Roses for My Mother and Yours

I started preparing after lunch. It was a perfect Mother's Day, weather-wise, with a bright sunny sky and a temperature hovering around 60. I knew from experience that I'd need some protection but I don't think a baseball cap really goes well with an alb and I don't have a biretta. So after lunch I put some sunblock lotion SPF 30 on my face and head. It was my final preparation before leaving for the 31st annual "Walk with Jesus and Mary."

I drove 10 minutes to the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Marian Shrine and saw all sorts of people I know from various organizations including our own Apostleship of Prayer. Many of our supporters and volunteers were there, gathering for a May crowning and Eucharistic Rosary Procession. Fr. Matthew Widder, ordained a year ago, carried the Blessed Sacrament around several blocks as we prayed the rosary and Fr. Don Hying, the rector of the local seminary preached. Deacon Christopher Klusman also participated. Deacon Klusman will soon become one of only 5 Catholic priests in the U.S. who is Deaf.

The event was sponsored by a group called "Roses for our Lady." This association of lay faithful was founded in the 1970's to "bring honor and glory to Jesus and Mary in our world today." They do this by the event we celebrated today as well as Eucharistic holy hours, special celebrations of Marian feast days, a rosary procession during Milwaukee's Festa Italiana, and a monthly holy hour for vocations at St. Francis de Sales Seminary. The current president is my good friend, fellow blogger, and Apostleship of Prayer volunteer, Anne Bender.

In his homily Fr. Hying talked about the significance of a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Milwaukee. Bringing the Presence of Jesus into the world reminds us of our obligation to bring Jesus into the world through our presence. From my perspective, this is what it means to be the Body of Christ. This is what it means to "live the Eucharist." "Ite missa est." Those are the words that were traditionally used at the end of Mass. "Go, you are sent." We are sent forth to bring Jesus into the world through His Presence in us and with us.

After Fr. Hying's homily, I led the following prayers of consecration:

O Mary, my Mother, I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart. I am all yours, and all that I have is yours. Keep me under your mantle of mercy, protect me as your child, and lead my soul safely to Jesus in Heaven. Purify all that I give you, and take it to Jesus, that He may use it to help save the world and souls. Amen.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with infinite love, broken by my ingratitude and pierced by my sins and yet loving me still, accept the consecration that I make to Thee of all that I am and all that I have. Take every faculty of my soul and body, and draw me day by day nearer and nearer to Thy sacred side, and there, as I can bear the lesson, teach me Thy blessed ways.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, once in agony, have pity on the dying. Amen.

The day closed with benediction. It was a wonderful way to honor our Mother and her Son on Mother's Day. Lastly, here are the lyrics of a traditional Polish hymn that we sang:

Stainless the Maiden (Serdeczna Matko)

Stainless the Maiden
Whom He chose for mother;
Nine months she waited,
Bearing Christ, our brother;
Think of her gladness
When at last she saw Him:
God in a manger,
Bethlehem a heaven!

Lantern in darkness,
When the sick are sighing,
Threshold of brightness,
Comfort for the dying,
High she is holding
For a world adoring,
Hope of the nations,
Jesus Christ, our brother.

Glorious Mysteries

The special Relevant Radio two day retreat continues today and this afternoon I was on the "On Call" show with Wendy Wiese, talking about the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.

The Rosary was Pope John Paul II's favorite prayer. He said so in his Apostolic Letter, "On the Most Holy Rosary," where he also quoted Pope Paul VI who said: "without contemplation, the Rosary is a soul without a body." Thus, in order for the Rosary to be alive, to breathe life into our prayer lives, we need to reflect on the Mysteries. Such reflection can involve reading a Scripture passage for each Mystery, visualizing the scene described, and applying the Mystery to one's life. Looking at the Glorious Mysteries as a whole, Pope John Paul II said that they help people to "rediscover the reasons for their own faith." They are Mysteries of hope and joy.

The First Glorious Mystery is The Resurrection. According to St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, the Resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. If we don't believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus then we are the sorriest of people. Our Christian faith is in vain. Though the Gospel scenes of the Jesus' appearances after His Resurrection are very confusing, one thing is very clear: Jesus comes to console and strengthen people. The apostles, except for John, had abandoned Jesus in His hour of need and were cowering behind locked doors. When Jesus appeared, they were afraid. Was He a ghost? Was He there to condemn them? The first words out of Jesus' mouth were, "Peace be with you."

Do you need peace? Do you need hope? Do you need the Lord's consolation as you struggle with loss and grief. Invite Jesus into the tomb of your heart. He has power over death and He can be with you in your grief to give you hope. Because He died and rose, we too will rise. We were not created to be angels, bodiless spirits, but human beings, body and soul. When death separates our bodies and souls, we know that we continue in existence and that one day, as the Creed we recite at Mass on Sunday says, we will experience a resurrection like that of Jesus. As Jesus' body and soul came together and His body was glorified, so will ours.

The Second Glorious Mystery is The Ascension. For this Mystery we turn to the Acts of the Apostles 1: 8-11. After the Resurrection, Jesus returned to the right hand of His Father in heaven. He who is fully divine and fully human, now sits with the Father in glory. Human nature is in glory where God intended it to be from the beginning. Jesus, as St. Paul taught, is the Head and we are members of His Body. The Head is now in heaven. Where the Head has gone the Body will follow.

And so we keep our sights set on our ultimate destination. But this doesn't distract us from the business of life on earth. We are on a journey and like any journey it's important for us to know our destination so that we can follow the best route to get there. Jesus has blazed a trail for us and shown us the way to arrive at our heavenly destination. As we keep our goal in mind, we also watch our steps on earth to make sure that we are on track and headed in the right direction.

The Third Glorious Mystery is The Descent of the Holy Spirit. From Ascension Thursday until Pentecost Sunday was nine days. During that interval Mary and the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room where the Last Supper was held and they prayed for the Holy Spirit to be given to them. This was the first novena or nine days of prayer in history. Though Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her at the Annunciation, and though the Holy Spirit had been active in the work of creation and the life of Israel--inspiring prophets and anointing kings--Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit in a new and wonderful way. He even said at the Last Supper that it was better for Him to go so that He could send the Holy Spirit from the Father. With Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes not only to guide people through an external influence. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to dwell within people. Now we have not only a destination and a map, but an internal guide to lead us to heaven.

Christians receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism. The presence and power of the Spirit are further confirmed and further enhanced in the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul said, and the Spirit dwells within us. God is not far away but very near. As near as our own breath. And just as our breath gives us life, so does the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit, give us spiritual and eternal life.

The Fourth Glorious Mystery is The Assumption of Mary. Though we do not have this event in the Gospels, it is a dogma of the Catholic Church. This Mystery follows upon the preceding three. Jesus has power over life and death. He has risen and ascended and has sent the Holy Spirit to make us Temples. Mary was the purest of Temples because she was preserved from all sin from the very moment of her conception. Her body was a tabernacle in which Jesus was conceived and in which He developed for nine months. Since He has the power, doesn't it make sense that Jesus would preserve His Mother's sinless body from one of the effects of sin, bodily corruption and decay after death?

This Mystery reinforces our hope. Mary's Assumption body and soul into heaven is another example of what God intends for all of us--that we shall be body and soul in heaven one day. This Mystery also challenges us to be sinless in our bodies and to use our bodies to give glory to God as Mary did.

The Fifth Glorious Mystery is The Coronation of Mary. Again, we don't have this in the Gospels, but it makes sense that Christ the King would crown His Mother as Queen when she arrived in heaven. She is the Mother of the King, our Queen Mother. She is Queen of heaven and earth. She reigns with Jesus and so is a powerful intercessor for us. As our Queen Mother we turn to her in need and we also offer ourselves in her service.

It shouldn't be so strange to think of Mary as sharing in Christ's royal dignity. We too, through Baptism, share in His royal dignity. In the anointing with sacred chrism at Baptism, we hear that as Jesus was anointed to be a priest, prophet, and king, so are we. We begin to share in this royal dignity and it will reach its fulfillment in heaven when we will share in the glory of Jesus and His Mother Mary. But again we are challenged. In the Our Father we pray that Jesus will reign over us, asking "Thy Kingdom come." Mary surrendered her life to the service of the Kingdom and now she shares fully in the glory. We too must surrender and let Jesus and Mary reign over us so that one day we will share in their glory.

Luminous Mysteries

Relevant Radio is doing a special Marian retreat today and tomorrow. Today I was on "The Morning Air Show" talking about the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.

For centuries people have added mysteries to the Rosary's traditional three sets. The Joyful Mysteries end with Jesus at the age of twelve in the Temple and the Sorrowful Mysteries begin with Jesus' Agony in the Garden after the Last Supper. People have filled in the public life of Jesus with reflections on His Parables or Miracles. In his 2002 Apostolic Letter "On the Most Holy Rosary," Pope John Paul II proposed the addition of the "Mysteries of Light" or the "Luminous Mysteries." Why? In #19 of his Letter, the Holy Father wrote: "This addition of these new mysteries ... is meant to give it [the Rosary] fresh life and to enkindle renewed interest in the Rosary's place within Christian spirituality as a true doorway to the depths of the Heart of Christ, ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory."

It is good to consider the meditations that compose the Rosary as "mysteries." They invite us to approach the events of Jesus' life with a humble and open heart, the only way to truly approach a mystery. We don't try to "figure out" the mystery. We try to open ourselves up, in prayer, to what God wants to reveal to us about Himself through the mystery.

The First Luminous Mystery is The Baptism of the Lord. Each of the four Gospels speaks of this event in Jesus' life when He went to the Jordan River and John the Baptist baptized Him. At first John resisted. He was baptizing people as part of a purification ceremony in which people declared their desire to change, to let go of sin. But Jesus is the Sinless One, the completely innocent Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world. Why does Jesus submit Himself to this purification rite? He tells John that it is "to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus became human and entered into our sinful world. He took upon Himself the sins of the world. In entering into the darkness of the water, Jesus prefigures what He will do on the Cross. In the words of 2 Corinthians 5: 21, God "made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

What happened at Jesus' Baptism happened to each of us at our Baptism. The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came upon each of us, making us Temples. At Baptism we were filled with Sanctifying Grace; we were made holy as God is holy because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. And the Father declared to us, as He declared to Jesus: "You are my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." At our Baptism the Father claimed us as His own beloved children, sons and daughters, pleasing in His sight.

The Second Luminous Mystery is The Wedding Feast at Cana. This comes to us from John's Gospel, Chapter 2 where we read that Jesus and His Mother and His disciples were all invited to a wedding feast. Some people have the idea that if you are holy, you aren't any fun. Jesus shows us that He, the All-Holy Son of God, enjoys a party. He enjoys good wine. He enjoys the legitimate pleasures of life. No doubt this miracle of turning water into abundant and good wine led to the many invitations to the parties with sinners and tax collectors that are so common in the Gospels.

At first Jesus seems to be reluctant to help. After His Mother Mary tells Him that the wine has run out, Jesus says: "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." In John's Gospel the "hour" of Jesus is the time of His suffering, death, and resurrection. By performing this, the first sign of His divine power, Jesus will begin the journey that will lead to the Cross.

Mary tells the servers: "Do whatever he tells you." This is always Mary's role. She points us to Jesus and tells us to obey Him. This is what the servers do and the miracle occurs. Ordinary water is transformed into extraordinary wine. We can apply this to ourselves as well. It's the spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer. Every day we offer the moments of our day to God. They are very ordinary moments of prayer and work, joy and sorrow. But when joined to the perfect offering of Jesus on Calvary and in the Mass, they become extraordinary. Like the water turned to wine, our lives are transformed.

The Third Luminous Mystery is The Proclamation of the Kingdom. At the beginning of Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1, verse 15, we read: "Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: 'This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'" Jesus comes proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God and calling for repentance so that sins may be forgiven. When he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI said that the message of Fatima is right in line with this message of Jesus.

In the history of Israel there came a time when the people tired of having judges and prophets lead them. They wanted to be like other nations. They wanted to have a king. God said that the people weren't rejecting the judges and prophets but Him. This has been the sad history of humanity: the rejection of God and His lordship. Rather than following the Law which was designed to bring peace and harmony, humans have tended to declare themselves to be kings and lords of their lives. We have rejected God's Law and become laws unto ourselves.

Jesus calls for a conversion from this rebellious attitude. In every "Our Father" that we pray, we accept the kingship of Jesus Christ. We pray that His Kingdom may come, that He may reign over us, that God's will may be done in our lives.

The Fourth Luminous Mystery is The Transfiguration. Three of the Gospels tell how Jesus once took His closest disciples--Peter, James, and John--and went up a mountain where Moses and the Prophet Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. The glory of Jesus' divinity shines forth through Him and the Father's voice echoes the words spoken at the Baptism: "This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." This is what Mary told the servers to do at Cana. This is what the Father tells us to do. This is what it means to accept the kingship of Jesus.

This moment of glory was given to the disciples to prepare them for the trial that would come when Jesus would be arrested, spat upon, forced to carry a cross and then nailed to it. But at this moment the disciples don't understand. Peter, it seems, wants to hold on to the glory by building tents for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.

In our lives we often want to hold on to the moments of glory--the consolations and joys of prayer. God knows us so well and doesn't allow us to become attached to those feelings. He hides them and we enter into darkness and a desert. This is the normal rhythm of the spiritual life: consolation succeeded by desolation succeeded by consolation. In times of desolation, St. Ignatius Loyola taught, God is purifying us and our desires, challenging us: are you seeking the consolations of God or the God of consolations? We are given consolations, little tastes of glory, to strengthen us for the trials that are part of life. They are a little foretaste of our own future glory. They are appetizers of the heavenly banquet.

The Fifth Luminous Mystery is The Institution of the Eucharist. All four Gospels give us an account of the Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples before going to Gethsemane where He underwent His Agony in the Garden. Pope Benedict has a wonderful reflection on what happened at the Last Supper. It's the Homily he gave at the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany. The Holy Father says that there, at the Last Supper, the "hour" of Jesus arrives. He anticipates what He is going to do the next day on the Cross on Calvary, when He will transform hatred into love, and death into life. He anticipates this change at the Last Supper. As the Holy Father said: "This first fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life, brings other changes in its wake. Bread and wine become his Body and Blood."

It is in the Eucharist that we receive a true taste of heaven. At the Eucharist we are given the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus who unites Himself to our flesh so that the two may become one. This is what we were made for--union with God. It begins here on earth most particularly in the Holy Eucharist. This is the greatest gift Jesus could have given us--Himself to always be with us and to be one with us.

Rosary Sunday

Rosary Sunday in Phoenix is over and I'm savoring the memories. It was a moving experience of the Church in all its richness and diversity.

I arrived at the Phoenix convention center around noon, in time to set up a table in the lobby with Apostleship of Prayer materials. Several local members staffed the table throughout the event and answered questions. Once they were in place, I went to a room where the Sacrament of Reconciliation was being celebrated. It was a good way for me to prepare for my talk, getting my mind off the talk itself and celebrating the mercy of God.

The procession into the hall where six thousand people were gathered was quite long and I took my place on the stage with the other speaker, Fr. Juan Diego Brunetta, a Dominican priest who is the director of the Catholic Information Service at the Knights of Columbus headquarters in New Haven, CT. Bishop Olmstead and his new auxiliary, Bishop Nevares, stood on the main floor and blessed the various groups from around the diocese that came forward to present roses to Our Lady. There were representatives of parishes and prayer groups, members of the Schoenstatt movement, the Legion of Mary, and Third Order Carmelites. For me the most interesting group were the Matachines who pounded out a rhythm on drums while dancers in native dress danced for Our Lady. Earlier they had led the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her pilgrimage that began at a nearby church, went through the downtown streets of Phoenix, and ended at the convention center.

The Men's Honor Choir of the local Jesuit high school, Brophy College Preparatory, sang before the procession and at different intervals throughout the program.

The youth contingent of the Knights of Columbus, the Squires, presented a Silver Rose to our Blessed Mother. The Rose had made its way from Ontario, Canada to Phoenix on its way to Monterey, Mexico--all part of an event that has been going on since 1960 called "The Running of the Rose."

Both Bishops said a few words and then I spoke about the how Mary has from the beginning come to the help of her children. With His dying breath, Jesus gave His mother to his closest and most loyal friend, John, and in doing so the Church hears Jesus giving her to us as well: "Behold your mother." Thus she has always prayed with us and for us, beginning after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus when Mary prayed with the apostles in the Upper Room where Jesus gave us the Eucharist. In the first novena in history, they prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost.

Throughout history Mary has continued to be the Help of Christians. In 1215 she appeared to St. Dominic and gave him the Rosary, the weapon with which the Abigensian heresy was defeated. Three hundred years later she appeared to a recently baptised Christian in Mexico and told him of her special love and protection. Through this one small individual, St. Juan Diego, millions were converted and the culture of death with its human sacrifice was ended. Forty years later, when the Turkish navy and pirates prevented Christians from going to the Holy Land, kidnapped and enslaved them, and threatened Europe with an invasion of Venice, the Pope asked for help. He called on Christians to gather to meet the threat and he asked that the Rosary be prayed for this intention. The result was the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, on which date we now celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary. One hundred years later when Vienna was threatened by a different Turkish force, King Jonn Sobieski of Poland gathered troops to come to its rescue. After consecrating himself and his army to Mary, he won a resounding victory against overwhelming odds on September 11, 1683. In 1808 Pope Pius VII was arrested by Napolean and taken to France in chains where he was imprisoned for five years. Somehow he smuggled a letter out of prison and asked the Church to pray to the Blessed Mother under her title, Mary Help of Christians. He was eventually released and returned to Rome on May 24 which became the date of Mary's feast under this title. St. John Bosco was very devoted to Mary Help of Christians and in a dream he had on May 14, 1862 he saw the Church as a ship guided by the Pope which was being attacked on all sides. It sailed safely through two pillars, one of which held the Blessed Sacrament and the other an image of Mary Help of Christians.

Lastly, I talked about Fatima and its connection with the Apostleship of Prayer, something I've written about in other blog entries. The words of Pope Benedict who, when he was the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote about the mystery of Fatima and the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, ring as true today as ever: "There is no immutable destiny. Faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies."

I ended by calling on everyone to join in faith and prayer this afternoon. Faith in Jesus' Eucharistic Presence soon to be with us. Faith in His and our Mother's love. Prayer using the the chain of love that binds us to her. Prayer using the weapon that our Mother gave us to defeat evils in every time and place. Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! Viva Maria Auxiliadora!

After Fr. Juan Diego spoke about the Rosary, its importance, and how to pray it well, the Blessed Sacrament was brought into the hall. We prayed the Rosary with the students, staff, and chaplains of various Catholic high schools in the diocese leading the decades. After benediction the Blessed Sacrament was processed out and all of us on the stage also processed out to the words of the song, Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.

I was privileged to be part of the 35th annual Rosary Sunday in Phoenix and I hope to post some pictures from it in the future. I'll close with the words with which I began my talk, trying to say a few things in Spanish. Que lindo! Y todo para la Madre de Dios y nuestra Madre. How beautiful! And all for the Mother of God and our Mother.

"Lord, I'm amazed."

I'm in Phoenix for the 35th annual Rosary Sunday at which I will be the keynote speaker. This evening I'll be at the Cathedral for Mass followed by a holy hour and dinner with the dozens of folks it takes to orchestrate an event like this. It will be good to have such quality time with the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament this evening and to meet some of the people to whom I'll be speaking. I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous. I've never spoken to 6,000 people before and when I looked at the convention center room in which we will be praying tomorrow, I was struck by how big it is. Now, perhaps I've spoken to thousands on the radio at any given time, but somehow it feels a lot different imagining that many people right in front of me.

This is another of my "Lord, I'm amazed" moments. The first one occurred on the night after I was ordained a deacon. I lay in bed thinking about the ordination and about the next day, when my parents, who had journeyed from Milwaukee to the Boston area, would be in the front pew of St. Ann's Church in Somerville, MA where I would be preaching at one of the Sunday Masses. I prayed: "Lord, I'm amazed. Is this the same person who less than fifteen years ago was afraid to raise his hand in class during high school and college? I was so shy, and afraid of speaking in front of people. What happened? How is that I am now about to preach in a church filled with people? Yes, it's the same person who was so afraid and isn't your grace amazing?! Aren't You able to work wonders? You certainly have in my case."

So as I prepare for Rosary Sunday in Phoenix, I find myself grateful for God's grace at work in my life. All credit for any good that I do goes to God. I know where I've come from and so I give all glory and honor to God. May the Holy Spirit speak through me tomorrow so that God will receive greater honor and glory. May my words honor our Blessed Mother whose openess to God's grace is an example for all of us. Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us!

Belated Birthday Greetings

Belated Birthday Greetings to Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother!

I had hoped to make this greeting yesterday but it was a busy day in the office and in my community. So I'm a day late. September 8, nine months after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.

We didn't pray the rosary in my family when I was growing up. I remember praying it at wakes and on special occasions in the Catholic grade school I attended. It certainly wasn't part of my spiritual life in high school. So when Fr. John Eagan, S.J. proposed that I and my five friends who were about to leave Milwaukee on a two week camping trip with him in the summer of 1969 pray a rosary as we drove, I rolled my eyes. The rosary wasn't cool. Seven of us were crammed into a station wagon: three in the front seat, three in the back seat, and one in the very back behind all the equipment and supplies. That was the choice spot that we all took turns getting because the one in that spot didn't have to lead one of the decades of the five decade rosary. In fact, being in the back as the car rolled down the highway, he didn't have to respond. He could nap or read or just zone out.

By the end of the trip something had happened to me. It was my turn to sit in the back of the wagon and not participate in praying the rosary. But I declined. I wanted to pray the rosary. I can't recall the reason anymore. Somehow, on a level below any conscious reasons, I felt good praying the rosary.

After my high school graduation I went off to college, commuting 35 minutes in a car my parents had bought me for that purpose. I began my commute praying the rosary. Most of the time I recited the prayers fast to get through them and then turn on the radio to the local pop station. Nevertheless, the rosary had become part of my life and I can't help thinking now that in connecting myself to Mary in this way, she somehow came to play a greater and greater role in my vocation.

After one year of college I entered the Jesuit novitiate. At night, before our common prayer at 10, I would take a walk and pray the rosary. A couple times a week, when I returned to the novitiate at night after working as an orderly at a nursing home, I walked back from the bus stop praying the rosary. And when it came time to finish the novitiate and pronounce perpetual vows as a Jesuit, I considered Mary to be the Mother of my vocation. Jesuits don't change their names when they enter the novitiate or take vows as other consecrated persons, both men and women, often do. But we do have a tradition of taking a devotional vow name. It's an option and the six of us who pronounced vows as Jesuits in St. Paul, Minnesota in August, 1973 all took a vow name. I remember one took "Jeremiah" and another took "Ignatius." I took "Mary." As the Mother of my vocation, that was only natural. Moreover, my middle initial was already "M" for "Michael," so it worked well. Now, when I sign official documents and include my middle initial, I sign "M" for "Michael" but also think of it as "M" for "Mary."

That's why I didn't want to miss the opportunity of celebrating my Mother's birthday this year.

All Night Vigil

For the 533rd time, a group of Catholics in the Milwaukee area gathered for what they call an "All Night Eucharistic Vigil of Reparation and Prayer." Going from church to church throughout the archdiocese, they begin with Mass at 8 PM on the First Friday of each month and end with Mass at 5 AM on First Saturday. During the night they listen to talks, pray the four sets of mysteries of the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, offer prayers of consecration and reparation, and make the Stations of the Cross. I joined them for about an hour last night, leading a procession with the Blessed Sacrament and giving a brief talk on "Mary, Queen of Peace." Preparing for the talk helped me further process my recent pilgrimage to Fatima. Here's basically what I said...

The All Night Vigil began as a response to Our Lady's call at Fatima to pray, do penance, and show devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For 45 years this group has gathered to pray and sacrifice some of their sleep for the cause of peace.

In 1916, before the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Fatima, a celestial being named the Angel of Peace appeared to three children to prepare them. A year later, on six succesive months, Mary herself appeared. Since its official approval in 1930, every pope has called Fatima "a reaffirmation of the Gospel." Why? Because when Jesus began His public ministry He did so calling for conversion. This was Mary's message at Fatima.

There will be no peace in the world without the conversion that begins in each human heart.

Last December 7 to 14 I went on a pilgrimage to Fatima. This pilgrimage affected me more than my 2006 pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Cova da Iria, where Mary appeared in 1917, is a place of tangible peace. All 26 of us pilgrims felt that the first evening that we walked on to the grounds of the shrine. After I returned to the U.S. I met with the superior of the Carmelite monastery in Denmark, WI and she told me "What Lourdes is for the body, Fatima is for the soul." I experienced Fatima as a place of deep healing and of peace. And I had to wonder: why did it affect me more than the Holy Land?

Was it because this is the very place where Mary appeared with a message of peace less than 1oo years ago? Was it because this is the place where the 3 shepherds who saw her are buried? Was it because of the faith of all the people who come there with votive offerings of candles and wax images representing their needs, who come to adore our Eucharistic Lord at the perpetual adoration chapel, who come for the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is available in various languages throughout the day, who walk on their knees in petition and sacrifice down the length of the plaza?

Peace seems like an impossible dream today, but miracles are possible. I saw the results of two miracles at Fatima. One was the huge chunk of the Berlin Wall that is on display there. When I was growing up I never thought I would see the end of Communism in the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet it happened, the result of prayer and sacrifice. The other miracle I saw was a bullet in a crown. After the attempt on his life, Pope John Paul II said, "One finger pulled the trigger; another finger guided the bullet." That bullet should have killed him but it didn't and in gratitude for Mary's protection on that day, May 13, 1981, the anniversary of Mary's first appearance at Fatima, Pope John Paul went to Fatima and made an offering of the bullet that almost killed him. It is in a gold crown that, on special occasions, is placed on the statue of Our Lady of Fatima that sits on the very spot where she appeared. I wondered where the bullet would be located. How could it be artistically added to the crown without destroying its symmetry and beauty? It is in the very middle, under the top, in a spot where it fit so perfectly that the crown needed no adjustment to accomodate the bullet.

Before he was elected pope, when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the Church's interpretation of the "Third Secret" of Fatima which Pope John Paul had allowed to be released. Lucia had always said that it was not within her capacity to interpret the vision she had; this was the Church's task, not hers. Thus the Church's interpretation of the Third Secret--the vision the children had of a bishop in white being struck down as he climbed a hill--is that this was a prophetic vision of what could have happened but which was avoided because of prayer. As the future Pope Benedict wrote: "When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of the 'secret' brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: '...it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death' (13 May 1994). That here 'a mother's hand' had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies."

Miracles are possible. Peace is possible. How? Through the Blessed Virgin Mary's "Peace Plan."
It's really very simple and the All Night Vigil has been implementing it for 45 years. It consists of 1) prayer, especially the rosary; 2) penance, acts of sacrifice for the conversion of sinners and to make reparation for the way in which humanity has treated the Hearts of Jesus and Mary; 3) devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, especially honoring her on the First Saturday of each month.

Such devotion to the Heart of Mary is more than a prayer that is said and then forgotten. To be devoted to Mary's Heart is to desire to have a heart like hers. This is what the three children at Fatima had.

Whenever Mary appeared to them, Lucia first asked one question--"What do you want of me?" She didn't begin by asking something for herself. She didn't ask "What can you do for me?" She sought not her will but the will of the heavenly visitor. Lucia had a heart like Mary's which sought and totally accepted God's will for her.

Francisco had a heart like Mary's because he was willing to have his heart pierced by sacrifices. Mary sacrificed so much to be the Mother of God and she consoled Jesus by standing under His cross sharing in His sufferings. After Our Lady's visits, Francisco gave himself to offering sacrifices to console Jesus who had been rejected by so many in the world. He spent hours in the church where he and the other children had been baptized so that he could console the One whom he called "The Hidden Jesus."

Jacinta showed that she had a heart like Mary's through her special concern for the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father. After the July appearance, when the three children were playing in a field, and Lucia and Francisco had gone off to look for some wild honey, Jacinta had a vision of the Pope. When her brother and cousin returned she described it this way: "I don't know how it happened. I saw the Holy Father in a very big house. He was kneeling before a table, holding his face in his hands and he was crying. Outside, there were many people; some were throwing stones at him, others were swearing at him and saying many ugly words to him. How pitiful it was! We must pray a lot for him." I can't help thinking of how Pope Benedict must suffer as he looks out over the world. And how he was grabbed and pulled down at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Perhaps our prayers protected him from injury that night. This is something--prayer for the Holy Father and his intentions--that is a big part of what we try to promote in the Apostleship of Prayer.

So I say to you tonight: be strong, be confident, persevere in your monthly vigil. Encourage others to join you. Miracles are not over. Conversions can happen. Peace is possible. The Queen of Peace promised it, but as her subjects on earth, we must pray and sacrifice for peace. It will begin in our own hearts and from there it will spread into the world.

The Motherhood of Mary

Happy and Blessed New Year! On this first day of the calendar year we celebrate a Solemnity in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. We are celebrating her motherhood. The Responsory in the Office of Readings today says it all:

O pure and holy Virgin,
how can I find words to praise your beauty?
The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb.

Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb.

Mary is the Mother of God. Because Jesus is truly God and truly human we can truthfully call Mary the Mother of God.

Mary is the Mother of Christ. She gave flesh to the Messiah, God's Anointed One.

Mary is the Mother of the Body of Christ, the Church. In Baptism each of the faithful are joined to Christ and become members of His Body. We can truthfully say that Mary is the Mother of the Church and we can say that Mary is the Mother of each member of the Church. She is, in a very real and personal way, my Mother and your Mother.

In 1969 I went on a two week camping trip that changed my life. I and five of my high school classmates and Fr. John Eagan, a Jesuit who taught and mentored us, drove around Lake Superior. From the first morning to the last, when we got into the station wagon to head out, we began the day's journey with a rosary. This was not something we were excited about. We vied for the very back of the station wagon where, behind all the knap sacks, sleeping bags, and tents we wouldn't have to participate in reciting the rosary. But by the end of the trip something had happened to me. It was my turn to be in the back and be free of the obligation to pray the rosary and I opted out. I gave my turn to a classmate and chose to sit up front in order to participate in the recitation of the rosary. I can't help thinking that in a quiet and gentle way Mary heard the reluctant prayers of this youth going into his last year of high school and claimed him as a special son.

I entered into my senior year of high school a different person with a more positive attitude toward myself and toward life. And I began to think: maybe I should do for other young people what Fr. Eagan had done for me. Maybe I should become a Jesuit. The seed of my Jesuit vocation had been planted, but I decided to go off to college first and to experience more of life. I commuted to a small Catholic college a half hour from where I lived. Every day as I drove to school I first prayed a rosary. Sometimes I prayed it very fast in order to get through it as soon as possible so that I could then turn on the radio and listen to the Top 40.

I can't help thinking that this, in a way, is what Blessed Francisco of Fatima did as well. Before Our Lady appeared to him and to his sister Jacinta and his cousin Lucia, they would pray the rosary while tending sheep. But he wanted to play and so he suggested that they shorten their prayers and instead of praying the entire Hail Mary they simply pray the words "Hail Mary." Perhaps this is why when Mary first appeared to the children Francisco could not see her and she told Lucia that he would only be able to if he prayed the rosary. Before he finished the first decade he could see her.

"Hail Mary!" the children shouted. "Hail Mary...." I recited quickly as I drove to school. And Mary answered. She appeared to the children at Fatima and somehow she nurtured the seed that had been planted in my heart. After a few months of college I decided to apply to the Jesuits and was accepted.

Mary, Mother of God. Mother of Christ. Mother of the Church. Mary, my Mother. And that's why I add another title to this little litany: Mary, Mother of my vocation.