing the experiences of life with them.  But when it comes to loving God, Jesus wants to make sure that we understand that even the word agape is not enough to completely convey the type of love we are to have for God, ourselves and our neighbor.  He says that we must love God with all of our hearts, our minds and our souls.  We must love Him with all our hearts; this means we must desire what God desires.  We must love God with all our minds; this means we must value and understand things in the same way that He values and understands them.  We must love Him with our whole souls; this means we must choose to actively live in accordance with the desires and understanding of His mind and heart.  If we love God as Jesus commands us to do, than loving our neighbor as ourselves will pretty much become second nature to us.  I believe in fact that if we truly do love God with all of our hearts, minds and souls it would be virtually impossible for us to do any thing but love our neighbors in the way that Jesus envisions us doing.  And always remember, the love of Jesus, i.e. Christian love, is much, much more than a feeling.

They Thought They Had Him [10-18-20]

“Should we pay the tax or not?” The Pharisees and scribes really thought they had Him this time. What was He going to say?  (Not that they really cared about the answer He would give; all they cared about was trapping Him.)  If He said that they should pay the tax, than surely the crowds that were hanging on His every word and deed would turn against Him and He would cease to have any kind of following and they wouldn’t have to worry about Him any more. If He said that the tax should not be paid, than all they had to do was hand Him over to the Romans.  Either way, or so they thought, there simply was no way out for Jesus.  But look what happened; Jesus asked for a coin because He didn’t have one. He didn’t have one because He did not rely on money; He was not part of the Roman system.  The Roman coinage, the Roman tax had little or no bearing on Him. But who showed Him the coin with Caesar’s insignia?  Of course the Scribes and Pharisees did, and in so doing they exposed themselves. They exposed themselves as participating in the Roman economic system.  Jesus was basically saying to them, “If you are going to play the game with the Romans, than you have to play by their rules.” In other words, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.”  The problem with the Pharisees and scribes, once again, is that they were hypocrites, and they were easily exposed as such by Jesus.  Their question was insincere; they did not care about it at all. They were obsessed with defeating Jesus, and because their motive was not pure, they did not stand a chance up against the pure light of Jesus.  They exposed themselves as being part and parcel of the Roman system.  That’s why we need to make sure that our motives are pure, that we give to God what is His. If our motives are not pure we can be sure that we will expose something about ourselves that we do not want the world (or ourselves) to know.  Remember, they thought they had Jesus dead to rights.  Instead they trapped themselves.

Do We Allow God to Change Our Plans? [10-11-20]

Ingratitude is the substance of many sins, and all sin separates us from God and from the meaningful life that comes from living close to God - it keeps us from accepting God's invitations.  And so, a healthy sense of gratitude is one of the best ways to combat sin and stay close to the Lord.  Today's parable shows us exactly how to grow this rare and powerful virtue: by letting Him change our plans.  If the invited guests in the parable had truly respected their king, they would have adjusted their plans for his sake, putting aside their personal preferences for a little while to show their gratitude to Him.  God asks us to change our plans in many ways. Let’s talk about two of them.  First, when He allows tragedy or suffering in our life.  For instance, when a young married couple discovers that they can't have children, God is most definitely asking them to change their plans.  This is an invitation to follow God more closely, to join Jesus on the cross, so that they can later join Him in the banquet of the resurrection.  He also asks us to change our plans when it becomes risky to act like true Christians in a non-Christian world. Standing up for the rights of the unborn is not always the popular or easy thing to do. Simply striving to live the life of a faithful Catholic in today’s world can require a lot of courage and self-sacrifice.  There is a fair chance that in the week to come God will ask each of us to change our plans in some way or other for the sake of His Kingdom - maybe in something big, maybe in something small.  When He does, let's be generous. Let’s show Him that we truly belong to Him, that we truly do believe, as today's Psalm reminds us, that He is our shepherd, and that He will lead us to the fullness of life? Will we; can we, change our plans for Him?

To Labor, To Hope, To Share in His Victory [10-04-20]

Jesus’ audience could easily identify with the story about an absentee landlord and his not-so-good tenants. It was quite common for the owners to let out their estates to tenants. Their wealth allowed them to travel and own houses in other places. Jesus' story, however, was unsettling to some. Why did the scribes and Pharisees in particular feel offended? Jesus' parable contained both a prophetic message and a warning to the religious community and its leaders. Isaiah had spoken of the house of Israel as "the vineyard of the Lord.” Isaiah warned his people that their unfaithfulness would yield bad fruit if they did not repent and change. Jesus' listeners understood this parable as a reminder that God will in due time root out those who produce bad fruit and put an end to rebellion. What does Jesus' parable tell us about God? First, it tells us of His generosity and trust. The vineyard is well equipped with everything the tenants need. The owner went away and left the vineyard in the hands of the tenants. God, likewise trusts us enough to give us freedom to live our lives as we choose. It also tells us of God's patience and justice. Not once, but many times He forgives the tenants their debts.  But while the tenants take advantage of the owner's patience, His judgment and justice prevail in the end. Jesus foretold both His death and His ultimate triumph. He knew He would be rejected by His own people and be killed, but He also knew that would not be the end. After rejection would come the glory of resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. The Lord continues to bless us with the gift of His kingdom. And He promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in Him and remain faithful. He entrusts us with His gifts and grace and gives us a particular work to do in His vineyard. He promises that our labor will not be in vain if we persevere with faith to the end. We can expect trials and difficulties as we labor for the Lord, and even persecution from those who oppose His kingdom. But in the end we will see triumph. Do you labor for the Lord with joyful hope and with confidence in His victory?

Sincerity [9-27-20]

Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs thoughts and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine. While we look for it in other people, we may find it hard to live ourselves.  Hypocrisy makes us blind to God's presence in our lives. We need to be sincere especially in three key areas of our lives.  First of all, we need to build up sincerity in our relationship with God.  We should never try to impress Him or put on a show for Him.  We need to open our hearts to Him completely (He knows them thoroughly already), like little children, so that He can touch our hearts with His transforming grace. Secondly, we must be sincere in our relationship with ourselves.  We sometimes are less than honest with ourselves about the reasons we do things, making excuses or falling into the habit of quick rationalization. We must take responsibility for our actions, good and bad, confident that God can fix whatever we may break. As Christ said, the truth will set us free.  Last but not least, we need to develop sincerity in our words. Sometimes we distort the truth when we talk, we like to flatter people, or make them admire us, so we say things that aren't really true. While we don't have an obligation to tell everyone everything we do have an obligation to be truthful in what we choose to say. Of course, we know that we have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion virtually every day of our lives. The Eucharist can serve to strengthen our resolve to be people of sincerity with hearts open to God's grace.  The pure, white, unleavened bread that is transformed into Christ's body can be an image of sincerity for us.  The host itself is indeed beautiful in its simplicity – in its sincerity.  As we walk up to receive the Eucharist and return to our pews, let’s pray that we might strive to truly become more sincere.  That indeed would be simply beautiful.