Advent Thoughts

Advent began this year with a beautiful reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (2: 1-5).  Isaiah presents us with a picture of the world at peace, writing: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.”  

This is a vision that all people of good will share.  It is a hope that the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, came to fulfill.  Jesus is God in the flesh who came to enlighten us with wisdom, to show us the way that leads to peace, and to empower us to follow that way. 

Advent—a word that means “coming”—is our preparation time for the celebration of the fact that the Son of God came to live among us, to share our suffering and death so that we could one day share his risen life. That was his first coming.

But we are reminded this time of year that there will be a second coming.  Jesus will come again to establish his kingdom of peace once and for all.  Sin and death will be destroyed forever. 

Between these two “comings” there are others.  Today Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist. He is the Bread of Life who feeds our hunger for true love.  As the Jewish people longed with deep hunger for the Messiah to come and save them, so we hunger for Christ.  This hunger can help us “stay awake” for Christ’s second coming.  And if that second coming does not occur in our lifetime, then our hunger for Christ can help us “be prepared” for the day that he will come for us when our life on earth will end.

The coming of Jesus in the Eucharist also prepares us for another “coming” between the first and second.  St. Teresa of Kolkata understood this “coming” well.  She once said that when we look at a crucifix we see how much Jesus loved us and when we look at a tabernacle or monstrance we see how much Jesus loves us now.  Time spent in Eucharistic adoration helps us see Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Time spent seeing Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine helps us recognize him in the “distressing disguise” of the person in front of us who needs our attention, care, and love.  Jesus comes to us every day in one another.

In his Apostolic Letter for the close of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis wrote: “We are called to promote a culture of mercy based on the rediscovery of the encounter with others.”  This, he said, “can set in motion a real cultural revolution, beginning with simple gestures capable of reaching body and spirit, people’s very lives.” 

This is the only revolution that will change the world and make Isaiah’s vision of peace attainable.  Political changes will never change the world.  Only a revolution of the heart will bring about true change.  It begins one heart at a time.  It begins with your heart and mine.

Unfortunately Advent is such a busy time that there is a tendency to forget the various “comings” of Jesus—the real meaning of Christmas, the second coming of Jesus at the end of the world or the end of our life, the way Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist, and the way he comes to us in one another, especially those most forgotten or in need.  It’s a good idea to slow down by spending some time in Eucharistic adoration this Advent.  This will help us to be alert to meet Christ when and where he comes to us.  

The First Tabernacle

Today and last Friday the Gospel at Mass was the story of the Visitation, how, after Mary heard that her kinswoman Elizabeth was pregnant, she raced off from Galilee to Judea to help her.  As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped and she, filled with the Holy Spirit, made an act of faith in the fruit of Mary's womb.  She recognized that Mary was "the mother of my Lord," that she carried within her the Son of God. 

As the celebration of the birth of Jesus draws closer, I often think about a book that George Peate wrote called Unborn Jesus Our Hope.  It is a beautiful meditation on the first nine months of Jesus' life when Mary carried Him in her womb.  Recently the Unborn Word Alliance published on their blog, Unborn Word of the Day, a series of pictures of shrines and art that show the Christ Child in Mary's womb. 

As we believe that Jesus was truly present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, within the womb of Mary s

o we believe that He is present in the tabernacles of our churches.  This is the "Hidden Jesus," an expression that the Fatima seer Francisco Marto used when he spent hours adoring Jesus in the tabernacle of his parish church. 

In his encyclical on the Eucharist #55, Blessed John Paul II made thisame connection between Mary's womb and the tabernacle:  "When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary."

The Annunciation, the Visitation, and Christmas are Eucharistic mysteries, for Jesus was only able to give His Body and Blood to us because He first took flesh in Mary's womb, was carried there for nine months, and was born.  May the coming celebration of Christmas during this Year of Faith increase our faith in the Christ Child's hidden presence in Mary's womb and in the Holy Eucharist.

Praying with the Sisters

While giving a retreat to some Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma Michigan, I've been privileged to share in their prayer life.  While these Sisters are very active around the world, prayer is certainly a big part of their lives.  It's clear that prayer has a very apostolic dimension for them.   For example, every day the Sisters make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  They begin by naming many intentions and people for whom they are offering their Holy Hour.  I was happily surprised to hear, at the top of the list, the Holy Father's two monthly prayer intentions which we in the Apostleship of Prayer publicize.  That the Holy Hour has a strong apostolic dimension can be clearly seen in the prayer which the Sisters recite as they begin:

O Jesus, Son of God, You Who are to bestow Your blessing upon us assembled here, we humbly beg You that it may impart to each and all of us the graces we need.  Let Your blessing extend to places far and wide.  Let it be felt by the afflicted who cannot come here to receive it personally.  Let the weak and the tempted feel its power wherever they may be.  Let poor sinners come under its influence prompting them to turn to You.  Let it reach the missionaries who work for Your people, whose God You are.

Lord, we humbly beg Your blessing for us here and for all those dear to us, and may it effect that secret purpose for which, O Lord, You always generously impart it.  Amen. 

The Sisters also pray Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity every time they gather for prayer.  Here are these very simple and beautiful prayers:

My God, I believe in Thee and all Thy Church doth teach, because Thou hast said it and Thy Word is true.

My God, I hope in Thee, for grace and for glory, because of Thy promises, Thy mercy and Thy power.

My God, because Thou art so good, I love Thee with all my heart, and for Thy sake, I love my neighbor as myself.

After Mass the Sisters pray the Prayer to St. Michael, the Suscipe of Venerable Catherine McAuley, a prayer for her beatification, and the following prayer which Blessed John Paul II wrote as an Act of Consecration of the Modern World to our Lady of Fatima. 

Prayer for Peace to Mary, the Light of Hope

Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!

From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.  Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the "sin of the world," sin in all its manifestations.  Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption, the power of merciful Love.  May it put a stop to evil.  May it transform consciences.  May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.

As I get ready to return home to Milwaukee, I'm consoled by the thought that the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma are offering these prayers every day.

Holy Thursday

As I travel I'm always on the lookout for good religious art, particularly images of the Sacred Heart. Last year, while giving a parish mission in the Peoria Diocese, I visited the Community of St. John. I came across a painting in a meeting room there and someone I was with took a photo for me on his cell phone and sent me a copy. Unfortunately, I have no information about the artist and origin of the painting, nor does the Community have any reproductions.


This picture of the Last Supper shows John drawing near to Jesus whose Heart appears as the Eucharist. Both the Heart of Jesus and the Eucharist are important for the Apostleship of Prayer. The Second Vatican Council called the Eucharist "the source and summit of the Christian life." All Christians are called to make an offering of their lives (see Romans 12: 1), joining their offering to the perfect offering of Jesus on the cross. This offering is made present for us to see and to unite ourselves to in every Mass.

But to offer all, to live the Eucharist in our daily lives, is humanly impossible. At the Last Supper Peter relied on himself and proudly declared that he would offer all, giving his life by loyally standing with Jesus to the end. We know what happened that very night.

John, on the other hand, drew near to the Heart of Jesus at the Last Supper. He found there the greatest love the world has ever known. And, as the Song of Songs (8: 6-7) says:

For stern as death is love,
relentless as the nether world is devotion;
its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
nor floods sweep it away.

This love gave John the courage to act against his fears and to remain loyal to Jesus to the end, standing under the cross with Mother Mary.

It is this Heart brimming with true love and devotion that we now find in the Eucharist. This evening the Church invites us to spend some time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We draw near, as Pope John Paul II put it in his apostolic letter Mane Nobiscum Domine, "ready to wait patiently to hear his voice and, as it were, to sense the beating of his heart" (#18).

Come, let us adore Jesus and find in his Eucharistic Heart the love and courage to faithfully offer ourselves one day at a time to the end.

Community of St. John

Corpus Christi parish in Galesburg, IL, where I'm giving a parish mission this week, is served by two priests of the Institute of Charity or Rosminians. Today I went with Frs. William Miller and Joseph Presley to Peoria where one of their community houses is located. There we had lunch with five priests of the Peoria diocese, one of whom, Fr. Greg Nelson, I knew because last year at this time I gave a parish mission at St. Paul's in Danville, IL. It was good to see him again and to make some new friends among the local clergy, two of whom graduated from the College of Philosophy and Letters at St. Louis University just as I had.

On our way back to Galesburg we visited the Community of St. John in Princeville, IL. I first heard about this community through their work of promoting Eucharist adoration for children. Fr. Antoine Thomas spearheads that effort speaking around the country, creating videos and a website called "Children of Hope." I've met Fr. Antoine a couple times over the past few years and have always been moved by his simplicity and his deep love for our Eucharistic Lord.

What is the Community of St. John? A brochure I picked up says the following: "The Community of St. John is a religious family founded in 1975 by a French Dominican, Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe. Following the example of the beloved disciple St. John, the Brothers and Sisters have chosen to live a contemplative life in service to the Church. They consecrate their lives to God, emphasizing the Eucharist, silent prayer in common, study, and fraternal charity. Like St. John, they receive the Virgin Mary as their Mother and live intimately close to her. The Brothers, especially the priests, are called to give retreats, seminars, and missions. Since 1975, the Community has grown from its original five members to 950 Brothers and Sisters from over 25 countries, serving in about 80 priories (houses) throughout the world. The Community has established several priories in the U.S.: Laredo, Texas; Peoria, Illinois (Newman Center at Bradley University); and Novitiates for the Brothers and Sisters in Princeville, Illinois."

We saw some art work (calligraphy, paintings, and sketches) done by two of the Sisters that was on display in the conference center and we prayed in the chapel where an afternoon of adoration was going on.

As we began to leave, driving down a gravel driveway, whom should we see walking up the road but Fr. Antoine himself. I was happy to have this opportunity to see him again because in a few weeks he will be leaving the U.S. to help found a new priory in Christchurch, New Zealand. His smile radiated the warmth of a personality which has been obviously formed by his contemplative life and mission of teaching children to meet Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Like the namesake of his community, he has drawn near to the Heart of Jesus and found there a joy that he cannot keep to himself.

Our Lady of the Cenacle

Last Sunday, after the retreat for deacon candidates of the Tulsa Diocese, I was able to stay overnight at a new Benedictine monastery named "Our Lady of the Cenacle." I first met its founder, Fr. Mark Kirby, a few years ago when I was giving a retreat in Connecticutt. The special charism of this new monastery is to go in adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus and to offer thanksgiving, intercession, and reparation for priests. Fr. Kirby is also working with women who are called to be spiritual mothers of priests. I highly recommend Fr. Kirby's blog "Vultus Christi" for its beautiful prayers and images.

St. Peter's Basilica

I'm a day behind in posting, but yesterday morning I went to St. Peter's Basilica. It was an amazing experience. I raced through the church looking for the tomb of Pope John Paul II, the first place that I wanted to visit. I asked a guide who directed me outside the basilica and then downstairs. Many popes are buried there and on my way to Pope John Paul's grave I passed and prayed at Pope Paul VI's grave. After that it was easy to find Pope John Paul's grave because of the people praying in front of it and the guide directing people past it. I was able to stop and pray with the small crowd present there.

Then I made my way to the basilica again and walked all around. Pope Pius XII is buried in the main church, as well as Blessed Pope John XXIII. (I have to admit that I was surprised recently at some letters in the Milwaukee Archdiocesan newspaper which complained about the causes of Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II being advanced and Blessed Pope John XXIII being ignored. Obviously the letter writers weren't following their Catholic news very carefully.)

The art and architecture of the main basilica is truly amazing. I took my time walking around, checking out all the large statues to see which saints were given that honor, trying to see around the crowd that gathered in front of Michelangelo's famous "Pieta," and stopping at the foot of the statue of St. Peter to touch his foot and to pray for a special intention that had been entrusted to me.

But I have to admit that the most beautiful site was behind a curtain. I walked past the curtain and the guard who was there and entered the chapel where there is 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration. As I knelt down I thought about all the beautiful things I had just seen and prayed: "But You, Lord, You are the most beautiful of all. I'm grateful to be here at St. Peter's and to see all these wondrous works of art created to give You glory. But in the end, You, here present in the monstrance on the altar, are the most beautiful of all. And I don't even have to leave home to see You. Thank You for Your Eucharistic Presence!"

St. Jose Maria Rubio, S.J.

St. Jose Maria Rubio is not in the universal calendar of the Church but today my community, the Society of Jesus, honor his memory. He's known as the "Apostle of Madrid" and the "Father of the Poor," and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2003. After serving for nineteen years as a diocesan priest he entered the Jesuits and, after his formation, spent the rest of his life in Madrid where he preached, gave spiritual direction, heard confessions, and exhibited a special love for the poor and abandoned of that city. He died in 1929.

One of the great signs of the Holy Spirit in our day is how popular Eucharistic Adoration and Perpetual Adoration Chapels have become. Yet many people wonder what to do when they go before the Blessed Sacrament for an extended period of time. There, in the Holy Eucharist, we meet the Sacred Heart of Jesus and can have a heart to Heart talk with Him. We can adore Him and listen to Him in the silence of our hearts. If we have nothing to say and if we sense the Lord saying nothing to us, it is enough to simply be in the presence of the Beloved. Here is something from St. Jose Maria Rubio that may be helpful:

Are you truly making an effort to adore God? In this Sacred Host lies the whole of His omnipotence, all His wisdom, the perfect goodness of Jesus Christ, since therein rests His living heart as it is also in heaven. When we adore in this way, we adore in spirit and in truth.

But after we have adored, the heart must be open to the other sentiments; for you well know that we are taught a diversity of forms of adoration in the Gospels; and we express them sometimes by profound acts of bodily reverence, sometimes by silence of the mind. From time to time, we also link with this type of adoration, tears, groans, and sighs; or words, expressions of interior feelings, prayers accompany the same. All these forms of adoration before Jesus hidden in the sacrament are so powerful that there are times when the spirit can do nothing better than bow low in Jesus' presence.

Someone asks me: "What am I to do if I can think of nothing to say?" It is enough if you show reverence and hope. "But I am unable to say anything." I ask you not to be sad on that account; the very silence suffices. However great your experience of a heart which is dried up and empty, and for all that you may be very aware of its trials and confusion, fear not; continue your act of adoration; for that is enough, and it is to be considered a splendid deed in God's eyes. If subsequently, however, a thankful feeling of the soul towards God is aroused, if you desire to endure some greater sacrifices for His sake, foster those sentiments which the Holy Spirit is arousing in you, and offer them as a bouquet in Jesus presence. And would that this were the chief and daily form of our prayer.