Today is the last night of a parish mission that I am leading at St. Justin Martyr Church in the St. Louis area. The following is a summary of my homily from last Sunday, the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A.
When I was growing up we played "Hide and Seek." Everyone is familiar with how that goes. If you are "it" you have to close your eyes while the others all run and hide. Then you seek them and tag them before they can reach "goal" which we pronounced "gool." If you put your hands over your eyes but then spread your fingers to see where people went to hide you might hear back "No fair peeking."
Children have an innate sense of fairness. If a teacher plays favorites or treats the girls better than the boys they will complain that the teacher isn't being fair. And vice versa. Children don't learn fairness, though they often have to be reminded. A victim of unfairness knows immediately that something isn't right. This sense of fairness seems to be part of one's conscience--an innate sense of right and wrong.
That being said, most of us hear today's Gospel (Matthew 20: 1-16a) with the parable of the workers who labor for various numbers of hours in a vineyard yet get the same pay and we react, "That's not fair!" That's especially not fair if we consider that perhaps the reason why the workers who were hired at five weren't there at the crack of dawn because they were sleeping in. Should such laziness be rewarded?
Remember: the parables of Jesus were designed to shock people--his listeners then and all of us now--into thought and action.
What was Jesus trying to teach us with this parable? What did he want us to think and to know?
Our first reading (Isaiah 55: 6-9) gives us a clue. Through the prophet, God, "who is generous in forgiving," tells us "my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways."
The parable Jesus told was a description of "the kingdom of heaven." Every human being is created for heaven--for union with God and the communion of saints. But from the beginning we have rejected God's desire and plan. Yet God persisted. As the landowner in the parable is "generous" so is God. To save us from our sins and the alienation and destruction they cause, the Son of God took flesh, suffered, and died. He took upon himself the penalty of our sins. Then he rose from the dead and shared the reward of his obedient love with disobedient humanity.
We did not earn it. He did not deserve it. This was totally unfair, but it was totally merciful.
This is our faith. It's what we celebrate every time we gather for the Eucharist.
But remember, parables are designed to not only shock us into thought but also into action. What is the action Jesus hoped to achieve with this story?
That we would be as generous and merciful as our Landowner God is. That we would desire and then pray and work for the salvation of all. That we would want everyone in heaven as much as God does.
That's difficult. We all have people that we don't like. We have enemies and the thought of being with them for eternity in heaven sounds more like hell!
It is difficult and perhaps impossible to be as merciful as God is merciful. Yet we are called to be such and the power to be merciful is a divine power that is given to us in the Eucharist. There we receive the Heart of Jesus when we receive his Body and Blood. There our hearts are transformed to be more like the generously merciful Heart of our Savior.
Showing posts with label Parish Mission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parish Mission. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Respect for Elders
I'm on the road these days and have not had much time to write. I'm in Cascade, Iowa, a town of 2,000 that is only 20 minutes from Dubuque. At one time Cascade had two Catholic churches, St. Patrick's founded in 1840 and St. Matthias founded in 1848. One was for the Irish and one was for the Germans. Now the parishes are combined and I am in the middle of a 40 Hours Devotion with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and talks on the Sacred Heart and the Eucharist. Last summer Fr. Douglas Loecke invited me to come here after he read my book "A Heart on Fire: Rediscovering Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus."
Before coming here I was in Burlington, Iowa where I spoke in all the Catholic grade school classes on Valentine's Day. Naturally I spoke about a Heart that shows us the truest and deepest love that has ever existed. I also spoke to an assembly of middle and high school students in the gym. I was invited to Burlington by Mark Knutsen, someone I had on retreat at Bellarmine Retreat House in Barrington, IL last fall. The local Knights of Columbus Council 568 hosted me for a supper Friday night and I gave two talks Saturday morning.
When I met with the children on Friday I talked to them about having a heart like the Heart of Jesus, a heart that goes out to other people with love. I told them that one way our hearts can go out to others is through prayer. Then I shared with them the idea of praying for Pope Francis' monthly prayer intentions and, using the "smart board" in every classroom, I showed them the Kids' Page on our website. They laughed at the photo we have for this month's Universal Intention. We are praying for our seniors or elders. I showed them the activity page which can be printed up and which gives them the opportunity to reach out to an older person to say that they are thinking about him or her.
My good friend, Anne Bender, has a wonderful reflection on her blog "Imprisoned in These Bones" about the joys and struggles of helping our elders. Many of the people coming to the evening talks that I am giving in Cascade are older people who are making the effort to come out in the snow and the cold. They have been the pillars of the Church in rural communities like this and have passed the faith on to future generations that continue to fill the churches here. May God reward them for their faithfulness!
Before coming here I was in Burlington, Iowa where I spoke in all the Catholic grade school classes on Valentine's Day. Naturally I spoke about a Heart that shows us the truest and deepest love that has ever existed. I also spoke to an assembly of middle and high school students in the gym. I was invited to Burlington by Mark Knutsen, someone I had on retreat at Bellarmine Retreat House in Barrington, IL last fall. The local Knights of Columbus Council 568 hosted me for a supper Friday night and I gave two talks Saturday morning.
When I met with the children on Friday I talked to them about having a heart like the Heart of Jesus, a heart that goes out to other people with love. I told them that one way our hearts can go out to others is through prayer. Then I shared with them the idea of praying for Pope Francis' monthly prayer intentions and, using the "smart board" in every classroom, I showed them the Kids' Page on our website. They laughed at the photo we have for this month's Universal Intention. We are praying for our seniors or elders. I showed them the activity page which can be printed up and which gives them the opportunity to reach out to an older person to say that they are thinking about him or her.
My good friend, Anne Bender, has a wonderful reflection on her blog "Imprisoned in These Bones" about the joys and struggles of helping our elders. Many of the people coming to the evening talks that I am giving in Cascade are older people who are making the effort to come out in the snow and the cold. They have been the pillars of the Church in rural communities like this and have passed the faith on to future generations that continue to fill the churches here. May God reward them for their faithfulness!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Spiritual Road Building
I began a parish mission at St. Mary's in East Dubuque, IL today. Here's part of what I said in my homily for Sunday Mass.
From 1989 to 1995 I lived in western South Dakota at a place that was 13 miles off a paved road where mail delivery came 3 days a week to a mailbox that was a mile and a half from the house. The paved road was Highway 34 which runs between Pierre and Sturgis, site of an annual bike rally that swells the town's population from less than 7,000 to 250,000. It was a dangerous road because of its hills and valleys and curves. It was common to come over a hill and almost run into cattle that had gotten out of their pasture. The state decided to upgrade the road by leveling the hills and valleys and softening and straightening the curves.
Our first reading from the prophet Baruch contains a road building promise. God promised not to forget the people who had been taken into exile when Israel fell to an invading army. God promised to bring them home and even make the return easier: "God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground."
The gospel also speaks of road building. St. John the Baptist fulfills Isaiah's promise: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight...." This was done to prepare a way for the Messiah to come to his people.
Advent is our time for spiritual road building. We are to prepare a way for Christ to come at the end of time or at the end of our lives.
The hills and mountains that we level are our ego and pride. We often build ourselves up, trying to look good in front of others. How is this pride brought low? By humility. That doesn't mean putting ourselves down or beating ourselves up over our failures. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. It means not being so concerned about "ME" but turning our attention toward God and our brothers and sisters. Humility also involves gratitude by which we realize that all we are and have accomplished is a gift. We can take no credit for our success because our life and health and talents by which we have accomplished all we've done are all gifts from God. We could do nothing without those prior gifts, so all praise goes to God.
What are the valleys to be filled in? Discouragement. Discouragement never comes from God. God never uses it to motivate us. It always comes from the devil who would have us wallow in the depths of discouragement and give up. How do we fill in this valley? By living with gratitude in the present. When we look at the past and our weaknesses and failures, we get discouraged. When we look to the future and wonder how we will ever be able to stay on the good path we are on or do what we are called to do, we get discouraged. The past is over and there is no guarantee we will be here tomorrow, so it's best to live one day at a time. When we see the blessings of the present we can better overcome discouragement.
What are the curves in our life? Blessed John Paul II, in a reflection on Psalm 51, said that one of the Hebrew words for "sin" in that prayer has the connotation of "twisting" and turning and getting off track. How do we get back on track? We begin by celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. In doing so we leave the way that points us in a different direction than the one God has laid out for us and we return to the path that leads straight to God. Reconciliation gets us back on track.
This year's Advent is special because we are celebrating it in the Year of Faith which, Pope Benedict said, "is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord." Through conversion we turn away from pride, discouragement, temptation, and sin. We turn to God. We do so with confidence because, as St. Paul wrote in our second reading: "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." God will complete the road building that will lead to our heavenly home, if we but let Him.
From 1989 to 1995 I lived in western South Dakota at a place that was 13 miles off a paved road where mail delivery came 3 days a week to a mailbox that was a mile and a half from the house. The paved road was Highway 34 which runs between Pierre and Sturgis, site of an annual bike rally that swells the town's population from less than 7,000 to 250,000. It was a dangerous road because of its hills and valleys and curves. It was common to come over a hill and almost run into cattle that had gotten out of their pasture. The state decided to upgrade the road by leveling the hills and valleys and softening and straightening the curves.
Our first reading from the prophet Baruch contains a road building promise. God promised not to forget the people who had been taken into exile when Israel fell to an invading army. God promised to bring them home and even make the return easier: "God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground."
The gospel also speaks of road building. St. John the Baptist fulfills Isaiah's promise: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight...." This was done to prepare a way for the Messiah to come to his people.
Advent is our time for spiritual road building. We are to prepare a way for Christ to come at the end of time or at the end of our lives.
The hills and mountains that we level are our ego and pride. We often build ourselves up, trying to look good in front of others. How is this pride brought low? By humility. That doesn't mean putting ourselves down or beating ourselves up over our failures. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. It means not being so concerned about "ME" but turning our attention toward God and our brothers and sisters. Humility also involves gratitude by which we realize that all we are and have accomplished is a gift. We can take no credit for our success because our life and health and talents by which we have accomplished all we've done are all gifts from God. We could do nothing without those prior gifts, so all praise goes to God.
What are the valleys to be filled in? Discouragement. Discouragement never comes from God. God never uses it to motivate us. It always comes from the devil who would have us wallow in the depths of discouragement and give up. How do we fill in this valley? By living with gratitude in the present. When we look at the past and our weaknesses and failures, we get discouraged. When we look to the future and wonder how we will ever be able to stay on the good path we are on or do what we are called to do, we get discouraged. The past is over and there is no guarantee we will be here tomorrow, so it's best to live one day at a time. When we see the blessings of the present we can better overcome discouragement.
What are the curves in our life? Blessed John Paul II, in a reflection on Psalm 51, said that one of the Hebrew words for "sin" in that prayer has the connotation of "twisting" and turning and getting off track. How do we get back on track? We begin by celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. In doing so we leave the way that points us in a different direction than the one God has laid out for us and we return to the path that leads straight to God. Reconciliation gets us back on track.
This year's Advent is special because we are celebrating it in the Year of Faith which, Pope Benedict said, "is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord." Through conversion we turn away from pride, discouragement, temptation, and sin. We turn to God. We do so with confidence because, as St. Paul wrote in our second reading: "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." God will complete the road building that will lead to our heavenly home, if we but let Him.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Communities of Prayer
Upon my return from the Dallas area where I just gave a parish mission, I told the Apostleship of Prayer staff that I wanted to move our office there. Now I know the pleasant Spring weather of 70's and 80's will soon enough turn to the 100's of Summer. And I know that the 40 degrees that greeted me when I left the Milwaukee airport will turn to 70's and 80's in the Summer. But my attraction to Dallas is not just the weather.
It was an amazing experience to meet such fervent Catholics. About 300 people came to my parish mission at Mary Immaculate Parish where it's estimated there are 6,000 families. Also, I was blessed to have lunch with Kurt Klement who runs one of the largest high school ministries in the country at St. Ann's parish in Coppell where there are an estimated 8,000 families and where Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J., our director of youth and young adults, will be leading a Hearts on Fire retreat June 22-23.
Another blessing of my trip was to meet Tom Grossman, the director of campus ministry for Mary Immaculate Grade School and the Young Adult Coordinator at the parish. His card has the following Scripture quote from Luke 12: 49: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" Tom is truly on fire with the love of God. Moved by the call of Blessed John Paul II for a new evangelization and for our communities to be "schools of prayer," Tom has helped start a group called "Communities of Prayer." One of their prayer cards caught my eye because it included the Morning Offering. My hope for the Apostleship of Prayer is that we not only unite in praying that daily prayer with the Pope's monthly intentions in mind, but that we truly become "Apostles of Prayer." The Apostles were the friends of Jesus who spent time with him. I think the materials available through Communities of Prayer are ideal for helping us grow in prayer and in our relationship with the Lord. Their "Lectio Divina" booklets can help us make this tried and true method of praying with Scriptures part of our life and the resources available at "Link to Liturgy" are excellent for using the Sunday and weekday Mass readings for prayer.
Once a month Mary Immaculate Parish holds a special Saturday night adoration service followed by entertainment and fellowship. It's called "The Shepherd's Cafe" and I met Yong Oh who is instrumental in organizing it. After Mass and dinner, Fr. Michael Forge, the pastor, and I stopped in for a visit. Throughout the evening the Sacrament of Reconciliation was available and there was a line for it the whole time that I was there.
Throughout the mission people mistook me for Fr. Michael. I guess that's because we part our hair the same way.
It was an amazing experience to meet such fervent Catholics. About 300 people came to my parish mission at Mary Immaculate Parish where it's estimated there are 6,000 families. Also, I was blessed to have lunch with Kurt Klement who runs one of the largest high school ministries in the country at St. Ann's parish in Coppell where there are an estimated 8,000 families and where Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J., our director of youth and young adults, will be leading a Hearts on Fire retreat June 22-23.
Another blessing of my trip was to meet Tom Grossman, the director of campus ministry for Mary Immaculate Grade School and the Young Adult Coordinator at the parish. His card has the following Scripture quote from Luke 12: 49: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" Tom is truly on fire with the love of God. Moved by the call of Blessed John Paul II for a new evangelization and for our communities to be "schools of prayer," Tom has helped start a group called "Communities of Prayer." One of their prayer cards caught my eye because it included the Morning Offering. My hope for the Apostleship of Prayer is that we not only unite in praying that daily prayer with the Pope's monthly intentions in mind, but that we truly become "Apostles of Prayer." The Apostles were the friends of Jesus who spent time with him. I think the materials available through Communities of Prayer are ideal for helping us grow in prayer and in our relationship with the Lord. Their "Lectio Divina" booklets can help us make this tried and true method of praying with Scriptures part of our life and the resources available at "Link to Liturgy" are excellent for using the Sunday and weekday Mass readings for prayer.
Once a month Mary Immaculate Parish holds a special Saturday night adoration service followed by entertainment and fellowship. It's called "The Shepherd's Cafe" and I met Yong Oh who is instrumental in organizing it. After Mass and dinner, Fr. Michael Forge, the pastor, and I stopped in for a visit. Throughout the evening the Sacrament of Reconciliation was available and there was a line for it the whole time that I was there.
Throughout the mission people mistook me for Fr. Michael. I guess that's because we part our hair the same way.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
"I Will Draw Everyone to Myself"
I'm giving a parish mission this week at Mary Immaculate Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. I'm preaching at the 5 English Masses this weekend (there are also 3 Spanish Masses) and then giving mission talks on Monday and Tuesday and helping with a Reconciliation Service on Wednesday. Here's the gist of my homily this weekend.
Jesus said: "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." The Gospel of John states that in saying this, Jesus was "indicating the kind of death he would die." Jesus, on the cross, draws all people to himself, to his Sacred Heart. This is the greatest sign of love the world has ever known. In his first encyclical letter, "God is Love," Pope Benedict said that in a world that uses the word "love" for all sorts of things, our definition for love must begin at the pierced side of Jesus on the cross.
The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love. At every Mass Jesus is lifted up and draws us to himself. He gives himself for us and to us. The Eucharist is the "new covenant" about which Jeremiah wrote in the first reading. It is the covenant and law of love that is not out there, exterior to the human person, but is within us and written on our hearts. It is written there because Jesus unites his Heart with ours in Holy Communion and transforms our hearts so that we are able to love as he loves.
When we look at the love of Jesus revealed through his pierced heart on the cross, we see that love is not so much a feeling as a decision, a choice. It is not so much an interior feeling but action. And it is not automatic.
Our second reading from Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Hebrews shows this. It is a strange passage that requires some reflection to better understand. First, it says that Jesus "offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears." Of course Jesus prayed to the Father throughout his life, but this description makes us immediately think of his prayer in a garden called Gethsemane. There he prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me" (Luke 22: 42). Hebrews says that the prayer of Jesus was heard. Every prayer is heard. But sometimes the answer that is given is not the one for which we are praying, just as it was with Jesus. The cup of suffering and death on the cross did not pass. Jesus drank it to its bitter dregs.
Then our second reading goes on to say, "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." What?! It sounds as though at some point Jesus was not perfect and then became perfect through his obedience and suffering. How are we to understand this?
Think of the physical muscles of a body. A baby has perfect "baby muscles" but they need to grow and develop in order to become a child's muscles, a teen's muscles, and an adult's muscles. The virtues--like obedience or faith, trust or hope, patience or chastity, or the greatest, love--also need to grow and develop. They could be called "spiritual muscles." Just as the physical muscles of Jesus needed to grow and develop, so too his spiritual muscles. They were always there in perfect form, but they became even stronger as they developed until, in the case of his obedience, it reached its fullest perfection in the Garden of Gethsemane and the next day on the cross.
How do muscles whether physical or spiritual develop and grow? Through the hard work and discipline of exercise. Virtues don't come automatically or out of the blue. They are given to us in seed form and we need to exercise them in order for them to grow and reach perfection. Very often people tell me that they pray for patience and God does not hear nor answer their prayer. They say that they end up facing even more situations where they lose their patience. God is answering their prayer for patience; just not the way they expect. They expect the virtue of patience to come out of the blue in answer to their prayer when the truth is that God answers their prayer by giving them more and more opportunities to exercise patience so that it will grow.
A parish mission is a time to exercise. We will come away this week to reflect on the gifts we have received in the Holy Eucharist and Baptism. We will talk about ways that we can exercise the gifts that are given to us in these Sacraments. Then, as we allow the Lord to draw us to himself when he is lifted up at Mass, and as we receive his Body and Blood, including his Heart, to transform us, we will be better able to live the transformation in our daily lives.
Jesus said: "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." The Gospel of John states that in saying this, Jesus was "indicating the kind of death he would die." Jesus, on the cross, draws all people to himself, to his Sacred Heart. This is the greatest sign of love the world has ever known. In his first encyclical letter, "God is Love," Pope Benedict said that in a world that uses the word "love" for all sorts of things, our definition for love must begin at the pierced side of Jesus on the cross.
The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love. At every Mass Jesus is lifted up and draws us to himself. He gives himself for us and to us. The Eucharist is the "new covenant" about which Jeremiah wrote in the first reading. It is the covenant and law of love that is not out there, exterior to the human person, but is within us and written on our hearts. It is written there because Jesus unites his Heart with ours in Holy Communion and transforms our hearts so that we are able to love as he loves.
When we look at the love of Jesus revealed through his pierced heart on the cross, we see that love is not so much a feeling as a decision, a choice. It is not so much an interior feeling but action. And it is not automatic.
Our second reading from Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Hebrews shows this. It is a strange passage that requires some reflection to better understand. First, it says that Jesus "offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears." Of course Jesus prayed to the Father throughout his life, but this description makes us immediately think of his prayer in a garden called Gethsemane. There he prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me" (Luke 22: 42). Hebrews says that the prayer of Jesus was heard. Every prayer is heard. But sometimes the answer that is given is not the one for which we are praying, just as it was with Jesus. The cup of suffering and death on the cross did not pass. Jesus drank it to its bitter dregs.
Then our second reading goes on to say, "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." What?! It sounds as though at some point Jesus was not perfect and then became perfect through his obedience and suffering. How are we to understand this?
Think of the physical muscles of a body. A baby has perfect "baby muscles" but they need to grow and develop in order to become a child's muscles, a teen's muscles, and an adult's muscles. The virtues--like obedience or faith, trust or hope, patience or chastity, or the greatest, love--also need to grow and develop. They could be called "spiritual muscles." Just as the physical muscles of Jesus needed to grow and develop, so too his spiritual muscles. They were always there in perfect form, but they became even stronger as they developed until, in the case of his obedience, it reached its fullest perfection in the Garden of Gethsemane and the next day on the cross.
How do muscles whether physical or spiritual develop and grow? Through the hard work and discipline of exercise. Virtues don't come automatically or out of the blue. They are given to us in seed form and we need to exercise them in order for them to grow and reach perfection. Very often people tell me that they pray for patience and God does not hear nor answer their prayer. They say that they end up facing even more situations where they lose their patience. God is answering their prayer for patience; just not the way they expect. They expect the virtue of patience to come out of the blue in answer to their prayer when the truth is that God answers their prayer by giving them more and more opportunities to exercise patience so that it will grow.
A parish mission is a time to exercise. We will come away this week to reflect on the gifts we have received in the Holy Eucharist and Baptism. We will talk about ways that we can exercise the gifts that are given to us in these Sacraments. Then, as we allow the Lord to draw us to himself when he is lifted up at Mass, and as we receive his Body and Blood, including his Heart, to transform us, we will be better able to live the transformation in our daily lives.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Humility and Listening
I'm in the middle of a parish mission at St. Susanna's Church in Penn Hills, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, a place I've never been. I was able to get together yesterday with a friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in nine years. We had lunch and a quick tour of a beautiful city built on rivers and hills and which I imagine is even more beautiful when the trees are filled with leaves. Spring is more advanced here than in Wisconsin and I saw my first robins of the season yesterday.
The focus of the mission is the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the talks over the four days are: "The True Love Story," "Our Response to God's Love," "Living our Response One Day at a Time," and "Meeting the Merciful Heart of Jesus."
I used a story from Fr. Larry Richards at Mass today. It involves two people chatting when the phone rings. One gets up to answer it and immediately begins talking: "Oh, hello. I'm so glad you called. Say... could you help me out. I've got some health issues that are getting me down and I'm really worried about having to have surgery. And then there are my finances, you know, how with the economy and with gas prices rising, it's really hard to make ends meet. And then there's my son who's been unemployed now for two years and had to move back home and you know how tough that can be having an adult child back home after he's been away, on his own for a while. It's pretty stressful at times. And then my daughter could really use some help getting accepted into the program that she's trying to get into at the university. It's really competitive and her grades haven't been the best but she's a really good person and I think she'd really be able to help people a lot someday. Oh, and then there's my neighbor. Man is he cranky and I just wish he would lighten up a bit and not make such a big deal about where the lot line is and who's supposed to be cutting what grass. So if you could help me out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks and bye for now...."
The other asks: "Who was that?"
"That? Oh, that was God."
"Well, what did He want?"
"Uh, I don't know."
The obvious point of Fr. Richards' story (with which I've taken some liberties in relating) is that much of our prayer can be talking to God and asking for help but never really listening or hearing what God wants.
The readings at Mass today (2 Kings 5: 1-15 and Luke 4: 24-30) show people who have agenda and ideas that get in the way of listening. Naaman's agenda is that the rivers of his own country are much better than the Jordan. He refuses to bathe in the Jordan until his servants convince him to do so. He listens and follows their advice and is healed of his leprosy. Similarly, the people of Jesus' hometown of Nazareth have preconceived ideas about Him and refuse to believe that He is a prophet, much less the messiah. They refuse to listen to Him and Jesus moves on from there.
It takes humility to listen, to let go of our own agenda and ideas. Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humility means taking the focus off oneself and putting it on God and others. God wants us to share what is on our mind and what we need. But we must always be ready to stop talking and start listening to God as He speaks to us in the silence of prayer and through people who, like Naaman's servants, care for us.
The focus of the mission is the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the talks over the four days are: "The True Love Story," "Our Response to God's Love," "Living our Response One Day at a Time," and "Meeting the Merciful Heart of Jesus."
I used a story from Fr. Larry Richards at Mass today. It involves two people chatting when the phone rings. One gets up to answer it and immediately begins talking: "Oh, hello. I'm so glad you called. Say... could you help me out. I've got some health issues that are getting me down and I'm really worried about having to have surgery. And then there are my finances, you know, how with the economy and with gas prices rising, it's really hard to make ends meet. And then there's my son who's been unemployed now for two years and had to move back home and you know how tough that can be having an adult child back home after he's been away, on his own for a while. It's pretty stressful at times. And then my daughter could really use some help getting accepted into the program that she's trying to get into at the university. It's really competitive and her grades haven't been the best but she's a really good person and I think she'd really be able to help people a lot someday. Oh, and then there's my neighbor. Man is he cranky and I just wish he would lighten up a bit and not make such a big deal about where the lot line is and who's supposed to be cutting what grass. So if you could help me out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks and bye for now...."
The other asks: "Who was that?"
"That? Oh, that was God."
"Well, what did He want?"
"Uh, I don't know."
The obvious point of Fr. Richards' story (with which I've taken some liberties in relating) is that much of our prayer can be talking to God and asking for help but never really listening or hearing what God wants.
The readings at Mass today (2 Kings 5: 1-15 and Luke 4: 24-30) show people who have agenda and ideas that get in the way of listening. Naaman's agenda is that the rivers of his own country are much better than the Jordan. He refuses to bathe in the Jordan until his servants convince him to do so. He listens and follows their advice and is healed of his leprosy. Similarly, the people of Jesus' hometown of Nazareth have preconceived ideas about Him and refuse to believe that He is a prophet, much less the messiah. They refuse to listen to Him and Jesus moves on from there.
It takes humility to listen, to let go of our own agenda and ideas. Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humility means taking the focus off oneself and putting it on God and others. God wants us to share what is on our mind and what we need. But we must always be ready to stop talking and start listening to God as He speaks to us in the silence of prayer and through people who, like Naaman's servants, care for us.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Eucharistic Devotions with Children
Today, as part of the 40 Hours Devotion and Parish Mission at St. Peter's Church in West Brandywine, PA, I met with each of the grades of the school. Each of the grades, except for one, had three classes each, so there were quite a few young people with whom I met. At 9:30 it was 3rd graders and at 10:00 it was 4th graders. The 1st graders came at 10:30, the 8th graders at 11:00, and the 7th graders at 11:30. I had to make quite an adjustment going from speaking to 1st graders to speaking to the 8th graders. At 1:00 it was the 5th grade, at 1:30 the 6th grade, and lastly, at 2:00, I had the 2nd graders who are preparing for First Holy Communion. Later this afternoon I'll have the PREP kids--Parish Religious Education Program.
Each class came quietly and reverently into the church where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the altar. I was impressed with their knowledge. The 2nd graders knew what the tabernacle was and they were able to name the monstrance. The 5th and 6th graders were able to say that the word "monstrance" comes from a Latin word, but they weren't able to say what it meant, though one came close, saying "display." It comes from the word for "to show" and I told the students that Jesus, who was normally hidden in the tabernacle, was showing himself to us on the altar. Therefore this was a special opportunity for us to pray.
I led the singing of "O Sacrament Most Holy" and an opening prayer and then asked them if they knew what the "Last Supper" was. Each class, from 1st to 8th grade, was able to answer that one. Then I read Luke's account of the Last Supper and asked them to listen for words that we hear many times even when we're not reading the Gospel. They were able to immediately recognize those words--"This is my Body"--and to place them in the Mass.
I told them that when the priest says those words at Mass he isn't talking about himself; rather, Jesus is speaking those words through the priest and changing the bread and wine into his Body and Blood. Then with each class I went through something that St. Thomas Aquinas says: that when we come to the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, we can trust only one of our five senses. Even the 1st graders knew the five senses. I asked: which of those five senses is the only one that St. Thomas says we can trust when we approach the Eucharist? It took most of the classes a little thought and a few wrong answers, but eventually I was able to help them see that the one sense that can be trusted is our hearing. When we see, taste, touch, or smell the Eucharist it will appear to be bread and wine. Many Catholics and most other Christians rely on those senses and conclude that the Eucharist is a symbol for the Body and Blood of Christ. But relying on the sense of hearing, we believe differently. We hear the words "This is my Body ... This is my Blood" and we believe what we hear because Jesus said it. I think this teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas spoke across the intervening seven centuries to the hearts of the young Catholics with whom I met today.
Making an act of faith in Jesus' presence in the monstrance, we knelt down and prayed silently, telling Jesus what was in our hearts--what we were grateful for or sorry for; how we or people we know need his help. After leading a prayer that included a "spiritual communion," I asked them to stand and we prayed together for various needs of the Church and the world. After they sat down I asked if any of them would be willing to share what they prayed for when we prayed silently to our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. Every child I called upon shared that he or she had prayed for someone else; they didn't mention themselves.
I encouraged them to pray for their pastor, Fr. Mike Fitzpatrick, and their bishop, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and then asked if they knew the name of the other bishop for whom we pray at every Mass. With a little coaching they were able to name Pope Benedict. I asked them: if the Pope, who is the leader of all Catholics around the world, asked them to pray for something, would they? As they nodded "yes" I told them that every month the Pope asks us to pray for two very specific and special intentions and I told them about the February intentions. I gave the teachers leaflets with the whole year's papal intentions and told the students about the Apostleship of Prayer's web site with a Kid's Page that explains the intentions and provides an activity to help children remember them.
It has been a full day and it isn't over yet. It's also been a very blessed day. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to share Eucharistic devotions with out little brothers and sisters.
Each class came quietly and reverently into the church where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the altar. I was impressed with their knowledge. The 2nd graders knew what the tabernacle was and they were able to name the monstrance. The 5th and 6th graders were able to say that the word "monstrance" comes from a Latin word, but they weren't able to say what it meant, though one came close, saying "display." It comes from the word for "to show" and I told the students that Jesus, who was normally hidden in the tabernacle, was showing himself to us on the altar. Therefore this was a special opportunity for us to pray.
I led the singing of "O Sacrament Most Holy" and an opening prayer and then asked them if they knew what the "Last Supper" was. Each class, from 1st to 8th grade, was able to answer that one. Then I read Luke's account of the Last Supper and asked them to listen for words that we hear many times even when we're not reading the Gospel. They were able to immediately recognize those words--"This is my Body"--and to place them in the Mass.
I told them that when the priest says those words at Mass he isn't talking about himself; rather, Jesus is speaking those words through the priest and changing the bread and wine into his Body and Blood. Then with each class I went through something that St. Thomas Aquinas says: that when we come to the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, we can trust only one of our five senses. Even the 1st graders knew the five senses. I asked: which of those five senses is the only one that St. Thomas says we can trust when we approach the Eucharist? It took most of the classes a little thought and a few wrong answers, but eventually I was able to help them see that the one sense that can be trusted is our hearing. When we see, taste, touch, or smell the Eucharist it will appear to be bread and wine. Many Catholics and most other Christians rely on those senses and conclude that the Eucharist is a symbol for the Body and Blood of Christ. But relying on the sense of hearing, we believe differently. We hear the words "This is my Body ... This is my Blood" and we believe what we hear because Jesus said it. I think this teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas spoke across the intervening seven centuries to the hearts of the young Catholics with whom I met today.
Making an act of faith in Jesus' presence in the monstrance, we knelt down and prayed silently, telling Jesus what was in our hearts--what we were grateful for or sorry for; how we or people we know need his help. After leading a prayer that included a "spiritual communion," I asked them to stand and we prayed together for various needs of the Church and the world. After they sat down I asked if any of them would be willing to share what they prayed for when we prayed silently to our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. Every child I called upon shared that he or she had prayed for someone else; they didn't mention themselves.
I encouraged them to pray for their pastor, Fr. Mike Fitzpatrick, and their bishop, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and then asked if they knew the name of the other bishop for whom we pray at every Mass. With a little coaching they were able to name Pope Benedict. I asked them: if the Pope, who is the leader of all Catholics around the world, asked them to pray for something, would they? As they nodded "yes" I told them that every month the Pope asks us to pray for two very specific and special intentions and I told them about the February intentions. I gave the teachers leaflets with the whole year's papal intentions and told the students about the Apostleship of Prayer's web site with a Kid's Page that explains the intentions and provides an activity to help children remember them.
It has been a full day and it isn't over yet. It's also been a very blessed day. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to share Eucharistic devotions with out little brothers and sisters.
Monday, February 20, 2012
God Does Something New
These days I'm in West Brandywine, Pennsylvania giving a parish mission in conjunction with the 40 Hours of Eucharistic devotion that St. Peter's Church has right before Lent. I had actually been here a couple years ago when the Sisters of St. Mary of Providence, who run a nearby retreat house, drove by to show me the new church and the Pope John Paul II Elementary School. Over the weekend I've met all sorts of people who have a connection to Wisconsin, as well as Joseph who once worked in Cherry Creek, South Dakota, not far from the Sioux Spiritual Center where I worked from 1989-1995.
At the Sunday Masses this weekend, I pretty much said the following:
In the first reading from the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God made a great promise: "See, I am doing something new!" Why did God do something new? Because what God had been doing to deal with sin and evil was not working. God had sent a flood to cleanse the earth of evil, but saving Noah and his family and various creatures in an ark. Then humanity turned again to sin. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah became notoriously sinful and God sent fire to purify the earth of the evil that was in them. Sin continued. So God inspired the Jewish people to offer animal and grain sacrifices as a prayer that would bring down God's mercy. Yet sin continued and increased. Something new had to be done. A deeper healing of the human heart was necessary.
Jesus, the Son of God and Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, said "Yes" to God's plan to forgive sins and heal the human heart. In saying "Yes" to the Father, Jesus said "Yes" to humanity. Where the first humans said "No" to God, to God's plan, and to their humanity--striving to be gods, denying their humanity--Jesus said "Yes" to God's plan and to humanity. He embraced humanity to heal it. He became one with humanity, sharing its sorrows and joys.
Think for a moment about the joys of Jesus when he walked this earth. What gave him the greatest pleasure and joy? I think it was healing others. In last Sunday's gospel from the end of the first chapter of Mark, we see Jesus reaching into the isolation of a leper, touching him, and cleansing him of his disease. Imagine what that man experienced when his dead skin could suddenly feel that touch of Jesus. His face must have lit up with a big smile and he jumped to his feet. Jesus shared his joy with a smile bigger than the world. Healing people gave Jesus great pleasure.
But there was another kind of healing, a deeper healing, that gave Jesus even greater pleasure. We see that in today's gospel from the beginning of the second chapter of Mark. Jesus sees the faith of the persistent friends of a paralyzed man and says to that man: "Child, your sins are forgiven." No doubt the man was disappointed at these words. He probably didn't care too much about sins. He wanted to walk! But Jesus shows us his priorities, healing his soul first and then his body. For physical healings are temporary. The healed skin of the leper would one day turn to dust, as we will soon hear on Ash Wednesday. The limbs of the paralyzed man would one day become rigid in death. So it was more important for Jesus to heal the immortal part of people--their souls--than to heal their bodies, and this brought him, I think, the greatest pleasure.
It was for this that he came--to live our lives, share our sorrows and joys, suffer, die, and rise. In doing this, he said "Yes" to God's plan. He did something new. He forgave the sins of the world.
His sacrifice on the Cross now replaces all the animal and grain sacrifices (see Hebrews chapters 9 and 10). His sacrifice brought the deep healing that humanity needed. From the Cross, Jesus sent a new flood, not one that destroyed, but one that healed. This flood was the water and blood that St. John said gushed forth from the pierced side of Jesus (John 19:34).
The water represented Baptism which washes away sin. The blood represented the Eucharist which unites us to Christ and brings about the deep healing we need. During Eucharist devotions like 40 Hours we reflect on the great and, in Blessed John Paul II's words, "amazing" gift of the Eucharist. In every Mass Jesus makes present once again the new sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. In Holy Communion we receive the food for eternal life, the very Body and Blood of Christ. He plants the seeds of eternity within us so that after we die, at the resurrection of the body, those seeds will bring forth new life. Truly God has done something new, something we could never have imagined.
At the Sunday Masses this weekend, I pretty much said the following:
In the first reading from the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God made a great promise: "See, I am doing something new!" Why did God do something new? Because what God had been doing to deal with sin and evil was not working. God had sent a flood to cleanse the earth of evil, but saving Noah and his family and various creatures in an ark. Then humanity turned again to sin. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah became notoriously sinful and God sent fire to purify the earth of the evil that was in them. Sin continued. So God inspired the Jewish people to offer animal and grain sacrifices as a prayer that would bring down God's mercy. Yet sin continued and increased. Something new had to be done. A deeper healing of the human heart was necessary.
Jesus, the Son of God and Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, said "Yes" to God's plan to forgive sins and heal the human heart. In saying "Yes" to the Father, Jesus said "Yes" to humanity. Where the first humans said "No" to God, to God's plan, and to their humanity--striving to be gods, denying their humanity--Jesus said "Yes" to God's plan and to humanity. He embraced humanity to heal it. He became one with humanity, sharing its sorrows and joys.
Think for a moment about the joys of Jesus when he walked this earth. What gave him the greatest pleasure and joy? I think it was healing others. In last Sunday's gospel from the end of the first chapter of Mark, we see Jesus reaching into the isolation of a leper, touching him, and cleansing him of his disease. Imagine what that man experienced when his dead skin could suddenly feel that touch of Jesus. His face must have lit up with a big smile and he jumped to his feet. Jesus shared his joy with a smile bigger than the world. Healing people gave Jesus great pleasure.
But there was another kind of healing, a deeper healing, that gave Jesus even greater pleasure. We see that in today's gospel from the beginning of the second chapter of Mark. Jesus sees the faith of the persistent friends of a paralyzed man and says to that man: "Child, your sins are forgiven." No doubt the man was disappointed at these words. He probably didn't care too much about sins. He wanted to walk! But Jesus shows us his priorities, healing his soul first and then his body. For physical healings are temporary. The healed skin of the leper would one day turn to dust, as we will soon hear on Ash Wednesday. The limbs of the paralyzed man would one day become rigid in death. So it was more important for Jesus to heal the immortal part of people--their souls--than to heal their bodies, and this brought him, I think, the greatest pleasure.
It was for this that he came--to live our lives, share our sorrows and joys, suffer, die, and rise. In doing this, he said "Yes" to God's plan. He did something new. He forgave the sins of the world.
His sacrifice on the Cross now replaces all the animal and grain sacrifices (see Hebrews chapters 9 and 10). His sacrifice brought the deep healing that humanity needed. From the Cross, Jesus sent a new flood, not one that destroyed, but one that healed. This flood was the water and blood that St. John said gushed forth from the pierced side of Jesus (John 19:34).
The water represented Baptism which washes away sin. The blood represented the Eucharist which unites us to Christ and brings about the deep healing we need. During Eucharist devotions like 40 Hours we reflect on the great and, in Blessed John Paul II's words, "amazing" gift of the Eucharist. In every Mass Jesus makes present once again the new sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. In Holy Communion we receive the food for eternal life, the very Body and Blood of Christ. He plants the seeds of eternity within us so that after we die, at the resurrection of the body, those seeds will bring forth new life. Truly God has done something new, something we could never have imagined.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Old St. Joseph's Church
I've been having a busy Advent. On the First Sunday of Advent I was still in Rome for the meeting of the International Advisory Council of the Apostleship of Prayer. Last weekend I was in Alhambra, California at Sacred Heart Retreat House for their annual Advent Retreat. And this weekend I'm preaching at all the Masses at Old St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia. I'm here to lead a parish mission which begins this evening.Today, at 5 P.M., we'll celebrate Vespers for this Gaudete Sunday. My talk is entitled "Heart Calls to Heart: Deepening Our Personal Relationship with Jesus." Tomorrow evening at 7:15, in the context of an Advent Reconciliation Service, I'll talk about "Meeting the Merciful Heart of Jesus." On Tuesday we will close the mission with Exposition and Benediction and a talk entitled "Take, Lord, Receive: Living a Eucharistic Life."
Old St. Joseph's Church is the Jesuit church in Philadelphia and its oldest Catholic church. It was built in an alleyway at a time in U.S. history when most of the original 13 colonies did not allow Catholics to practice their faith.
Old St. Joseph's Church is the Jesuit church in Philadelphia and its oldest Catholic church. It was built in an alleyway at a time in U.S. history when most of the original 13 colonies did not allow Catholics to practice their faith. Periodically the Magis Center for Catholic Spirituality asks me to write a daily reflection for their subscribers. Below I've included my brief reflections for today and tomorrow.
“Pray without ceasing.” Thus wrote St. Paul and over the centuries people have tried to figure out how to do this. For some, primarily in the Eastern Churches, it has meant praying “The Jesus Prayer”: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Or simply, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” uniting each phrase with one’s breath.
The Apostleship of Prayer encourages another approach—the Morning Offering. Here’s how the great Jesuit Fr. Walter Ciszek, whose cause for beatification has been opened, described this prayer in the account of his imprisonment in the Soviet Gulag and exile, He Leadeth Me:
In my opinion the Morning Offering is still one of the best practices of prayer—no matter how old-fashioned some may think it. For in it, at the beginning of each day, we accept from God and offer back to him all the prayers, works, and sufferings of the day, and so serve to remind ourselves once again of his providence and his kingdom. If we could only remember to spend the day in his presence, in doing his will, what a difference it would make in our own lives and the lives of those around us! We cannot pray always, in the sense of those contemplatives who have dedicated their whole lives to prayer and penance. Nor can we go around abstracted all day, thinking only of God and ignoring our duties to those around us, to family and friends and to those for whom we are responsible. But we can pray always by making each action and work and suffering of the day a prayer insofar as it has been offered and promised to God.
The Morning Offering, combined with an Examen or Evening Review of the day we have offered, can help us to seek and find God in all things, in all the people and events of our daily lives. In this way we better able to “pray without ceasing.”
Monday, December 12, 2011
Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! Viva! Today we honor our Blessed Mother under her title “Our Lady of Guadalupe” and we remember how in December, 1531 she appeared to a humble Indian, St. Juan Diego, and gave him a miraculous image of herself as proof for the bishop of her appearance. The image, on material that should have disintegrated long ago, can be seen today in Mexico City.
When she appeared to Juan, she affectionately called him “Juanito” or “Johnny,” and said:
Know for certain, smallest of my children, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. I am your merciful Mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all humanity, of all those who love me. Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one. Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart, or your face. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need? Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.
St. Ignatius had a deep love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and he often turned to her when he needed special help. He recommends the same to us during key meditations in the Spiritual Exercises. As Jesus could not refuse his mother’s request at Cana (see John 2: 1-11), so, St. Ignatius was convinced, that if we go to Jesus with his mother and then with Jesus and Mary to the Father, we will receive what we need.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
St. Patrick's in Tolono
I'm giving a parish mission this week at St. Patrick Church in Tolono, IL. Fr. John Cyr was kind enough to record my Sunday homily and to post it on their web site. They also have a Facebook page with some photos from the mission including this one.When I travel to different parts of the country for parish missions, I like to spread the message of the Apostleship of Prayer wherever I can. Yesterday morning after visiting a few shut-ins, Fr. Cyr was kind enough to take me to St. John's Newman Center at the University of Illinois where I met some of the staff
and left some of our materials. According to a Wikipedia article, this Newman Center is the largest in the United States. They even have a residence hall for 600 students and while we had lunch there I had the opportunity to meet with Msgr. Gregory Ketcham, the director, as well as some of the FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionaries who work there. In fact I had a "small world" experience as one of the young FOCUS missionaries turned out to be friends with some good friends of mine, Pat and Fran Coy, a deacon couple from Hill City, South Dakota. Today I'll be helping to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation with students from St. Thomas More High School of Champaign who are on retreat.After being around the home office in Milwaukee for most of August, it's nice to be on the road again and experiencing how the Lord is at work in different parts of the country.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
"When I Am Lifted Up..."
I'm giving a parish mission at St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish in Zionsville, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis but part of the Lafayette Diocese. It's a very active parish and their website is phenomenal. One could make it a home page just for all the resources it has. My mission is based on Pope Benedict's Apostolic Exhortation "Sacramentum Caritatis" and each night I'm covering one of the three ways that the Holy Father describes the Eucharist: a Mystery to be Believed, Celebrated, and Lived. I'm also preaching at the 9 AM Mass each day.
Today I talked about the serpent on the pole and Jesus on the cross. Both are sources of healing but how very different each one is. In the first reading at Mass (Numbers 21: 4-9) Moses took the image of a serpent (which had bitten the complaining Israelites) and mounted it on a pole. "Whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." The symbol of punishment, sin, evil, and death became the source of healing.
In the Gospel (John 8: 21-30) Jesus declared, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM...." Jesus, the innocent one and author of life, when lifted up on the cross, will become the source of life for all who acknowledge him as God. I couldn't help thinking of the crucifixion scene in an old movie where the centurion next to the cross, played by John Wayne, says "Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27: 54). Jesus is "I AM," the name God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3: 13-15).
How is it that these two passages go together and that Jesus Himself used the passage from Numbers to refer to himself: "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3: 14-15)? Two passages from St. Paul can help us here. First, Galatians 3: 13: "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.'" And secondly, 2 Corinthians 5: 20: "For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." In other words, Jesus took sin and death into himself and in that way destroyed them because he, the innocent one and author of life, had the power to do so.
This action of Jesus is given to us anew in every Mass when Jesus is lifted up again. His passion and death are made present every time we celebrate Mass. In his being lifted up at the Consecration, sin and death are overcome and we believe in him. One way that people have traditionally expressed that belief is to silently pray, when the host is lifted up and then when the cup is lifted up, the words of St. Thomas: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20: 28). This is essential to what we believe about the Eucharist. Our belief is not only that bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, but that every Mass makes present the saving action of Jesus on Calvary. Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter announcing the Year of the Eucharist Mane Nobiscum Domine (#15), put it this way:
There is no doubt that the most evident dimension of the Eucharist is that it is a meal. ... Yet it must not be forgotten that the Eucharistic meal also has a profoundly and primarily sacrificial meaning. In the Eucharist, Christ makes present to us anew the sacrifice offered once for all on Golgotha. Present in the Eucharist as the Risen Lord, he nonetheless bears the marks of his passion, of which every Mass is a "memorial"....
Today I talked about the serpent on the pole and Jesus on the cross. Both are sources of healing but how very different each one is. In the first reading at Mass (Numbers 21: 4-9) Moses took the image of a serpent (which had bitten the complaining Israelites) and mounted it on a pole. "Whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." The symbol of punishment, sin, evil, and death became the source of healing.
In the Gospel (John 8: 21-30) Jesus declared, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM...." Jesus, the innocent one and author of life, when lifted up on the cross, will become the source of life for all who acknowledge him as God. I couldn't help thinking of the crucifixion scene in an old movie where the centurion next to the cross, played by John Wayne, says "Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27: 54). Jesus is "I AM," the name God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3: 13-15).
How is it that these two passages go together and that Jesus Himself used the passage from Numbers to refer to himself: "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3: 14-15)? Two passages from St. Paul can help us here. First, Galatians 3: 13: "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.'" And secondly, 2 Corinthians 5: 20: "For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." In other words, Jesus took sin and death into himself and in that way destroyed them because he, the innocent one and author of life, had the power to do so.
This action of Jesus is given to us anew in every Mass when Jesus is lifted up again. His passion and death are made present every time we celebrate Mass. In his being lifted up at the Consecration, sin and death are overcome and we believe in him. One way that people have traditionally expressed that belief is to silently pray, when the host is lifted up and then when the cup is lifted up, the words of St. Thomas: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20: 28). This is essential to what we believe about the Eucharist. Our belief is not only that bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, but that every Mass makes present the saving action of Jesus on Calvary. Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter announcing the Year of the Eucharist Mane Nobiscum Domine (#15), put it this way:
There is no doubt that the most evident dimension of the Eucharist is that it is a meal. ... Yet it must not be forgotten that the Eucharistic meal also has a profoundly and primarily sacrificial meaning. In the Eucharist, Christ makes present to us anew the sacrifice offered once for all on Golgotha. Present in the Eucharist as the Risen Lord, he nonetheless bears the marks of his passion, of which every Mass is a "memorial"....
Sunday, April 3, 2011
St. Paul's in Fenton
I'm at St. Paul's Church in Fenton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, where I preached at five Masses this weekend in order to drum up interest in the parish mission which will begin tomorrow evening and go through Thursday evening. On Monday night I'll be talking about "The Transforming Power of Baptism" and then on each of the successive evenings I'll talk about the Baptismal call to be prophets, priests, and kings or royal people. It's providential that the pastor, Msgr. Michael Dieckmann, asked for this topic when I presented him some options a year ago. Baptism was the focus of Pope Benedict's message for Lent this year. In the first part of his message, the Holy Father wrote: "Baptism is not a rite from the past, but the encounter with Christ, which informs the entire existence of the baptized, imparting divine life...." We don't reflect on this enough. We tend, like Samuel in the first reading at Mass today, to judge by appearances. Like the Pharisees we focus on externals and do not appreciate the truth of Jesus and the truth of ourselves whose deepest identity is that of children adopted into God's family. Divine life is at work within us. In the conclusion of his message, Pope Benedict called Lent "the journey of conversion towards Easter [that] leads us to rediscover our Baptism." He continued: "This Lent, let us renew our acceptance of the Grace that God bestowed upon us at that moment, so that it may illuminate and guide all our actions."
The two priests at St. Paul's are in the process of moving back into the rectory which was extensively damaged by a tornado that landed on Fenton last New Year's Eve. I'm staying in a house that they rented less than a block from the church. Today the temperature reached 85 and storms are predicted tonight as a front approaches that will drop the temperatures back down into the 40's. Such drastic changes can only mean one thing: the possibility of severe weather. What are the chances that a tornado will hit here again just three months after the last one? Stayed tuned....
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Thumb
Last night I began a parish mission in Huron County, Michigan. Fr. Peter Nwokoye from Nigeria is the pastor of three parishes in that area of the lower peninsula of Michigan that is known as "The Thumb." The parish mission is part of 40 Hours of Eucharistic devotion in this cluster of parishes.
Fr. Peter began yesterday morning with Mass and Exposition at St. Patrick's church in Palms, Michigan. I flew to Flint where Fr. Peter picked me up and we drove about 100 miles to get here. We closed the Exposition last night with Benediction and Mass. The overall theme of the mission is "Seeking the Face of Jesus in a Busy World" and last night I talked about "Meeting Jesus in Word and Sacrament." My focus was on the importance of preparing for Mass by going over the readings ahead of time and then prayerfully participating in Mass by striving to pay attention to the great mysteries that are being celebrated--Jesus speaking to us in the proclamation of the readings; Jesus making present His eternal sacrifice on Calvary; Jesus changing the bread and wine into His own Body and Blood and coming to us in Holy Communion. Through Word and Sacrament we are transformed and better able to see ourselves as members of the Body of Christ and meet Him in one another.
Today there is Adoration at SS. Peter and Paul church in Ruth where Fr. Peter's rectory is located. Four other priests will join us for dinner this evening and then we will celebrate Vespers and Benediction. My talk will be on "Meeting Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation" and the six priests will be available for individual confessions after Benediction.Tomorrow there will be Exposition and Adoration all day at St. Mary's church in Parisville, a town that may be the oldest Polish settlement in the U.S. Panna Maria in Texas was founded around the same time as Parisville and so there is some question about which is the oldest. We will celebrate Vespers and Benediction again and tomorrow's talk will be the one in which I share the spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer--"Living the Eucharist in our Daily Lives."
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Corpus Christi in Galesburg
I'm in Galesburg, Illinois these days, giving a parish mission at Corpus Christi, a parish run by the Rosminian Fathers. They are named after Blessed Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855), an Italian priest who founded a religious congregation called the Institute of Charity in 1828. Hence his followers have the initials "I.C." after their names. Pope Benedict XVI beatified Fr. Rosmini in 2007.
Galesburg is the birthplace of the poet Carl Sandburg and in 1858 was the site of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Corpus Christi is celebrating its 125th anniversary and the title of my mission is "Living a Eucharistic Life." The church, completed in 1885, has a 150 foot spire and neo-gothic architecture. This parish, part of the Peoria Diocese, has the distinction of being one of only ten churches in the U.S. to have the body of a saint, St. Crescent, a young martyr of the early Church whose relic was removed from the Roman catacombs in 1838. More on that another time....
Galesburg is the birthplace of the poet Carl Sandburg and in 1858 was the site of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Corpus Christi is celebrating its 125th anniversary and the title of my mission is "Living a Eucharistic Life." The church, completed in 1885, has a 150 foot spire and neo-gothic architecture. This parish, part of the Peoria Diocese, has the distinction of being one of only ten churches in the U.S. to have the body of a saint, St. Crescent, a young martyr of the early Church whose relic was removed from the Roman catacombs in 1838. More on that another time....
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Summer Time
"Summer time, and the livin' is easy." So goes a song of George Gershwin that premiered in the 1935 musical "Porgy and Bess." It's summer time at the Apostleship of Prayer and it's not the fish that are jumping, as in the song, but all of us.
The dream of several young Jesuits, priests and scholastics, is being realized this summer with "The Jesuit Mission Band." It's not a musical band, but a group of Jesuits that is going around the Midwest offering to young adults (18 to 35) a brief (Friday night and Saturday) retreat based on the "Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius" and the practical spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer. They've been in the office this week preparing their presentations and it's been exciting to see their energy. It's all part of the revival of the Apostleship of Prayer in the U.S.
This weekend I'll be at a conference run by a group called "Sacred Heart Communities in Collaboration." This national conference is entitled "Hearts on Fire: New Beginnings; New Challenges," and I'll be the first of three speakers. My talk is entitled "Wells of Love: Our Covenant Relationship with the Father through Jesus."
The 14 talks from my preached retreat based on the "Spiritual Exercises" are now posted online at Creighton University's Online Ministries site. They were recorded last April at the Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, also known as Demontreville.
After receiving encouragement from a publisher to whom we submitted a book proposal, I've begun writing a book. Right now the title is "The Power of Praying for Others" and our hope is that it will fill a void that exists among the many books on prayer. Our ambitious hope is that this book will inspire people with what we call "the simple and profound way of life" of the Apostleship of Prayer in the same way that Jesuit Fr. Henri Ramiere's classic book of the late 1800's ("The Apostleship of Prayer") did.
Along with these tasks there are the monthly and daily radio and web reflections.
There's certainly no moss gathering around the Apostleship of Prayer this summer.
The dream of several young Jesuits, priests and scholastics, is being realized this summer with "The Jesuit Mission Band." It's not a musical band, but a group of Jesuits that is going around the Midwest offering to young adults (18 to 35) a brief (Friday night and Saturday) retreat based on the "Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius" and the practical spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer. They've been in the office this week preparing their presentations and it's been exciting to see their energy. It's all part of the revival of the Apostleship of Prayer in the U.S.
This weekend I'll be at a conference run by a group called "Sacred Heart Communities in Collaboration." This national conference is entitled "Hearts on Fire: New Beginnings; New Challenges," and I'll be the first of three speakers. My talk is entitled "Wells of Love: Our Covenant Relationship with the Father through Jesus."
The 14 talks from my preached retreat based on the "Spiritual Exercises" are now posted online at Creighton University's Online Ministries site. They were recorded last April at the Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, also known as Demontreville.
After receiving encouragement from a publisher to whom we submitted a book proposal, I've begun writing a book. Right now the title is "The Power of Praying for Others" and our hope is that it will fill a void that exists among the many books on prayer. Our ambitious hope is that this book will inspire people with what we call "the simple and profound way of life" of the Apostleship of Prayer in the same way that Jesuit Fr. Henri Ramiere's classic book of the late 1800's ("The Apostleship of Prayer") did.
Along with these tasks there are the monthly and daily radio and web reflections.
There's certainly no moss gathering around the Apostleship of Prayer this summer.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
St. Joseph's in West St. Paul
From St. Louis to St. Paul. I left the former and drove to the latter on Friday, arriving at St. Joseph's Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota. I've known Fr. Michael Creagan, the pastor, for about ten years, having first met him when I was on the staff at the Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo, MN and he was an associate pastor at St. Michael's Church in Stillwater, MN. A few years ago, when he was pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Robbinsdale, MN, he invited me to give a parish mission on the Sacred Heart. Tonight and tomorrow night I'll be speaking on the theme, "Living the Eucharist." Having spent about ten of my years as a Jesuit in the Twin Cities, it's good to be back, though the temperature change from Missouri to Minnesota was a bit of a shock.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Baptismal Consecration
Yesterday morning and today, as part of the parish mission I'm giving in Affton, Missouri, I went around to the grade school classrooms to talk about baptism. Most of the students had no memory of their own baptism, but in a few cases there were students who had been baptized as children, and in some other cases they had been present at the baptisms of their siblings. They remembered that the ceremony included water, oil, a candle, and a white garment.
We then talked about the oil, the sacred chrism. I asked them: "Besides baptism, what other three times is sacred chrism used?" The easiest of the three other times was the sacrament of confirmation. With a little prompting they were able to figure out the third time--at the ordination of a new priest. But they had trouble with the fourth time. An eighth grader was the only one to answer: "At the blessing of a new church."
Sacred chrism is very special. It is used to anoint the walls of a new church, setting that space aside for a holy purpose. It's used to anoint the altar of the new church, setting it aside for a holy purpose. It's used to anoint the hands of a newly ordained priest, setting them aside for God's service, the holy purpose of offering the sacraments. And it's used to anoint the heads of the baptized and the confirmed, setting these Christians aside for a holy purpose, consecrating them for God's service. One of the ways that we serve God and fulfill the holy purpose that we've been given in baptism and confirmation is to pray.
At this point in our little baptismal lesson I asked the children if they ever prayed for other people and they went through a survey of the people for whom they pray. Then I showed them how at every Mass we pray for the local bishop and for the pope. This is a general kind of prayer and I asked them: "If the pope asked you to pray for something would you?" The answer I get is usually a pretty spontaneous and enthusiastic "yes!" And then I told them about the very specific monthly prayer requests of the pope. In some cases I was able to show the students the Apostleship of Prayer web site and how to get to the "Kids' Page" or the "Teenagers' Page." And I left every teacher with a leaflet that has the pope's intentions for the year and with the encouragement to remind their students about those intentions at the beginning of each month.
We then talked about the oil, the sacred chrism. I asked them: "Besides baptism, what other three times is sacred chrism used?" The easiest of the three other times was the sacrament of confirmation. With a little prompting they were able to figure out the third time--at the ordination of a new priest. But they had trouble with the fourth time. An eighth grader was the only one to answer: "At the blessing of a new church."
Sacred chrism is very special. It is used to anoint the walls of a new church, setting that space aside for a holy purpose. It's used to anoint the altar of the new church, setting it aside for a holy purpose. It's used to anoint the hands of a newly ordained priest, setting them aside for God's service, the holy purpose of offering the sacraments. And it's used to anoint the heads of the baptized and the confirmed, setting these Christians aside for a holy purpose, consecrating them for God's service. One of the ways that we serve God and fulfill the holy purpose that we've been given in baptism and confirmation is to pray.
At this point in our little baptismal lesson I asked the children if they ever prayed for other people and they went through a survey of the people for whom they pray. Then I showed them how at every Mass we pray for the local bishop and for the pope. This is a general kind of prayer and I asked them: "If the pope asked you to pray for something would you?" The answer I get is usually a pretty spontaneous and enthusiastic "yes!" And then I told them about the very specific monthly prayer requests of the pope. In some cases I was able to show the students the Apostleship of Prayer web site and how to get to the "Kids' Page" or the "Teenagers' Page." And I left every teacher with a leaflet that has the pope's intentions for the year and with the encouragement to remind their students about those intentions at the beginning of each month.
Monday, March 15, 2010
St. Louis Parish Mission
Actually the parish where I'm giving a mission this week is in Affton, Missouri, right next door to St. Louis. The parish is St. Dominic Savio and it must have been one of the first churches named for this young saint who died on March 9, 1857, less than a month shy of his fifteenth birthday. Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1954 and this parish was established two years later. In the back of the church, above the baptismal font and paschal candle, there is a statue of St. Dominic who, from that perspective, watches over the worshippers and joins them, as all the saints do at Mass, in our perfect act of worship--the Eucharist.
The mission I am giving is entitled "Come Walk With Jesus ... and Live Out Your Baptismal Calling." I preached at all the Masses this weekend and last night (Sunday) we began the mission with Mass and a full church. Here are the topics for the coming nights:
Monday night: "Come to the Water: The Transforming Power of Baptism."
Tuesday night: "Behold the Lamb: Our Baptismal Call to be Prophets"
Wednesday night: "In the Breaking of the Bread: Our Baptismal Call to Share in Jesus' Priesthood."
Thursday night: "Prepare the Way of the Lord: Our Baptismal Call to be a Royal People."
Monday, March 8, 2010
Marlette Parish Mission
On Saturday I left Port Austin, Michigan and drove an hour south to Marlette. Fr. Andrzej Boroch, from Poland, is the pastor here at St. Elizabeth's. He is a fervent young priest (ordained in 1995) and asked me to give a parish mission here after I directed the Saginaw priests' retreat last year. As far as we know, this parish which was established in 1948, has never had a parish mission so we tried to put together a program that would make the mission convenient for all the parishioners.
As always I spoke at the Masses on Sunday, including Mass at St. Michael's parish in Wilmot which Fr. Boroch also serves. At 3 P.M. on Sunday we had a Holy Hour with exposition and benediction. I talked about going deeper in our spiritual lives and quoted Pope John Paul II who said, at the turn of the millennium, "it would be wrong to think that ordinary Christians can be content with a shallow prayer life that is unable to fill their whole life. Especially in the face of the many trials to which today's world subjects faith, they would be not only mediocre Christians but 'Christians at risk.'"
Today we celebrated Mass at 11 and my homily was on the topic of what Catholics believe about the Eucharist and how this affects the way we participate in the celebration of Mass and how we treat one another. After the homily we celebrated the Anointing of the Sick and after Mass we had lunch. This evening there will be four priests celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation from 6 until 7 and then we will have a Holy Hour and a repeat of this morning's homily.
Tomorrow we will have a Holy Hour at 11 followed by lunch. The focus of my talk will be how the practical spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer can help the average person can live the Eucharist and find meaning in every day life. We will close the mission with Mass at 7 P.M. and a repeat of the morning talk.
It was been nice staying with Fr. Boroch. His rectory walls are filled with religious pictures and photos of Pope John Paul II. He has a statue of St. Faustina on a shelf next to a picture of the Divine Mercy image. Last night we visited with a Polish family and dined on traditional Polish food: golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls) and the best potato pierogi I've ever had. A lot of times potato pierogi is stuffed with a very bland filling of mashed potatoes. These were mashed potatoes with farmer's cheese, butter, and onions. On this particular mission, the laborer is certainly being fed well!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Loving with the Heart of Jesus
I related today's Scripture readings to the parish mission I am giving in the Port Austin, Michigan area.
In the first reading, the Old Testament story of Joseph, there is a clear example of something I talked about on the first night of the mission. There we see two ways that sin works. First, a lot of sin is recycled hurt. "Hurt people hurt people." When we get hurt we tend to pass the hurt on to others. Joseph's brothers were hurt that their father Jacob showed favoritism toward Joseph. A resentment built up and they acted on it. They treated Joseph like an object. This is the second way that sin often operates in our lives. We deny the inherent dignity of others and treat them as objects, either for pleasure, or in this case, as problems that can be dismissed and disposed of. Joseph's brothers first decided to dispose of him but then sold him like a piece of property to a caravan of traders.
Jesus was also rejected and disposed of. The parable in today's Gospel anticipates this.
But in both cases, God took the sin and made it work toward good. Because Joseph was sold and ended up in Egypt he was able to help his family survive a famine. Because Jesus died on the cross He reconciled humanity with God. As Paul writes in Romans 8: 28, "all things work for good for those who love God."
Lent is a time for us to be converted from recycling the hurt of our lives and from treating other people as objects. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are forgiven and healed, but the process of our transformation really progresses through the Holy Eucharist. I spoke about this last night, saying that our union with Jesus in the Eucharist makes us one with Him and with one another. This helps us to see one another differently.
In the Holy Eucharist we receive Jesus, Body and Blood, soul and divinity, including His Sacred Heart. Today is First Friday, a day to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We do so when we let the Heart of Jesus transform our hearts from hearts of stone (like those of Joseph's brothers) into hearts of flesh, hearts like the Heart of Jesus. With this Heart united to ours, we see each other differently. We are able to love, as Jesus Himself loves, even those who have hurt us.
In the first reading, the Old Testament story of Joseph, there is a clear example of something I talked about on the first night of the mission. There we see two ways that sin works. First, a lot of sin is recycled hurt. "Hurt people hurt people." When we get hurt we tend to pass the hurt on to others. Joseph's brothers were hurt that their father Jacob showed favoritism toward Joseph. A resentment built up and they acted on it. They treated Joseph like an object. This is the second way that sin often operates in our lives. We deny the inherent dignity of others and treat them as objects, either for pleasure, or in this case, as problems that can be dismissed and disposed of. Joseph's brothers first decided to dispose of him but then sold him like a piece of property to a caravan of traders.
Jesus was also rejected and disposed of. The parable in today's Gospel anticipates this.
But in both cases, God took the sin and made it work toward good. Because Joseph was sold and ended up in Egypt he was able to help his family survive a famine. Because Jesus died on the cross He reconciled humanity with God. As Paul writes in Romans 8: 28, "all things work for good for those who love God."
Lent is a time for us to be converted from recycling the hurt of our lives and from treating other people as objects. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are forgiven and healed, but the process of our transformation really progresses through the Holy Eucharist. I spoke about this last night, saying that our union with Jesus in the Eucharist makes us one with Him and with one another. This helps us to see one another differently.
In the Holy Eucharist we receive Jesus, Body and Blood, soul and divinity, including His Sacred Heart. Today is First Friday, a day to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We do so when we let the Heart of Jesus transform our hearts from hearts of stone (like those of Joseph's brothers) into hearts of flesh, hearts like the Heart of Jesus. With this Heart united to ours, we see each other differently. We are able to love, as Jesus Himself loves, even those who have hurt us.
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