[8/27/23] Who Do WE Say Jesus Is?

Who Do WE Say Jesus Is?

When you think about it, it is a very interesting question that Jesus asks, Peter, the apostles and us this weekend. I mean, really, when was the last time someone came up to you and asked you who they were?  Of course, what usually happens is that someone will tell us who they are, i.e. they will introduce themselves to us, and they will then ask who we are. We do not generally ask someone else to tell us who we are. So, you see, Jesus' question, no doubt, took Peter by surprise. The more I think about it, what an amazing question. I mean, really, why on earth or in heaven for that matter, why would Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah ask the disciples who they say that He is?  Does He not know who He is?  Why does it matter who they say He is?  Does their answer to the question change who He is? Does their answer change anything at all? And, by the way, who else ever asks us who we say they are? Don’t people pretty much always make their best effort to tell us who they are and not the other way around?   Jesus, by asking this question, like He does in so many other ways as well, pretty much turns the tables around, doesn’t He? By asking the question, He lets us know that it matters to Him who we say He is. He actually allows us to define Him for ourselves. Jesus asks us who we say who He is because He knows that the way we answer that question will determine the kind of person we will become and ultimately go a long way in determining whether or not salvation will be ours.  I may not know much but I know that Jesus would not work out well in today's advertising industry.  The last thing marketers want us to do is to define their products. They spend all kinds of money to define their products for us. But Jesus, the Lord of all, does things very differently. He spends no money. He runs no advertising campaign. He does not force us to accept who He says He is; He asks us who we say He is. Why? Because He is confident of who He is, because the only question that matters is who we say He is, because the way we answer that question will determine how we live our lives. That's why.  So, who do you say that Jesus is? Try to answer it correctly; the way we answer it will very much determine who we are, and, by the way, Jesus is the only one asking.

Are we willing to Fight for the Miracle? [8-20-23]

Jesus’ response to the Canaanite woman might, at least initially seem very cold and callous: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” How could he say something like that to this poor woman who is pleading for mercy for her daughter?  What is she supposed to do after hearing those words?  What are we supposed to do when it seems like we are not getting the response that we think we should get from Jesus?  The woman does give us a couple lessons. First, we should never give up.  If our plea is pure, if it is not selfish, then there is no reason to stop trying.  We should never forget what Jesus has done for us and that He is absolutely about our greater good; He is about our salvation.  We also should understand that we need to be willing to make our case, and that Jesus has the right to expect us to do so.  We also need to be able to see that Jesus will always provide an opening for us and give us the opportunity to take it.  The woman recognized her opening in the word that Jesus used for “dog.” He used the word that referred to a dog that was a household pet, not a stray that roamed the streets.  She knew then that she could say: “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters,” and perhaps get a favorable response.  The Lord always has a gift for us, but He wants us to fight for it, He wants us to have a sense that we earned it.  The Canaanite woman left Jesus, not only knowing that her daughter was healed, but also knowing that she had something to do with it.  She did not give up on her plea to the Lord, she made her case to Him, and walked away stronger because of it.  Jesus uses every opportunity He can to teach us and to empower us, and to enable us to grow.  We come to Him with our narrow pleas, but there is so much more that He wants to give us.  Only thing is; to get it we must be willing to fight for it. If not, it’s not happening.

Are You Afraid of the Quiet? [8-13-23]

Are You Afraid of the Quiet?

It might sound like a strange question, but are you? I think that maybe, just maybe, you just might be. Afraid of the quiet, that is. And if you’re not, well then you are quite rare, and I am quite confident that so many of your human colleagues are. Oh, they might try to deny it, but how often do they let themselves truly become still and quiet?  How often do we let ourselves truly become quiet?  Don’t we pretty much always want to have some background noise blaring, i.e. the TV, the radio, etc., etc.?  Isn’t it difficult to truly allow ourselves to become completely still?  Why?  Wouldn’t all the noise get to us at least once in a while? But it does not seem like that is the case.  Silence really can be much more frightening than thunder, can’t it?  Why? Because when we actually are able to hear ourselves think, we have to deal with issues from which we’d rather stay away.  Elijah went to the mountain of the Lord, in search of the Lord’s voice but he discovered that the voice of the Lord was not in the noise but in the quiet. In order to hear the Lord, in order to get to know the Lord, in order to be in a real relationship with Him we must bring ourselves to stillness and quiet on a very regular basis. And that is much easier said than done in a world of so much noise. Couple that with the fact that the quiet makes us uncomfortable and we truly have a challenge on our hands.  Our best hope is that we know that we will never truly be at peace until we are able to hear that still small voice that is the Lord.  A very prudent prayer for us is that our fear of the quiet is not more powerful than our longing to hear the Lord. If that is the case, we should rejoice and be glad, because we will hear His voice.

To See as the Father Sees [8-6-23]

We are all very familiar with the story of the Transfiguration-and that could be a problem. The fact that it is so familiar might prevent us from hearing it anew as it is proclaimed over and over again.  We might tend to “click it off” and let our minds wander, since we feel like we know it through and through. We live in a world of sound bytes, text messaging, and web and channel surfing. Everything and everyone get about 3 seconds of our time, because, if someone or something is too familiar to us we feel like we have “been there” and “done that” and immediately want to move on because there are so many other people to see and things to do.  This extremely worldly pattern of behavior does not sit well with pondering Sacred Scripture. Scripture really does not lend itself to being packaged as a sound byte. It is meant to be studied, prayed and reflected upon. It is always new, but we have to spend time with it in order to realize that the insights it gives us are never ending and always fresh. For instance, with the story of the Transfiguration, if we spend time with it, we just might come to see that it is much more than a story explaining how one day Jesus’ clothes turned dazzlingly white one day.  We might come to see that it is as story that shows us that if we spend time with Jesus, as Peter, James and John did, we just might receive a wonderful gift. We might just be given the opportunity, if but for a brief moment, to see Jesus as His Father sees Him. Of course, to see Jesus as the Father sees Him is to see Him as He truly is. Now, wouldn’t that be something?  But there’s more. What if we could see everyone and everything with the Father’s eyes-our loved ones; and our not so loved ones?  Don’t you think your life would be different if you could see as the Father sees-if you could see God’s world and His people as they truly are?  The message of the Transfiguration is that you can do just that, that you can see as the Father sees, but in order to do so you have to go to the mountaintop with Jesus in prayer in order to do it. And you can’t be too fast with the clicker.

Fine Pearls [7-30-23]

In the gospel parable today, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls, and when he finds one pearl of great price, he goes and sells everything he has and buys it. Accordingly, we think that we should be like the merchant who sacrifices everything in order to gain heaven. But then wait a minute; the parable does not say for us to be like the merchant. It says that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant. In other words, it says that it is God, not us, who is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. At least for me, this perspective really changes things. The fine pearls are the people of earth. Like a merchant who loves pearls and wants as many as possible, God loves His people and wants to bring them all into His kingdom.  He finds a magnificent pearl, the pearl of great price, which is all of humanity and He buys it, but with what?  Of course, He buys the pearls with His beloved Son, Jesus.  St. Paul says “You are not your own; you were bought for a price.”  And who is the one pearl that God would be willing to sell everything for?  That of course would be you!  And Me! God considers each and every one of us to be so much value that He gave up His only Son for us. So, brothers and sisters, we are God’s pearls of great price. Do we believe it? Do we live like we believe it? Do we live like we believe that we can make a difference in the world, like we can make the world a better place for our loved ones who are suffering and need some encouragement? Well we should, because we make a whole lot of difference to God. He sacrificed His Son for us. We are all meant to be a tremendous positive force in the world and we have everything we need to be that force. We are each one of God’s pearls of great price. So, don’t worry about what people will think of you; you already know what God thinks of you and that’s all that matters. We need to be concerned with loving others, relieving their suffering, offering them our forgiveness and building them up.  When we truly realize that we are indeed a pearl of great price, that will be when Christ’s way becomes our way; when we can step out in faith and make a genuine difference in the lives of other people and in our own as well.

Wheats or Weeds; Them or Me? [7-23-23]

Many of those who listened to Jesus were farmers who could understand that it is difficult to distinguish weeds from wheat when the plants are small. It is only when they have grown taller that the difference becomes easier to see. But by then the roots are so intertwined that the weeds cannot be pulled out without harming the wheat. That can only happen at harvest time. Likewise, it is very difficult for us to accurately judge true and faithful disciples from the crowd because we all pretty much look the same (there, I said it!).  In Jesus' day, the Scribes and Pharisees seemed to be the most religious of all, yet He rejected them for lack of true conversion. They were convinced that they knew for sure who were "weeds" and who were "wheat." And they were also sure that the ones they rejected were rejected by God also. However, Jesus did not see things the same way. Nothing is worse than for us to pass judgment on another’s relationship with God.  Even when we are absolutely convinced, there is undoubtedly something we don’t know. We are not God; and when we judge we take the place of God.  Often times we want a simple solution, so we simply ignore this kind of reasoning, but Jesus is saying that doing so will bring an even harsher judgment upon us.  We can’t let ourselves fall into the trap of being smug, like the Scribes and Pharisees. They were so confident that of course, they were the “wheat” but Jesus is saying that precisely because of their judgmental behavior they would be among the weeds thrown into the fire at harvest time.  The same is true for us today. We have no justification in passing judgment on another and if we do we may put ourselves into the same fire as all the other weeds. If we would only let God do the judging, as my mom would say, we would all be better off.

The Sower, the Seed and the Soil [7-16-23]

Of course, we have heard this parable many times. (Note that I have lengthened the title a bit. I don’t want the soil to feel left out!). However, I wonder if we ever realized its unique characteristics. For instance, I don’t believe there is any parable that Jesus goes to such great lengths to make sure that he disciples understand its meaning. Therefore, it probably makes sense for us to spend some time with it. Jesus certainly did! Another unique characteristic of the parable is that each of the main ingredients (sower, seed, and soil) can stand for us. At times we are called to be the sower who lavishly throws the seed around indiscriminately on good soil and bad. Other times we may be called to be the seed itself-the seed which grows and develops as God would have it do. Still other times we are called to be the good soil that nourishes and provides for the seed so that it can grow. The point of it all is that the sower is going to sow the seed and a harvest is going to be reaped. The only question is how fruitful the har-vest will be. And that is determined by both the lavishness of God and our desire for the seed to be nourished.

My Yoke Fits You [07-09-23]

My Yoke Fits You

I remember what a circus it was when my parents would take us shopping for shoes. I trust that they are going to heaven for that experience alone.  As you might imagine, shoe shopping with the Maloneys was not a very organized affair.  Of course, whether or not it was us shopping for shoes or anyone else, the key to shoe shopping is making sure that at the end of the day, the customer(s) are able to acquire shoes that fit (perhaps in more ways than one!).  However, another element that is integral to successful shoe shopping (at least it was for our clan) was who determined whether or not a particular shoe did in fact, fit. I remember often debating my mother about whether or not a shoe fit me and thinking it was not quite right that she would be contesting my thoughts on that matter at all.  Inevitably, I would tell her that a certain pair fit me and she would tell me that means they must be too big. Then she would practically force another pair of shoes on my feet and I would say that they hurt me.  One time she finally responded to my complaints in a way that she must have wanted to do many times before. She said, “Well, new shoes are supposed to hurt.” Now that did not seem to make any sense to me; not at first anyway.  But then she explained that new shoes have to be broken in and that after a day or so, they should feel much more comfortable.  On the other hand, she knew from experience that a shoe that her children described to her as comfortable in the store, would probably be proven to be too big after the “breaking in” period.  In the time of Jesus, people would know the “yoke” as a harness that was put around the shoulders of oxen so that they could pull the “burdens” or loads that their masters needed them to pull. The yokes had to be custom made for each ox, they could not be too tight or too loose, they had to “fit” or the job simply would not get done.  Jesus is trying to tell us today that the burdens, the crosses, the challenges, that He gives us are ones that He has specially fitted for us because they will give us the best opportunity for us to grow closer to Him. This means a couple of things.  It means that we need to allow Him to determine which burden fits us, just like the Maloney children needed to allow their Mom to determine which were the best fitting shoes. It also means that we need to remember that our burdens need to be broken in.  They probably are not going to feel very comfortable right away. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we should not be bearing any burdens that were not given to us by Jesus, although we do try to do this all the time.  Other people’s burdens are not our burdens.  Jesus tells us to come to Him to because His yoke is easy. It’s the one that fits.

Whatever Happened to Hospitality? [7-02-23]

Hospitality was one of the great virtues of the Bible.  That’s what the story of Elisha in today’s first reading is about. The ancients believed that each person should be welcomed as though one were welcoming God himself.  Jesus moves this virtue into Christian times in today’s Gospel, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple--amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

The virtue of hospitality is far more than being a good host at a dinner party.  Hospitality means encountering the presence of God in others, usually in those whom we least expect.

Sometimes we, get so self-absorbed in our own expressions of spirituality, that we miss the presence of the Lord as he stands right before us in our family or as he knocks on the door of our homes and our lives through other people.  For example, we can make the mistake of thinking that our particular expressions of spirituality be they within the Catholic faith or within the general context of Christianity are exclusive.  If another person doesn’t pray as we pray, express the presence of the Almighty as we express His presence, we might miss the Lord as He is standing right before us in a person that we least expect to meet Him. 

This is what the people of Jesus’ time did.  The scribes and Pharisees were so self-absorbed with their ways of practicing the faith that they missed God speaking through John the Baptist, saying that he was a fanatic, and they missed God’s presence in Jesus, saying that He was just common every day man, eating and drinking like all others. There is a wonderful parable about this in Luke.  Jesus says, “These people are like children in the marketplace.”  Their Moms dragged them there and normally the kids would play, but instead they argued saying, “we played the flute and you wouldn’t dance, we sang a dirge and you wouldn’t weep.” The girls were playing the flute and boys would do the wedding dance of the groomsmen. They would play wedding.  Or the boys would sing a sad song, and the girls were supposed to wail like professional mourners. They would play funeral.  Only the children in the parable wasted time arguing.

The people of Jesus’ day wasted their opportunity to experience the presence of God because they decided what this presence should be like.  So also, we often miss the presence of God in others because we decide what this presence should be like.  We need to let God be God and let God express himself in others, even if this expression is new or even foreign to us. Jesus said, that whoever receives the Him receives the Father. Let’s be sure we understand that Jesus has sent many to us who, though may not be just like us, are worthy of being warmly received by us.

The above was taken from a homily by Father Joseph Pellegrino

What is Fear Preventing You From Doing? [6/25/23]

It is something to think about isn’t it, although we probably don’t want to go there. And here it must be acknowledged that a little bit of fear is a good thing-it can help to keep us safe and even alive. Fear can be a very logical reaction to a situation at hand. But a point that St. Matthew is making is although fear may be a reasonable response and is indeed something to which we should pay attention, we must not let fear by itself control us. We should not let fear prevent us from living as the disciple that Jesus calls us to be. Ultimately, he makes the point that fear can actually lead us to hell. He urged the disciples of 2000 years ago to not let fear prevent them from living their faith in the daylight, even in the face of persecution. He urges us to do the same. He tells us that there truly is no reason to prevent us from living as Jesus commands because He is always there with us and will be through the end of time as long as we keep His commands. And Matthew’s teaching goes farther even than that. He basically tells us that when it comes to the time of our judgment we will not be able to use even our legitimate fears as an excuse for not fulfilling the will of God. Jesus says that if we acknowledge Him before others, He will acknowledge us before God, but if we deny Him before others, He will deny us before God.  Very sobering, indeed, isn’t it? Fear might keep us from doing a lot of things, getting on planes, public speaking, going over bridges, going through tunnels etc. and all this can be very sad indeed. But the ultimate tragedy would be if we let our fear keep us from getting to heaven.

Forty Hours Devotions 2023/ Saint Aloysius Feast Day/Farewell Father Francesco [6-18-23]

Dear Saint Aloysius Parishioners,

We have arrived at a very special moment of grace.  It is time for us to celebrate and proclaim our love for the Eucharist.  It is time to reconcile with the Lord.  It is time to celebrate our parish feast.  It is time for us to celebrate and bid farewell to Father Francesco. 

As has been announced our Forty Hours devotions began on Friday evening.  As I am writing someone has already signed up for all of the half hour adoration time slots through all of Friday night and most of the half hour slots through Saturday and Saturday night.

Father Francesco is giving us his final message as Parochial Vicar and also offering us his farewell blessing throughout the day.  After the 12:30 PM Mass we will process with our Saint Aloysius statue through the streets of Pottstown.  Then we will celebrate with a wonderful luncheon in the Gathering center!  Really it is all about acknowledging the wonderful gifts the Lord has given us; Himself in the Eucharist, our patron, Saint Aloysius, our parish and our dear Father Francesco.

So, to the Lord, we say, “Thank you” from our hearts, souls and very being and to Father Francesco we say with hearts full of love “you are and with God’s grace ever will be…Saint Aloysius!!!!”

We Are Not Alone [06-11-23]

My guess is that many of us have found ourselves at one time or another in our lives facing very difficult circumstances, obstacles or challenges.  Maybe you are in the midst of one of those chapters in your lives right now.   Maybe you’ve felt like, or you feel right now that there is no way you can ever see yourself coming through whatever it is you were or are facing. Maybe during those times, you have had people say something to you, something that you know was meant to be a word of consolation, but those words did not do much consoling. Maybe you have heard those words from close friends, family members or even from priests or religious, and maybe you’ve even said those words to others yourselves because you did not know what else to say.  The words that I am talking about are certainly well intentioned, but they ring hollow, and they probably accomplish more for the one speaking them than they do for the one hearing them.  What are those words? “God does not give you anything that you can’t handle.”  A lot of us have heard those words, haven’t we?  Probably a lot of us have spoken those words as well.  I know that I have spoken them, as a priest to people who were in need of consolation but not for many years now. Why? Because my life experience has taught me that they are simply not true, or at least they are not completely accurate.  I have learned over and over again that God does indeed present me with challenges, with situations, with problems etc. etc. that I cannot handle by myself.  He does so all the time. And why does He do this? Well, I cannot say that I have the absolute answer to this question, but I will offer two of my best thoughts. First, let’s honestly look at things in our lives that we have handled completely by ourselves. How did they turn out?  Did they turn out the way we wanted them to? More importantly, did they turn out the way God wanted them to?   Secondly, and I think this an even better explanation, God wants to be our strength. He wants to be our strength. He wants us to come to Him always and especially in times of great pain, distress and confusion, because He knows that’s what’s best for us. To make those words true we need to say something like this: God does indeed give us challenges that we cannot handle by ourselves, but we are never by ourselves. He is always there, ready to walk with us side by side, hand in hand to share our pain and burdens with us and even to provide us with Himself as nourishment along the way. That’s what we celebrate today, on this solemnity of Corpus Christi; that Jesus is always there for us, as close to us and essential to us as food and drink. “Take and eat, this is my body; take and drink, this is my blood which will be shed for many.”  He does indeed give us challenges that we cannot handle alone, but we are never alone.

The Most Holy Trinity: Some Lessons We Can Learn [06-04-23]

The following is largely a paraphrasing of some reflections and comments from Fr. Anthony Kadavil. There are several lessons we can learn from the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. One is that we are called to respect ourselves and others. We are made in the image and likeness of and are called to live lives that are worthy of being in His presences. We are called to lead lives that are pure and holy and to practice justice and charity. Likewise, we are called to encourage and respect others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit,” who are also called to dwell in the presence of God. Another lesson is that God is the source of our strength and courage. Our trust and faith that God is within us is what gives us the courage to face the difficulties and challenges of our lives. It is His presence in us that enables us to face the persecution that we will experience because of our faith in Him. Thirdly, the Trinity is meant to be the model for our Christian families. The love, unity and joy that is so very much present among the Father, Son and Spirit is an example for us to mirror within our own families. Finally, we are called to become more like the Holy Trinity though all of our relationships. Each of us are called to be in a relationship with others and in a relationship with God. We need to pull ourselves away from the individualism to which society calls us and think in terms of “God, others and me” rather than “me, myself and I.” Like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are called to be builders of love in our families and communities, to reconcile and make peace and to teach the truth. In the end, we can call ourselves Catholic Christians, only insofar as we are in relationship with God and with others.

Pentecost: It's Why I Believe [05-28-23]

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

7th Sunday of Easter Pastor's Corner 2023 [5-21-23]

With today’s celebration of the Seventh Sunday of Easter, we find ourselves between the time when Jesus has left His mission completely up to His Apostles, and before they were fully empowered by the Spirit to accomplish that mission.  That will not come until Pentecost.

For now, it is good for us to reflect on what Jesus says to us today:  “Holy Father, I pray not only for my disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” It seems to me as if what the Lord is saying is that if His teaching and presence to us on this earth are to be of any enduring value, they must be put at the service of the Lord’s will to bring all people together in faith in God the Father, so that the world may know that the Father has sent the Son, and that the Father loves all of us just as He loves His own Son. 

Right here, right now, we need to ask ourselves in a very practical way how the Lord’s gift to us can help us to accomplish the mission that the Lord has put before us. To help us to answer this question we need to look no further than the words that Jesus will speak to us next week on Pentecost Sunday: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words.”

Yes, it always comes down to this: loving Jesus means keeping His commandments. Any accomplishment that we achieve through the grace of God is fulfilled when we give to it the purpose of helping us to better keep His commandments and love Him, which by definition means to love all people as one in union with the Father and the Son.  We do need to ponder this truth, and even be awestruck by it, but at the same time we need to understand one of the lessons of the Ascension. 

Of course, the apostles were completely dazzled and utterly speechless as they saw Jesus ascend into heaven, but they were soon brought back to earth by the words of the angels who said to them: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?”  While we must reflect on the awesomeness of God and His message and His commands and how they relate directly to our accomplishments, we must not fall into the trap of admiring and marveling at Jesus so much that we forget to follow Him, that we forget that we must do what He does.  As Jesus forgives, we must forgive; as Jesus heals, we must be agents of healing; as He loves, we must love. When we get caught between the Ascension and Pentecost, we cannot allow ourselves to become so awestruck by the glory of God that it prevents us from doing His will.  Instead of just “standing there” we need to do His will, in the faith that the Spirit of Pentecost is right around the corner.

Why Hope? [5-14-23]

Why live? Why laugh? Why love? Why hope?  We need to be ready to explain our living, our laughing, our loving and our hoping. Why? Because we are called to do so.  Today’s Second Reading from the first letter of Saint Peter says: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”  We can’t expect others to be hopeful if we can’t give them a reason to hope, so we have to be able to identify our reasons for hope. Now, let me say that while all of us here may well be in many different places on the “hope spectrum,” I would argue that no one in here is hopeless. Some of us are undoubtedly going through very difficult times and facing very difficult circumstances and may feel like they are desperately searching for hope; but searching for hope is indeed a sign of hope.  Maybe you are here precisely because you are searching for hope, you are hoping for hope. If you are hoping for hope, you do have hope. And you can become more hopeful and you can even convey your hope to others once you can identify your reasons for hope. But how do we do that? Well, Saint Peter gives us some wonderful clues. He says, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”  Folks, it always starts there. If Christ is not Lord of our hearts the troubles that we are bound to face will multiply and be compounded, but if He is Lord of our hearts, then we will always have hope and our crosses will be less and they will be more manageable. Saint Peter goes on to say that we must keep our consciences clear so that “when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.”  If Christ is Lord of our hearts and we keep our consciences clear we do indeed provide ourselves with a firm basis for hope and we become examples of hope for others. So basically, if we do what we are supposed to do, we have a basis for hope. And this leads us directly to the Gospel in which Jesus says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” For me, a very practical but stubborn Irishman, the converse of that statement is also true; if you keep His commandments, you will love Him.  Jesus goes on to say that if we keep His commandments, He will ask the Father, and the Father will send us the Spirit, who is of course, our truth and our hope.  So, to sum up today’s message, in order to receive the Spirit who is Hope, we must strive to make Jesus the Lord of our hearts and keep our consciences clear by loving Him through keeping His commandments. My guess is that although some of us may not have been able to articulate it in this way before now, that this is at least part of the reason why many of us came to Church today. But now we can say it and share it with others as a means of explaining our reasons for hope. And you know what we can not only share it with them; we can invite them to come to Church with us!

"Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled" [05-07-23]

When someone loses a job, Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  When someone learns that he, she or someone they love has a serious illness, Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” When someone faces persecution, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” When someone we love dies, Jesus says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Whenever our hearts are troubled in any way, Jesus says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  When we are in the midst of pain, sorrow, distress, injustice and grief, etc. it might seem odd that Jesus would say these words to us, but it is precisely at those times that He does so.  It is when we are in turmoil that we most need to hear those words from Him.  He speaks them to us when we are troubled not because He is out of touch with how we feel, but because He is very much in touch with our pain. Consider this: He spoke these words right after He told His apostles that one of them was going to betray Him; He spoke these words to them as He about to be brutally tortured and crucified. His love and concern for them and for us was and is utterly astonishing. He never stopped trusting in the power and love of His Father. And He lives! Because He lives, He invites, enables and empowers us through these words to gradually move through and overcome our pain and suffering and walk with Him to a place of peace. Because He lives He offers Himself as the Way to eternal life with the Father. Because He lives we must never stop trusting in the power and love of the Father. Because He lives we can bear the crosses that come our way with the full knowledge that we are not alone and that Jesus is leading us to the house of His Father and our Father so that where Jesus is we also may be. Because He lives, we must never ever let our hearts be troubled.

The Good Shepherd [4-30-23]

If we lived in Israel at the time of Jesus, we would instantly relate to what Jesus told us today in the Gospel.  Sheep were the people’s main source of meat, milk and cheese.  They provided wool for clothing.  And they were regularly used for sacrifice in their liturgy.

 If I were to try to think of something in our culture today that would be similar to the relationship of a shepherd to his sheep, the best comparison I can come up with is a mother who needs to care for several toddlers. Just as toddlers depend on their mothers’ care, the sheep depend on the care of their shepherd, and the shepherd, who usually, had dozens of sheep, is kept busy all hours of every day.

 Today’s gospel makes reference to an activity that was part of the shepherd’s daily routine.  Each night, a number of shepherds would come together with their sheep and put them in a common pen.  Then they would sleep as one shepherd would stay awake to guard against thieves or predatory animals.  In the morning, each shepherd would call out for his own sheep to follow him to pasture.  The sheep knew the voice of their own shepherd and would follow only his voice when they were called, and would ignore the calls of the other shepherds.  Remember, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.

Some people are offended to hear themselves compared to sheep.  Maybe that’s because they don’t realize they need God’s constant care at all times and not just when they become aware that they have problems or are in need.

We live in a society where everyone is trying to get our attention.  We constantly are bombarded with commercials information and pseudo information on radio, TV, internet, social media, as well with all kinds of signs, posters and billboards all over highways, streets and buildings trying to catch our eye.  Sometimes, we have a tendency to simply follow the latest message we’ve heard, or sometimes, because we hear so many messages, we might be tempted to just follow the crowd.   However, if we want to follow Jesus, we have to be able to hear and to recognize His voice, from among the many that are competing for our attention.  We have to make a conscious effort to shut out all kinds of other noises so that so that we can listen to Him.  If we don’t do so, we can easily lose touch with Him. More than ever, we must be intentional and proactively seek out His voice. We need to take time to be quiet, to be still, to pray, so that we can stay in touch with the Good Shepherd.

Our Lord does not want to lose any of us.  He wants us to be with Him forever.  He wants to wipe away every tear from our eyes.  He leads us through this very celebration each day and each week. Sheep may not be the most intelligent creatures, but they are smart enough to know that they need their shepherd and to recognize His voice and to seek it out.  May we also be intelligent enough to know that we need Jesus and smart enough to recognize His voice so that He might lead us through the present time to the eternal pasture of Heaven.

Doubting Thomas (continued) [4-23-23]

I am sure that we remember the words that Jesus spoke to Thomas last week.  He said to him “…do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  We might see today’s Gospel, the story of the Road to Emmaus as a continuation of the Thomas story.  In the Emmaus story, Jesus says to the two disciples, “Oh, how foolish you are, how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.”  During this Easter season Jesus makes many apparitions. But these apparitions have a very basic purpose. As my Mom would say, they are “not for nothin’.”  With each apparition He commands His followers to believe.

He demands belief.  He doesn’t beg for it. He doesn’t merely suggest it. He doesn’t stop at the level of invitation.  He demands it.  Unbelief frustrates Him. This may seem a bit odd to us, because we humans are probably more comfortable with the idea that Jesus has to present His case to us, and then we will decide whether or not to believe in Him.  However, Jesus doesn’t see things the way we do. Surprise, surprise! Actually, He judges us based on whether or not we believe. We don’t get to put him through hoops; if anything, it is the other way around. He is always there for us, but still we doubt.  While it is true that He does not force anyone to believe, it also true that He always has the last word. He always did and always will.  He has the last word over Thomas, He has the last word over the Apostles, He has the last word over death and He has the last word over us. Once we realize this, that He has the last word, and that it is good for us that He has the last word and that us believing is something that He commands us to do, it will go much better for us in this life-and in the next.

Are Your Doors Locked? [4-16-23]

So here we are, celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter, the Sunday within the octave of Easter, the Sunday also known as “Mercy Sunday,” and, as per usual, we hear the story of “Doubting Thomas” and we know how that story goes.  The Apostles were locked in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews, the Romans and whatever else might be “out there.” But I don’t think that’s all they were afraid of. I think they were also afraid of what was inside as well. I think they were afraid of what was in their hearts, of the future, of who they were, and how they would go on, even if what was currently “out there” was no longer out there.  Remember, each one of them, with the exception of John, had betrayed Jesus, they failed to stand beside Him in His hour of need. I am pretty sure that a lot of soul searching was going on. I am pretty sure that, yes, they were scared, but I bet they also were pretty remorseful, pretty sorry, pretty regretful, pretty down on themselves. And so, the doors were locked. Do we ever do that? Do we ever lock the doors of our hearts, of our souls, perhaps because partially we are afraid of what’s “out there,” but maybe even more so because of the regret that’s already in our hearts to the point where we just can’t take any more?  I am pretty sure that we do, I am pretty sure that many of us have done this, that many of us are doing it right now, and that many of us will do it again. But that’s where the lesson of this Second, Sunday of Easter, this “Doubting Thomas” Sunday, this Mercy Sunday comes in. Although the doors were locked we are told that Jesus came and stood in their midst. That’s what He did for the disciples, and that’s what He does for us. Imagine, their amazement, but also imagine their shame and their fear because of their guilt?  But what does He bring?  “Peace be with you,” He says to them. He brings mercy and forgiveness and gives them a mission- to forgive the sins of all. That’s what He brings to us, and to our locked hearts. Peace, Mercy, Forgiveness and New Purpose. Amazingly and Unbelievably… Are your doors locked?  They might be able to keep the bad guys out there, but take heart, they won’t be able to keep Jesus out, not if you long for Him.