An Ambassador for Christ

How to Take Up the Cross: Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time A

2011-08-28T08:16:00.000-04:00

When it comes to picking up our cross there are two general attitudes. One says suffering and pain are to be avoided at all costs. Another says we must take up our cross and then God will bless us. Which of these two attitudes, dear brothers and sisters, is the Christian attitude? ... The answer, surprisingly, is neither. In the gospel Christ teaches us not to shun the cross, but he does not say that we are to bear it own our own strength like John Wayne. Rather our giving of ourselves, our self-sacrificing is to be done by God's strength, by the mercies of God, as Paul tells us in the second reading. We know St. Paul as the kind of guy who tried so hard to be perfect. And when he wanted to overcome a certain weakness he prayed and heard Christ say that his grace was enough, that his power is made perfect in weakness. This is why Paul would often say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It was not Paul's ability to face the cross, but Christ's strength enabling Paul to go through being jailed, whipped, lost at sea in a storm and shipwrecked all in his life as a witness to the gospel. Paul was no John Wayne. It was Christ that strengthened him in his prayer and through the sacraments.

We too dear brothers and sisters are called to face trying times. More immediately we have Hurricane Irene bearing down on us. After it has passed, we will be called upon to work for the good of our neighbors, feeding those who are without food, clothing those without clothes, giving shelter to those who have lost their homes, burying the dead, and consoling those who are grieving loss of loved ones or belongings. Where then are we to get this strength? My dear brothers and sisters, it is precisely in our Eucharistic celebration, it is in our prayer that God gives us the strength to face the coming storm and to face the cross of the aftermath. Here we offer to God ourselves, our hands, our feet, our willingness to serve others, and God renews in us the grace of His Holy Spirit, giving us a wellspring from which to draw strength when our hearts our thirsty and tired of giving. It is precisely here that we are called to standout and make a difference. It was by His becoming a human being, by His incarnation that Christ revealed to us the love of God. We too can reveal to others the love that God has given us, the love that God renews in us at this mass, through our works of mercy. It can be something as simple as helping a neighbor repair his fence or helping the elderly woman down the street to clear debris out of her yard. Whatever we chose to do we will be laying down our lives as Christ has asked of us, taking up the cross, with the strength that Christ himself gives us in the Eucharist. May the Lord give you His peace.

Tribulations

2011-08-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

You know what they say about hearing the same thing three times in one day.

I woke up this morning with the song Everlasting God on my heart which of course speaks about drawing one's strength from God in the midst of trials,reminding us that "they that wait upon the Lord will have their strength renewed" (Is 40:31).

I wanted to post the song to my Facebook profile as my song for the day when I found a message from a friend who felt inspired to send me this reflection from the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Book 3, Chapter 47.

EVERY TRIAL MUST BE BORNE FOR THE SAKE OF ETERNAL LIFE

THE VOICE OF CHRIST: MY CHILD, do not let the labors which you have taken up for My sake break you, and do not let troubles, from whatever source, cast you down; but in everything let My promise strengthen and console you. I am able to reward you beyond all means and measure. You will not labor here long, nor will you always be oppressed by sorrows. Wait a little while and you will see a speedy end of evils. The hour will come when all labor and trouble shall be no more. All that passes away with time is trivial. What you do, do well. Work faithfully in My vineyard. I will be your reward. Write, read, sing, mourn, keep silence, pray, and bear hardships like a man. Eternal life is worth all these and greater battles. Peace will come on a day which is known to the Lord, and then there shall be no day or night as at present but perpetual light, infinite brightness, lasting peace, and safe repose. Then you will not say: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" nor will you cry: "Woe is me, because my sojourn is prolonged." For then death will be banished, and there will be health unfailing. There will be no anxiety then, but blessed joy and sweet, noble companionship. If you could see the everlasting crowns of the saints in heaven, and the great glory wherein they now rejoice -- they who were once considered contemptible in this world and, as it were, unworthy of life itself -- you would certainly humble yourself at once to the very earth, and seek to be subject to all rather than to command even one. Nor would you desire the pleasant days of this life, but rather be glad to suffer for God, considering it your greatest gain to be counted as nothing among men. Oh, if these things appealed to you and penetrated deeply into your heart, how could you dare to complain even once? Ought not all trials be borne for the sake of everlasting life? In truth, the loss or gain of God's kingdom is no small matter. Lift up your countenance to heaven, then. Behold Me, and with Me all My saints. They had great trials in this life, but now they rejoice. They are consoled. Now they are safe and at rest. And they shall abide with Me for all eternity in the kingdom of My Father.

Soon after reading this I went over to Church for my Holy Hour. And as today is the Memorial of St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, CSSR, I came across excerpts of his meditation on the advantages of tribulations in my Magnificat.

THE ADVANTAGES OF TRIBULATIONS

What things soever were written were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. (Epistle of Sunday. Rom. xv. 4-13).

In tribulations God enriches His beloved souls with the greatest graces. It is in his chains that St. John comes to the knowledge of the works of Jesus Christ. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which we are chastised have happened for our amendment and not for our destruction (Judith, viii. 27).

I.

By tribulation we atone for the sins we have committed much better than by voluntary works of penance. "Be assured," says St. Augustine, "that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a salutary medicine." Oh, how great is the efficacy of tribulation in healing the wounds caused by our sins! Hence the same Saint rebukes the sinner who complains of God for sending him tribulations. "Why," he says, "do you complain? What you suffer is a remedy, not a punishment." Job called those men happy whom God corrects by tribulation; because He heals them with the very hands by which He strikes and wounds them. Blessed is the man whom God correcteth... For he woundeth and cureth. He striketh, and his hand shall heal (Job v. 17). Hence, St. Paul gloried in his tribulations: We glory also in tribulations (Rom. v. 3).

Tribulations enable us to acquire great merits before God, by giving us opportunities of exercising the virtues of humility, of patience, and of resignation to the divine will. The Blessed John of Avila used to say that one Blessed be God in adversity is worth more than a thousand in prosperity. "Take away," says St. Ambrose, "the contests of the Martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns." Oh, what a treasure of merit is acquired by patiently bearing insults, poverty, and sickness! Insults from men were the great object of the desires of the Saints, who sought to be despised for the love of Jesus Christ, and thus to be made like unto Him.

My Jesus, I have hitherto offended Thee grievously by resisting Thy holy Will. This gives me greater pain than if I had suffered every other evil. I repent of it and I am sorry for it with my whole heart. I deserve chastisement: I do not refuse it: I accept it. Preserve me only from the chastisement of being deprived of Thy love, and then do with me what Thou pleasest. I love Thee, my dear Redeemer! I love Thee, my God! And because I love Thee, I wish to do whatever Thou wishest. Amen.

II.

St. Francis de Sales used to say: "To suffer constantly for Jesus is the science of the Saints; we shall thus soon become Saints." It is by sufferings that God proves His servants, and finds them worthy of Himself. God hath tried them and found them worthy of himself (Wis. iii. 5). Whom, says St. Paul, the Lord loveth he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Heb. xii. 6). Hence, Jesus Christ once said to St. Teresa: "Be assured that the souls dearest to My Father are those who suffer the greatest afflictions." Hence Job said: If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? (Job ii. 10). If we have gladly received from God the goods of this earth, why should we not receive more cheerfully tribulations, which are far more useful to us than worldly prosperity? St. Gregory informs us that, as a flame fanned by the wind increases, so the soul is made perfect when she is oppressed by tribulations.

In fine, the scourges of Heaven are sent, not for our injury, but for our good. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which, like servants, we are chastised, have happened for our amendment and not for our destruction (Judith, viii. 27). "God," says St. Augustine, "is angry when He does not scourge the sinner." When we see a sinner in tribulation in this life, we may infer that God wishes to have mercy on him in the next, and that he exchanges eternal for temporal chastisement. But miserable the sinner whom the Lord does not punish in this life! For those whom He does not chastise here, He treasures up His wrath, and for them He reserves eternal chastisement.

O Will of God, Thou art my love! O Blood of Jesus, Thou art my hope! I hope to be from this day forward always united to Thy Divine Will. It shall be my guide, my desire, my love, my hope. Thy Will be done! My Jesus, through Thy merits grant me the grace always to repeat: Thy Will be done! Thy Will be done!

Ah, my blessed Mother Mary, thou hast been pleased to suffer so much for me, obtain for me, by thy merits, sorrow for my sins, and patience under the trials of life which will always be light in comparison with my demerits for I have often deserved hell. Immaculate Virgin, from thee do I hope for help to bear all crosses with patience. Amen.

So I guess I am to infer that God is preparing me for tribulations. And if that be His holy will, then blessed be God!

Back in the US of A.

2011-08-01T09:35:00.000-04:00

So, I've been back in the US since March assigned again in the same parish I was before going down to Honduras. I have just been lazy in posting to my blog. Some day I will write up a reflection on my time in Central America and how I saw God's providence even in taking from me the thing I thought He was calling me to: namely mission work.

A New Assignment: Honduras

2010-08-08T14:45:00.000-04:00

As of August 10th, 2010, I will be transferred down to Honduras. Here is a little blurb I wrote up for the parish bulletin that explains the situation. Names have been removed for privacy sake.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dear brothers and sisters,

When my provincial asked me this summer to consider an immediate transfer to Honduras, my heart sank. I asked myself: who would want to give up the fraternal support of Fr. X and Br. Y and the warmth and vibrancy of the people of St. Z? And yet as I began praying over this decision I remembered, from when I first started discerning a call to religious life, how much I wanted to be generous in my response to God’s love and to let Him do with me as He wills. In 2008, the last time I was in our missions in Central America, my prayer as to whether I was to come to the missions after seminary was answered with what I discerned to be God’s reply of “not yet”. I asked what I was to do in the interim and was shown that God had growth in a particular area in mind for me. So my discernment in response to my provincial’s proposal was not a matter of asking God “if” He was asking me to go, but rather “when”. My own plans were that I spend three to five years in the US as a priest before going to the missions, and I had hoped that I could stay here for that. Yet as I prayed over the decision for a few days, I noticed that God was reminding me of the generosity to which He was calling me and showing me that the area of growth He wanted from me was near completion. So, fully aware of my limitations, but with trust in God, I answered “yes”.

At the same time I realized the answer, I became acutely aware that by placing more trust in God and being more generous in my response to God’s will, I would be, in fact, asking Fr. X, Br. Y and the entire community at St. Z to place more trust in God and to be more generous to God in their response to His love, to dedicate themselves more to the Lord’s work for His people, the Church. Though I do not leave easily, I can only hope that the void left will inspire others to lend a hand to help the parish fulfill its God given mission of evangelizing the families of D... . I also hope that some of our youth may discern God calling them to the consecrated religious life and some of the young men to priesthood.

I thank you for opening your hearts and home to me and for your well wishes and prayers. Please know that I will also be praying for you and offering the sacrifices of mission work for you and your families. ... God bless you all.

Peace and Good,

Fr. Chris Gaffrey, OFM

Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

2010-08-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

Here is my homily for this Sunday, August 8th. (Note: I never deliver a homily the way I write it).

If the greatest thing we can do while on earth is truly love God and our neighbors, than faith is the first step toward loving. In the gospel Jesus tells His disciples to not be afraid, that the Father is pleased to give them the Kingdom. By doing so, Jesus is asking them to have faith in God, to believe that God is indeed present in their lives in a way that is not seen with our physical eyes, but discerned through the eyes of faith.

Knowing that God is near that His providence is at work in our lives calms our anxieties over our daily needs and enables us to hope in God for our welfare. No longer afraid for ourselves, but trusting in God and confident He will provide should we be lacking, we no longer cling to possessions, to the excess just in case, but are able instead to open our hearts and turn our attention to those who have-not, to be willing to give to others in light of God’s goodness to us now and in light of the reward awaiting those who are truly God’s servants, those who served their fellow men and women in need.

Oddly enough we have a bad example in the steward who begins to beat his fellow servants and is busy eating and getting drunk on the very food and drink he should have been distributing to his fellow servants. What went wrong with this servant? Why did he stop doing the master’s will and turn instead into a selfish servant? Jesus tells us he began to think that his master was delayed in coming.

We too can begin to think that “our master is delayed in coming” when we begin to think that God does not actually want to have anything to do with us, when we question whether He is even present in our daily lives. We too can easily get caught up in fear and selfishness when we forget that God is indeed present in our lives even when we can’t “see” it.

The stronger our faith, the more we hope to receive from God, the more we let God love us and are willing to give back to God in love. One example of this is Abraham who the letter to the Hebrews extols as an All-Star of faith. Abraham had just as many difficulties to face as we do, if not more, and yet he always faced them with God, firmly depending on Him and not relying on his own strength. As a result Abraham grew steadily in wisdom and holiness. He trusted God and hoped for all things from Him, and God was able to advance his plan of salvation through him, preparing Abraham to be willing to give all back to God and to do all for the good of others.

Abraham is an example that we are called to imitate. We too are called to follow God no matter what. We too are called to let God do wonderful things for us and through us. But if we want to have greater hope and if we want to love more we need great faith that is strong and mature. The question that comes to us today is how can we grow in our faith? The answer is just as easy as developing strong mature muscles. Just as we need to eat carbs and protein to build muscles, we need to feed our faith on the sacraments and prayer, just as we are doing here today at mass. And just as we exercise our muscles, likewise we need to exercise our faith. One way we can exercise our faith is to say small, spontaneous, and sincere acts of faith, mini-prayers, every day, in the quiet of our hearts. When we see a beautiful sunset or feel the tangy ocean breeze, to say, "Thank you Lord; I believe in you." When we visit a loved one who is sick or dying, to say, "Lord, I believe in you; don't abandon this person, give them strength." When we experience life's sorrows, to say, "Lord, you suffered for me; teach me to suffer with faith for you." When we experience life's joys, to say, "Lord, this is just a small hint of your love for me; teach me to believe in you more deeply." Today, when Jesus comes to us in Holy Communion, let's consciously exercise our faith. And let's promise that we will continue exercising it all week, so it will grow, and we will be able to live life to the full, hoping in God and loving Him and our neighbors both now and for all eternity. May the Lord give you peace.

Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

2010-08-08T14:31:00.000-04:00

Here is my homily for last Sunday, August 1st.

This is one of those gospel passages that can really puzzle us if we don’t understand what is happening. Here is a man who comes to Jesus with a real problem. His brother is trying to make off with most of the inheritance. He asks Jesus to step in and arbitrate, to get his brother to give him his share. Yet Jesus refuses to do so. Instead he tells a parable about a man who is so busy searching out wealth and luxury that he dies without having had any regard for what comes after this life. In essence, Jesus is telling this man: don’t be so concerned with this life that you end up taking your eye off the prize, the gift of eternal life in heaven. How true this is and the readings today are chocked full of reminders.

We hear in the first reading how pointless and vain it is to work so hard without any thought for our soul or for our salvation. In the psalm we prayed that God give us wisdom to realize that this world is passing and that we need to be attentive to God’s voice to show us what is really worth working for, what labors of ours truly bear lasting fruit. In the gospel we hear how the man in the parable spent so much time working that he did not prepare his soul for death and all his earthly treasure went to others.

Jesus reminds us that it is important to be rich in what matters to God, and in the second reading, St. Paul reminds us what that prize is that is truly worth working toward. He tells us to keep our eye on the prize of our life in Christ, not only that life in Christ that we already possess even now, but that future life of glory that we will live with Christ after death. Paul reminds us that we are to be busy at putting an end to the reign of sin in our lives and to seek Christ as our all. In no way does this mean we shouldn’t work for the things of this earth. We don’t hear the author of Ecclesiastes, St. Paul, or Jesus condemning our earthly work. Instead they are simply reminding us that the good things of this world are not the end all and be all of our lives. Instead, the prize is our life with God, our victory over sin and death in Christ Jesus, our becoming saints with the help of the Holy Spirit.

There once was a young man from a wealthy and influential family, whose father owned a prominent newspaper firm. Despite his father’s financial success this young man was more interested in helping the poor than he was at securing his inheritance or making a name for himself in politics and business. He deeply loved Christ, went to mass daily and prayed the rosary three times a day. Yet his devotion and faith did not stop him from continuing his studies, going on hiking trips with friends and looking to better the plight of the poor with social activism. One cold night, when he returned home without his coat, his frugal father scolded him for having given it to a poor old man. The young man replied “But you see, father, it was cold.” This young man’s name was Pier Giorgio Frassati, who Pope John Paul II beatified and called a man of the beatitudes. Upon Pier Giorgio’s death the greatest outpouring of love was not from the social elite that his family knew and not from his circle of friends, but rather from the poor of Turin, who had no idea that Pier Giorgio was even from such an influential family. Blessed Pier Giorgio understood that it is necessary for us to keep our eyes on the prize, that living for Christ and for others, becoming saints, is more important than riches and wealth.

Not all of us are called to the kind of charity practiced by Blessed Pier Giorgio, especially since not many of us come from rich and influential families. However, like Blessed Pier Giorgio, we are all called to keep our focus on Christ, our eyes on the prize of eternal life. This may seem a bit difficult today, but it is not impossible. Today we live in a society that values work and recreation. We work so that we can afford the pleasures of television, movies, vacations, sports. After the recreation, we go back to work. Yet all too often we can get trapped in the idea that we work so as to afford recreation and do recreation in order to take a break from work. In the midst of this pendulum between the toil of work and the pleasure of recreation we can easily loose sight of why we are here in the first place.

One way we can keep our eye on the prize and not forget that our life in Christ is what is most valuable is for us to plan out time for a retreat. This doesn’t have to mean going off for a few days to a monastery to pray, though if we did that it certainly wouldn’t hurt. However, going on retreat, taking some time to be silent and pray can be as simple as scheduling an evening where the tv, computers, cell-phones and video games are turned off and the family can gather for the rosary or for reading a passage of the gospel and sharing one’s reflections on it. Or ‘a retreat’ could be as simple as scheduling one day in the midst of vacation for silent prayer, or for visiting a holy site, like a monastery, a shrine, or a basilica. For those who like to travel on their vacations, the idea of taking time for a retreat could be as simple as arranging to go some place on pilgrimage instead of simply touring. No matter what for our retreat may take, it can be for us the perfect opportunity to take inventory in our lives, to see where we are going, how we are living, if we are truly happy, and for us to not take our eyes off the prize of the life that God calls us to live in Christ. May the Lord give you Peace.

Independence Day and True Freedom

2010-07-04T18:25:00.000-04:00

Here is my homily for the 14 Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 4th, 2010. The reading may be found here.

Today our nation celebrates the freedom that we have because of our independence from the King of England. The liturgy has the church celebrating the freedom that we have because of our dependence on the King of Heaven and Earth. We as Americans remember how the Sons of Liberty struggled to throw off the reign of tyranny in order that we might live in a country built on freedom. And as Catholics the gospel presents to us disciples throwing off the reign of evil so that, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we may enjoy the liberty of the sons and daughters of God. As citizens of New Hampshire, today we celebrate in a special way the state motto “Live Free or Die”. And as Catholics we recognize the eternal truth in that statement that unless we live free from sin, we will indeed die spiritually and not come to enjoy the blessings of eternal life promised us by God.

Yet on this Independence Day, a day we celebrate freedom, the good news given to us is that we can indeed live in the freedom of the sons and daughters of God, free of the power of sin in our lives, that we can indeed become saints, in and through our dependence on God.

With God, what seems impossible to us is possible. After the people of God had been scattered and Jerusalem had been destroyed, it seemed impossible to our ancestors in the faith that their nation would ever be restored. And yet as Isaiah announces in the first reading, God brings about what is beyond our human capacity. He promises to restore Jerusalem, to comfort his people as mother comforts her child, and this promise He fulfills.

In the gospel, Jesus sends out 72 disciples, giving them authority over evil spirits, and they come back rejoicing that what had seemed impossible to them was made possible by God, that they might be able to overcome the power of sin and evil in their lives and help be instruments of God's Kingdom in the lives of others.

Saint Paul reminds us of how important it is for us to become new creations, that as important as the our rites and sacraments are, they mean nothing if one is not willing to break free from the reign of sin in one's life. This is why at mass we recall our sins and ask God for pardon and the strength to to break from sin. This is why in the sacrament of reconciliation when we say the act of contrition we express, not only our sorrow over our sins, but also our intention to pick up where we left off in our struggle against sin and its power over us, so as to reform our lives and sin no more.

St. Paul also stresses how important the power of Christ's cross is. He does not boast of his own ability to be righteous but in the power over sin that Christ has given him (Paul) in and through His death on the cross. This is why Paul speaks of being crucified with Christ.

Being free from sin and becoming a new creation can seem impossible to us. Often we tend to fall into the same sins, and we can get discouraged. We can even begin to think it impossible for us to not give in to a certain temptation. And yet Jesus Christ overcame sin and death through his cross and resurrection. To his disciples he gave the “power to 'tread upon serpents' and scorpions ... upon the full force of the enemy”, that is power to overcome sin and to resist temptation. Not only that, but as he does in the gospel, Jesus also warns us when we are about to fall into sin. The disciples come back from having done so many amazing things and are overjoyed. Yet Jesus warns them about one of the most sneaky temptations to sin, the temptation to spiritual pride, that is getting puffed up in one's own not so humble opinion of one's self. Jesus reminds them that it is not so important what they are able to do but that God so loves them that He has revealed himself to them in order to free them from sin and bring them into the joys of His Kingdom. So we see a couple of things that may surprise us. Jesus give his disciples the ability to overcome sin and temptation through a sharing in his power and his authority. But Jesus also has his disciples' backs. He warns them when they are in danger of sinning. If this is what he does for his disciples in the gospel, can he not also do this for us? He can indeed do this. This was indeed His plan when He gave us “power from on high” in the person of the Holy Spirit. God is with us in our own struggle for spiritual freedom. And if God is for us, who can be against us. As long as we persevere in our struggle against sin and not get discouraged at our own lack of results.

One such saint who struggled and did not let herself get discouraged was St. Therese of Lisieux. Despite realizing her inability to do great penances or to pray without being distracted or without occasionally falling asleep, and even coming to terms with her own personal struggles, St. Therese took comfort in the words of Isaiah, “As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” Therese decided to trust God in her smallness and follow what would be called the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood. Because of the prophetic value to the Church of her teaching of simple childlike trust in God, Pope John Paul II declared her to be a doctor of the church in 1997.

We have a great need for Therese's childlike simplicity and dependence on God's goodness. In a world that prides itself on rugged individualism, on know-how and technology, we can easily begin to rely on our own strength and our own capabilities even in the spiritual life. And yet our true freedom, our true strength and joy, come not from declaring and proving our independence from God, but from recognizing our very dependence on His goodness, on His mercy, on His grace and on His love.

To help us cultivate our trust in God in imitation of St. Therese we can practice what's called an attitude of gratitude. Often times we look at our lives in terms of successes and pleasures that are tangible instead of remembering that our true happiness comes from God. We tend to take our eyes off the prize of heaven and forget that God is completely and totally for us and on our side when it comes to our spiritual life and our sanctification. To counter this tendency we can take some time to count our blessings, to remember that our names our written in heaven. Whether at the end of the day or on the way to work or especially when we feel down and out, we can take the time look back and think of all the blessings God has given us, the very gift of life that we so often take for granted, the friends and family members, who at the least have been there for us or provided for our needs, the many small ways that God has answered our prayers, even going so far to recognize the good things that have come from suffering and trials. All these can help us to see God's hand at work in our lives.

If we take time to count our blessings we can indeed grow in the hope and the trust that God is on our side and that God is for us, and that through Christ's passion and cross, He will indeed give us the strength and power to live free from sin, to cast off the tyranny of temptation, and to celebrate our true freedom as sons and daughters of God. This Independence Day, we Catholics celebrate our true freedom, because in God, and in His power to overcome sin at work in our lives, we trust.

Rumor Has It...

2010-03-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

... "that they have approved the miracle, and Ven. John Paul II will be beatified in April."

"No, rumor has it that the Ven. John Paul II will be beatified in October..."

The rumors are only that: rumors. The process for the recognition of a miracle is more complicated. First the local diocese has to investigate, which Aix and Arles in France did in regard to Sr. Marie Simon. They submitted the report of their Process "Super Miro" to the Postulator, who then submitted it to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. But the congregation doesn't look at supposed miracles until a declaration of heroic virtue is issued by the Holy Father.

And that process begins with the Postulator writing a "Positio" or "position," which gets submitted to a committee of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. After the committee decides to accept the "Positio" it moves on to the vote of the entire Congregation. When they have approved the "Positio", they ask the Holy Father to issue the decree of heroic virtue, declaring that the Servant of God is indeed "venerable." That happened for JPII this past December.

Now the supposed miracle submitted to the Postulator by the Diocese of Aix and Arles goes through a similar process. A certain committee in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has to approve it, submit it to the vote of the entire Congregation and then the Congregation presents it to His Holiness for his final decision. When the Holy Father signs the approval of the miracle, we will know because Vatican Information Service will issue a press release with the news of the Holy Father signing various decrees recognizing miracles.

He just did that Saturday (March 27th) and the miracle attributed to John Paul II was not among them. Even if it were, a beatification would not be scheduled so soon after the signing of the recognition of the miracle. It would be scheduled at least 6 months later as that amount of time to plan for the event would be necessary.

So there is no way the rumor that John Paul II is going to be beatified in April is true, and unless the Holy Father signs more decrees from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in April, it does not look like the rumor that John Paul II will be beatified in October holds any water either.

The thing to remember is that there are thousands upon thousands of causes open and under investigation, and the number of people working on the committee in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints can be counted on one hand. So, they will get to the miracle attributed to JPII when they get to it. And when they do get to it, it will not be signed by the Holy Father until everyone has had their say. We just need to be patient.

Once a recognition of a miracle attributed to John Paul II is signed by the Holy Father, please be sure to add six months to a year to that date for all your rumors about when John Paul II's beatification will take place.

The Real St. Patrick

2010-03-17T11:28:00.000-04:00

Here's a little prayer connected to St. Patrick to counteract the false notion that today should be about getting drunk, wearing green, and being kissed (and more) simply because one claims to be Irish.

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh! -- The Blessings of the Feast of St. Patrick to you all!

Listening to the Word of God

2010-03-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

At Youth Group last night we were discussing listening to the Word of God with humility from the Imitation of Christ.

How all the words of God are to be heard with humility, and how many consider them not:
"My Son, hear My words, for My words are most sweet, surpassing all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of this world. My words are spirit, and they are life, and are not to be weighed by man's understanding. They are not to be drawn forth for vain approbation, but to be heard in silence, and to be received with all humility and with deep love."
And I said, "Blessed is the man whom Thou teachest, O Lord, and instructest him in Thy law, that Thou mayest give him rest in time of adversity, and that he be not desolate in the earth."

One of the things that was discussed is that listening to the Word of God is more than simply reading scripture or obeying the commandments, as important as these are. Listening to the Word of God also means hearing God speak to us in the depths of our hearts in the midst of our daily lives.

When one encounters God directly speaking to us where we are at, we begin to see that He really does love us and is looking after us, that He is not a "far off God", but one who draws near to us.

NOTE CONCERNING DECREE ON THE HEROIC VIRTUES OF PIUS XII

2009-12-23T13:49:00.002-05:00

VATICAN CITY, 23 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today issued the following note concerning the signing of the recent decree on the heroic virtues of Servant of God Pope Pius XII.

"The Pope's signing of the decree 'on the heroic virtues' of Pius XII has elicited a certain number of reactions in the Jewish world; perhaps because the meaning of such a signature is clear in the area of the Catholic Church and of specialists in the field, but may merit certain explanation for the larger public, in particular the Jewish public who are understandably very sensitive to all things concerning the historical period of World War II and the Holocaust.

"When the Pope signs a decree 'on the heroic virtues' of a Servant of God - i.e., of a person for whom a cause for beatification has been introduced - he confirms the positive evaluation already voted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. ... Naturally, such evaluation takes account of the circumstances in which the person lived, and hence it is necessary to examine the question from a historical standpoint, but the evaluation essentially concerns the witness of Christian life that the person showed (his intense relationship with God and continuous search for evangelical perfection) ... and not the historical impact of all his operative decisions".

"At the beatification of Pope John XXIII and of Pope Pius IX, John Paul II said: 'holiness lives in history and no saint has escaped the limits and conditioning which are part of our human nature. In beatifying one of her sons, the Church does not celebrate the specific historical decisions he may have made, but rather points to him as someone to be imitated and venerated because of his virtues, in praise of the divine grace which shines resplendently in them'.

"There is, then, no intention in any way to limit discussion concerning the concrete choices made by Pius XII in the situation in which he lived. For her part, the Church affirms that these choices were made with the pure intention of carrying out the Pontiff's service of exalted and dramatic responsibility to the best of his abilities. In any case, Pius XII's attention to and concern for the fate of the Jews - something which is certainly relevant in the evaluation of his virtues - are widely testified and recognised, also by many Jews.

"The field for research and evaluation by historians, working in their specific area, thus remains open, also for the future. In this specific case it is comprehensible that there should be a request to have open access to all possibilities of research on the documents. ... Yet for the complete opening of the archives - as has been said on a number of occasions in the past - it is necessary to organise and catalogue an enormous mass of documentation, something which still requires a number of years' work.

"As for the fact that the decree on the heroic virtues of Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII were promulgated on the same day, this does not mean that from now on the two causes will be 'paired'. They are completely independent of one another and each will follow its own course. There is, then, no reason to imagine that any future beatification will take place together".

"It is, then, clear that the recent signing of the decree is in no way to be read as a hostile act towards the Jewish people, and it is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church. Rather we trust that the Pope's forthcoming visit to the Synagogue of Rome will be an opportunity for the cordial reiteration and reinforcement of ties of friendship and respect".

OP/DECREE PIUS XII/LOMBARDI VIS 091223 (660)

Venerabile Est!

2009-12-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

Good news! Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree today recognizing the heroic virtue of the Servant of God John Paul II. This means he's now the Venerable John Paul II. This means all that remains for beatification is the vote of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints on the miracle already attributed to him and the approval of the Pope recognizing the miracle, should the Congregation approve it.

Bl. JP II in 2010? It's possible. But we await the prudent timing of Rome.

Also interesting is that Pius XII is now Venerable Pius XII.

"Dignity" or Right to Reject Moral Teaching

2009-12-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

There is a sad note today in the body of Christ as a whole, as an ecclesial community "elects" as bishop yet another person who has embraced a lifestyle contrary to the moral teachings of Christ, His holy apostles, and two millennia of Christian tradition.

Those advocating the election of someone who is living with a lover of the same sex claim that this is about respecting the dignity of such a person. In other words, it is necessary, according to them, to elect this person in order that their dignity may be upheld.

But the issue is really not about dignity. That person would have their dignity no matter what, even if they are living in sin, though they would not be living according to the dignity of the sons and daughters of God. Still they would need to be respected as a person. But respect as a person does not mean you elect them to a position within the body of Christ that requires, even demands, a spotless moral life (which is why it is a serious scandal when people in said position do not live according to the mystery of the passion of Christ and fall into serious sin). It seems apparent that the real issue at stake is not a pseudo-claim at dignity but rather an attempt to reaffirm this particular denomination's rejection of the centuries of Christian moral teaching.

And that teaching is clear:

The tendency of same sex attraction, though disordered in its nature, is not in itself a sin, since that tendency is not the moral choice of the person with said tendency. Such persons are called to chastity outside of the sacrament of matrimony (just like everyone else).

Persons with same sex attraction are not to be discriminated against due to their tendency.

However, in the case of a person who engages in the sin of same sex intercourse, it is right for the Church to exclude from certain offices such a person based on the bad example of their moral life. Since the act of same sex intercourse is within the decision making capability of the person with same sex attraction, that act can indeed be deemed culpable to the person. Of course, moral theologians explain that the severity of the culpability may be mitigated by the psychological maturity of the person or due to other factors, etc, and so though the sin itself is to be condemned as grave, none of us can condemn the person (say they are going to hell). However, we are called to solicite the conscience of the person (remind them of the gravity of the sin) that they may repent so that they may not be lost, should they be gravely culpable. None of this is to cast dispersion upon the dignity of the person with same sex attraction, but rather to be sure that they do not sin and infringe upon their own dignity and the dignity of holiness that Christ looks to bestow upon us.

No. We do not have the right as Christians to place those who are living immorally into positions of leadership and those in such positions will have a greater accounting before the judgment seat of Christ (I tremble myself when I think of this). Neither should we Christians mask the rejection of Christian moral teaching under the guise of respecting dignity. This is an age old trick of hiding evil under the mask of good (though I am not claiming that those who are saying they are "respecting dignity" are aware that they are masking evil under the guise of good... they could simply be deceived.).

An Examination of Faith

2009-11-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

This summer while on retreat, I was told by my Jesuit retreat director that Faith is actually a four-fold virtue that gets broken down into Fiducia, Visio, Fidelitas, and Assentio. Fiducia stands for trust in God as one trusts in close friends, Visio for the outlook or vision on life that faith provides, Fidelitas for the fidelity of pereservance through trials and failures, and Assentio for the assent of the intellect to the truths of the faith.

So, one way to examine one's faith could simply be to ask...

Where is my faith weak?

Follow the way of Christ despite trials and failure?
Allow faith to shape my outlook on life?

DO I...

Trust in God as a loving Father who is the source of all good?
Hold as true and holy all that the Catholic Church teaches in regards to faith and morals?

This Thanksgiving, I Believe in Jesus Christ

2009-11-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade had as its theme song a tune whereby people proclaimed that they believe in the miracle of love because they believe in Santa Claus. At the end of the parade, Santa Claus wishes everyone "Happy Thanksgiving to one and all."

There was a time when I was a kid that it was understood that Santa Claus is associated with Christmas. And I still remember the Macy's Santa saying the typical "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas" at the end of the parade.

Does Macy's need a reminder of who Santa Claus is, that he is really the culture's interpretation of Saint Nicholas, whose feast is celebrated Dec 6th and, in the European countries that celebrate him, is often accompanied with gifts? Or just on a purely cultural level, do we need to remind Macy's that Clement Clarke Moore's poem Twas the Night Before Christmas, describing a visit from St. Nicholas, ends "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night"?

Perhaps. And I for one would just like to testify today that I believe in the miracle of love because I believe in Jesus Christ, who, by the way, inspired St. Nicholas. So without Jesus, there is no Santa Claus. I think I'll be writing Macy's a courteous letter lest they forget the real reason for the season.

In More Reparation for the Offenses Against the Sacred Heart of Jesus This Evening

2009-10-31T22:21:00.000-04:00

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord,
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart.
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Let us pray
Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.

In Reparation for the Blasphemies Against the Holy Name of Jesus This Evening

2009-10-31T22:19:00.002-04:00

V. Lord, have mercy on us.
R. Christ, have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear us.
R. Jesus, graciously hear us.
V. God the Father of Heaven
R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Holy Spirit,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Holy Trinity, one God,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, Son of the living God, R. Have mercy on us.
Jesus, splendor of the Father, [etc.]
Jesus, brightness of eternal light.
Jesus, King of glory.
Jesus, sun of justice.
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus, most amiable.
Jesus, most admirable.
Jesus, the mighty God.
Jesus, Father of the world to come.
Jesus, angel of great counsel.
Jesus, most powerful.
Jesus, most patient.
Jesus, most obedient.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
Jesus, lover of chastity.
Jesus, lover of us.
Jesus, God of peace.
Jesus, author of life.
Jesus, example of virtues.
Jesus, zealous lover of souls.
Jesus, our God.
Jesus, our refuge.
Jesus, father of the poor.
Jesus, treasure of the faithful.
Jesus, good Shepherd.
Jesus, true light.
Jesus, eternal wisdom.
Jesus, infinite goodness.
Jesus, our way and our life.
Jesus, joy of Angels.
Jesus, King of the Patriarchs.
Jesus, Master of the Apostles.
Jesus, teacher of the Evangelists.
Jesus, strength of Martyrs.
Jesus, light of Confessors.
Jesus, purity of Virgins.
Jesus, crown of Saints.
V. Be merciful, R. spare us, O Jesus.
V. Be merciful, R. graciously hear us, O Jesus.
V. From all evil, R. deliver us, O Jesus.
From all sin, deliver us, O Jesus.
From Your wrath, [etc.]
From the snares of the devil.
From the spirit of fornication.
From everlasting death.
From the neglect of Your inspirations.
By the mystery of Your holy Incarnation.
By Your Nativity.
By Your Infancy.
By Your most divine Life.
By Your labors.
By Your agony and passion.
By Your cross and dereliction.
By Your sufferings.
By Your death and burial.
By Your Resurrection.
By Your Ascension.
By Your institution of the most Holy Eucharist.
By Your joys.
By Your glory.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. spare us, O Jesus.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. graciously hear us, O Jesus.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. have mercy on us, O Jesus.
V. Jesus, hear us.
R. Jesus, graciously hear us.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, You have said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you." Grant, we beg of You, to us who ask it, the gift of Your most divine love, that we may ever love You with our whole heart, in word and deed, and never cease praising You.
Give us, O Lord, as much a lasting fear as a lasting love of Your Holy Name, for You, who live and are King for ever and ever, never fail to govern those whom You have solidly established in Your love. R. Amen.

In Reparation Against All the Offenses Against the Blessed Virgin Mary This Evening

2009-10-31T22:11:00.002-04:00

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven,

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary,

pray for us.

Holy Mother of God,

pray for us.

Holy Virgin of virgins,

pray for us.

Mother of Christ,

pray for us.

Mother of divine grace,

pray for us.

Mother most pure,

pray for us.

Mother most chaste,

pray for us.

Mother inviolate,

pray for us.

Mother undefiled,

pray for us.

Mother most amiable,

pray for us.

Mother most admirable,

pray for us.

Mother of good counsel,

pray for us.

Mother of our Creator,

pray for us.

Mother of our Savior,

pray for us.

Virgin most prudent,

pray for us.

Virgin most venerable,

pray for us.

Virgin most renowned,

pray for us.

Virgin most powerful,

pray for us.

Virgin most merciful,

pray for us.

Virgin most faithful,

pray for us.

Mirror of justice,

pray for us.

Seat of wisdom,

pray for us.

Cause of our joy,

pray for us.

Spiritual vessel,

pray for us.

Vessel of honor,

pray for us.

Singular vessel of devotion,

pray for us.

Mystical rose,

pray for us.

Tower of David,

pray for us.

Tower of ivory,

pray for us.

House of gold,

pray for us.

Ark of the Covenant,

pray for us.

Gate of Heaven,

pray for us.

Morning star,

pray for us.

Health of the sick,

pray for us.

Refuge of sinners,

pray for us.

Comforter of the afflicted,

pray for us.

Help of Christians,

pray for us.

Queen of angels,

pray for us.

Queen of patriarchs,

pray for us.

Queen of prophets,

pray for us.

Queen of apostles,

pray for us.

Queen of martyrs,

pray for us.

Queen of confessors,

pray for us.

Queen of virgins,

pray for us.

Queen of all saints,

pray for us.

Queen conceived without Original Sin,

pray for us.

Queen assumed into Heaven,

pray for us.

Queen of the most holy Rosary,

pray for us.

Queen of peace,

pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we Thy Servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, be delivered from present sorrow and unjoy enternal happiness. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

In Reparation for the Offenses Against the Church This Evening

2009-10-31T21:39:00.004-04:00

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Jesus, hear us. God, the Father of Heaven, God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, God, the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God, Holy Mary, St. Joseph, Renowned offspring of David, Light of Patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster father of the Son of God, Diligent protector of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most strong, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of artisans, Glory of home life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the wretched, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world. He made him the lord of his household.			Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Jesus, graciously hear us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. spare us, O Lord. graciously hear us, O Lord. Have mercy on us And prince over all his possessions.
Let us pray, --- O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever. Saint Joseph, pray for us.

In Reparation: For Those Who We Truly Honor This Evening

2009-10-31T21:29:00.003-04:00

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.			Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, one God,			have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, All you Holy Angels and Archangels, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon, St. Jude, St. Matthias, St. Barnabas, St. Luke, St. Mark, All you holy Apostles and Evangelists, All you holy Disciples of the Lord, All you holy Innocents,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, Sts. John and Paul, Sts. Cosmos and Damian, All you holy Martyrs,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Sylvester, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Martin, St. Nicholas, All you holy Bishops and Confessors, All you holy Doctors,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Anthony, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, All you holy Priests and Levites, All you holy Monks and Hermits,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agatha, St. Lucy, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Anastasia, St. Catherine, St. Clare, All you holy Virgins and Widows, All you holy Saints of God,			pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
Lord, be merciful, From all evil, From all sin, From your wrath, From a sudden and unprovided death, From the snares of the devil, From anger, hatred, and all ill-will, From the spirit of uncleanness, From lightning and tempest, From the scourge of earthquake, From plague, famine, and war, From everlasting death,			Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people.
By the mystery of your holy Incarnation, By your Coming, By your Birth, By your Baptism and holy fasting, By your Cross and Passion, By your Death and Burial, By your holy Resurrection, By your wonderful Ascension, By the coming of the Holy Spirit, On the day of judgment,			Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people.
Be merciful to us sinners,			Lord, hear our prayer.
That you will spare us, That you will pardon us, That it may please you to bring us to true penance, Guide and protect your holy Church, Preserve in holy religion the Pope, and all those in holy Orders, Humble the enemies of holy Church, Give peace and unity to the whole Christian people, Bring back to the unity of the Church all those who are straying, and bring all unbelievers to the light of the Gospel, Strengthen and preserve us in your holy service, Raise our minds to desire the things of heaven, Reward all our benefactors with eternal blessings, Deliver our souls from eternal damnation, and the souls of our brethren, relatives, and benefactors, Give and preserve the fruits of the earth, Grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed, That it may please You to hear and heed us, Jesus, Son of the Living God,			Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,			Spare us, O Lord! Graciously hear us, O Lord! Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us, Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.			Christ, graciously hear us Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Trick and Treat

2009-10-31T19:22:00.000-04:00

As a little means of evangelization this evening, the trick-or-treaters have had to answer me not these questions three, but this question one, ere the candy they see:

What does "Halloween" mean?

One kids response sticks with me:
"Dressing up in costumes?"

I said, "No, it stands for All Hallows Eve, the Eve of All Hallows, which today we call All Saints Day."

"Isn't All Saints Day the day after Halloween?"

"Exactly, hence the 'Eve' part, like Christmas Eve."

I wouldn't be surprised if that kid eggs the friary tonight.

Happy Feast of All Saints.

The Diaconate of Culture in the Digital Continent

2009-10-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

Here is an article from today's Vatican Information Service. I found it quite thought provoking as I was just speaking to someone the other day about the need to use e-mail and the internet in a way that respects interpersonal relationships and that promotes the dignity of the human person.

VATICAN CITY, 29 OCT 2009 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Social Communications "has, for some time now, been following the surprising and rapid evolution of the means of communication growing in the involvement of the magisterium of the Church". With these words, Benedict XVI received participants in the plenary assembly of that dicastery, presided over by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, which is examining the role of new technologies in the media during these days.

The Holy Father cited Paul VI's pastoral instruction "Communio et Progressio" and John Paul II's "Aetatis Nova", "two important documents that have favoured and promoted greater awareness on the themes tied to communication in the Church".

He also recalled John Paul II's encyclical "Redemptoris Missio" that affirms: "Involvement in the mass media, however, is not meant merely to strengthen the preaching of the Gospel. There is a deeper reality involved here: since the very evangelization of modern culture depends to a great extent on the influence of the media, it is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the 'new culture' created by modern communications".

"Effectively," Benedict XVI said, "modern culture is established, even before its content, in the very fact of the existence of new forms of communication that use new languages; they use new technologies and create new psychological attitudes. All of which supposes a challenge for the Church, which is called to announce the Gospel to persons in the third millennium, maintaining its content unaltered but making it understandable, thanks also to the instruments and methods in tune with today's mentality and culture".

At the same time, the Pope referred to his last message for the World Communications Day in which he encouraged "those responsible for communication in all areas, to promote a culture of respect for the dignity and worth of the human being, a dialogue rooted in the sincere search for truth and friendship (...) capable of developing the gifts and talents of each and of putting them at the service of the human community".

"In this way the Church exercises that which can be defined as a "deaconate of culture" in today's "digital continent", using its means to announce the Gospel, the only Word that can save the human being. The task of enriching the elements of the new culture of the media, beginning with their ethical aspects, falls to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications as well as serving as orientation and guide in helping the particular churches understand the importance of communication, which represents a key point that cannot be overlooked in any pastoral plan".

Concluding, the pontiff recalled the 50^th anniversary of the Vatican Film Archive founded by Blessed John XXIII, which possesses a "rich cultural patrimony pertaining to all humanity" and he encouraged to continuing collection and cataloguing of images "that document the path of Christianity through the suggestive witness of the image".

AC/ASSEMBLY/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS VIS 091029 (490)

Homily for Sunday October 25, 2009

2009-10-24T23:24:00.000-04:00

Here's the homily I gave for the vigil mass.

The readings are here:

There was once a young boy who was born legally blind. Though he could barely see, he seemed to be a normal little boy, and he himself thought nothing was the matter. He only seemed a little accident prone, constantly falling down and having to get stitches. One day a group from a blindness prevention program came and gave an eye test to all the school children. Naturally this young boy threw a fit when they covered up his one good eye and asked him to read the eye chart. They realized he was blind, took him to the optometrist, and got him glasses that very day. Marveling at all the things he'd never seen before, the boy was filled with joy. But it wasn't until he got glasses that that little boy realized that he had been blind up until that point.

Couldn't we say that in our spiritual life we are like that little boy born legally blind? Are we not convinced that we see perfectly clearly when we jump to conclusions about other people when in fact we are blind? Are we not really blind when we think we have no sins to confess or no reason to ask others for forgiveness? Aren't we really blind when we rely only on our own sense of what is good and what is evil, thinking that our consciences alone are enough to tell us what is and isn't a sin and that we don't need the wisdom and experience of the Church to help guide us? Does not our culture reflect our blindness when it reinforces the thinking that all we need is reason, at times mocking and degrading those who, by believing in God or by listening to the teachings of the Church, remind us that we need faith as well? Are we not blind when we quickly conclude that God has abandoned us or is punishing us when our prayers are not answered the way we would like? Like the young boy born legally blind do we not throw a fit when someone challenges whether we truly “see” properly or not?

Bartimaeus, the blind man Jesus cures in the gospel today, presents us with a different example. He humbly recognizes both his blindness and his need for Jesus to help him to properly see. What's more, once Bartmaeus regains his sight, he does not go off on his own, relying on his own ability to see, but he follows Jesus on the way. In other words, after regaining his sight he continues to follow Jesus as a disciple.

We can do the same thing as Bartimaeus did. We can humbly recognize that we are blind and ask Jesus to give us sight. We can admit that we don't have all the answers, that our reason on its own is limited and that we need the light of faith to help guide us in life. We can then ask God for help in seeing the sins we are not aware of, trusting that the God who loves us will reveal them to us, not to condemn us but to free us and save us from them. We can ask God to help us understand why the Church teaches what it teaches, and why at times it seems as if he does not answer our prayers. Like the boy born blind, once we begin to see, once we get our spiritual glasses from God we will begin to marvel at all the wonderful things that God does in our lives that we didn't see before, and though we may still occasionally fall down, we will have a much easier time living out holy lives as we follow Jesus as his disciples.

Practice Homily from last week's class

2009-10-24T23:20:00.000-04:00

Here's my homily from last week's class.

The readings were for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Is 5:1-7
Ps 80:9-20
Phil 4:6-9
Mt 21:33-43

This summer was a pretty bad summer for tomatoes in this area. No matter how well we tried to take care of them, no matter how much we made sure they had all the sun and water and nutrients they needed, the tomatoes just died. They had a blight that killed them. There was nothing the best gardener among us could do to get a good crop, and we all complained about it.

Well, in the readings today we see another gardener complaining about the failure of his crop. His vineyard just doesn't produce good fruit. That gardener is God, the vineyard represents us His people, and the good fruit that God is looking for from us are faith-filled lives of holiness that puts love into action.

We know very well that God has already shown us an abundance of charity. He has created us, called us into an intimate relationship with Him, sent His Son Jesus to share our humanity and to redeem us from sin by suffering a cruel passion, and given us His Holy Spirit to help us and guide us in our call to grow in holiness. He has given us so much love and yet we fail again and again to love Him and our neighbor in return. Like with our tomatoes this summer, there must be some kind of blight that stops all the good things God has done for us from having any effect on our hearts and from helping us bear good fruit.

Saint Paul names some possible blights in today's second reading; such as anxiety or loosing one's focus. Anxiety causes us to be afraid, to not trust that we can receive what we need from God. It causes us to close our hearts, shutting off the valve which allows God to communicate His grace to us. No longer looking to God, anxiety can discourage us from our goal and have us turn to ourselves and to any means necessary to obtain what we think we need most instead of trusting in God and focusing on holiness no matter the cost.

The remedy that Paul prescribes for us today is prayer. But Paul does not just recommend any kind of prayer. Rather Paul invites us to be sure to thank God for his many blessings in the past. This way we will recall how God has already blessed us. We will remember the ways in which God has heard our prayers in the past, and we can then confidently approach God, sure that s he heard us in the past, he shall surely hear us in our present needs. Paul also recommends that this prayer present all our needs to God. This is important for us because at times we go to pray but don't actually turn over to God the things we are worried about. By inviting us to make our requests known to God, St. Paul is reminding us to open our hearts to God, to truly hand over to Him all that concerns us, not being afraid to ask for what we need. And the characteristic that perhaps we may have overlooked is that St. Paul does not recommend that we only open our hearts with firm faith and trust in God's help only in the important things in our lives, like when a friend or loved one is facing a serious illness, but he invites us to pray in this way in everything. What Paul is encouraging us to do is to begin to entrust our daily lives to God in such a way that we will not worry excessively about whatever we may be facing, be it big or small. This does not mean we will not have concerns, but it means we will not be anxiously concerned over our daily lives. This we can do by taking five minutes when we get up to entrust our day and our tasks ahead of us to God and five minutes at the end of the day to thank God for His blessings.

But besides recommending that we ask God to take care of our needs, Paul also encourages us to meditate on the kind of Christian life we want to live. He tells us to think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, and excellent. He does not want us to get discouraged and settle for a mediocre Christian life, but to keep our minds on the goal of holiness, of a life of love of God and neighbor lived out in our actions by our living out the beatitudes and the ten commandments. By keeping this goal in mind, we can examine our lives to see where we fall short and then ask from God the graces we need to better respond to the kind of life to which He is calling us. To help us in this regard we can look into the practice of examining our consciences before going to bed. A small book or other devotional aid can help us in that regard.

Another aid that Paul recommends is that we look to the saints as examples to imitate. We can do this by reading the lives of those who have been recognized as saints or even by placing before ourselves the good example of someone who we see living out their faith in a way we would like to imitate. It could be someone like John Paul II or Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan or even a friend, acquaintance or relative that inspires us to be better Catholics. This we can do by taking ten minutes out of our lunch hour to read a biography of our favorite saints or heros of the faith or even by making time to speak about the spiritual life with the person we know who inspires us.

By prayer that knows to trust completely in God for all things and meditation with good examples of holiness that spurn us onto becoming more like Christ, we can overcome whatever blight might affect our souls, be it anxiety or loss of focus, and we can truly learn to bear good fruit that will last, faith-filled lives that strive for holiness by loving God and neighbor.

Last Sunday's Homily

2009-10-24T23:09:00.000-04:00

Here the homily I gave last Sunday, the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time B.

Saint Francis was known to be a joyful person, always going about Assisi with a smile and often singing a song. But one day Saint Francis was going about town sobbing, crying, and in between sobs could be heard his lament: Love is not loved! Love is not loved!

Today we hear in the readings some very good news. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, He who is Love Himself, came to serve us and to give his life as a ransom for us. He took on our lowly humanity and suffered a cruel passion and crucifixion to redeem us. Though raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, He still sympathizes with our weaknesses and is ready to give us mercy when we have sinned and the grace we need to avoid sin and to do good. He even sent us His Holy Spirit to remind us of what He taught us, to help us come to know Him and the Father, and to help us become holy and guide us in the right path. In doing so, Jesus truly showed and continues to show us that God is Love.

And yet Love is not loved. We do not love God as we could. But why? Surely in the face of such love we would naturally want to respond with love in return.

So the question we must ask ourselves is do we let God love us? Do we trust that God wills to save us and help us live lives of true peace and holiness? Or do we see God as a tyrant who demands of us perfection before He will love us, as if His love were something we earn? Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, but Peter objected, not wanting Jesus to serve him. Are we, like Peter, too proud to accept the free gift that God has to offer us? Do we think we have to earn God's love and mercy? Or still yet, do we perhaps not set aside the time to really let God speak to our hearts? Are we perhaps too busy to spend time with God and to really get to know Him?

If we think God a tyrant who lords it over us, then it is no wonder we often seek the fulfillment of the deepest desires of our hearts in things that fail to satisfy, be it money, or status, or possessions, or the work we do, or even drugs and alcohol. It is true that our hearts thirst to be loved and even more true that God desires greatly to quench our thirst, to serve us, to love us with His unconditional love. If we do not set aside time in prayer each day and if we don't come to mass or do so begrudgingly, then we waste an opportunity to let God fill us with His love, to recharge us and give us the graces we need to love and serve others as He does. If we were to let God love us, if we would take the time to meet Him in prayer and let Him speak to our hearts, then we would fall in love with God harder than with any other person on earth. We would be set ablaze with love and would want to set others ablaze too, not unlike Saint Francis.

The old saying goes that you cannot give what you don't have. And so the only way we can love others, the only way we can love God as He deserves, is if we let God love us first, if we come to discover just how much He cares and just how much He has been trying to get through to us, to show us His presence when we are in the midst of difficulties, to guide us when we face trials. We must come to see that our Lord came to serve us when we should have been the ones serving Him. Only then will we understand what it means to gather every week on Sunday to give thanks to our God for the blessings He has so wondrously bestowed on us. Only then will we understand why we are encouraged to pray during the day in ways that both remind us of God's goodness and that praise Him for being so good to us. Only when we begin to let God love us will we feel the need to share His love with others by bearing patiently with those who annoy us, doing kind deeds for people who do not deserve them, forgiving those who have wronged us, and perhaps even one day laying down our lives for another.

If we first let God love us, then we will not feel the need to lord it over others, to compete with them in order to make sure we have enough or to make sure we accumulate all the good things for ourselves, getting the best places as James and John tried to do in today's gospel. Rather, once we discover the depths of God's love for us, we can willingly and freely give our service to others in need, sure in the knowledge that God has given us an over-abundance of wealth in giving us His very self and hopeful that He will continue to supply our needs in the future.

The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. This week, if we take even five minutes each day to let God love us by stopping and speaking with him in prayer and listening to His voice in the depths of our hearts then we too will be transformed into men and women in love with God, who will stop seeking places of glory and begin serving others out of love for God. Once on fire with love for God, we will understand what it means to endure any trial or tribulation, to undergo any suffering out of love for God and for our neighbors. We will also trust that God is ready and willing to help us in every way to grow in love. We will love Love and ardently desire, as St. Francis did, that all peoples know and love our God of Love who came among us to serve.

Class Homily 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

2009-10-24T23:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a homily I did for my homiletics class. Please critique as I am still learning.

The readings are here:

There was once a man who had a flock of sheep. He knew them all and loved each one. But since he could not tend the sheep by himself he hired shepherds to care for them. But they turned out to be lazy and selfish and instead of bringing the sheep back to the owner, they lost most of them in the wilderness. So the owner dismissed the wicked shepherds and sent his son to shepherd his flock. Having a heart like his Father's, the son loved the sheep as much as he did. The son gathered the lost sheep back into the flock, leading them all back to his father, and he tended the flock so well that the flock grew and so he had to enlist the help of other shepherds. But the son was careful to teach the others shepherds how to love and care for the sheep just as he did, by his example, leading the sheep back to their owner, making sure that the sheep stay together in one flock.

I start with this parable because the readings that the liturgy presents to us this Sunday paint us a picture with two contrasting sides. The first, in the reading from Jeremiah, is the bad example of the leaders of Israel who do not carry out the will of God but end up neglecting to care for the people God entrusted to their care. This situation in the history of Israel prompts God to announce his own direct intervention in the coming of the messiah, his Son Jesus who would shepherd God's people.

The today's gospel presents us with the image of Jesus, compassionately tending to the needs of the people who come to seek him out. He shows them that the Lord indeed is their shepherd and that they shall not want.

Yet Jesus does not tend the flock on his own. The apostles in today's gospel had just returned from preaching the good news and curing the sick. Jesus had sent them out to help pastor the flock. Even in today's reading from Jeremiah, the prophecy of the coming of the messiah speaks of shepherds in the plural. Jesus calls us all to help pastor his flock. He calls bishops, priests and deacons to do this in a special way, but the laity are also called to lend a hand.

How shall we know whether we are properly pastoring people? One clue can be seen in what we don't see happening in the gospel today. Remember, it was the apostles who had gone out at the request of Jesus to teach and heal. When the people see them they follow them, and many more who hear about where the apostles and Jesus are going also follow on foot. Jesus, not the apostles, sees the people and has compassion on them by teaching them. A telling sign that might escape our notice is that the people who had followed Jesus on account of the apostles do not demand to see them. We hear no one saying to Jesus, “What you are teaching us is all well and good, but in truth we came here to see Andrew, or Peter, or James.” Instead they listen to Jesus, which shows us that the apostles did not seek to attract people to themselves but to Jesus. Like the apostles, we will know that we are correctly pastoring people and helping the Lord if we, like the apostles, lead them to Jesus so that He might teach them and feed them.

Likewise we will know that we are correctly pastoring people if we seek to bring them all together into the unity of the one body of the Lord - the Church - as we hear in the reading from Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul reminds the community at Ephesus that both Jews and Greeks, previously divided from one another, have been brought together into one body in Christ. Likewise we are called to bring together into the unity of Christ's Church of today conservatives and liberals, Latin mass traditionalists and charismatics, social justice activists and dogmatists, sinners and saints, not leaving any behind but encouraging all to come and meet the Lord Jesus and cling to the teaching he has passed down to us through the Church, a tradition that not only brings us to encounter the Lord through reverent celebration of the sacraments, but also seek to take care of those in need, helping them to find their true dignity in Christ.

This is the year that Pope Benedict has asked us to pray for the holiness of our priests, that they may be good examples to us, that they may have a sure knowledge of Christ's love and imitate his example so as to better lead us on to holiness. Let us then not only pray for our priests today, but also ask our Lord to truly encounter His love at this Eucharist so that we too may be good examples both to our priests and to others, as we respond to Christ's call to be co-shepherds after his own heart in the different walks of life to which the Lord has called us.

New Friar Priests

2009-10-10T15:39:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to the following Friars who were ordained to the priesthood today:

Friar Stefano, OFM and Friar Lorretto, OFM from the Province of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lazio, Italy.

Friar Matthew Foley, OFM Conv., from the Saint Anthony of Padua Province, headquartered in Ellicott City, MD.

Let's remember these newly ordained in our prayers that the Lord may make them and keep them as holy priests after his own heart.

Peace and Good.

A Story on Soon to be Canonized Fr. Damien of Molokai

2009-10-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

The American Spectator has a great story on Fr. Damien.

May we too look to be "champions," men and women who go out on the field of our Christian life to defend the weak and cure the sick.

St. Damien of Molokai, pray for us.

Homily for Oct 9, 2009

2009-10-09T22:35:00.002-04:00

Readings:

Did anyone catch Jesus' humility in today's gospel? Instead of outright contradicting those who accused him of casting out a devil by the power of the prince of devils, he shows them how, had what they said been truly the case, they would have had cause for rejoicing. Were it truly the case that Jesus was casting out devils by the prince of devils then Jesus would have been an instrument of civil war in Satan's kingdom, and therefore those who were speaking ill of Jesus really should have been speaking well of him.

But the people who were speaking ill of Jesus were envious and proud. They did not want to understand that only one stronger than the devil, God himself, could really be behind Jesus' work. Because of their pride, they do not acknowledge that the kingdom of God has come upon them and end up being an obstacle to Jesus and his ministry.

In response, Jesus tells them a parable that diagnoses their illness. Though these people were religious and tried to live according to the law, they fell victim to the spirit of superbia, better known to us as arrogance, one of the eight deadly sins along with gluttony, fornication, avarice, despair, wrath, sloth, and vainglory. Superbia is the temptation to think over highly of one's self after one has already overcome all the other sins. Jesus warns his adversaries that if they are not careful, their pride will lead them to eventually fall to all the other sins.

The question put to us this day is whether we are victims of superbia. Do we attribute the good deeds of others to impure motives? Are we quick to think highly of ourselves for our piety or orthodoxy? Do we look down on those who we think to be sinners or on those less orthodox than us? Are we thinking of someone else we think is proud instead of looking at ourselves. If the answer to any of these is yes, than we may want to learn from Jesus' example of humility this day and remember that we are nothing without God's grace and love.

Yet, we have cause not to be afraid. The good news for us is that Jesus is stronger than any of our vices. He casts out whatever evil afflicts us by the finger of God, digitus Dei in Latin, which is a traditional title for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of sin while at the same time urges us to trust in God's mercy and love. We could liken the Holy Spirit to the refiners fire, for He is the one who convicts us of sin in order to lead us to greater holiness. With His aid we will be able to overcome all our sins.

Remembering from yesterday's gospel that the Father willingly gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask, let us confidently call upon our Father in Jesus name to give us a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, open to discovering our hidden faults so that we can entrust to Him our healing.

Open to the working of the finger of God, we will humbly cooperate even more with Jesus' work of spreading the Kingdom of God.

Homily for October 5th, 2009

2009-10-08T21:02:00.001-04:00

Readings:

God is merciful. He sends Jonah to preach to the Ninevites because He is genuinely concerned for them despite the fact that they are not His chosen people. God even spares the life of Jonah after he has been unfaithful to his call and thrown into the sea by his shipmates. God mercifully sends a fish to swallow Jonah so that he doesn't drown. In the gospel we hear Jesus teach us that the way to love one's neighbor is to be merciful to him.

Mercy. Misericordia. The word means to take the misery of another into one's own heart. Mercy is something that goes beyond justice, beyond legalism, and suffers loss in the hope to do good to one who is in a difficult situation. The priest and the Levite in today's gospel are not necessarily passing by the victim of the robbers out of spite. Rather, they think that the man is dead and are too concerned about becoming ritually impure and missing their turn at participating in the sacrifices of the temple of Jerusalem. In fact, their reason for avoiding the man on the road is based on following the law. Yet the problem is that they made the law of their faith the highest good and not the love of God and neighbor as their highest good. They forgot that God desires mercy and not sacrifices and that they should have stopped to bury the dead man if he was in fact dead. But they failed to take the man's miserable condition into their hearts and suffer the loss of time and even possibly the opportunity to serve at the temple by stopping and doing him the kindness of burying him, had he truly been dead, or caring for him as the Samaritan had done. So the priest and the Levite broke the greatest commandment while looking to observe lesser ones.

Mercy. If it were not for God's mercy, we would all be held strictly accountable for every one of our sins, and we would all be condemned to hell. But God's mercy triumphs over justice because His love moves him to take our misery into his heart and pour out goodness upon us by offering us forgiveness and love.

We are called to do the same thing, to be merciful to those in need and imitate God's love. And we can do this in various ways. We can feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, comfort the imprisoned, visit the sick, and bury the dead. We can also be merciful to others by admonishing sinners, instructing the uninformed, counseling the doubtful, being patient with those in error, forgiving offenses, and praying for the living and the dead.

But it is also important for us to do acts of mercy with the right intention in our hearts. We can correct sinners out of an attitude of pride and superiority, or we can do so out of a genuine concern for the spiritual well-being of someone. This is what St. Francis would do. He would plead with sinners to amend their lives because he truly knew that it was God's will to save all people and Francis would truly take the miserable condition of the sinner into his heart, having compassion on them and begging them to reconsider their ways. When we pray for the conversion of someone, do we do so secretly hoping that God will smite them, or are our hearts truly touched by the poor condition they are in and our prayers inspired by compassion?

Today, coincidentally is the feast of St. Faustina Kowalska, better known as the apostle of Divine Mercy. Through her intercession may we come to both trust more in the mercy of God, who in His great love for us offers us forgiveness of our sins, and to carry out acts of mercy toward others in imitation of our Father in heaven.

Homily for the Solemnity of St. Francis, October 4th, 2009

2009-10-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

Readings:

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. As you know, memorials of saints are normally not celebrated on Sundays, but we celebrate St. Francis today here at St. Joseph's because he is the founder and patron saint of the Franciscan Friars, under whose care St. Joseph's parish has been for 145 years... ever since Fr. Leo Rizzo da Saracena succeeded Fr. Daniel Mullen as pastor in 1864. And Holy Mother Church permits parishes run by the Franciscans and any church or diocese that has Saint Francis as its patron saint to celebrate his feast as a solemnity in place of the normal mass for this 27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Today instead of focusing directly on the Lord, the liturgy presents to us a saint. Saints remind us of the wondrous ways God works in the lives of his people. Saints are examples to us of men and women who encountered God, who responded to God's call upon their hearts to accept His love, and who let that love transform them into instruments of peace. Seeing how they lived, the saints inspire us to also say yes to God and to put our trust fully in Him and in the good news we hear in the gospel, and to become heralds of the good news to others.

St. Francis was one such herald. Born Giovanni Bernardone in 1181 and nick-named Francesco by his father, Francis grew up in the Umbian town of Assisi at a time of social, political and religious turmoil. Besides the crusades, many heresies had become prevalent and not many Catholics loved God. The middle class was growing rich from textiles and trade and competing with the nobility for status. There were conflicts among those loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor, those loyal to the Pope, and those who wished to govern themselves.

The son of a middle class textile merchant, Francis aspired to become a knight so as to later become a noble. He joined the military campaign against the rival town of Perugia, but, taken prisoner, he contracted a fever that began turning his thoughts to God. After his release, Francis still sought earthly glory and wanted to join another military campaign. He had a dream that a large palace with many riches was in store for him and his followers. Francis thought this would mean he would become a great prince, but God had other plans in mind. While on the road to join the campaign, Francis' illness returned, and he had another dream in which a voice asked him “Francis, who can do more for you, the lord or the servant.” “The lord,” Francis replied. “Then why do you abandon the lord for the servant.” Asking what he should do Francis was told to return to Assisi where the Lord would tell him what to do.

Francis then began praying to know God's will. He would pray “Most high and glorious good God, enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me right faith, certain hope and perfect charity, insight and wisdom that I may carry out your holy and true command.” In the church of San Damiano Francis received an answer to his prayer. While praying in front of the crucifix he heard Christ say to him “Francis, rebuild my church which you can see has fallen into ruin.” So thinking that this meant he should rebuild the churches like San Damiano that were literally falling into ruin, Francis began selling all his goods and buy or begging for building materials. When Francis' father found out he was selling his goods, he first tried to stop Francis and later he brought him before the bishop of Assisi to demand that Francis give him restitution. Francis then stripped himself of all he had and gave it to his father, declaring himself to no longer be his son but rather a religious.

Going about with nothing and joyfully preaching about God and the need to do penance, the people of Assisi initially thought Francis was crazy, and they would throw mud at him. During this time he began serving the lepers who he had thought repugnant prior to his conversion.

After some time people began to see that Francis was sincere and he attracted other young men to follow him as Friars Minor, St. Clare and other women of the area to follow his way of life as Poor Clares, and lay people like Lucius and his wife to follow him as secular Franciscans.

Francis' message and spirituality was simple. He saw the nativity and the passion of Jesus Christ as signs of God's love for mankind. For Francis, only an extraordinarily great love could make someone so rich and powerful like God choose poverty and weakness by becoming man and suffering an awful death on the cross. Francis sought with all his might to accept this great love and to return it to God through prayerful praise and love of his fellow human beings. Considering himself the troubadour of the Great King, Francis would preach to people trying to encourage them to also love God because of how much God loves them and to get them to practice virtue and turn away from vice. He would remind people of the glory that awaits those who love God and neighbor and who live lives of virtue. He would also lovingly remind people of the punishment awaiting those who continue to live in vice, inviting them to begin doing penance.

Like today's gospel, Francis trusted in God like a little child trusts in its parents. He saw God as the origin of all that is good and creation as an expression of God's providential concern. As such he revered nature because of how much it reminded him of God and His love. Animals were not afraid of Francis. He would speak to them and they would understand him, not only preaching to the birds, but even saving one town from a dangerous wolf. This was because, by the grace of God, Francis' holiness was reaching a point whereby he was beginning to experience the original harmony between God, others, creation, and himself that existed in the garden of Eden.

Loving the cross, Francis did not shun trials and tribulations but rather saw them as necessary for salvation and for spiritual growth. Though he had previously boasted in worldly things, Francis' encounter with God brought him to boast only in the cross as the second reading reminds us. Praying to know both the sufferings Christ endured and the love for mankind that spurned him on to endure them, Francis received the gift of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ in his hands and feet and side.

But most importantly, by his joyful and simple preaching, Francis was able to reconcile enemies and reconcile people to God, inspiring them to love God, to love and obey the Church and its ministers, even if they be sinners, and it was in this way he rebuilt Christ's church, converting people who had become heretics and reinvigorating the love of Catholics of his day and age for God and for their neighbors.

Let us follow Francis' example. Let us come to trust in God as the most high and all good Lord, the source of all good, the Father who so greatly loves us that he sent his only Son to take on our lowliness and to die for us so that we may share in His divine life by the gift of the Holy Spirit, but only if we turn away from sin and vice each day and strive to live in holiness in the pursuit of the perfection of true love of God and of our neighbors. Let us humbly accept that we need God and His church in order to have true wisdom and in order to come to fully live and understand our faith. Let us see the sacraments, especially eucharist and reconciliation as means of directly encountering God as Francis did and desire to frequent them often. Let us so love our Lord's passion that we willingly embrace our own trials and take up our own crosses, not only as a participation in Christ's passion, but also as necessary and helpful means for us to grow in love and holiness. Let us come to respect and revere nature because it reminds us of God's providence and love. Let us, like Francis, seek to be instruments of peace as we herald the good news through our genuine love and joy. As Francis sought to do God's will, let us too seek out what is ours to do, confident that the Lord is pleased to show us what He wills of us.

May the Lord give you His peace.

Homily for St. Therese, October 1, 2009

2009-10-08T20:24:00.001-04:00

Readings

Kill them with kindness that they might love God. If we were to reduce what we learn from today's readings and from the celebration of the life of St. Therese of Lisieux it would be exactly this: Kill them with kindness that they might love God.

In the first reading we witness the assembly of Israel after they have come back from exile. Ezra the high priest reads to the people the book of Deuteronomy, which promises them blessings if they are faithful to God and exile if they are not faithful to God. The people begin to weep for two reasons. They realize that they suffered exile because they were unfaithful to God. Thus, they weep over their sins. But also, they realize that the restoration of the temple and their being brought back to the land of Israel is an unmerited gift on God's part. So they also weep because of the greatness of God's mercy and love. God showed them kindness that they might come back to him.

In the gospel, Jesus sends out 72 disciples in pairs to announce the good news of God's favor. He asks them to be the very instruments of God's love by announcing God's peace to all so that everyone may hear of God's love and change their lives by believing in how great God's love is. Jesus wants the kindness of God to be announced by his disciples in word and deed.

One woman who understood that it is necessary to be a witness to God's love for others was St. Therese of Lisieux. Knowing that she didn't have any extra-ordinary gifts, she sought to make God loved by others through her own simple and everyday acts of kindness. Living her short life as a cloistered Carmelite nun, she would be a witness to God through smiling at her sisters, talking to the dull and difficult sisters at recreation, joyfully accepting whatever food was put in front of her, and not reacting to small annoyances. She wished to kill her sisters with kindness so that they might love God.

Here at mass we will come face to face with the love of God poured out for us in Jesus Christ, in his passion and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Renewed with a sense of gratitude for God's great love, let us resolve this day to be witnesses to God's love, announcing His kingdom of peace, in and through little things done with love. It could be something as simple as greeting someone, or wishing someone who seems down that they have a good day, or talking to the person who seems isolated. Whatever it may be, let us do these things as a witness to God's great love for us, which we then share with others, hoping that they too, having been killed with kindness, may in turn come to love God.

Reflection for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

2009-10-08T20:20:00.001-04:00

Here is a reflection I wrote for Sunday August 30th, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. Sorry it has taken me so long to post it.

The readings:

First things first.

Last summer I was in Guatemala studying Spanish at a school that teaches students from all over the world. A couple were seminarians like myself from the US. A good number were nursing or med-students from various American universities, and a good number were European students who had an interest in learning Spanish. One of these students was a young Swiss gentleman named Kenny, who was there with his girlfriend. We got to know each other, played soccer together and went out a few times in the evening with other students. One night, Kenny began politely asking me questions about the Church's teaching on marriage. He admitted that he and his girlfriend were already intimate and wanted to understand why the Church teaches that a couple should wait until marriage. I told him we had to put first things first, God's love and our relationship to God before we could discuss moral teaching.

I am cautious when it comes to discussing moral topics with people because it is important to remember to keep first things first. And in our faith the thing that comes first is not the lists of commandments and precepts, important though they are. Rather the first thing we must keep in mind is who God is and who we are in his plan. We must recall that God our Father willed us into being out of nothing, creating the earth and all that sustains us, that He made us for a life of divine communion in Him, and that He sent His Son to redeem us when we had fallen into sin, and he sent His Holy Spirit to communicate to us that redemption and to sustain us in our Christian lives. So, first things first. God so loved the world. God so loves each one of us. And this love comes all before we could do anything to warrant this love. Rather it was given to us, as St. Paul says in Romans chapter 5, while we were still sinners. And the fact that we don't deserve God's love is not meant to make us feel like scum, though it may remind us of where we have failed to respond to this great love, rather it is meant to show us the magnitude of God's love so that we will have greater confidence to approach our loving God for forgiveness when we see that we have sinned against Him.

So God loves us. “Yes, Jesus loves you.” If you grew up in the 70's or 80's and went to Religious Education like I did, then you probably remember hearing this phrase often. Unfortunately what we didn't hear too much of was what this means exactly.

What it means is that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, not to condemn the world, not to tell everyone how awful and bad they were and how God would not love them unless they shape up, but He sent His only Son that the world might be saved, that He might take upon Himself all of our sinful humanity so that through His passion and resurrection He might redeem us and have us enter into a life of intimate communion in the Holy Trinity. It means that God loves us so much that He gives Himself to us. He is to us a providential and merciful Father. He is our Lord and Savior who teaches us and shows us the way to life in God. He is our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who helps us to see when we have sinned. Yes God points out to us when we have sinned not to condemn us but because sin separates us from Him and he wants instead for us to live with Him. So His correction, His pointing out our faults is an act of mercy. But the Holy Spirit also reminds us to trust in God's mercy and to have recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation so as to come back to Him Who alone can truly give us life. The Holy Spirit also gives us the strength to live out our Christian lives, fortifying us with His gifts, helping us grow in virtue by His fruits, and putting us at the service of others through the charisms He gives us so that we may live out God's will of loving others as He has loved us.

God loves us and loves us graciously and without measure. Now most people when faced with someone who is generous are moved within themselves to express their gratitude and even to imitate that generosity. We've all experienced this. Someone entering a store ahead of us holds the door while an elderly woman, who needs a hand, slowly exits the store with her walker. When we see the goodness of the other person we some how feel good too and maybe we even hold the door for someone else as we enter because we just say “What that guy did was good, and I want to be like him.” The same thing happens to us when we come face to face with the enormity of God's goodness and love for us. Seeing God's love we ourselves spontaneously want to be like God and love.

In order for us to allow God to love us, we have to take time to get to know God as a friend. This is why the Church instructs us to come to mass at least every Sunday. We may not like to come to mass. We may even think it a drag that we have to come. But if we recall, at some time in our lives we thought it a drag to have to eat our vegetables or to have to go to bed early so as to get enough rest. Only later when we understood that our parents were obligating us to do things that were good for us, like taking a bath or a shower, did we learn to do these things on our own because they were good for us. Likewise, as we grow in our relationship with God, we find that there is a reason for being obligated to come to mass. At mass we encounter God in an intimate way that we don't have access to at home. We can pray, and this is certainly encouraged, especially if we pray by reading the Bible, but at mass we encounter the Crucified and Risen savior in the Eucharist we have just received. Entering once again into Jesus' passion and resurrection, we receive a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that we can go forth from here to love others and give witness to God's presence in the world by how we treat others, by how we love.

God loves us and gives Himself to us so that, loving in return as He does, we can live in communion with Him. Obviously we cannot love as much as God, but just as God gives His entire self to us in love, we too can give ourselves entirely to Him in love. And God even tells us how to give ourselves to Him. Whatso ever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me. Love your enemy. Do not look for your worth in vain and false things but in my love. Do not pray, fast, or do acts of charity with the intention of being seen and being praised but simply for love of me. Love one another by being patient and kind and meeting the needs of the poor in as much as you are able and where you are not able, meet their needs by your prayers and by your loving presence.

So then, God's commandments are not ways in which we can earn God's love, but ways in which we can foster our relationship with God, ways in which we can stay away from sin and all that would separate us from God's love, and ways in which we can imitate God's love in our own lives as we love our neighbors as ourselves.

Our following the commandments and precepts of the Church is to be our response to God's love.

So today, let us recall as the first reading reminds us that God in His love has drawn near to us first, even while we were sinners. Let us pray that we may see and keep in mind the many blessings and good things we have received from God, as the second reading reminds us, so that when we do live out the commandments and precepts of our faith, we may not be like the Pharisees in today's gospel, but rather keep in mind first things first. God's love for us. Then our gratefulness to God's love and then our imitation of God's love through a living out of our faith with that very same spirit of love that God has given us.

Vatican Web Site Gets Hi-Tech

2009-09-18T14:55:00.001-04:00

Check out what my boys at the Vatican did with their website! They added a virtual tour of the necropolis beneath St. Peter's Basilica!

I'm so proud of my boys it isn't even funny! Way to go Comastri!

Totus Tuus

2009-09-15T22:35:00.002-04:00

Just an update. This past Sunday, I professed my solemn vows as a Franciscan Friar in the Province of the Immaculate Conception at our retreat center in Canada. I thought it funny it was on the day that is normally the memorial of St. John Chrysostom, a doctor of the church who was constantly in exile because of his integrity and faithfulness to the truth. Also, being the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, the readings were about taking up the cross.

The yesterday, the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, I was ordained to the diaconate. I'm excited to be able to bless things, and my parents indulged me by buying me a copy of the Shorter Book of Blessings.

Today, the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, I returned to The Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario, where I had spent a month in retreat in preparation for these happy events. I had forgotten that today also marks the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to the same Martyrs' Shrine, where the likes of Sts. Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant gave their lives, a place that, to paraphrase JPII, gives witness to the triumph of the cross.

Even neater was that JPII's visit to the Martys' Shrine was highlighted by the blessing of the Native Deacons, and here I was, a newly ordained deacon, visiting where JPII had come on pilgrimage 25 years ago. It seemed to me to be as if I was also being blessed by John Paul's intercession.

Tomorrow I head back to the parish that I have been assigned to in the US. It has been an adjustment coming back from Rome, but I am eager and ready to get to work.

Totus Tuus, Jesus.

Hope Unshodden

2009-06-10T17:50:00.007-04:00

Tony Melendez, a man with no arms who can do much more than many people with arms. He can give others hope.

If we remember who are God is and what His love can do, then it is true that "Today is like no other" and "you and I will never be the same."

A Reflection on Reason

2009-05-01T06:03:00.001-04:00

Augustine of Hippo once said "He who distinguishes well, reasons well."

In today's society where traditional values and defense of the family is being called "bigotry" by special interest groups, it is necessary for us to reason well and distinguish well.

As Catholics we can indeed distinguish between not supporting institutions that would damage society and the traditional family while at the same time respecting and even defending the dignity of those who have and do become victims of hatred based on that which makes them different.

Love, especially the love that we receive from Christ and are called to reflect in the world, can indeed both say "no" to the unjust demands of some, while at the same time loving and respecting their dignity, even going so far as to be willing to die to defend that dignity.

In all this we have reason to have great hope because our Father is pleased to give us the Holy Spirit, and He shall be our strength in every trial and difficulty. Let us only resolve to remain faithful to the call to love and to stand up for what we believe in through patient insistence of the truth.

Reflection on the Gospel of Christmas Day: John 1:1-18

2008-12-26T16:29:00.004-05:00

It is not so hard to believe that God became man. That is, once understood that God took on human nature and did not change His divine nature to do so, the philosophical objections to the Incarnation subside. No, rather the most difficult thing to believe about Christmas, I think, is that "from his fullness we have even recieved grace on top of grace" (ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος)... "χάρις" the greek word for "grace"... but I think perhaps in he west we have gotten too used to the idea of being able to merit grace. Though it is true that we can cooperate with grace, I would not deny that, it is often the case that we subtly think that we can merit grace, that grace is based on what we have done or not done. At least it seems that is how we want to present ourselves to God as "wholely and immaculate" and worthy of His favor. But the word "χάρις" denotes not only a gift, not only a favor, but a free one at that. That is, it means that the gift was wholely unmerited.

It was not to the religious elite that the child at Bethlehem was revealed as being messiah and son of God, but rather to poor and lowly shepherds and to the impure goyim in the persons of the Magi. At the well of Sichar, it was not someone of virtue that Jesus revealed his deep thirst to satiate our thirst, but rather to a five time adulteress.

So the question for us this Christmas season is not whether we bought the right gift, or whether we are singing the right carols, or to whose house we should go to for Christmas dinner or for other parties during the holdays, but whether we have truly accepted in faith that God's love is un-merited, whether we have presented to Jesus the gift of our stone cold hearts sure that he will not spurn to enter in them since he did not disdain to be born in a cold stone grotto in Bethlehem or to be placed in a stone cold tomb after his passion, choosing these places to be the sites where He manifests His glory. Have we turned over to Him our pretenses, our reservations of how we want to prove ourselves worthy of His love so that we can still think that it is somehow due to our own abilities and capacities that we are called into communion with Him (that ever so subtle idolatry that really looks for nothing other than an exultation of one's self)? Have we given to God that darkest deepest corner of our hearts, the very places we have considered unclean because there our human thirst has led us to seek our fulfillment in sin? Have we said to God, "I trust that you came to redeem me... not because I am worthy, but because You are a giver of all that is good... and I trust that you do not look to only cover up my woundedness and sin but to heal it completely"? Have we accepted God's gift? Have we recognized it as that which fills the very hunger and thirst of our souls? Have we placed our trust in it so that we surrender in loving trust to the will of God to fill us? Trusting, have we turned our selves completely over to God so that He can continue to fill us and transform us? Encountering so great a love, have we let ourselves be overwhelmed by the joy of our salvation and so adopted a cheerfullness that endures despite the changes in our mood precisely because we are firmly rooted in God's gracious... and I do emphasize "gracious"... gift?

This is the mystery of Christmas... saying "yes" in such a profound and intimate faith in God that one, overwhelmed by God's love, like Mary, conceives Jesus in faith and brings Jesus to term and bears Him in the world, becoming a fountain of love and salvation for others... but only because one has said "yes" completely to Him and drunk of that fountain of salvation and, not being able to contain it, burst forth with streams of living water for others.

Merry Christmas, and may you accept the "gracious gift upon gracious gift" that is the Love of God, pour out for you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reflection for Vespers of Monday of the First Week of Advent

2008-12-01T17:17:00.003-05:00

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. (Phil 3:20-21)

In this passage from his Letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul tells us that Christ will conform our lowly bodies to His glorious body at the second coming. This is a great source of hope for us because it reminds us of our bodily resurrection from the dead and that it will be Christ who will bring about the glorification of our lowly bodies in conformity with His glorified and risen humanity.

However, Christ also comes to us everyday. St. Bernard in this Wednesday’s office of readings tells us that, besides a second coming of Christ at the end of the world, there is a third coming of Christ, a kind of everyday coming, if you will, of our savior in our lives. Citing the gospel of John, Bernard reminds us of the words of Christ who said “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.” Christ then comes to us everyday. In the light of this third coming, St.Paul’s words take on new meaning. Christ’s everyday coming is also redemptive and, if properly received, conforms us to Him. What a greater source of hope this is for us religious to know that our spiritual growth is not completely up to us. If, in hearing the call of Advent repentance, we see that our efforts alone have failed to produce fruit in our spiritual life, we can take comfort in the fact that it is the Lord who, having called us, will carrying out his plan for our perfection even today.

Elsewhere in his letter, St. Paul tells us the part we are to play in being conformed to Christ. He exhorts the Philippians to have the same humble attitude as Christ, and not to boast in the flesh, that is, in things such as heritage or the practice of religious rites. Speaking of his own journey in Christ, he tells us that all the things he used to boast about he has come to consider trash after meeting Christ. It is almost as though Paul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus showed him that the unmerited gift of Christ’s love to all people is the only thing he could use to judge himself and others. As he came to understand that Christ’s love was equally given to all, the righteous and the unrighteous on the basis of faith, Paul began to understand that he could not see himself as better than others simply because he was faithful to the religious practices of the law or because he was a Jew and a part of the chosen people. In fact, because of the greatness of Christ’s love, he could not hold himself as better than others for any reason whatsoever. In this way, Paul learned to die to himself and to all that he used to hold dear so as to become a new creation in Christ. This is the way we can have an active role in being conformed to Christ. By placing our faith in God’s unfathomable love, we too begin the process of realizing that the things we used to boast about, the things we used to think give us worth over and above others, are indeed rubbish. Placing our faith in the immensity of God’s love, the competition to receive more than the others gradually ceases because there is enough of God’s love for all of us. Likewise, the competition to be considered better than the others begins to fade away, because in receiving God’s love, we recognize that it is a gift not based on our merits or on how good we are but on God’s generosity. Only in knowing Christ and his gift of love, as Saint Paul sought to, and in dying to ourselves, can we then live in unity and peace. Only in receiving Christ’s charity in an intimate relationship with Him, can we become charitable to others. By placing our faith in Christ’s great love, we are humbled by His generosity, we begin to hope for all things from Him, and we yearn to put the very same love He showed us into practice. This, in short, is how we cooperate with Christ in his work of conforming us to Him.

The Our Father: Part 1

2008-10-18T06:38:00.005-04:00

I was on retreat in La Verna in the beginning of October, and my mind was focused on the theme of love of God and neighbor and how one can only love with the love God gives us.

So with this in mind, it struck me that the Our Father is a prayer that could be seen as a string of reminders of the love God has for us and of our love of God and neighbor.

"Our Father who art in heaven": The mere fact that God reveals Himself to us as Father means that He provides for us and also means that He gives Himself to us in an intimate relationship of Love.

"Hallowed be Thy Name": In the Old Testament, the Name of God (YHWH) was held as sacred because its meaning was a reminder to the people of Israel that "I am He Who is in your midst." In other words, for the LORD (the use of all caps in the English translations of the Bible is a means to translate the use of the name of God, YHWH, while still being respectful to the sensitivities of the Jewish people to not pronounce it) to remind His people of His Name after instructing them in His commandments is to place the emphasis on God's gift of Himself to His people first and foremost and to instruct them that the law is to be lived as a response of love to God Who first loved them and reveals Himself to them.

In the book of Malachi, the LORD chastises His people for dispising His Name by not offering the best of sacrifices. In other words, some of the people thought that if they simply offered a sacrifice, this would put them in God's good graces. They would not offer the best out of love for God but simply look to instrumentalize the temple. What's more, the LORD chastises His people in the Old Testament for offering sacrifices without any concern for moral uprightness, and in this way, He says they are desecrating His Name among the nations.

So, to Hallow the Name of God is not only to keep in mind God's first love... the gift of Himself in revealing Himself as He Who is in our midst, but to then act out of this love, ie to love God and one's neighbor and not simply say one loves God.

So by saying "Hallowed be Thy Name", not only are we recalling God's gift of Himself to us, but we are asking also that He give us the grace we need to truly "Hallow" His name by living out the command to love Him and our neighbor as a response to His wonderous and gracious love.

The Challenge of Perfection

2008-08-29T01:25:00.005-04:00

Today a priest was telling me about 5 priests who have left the priesthood in the diocese in El Salvador where I am at right now. He said he thinks the problem has to do with a lack of maturity. Some have told him that they don't want to have any problems.

This reminded me of a reflection on perfection that I have been mulling over for the past few months. I once heard in my developmental psychology class that the challenge that young adults face is that of accepting their limits while at the same time not completely loosing their idealistic way of thinking from when they were teenagers and wanted to change the world in an instant.

Well, I think there are two extremes that people can go to when it comes to experiencing their limits and reacting to them. On the one hand, someone can become very perfectionistic, thinking that they must at all costs overcome their problems and limits. This response becomes burdensome on the person because they will eventually fail and have to deal with the fact that they are not perfect. Otherwise, the person will burn themselves out trying to be perfect and end up either going off the deep end or giving up completely and doing a 180. Really, this kind of person has too much faith in his or her own ability to change and not enough in God's grace and forgiveness.

The other extreme is to run from one's limits. This means avoiding all situations in which one sees one's defects or limits and acting as though they do not exist. The problem with this extreme is not only does the person never try to get better, but they set themselves up to eventually run from any challenge or difficulty that comes their way. This person places all their faith in God's forgiveness without thinking that they can or have to place any effort into changing.

Then there is the way of perseverance. This means accepting that as a human being one grows in stages and that change is a process. So one looks to slowly but surely get better and better. He or she looks at one's progress not based on the distance from the goal (which still being far off can cause one dispair) but rather bases progress on where he or she started and where he or she now is. This way takes into account the fact that something is better than nothing and realizes that the not-so-perfect motives or ways of doing things still are worth something, while he or she keeps in mind that he or she is called to do better. The person who walks this path places his or her faith in God while still disposing him or herself to receive the graces necessary to change. He or she collaborates with God. Faith in God's mercy is accompanied by faith in His grace, which will produce the desired result (for example, Saint Faustina who prayed for the virtue of Chastity. It was given to her as a gift).

Only in this third and middle way can one understand what Mother Teresa meant when she said "God desires faithfulness not victories," which means that God would rather have us get up and try again when we fall down instead of getting upset that we were not able to obtain the desired result at that very moment.

Slow and steady... brick by brick... stone by stone... and the Lord knows we grow into things.

Submission in a Whole New Way

2008-08-25T00:32:00.003-04:00

I was reading a book by Christopher West entitled "Good News About Sex and Marriage" and came across his definition of being submissive in the [in]famous Ephesians chapter 5. It just about blew me away. West says that really one should look at the word "submissive" by breaking it down into "sub" and "mission", which would really mean that a wife should be underneath the mission of her husband, whose mission is to love her as Christ loves the church and to give his life for her and lead her to sanctity. West basically asks, after looking at it this way, what woman would not want to be underneath the mission of her husband if her husband loved her as Christ loves the church and if he is willing to give his life for her? Even in our society that isn't interested in putting God into relationships, don't we find a man willing to die for his beloved romantic and a sign of true love? (The song "Everthing I Do" by Brian Adams comes to mind.)

But since marriage as the Grundsakrament (primordial sacrament) has been on my mind recently, this explanation hit me in a different way. If all of us are called primarily to be the spiritual bride of Christ (as members of the Church), then aren't we all called to be submissive to the mission of Christ our Spouse? So, doesn't this mean that the first thing we all have to do in our relationship with Christ is let Him love us, let Him give His life for us, and let Him sanctify us?

It seems to me that the foundamental thing we have to do is simply open our hearts and receive. Then, and only then, are we called to give back to God by giving thanks and by loving others from the love we have received.

Open up the doors (Oh gates, lift high your heads! Grow higher ancient doors. Let him enter the King of Glory) ... and do not be afraid. Open wide the doors of your heart to Christ... and let Him love you!

Farewell to Antigua

2008-08-24T23:50:00.003-04:00

It's been nine days since I left Antigua. How can I sum up seven weeks there? I'm not sure what to say. I feel as though I learned a great deal there and some of that was Spanish. I meet a lot of people and made some friends in my short time. I hope I had a positive impact on them. One friend wrote me and said that I did. It was very confirming to hear.

What she said was that she saw me as someone who gives my heart in a peaceful way. I had never thought of that before. But what I did notice was that this summer was indeed a time in which I tried to give myself more to others, to befriend people and not to be afraid to make friends.

We had pretty neat circle of friends of people from very different backgrounds and different parts of the world. It was neat how we got along. What's more, we respected each other despite our different backgrounds. It was neat though too because people knowing I am a brother asked me questions and it became a chance to present the faith to them in a way that perhaps they had not looked at it before.

What's more, I really felt as though God was showing me that His love does indeed come at times though friends and that it is not necessarily just an abstract spiritual feeling of being loved. I wonder if that is not why John Paul II used to say that he was grateful for the help of God and the help of men, to show that at times the two go together.

Really, if there is anything the big man upstairs was trying to teach me, I think it was about trusting in Him to meet my needs. Twice that seemed to be the theme of the answers I was getting to prayer, especially when looking at how to overcome some of my bad habits.\

The other thing that seemed to be the big theme in Antigua was Theology of the Body and NFP and the eucharist. Not only did two people in the span of three days talk to me about Theology of the Body, but the next day I met a woman named Mercedes Arzú de Wilson, who had written a book on NFP and wanted to give me a copy of it. It was just too much a coincidence to turn down. So I arranged to have dinner with her and her family, and strangely enough the entire event was sandwiched by eucharistic adoration. First there was eucharistic adoration finishing up at the church where I was going to mass (incidently I asked this lady to have her driver pick me up at the church after mass). Then I met the driver, went to Doña Mercedes' house, spoke with her and met her family, and had dinner. After dinner, her son Philip was nice enough to drive me back to town and drop me off in front of another church where I was supposed to meet friends. He dropped me off, but I didn't meet my friends. Seeing I was late and not knowing if my friends had gotten back from their trip in time to meet me or not, I wandered into the church which was usually not open that late (like 9:00 PM). What do you know? Eucharistic adoration! I just had to God what Theology of the Body and Eucharist had to do with each other, and I got some interesting reflections on the body of Christ and our mystical union with Christ as bride. And what do you know...! The priest during the divine praises added "Blessed be the Church, mystical body and bride of Christ." If that wasn't a confirmation, then I don't know what.

Towards the end of my stay, though, I must say it was a bit sad since most of the friends I had made had already returned to their places of origin. Sure, I left behind some Guatemalan friends too, who I hope to still hear from, but I know that if I ever return to Antigua, it won't be the same. Sure it will hold a place in my heart, but only in as much as I let the people I met there into my heart. So really it's through them that I have fond memories of Antigua. I'll miss it but my friends from the summer more so.

Farewell Antigua. It was nice to roam your streets for a while.

A Reflection on Halls

2008-07-03T22:54:00.006-04:00

Okay, for those who do not know, certain parts of Cerntral America are not warm during our "summer" but rather are actually experiencing "winter" or the rainy season. So, being damp and being chilly because of all the clouds, someone like me who has post-nasal drip problems has to often take something to clear his throat and sinuses. In the Posada I'm staying in, they sell a big huge canister of Halls menthol-lyptis drops. So of course I bought one.

The other day I was in the church of San Francisco praying at the tomb of Sant Hermano Pedro. Next to me was an indigenous woman busy praying. I tried not to disturb her, but while I was praying I kept hearing sniffles. She was crying over something yet without breaking down into tears.

Now I know that part of it may have just been that I'm a sucker for the damsal in distress, but I got this strong and sudden urge to give her one of the Halls in my pocket and explain to her (and this really just popped into my head) how life is like a Halls, a little bitter but still sweet, and that the part that is bitter can actually be for our health. At the same time as this sudden urge came upon me, I began to feel as though I was suffering with her, being sad that she was sad.

So, I kept trying to stick to my rosary, but this desire just kept growing within me to tell her this strange reflection that suddenly and inexplicably came to mind (it's not as though I sit around meditating on Halls drops). Suddenly she got up to arrange her things so as to go, and I, against my own better judgement and with a trembling voice due to my bad Spanish and the fact I was doing something that seemed nuts, begged her pardon, explained I noticed she was sad, and told her I wanted to give her a "sweet" (un dulce), explaining how the "sweet" is kind of like life, a bit bitter but still sweet, and that the bitter part can be for our health especially when we pray to God for help. The expression on her face told me that she kind of thought me a nut (I would have thought the same thing), but she took the Halls from me, went over to the tomb of Hermano Perdro, kissed it, and left.

I don't know what happened to this indigenous woman or even what she was crying over. All I know is that this experience struck me because of the way this odd reflection all of a sudden came to me to share with someone in need. The other thing that struck me was what it felt like to suffer with (have com-passion for) a complete stranger.

I pray that, whatever this woman was going through, she has found God's help in the midst of it. And if it is a bitter time for her, that she grow and come to know the sweetness of the Lord so much the more.

So life is like a Halls... bitter but still sweet, and the bitter part can be good for your spiritual health.

Peace and Good.

Another Kind of Petroleum Crisis

2008-07-02T12:26:00.003-04:00

Well, for those who don't know, I'm in Antigua Guatemala learning Spanish (which means if you haven't heard from me it's because iternet is scarse... I'm on break at school right now). Yesterday during my lessons I had to read a news article and comment on it in Spanish. What I read shocked me. It turns out that a little known effect of the current petroleum price crisis is the increase in the cost of basic staple foods in third world countries like Guatemala. The article stated that 700 thousand Guatemalans have now been classified "Poor," meaning they can just get by, and 500 thousand have gone from being "Poor" to being "extremely poor," meaning they can not buy the food they need to maintain their health and to continue living without the help of the government or other agencies. Half a million people in Guatemala alone are now in danger of starving to death just because the price of oil and petroleum has risen! Half a million! This is surely a moral and humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed, and reading this has inspired me to write a letter to my congressman because surely the US government's policy concerning ethanol in gasoline affects the price of corn, which as you know is the main ingredient in the tortillas that many poor people in Latin-America eat in order to survive. So, a slight change in US policy could indeed easy the pain of the poor by lowering the demand and also the price of corn.

Okay, break's over. More from Antigua later.
Peace.

Fruit Cocktail Food for Thought: A Meditation on "Macedonia"

2008-05-09T15:18:00.004-04:00

One day I was at Dono di Maria (Gift of Mary), a house for the poor run by the Missionaries of Charity in the Vatican. I was helping with the clean-up after dinner when a bunch of fruit in a bowl caught my eye.

I was used to seeing fruit or vegetables set aside on the counter, but this evening it hit me that all the fruit in the bowl was either bruised or partially rotten or missing a chunk or two. This was also not surprising as the sisters there try to use all that God has given them.

But that evening I asked the sister in charge of the kitchen what she wanted done with this fruit. She told me, "Oh, just put it aside. I was going to make macedonia (fruit cocktail), but there was not enough time."

As she said this I couldn't help imagining her carefully cutting out the rotten parts so as to save the good parts of the fruit.

And immediately my eyes began to tear up as I realized that just as the good sister didn't throw out the fruit just because it was rotten or bruised or broken, but rather knew exactly what to do to make good use of the fruit, likewise, God, in His love and goodness, does not throw us away because of our wounds or sins or brokenness. Rather, like the sister, He knows how to make good use of us as we are despite our short-comings. But even more so, He knows how to heal those very wounds and make us whole.

Trust

2008-04-29T17:43:00.002-04:00

Walking through St. Peter's Square the other day, I noticed a father playing with his three year old daughter.

He picked her up, put her on one of the small pillars in the square and held out his arms for her to jump and for him to catch her.

The first time, the little girl looked unsure.

She hesitated, looked down at her feet and then back a her father.

Her father gestured to her as if to say "I'm going to catch you," and after a bit more hesitation, she hopped into his arms.

There, in her father's arms she smiled the biggest smile.

Seeing her throw herself into his arms made me pause to watch even more intently.

Her father then put her back on the pillar and held out his arms again, inviting her to jump once more.

Again, she looked tentatively at her feet and at her father.

She readied herself and, with a little less hesitation, hopped once again into her father's open arms.

And then he put her back on the pillar again. And she jumped again into his arms, with more confidence.

And is it not the case with us and God the Father? Each time He holds out His arms to catch us and invites us to trust that He will catch us. We hesitate. Finally we jump. We find ourselves back in another position where we have to throw ourselves into His arms, abandon ourselves to him. We hesitate less, knowing that He caught us before and seeing that He is still holding out His arms for us to jump into. And again and again until we slowly learn to place all our trust in His loving providence.

The Cause of John Paul II: For the Record...

2008-04-29T17:05:00.005-04:00

Almost every Catholic news source in the English language has reprinted the CNS article from last year mentioning prayer cards with the piece of John Paul II's cassock. The reporter, Cindy Wooden, did a really good job and even quoted the source she spoke to, a certain Franciscan, Br. Chris Gaffrey. Ms. Wooden did not write anything indicating my function at the Office of the Postulation, yet it seems that almost the entire English speaking Catholic world has assumed that I am either the Postulator or the man in charge of the relics. Letters stream in to the Office of the Postulation addressed to me with checks made out in my name. Now while the attention is nice, I figured this would all just die down and people would stop addressing the letters to me. Well, it hasn't died down. More than a year after the CNS article, people are still addressing their letters and checks to me.

Thank you. I certainly appreciate the fact that so many people are supporting the Cause for Beatification and Canonization of John Paul II.

But I feel that, for the record, I must state the following:

1. I am not the man in charge of the "relics" (the prayers cards with the ex indumentis - piece of John Paul II's cassock).

2. I am not the Postulator. The Postulator's name is Msgr. Slawomir Oder, a very nice priest from Poland who works in the Office of the Diocese of Rome.

3. I do not have an official position at the Office of the Postulation.

4. I am only a seminarian who volunteers by helping the Office of the Postulation with translations from Italian to English.

Please do address your letters to Msgr. Slawomir Oder, the Postulator of the Cause. In sending donations, please make out the checks to "Cause for Beatification and Canonization of John Paul II." The mailing address of the Office of the Postulation is: Office of the Postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God John Paul II, Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano, 6/A - 00184 Rome, Italy.

Thanks so much. JPII, we love you!

Random Tidbit

2008-02-05T11:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm studying for exams now. The other day while studying for my sacraments exam, it hits me: The incarnation is the fulfillment of God's Old Testament promise to marry His people. He truly became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh so that we could be completely united to Him. Jesus the Son, left His father and clung to his wife, His spouse the church, so that the two may become one flesh. As Paul says in Ephesians 5:32, this truly is a great mystery!

Lent

2008-02-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

So Lent is here... the time we have to decide to give something up... the time we are called to pick up our cross and face suffering and do penance. What a drag, huh? Or is it?

None of us like the idea of suffering, or the cross, or the idea of disciplining ourselves through penance. We would all rather not have to be patient or put up with trials and suffer. We would all rather indulge ourselves and be comfortable.

And yet when it comes to the prospect of something worth-while, we deprive ourselves in many ways. For example, at the prospect of getting tickets to a show, some of us will camp out and spend the night in front of the place where the tickets will go on sale. We want to be first in line too, in order to get the best seats. When a husband and father is driving home from a long business trip, he will continue on the road despite his tiredness in view of the joy of seeing his family again.

The point is, we willingly face suffering when we keep in mind the good that is our goal. When it comes to Lent, the goal we keep in mind is the celebration of Easter. We focus on the cross, the mystery of good Friday, in order to prepare ourselves for the myster of Easter Sunday. We do penance so that we our spiritually renewed. And by doing penance, we spiritually pick up our cross, that is, we willingly join the Lord in the mystery of His cross remembering that in His cross, in the mystery of His death, is our salvation specifically because the cross led to the forgiveness of our sins and the new life given to us in and through Jesus' rising from the dead. "By death trampling down death and giving life to those in the tombs," sings the Eastern Church of Christ during the Pascha or Easter season. "Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life," we in the Western Church remember at times during mass when we "proclaim the mystery of faith." So the cross of Jesus, our cross too when we unite it to that of Jesus becomes a place of victory and of joyful hope for the resurrection.

In this light, the light of salvation in he cross of Christ, the penance of Lent takes on a joyful motivation. It is a time of being more unified in the cross of Christ so that we can share more fully in the celebration of the His Resurrection.

And yet this very attitude of Lent as being a time of penance is not supposed to end with Easter. We may be used to giving something up as a penance for Lent in order to "do our duty" of abstaining from something, and though this has its value, it is recommended that pick a penance for Lent that we then carry into the rest of the year, that the thing we strive to give up or the effort of penance we take on be a permanent thing. So, though giving up chocolate for Lent is a good beginning of doing penance, we are called to try penances that will carry over into our normally daily Christian lives. For example, I can be patient with an acquaintance or co-worker who normally annoys me and who I normally avoid. I can decide to dedicate some spare time to the local homeless shelter and continue my visits even after Easter.

The reason why we try to do a penance during Lent that will carry over into our daily lives is because Lent, our time of picking up the cross in preparation for the celebration of Easter is really an analogy for our current state as pilgrims and strangers. Our Christian lives are called to be one continual preparation for the ultimate celebration of Easter... our own resurrection from the dead on the last day.

So, we pick up the cross with this ultimate goal in mind... salvation, sanctification, our communion with God in and through Christ Jesus our savior, who already bore the cross for us and can help us in our attempts to bare our struggles in union with Him and with the help of the Holy Spirit. Seen in this positive light our aversion to the difficulty fades, and we become more willing to endure it.

So for those of us who have forgetten that our Christian journey is one of picking up the cross in light of being unified to the death of Christ (and ultimately also to His resurrection!) or for those who have never thought of it this way, may this Lent be a time of beginning again, a time of picking up the cross with the intention of embracing it, both in preparation for March 23rd, Easter Sunday and in preparation for that Happy Day when, God willing and we remain faithful, we rise from he dead unto the resurrection of life... the complete sharing in the resurrection and divine life of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ.

Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Happy Lent!

Shrove Tuesday

2008-02-05T10:47:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, my Mom always called the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday "Shrove Tuesday." But I didn't really understand the name. I used ask myself rhetorically, "What's a 'shrove'?" It's quite possible that my mom once explained it to me. If so, it must not have made sense to me because it just didn't stick. The name "Fat Tuesday" made sense because one eats so much that one kind of gets fat. Later, when I started studying Italian, I came to understand that the French "Mardi gras" is simply the same as the English "Fat Tuesday." But I never really gave the meaning of "Shrove Tuesday" much thought.

All of a sudden at lunch today, one of the priests in my community started talking about the word "shrove" in relationship to "Shrove Tuesday." He explained to me today that "shrove" is the past of the English verb "to shrive," which means to strip in the sense of being stripped of one's sins. He also explained to me that it was customary to go to confession on the Monday or Tuesday before Lent, which of course are called Shrove Monday and Shrove Tuesday. Looking it up on-line, I even came to find out that the period of time before Ash Wednesday is called "shrovetide."

So, now a light bulb has gone on, and I finally know about this Anglo-Catholic tradition. I think it's a beautiful way to prepare for Lent, and I think I'll try to follow it now in the future.

Besides that, now I can finally say I know what a "shrove" is!

Adeste Fidelis

2007-12-27T06:02:00.001-05:00

Listening to a Vatican Radio podcast on carols, I just learned that Adeste Fidelis is a Christmas Carol from the English Catholic community in exile in France during the Reformation in England. One of the professors teaching priests for the mission in England, John Francis Wade, wrote it in Latin.

Interesting as I have always loved this hymn and never knew that it was originally "English."

"Oh Come let us adore him!"

The Day After

2007-12-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

That's it. Wrap it up. Show's over folks. Nothing more to see here. Get ready for New Year's. Think about the past year and about making resolutions for the one to come. Do anything else but remember that Christmas is not just one day in the year but a time of year, or even better, that Christmas might be more than just a time of year, that it might be something deeper and more profound than a day upon which all the mall walking, employee harassing, gift hunting (it is almost a full contact sport these days), jingle hearing, and tinsel totting find their culmination.

Yes, the old carol The Twelve Days of Christmas might still be sung, and some people might recall that these 12 days refer to Christmas and the eleven days that follow, but not very many people realize why this carol mentions twelve days of Christmas. In fact, today, one would hardly hear anyone suggest that we sing this song the day after Christmas because, silly, it's a Christmas carol and Christmas is only the 25th of December. One would not hear Christmas carols in public after December 25th, at least not in an America that was originally opposed to the celebration of Christmas (think Puritans - yeah the same ones from whom we supposedly get the pseudo-religious feast of Thanksgiving), didn't like public feasts (think Presbyterians), and, when Christmas did come into its own, became known as the day when children would find gifts left by a mysterious Santa Claus (whom few realize is really Saint Nickolaus devoid of his religious garb - that of a bishop - and moved from his feast, December 6th, to fill the spiritual void in America's soul) and, later, the day around which businesses hoped to make money (which is a logical progression since free market capitalism - that is, at least the consumerism brand of capitalism - is pretty much the unofficial religion of America where "supporting the economy," ie buying junk one doesn't need, is one of the ten commandments).

Despite the urban legend, the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas was not a secret catechetical tool used by English Catholics when the Church of England and Anglicanism threatened the continuance of the Catholic faith in England. Instead it recalls the fact that the traditional Anglican rendering of the Christmas Season included Christmas Day and the following days until the day before Epiphany (Epiphany is January 6th, so if you count Christmas Day and each day before Epiphany, you get 12 days [25 - 31 is 7 plus 1- 5 makes 12]). Yet, this religious significance to the 12 days of Christmas has almost been forgotten, especially as businesses hope to profit off of the idea that the 12 days of Christmas are the 12 shopping days before the 25th of December.

Yet even us Catholics can forget that we have an Octave of Christmas (from December 25 - January 1st, eight days inclusive, hence the term "octave"), or even that the Christmas season lasts until the Feast Baptism of the Lord and permeates the first few weeks of Ordinary Time (the Nativity Scene at the Vatican won't be taken down until February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation). Instead, like the rest of our society, we tend to forget Christmas after the 25th of December and begin to focus on New Year's Eve, not remembering that the first Christmas (whenever it was) is the reason we call this year 2007 and the next one 2008. Yes, our time (which is money, right?) is measured in years from the birth of Christ and yet we think of Christmas as only being one day a year.

And doesn't even the secular world acknowledge the importance of having Christmas be something that is year round and not just a single day. Do not the poets and other romantics of our age recommend we keep the childlike wonder and "magic" of Christmas year round. Then how much more important is it for us Christians to keep the wonder of the child-of-God-making grace that was given to us in Word Made Flesh, the baby Jesus?

Christmas, my dear friends, is not just once a year. It is not just a liturgical season. Christmas is everyday since everyday we celebrate the incarnation. Merry Christmas. May the feast never end!

Reflection for Gaudete Sunday - Part 2

2007-12-17T02:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I didn't catch this yesterday as I tuned in late to catch only the reference to individual happiness, but you can imagine my surprise when I saw that I wasn't the only one to be talking about joy in suffering because of God's presence. The Holy Father at the Angelus also had a few words to say about it, as reported by Zenit.org

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters!

"Gaudete in Domino semper" -- "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4). With these words of St. Paul, the holy Mass of the Third Sunday of Advent opens, and for this reason it is called "Gaudete." The apostle exhorts Christians to rejoice because the coming of the Lord, that is, his glorious return, is certain and he will not delay. The Church makes precisely this invitation while she prepares to celebrate Christmas and her gaze is turned always more toward Bethlehem. In fact, we await his second coming with certain hope because we have known his first coming.

The mystery of Bethlehem reveals to us God-with-us, God near to us, not simply in a spatial and temporal sense; he is near to us because he has wedded, so to speak, our humanity; he has taken our condition upon himself, choosing to be completely like us, except in sin, to make us like him. Christian joy thus flows from this certainty: God is near, he is with me, he is with us, in joy and suffering, in health and sickness, as friend and faithful husband. And this joy remains even in trials, in suffering itself, and remains not on the surface but rather in the depths of the person who gives himself to God and confides in him.

Some ask themselves: But is this joy still possible today? The answer is given by the life of men and women of every age and social condition, happy to consecrate their existence to others! Was not Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta perhaps, in our times, an unforgettable witness of evangelical joy? She lived in daily contact with misery, human degradation, death. Her soul knew the trial of the dark night of faith, and yet she bestowed the smile of God upon all.
We read in one of her writings: "With impatience we await paradise, where God is, but it is in our power to be in paradise beginning here below and from this moment. Being happy with God means: loving like him, helping like him, giving like him, serving like him" ("La gioia di darsi agli altri," Ed. Paoline, 1987, 43).

Yes, joy enters into the heart of those who place themselves at the service of the least and the poor. In those who love in this way God takes up his abode and the soul is in joy. If, however, happiness is made an idol, the wrong road is taken and it is truly difficult to find Jesus. This, unfortunately, is the proposal of the cultures that put individual happiness in the place of God; it is a mentality that finds its emblematic effect in the pursuit of pleasure at all costs, in the spread of drug use as an escape, like a refuge in artificial paradises, which subsequently show themselves to be completely illusory. [Similar to the false gods and the promise to never suffer]

Dear brothers and sisters, even at Christmastime it is possible to take the wrong road, to exchange the true feast for that one that does not open the heart to Christ. May the Virgin Mary help all Christians, and men in search of God, to reach Bethlehem, to meet the Child who is born for us, for the salvation and happiness of all men.

I can't say "great minds think alike" because I know Benedict is much more intelligent than I am. Instead I think I'll just take this as part of the rule of repeated themes... in other words, as a sign that the inspiration of this topic of reflection is from God.

Thanks big guy, as you have been teaching me a lot in the last few weeks!

Reflection for Gaudete Sunday

2007-12-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice!

Yesterday I heard a homily on the prophet Elijah which really got me thinking. In it the priest mentioned that Elijah's call was to unmask the false gods of Israel (Baal and the like). These gods promise prosperity in the form of rain, but when confronted with Elijah, the prophet representing the true God, Israel experiences a drought, showing that it is not Baal who controls the rain but God. In exchange for his service to God, Elijah is persecuted, experiences dislusionment to the point of wanting to die, and yet is comforted by God in a way he never expected, the stillness of the presence of God.

This homily, when combined with the themes of accepting the cross (from the second reading of the office for St. John of the Cross) and the story of Job, which I have been studying in class, made me realize something which has kind of been forming within me ever since my time in Central America... The false gods that we follow at times promise one a life of ease and of no suffering. To serve them means to buy into the illusion that one can be above suffering and pain, that one can be unaffected by the evil of limits. In other words, the false gods promise to make us gods. They promise to make sure that we are always happy and never in pain.

Thinking about pagan cults, magical practices and the like, one sees that this is often the aim. One performs a rite to ensure a blessing of sorts. One then, by doing such, places oneself in charge. One controls the elements (supposedly) by doing a particular action. Obviously one uses this then to try to gain pleasure and avoid pain.

The true God does not promise us pain and suffering. God does not inflict upon us the various trials that we encounter, but rather simply informs us in the gospel that we will encounter pain and suffering. In fact, we are admonished that he or she who does not pick his or her cross can not be a disciple of Jesus.

Instead we are promised that God will be with us even to the end of the world, which means he is with us even in our suffering. Just as God reveal his presence to Elijah, encouraging him to then be able to face the trials ahead of him, likewise God gives us the strength to be able to face the trials we are going through. Just as God reveals himself to Job, who, though reduced to nothing sees God with his own eyes, knowing in a more experiential way that his redeemer lives, likewise, to the downcast and downtrodden faithful, God shows himself tobe in their midst, giving them the hope that they need in order to endure their trials.

God does not promise a life free of suffering, but does promise to redeem us in our lowliness and to glorfiy man in his frailty. This is the opposite of what the sham gods promise. They want us to think that we can be gods free from suffering, but in the end we suffer more because the sham gods, like Baal during the time of Elijah, really can not deliver on their "promise" to make man into something he isn't. The one true God, on the other hand, can make do on the promise, but his promise does not ask the humman to reject what his very nature, frail, limited and prone to suffering, but rather to embrace it. It is here, in the poverty and the meekness of the beatitudes that God promises His enduring and encouraging presence to help us face the trials and difficulties of our lives, and it is in the very weakness of our human nature that God manifests His glory! Think of the baby Jesus, prone to experience not only the difficulites of our human nature, but even more exposed by being born into poverty, without even a proper bed. Think also of the glorified Christ after the resurrection. The marks of the passion, signs of human humiliation and shame, become the life giving fountains of grace and healing, glorified specifically in so much as Christ chose to keep these signs in his body, in His glorified state. The true God, can and does divinize man. He glorifies his saints, but only if they accept who and what they are. Only if they accept and embrace their limited human nature and offer it to Him as Christ did, putting faith in being maintained and sustained by the best of consolers, God Himself.

When one suffers, the difficult thing about it is the feeling of being alone. But with God by one's side, and even better, with Jesus who has already experienced what we go through and much more, we have the best of consolers. He might not take away the pain, but He gives the interior peace one needs to face even death itself.

Since God is for us who can be against us. And since God is with us in all our trials, we have every reason to rejoice in the cross, our one hope! Because in the cross is redemption. After the cross comes Easter.

So therefore, let us rejoice in the Lord always, even in the midst of sadness and trials, I say it again, rejoice!

Reflection for Monday of the 2nd Week of Advent

2007-12-10T08:29:00.000-05:00

In today's readings we hear the theme of God's salvation. From the book of Isaiah we hear the kind of salvation we can expect from God. To a people who had strayed from God's ways and had just suffered the exile, the author of Isaiah proclaims God's saving action, specifically called God's recompense. There then follows a series of dramatic changes, the desert, symbol of the unfruitfulness of the people as a whole, blooming, and the illnesses of the people, symbol of the consequences of sin, being healed, both of which indicate that God's recompense is a complete and total restoration of the individual and of the people as a community. What's more, this restoration opens up for the people a holy way upon which they can walk without going astray or falling into impurity.

If the first reading were not enough to make the point evident, the Gospel portrays an event in the life of Jesus where we see this prophecy being fulfilled. A man who was paralyzed is presented to Jesus. Jesus forgives his sins, heals him of his physical ailment, and commands him to get up and walk. A connection is also made between the Holy Way mentioned in Isaiah, Jesus, who called himself the way, and the faith-life of the church, which as we know from the Acts of the Apostles was simply called “the way” by the early church.
We see, then, that God's salvation is first and foremost the forgiveness of sins, but not a simple forgiveness that leaves the sinner as he or she is, but rather that restores the person, that gives the person back his dignity and allows him to walk in holiness, giving him a way to follow, and that way is Jesus.

Reflecting on how God saves us can lead us to consider our own response to this salvation, both in how we relate to God and how we relate to our brothers. Advent, looking at the final coming of Christ, focuses on repentance. In our examination of our lives we find not only sins but also areas where we are paralyzed or suffering the consequences of sin (be it our own or that of others), areas which can frustrate us in our attempts to walk in holiness. Seeing as Jesus not only forgives sins but also heals the consequences of sins, our areas of paralysis should not cause us to be afraid to encounter the Lord. Rather, like the friends of the man in today's gospel, we should bring these areas specifically to the Lord's attention, praying for healing and continuing to be aware of how these areas affect us. As Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik puts it, simply by frequently making these areas the subject of prayer one already allows them to be transformed from weaknesses to areas where one encounters the Lord, and thus by inviting the Lord into these areas one will see the Lord provide the growth and the healing we need.

Being faced with a salvation that restores our dignity when our sins have been forgiven prompts us to examine the way in which we forgive our brothers. There are basically two ways to forgive others, a pompous way and a compassionate way. An example of the pompous way of forgiveness can be seen in Ralph Fiennes' character Amon Goeth in the movie Schindler's List. The head of the labor camp, Goeth takes Oskar Schindler's suggestion to pardon people as a way to glorify himself and further demean the worth of the person. After pardoning a man, he shoots him as he's walking away. Likewise for us, at times our forgiveness is masked malevolence. We forgive the offense but pay the person back by lowering our esteem for them. We don't hold the offense against them exteriorly, but cut down their dignity in our minds and in our hearts. On the contrary, we have the example of Jesus who is compassionate, who restores the dignity of the person he forgives by raising them up. Likewise we too are called to be compassionate with our brothers and sisters, forgiving them just as we too have been in need of forgiveness by completely setting aside the offense and our desire for revenge.

The Myth About Constantine and the Church

2007-11-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

I've heard it said many times that orthodox Christianity was an invention of Constantine, and that had he not imposed his vision of Christianity upon the Roman Empire, then Christianity as we know it today would not exist, but rather other forms of Christianity would have taken its place.

Reading "The Christian Centuries: Volume One, the First Six Hundred Years" by Jean Danielou and Henri Marrou, I came across some interesting tidbits that blast that idea out of the water.

First, less than three years after the Council of Nicea had defined the Son "homoousios" with the Father and condemned Arius and his supports, Constantine has Arius and some Arian bishops reinstated. So, one can not really say that Constantine imposed his view of Christianity on the Empire since his point of view was not a single point of view, but changed, and his change of heart was hardly toward what emerged as orthodoxy.

Neither can one say that the emperors following Constantine were the ones who settled the issue clearly with the orthodox position. Constans II, who ruled the eastern empire after Constantine's death, was constantly shifting position and always was under the influence of "Arianising theologians."

Under Constantine, Constans, and Constantius who followed him, bishops who supported the doctrine of Nicea (considered the orthodox position) were sent into exile (ex. Athanasius, Lucifer of Cagliari, Hilary of Poitiers, Pope Liberius, and Hosius of Cordova.). Emperor Julian wanted to reinstate paganism. Valentinian, in the West, though a Nicaean, was not interested in theological debates. Valens, in the East, like Constantius his predecessor, adopted a modified Arianism and persecuted those who were not of his line of thought.

It wasn't until Theodosius in 380 that the orthodox Nicaean line was imposed on subjects of the empire.

So, for those who say that the Church is an invention of Constantine, and that its faith was the personal faith of the emperor, take a look at this book for some insight into what really happened.

Halloween

2007-10-31T11:32:00.000-04:00

As the bells at St. Peter's ring to announce the first vespers of the Solemnity of All Saints', I'm thinking about Halloween and its origins. I bet that, more than any other day, Halloween is one of the most misunderstood days of the year. I say "misunderstood" because our culture has taken it apart so many times and given it different meanings, that it is not even funny. Most people, for instance, associate Halloween with evil, with Michael Myers from the famous "Halloween" movies, of Jamie Lee Curtis fame. Others associate Halloween with dressing up in costumes and going around trick or treating.

Yet, with all the commercialism and misunderstanding surrounding Halloween, the question comes up, how should the Christian celebrate Halloween? I think to answer this question it is important to come to understand what Halloween is about and where it came from. Only then can the question of how to celebrate it be answered.

Not to bore people to death, but in order to understand what something is, sometimes we need to break up the word we use to describe it or trace the etymology of the word back to its original significance. "Halloween" actually stems from "Hallowe'en" which is a shortened form of "All Hallows Even," which in today's English might be better put as "All Saints Eve."

So, the name Halloween itself is religious. In which case, the question arises, where did all the candy and tricker-treating come from, the dressing up in costumes and the association of Halloween with evil? To answer this, we have to do a bit of history.

The Feast of All Saints' was not always celebrated Novemeber 1st with a vigil on October 31st. Rather, back in the 800's this pre-existing feast was moved to Novemeber 1st to coincide with the Celtic holiday of Samhain. Samhain was the Celtic new year, a day upon which the viel between the spirit world and the physical world was at its thinnest, and, as such, it was believed that the spirits of deceased loved ones would come back and visit their families. Because of the possibility of meeting an evil spirit, people in Ireland did not go out on Samhain night, at least not without something to ward off evil (either a bonfire or a costume... it said of the Irish lengendary figure Cuchalain that he wore a costume when dared to go outside on Samhain night). Besides lighting candles so that the souls of their loved ones would find their way home, pagan families would make cakes for the souls of their loved ones to eat. What a treat! Later, these cakes were given to the poor to pray for the dead or even given to children who dressed up in costumes. According to ancient Celtic custom, Samhain was not celebrated on a fixed date. Instead it was always considered to be on the full moon in the astrological sign of Scorpio (late Oct, early Nov).

All Saints' was moved to November 1st and All Souls set on November 2nd specifically to be associated with the beliefs about the dead still prevalent from Celtic religion. This was done not necessarily to baptize pagan beliefs - the belief in the communion of saints and of praying for the dead preexists Christianity's contact with the Celtic peoples who celebrated Samhain, so no one can claim that these elements in Christianity are pagan - but rather to instruct the Christian teaching to a people who were no longer celebrating the customs associated with Samhain for religious purposes, but rather for cultural or superstitious purposes. That is, the places where the traditions behind Samhain were still being practiced were already largely "Christian" for several centuries by the time the commemoration of All the Saints on November 1st was extended to the whole Church during the pontificate of Gregory IV (827-844). For example, most people do not put up holly in winter because of a belief in the pagan celebration of Yule, but rather because it was simply something handed down. Likewise, the celebrations surrounding Samhain were still present, and the church looked to give these a proper Christian orientation. Since man of these customs were not necessarily "wrong," but simply in need of fulfillment with the message of the gospel, there was no need to do away with the commemoration of the dead, just simply need to catechize the people by means of a feast.

It is interesting to note, that in the face of the question from the Celtic cultures of the relationship between the spiritual realm and the physical realm, the church emphasized, first and foremost, the saints! This affirmed what the Celtic religion had believed, that there is an interaction between the dead and the living, although for the Christian it is an interaction not limited to one day of the year, but a continuous interaction in the communion of saints. Not only this, but the Church emphasized that the faithful in Christ who die are not necessarily dead, but alive, alive in Christ and in heaven interceeding for us. Only later did the Church also add the Commemoration of All Souls Faithfully Departed, to underline also the teaching that he Christian is called to pray for those souls still in need of purification before entering heaven.

So, how should one celebrate Halloween. Well, first off, one should not associate it with the devil. Neither All Hallows' Eve or the Celtic Samhain had anything to do with Satan. Though the Celtic peoples tended to believe that the chances of encountering evil spirits was greater on Samhain night, the Christian knows that one is not more susceptable to evil on one over another. In other words, the battle against evil is the same everyday and God's protection and provedence is also the same everyday. Neither should one necessarily have a problem with trick or treating. By now, the dressing up in costume is not associated with scaring away evil. If anything, children can even be taught the original meaning of Halloween by dressing up as a favorite saint. When people ask what they are, their reply can even help others come to know the original meaning of Halloween. One should not, however, out of a sense of righteousness, refrain from participation in the secular celebrations of Halloween. If Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have emphasized anything, it is the need to engage the culture around us and be bold in proclaiming the Christian message in the midst of the concrete reality of today. Nor would emphasizing the saints on Halloween be the "Christian response" to Halloween, since the message of the Saints was always being proclaimed. If anything, it would only be the faithful of today joining once more the continued message of the Church throughout the centuries in proclaiming the salvific love of Christ who is wonderful in his saints and who calls us also to be holy.

Peace and Goodness, and may you have a happy and safe All Hallows' Eve!

Relics of John Paul II

2007-06-14T10:50:00.000-04:00

I heard from the Office of the Postulation for the Cause of John Paul II today that some people are sending back the holy cards of Pope John Paul II with the relic "ex indumentis," saying, "This is just a holy card. Where is the relic I asked for?"

Some have even sent the Catholic News Service article on the relics along with their complaint, underlining the fact that it clearly says one will receive "a small piece of one of the white cassocks worn by Pope John Paul [II]."

So, in case anyone out there feels that the Office of the Postulation for the Cause of John Paul II has hoodwinked you, let's take a closer look at the holy cards that they send out

To the left, one will see the front of the holy card.

Notice in the lower right hand corner a small circle where something white is visible. To the right, one will see the back of the holy card with a paper seal corresponding to the small circle on the front of the holy card.

Here is a closeup for a better look.

Notice that the small circle on the front of the holy card (see above left) clearly contains a piece of white fabric. Also notice that on the back, the seal (see right) clearly has the papal crest of John Paul II with the words "EX INDUMENTIS S.D. IOANNIS PAULI PP. II" circling the crest. These words mean "From the clothing of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II." ("S.D." is an abbreviation for "Servant of God" in Latin and "PP." is a Latin abbreviation for "Pope."). This is the "piece of one of the white cassocks worn by Pope John Paul" that everyone has been requesting. I guess some people were expecting a reliquary or a full blown "relic" like they see in Church.

Which brings up another point, the Office of the Postulation has on a number of occasions asked that people keep in mind that these "relics" are simply momentos for private devotion and not fully "relics" that one could use in public devotion (which can only be for those already proclaimed "Blessed" or "Saint" by the Holy See). Prudence and patience are needed, and one must not presume the judgement of the Holy See.

Studying

2007-06-14T10:48:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all who have left comments recently. Sorry I've been away. I've been studying for exams. I have one more to go and a paper to write, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to all who have been praying for me.

Reflection for the Novena for Pentecost

2007-05-21T08:28:00.000-04:00

The days between the Feasts of the Ascension and of Pentecost have traditionally been days of prayer focused on receiving anew the gift of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen one’s relationship with Him. Despite our busy schedules, this is a good time to remember who the Holy Spirit is and what sort of disposition we need in order to receive Him more fully and be more docile to His inspirations.

In John, we hear Jesus call the Holy Spirit the Advocate and the Spirit of Truth. He is our Advocate because He intercedes for the faithful before God with inexpressible groanings. Being the Spirit of Truth, He reminds us of all that Jesus has told us, He enlightens us and illumines our consciences to sin so as to lead us to repentance, forgiveness and greater holiness. As Fr. Cantalamessa mentions, the Holy Spirit’s role as Advocate counters Satan, literally “the accuser,” who “accuses humanity before God and accuses God before humanity.” The lies of the accuser are countered by the Holy Spirit who makes the words of Jesus resound in our hearts. He also reminds us that we are children of God.

The more we are in union with the Holy Spirit, the more the Father and the Son take up their home in the our hearts. This happens through the Holy Spirit precisely because He is the gift of God Most High, and, where there is one person of the Trinity, the other two are also present. And if His gift of intimate union with God were not enough, the Holy Spirit also provides us with His gifts and forms in us His fruits to counter our weaknesses and vices. The Holy Spirit is, in effect, the salve of the Good Samaritan that heals our wounds and gives us what we need in our poverty and weakness.

How do we regard the reception of the Holy Spirit? Do we think the Holy Spirit is something we can gain by our prayers or our own virtue? Or do we recognize the Holy Spirit as a free gift from the Father we? Do we truly desire that Holy Spirit come into our lives with His action and presence, or do we fear that we will no longer be in control or that we will be asked to give up the sins and ingrained vices that we have become attached to and familiar with?

During this week, let us ask the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and renew us we may be more authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

Interview with the Doctor of John Paul II

2007-05-19T15:33:00.000-04:00

Here is an interview with John Paul II's physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, which I translated for the May edition of "Totus Tuus."

A Little Cyrenean in the Footsteps of the Great Cyrenean John Paul II
Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, Chief Pontifical Physician, Director of the Directory of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State for almost 40 years, personal physician of John Paul II, tells of his nearly 27 year professional and spiritual adventure, which began December 29, 1978, in this exclusive interview with “Totus Tuus”.

Dr. Buzzonetti, this past April 2nd, the diocesan phase of the Cause for Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God John Paul II, to whom you were tied personally and professionally, was closed. As we await his beatification, what can you share about your personal experience of the holiness of Pope Wojtyła?
Leafing through the pages of the book of the life of John Paul II, in which I was allowed to participate, I consider those of his prayer to be the most important pages. Anyone who was near him learned first and foremost how to pray. He was a man of immense charity, had a versatile personality anchored by faith “of steel,” who lived out an intimate union with the Lord. He prayed even in the most unthinkable moments, like when he entered for the first time in the [General Assembly] Hall of the United Nations, holding a rosary in his hand: like me when I went for a few exams. He lived abandoning himself totally to the will of God. A truly heroic moment was the one following the tracheotomy in March 2005. Waking up from the anesthesia, John Paul II could no longer speak. He wrote in an unsteady hand and in Polish “What have you done to me! ... But totus tuus.”

In your opinion, which is the best “page” of the public testimony of John Paul II’s love for life?
The pilgrimage to Lourdes, August 14th and 15th, 2004. It was his last international voyage. He was suffering, severely impaired in his movements and in his gestures, constrained to interrupt the reading of his invocation to Mary in front of the grotto of Massabielle... but he did not withdraw; he did not back out of his duty as a Son and as a Pastor. Infirmed among the infirmed, he wanted to participate in the traditional acts of the great Marian pilgrimage. He did not hide his powerlessness in being ill, without conventional modesty, with the simplicity of a just man he declared his faithfulness to life, a gift from God, which was to be lived to the very end, without escapes and without compromises. He completed a grand catechesis that celebrated illness accepted in the footsteps of the Crucified, not as a humiliation and a condemnation, but as a gift of grace and a supreme hymn to human life, becoming a sign of contradiction and of hope.

Could you read us an unpublished page from the book of the life of Pope Wojtyła?
The first years of his pontificate, when he would receive a compliment in private, he would often respond, “I don’t deserve it.” It was something he heard a child from a Roman parish, to whom he had paid a complement, reply. I remember a funny incident in connection to this phrase. At the end of his apostolic voyage to Goa, where the glorious tomb of Saint Francis Xavier is, during dinner with the local bishops, the Patriarch gave a speech in praise of the Pope. To the series of compliments addressed to his person John Paul II responded with immediate naturalness “I don’t deserve it,” up until the point in which he heard a compliment addressed to him in as much as successor of Peter. Then he replied “I deserve it.”

On occasion in the papers or on television there was emphasis on the news of “quick escapes” from the Vatican...
During the first years of his Pontificate this meant trips that comprised of long treks or many hours of skiing. As the Holy Father got older, the walks on foot became shorter and the excursions, after a quick ride in the car, finished with a long rest in the shade of a tent erected in front of uplifting panoramas, at the foot of mountain peaks still covered with snow. A bagged lunch marked serene moments of conviviality with those who had accompanied us. Toward sunset and before taking the road for Rome, the Pope liked to hear songs from the mountains, sung by his small following, joined by the Vatican guards and the police escorts. The task of directing the improvised choir, with a delighted Pope looking on, fell to me.

Which of these “quick escapes” do you remember in particular?
A trip to the mountains near Arcinazzo in May of 2003. It was the time when John Paul II was having problems with his right knee. The Pope, after having asked me for some explanations on the state of his health, told me that I must “always” remain his physician. Obviously I have not forgotten that day.
Was there ever a time when managing the health of Pope Wojtyła was risky?
The day of the attempt on his life, Wednesday May 13, 1981. The greatest risk was run in deciding to bring him to [Polyclinic] Gemelli. Before getting in the ambulance, while in the foyer of the Directory of Health Services of the Vatican City State, I determined that the Pope could endure the twenty minutes needed to reach “Gemelli.” In fact, he was conscious and obeyed elementary commands. Furthermore, given the gunshot wound to the abdomen and knowing that, at that time, Santo Spirito Hospital, the one closest to the Vatican, was not sufficiently equipped, I gave the order to head for Polyclinic Gemelli, in agreement with the Secretary [of State].
Speaking of the attempt on his life, what was it that John Paul II said to you about it?
He spoke to me about it several times, almost smiling, saying, “That man wanted to know the third secret of Fatima by force,” alluding to Alì Agca.

After the Angelus of Sunday January 30, 2005, recited with difficulty by John Paul II, you had to make another important decision...
The precarious condition of the Holy Father’s health was being complicated by an acute laringotracheitis with the complication of laringospasm, which had dangerously reduced his respiratory space. The evening of February 1st the condition of the patient worsened in only a few hours. The hospitalization was inevitable. “Now or never,” I said, while the others beat round the bush. The Pope quickly grasped the crux of the problem and said “Yes, let’s go.”

Could you explain the significance of John Paul II’s “Let me go to the Lord...”?
These words are the immediate translation of the ones John Paul II pronounced in Polish with an almost imperceptible voice around 3:30 PM on Saturday, April 2nd. They were his “consummatum est” (Jn 19:30). They were not a passive surrender to the illness or an escape from the suffering; rather they expressed the awareness of a profound via crucis that was by now approaching its final goal: the encounter with the Lord. They were, then, words of expectation and hope, of renewed and definitive abandonment in the hands of the Father. At the same time we doctors had to admit that the illness was inexorably progressing toward the final phase of its course. Ours had been a battle waged with patience, humility, and prudence, extremely difficult because we were intimately convinced that it would conclude with a defeat, but it was oriented by the total and merciful respect for the man who was suffering. There was not the so-called use of excessive measures.
In the dedication of the book “Let Me Go,” of which you are the author of the chapter “The Days of Suffering and Hope,” you wrote, “My chapter also tells, in filigree, the story of a little Cyrenean following in the footsteps of a great Cyrenean...”
For the Christian doctor, often times an unknown, strained, and silent Cyrenean, the agony of a person is an icon of the agony of the Lord. Every person has his wounds, has his crown of thorns, stutters his last words, and abandons him or herself in he hands of someone who unknowingly renews the gesture of Mary, of the pious women, or of Joseph of Arimathea. The death of John Paul II was the death of a man by then stripped of everything, who had undergone the hours of battle and of glory and who had arrived in his interior nakedness at the encounter with his Lord, to Whom he was returning the keys of the Kingdom. In that moment of pain and of stupor, I had the sensation of finding myself on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. All of history seemed to be at a standstill while Christ set about to call the new Peter. The [flat] isoelectric line of the electrocardiogram registered the end of the great earthly adventure of a man already considered a saint by the people of God, but it seemed to delineate a new horizon open to a future which had already begun...
Domitia Caramazza

photo courtesy of religion.orf.at

The You God Wants

2007-05-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

I like the way God works.

They say if you hear something come up three times in a very short amount of time, it could be God trying to tell you something.

I was recently thinking about humility as being accepting oneself as one is and looking for God to provide the growth, instead of trying so hard to change, but based on one's own pride. Humility would then mean thanking God for one's faults and defects and trusting that he will work through them and lead one to perfection.

Friday I went to one of the "Study Days" (Giorno di Studio) at my university, which normally is an occasion to do other work while some professor rattles on about some topic that I am not studying and which I can't follow since the discourses are normally in an Italian that perhaps Roberto Benini would use... i.e. quick and sometimes slurred. Anyway, this day was different as I had decided to try to pay attention.

What I heard was a reminder about how the life of virtue is not a means of winning God's love or gaining God's grace, but rather is a response to His love and grace. The professor said something like, one must learn to stop trying to construct a self based on one's own dream of the self and rather let God bring one to the self he has in mind. The life of virtue and asceticism would then consist in being open to God's grace and love (disponibile).

I came home that afternoon and wrote this reminder on the bulletin board on the inside of my door. "Stop trying to reach the dream of yourself - the you you think you should be. Ask God to help you to be the you He would like you to be and leave the rest in His hands."

I find that the me I think I should be is mostly based on assumptions of what I think others would want me to be, or it is based on my idea of what I think others are expecting of me so that I may win their favor and not be excluded. The me God thinks I should be starts with a simple premise: "I love you for who you are." This can be difficult to accept because most of the time we hear from other people... "I love you. Now change! Or I won't love you unless you change!" And even sometimes we are the one's assuming that others are saying "I love you. Now change," even if they are not.

With God it is "I love you as you are. My love for you will change you."

Sometimes I find myself saying, "No God, you ought to love a Br. Chris that is more humble or more patient or more polite or more affable," and this is a sin. I'm telling God what He can and can't do. Yet He comes around again with His patience and faithfulness and whispers once again: "I love you as you are. You are a treasure to me. I have made you for a life to be lived in my service. Instead of taking away your pain, I will give you compassion to be my messenger to those others who are in pain. Instead of taking away your faults, I will teach you patience with yourself so that you can be patient with others. Instead of taking away the storm that you see in your life, I will give you peace in the midst of the storm so that you may be my light for others. I love you as you are. Do not look for me to love you only if you are better or more perfect. You'll only miss my desire to love you for who you are and use you in building up my Kingdom. Let me love you as you are. For when I enter the heart of one who lets me in I establish my Kingdom within it because I begin to dwell there. So let me love you as you are so that I may start to spread my Kingdom in you."

A friend of mine just e-mailed me and told me a story that had to do with thanking God for creating her as she is. It reminded me of this same theme. That's number three! Thank you, my friend, for sharing, and thank You God for making us as we are.

Easter Greetings

2007-05-02T10:56:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's the fourth week of Easter, and I'm finally talking about Easter. Better late than never, right? So, Happy Easter to all!

Something I was thinking about during the Easter Vigil especially with the reading from Ezekiel about the new fleshy heart and a new spirit, which he promises us:

A bit of good news for those who find that their hearts are stoney: Jesus did not disdain to be born in the cave of Bethlehem, nor did he disdain to be placed in a cave after his death on the cross. It was from a cave that the Lord rose to new life, and in the Eucharist, he makes his dwelling stone and metal tabernacles. So be of good cheer if you find your heart to be stoney. Jesus can make it the place in which he is born, the place in which his body sacrificed for us makes it home. He can make it the place where he rises to new life (and us with him), and he can make it into a tabernacle to bring his presence to others!

So, if your heart is stoney, receive the infant child, the Word incarnate! Bring into your heart the dead Christ who gave his life for our redemption, if you find your heart to be a white washed tomb. Do not be afraid to let the Lord rise again in your heart, if it be made of stone, because he can still use it and make of it a tabernacle of his presence... and in so doing, transform that which was stoney and hard into a fleshy heart filled with his spirit. What matters is that we give him our hearts, even if they be stoney. He knows what to do with them.

Peace be with you. May we not be afraid to offer our Lord our hearts as they are, so that He may make them how he wills them to be... hearts in union with his.

Visit to Subiaco

2007-05-01T04:51:00.000-04:00

I went to Subiaco on Sunday the 22nd of April and saw there an interesting fresco. A monk was arguing with the devil and in the next pannel was being punished by Saint Benedict.

Thinking about this, I wondered what it could mean, and the answer that came to me was that it was a reminder that the devil is much more intelligent than we are, so arguing with him would be a waste of time. Besides this, one would not be relying on God's help, but being lured into the trick of relying on one's own strength.

Later I picked up a book by William Ullathorne, OSB called Patience and Humilty (Sophia Institute Press, 1998) and was surprised to read in the first few pages something which illumines that fresco and makes clear the Benedictine wisdom common to the artist and the author. It was this reflection:

"It is the fostering of minor troubles until they swell to a flood of sadness and discouragement that gives the devil a turbid pool in which to cast his nets. If those minor troubles befall you, let them drop. Be not disturbed; turn your heart to God. Do not look at them; do not dispute with them; answer them not a word. Only turn your mind from them and let them drop."

I found this to be such a simple and wise insight. How often I do try to solve my minor problems or troubled thoughts instead of simply trusting God. How often I run about trying to find peace. Just the other day, too, this became so evident. I wanted very desparately to be at peace... I was anxious to calm down, running to stand still (to steal the title of the U2 song). And yet isn't that so silly. What I was doing was shooting myself in the foot. I had a good laugh over that.

Just like the fresco at Subiaco and the wisdom of Don Ullathorne were saying, one can not overcome one's troubles by becoming troubled over them, but rather by turning one's gaze to God, trusting that He is a Father Who loves and will give the grace needed for us to trust and wait in patience for His Peace.

That Threshold

2007-05-01T04:41:00.000-04:00

There is a threshold in life...
A crossing from death and sadness
To life and joy.

Leaving behind trust in self
Entering into trust in God
Taking that leap of faith

The pride of life and sense of self
The lies, the illusion, the false treasures
Are left behind in the repeated "yes."

A "yes" to the True Treasure,
The True Desire of the heart
To the One Who is constant and sure.

As self-sufficiency dies
The soul is set free
It rejoices in the light of the One Who Loves.

A threshold, a passage, a journey,
a Pascha of faith and of trust
That liberates the soul to love...

The Threshold of Hope.

Remembering Virginia Tech

2007-04-18T13:35:00.000-04:00

Please keep in your prayers the souls of those killed in the masacre at Virginia Tech, their families and friends, those injured, and all those affected by it.

If you haven't heard of the story of Professor Liviu Librescu, please read it. It is very inspiring.

May the souls of the departed by the mercy of God rest in Peace. May their friends and families know healing and be consoled as they grieve.

Mass in the Clementine Chapel 2/12/2007

2007-03-30T11:34:00.000-04:00

It has been more than a month since a priest friend of mine celebrated mass in the Clementine Chapel in St. Peter's Basilica, but his mother just sent me the pictures today. The Clementine Chapel is a chapel that was part of the original basilica and was renovated by Clement VIII. It is just behind the confessio and backs right up to the tomb of St. Peter. That means it is underneath where the Pope would stand at the main altar inside St. Peter's. Behind the altar in the picture you can see a marble slab through the grill. That marbel goes back to the Emperor Constantine when he decided to encase the tomb of St. Peter to protect it and make it ideal for visitors. The relics of St. Peter are stored on the right hand side of the tomb if one is looking at the tomb from this point of view.

Oh, and a silly franciscan friar was also there.

Here's a better view of the chapel without me or Fr. Jamie.

Beautiful huh? If you want to visit this chapel, you either have to arrive at St. Peter's at 7:00 in the morning and ask to attend mass (it might not be possible if a group has reserved the chapel and if it is full), or you can go on the Scavi Tour underneath St. Peter's, which will also allow you to see the where the relics of St. Peter are kept. The tour is only 10 Euro but one has to make reservations well in advance, at least a few months. It is well worth the effort.

A New Name 2

2007-03-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

Continuing the reflection on not doing things for the glory of my own name...

Every Friday we read a section from the Rule of the Order of Friars Minor (written by St. Francis in 1223). Today we heard chapter one, which begins, "In the name of the Lord begins the Life of Friars Minor." That means that this life I look to live has to be in the name of Jesus, the name above all names, the only name given to man in which there is salvation. Jesus.

"In the name of the Lord..." (it almost reminded me of the opening of the Koran) but I couldn't help but think about what it would mean if I went around making sure that everything I do is in the name of the Lord, that is, if I were to realize that I live for someone else, as a messenger for someone else. That is a pretty big responsibility, and it means that everything I do would reflect back on the one in whose name I am supposed to be acting. It also reminded me of being an ambassador, for whom to is the normal course of a day's work to represent another, to do something in the name of another (in the case of an ambassador, in the name of the government whom he or she represents).

And yet, it is not only my life as a friar that is to be lived int he name of another. Every prayer I pray as a Christian begins "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This also makes me an ambassador of the Holy Trinity (who has saved us!).

Each and every single one of us as baptized Christians are emissaries of the Holy Trinity. Not to mention that it is in this name that we are baptized and sent to proclaim the good news by living holy lives and using words to testify to the truth about God and His love for humankind when necessary. This means we are called to live lives that give glory to God's name.

A New Name

2007-03-29T16:35:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday I heard a reflection on the Philippians hymn given by a friar about how it is God who gives Jesus his name, a name greater than any other name. This name has to do with Jesus not holding on to his prerogative and humiliating himself until death on a cross. Just by chance, the other day, we were talking about Abram in Genesis, and I it again: the mention of God being the one who gives a man a great name as he promised Abram, and we know he gets a new name, Abraham. Again, the promise of this new name came with an image of stripping oneself. In the case of Abram, he had to leave the land of his father and his kindred behind on a journey of radical trust in God.

This has made me think a lot about my own search for a name and how I go about it. I notice that I am the one who tries to present myself in such a way that others will hold me in good light and think well of me when they hear my name, and I get downtrodden when I think others, at the sound of my name, are disgusted or think ill of me.

And yet God promises to those who are faithful to him no matter the cost a new name. Revelation has two instances of this: "Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it." (2:17) and "The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, as well as my new name." (3:12)

Did I hear that right? Jesus offers us his new name? How so? Could it be that he shares with us his glory and his lordship since he draws us to himself?

And like Abram in Genesis, and Jesus in Philippians, the new name for the churches in Revelation is given after a process of tribulation or of stripping of oneself.

So, this leads me to want to stop searching for other people to recognize me and rather to wait in patience for what the Lord wants of me and to wait for Him not only to show me His will, but also to help me to strip myself so that I can be faithful to Him and also be worthy of a new name, given by the One whose opinion is the only one that should count.

Papal Pentitential Service for Youth of Rome

2007-03-29T15:17:00.000-04:00

At 6:00 PM this evening in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI held a pentitential service for the youth of the Diocese of Rome in preparation for Holy Week and centered on the theme of the 22nd World Youth Day - to be held this Sunday, April 1st, 2007 - “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34).

Youth from all over Rome and various parts of Italy as well as religious, teachers and parents came together with over 120 confessors from the various pentientiaries of Rome, various cardinals and bishops, and the Holy Father for a liturgy of the word, a homily by His Holiness, an examination of conscience, individual confession and absolution, and hymns and readings to accompany the prayerful atmosphere and help the youth prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation.

Benedict's homily focused on the reading from John's Gospel and highlighted the need not only of the human person to be loved, but also on the need to love. He spoke of how in order for the human person to grow, he or she needs to encounter love, most of all, the love of God, which is not only agape or donational love, but also eros, a love that waits for a response from the beloved just as a young lover waits for the "yes" of the object of his affection. Likewise, he stressed the need of the person not to close in on his or herself, but to open up to the love of Christ, to say "yes."

The Pope also encouraged the youth to let love be expressed in their daily lives, be it their studies or work, be they called to marriage or to the consecrated life.

Benedict himself heard the confessions of six young people while the many priests from the Roman pentitentiaries heard the confessions of all who availed themselves of the sacrament.

Here's the press's take. They paid more attention to what the Pope actually said. :)

CONFESSION: ENCOUNTER WITH GOD'S MERCY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 30, 2007 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Vatican Basilica, the Pope presided at a penitential celebration with thousands of young people from the diocese of Rome in preparation for the forthcoming World Youth Day. The Day is due to be held on Palm Sunday, April 1, on the theme: "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

"The heart of all mankind ... thirsts for love," said the Holy Father in his homily. "Christians, even more so, cannot live without love. Indeed, if they do not find true love they cannot even call themselves fully Christian because, ... 'being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.'

"God's love for us," he added, "which began with the creation, became visible in the mystery of the Cross. ... A crucified love that does not stop at the outrage of Good Friday but culminates in the joy of the Resurrection ... and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love by which, this evening too, sins will be remitted and forgiveness and peace granted."

This divine love "may be described with the term 'agape,' in other words 'the self-giving love of one who looks exclusively for the good of the other,' but also with the term 'eros'" because "it is also a love in which the heart of the Almighty awaits the 'yes' of His creatures." And "in the sacrifice of the Cross, God continues to present His love ... coming 'to beg' the love of His creatures."

"With Baptism you were born to new life by virtue of the grace of God. However, since this new life has not suppressed the weakness of human nature, ... you are given the opportunity to use the Sacrament of Confession. ... And thus you experience the forgiveness of sins; reconciliation with the Church; the recovery, if lost, of the state of grace; ... peace and serenity of conscience and the consolation of the spirit; and an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian struggle."

Christ "hopes we will allow ourselves to be attracted by His love and feel all its greatness and beauty, but this is not enough. Christ attracts us to Him in order to unite Himself to each one of us, so that, in our turn, we learn to love our brothers and sisters with His same love."

"As you leave this celebration, with your hearts full of the experience of God's love, be prepared 'to dare' to love in your families, in your dealings with your friends and even with those who have offended you. Be prepared to bear a truly Christian witness" in all environments.

Benedict XVI called upon newly-engaged couples to experience the period of their engagement "in the true love which always involves mutual, chaste and responsible respect. And should the Lord call some of you, dear young people of Rome, to a life of special consecration, be ready to answer with a generous and uncompromising 'yes'."

"Dear young people, the world awaits your contribution for the building of the 'civilization of love.' ... Do not become discouraged and always have faith in Christ and in the Church."

Following the liturgy the Pope put on a purple stole and entered the confessional to administer the Sacrament of Penance to six young people. Fifty-five priests joined him in administering the Sacrament to others present in the Vatican Basilica.
HML/PENANCE/... VIS 070330 (600)

The Genius of the Female Gender According to John Paul II

2007-03-29T15:12:00.000-04:00

Here is the translation I did of an article that will appear in the April issue of "Tutus Tuus," the magazine of the Postulation of the Cause of John Paul II.

One of the most innovative marks of the pontificate of Karol Wojtyła was, without a doubt, his relationship with women. In the first place, what amazed many of us was his lack of fear in having physical contact with the opposite sex. We saw him embrace his old female classmates with evident affection, and he let Mother Teresa hold his hand, both without showing that diffidence that has characterized and continues to characterize the attitude of the clergy with regard to women. In addition to this innovation in behavior – of greater significance than many theoretic affirmations – there was an attention to women’s issues that no Pope before had ever had. One can affirm without hesitation, in fact, that John Paul II was the only man with a high institutional office to develop a response to that which has been the greatest socio-cultural revolution of modern times, women’s emancipation.

In his apostolic letter “Mulieris Dignitatem” (1988), his most important text on this topic, he accepted with never-before-seen openness the interpretation of the biblical account of creation developed by a group of feminist theologians that contrasts with the masculine primacy in being created, from which male-superiority derived its justification. Despite this openness, he responded negatively to many of the requests put forward by feminists, including many within the Church, confirming the exclusion of women from priesthood and the condemnation of abortion and artificial means of birth control. In fact, for Wojtyła the “genius” of the female gender is connected to the primary reason for its difference, which is, to motherhood, be it concrete or metaphoric, and he saw and clearly denounced the dangers inherent in the position of those who would set women’s emancipation – of which he was always a loyal supporter – against motherhood.

In his “Letter to Women” – written in 1995, on the occasion of the conference in Beijing organized by the UN on the condition of women – John Paul II made it perfectly clear that a renewed and “universal recognition of the dignity of women,” (6) keeping in mind, however, that the “female genius” fulfills herself in giving herself to others in her everyday life (cf. 12). This is a strong and coherent position, which reclaims for Christianity the defense of the dignity of women, which “goes back to the attitude of Jesus Christ himself,” (3) while respecting the difference that consists in motherhood. Exactly for this reason in every text addressed to women Wojtyła reconfirmed the condemnation of abortion, a theme that became central in what will probably remain his most important and most prophetic encyclical, “Evangelium Vitae.” In it the Pope reveals the relationship that connects abortion to research on embryos and euthanasia; constituting “a particularly grave moral disorder” (61) in as much as it is a negation of “an objective moral law,” (70) abortion is the bearer of new and serious ethical transgressions.

John Paul II supplied proof of his attention to the feminine not only beatifying and canonizing many women (among whom, one such as Edith Stein, who theorized a Christian feminism), but also proclaiming three female saints – Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and Stein herself – co-patronesses of Europe, in spiritual coupling with Benedict, Cyril, and Methodius. This was to reaffirm, once more, the need for the two different identities in Christian tradition and in the Christian community.

Karol Wojtyła was therefore capable of giving greater value to women’s emancipation, inscribing it in the path of cultural progress started by Christian tradition while distancing it from its negative tendencies, such as the negation of motherhood as a value and tendency to make feminine identity uniform to the masculine model. His is a defense of women inasmuch as different because, he writes, “It is only through the duality of the ‘masculine’ and the ‘feminine’ that the ‘human’ finds full realization” (Letter to Women, 7).
Lucetta Scaraffia

Professor of Contemporary History
Department of History Studies
University of Rome La Sapienza

St. Joseph, Pure of Heart

2007-03-19T12:45:00.000-04:00

In Saint Joseph, we have a perfect model of a true Christian. He was pure of heart, chaste, humble, patient, and possessed fortitude, gentleness and manliness of character. He is also an example of holy work, dedicating himself to his work with his whole being. He also looked to do God’s will, received the messages revealed to him by the Lord and, with faith and trust, he was obedient.

Of all his virtues, St. Joseph is most well known for his purity of heart. This can be seen in many different ways.

Certainly Joseph was pure of heart because he was chaste. By being chaste, Joseph was able to love with an upright and undivided heart.

Yet purity of heart is more than just chastity. It also involves charity and a love of the truth. Joseph also had purity of intention, seeking to do God’s will in everything, which means he avoided doing good deeds to be seen by others and did them for the love of God.

Joseph also was pure of heart because he had purity of vision. He disciplined his internal and external sight, his feelings and imagination, so as in no way to agree to impure thoughts, be they sexual or against charity or humility.

Most importantly St. Joseph was pure of heart because he was a man of prayer. Not only did he understand as St. Augustine wrote, that one can not be chaste without the help of God, but he understood as Saint Francis did, that purity of heart means despising the things of the earth and seeking heavenly things so that one might continually see and adore the Lord God living and true.

Let us look to the example of St. Joseph as a model of purity of heart and let us ask his intercession that we too may strive to be pleasing to God in all we do.

(Image of St. Joseph from http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19980301/SAINTS/STJOE.HTM)

The Servant of God John Paul II

2007-03-17T13:20:00.000-04:00

I've been quite busy recently helping out with the Postulation that I haven't had time to blog. Just for your information, the office has been inundated not only with requests for the holy cards with the "ex indumentis" (piece of clothing of John Paul II), but after sending out an SOS to the world (where's Sting when you need him), it has been inundated also with a generous response from so many people who want to help out the Cause to cover the costs of postage in sending out the holy cards with the "ex indumentis."

An exciting thing is that the web page has been updated. Take a look:

www.johnpauliibeatification.org

If you want, subscribe to "Totus Tuus" magazine or make a donation to help out the cause.

In case you haven't heard the news, it was announced a few days ago that the closing of the diocesan phase of the cause has been finished and will be officially closed in a ceremony on April 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Now hold on to your horses and don't start calling the travel agent... the cause will now go to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. There is a whole process that the cause will have to go through, then B16 will have to approve the cult, declaring JPII venerable, accept the judgement of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints on the reported miracle, etc, and as things here in Rome tend to go slow, we won't see a beatification of JPII this year.

Receiving Pope John Paul II's blessing after serving the Mass for the 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th, 2004). I've got the beard and glasses - the last friar in the line before Msgr. James Harvey.

___________________________________________________

Update: For information on the process involved in a cause for beatification and canonization, see "Making Saints," a document put out by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Just so you know, in regard to JPII, April 2nd will be the end of phase 1 and the beginning of phase 2.

Mercy, Mercy, Me.

2007-03-17T13:15:00.000-04:00

Did anyone else almost cry listening to the reading from Hosea yesterday?

Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words,and return to the LORD; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls. Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion.” I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive treeand his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar. Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine,and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. “I am like a verdant cypress tree”— Because of me you bear fruit! Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.

This is just such a testiment of the faithful mercy of God. Not a mercy that stands in judgement and indignation looking to crush, but a mercy that feels compassion and looks to restore after purifying the sinner.

It made me think: If I really had God's mercy present in my mind all day long, I wouldn't stop crying... not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. Lord give me such tears of joy.

A Call to Holiness

2007-02-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

In today’s readings God calls us to a life of holiness. It is a call that comes not as a condition of God’s love, but rather as a response to God’s action in our lives. We see this especially in the reading from the book of Leviticus. As the Lord instructs the people of Israel in his ways, giving them his commandments, he reminds them “I am the Lord,” each time using the same divine name he revealed to Moses. Each time this refrain is used, it is a reminder to the Israelites of all that God has done for them in freeing them from slavery. It reminds us to be holy because the one who asks this of us is the one who decided to intervene in our lives, the one who calls himself Yahweh - “I am he who am in your midst.”

In the gospel reading, the ones who are invited to enter the kingdom responded to God with active charity toward their neighbors in need. So God’s call to Holiness is not about only making sure we don’t offend others, but also doing good unto others in imitation of what God has done unto us. When we fail to do good, we sin by omission, which is why we confess before mass that we have sinned in what we have failed to do.

It is all too easily at times for us to get caught up in focusing on the wrongs others have done to us and on the ways others have failed to do good to us. Yet time and again the Lord calls us to forgive as he forgives and to love as he loves, not looking for a return as the condition for our giving (cf Lk 14:12-14). In short God calls us to perfect charity. God calls us to be like him, and in doing so, he calls us to something which is impossible for us to attain on our own.

But in our journey God also calls us to remember that nothing is impossible with God (Lk 1:37), that to those who have faith everything is possible (Mk 9:23). Just as God did not expect Moses to lead the Israelites from slavery on his own, but rather intervened with mighty deeds, likewise God has told us that our sanctification is his will for us and so we know that God will faithfully help us to become holy, to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives. Since we are at the beginning of Lent, this is a perfect opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to striving to love others with an active charity. We can try more to do good for others, like practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We can ask God for his help, especially praying that the Holy Spirit give us the fortitude to continue to try and to keep trying.

Back to Blogging

2007-02-18T16:17:00.000-05:00

Just a word of thanks to all of you who me messages of encouragement during the time of exams. I thank you for your prayers as well. Exams did go well despite the stress. Now that the second semester has started, I would like to get back into the habit of blogging.

God bless.

Forgiveness

2007-02-18T15:39:00.000-05:00

Today's gospel is one fo those hard teachings for us to follow: loving one's enemies, forgiving offenses, giving to those who do not give back, and yet it is so fundamental to who we are as Christians. Jesus reminds us today that we are called to love, really to charity, which isn't aout making a donation to a group that helps the poor, but a self-giving love that as Paul tells us in 1 Cor 13 is patient and kind, slow to anger. If we take a look at what we are called to and what we hear about, slow to anger, rich in steadfast and loving kindness, and if we listen to what Jesus is saying to us in the gospel, ie if we are one of those who "hear", then what we see is that we are being called to imitate God's love.

This is why Christ is placed as our true model and when we imitate the saints it is in respect to their imitation of Christ. We are to love as Christ loves us first. We are to forgive as we our forgiven by God so that we can truly say we believe in God's forgiveness and expect it in the future.

Something we must note... Jesus is not telling us that we must forgive to receive God's forgiveness. God's forgiveness is first and foremost a free gift. We can not buy this forgiveness or make deals with God in order to get Him to forgive us. He has already offered us His forgiveness when none of us we righteous (Romans 5) and nothing we do can make us worth to receive this forgiveness. This shouldn't make us feel depressed though (even if our pride which wants to prove itself and show how good we are is hurt), but rather we should remember that this gratuitous gift was because of God's love for us and will to restore us in His image and likeness. The fact that we need God and our dependent on Him does not mean that His love is pity (as if God needs to feel superior to us and put us down by helping us), but rather His aid is an expression of a Father who not only cares for us, but knows how to respect our freedom and invites us to join Him in the gift He is freely offering. Our sanctification, then becomes our cooperation with God's will for us, and of course "unless the Lord build the house in vain do the labors build" our ability to respond to God (even to ask for His help when we need it) is itself a gift from God.

Likewise in regard to forgiveness of others and love of our enemies, we are told to imitate God. This means that if we wish to forgive other more, it is not just a matter of will power to forgive others, but rather something that flows from our own encounter with God. The movie Pay It Forward comes to mind when I think about the reaction of what happens with God. The characters in the movie go about helping other people in dire straights in response to the way someone else helped them. Likewise, we experience God's love and mercy and kindness and immediately we want to share this with others. Literally, the love of Christ impells us to love. Naturally we can still say no, but the very experience of knowing God's forgiveness provokes us to be forgiving. Just like when we see someone do something good and we too want to share in that goodness and do soemthing good too, when we experience gracious love and forgiveness we tend to want to emulate that. In this way, and as a good preparation for lent, it is truly and only in as much as we enter into the mystery of Jesus's forgiveness of us on the cross that we can then grow in the virtue of forgiving others. Fr. Cantalamessa in his book Life in Christ put it this way (and I'm paraphrasing): some people think the process of the spiritual life is conversion, virtue, salvation when it is really salvation, conversion, virtue. The free gift of salvation is offered by God first. Then we come to believe and then we grow in virtue. Salvation is never something we earn.

We can think of this in another way too. Christ died for us in order to free us from sin and make a convenant with us (ratified at Pentecost as the ultimate expression of the Paschal mystery). We are given salvation so that we can be free from sin (conversion) and live in union with God (by acting virtuously in imitation of God).

As we approach the beginning of lent, let us remember the centrality of the the great gift of salvation worked for us by Christ on the cross. From this gift lets us respond with God's help to God's invitation to imitate the love he has shown us. If we find we do not fully accept God's love, let us pray for the healing we need to allow ourselves to be forgiven and to forgive those who have wounded us in the past. Most of all, let us remember this up-coming time of lent as a joyful invitation to penance... not penance to gain God's love and mercy, but penance as a response to that greatest gift of all. May God help us to forgive others as He forgives us, and may he help us to know His love even more profoundly.

Exam Time

2007-01-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

Exam time is coming up next week, which means I won't have much time to post as I'll be cramming... I mean... studying. Please say a prayer for all of us as the tension and stress rise. Thanks. I promise to have some good posts when there is more free time. Until then, peace.

The Holy Spirit and the Wedding of Cana

2007-01-14T04:01:00.000-05:00

Today's readings speak about God and His marriage covenant toward His people. This is ever so evident not only in the first reading where we hear the prophet say specifically that our God will marry us, but also in Gospel of the Wedding of Cana. Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, announces the new covenant by providing choice wines, a prophetic annunciation of Messianic victory (if you look at the link, check out verse nine especially!). The water made wine is also a figure of the wine of the new and everlasting covenant, the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Calvary (the mountain spoken of in Isaiah 25). The wine provided for this wedding feast was an immense quantity, symbolizing the overabundance of God's love (or so says the priest who gave the homily at mass today). Also, it symbolizes the feast of the wedding banquet... the feast mentioned by Jesus in reference to the Kingdom of God in Mt 22.

Our friend St. Bonaventure (at least I think it was him, please correct me if I'm wrong) adds another aspect to this miracle at Cana. He looks at the wine in reference to Psalm 104 "wine to gladden our hearts." In this respect, Mary asks Jesus to give them "wine", of which they have run out. So, instead of just being an issue of beverages and Jesus coming to the aid of an embarrassed couple who did not have enough wine for their wedding feast, the wine at Cana is a deeper issue of Jesus giving joy to humanity.

There is another aspect I want to bring into this, in light of my recent reflections on the Holy Spirit (also in case we think the second reading from 1 Cor 12 is completely out of place... it's not). When we speak of the wine of the new covenant, of course we think of the blood of Christ poured out on the cross, and of course we think about Holy Thursday and the institution of the Eucharist. But we must not forget, that the new covenant is initiated on the cross, but ratified on the day of Pentecost. They are connected. They cannot be separated. Just as the passover of the old covenant does not make sense without the ratification of the covenant with the receiving of the law on Mount Sinai, so too does the liberation of the new passover, the paschal mystery of Christ, not make sense without the ratification of that new covenant in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. And should we not recall what it was that people said about the apostles, albeit scoffing, when they were rejoicing in the Holy Spirit and proclaiming Jesus as Lord and praising God? "They have had too much new wine" (Acts 2:13). And the Holy Spirit, is He not called the "oil of gladness"?

So, let us not forget the Holy Spirit's role in this wedding feast. Is He not the one who actuates our union with Christ? For without Him, we are not in union with the Body of Christ. And what does Saint Seraphim of Sarov tells us about the virgins waiting for the Bridegroom? Is it not that those who "had oil" and were allowed into the wedding banquet were the ones who had acquired the Holy Spirit? (See The Aim of the Christian Life).

So, let us remember that this wedding feast we celebrate is the wedding of God and man, the Holy Trinity and sinners made saints! It is a Trinitarian mystery!

I just feel like singing right now! During the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom after receiving the Eucharist, our brothers and sisters in the east sing this refrain:

We have seen the true light. We have received the heavenly spirit. We have found
the true faith, worshiping the Holy Trinity, for the Trinity has saved us!

Indeed the Trinity has saved us. Let us rejoice and be glad!

Hodie est dies quam fecit Dominus exultemus et laetemur in ea!

(See also Father Cantalamessa's homily (2007 01 12) for the meaning of the Wedding of Cana and Christian marriages today.)

The Parable of Mac vs PC

2007-01-13T16:54:00.000-05:00

We were talking today at lunch about computers and how Macs and PCs first came out on the market. One of the brothers said that Mac got "beta-maxed," ie that a superior product (like Beta Max was over VHS) "lost out" in the overall market competition to a product that was not as good but which was able to proliferate itself in the market faster.

As I understand, Mac computers are better than PCs (of course I'm no expert... I just listen to what my computer friends tell me). Yet, PCs were able to spread a lot quicker as the rights to make products for PCs was also sold more readily and because PC wasn't as costly as a Mac. So, whereas Macs were very exclusive, PCs were all over the place and so were things to go with PCs. Mac came out with the mouse and PCs copied it. Windows, they say, was a way to copy the Mac operating system (despite the fact that windows was many times more unreliable and susceptable to failure and errors). One brother, who is an ardent Mac user, was talking about the review of Microsoft Vista he had read. According to him the author sarcastically pointed out that Vista is in "no way" trying to imitate Mac's operating system (when in fact it is).

The guardian commented on how surprised he was that despite the almost total dominance of PCs on the market today, Mac has managed to hold on. He said that he thought this was due to the fact that Mac has such a better product, that when someone switches to Mac, they don't just become a Mac user, but a Mac lover. They even, he said, become missionaries for Mac.

I couldn't help but be surprised at how much this conversation reminded me of the difference between the good and conterfeit goods in the spiritual life. You see, we are often tempted by ourselves, by the world, and by the enemy to settle for good enough... to do that which is easier, more convenient... that which seems to be good, but in the final analysis just doesn't cut the mustard in comparison to the real thing.

Just one example of what I mean can be seen in how today's culture tries to sell sex. It presents it as the end all and be all of life, as something utterly pleasurable which should be sought for its own sake and that should seek it for one's own gratification. In the "comercial" that gets played either in movies or on TV shows or in books, "liberated" sexual intercourse is marketed as being the ultimate expression of freedom and the pleasure it produces as something higher than heaven itself. In trying to eliminate the competition, this "comercial" puts down marriage either painting it as a slavery or claiming that monogamy is something that people are not capable of, or, even worse, marriage is degraded from being holy and a sacrament to being another exercise of freedom in a business-like contract, which anyone and everyone should be given the right to engage in no matter if the union of two certain persons would be an affront to the natural moral law.

In front of the message of the competition, this comericial tries every which way to discredit, distort, or disdain those who promote the other, better product. Oh, and since any other way would be difficult and mean restraint or moral responsibility, the easier more widely available "product" of sex is promoted as being the truly better product.

Yet, like Mac vs PC, the better product is always the better product and will remain the better product no matter what the competition says. In the example above, true human sexuality, oriented toward the good of the human person and with the true love kept in mind will always result in greater overall happiness than a fling here and there ever will. Not only is sex good, it is holy. It is not something base, but something sublime. The pleasure itself does not bring one to heaven, but the sacrament it is, the union of a man a woman in Christ and committed to growing in love, reveals the glory of God. It has two extremely valuable goods... the union of spouses in intimate sharing, giving and receiving, and procreation! And if anyone thinks that the idea that sex is holy is just the ramblings of liberal priests or nuns or something not really taught by the "institution" of the Catholic Church, all that has to be said is that Pope John Paul II dedicated a huge chunk of his Wednesday audiences to the so called Theology fo the Body. In a talk he gave, he told men that they should deny themselves immediate gratification during sexual intercourse for the purpose of ensuring that both they and their wives climax together.

No only this, but the vision of marriage in comparison to the counterfeit takes into consideration that when two people have sexual intercourse there is a bond that is formed, that it has definite reprocussions on the psychological aspect of the person... that in giving oneself to another one finds greater fulfillment and greater ability to give when one is free from the fear of being abandoned should one get in a fight over the toothpaste. The giving in sexual intercourse in marraige, therefore becomes much more than just the mutual using for physical gratification in the counterfeit, but it becomes a giving of the whole self to the other, yes, physically, but also mentally and spiritually.

One could go on. But the point is this, that no matter what example is being used, whether it be holy matrimony vs sex alla Hollywood, or promotion of life vs life as a consumer product (to be disposed of when inconvenient), or you name it, the true good is always better than the conterfeit lesser good. Just like Mac is better than PC. Sure it's costlier (just like the real good is always more difficult, requiring more sacrifice and effort), it's not as widely available (the choices for counterfeits always outnumber the choices for the real good), but it's better (just ask the saints and all those who have found true joy).

So remember, always go for the better product. No offense Bill Gates.

Miracles

2007-01-12T11:40:00.000-05:00

The homily I heard during mass this morning struck something in my heart. The priest said that the bigger miracle in the gospel today was not the physical healing but the forgiveness of sins. In fact, this, he said, is the greatest of miracles.

Now what struck me is that, if this true... that forgiving sins is the greatest of miracles, then we are all capable of performing this miracle or at least participating in this (with God's help of course). Of course, I don't mean that we can obtain the forgiveness of sins from God for someone elses sins (that's all through Jesus), but rather in our own way we can do a similar thing in rememberance of the miracle of our own being forgiven by Jesus by forgiving others their sins against us (of course by forgiveness I don't mean enabling people to continue hurting us or others, but forgiveness in the sense of not being judgmental and still wanting the good of the other). And yet, if we find this too difficult, we can start by forgiving other peoples faults (and these are not necessarily sins as much as things that make us have to be patient with the other).

Hodie est dies melior vitae meae.

Holy Spirit

2007-01-09T08:33:00.000-05:00

It seems that the Holy Spirit has been on my mind a lot recently. Not only have I been thinking about whether or not the charismatic group I attend here in Rome could possibly have a Life in the Spirit Seminar as a refresher for us current members and also a way to attract new members to the prayer group, but I have seen plenty of suggestions about the Holy Spirit all around me. Maybe Someone is trying to tell me something.

Praying to the Holy Spirit for aid came up in a discussion I was having with a priest. He suggested singing the Veni Creator Spiritus or the Veni Sancte Spiritus as a way to pray for the help of the Holy Spirit.

Also, I have been thinking about doing something to renew my spiritual life, like setting aside some extra time for prayer, but as I have a tendency to be obsessive and perfectionistic about how I want to change, I began to realize, with the help of something a friend mentioned to me, that what I really need is a new outlook rather than a new thing to do in the same old frantic fashion (which normally includes beating up on myself if I don't do that particular thing that day).

Then, unbeknownst to a priest friend of mine that all this was going on (he only knew from my Christmas letter that I started going to a charismatic group this past year), I get a letter from him sharing with me his favorite story about Saint Seraphim of Sarov where Seraphim (pray for us) says to a fellow monk that the problem sometimes with Christian asceticism (prayer, fasting, vigils, etc) is that Christians sometimes do them forgetting the reason why they are to do them. For Seraphim, the aim of these "tools" is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. For him this is the goal of the Christian life.

And this letter comes to me a day after I write a post about how ordinary time is supposed to be linked to the paschal mystery, which was summed up in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and how I wish we would remember that, as someone commented, the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit is "Ordinary" for us Christians!

Not only that, but today in class we were talking about grace, and whenever I hear the word grace, most of the time I think of what I read in the Catechism about grace being above all the gift of the Holy Spirit (CCC 2003).

Gee, I wonder, could Someone be trying to tell me something?

Father, please send afresh upon us the Holy Spirit, so that we may not be held in bondage by fear but be free as your sons and daughters, ready to call out to you in trust and in faith "Abba." We ask this through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit,
et emitte caelitus send forth the heavenly
lucis tuae radium. radiance of your light.
Veni, pater pauperum, Come, father of the poor,
veni, dator munerum come giver of gifts,
veni, lumen cordium. come, light of the heart.
Consolator optime, Greatest comforter,
dulcis hospes animae, sweet guest of the soul,
dulce refrigerium. sweet consolation.
In labore requies, In labor, rest,
in aestu temperies in heat, temperance,
in fletu solatium. in tears, solace.
O lux beatissima, O most blessed light,
reple cordis intima fill the inmost heart
tuorum fidelium. of your faithful.
Sine tuo numine, Without your divine will,
nihil est in homine, there is nothing in man,
nihil est innoxium. nothing is harmless.
Lava quod est sordidum, Wash that which is unclean,
riga quod est aridum, water that which is dry,
sana quod est saucium. heal that which is wounded.
Flecte quod est rigidum, Bend that which is inflexible,
fove quod est frigidum, warm that which is chilled,
rege quod est devium. make right that which is wrong.
Da tuis fidelibus, Give to your faithful,
in te confidentibus, who rely on you,
sacrum septenarium. the holy sevenfold gifts.
Da virtutis meritum, Give reward to virtue,
da salutis exitum, give salvation at our passing on,
da perenne gaudium, give eternal joy.
Amen, Alleluia. So may it be. Praise God.

Ordinary Time

2007-01-08T11:16:00.000-05:00

I really don't like this title of this part of the liturgical year. What could be "ordinary" about God?

I kind of wish that this part of the litugical year was still labeled in terms of "weeks after Pentecost." Because then this reminds us that we have a focus in our "ordinary" lives... the paschal mystery, which culminated in the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

I was thinking today that it would be really neat if we wore green as the liturgical color of the Holy Spirit. I know... red is the color associated with the Holy Spirit, or at least with the descent of the Holy Spirit (hence red vestments at Pentecost and for confirmations... otherwise red is for the blood of the martyrs), but in the Eastern Church, the color associated with the Holy Spirit is green (unless I misunderstood what someone once told me). So, wouldn't it be neat if the reason why the priest wears green vestments during the liturgucal season referred to as "weeks after pentecost" were because of this association with the Holy Spirit? Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part... that I want this connection, but it would be neat to find out if there really were this kind of connection.

If you have any comments or suggetsions on places I might look to find the answer to this, please leave a comment. Thanks.

In any event, it is still a good thing to keep in mind that this "Ordinary Time" refers to the time after Pentecost, after the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to remember to let the paschal mystery in its completeness be the center of our lives.

peace and goodness

Prayer for Epiphany

2007-01-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

I just saw the alternative collect prayer for the Epiphany, and I think it is very appropriate for some of the things I wrote in my post for the feast.

Father of light, unchanging God,
today you reveal to men of faith
the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh.
Your light is strong,
your love is near;
draw us beyond the limits which this world imposes,
to the life where your Spirit makes all life complete.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Happy Epiphany!

2007-01-06T05:16:00.000-05:00

Today in Italy is the feast of the Epiphany. This is the day the Church celebrates three luminous mysteries of the life of Christ. The first is the adoration of the magi (which tradition numbers as being three, Casper, Melchior and Balthezar). The second is the Baptism in the Jordan, and third is Jesus's changing of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana.

We can talk about how the magi represent the nations and how the gentiles came to recognize Christ as God and how the light of the star illuminated the magi to come to know Jesus. We can talk about Herod as being the one who is afraid of change and uncertainty, looking for security and how the magi represent those who leave everything to seek out God (thanks, Marta). But concerning the magi, I want to focus on the gifts: gold, frankinsense, and myrrh. Gold is a gift for a king and therefore is supposed to represent royalty. Frankinsense is for offering to God and so is priestly. And myrrh, since it was used in funeral rights, is for burial, and in this sense is profetic since it foreshadows Christ's burial.

Yet, we don't have these gifts... gold, frankinsense, and myrrh. So what can we give the child Jesus? How about the gold of charity, in thought, word and deed? And what about the frankinsense of prayer, especially thanksgiving, praise, and petition? What what about the myrrh of dying to sin, dying to ourselves... that is being united to Christ's death?

The last one might especially sound morbid... dying to oneself... death. But we have to remember that the gift of myrrh that we can Jesus, is not our death in general, but our death to sin and to egoism... our death in Him... a death united to his passion, and thus ultimately also united to His resurrection. So, if we remember that we are not dying to ourselves unto ultimate death, but dying to ourselves unto Life, this then has an aspect of hope and the joy of the Resurrection! The dying to ourselves becomes "the time of pruning" mentioned in the Song of Songs 2:10-13, a springtime growth (by the way, this is the real meaning of the word "Lent," "Springtime").

Tha Baptism in the Jordan: Okay, we can talk about the first Theophany and how the Baptism of Jesus represents the first appearance on earth of the Holy Trinity: The voice of the Father, the Spirit descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and Jesus. We can also talk about how Jesus, in being baptized, places himself in the context of sinful humanity even though he is the sinless one. But, what I would like to mention about the Baptism is the link to the paschal mystery. In response to their request to be at his right and at his left, Jesus says to James and John "Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" (Mark 10:35-40). Here Jesus is making a reference to his passion as a baptism. And we know that the Paschal Mystery, Christ's dying and rising again is a fulfillment of the figure of the first paschal mystery, the crossing of the people of Israel through the red sea on dry land. And we know that God did not liberate his people from the slavery of Egypt back then for no good reason, but rather to make covenant with them at Sinai and give them the law. Likewise, God liberated us from the slavery of sin in the passion, descent into the underworld, and resurrection of Jesus in order to make a new convenant with them and give them a new law (Holy Spirit at pentecost... and it wasn't so much a new law or new covenant as much as making new and fulfilling the figure of the old, making it into the reality prefigured).

So the baptism of Jesus, what do we have? Jesus is baptized (think, entering into the water). The Spirit comes upon him, and he is sent out into the desert for fourty days where he was tested by the devil (and he overcomes the temptations).

What happened in the first passover? The people passed through the water, received the law and then wandered in the desert for forty years where they were put to the test and are unfaithful. Only after wandering as pilgrims and strangers were they brought into the promised land.

What relevance does all this have in our lives as Christians? First we can see the meaning that Jesus's Baptism and time in the desert have. Jesus fulfilled what was lacking in the first exodus. Where the people of Israel were unfaithful to God and gave into temptations, Jesus does not give in but overcomes those temptations. He has "overcome the world."

But also let us look at it this way, the believer in Christ, in being baptized into Him and into His Paschal Mystery, in a real though mysterious way, shares in the mystery of the new Passover and the new exodus. We too, in and through Jesus, are liberated from the slavery to sin. We too receive the Holy Spirit, the new law, as it were, at the Sinai of Pentecost.

And so where does that leave us? We, like Jesus, and like the people of Israel of the first exodus, are in the desert, on pilgrimage toward the promised land (with the difference that this promised land is our true inheritance - heaven - and we mysteriously already partake of that reality in and through Christ, since he has ascended bodily into heaven... there's the "already and not yet" spoken about in theology... how we already share in the heavenly mystery but in an way that is still not fulfilled). Like the people of Israel were given Mana in the desert, we are given the true bread of angels to sustain us on our journey. Like the people of Israel were put to the test in the desert, so too is our life on this pilgrimage toward the promised land, filled with trials and we are put to the test. The difference being that Jesus was already put to the test for us and so our being put to the test is simply a sharing in His... it is making up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. And we walk, as Jesus did, until our personal calvary (again one of participation in Jesus's Calvary for those, who being baptized in Christ, are living a life ever more united to Christ). The fact that Jesus was already put to the test for us, means that He can give us the strength to endure. This is what he means when he says "In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world." We also hear in Hebrews 4:15-16 that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."

What does this all mean? What it means is that the journey of faith we enter into through baptism, is not one that will be devoid of trials. What was it that Francis said, that he did not consider one to be a friend of God unless one had already suffered numerous trials and tribulations. Now, that might sound pessimistic, but maybe instead it is necessary to be realistic about life. And not just "realistic" in the sense of a smoke screen for pessimism, but realistic so that faith can turn into real hope, and not just be a Pollyanna wishful thinking. Embracing the reality of life, that it is full of trials, that it is not unlimited here on this earth, that it requires commitment and will mean pain at times, is embracing the cross. And when we as Christians embrace the cross, we embrace the one died on the cross, the Risen One. So we do not embrace a death unto death but a death unto the illusion that we are immortal and all powerful, we embrace the poverty of spirit and the meekness of the beatitudes, coming to realize the truth about our human existence, so that God can truly be glorified when he shows his power in the midst of our limited experience.

This gets into the third mystery of the Epiphany, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana. It is not just about a neat parlor trick. It is a symbolic gesture. A wedding feast... ulimately it is Christ who is the Bridegroom and we the bride. So, not only does God love us in our limited and humble nature, but in making the new covenant with us, he did not just symbolize a marriage between God and man, as he did in the past, but actualized it in the incarnation. This sheds light on what St. Romanos the Melodist wrote in his Kontakion for the Nativity,

“High King, what have you to do with beggars?
Maker of heaven, why have you come to those born of earth?
Did you love a cave or take pleasure in a manger?"

The "answer" is that He loved us and wanted us to be united to Him, but we could spend forever complating the "answer" (and I hope we will spend forever doing just that).

So, in coming to understand what our life really is about, in becoming humble, accepting the cross, accepting our limitations, only then can we begin to understand the greatness of what God did for us and continues to do for us. Only then can we begin to sound the height and depth and breadth and width of God's love. And won't this make the journey joyful?

Happy Epiphany and Bon Voyage!

(Baa, Baa, Baa! Much I say, and little I do! St. Juniper pray for us)

I Saw You Under the Fig Tree

2007-01-05T15:46:00.001-05:00

I was struck by today's gospel, John 1:43-51, at a possibilty that I hadn't seen before. I know a lot of people focus on what's in the Bible, but sometimes I like to focus on what's not in the Bible. We hear Jesus say to Nathaniel, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."

Thinking about this in the past, I used to ask myself, "so maybe Jesus saw him from far away, what's the big deal?" And that is a good question. What's so important about Jesus seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree?

Well, a couple of summers ago I was in Winsted, CT, at St. Joseph Parish, and I had to give a reflection on this gospel. What I read in a commentary back then was that "sitting under the fig tree" was symbolic for meditating on the Torah, the leaves providing plenty of shade from the sun, making it a comfortable place to sit and read the Torah.

Today at mass it hit me that the reference that Jesus makes about the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man is in the Torah (Genesis 28:12). Mind you, I'm not saying that this is what actually happened, but wouldn't it be interesting if Nathaniel had been sitting under the fig tree meditating on the Torah and had just read that passage about Jacob's ladder?

So, if this were the case, Nathaniel in meeting Jesus for the first time, would have met somebody who not only told him what he had just been doing, but even gave him the understanding of the passage of scripture he had just been reading. It would then be a call accompanied by an event that when one puts two and two together one realizes that there is no other way to explain this kind of coincidence, that it must be God.

And yet, Nathaniel, just like every follower of Christ, after having a call that would fascinate him beyond telling, would then have to grow in faith and no longer follow Jesus just because of an amazing event that he would not be able to explain any other way except that it was God, but because he would come to believe and to know that Jesus is indeed the holy one of God. Not only this, but Nathaniel, in the course of his vocation, would be tested and have his faith tried, just like the other apostles, when it came to the crucifixion.

Anyone who has every had one of those experiences that can not be explained in any other way except that it was God knows that these experiences do not sustain a vocation. As St. Francis would say "in this is not perfect joy". Rather, a vocation is sustained by the daily "Here I am, Lord," by faithfulness, by humility, by the cross, and more importantly, by the grace of God. Nathaniel learned this, and so must we.

Lord, grant us perseverance in the journey we undertake in being your disciples. Help us, in the midst of difficulties and trials to trust that you are with us. Let us not be discouraged by our weaknesses and faults but rather profit by these by allowing you to use them for our humility and for you to manifest your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

St. Nathaniel and St. Francis, pray for us!

Come and See

2007-01-04T10:24:00.000-05:00

Today the homily at mass touched on the journey of faith, how it is not something that happens overnight and how the apostles and even St. Elizabeth Ann Seton had to overcome difficulties.

Of course this has been a recurrent theme in my life recently. Both what my friend wrote to me the other day about how we do not become saints overnight and the reflection on the parable fo the merciful father and how the Father runs to the son while he was still a good way off have this theme as their basis. Again, the fervorino I heard from Vatican radio one morning comes to mind... today beter than yesterday, tomorrow better than today. And isn't that just another way of saying "step by step." Or, if you know that sappy movie "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" (not at all historically accurate but still entertaining), the song by Donavan is appropriate too

"If you want your dream to be,
take your time go slowly.
Small beginnings, greater ends,
heartfelt work grows purely.
If you want to live life free,
take your time, go slowly.
Do few things but do them well,
simple joys are holy.
Day by day, stone by stone,
build your secret slowly.
Day by day you'll grow too.
You'll know heaven's glory."

I told you it was a sappy song, but actually kind of deep, huh?

Well I must off. Lord, give us the patience we need to let you make us into saints. Help us to live your truth day by day, step by step, not looking for successes but faithfulness to your call. Amen. Doxa su Kyrie! Doxa su!

"Be Yourself"

2007-01-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

Here is a message I got from a friend of mine. I find it to be very moving, so I share it with you.

"Do not be afraid!" - you know who said it of course. Be yourself and be proud and happy just to be yourself. Do not try to be somebody that you are not. Jesus calls us as we are, as he called Peter and John, with our qualities and defaults, with our sin also. He knows all about it. In a certain way, he loves us because we are so weak and because He knows how great we can be with Him. Of course, we can alway do better, but that is the matter of our life, that happens in a lifetime! We cannot instantly become saints... The most important I think is to truly believe that we are loved AS WE ARE and NOT AS WE SHOULD BE.
Satan is responsible for it, always trying to discourage us and accusing us with
each and every sin we make. But do you think about God's mercy? More than
everything, the sin of Judas is to have believed that the Love of his Master was
not enough to forgive him.
God's mercy takes you much farther than each of our sins and bad habits. Much more: he fills them with His grace. He comes in each of our poverty (which means, our sin, also), and wants nothing else. He asks us if we agree to let him come because he has no where to stay, exactly as He did when he was born. Do not be afraid of who you are, because you are already a saint in the heart of God, even if you are not perfect (and don't worry, Be certain that you will never be perfect). God loves you as you are now, not as you would like to be. Let yourself go in this wonderful freedom in your heart, just rest in His Grace!

Love

2007-01-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

Some reflections on love today:

I read today somewhere that to love is to live, and just as no one wants to live only half, likewise no one should want to love only half way.

At evening prayer, the antiphon for the Magnificat hit me. It was something like "Those who teach and love will be great in the kingdom of heaven." That is, it does not suffice to only teach love but also to be an example of love.

It is quite easy to fall into the same old rut of not wanting to give of not wanting to be concerned for others, to just be egotistical.

In order to love one needs to make a gift of oneself, to give of oneself to others, despite what others might say or do with that gift. To love is to risk. And yet maybe we need help thinking that we can even be a gift. Sure we are sinners, sure we are faulty, but we must keep in mind that we have been made in the image and likeness of God and so have a dignity that cannot be lost, no matter how ruffed up, beat up, and obscured we may make that image or thnk that image is.

God, give us the courage to love, the strength to be a "gift" to others. Help us to believe the truth of your love for us and to love you and others in return. Amen

Mary, Mother of God

2006-12-31T18:56:00.000-05:00

Today, January 1st, is the feast of Mary, the Mother of God. For those who don't quite understand why we Catholics venerate Mary as much as we do, let me say first and foremost that the title of Mary was not given to her by the Church because of who she is, but rather because of who her son is.

In defending the faith against heresies, the Magisterium of the Church delared Jesus to be true God and true man. True man because there were some who thought that Jesus was only God and not really human (and these were the first heresies, which goes to show that the belief in Jesus's divinty was from the beginning). Then there were those, like Arius, who said that Jesus was only man and not at all God. Against these, the Church proclaimed that Jesus is in fact true God. Therefore at the counsel of Ephesus, Mary was given the title Theotokos, God bearer, because the one whom she bore, Jesus, was truly God. This makes her "Mother of God," since she is mother of the One Who is true God and true man. This does not mean that she is the origin of Christ's divinity, as if she were the principle from which God came into being... no, she is not "mother" of God in this sense, but rather in being mother of Jesus Christ, in whom the human and divine natures were unified though not intertwined or confused, she is mother of God.

Today is also the world day of peace. And so... (let us pray a bit of the Great Litany from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom... not only as a prayer for peace, but a reminder of our lady and her role in our walk of faith as teacher and example).

In peace let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For peace from on high, the salvation of our souls, let us ask of the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

...

Remembering our most holy, most pure, most-blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ, our God.

To you, O Lord!

Happy Feast of Mary the Mother of God!

Office of Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family

2006-12-31T13:57:00.000-05:00

I just read the office of readings for the Feast of the Holy Family, which included this bit from Ephesians 5.

So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

Have you ever wondered about how the "man" who leaves his father and clings to his wife is Christ?

Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T12:31:00.000-05:00

It's new year's eve and time for those new year's resolutions. I was looking to make all new resolutions this year when my guardian said something that struck me. He basically said it's time either to make new resolutions or to renew the ones from last year. And when I thought about it, I realized that the things I what to make resolutions about are, in fact, just continuations of last year's resolutions.

When I was writting my Christmas letter earlier this month I was quite happy that I could see that I kept my new year's resolutions from last year. Mind you, I didn't resolve to do something drastic or definitive that one could scratch off a list, like go see the Mona Lisa, but rather something which requires slow progress.

So, looking back at this past year, I could see a small amount of progress, again, nothing drastic, but still progress. This gave me, and continues to give me encouragement for future progress. Sure, it might come slowly as it did this year, but isn't the point still to make progress?

This all ties together, by the way, with the journey of faith. Our goal in the Christian life is to make progress toward perfection. As the program on Vatican Radio I woke up to the other day said (and I love how God gives me just the tidbit of encouragement I need for the day through such random things as what I wake up hearing on Vatican Radio - I have a radio alarm clock), "Our goal in the Christian life is progress, that today be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today."

That made me realize that, yes, the goal is perfection, but not immediately (and don't think this means I'm making an excuse to not go toward perfection or to stay in sin). It is not possible for us to become perfect overnight. What is necessary is faithfulness to the journey. We have the goal in sight. We have such strong help (the Holy Spirit, Jesus our Lord, God the Father, and the prayers of the angels and saints as well as our community). This should leave us joyfull to be on the pilgrimage of faith, walking in faith, hoping that we will eventually reach our destination, full of love from a God who doesn't wait for us to reach the end of the journey before He runs towards us and embraces us where we are at so as to lead us into His house (with a ring on our fingers, sandals on our feet, new clothes, and big fat banquet)!

So, on with those old new year's resolutions! Let's renew them, and in joy, let us sing, "Leaping the mountains, bounding the hills, see how our God has come to meet us. His voice is lifted. His face is joy! Now is the season to sing our song on high!"

Et dilectus meus loquitur mihi, "Surge propera amica mea, formonsa mea, et veni! Iam enim hiemps transiit. Imber abiit et recessit. Flores apparuerunt in terra. Tempus putationis advenit. Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra. Ficus protulit grossos suos. Vineae florent dederunt odorem. Surge amica mea speciosa mea et veni! Columba mea in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae, ostende mihi faciem tuam, sonet vox tua in auribus meis! Vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora!"

(Yeah, so I made it a secret even after my post on secret vs mystery... but here's a clue... look in the same place where the song I just sang comes from and you'll find the quote.)

Happy New Year in the Lord!

On the International Scene...

2006-12-30T10:47:00.001-05:00

This might sound strange, but I feel like I should be doing penance today for what happened on the international scene... penance for the repose of the soul of a man who was convicted of brutal crimes, that he find mercy. But also, I feel like I should do penance today because of the eye for an eye mentality that continues to make capital punishment a favored means of dealing out "justice."

Obviously I am no fan of the man who died today. I know what he was convicted of and don't doubt that he was guilty. I just think that there are some punishments which can still respect life and yet deal out "justice."

Also, I feel like I should be doing penance today for the country that this man lived in, that it come to know peace and that the factions within it might learn to respect the religious differences of the entire population of that country, especially the minorities (Christians).

Let us pray for peace.

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

The Two Ways

2006-12-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

Today I was reading a book on early Church history, and I came across an expression used in the early Church called the "two ways." At first glance I didn't know what this was about. I knew that the faith was originally called "the way," but I wasn't sure what could be the other way if one of the "two ways" was this "way."

It turns out that as I read on there was an explaination of the "two ways," and in fact, we still unknowingly use a formula that is indicative of the "two ways." Easter vigil when the community is asked to renew their baptismal promises, the priest asks

"Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children?"

The people respond

"I do."

"Do you reject the glamor of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin?"

"I do."

"Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?"

"I do."

Then the questions change.

"Do you believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?"

"I do." (or in Latin "Credo," "I believe")

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, Who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?"

"I do."

"Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?"

"I do."

Here we see a good demostration of the two ways in which the Christian is called to walk: rejection of evil and sin, and clinging to Christ.

The "two ways" are the first message we hear Jesus speaking about in the Gospel of Mark. After announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand Jesus says, "Repent and believe in the good news." This boils down to ceasing of evil and adherence to the good - Ceasing of sins vices and the doing of good works and being virtuous - Ceasing to believe in false gods (including too much in one's self) and believing in God.

(I think this ties in to my post of St. John because the law teaches us to reject the bad by telling what not to do, and Jesus teaches to do good.)

So today, may you remember your baptismal promises and the two ways you set out on.

Thank you God for the gift of baptism. Help us by the power of your Holy Spirit to reject what is displeasing to you and to do what is good, so that more and more we made be made anew in the imagine of Christ your Son, we ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Secret vs. Mystery

2006-12-28T10:49:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the mass in latin on Vatican Radio today as I was driving my guardian to St. John Lateran, and it caused me to stop and think (not literally... driving in Rome you can't just stop anywhere... although some Roman drivers do).

Anyway, I began to wonder about those who advocate that the mass be comepletely in Latin. I've heard all sorts of reasons in favor of this, including that Latin is a better language, etc. What caused me to think was that I was understanding what was being said even if I didn't know the words exactly (having attended mass enough times in English and knowing Italian seemed to have helped me understand). And I wondered about those who went to mass in the Tridentine rite (before Vatican II) and whether they really understood what was going on. I'm sure that some people who were interested enough in following the mass came to understand what was being said, but others, no. So I was wondering about those people and whether or not their experience of the mystery of the eucharist wasn't affected by the secretness of the language.

When I was little my brother and sister and I would speak to each other in German. Why German, you ask? Well, my sister had studied it in high school, my brother had studied it in high school and I began to study it, so every once in a while we would have a bit of fun and speak German so that our parents wouldn't understand. It was thrilling. Little did we know that our folks understood more than they let on. But the fact that we were privy to something secret was in fact a big deal. Everything in German was some how richer, better, more meaningful than things in English.

Okay, maybe I'm being a little too psychological in this, but I wondered this morning whether or not those who advocate a complete return to an all Latin mass don't have as their reason for preferring Latin over the vernacular this very mechanism of "secretness."

A secret generally is something that is comprehensible but simply unknown to the unititiated. Just ask any Knight of Columbus and they will tell you that the secrets of the degree ceremonies they go through are understandable.

A mystery, however, is not understandable, not comprehensible, even if it can be put into words. A mystery provokes contemplation. For example, to say "The One Who heaven and earth cannot contain, became man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary," is to put into words a mystery. The words themselves are comprehensible, they make sense, but the mystery itself causes one to contemplate what truth is being told, it causes one to wonder.

There's the old anecdote that an anglican primate asked the Pope for a blessing during an ecumeical meeting and the Pope said a blessing in Latin, and the anglican goes away impressed, feeling blessed, not knowing that blessing the Pope gave him was "May you be blessed in Whose Name you shall burn," that is, the old blessing of the incense (with an obvious insinuation that the anglican would end up in hell). I don't know if this story is true, but it is quite conceivable that simply hearing something in a different unknown language adds a sense of hiddness, a sense of "mystery" in the common day sense of the word, but which is really only a matter of secretness.

I'm not for Latin in the mass for reasons of secretness, ie in order to add mystery (in the human sense) to the mass. There is enough "divine mystery" there already, which needs to be contemplated. Anyone who advocates a return to the mass completely in Latin might want to examine themselves to see if this love of "secretness" is not present in their love for Latin.

By the way, this is not a condemnation of Latin just an admonition against a wrong reason for going to Latin in the mass. Anyone who wants to know my view on Latin in the mass: Vat II did not say to get rid of all Latin and neither did it say to use it throughout the entire mass. It has its place, and we should know the mass parts in Latin - and we should know what they mean too. Personally I think Latin could be used in pastoral settings where there are multiple ethic groups celebrating in their different languages in the same parish. Latin in that case could be used as a way for the different groups to be brought together and celebrate as one community - the readings being alternatively in the various vernacular languages, of course.

Saint John

2006-12-28T06:43:00.000-05:00

I tried to post yesterday, but blogger ate post and I didn't have time to rewrite everything. Okay so yesterday was the feast of St. John the apostle and evangelist. We hear from St. John in his letters and in his Gospel the admonition "Love one another."

So, what is St. John trying to tell us about being a Christian? Well, I think it has something to do with the difference between what we hear in the book of Tobit "Do not do unto others what you yourself dislike" and what we hear from Jesus "Do on to others as you would have other do unto you."

The first one is a negative prescription in that it reminds us of the limits we should place on our freedom so as to respect the rights and dignity of others. A good number of the precepts of the old testament were of this type, for example the ten commandments: "Do not put anything above God," "Do not steal," "Do not kill," etc.

The basic idea behind the negative prescription is to respect the rights and dignity of others. This concept of morality is seen even today when we hear people say "Well, if I don't hurt anyone else, then it is not wrong." Kant also advocated this kind of moral ethic: a formal morality that basically said do not harm others.

The problem with this kind of morality is not that it is in itself bad or no good, but rather that on its own it does not suffice. If one only goes about life looking to make sure that one does not infringe upon the rights of others, then it is quite possible to "be" very "good," and yet do nothing for others. After one has made sure that one does not do this and one does not do that, the question remains (to steal a line from "Young Frankenstein" - thanks Madeline Kahn) "What exactly is it that you do do?"

We see just this kind of attitude from the rich young man who comes to Jesus asking what it is he has to do to gain eternal life. Jesus says, "you know the commandments." The rich young man says, "I've kept them all from my youth." And Jesus, looks at him with love and calls him to something more, "If you wish to be perfect, sell everything, give to the poor, and follow me."

I used to hear the golden rule "Do unto others..." invoked when I was young, but normally it was a scolding to not do something bad to others. Yet, if we look at the golden rule again in the light of calling Christians to a morality that is more than just a respecting of rules and a respecting of the rights of others, but rather a morality that is proactive, then it becomes something challenging, something which calls the Christian to follow Christ, to Love others as He has loved us.

This then reminds us of what we hear in the Gospel of St. John when Jesus gives us the "new" commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." If we think of doing unto others in reard to how Christ loved us, then it means we are called to love as Christ loves: heal the sick, visit the estranged and the shut ins, call to conversion for the good of the other (not as a power trip), praying for the living and the dead, give food to the hungry - pick an act of mercy be it spiritual or corporal. Truly this way of proactive love is the same thing that Jesus said when he said "You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself." To "love" means precisely to give of oneself, even to make a gift of oneself.

In this sense Christians are not called just to follow a bunch of "do not's," but rather a bunch of "do's," which give meaning and sense to the "do not's." Do love God (and if one opens oneself to accept His gift of love this is not hard to do - Caritas Christi urget nos - it is as if God's love makes us inclined to love the great Giver). Do love your neighbor (again God's love is hard to be contained in the life of just one person - Caritas Christi urget nos - if we let God love us we'll want to share it with others). Do love yourself (again here God's love is a key since it brings healing mercy and truth to stop the self hatred that comes from the lies we believe about ourselves and which have been reenforced through sin).

So, for the Feast of St. John, don't forget; do love. In this way you will treat others the way you want to be treated and love others as Christ loves you. God bless.

Presepio at St. Peter's Square

2006-12-26T13:34:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of photos of the presepio at St. Peter's Square.

And this is a close-up.

Note the ox and the ass: I read recently that the fathers of the Church interpreted these as a symbol of the gentiles and the jews, ie that Christ, even in his birth, had brought about unity between peoples.

Santo Stefano

2006-12-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

Today is the Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr of the Church. In case you are wondering what connection this feast has to Christmas, let me try to break it down. Advent and Christmas, though preparing us to celebrate the mystery of the incarnation, really have the second coming of Christ as their main focus. So, it is not surprising that the day after the celebration of the Birth of Christ (I don't say birthday because it is not), we celebrate the feast of the first martyr of the Church, an event that not only happened soon after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit, but which in it's very nature testifies to the truth of Jesus' entering heaven, the beatific vision and the life with God in heaven.

In fact, we do not celebrate Christmas as if it were the first time we ave ever heard of it, as if we were the shepherds hearing the good news for the first time. Rather, being a people whose focus is on the paschal mystery, we see Christmas in view of the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the future glory that will come and of which we already have a foretaste here on earth in the eucharist.

Links to the Holy Father's Christmas Homily and Urbi et Orbi Message

2006-12-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

Here are the links to the English versions of Pope Benedict's Christmas Midnight mass Homily and his "To the Coty and to the World" " Urbi et Orbi" Message, provided by the Vatican.

Homily:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20061224_christmas_en.html

Urbi et Orbi:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/urbi/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20061225_urbi_en.html

The link that follows is the different languages the Holy Father gave greetings in.

http://www.vatican.va/urbi_et_orbi/urbi-christmas2006/urbi_en.html

My favorite is "Salvator noster natus est in mundo."