Fourth Sunday of Lent

Dominica IV in Quadragesima A

22 March 2020

There is something going around the world today. It can’t be seen with the naked eye. I’ve never seen it as an object in and of itself. But you can see its effects in people, in how it impacts them, sickens them, and deforms their life. Reports around the globe tell us it is everywhere. It damages life and separates families. Nothing seems to stop it. You know I had to mention it this weekend! I’m speaking, of course, of sin!

In the midst of the moral threat of sin, the Good News is clear. There is a remedy to sin and our separated life from God. The Good News is Jesus Christ! Maybe we need a moment like now to realize what is truly important and what lasts. Maybe we need a moment like now to admit what we give so much time to that ultimately passes and falls through our fingers. The Lord came as God the Father’s remedy. He came to place godliness within our very flesh. To place the salutary vaccine of grace directly into our bodies and souls. And the Lord released the power of that remedy by willingly laying down his life to save us. The remedy has been given on the Cross. That same remedy is made present again on the sacred altar at the Holy Mass. The sacrifice of the Mass is not a new remedy or a re-sacrifice of the Lord. Rather, the power and reality of the one and same gift of the Lord is made present here.

Since the remedy has been given, our task is to live in such a way that the remedy can actually work in us. The remedy of Jesus and his saving grace lacks nothing, but it does require our cooperation if it is to be effective for us in the face of the disease of sin and its threat to our eternal life. This isn’t difficult to understand. We understand it in a physical health way quite readily. Imagine if I need medicine for a physical illness. The medicine is one important piece, even an essential piece. But if I don’t keep myself hydrated, if I don’t allow myself to rest, if I eat poorly, if I keep exposing myself to the same source of disease then I shouldn’t expect a good outcome from the remedy. It’s the same with sin. The remedy of Jesus’ sacrifice and his ongoing grace to us is not a static gift. He gives it constantly and it needs our constant cooperation. We are saved by Jesus and by him alone. But our ongoing work to cooperate with that gift, to turn from sin, and to break patterns where we squander the remedy is the daily work of each disciple.

And thus, we come here to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are renewed in the saving remedy of the Good News by the two-edged sword of God’s Word in the Scripture readings. We are encouraged by the faith of a community that pushes us to strive toward Heaven and holds us accountable. We come face-to-face with the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. If we are in the state of grace and worthily prepared, we receive the Lord’s gift of himself, his remedy, under sacramental form in Holy Communion. But today gives us an opportunity, as unique and unwanted as it may be, to call to mind the truth and the value in our Catholic tradition of the Spiritual Communion, something which saints described and practiced throughout Christian history. When we receive Holy Communion under more normal circumstances we might refer to that as physically receiving Holy Communion. Christ’s faithful have long recognized that physically receiving Communion is not always possible. What might be some limitations? Perhaps a person is disabled, sick, or imprisoned and cannot make it to Mass. Perhaps you plan to go to Mass but a broken-down vehicle prevents that from happening. Maybe you are in a place where there is no priest, on a military post, or traveling in some remote location. All of these and more are physical barriers to receiving Holy Communion. But the faithful have also long recognized moral barriers to receiving Holy Communion. When I examine the state of my soul, perhaps I notice there some grave sin that needs to be confessed first and thus I need to refrain from physically receiving Holy Communion until I first go to confession. Maybe a person has not committed some objective sin but notices some part of Catholic doctrine that needs to be accepted and received more fully to be living a deeper life as a Catholic. Maybe a Catholic has not married in the Church and needs to have that addressed first before approaching for Holy Communion. We might even say that very small children who have not yet reached the age of reason, by which they become morally responsible, are in a type of barrier that normally does not permit them to receive Holy Communion until around the age of eight.

Given the possible reasons why physical reception of Holy Communion may not be possible, the question should be asked: is there no benefit of grace for such persons? Does that mean there is no communion at all? The Church’s spiritual writers and saints have long encouraged the value of a spiritual communion. When we are not able to make a physical communion, we recognize that by his power as God, the Lord is not limited in his ability to give us his grace. In a spiritual communion we identify what, if anything, we are responsible for that prevents our physical communion. We express to the Lord the desire to confess any sin as soon as possible in order to be more deeply united to him and, with obstacles removed, to be able to make a good Holy Communion as soon as possible. In a spiritual communion we prayerfully express our desire to receive the Lord and to embrace him spiritually. We do this confident that he blesses such self-examination and desire. We do this such that the grace the Lord gives in a spiritual communion may strengthens us to see our resolve to its conclusion, to remove all barriers to Holy Communion and to make a physical communion as soon as possible. My brothers and sisters, this grace is yours today and I encourage you to adopt this worthy practice in these difficult days. Wherever you are, as frequently as you want, you can turn your mind and heart to the Lord to make a spiritual communion. By this you will continue to be strong as members of Christ’s Body the Church, as we pray for a speedy end to what prevents the normal course of our life in this moment. As this Mass continues lift your hearts, your minds, and your lives to the Lord in sacrifice. Know that this is pleasing to God. And be confident that God, who is generosity beyond measure, will give you a rich store of the grace needed to remain near to Him today and every day.

Second Sunday of Lent

Dominica II in Quadragesima A

Safe Haven Sunday

8 March 2020

We are all aware of the large-scale response to the flu and in particular to the coronavirus this year.  To limit spread of disease by human contact we are seeing responses around the world and changes to church practices too.  Many bishops, including our own, have announced changes to liturgical practices.  First, I think it is reasonable to emphasize that we should all remain calm and avoid hysteria.  Secondly, we should observe good hygiene and vigilance at all times.  This moment is an opportunity to give some instruction for some adjustments at Masses and to communicate some suggestions from the Archbishop.

• The obligation to attend all Sunday and holy day Masses is most serious.  However, the Church always recognizes that certain events, however rare, may remove that obligation.  A serious, infectious illness is one such example where such an ill person is not bound to the obligation.  This recognizes both the sick person’s need to rest and get healthy, and it recognizes a certain charity to not expose others in the community to serious health risk.  Please be self-aware when you are sick.

• Good and regular handwashing is advised, as is the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.  I’m asking all extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to have their own private bottle of sanitizer to use before distribution of Holy Communion.  Regarding our use of hands at Holy Mass: The Church’s directions for Mass do not instruct us to hold hands at the Our Father.  That is a popular practice in some locations but a posture the Church does not envision for that prayer.  You might have noticed that our altar boys always keep their hands folded during the prayer.  That is because I have trained them not to hold hands since it is not asked for in Mass instructions.  At the suggestion of the Archbishop, beginning today we are not encouraging hand holding during the Our Father.  I ask you not to make anyone feel forced into holding hands.  Use of hands also impacts something that is actually optional at Mass, the shaking of hands at the sign of peace.  Again, following the Archbishop’s suggestion, beginning today we are discontinuing the shaking of hands.  The priest will give the ritual sign of peace and your response, as normal, is “And with your spirit.”  But after that we will omit the shaking of hands and immediately begin chanting the “Lamb of God.”

• It is already our regular practice here that we do not distribute from chalices.  We have one chalice that we reserve in the sanctuary for parishioners who cannot receive the Sacred Host due to serious gluten allergy.  That chalice will remain available to them.  Today gives an opportunity to remind us all that the chalice that remains here in the sanctuary is only for those who do not and cannot receive the Host.  Some parishioners report such a high level of allergy to wheat gluten that they cannot receive the Host and they also cannot drink from a chalice if someone consuming the Host drinks from it.  So, today I want to remind us all that if you are able to receive the Host then you should do so and then return to your pew.  Those who cannot receive the Host will find their way up to the chalice we keep here.  Under no circumstance should someone consuming the Host also come up to this reserved chalice.  Be assured, nothing of the grace and fullness of Christ is lacking by receiving under the form of the Host alone or the Precious Blood alone.

• Since receiving Holy Communion on the tongue is the far more traditional practice, and since it contains its own built-in reverence by receiving, but not touching the Host, I am NOT going to instruct anyone to receive only on the hand.  However, take note of some tips for receiving on the tongue.  Our altar boys try to place the communion paten under your chin when you receive on the tongue.  It would help if you keep your folded hands lower and not up high near your chin.  When you arrive for Holy Communion, whether standing or kneeling, respond “Amen,” try to keep your head still, and then open your mouth sufficiently wide and also extend the tongue so the Sacred Host may be placed on it.  Let the minister draw back the hand before closing your mouth and then return to your pew.  Hand-to-hand contact is also a concern for those who opt to receive Holy Communion in the hand.  If you do so it is necessary to have clean hands, to present your hands completely open and flat, with palms up, and one hand on top of the other.  Please do not begin to close your hand on the minster’s fingers until the minister withdraws the hand.  Finally, I know many of you like to kneel to receive Holy Communion and so we have kneelers in place at the main aisle Communion stations.  That might help remove the amount of stretching of the arm and movement involved in putting the Host on the tongue.

Okay, we got through all of that!  So, we do all that to give reasonable attention to our bodily health and to avoid illness and threats to our bodily life.  Would you agree with me that giving attention to our spiritual health, avoiding spiritual illness and even eternal death needs attention?  Would you agree with me that if we have a proper hierarchy of values, a moral pandemic impacting our life as God’s children and risking spiritual death and Hell needs even more careful attention?  That is what I really want to address today.  Together with Archbishop Coakley we are observing a coordinated effort across the archdiocese this weekend for our second annual Safe Haven Sunday to address the sensitive but necessary topic of the moral pandemic of pornography.  Because of the prevalence of the Internet and smartphones this issue impacts adults and teens, men and women, boys and girls, and even impacts our children at increasingly younger ages.  First, our focus is to name and face this issue that negatively impacts so many of us and to call to conversion so that we may live more fully as God’s children.  And, secondly, this effort is to equip parents to protect and confidently parent your children in a hyper-sexualized culture.  As you leave Mass today we have a booklet resource for you.  This resource is specific to treating this topic for parents of children, especially when you have discovered a child has been exposed or has a habit of use.   If you have children and teens in the home I want you to make sure to pick up a booklet.  There is no shame in taking that resource as an aid to your parenting.  You will note on the booklet’s front cover and in its first pages an invitation for parents to sign up for a 7-day challenge that will provide a crash course via email of lessons and practices parents should observe to address this topic in the home.  Given the statistics on this topic, parents, you should likely just assume your child has been exposed and that your middle school and high school child may already have a habit of use.  We want to discourage passive parenting.  I know these conversations are awkward and we’d just like to assume our children are immune.  But by our silence do we really want to communicate to our kids that guarding their souls from sin is somehow less important than the instructions we readily give them about safe driving and getting good grades?  Ironically, many would suggest they give their child a smartphone for a sense of security, for ease of contact, and to track or locate a child.  But if parenting is passive, that very device becomes the pitfall.  It can form habits whereby we engage in less real contact, preferring the screen to real human interaction, and it can become the portal for serious poison to come directly to your child.  One of the simplest and smartest things I have heard a parent do is to have a house rule where at bedtime, or a certain time of evening, all smartphones have to be placed in a basket that is kept overnight in the parents’ bedroom.  Since the majority of exposure and use happens while kids are bored and in their bedroom, this practice can greatly reduce access to this material.  In addition, parental controls and filtering/blocking software should be placed on devices so that the very thing you give your child for a sense of security does not become the device that leads them astray.

With reference to the Scriptures I want to draw upon the idea of our vision and how it needs to be transformed.  Last weekend in the first reading from Genesis we heard of the Fall, of Original Sin, and how the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to what the serpent, the Evil One, wanted them to see.  This week in the Collect we prayed that we may have “spiritual sight made pure” so that, as the Lord promised to Abram in today’s first reading, we may see the land that He will show us and thus know our destination and our inheritance.  The Transfiguration of Jesus is the sneak peek of his future and ours, the sneak peek of our inheritance – the glorification of our bodies in Heaven forever!  We need to be transformed by the Lord’s grace so that we grow in purity and strength against the serpent’s poison in our time, which is a stumbling block to our heavenly goal.  Like the disciples in the Gospel may we train ourselves and purify our vision so that we too see “no one else but Jesus alone.”  The truth is our vision is obscured by our fallen nature and our tendency toward sin; even more, our vision is blinded by serious sin.  Use of explicit material makes us unable to see and accept the good of human sexuality and its nature and essence designed by God.  We each need to strive to use the spiritual weapons available to us to root out sin and to grow in conformity to Christ.  Part of this work is also attending to our children and young people so that they are not abandoned and without guidance in the face of lethal threats to their purity.  Explicit material is not the only threat on our way to Heaven, but it has become a most serious and widespread threat.  This threat, and others, needs even more attention than our efforts to avoid the flu or the coronavirus.

Thus, in addition to the booklet you should take as you leave Mass, I want to suggest some important practices.

• Pray and beg the Lord to deliver you and your family from this sin.  Ask him to strengthen your serious resolve to act against this sin.  Pray the Rosary and the St. Michael Prayer.

• Make use of regular and honest confession, especially to be able to receive Holy Communion worthily.  See that your children regularly confess.  Go as a family.

• Willingly take on penances to atone for your own sins and those of your loved ones.

• Have frank conversations with your spouse and age-appropriate conversations with your children.  Speak not only about the sin of explicit material but talk about fostering real relationships, holiness, the goodness of the human person, the goodness of human sexuality and its proper place within marriage alone.

• Consider how an accountability partner and filtering/blocking software like Covenant Eyes can help you have a source of strength in the battle.

• Finally, we would be remiss here to avoid the blessing of Eucharistic Adoration and committing to a regular weekly time to make a Holy Hour in our chapel.  There is no reason why any parishioner, men and women, whole families together, even our youth cannot take on this practice to grow in relationship with Jesus who is truly present among us.  In particular, I want to appeal to our men: If you are not yet committed to a regular time of adoration, get involved by calling the Parish Office soon.  We have some late night and early morning hours that can use a second person for adoration.  That can be a way that you men can serve the role of guardians and protectors.  You might also consider taking an hour at those times when one of our female parishioners is alone.  We need you to step up.  You won’t regret the blessings.

On this Safe Haven Sunday we want to promote conversion and purity of life.  And we pray that parents be confident that your words and your example as a parent/guardian can inspire your child to appreciate, choose, and grow in chastity in order to live the beauty and truth of sexuality according to the liberating Good News of Jesus.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

26 February 2020

Today we have begun the holy season of renewal known as Lent.  This season is a time of spiritual exercises, engagement in serious spiritual battle, by repentance, acts of penance, and the mercy of confession to be restored in the dignity begun in us at baptism.  Several of the references in the scriptural texts of this [service] Mass, the scripture readings and antiphons, point out the particular focus of this season: namely, the heart.  We are called to look and to search deeply, to scrutinize, our heart so that we remember our dignity as God’s children and notice where we are weak and have strayed from the path of life with God.  We do this so that we may repent and turn from our sin and make a return to our Heavenly Father.  The first reading said it this way: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.”

As we undertake this deep work of the heart, we observe penances that we do together as the whole Church and, at the same time, we should also take on our own personal penitential practices.  Don’t be confused by the Gospel for this day when it says, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”  This does not mean that our religious practices cannot or should not be seen.  Rather, it tells us of the importance of our intentions: We should not do these good works in order to be seen.  No doubt, some of our practices (like ashes) can be seen, but we should each also take on personal practices that only we know and that only our Heavenly Father sees.  In other words, we do not undertake the battle of lent “to win the praise of others.”  Our Heavenly Father already and always loves us, and we do not win His praise; however, in a certain nuanced sense our penances and practices should be motivated by the desire that only the Heavenly Father takes notice.

This holy season is a good time to recall that we should always be aware that we are in a spiritual battle.  Listen again to the Collect of this [service] Holy Mass: “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.”  Notice the military language.  In Lent we engage in a campaign, not a competition to win votes, but a military-like operation for a specific objective: to be renewed again in the life we began in baptism, to be restored to baptismal dignity that has been harmed by our sins.  We take up a battle in the spiritual realm.  We do not literally put on body armor or pick up guns, but we must struggle with our fallen nature and our attraction to sin so that we train ourselves to keep our eyes fixed on the things above and so that we attain the specific objective of Heaven.  Our weapons are the spiritual practices of prayer, almsgiving, fasting, penances, and confession so that we form our bodily nature and its desires to obey and cooperate with our spiritual nature and the call to holiness of life in Christ.  Listen again to that same prayer but an older translation: “Grant us, Lord, the grace to begin the Christian’s war of defense with holy fasts: that, as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial.”

Today we begin this holy season.  Take seriously your battle.  Make sure your weapons are not weak or trivial.  Recognize that you have been claimed for Christ.  Live more greatly for him now so that you may live eternally in Heaven!

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica VI per Annum A

Homily & ACA Commitment Weekend

16 February 2020

We are well aware, or at least we should be, that being a disciple of Jesus involves some fundamental requirements.  It involves obedience to God and worship of Him alone.  It involves holding and submitting to specific teachings revealed by God in the Old Covenant and maintained and deepened in the New Covenant of Christ.  It involves acceptance of, and active membership in, the one Church that Jesus established as our Mother and our guide, believing that the Church, in her official teaching capacity, speaks to us with the very voice of the Good Shepherd.  And at its very core, being a disciple of Jesus involves our response to the call to be holy, it involves our moral life.  The moral life cannot be excluded from our belonging to Jesus.  I think the Gospel passage today demonstrates this clearly.

Jesus teaches us this in his words: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  ‘Righteousness’ refers to being morally upright, virtuous, or, we might say, holy.  It is what makes us like unto God the all-holy One and it is what makes it possible for us to be in His presence.  Righteousness or holiness comes through faith in Christ as noted in the Letter to the Romans (1:17; 9:30-32) and not through works of the law (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16).  Our holiness is not purely our own work, since we do not and cannot save ourselves; however, if we have been justified as righteous and made holy through faith in Christ, then that reality ought to be seen and visible in the good works we do (cf. Mt. 5:16).  Catholic teaching makes clear that faith and works go together (cf. James 2:14-26). 

Since the scribes and Pharisees were often in conflict with Jesus they tend to get a bad wrap and we might make the mistake of dismissing them.  But they were serious followers of God and their desire and religious dedication would frankly put us to shame.  That we might not be shocked to hear “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees” tells us how mistaken we are.  That’s a tall and shocking order.

The moral life in Christ means that we each must strive for more than external fulfillment of the moral law.  While choosing what is good and rejecting what is evil we must still go deeper, into the core of our life with God – to the heart!  You see, even to desire sin is already to have formed the intention to live at a distance from God.  It is tantamount to already committing sin in the heart.  Thus, when examining your own sinfulness before regular confession stop saying, “Well, I haven’t killed anybody.”  That is merely justifying yourself.  And you and I can’t justify ourselves.  Jesus says, have you been angry with someone?  You are already liable to judgment.  Stop excusing yourself with, “I would never actually cheat on my spouse.”  Jesus says, have you looked at another with lust, objectifying the person for your imaginary pleasure?  You have already committed adultery in the heart.

Following the words of Jesus on the moral life, the Church has a developed appreciation of Christian anthropology, that is understanding of human existence.  We don’t merely look to the external but we know that deep within us is the source of our motivations and desires.  Those things exit, they go out of us from within, and are visible in our choices.  Our external and observable choices need to be morally right.  When they are not, they need to be confessed to be healed by God’s abundant love for us.  But the seat of our righteousness, our holiness, is deeper and we need to foster moral uprightness there too.  Jesus commands us to go to the heart.  Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is at stake.  We are called to holiness.  By God’s justification of us through faith, by His ongoing justification of us through the sacramental life, and together with our efforts – this is the recipe to surpass the righteousness of old and to enter the fullness of the New Covenant Kingdom in heaven.

This weekend across the parishes of the Archdiocese is the commitment weekend for the Annual Catholic Appeal.  We will now turn our attention to that Appeal by first hearing words from Archbishop Coakley, followed by the pledge process in the pews.

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

2 February 2020

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is an ancient feast, formerly called the Feast of the Purification of Mary, and commonly called “Candlemas” because of the custom of blessing and carrying candles in the entrance procession.  This feast marks the event, recounted in the Scriptures, when forty days after Jesus’ birth he was presented in the Temple in Jerusalem and when Mary underwent ritual purification after childbirth.  One of our beautiful Austrian stained-glass windows depicts this event.  Those of you sitting in the south transept won’t be able to see it now, but make sure to check it out after Mass.  Along the south wall of the main nave is that window.  At the top of the window you see the Ark of the Covenant, which is God’s very presence, housed in the Jerusalem Temple.  You see Simeon holding Jesus while proclaiming God’s blessings.  You see the prophetess Anna nearby.  You see Joseph and Mary in the foreground, with Joseph holding the offering of a pair of turtledoves or pigeons.  At the bottom of the window are the words from today’s Gospel passage, the words of Simeon “O Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation.”

As stated in the last line of Simeon’s canticle and, as is unmistakable by the way this Mass begins, the prominent theme in this feast is light as a symbol for Jesus, God Himself, coming into the Temple.  Consider the high theological poetry in the first verses of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (Jn. 1:1, 4, 9).

The Light of life, God Himself, came into the world.  To receive Him, to receive faith in Him, is a light to believers.  And thus, no surprise, that the light of candles is an apt symbol for our faith.  In part that’s why in baptism the newly baptized is given a candle while the minister says, “Receive the light of Christ.”  The minister goes on to say, “Parents and Godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.  This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ.  He/she is to walk always as a child of the light.  May he/she keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart.  When the Lord comes, may he/she go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”

On this feast we are supposed to think of light.  We are supposed to consider that faith in Christ is a light to our lives, showing us the way.  We are supposed to consider that the Light is God Himself who is our life.  With all this in mind, my thought for us today is rather simple and fundamental, but so critically important if our discipleship is more than just lip service. The thought is this: Do we accept and follow that Christ, his life, and his teachings are a light to us?  Do we accept that our faith gives us authoritative guidance in the darkness of our fallen world and in the darkness of our lives marked by original sin?  In other words, do we embrace and receive the light of Christ as a true gift to us?  Do we adults accept and obey this light for ourselves?  And do we teach our children and young people to likewise be obedient to this light?  I want you to seriously ask yourself whether you choose the light of Christ’s teaching or whether you choose darkness.  Make it specific and concrete by thinking of a particular teaching of our faith.  I say this because experience tells me time and time again that when a particular teaching of Christ and his Church – almost always areas of morality – causes us discomfort or tension or confusion and misunderstanding it is not uncommon for even a believer to adopt an unchristian secular mindset and to dismiss the teaching.  It goes like this: “I know the Church says X, but personally I disagree.”  But personally, what?  You see what is happening there?  It is no longer the light of Christ in his Church that is the guide, but the subjective personal feeling or opinion of an individual.  It is no longer the light of Christ that is the guide, but the person himself becomes his own light.  In so doing, the result is that we don’t follow the light of Christ but rather the secular darkness.  Ask yourself, what is my “default setting” when I’m conflicted by a teaching of the Church?  Is the light of Christ in his Church an authoritative source of illumination for me?  Or is it I myself who am my own illumination?  This tendency to adopt secular thinking as our guide is most easily seen in the hot button issues of our day.  I bet we’ve all experienced it.  Maybe we’re even guilty of it ourselves.  Do we choose popular opinion, secular thought, as our guide?  Or do we choose the light of Christ?  As Christians we are supposed to embrace what Christ teaches, believing it to be liberating Good News for us.  And we are supposed to seriously form our children to do the same.  They too are easily swept up in secular thinking about the issues of our day.  But Christ is supposed to be our light!  When we do the “but personally” trick, we are not following the Light.  Or rather, we are making secular darkness into our light.  And if we do that we can’t seriously claim that Jesus is our Lord and that we are his disciples.

Now what am I NOT saying in this message?  I am not saying that every teaching of our faith is necessarily easy to understand and to accept.  We have a fallen nature from Original Sin and we are sinners guilty of our personal sins.  The result is our minds suffer from darkened intellect and our wills can be weak.  When a Church teaching causes you tension, go ahead and wrestle, struggle, have questions, study, seek answers… if done in faith this is a good thing and it is the path to a greater embracing of the light.  I’m not saying we can’t have questions and struggles.  But don’t pull the “but personally” trick and dismiss the teaching.  That trick sets yourself up as the authoritative light.  And it reveals that you really aren’t a follower of the Light who is Jesus.  Rather, it reveals that secular darkness is your light.  St. John’s Gospel goes on to say, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (Jn. 3:19).

Today we celebrate that the light and the glory of God has come among us and entered the Jerusalem Temple.  The grace of God’s word, the mercy of the confessional, and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist are prime sources of purification and light for us.  May we dispel the darkness of placing secular opinions on the throne of Christ.  Instead, may we struggle, and pray, and seek, and reform our lives such that we beg the Light who is God among us to come dwell more fully in the temple that faith and baptism have made us to be!

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica II per Annum A

19 January 2020

Reading and reflecting upon this Gospel passage while in the Adoration Chapel I found myself simply looking upon the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament displayed in the monstrance on the tabernacle and hearing those words of St. John the Baptist over and over: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  Those words are one of the most direct ways that St. John fulfilled his vocation to testify to the Lord.  In my vocation as a priest I am privileged to proclaim those same words each and every day.  I do so each day in my daily offering of the Holy Mass.  At that moment when the sacrifice of Jesus has been offered and made present on the altar, and as we shift to that moment when it is given to be worthily received in Holy Communion, the priest has the words of St. John on his lips: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.”

When it comes down to it, the most basic summary of evangelization is proclaiming Jesus and making him known, pointing him out.  The start of a new year is as good a time as any to remind ourselves that we are each called to evangelize, to proclaim Jesus, and to point him out to others.  There are myriads of ways to do this, both large scale and small scale.  To begin with, each of us needs to be convinced that we have a part to play in evangelization.  Jesus has been pointed out to us.  We need to foster our relationship with him by prayer, by sacramental life, and by study.  And then, having a relationship with Jesus to give, we need to point him out to others.

While there are many ways to evangelize, I’ll simply focus on three.  We evangelize (1) by literally pointing Jesus out to others and forming others, which I’ll subdivide into two: (a) The way parents, grandparents, and other elders evangelize by pointing out Jesus to their children; and, (b) Going outside of these walls and outside of our comfort zone, outside of our family unit, to proclaim Jesus to others, even to strangers.  (2) We evangelize by going to confession regularly; and (3) We evangelize by reverence for the Holy Eucharist, which is Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Today we heard St. John’s words pointing to Jesus.  Parents, grandparents, and other elders get to point Jesus out to children.  Time and again I have seen parents holding a small child and whispering in the ear at church or in the chapel, together with a finger point to the tabernacle or the monstrance.  It may be a tired, frazzled mother with an infant.  It may be a father restraining a fidgety child in his arms.  But when I see it I am as sure as I can be that the words being whispered are: “Look, there’s Jesus.”  A few years back we made a significant switch in our formation programming.  We adopted what is called Family Formation.  For kids up through fifth grade, we no longer focus on offering a religious education class by scholastic grade.  Rather, we gather the parents and give them the information to teach their children at home and we hope to build relationships among parents for mutual support in the faith and in parenting.  Pointing Jesus out needs ongoing formation.  By participation in Family Formation our parents are literally evangelizing their children, which is their unique dignity and duty in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  In addition to that, we need to challenge ourselves to look outside these walls and outside our comfort zone to point out Jesus to others.  Possibilities here are both direct and indirect.  Perhaps in your friendships or work acquaintances, when life is shared in simple conversations, you can be prepared to speak of what your Catholic faith means to you and to share how its practice guides your life.  Perhaps at the check-out counter or on a plane you can ask someone about him or herself and see if an opportunity to share faith arises.  There are indirect ways too.  You might post messages of faith on social media.  I sometimes have some Catholic pamphlets on hand and I’ll leave them behind in my hotel room, or near a sink in a public restroom, or on a table at a coffee bar.  If that makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t worry about it: The good news here in the Bible belt is that no one will think that is particularly odd!

I suggest that another way we evangelize is by going to confession regularly and, for parents, making sure that you bring your kids regularly too.  Why do I consider that a way to point out Jesus?  St. John’s words today were: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  Isn’t the proclamation loud and clear when you stand in the confession line?  “I’m a sinner and I need my sins taken away.  And furthermore, I believe Jesus is the one who takes those sins away.  He has paid the price for our sins with his very life and he has left us the means to have sin taken away in his generous sacrament of confession.”  That’s what you proclaim by your presence in the confession line.  You believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  And if you believe that then there is no mistaking the significance of what Jesus chose to speak as his first public words, words we will hear in next Sunday’s Gospel: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  To you who are fathers, or heads of households, it’s time to man up by getting yourselves to regular confession and by making sure your kids do the same.  It’s part of your guardianship of their souls and their hope for eternal life.  As a spiritual father, our youth know that I’m not at all shy about asking them how long it’s been since their last confession.  We need to make such things a normal part of our conversation as Catholics.  If words of repentance and turning from sin appear on page after page of the entire Bible, and if Jesus chose that message as his first words of public preaching, how can repentance, confession, and reforming my life after confession NOT be frequently at the center of my faith life?  If such repentance and confession is not frequently part of my life, am I really listening to Jesus who preached “repent”?  If such repentance and confession is not frequently part of my life, am I really following Jesus as I say I am?

Finally, another way we evangelize is by our reverence for the Holy Eucharist.  Our reverence for Jesus’ Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is a way we point to Jesus and proclaim that he is with us.  God truly remains with us as He promised!  We need to train ourselves in the utmost devotion and decorum in the presence of the Holy Eucharist.  Our dress and behavior at Holy Mass is part of this reverence.  Our prayer and participation at Mass is part of it.  Our having confessed sin is part of being reverent and worthily prepared for this gift of Jesus’ presence.  We should also acknowledge with great gratitude the nobility of those here present who refrain from coming forward to receive Holy Communion, choosing to make a spiritual communion, and perhaps be better prepared in the future to receive Holy Communion.  Do you ever stop to think what a courageous and clear proclamation of Jesus is made when someone chooses NOT to receive Holy Communion?  Do such courageous disciples a favor.  Don’t look down upon them.  If one of your kids decides not to receive Holy Communion, don’t panic.  It’s actually a noble sign of faith.  Don’t simply assume some sin keeps the person away.  There are many legitimate reasons to refrain.  And it is part of the reverence we owe to Jesus and part of how we evangelize by pointing him out by our behavior at Holy Mass, whether we receive or don’t receive Holy Communion.

In today’s Gospel St. John points Jesus out to others as the Lamb of God.  In various ways throughout life, in our families and outside of them, in both direct and indirect ways, he has been pointed out to us.  We seek first to foster a deeper life with the Lord.  But the example of St. John gives us a duty as well.  We disciples are each called to evangelize others and to point Jesus out to others.  May we have increasing gratitude for the gift we have received.  And just as the Holy Mass progresses from sacrifice offered to sacrifice given, may we heed the call to give what we have received and to proclaim by word and action that the one who takes away sin is here: Jesus, the Lamb of God!

Vigil and Midnight Mass

Nativitas D.N.I.C.

Vigil &Midnight Mass

 24-25 December 2019

 [Announce genuflection at Creed]

 When a woman is blessed to find out that she is pregnant one of the first things she and her husband learn is the expected due date for the child.  Much focus and planning goes into this due date so that the couple can be prepared for all the things they can expect with the arrival of a child.  The couple will announce a child is on the way.  They will prepare a room in their house and furnish it with things the baby will need.  They will have a shower and begin to collect clothing and items for the baby’s well-being.  They will pick a name.  There are so many things that can be expected and predicted surrounding the arrival of a child.

 However, any parent would tell you that those things you can expect about the arrival of a baby basically carry you as far as the birth date, and no further, because after the baby arrives … you have no idea what might happen next!  A whole series of things you can’t predict or expect await you once the child sees the light of day.  The child’s appearance, the sleeping habits, the early signs of its unique personality traits, its disposition, its likes and dislikes… these things you cannot expect or predict.  And beyond infancy, the child has an entire life still to be lived and you have no idea where it might go and what it might bring: the good and the bad, the joys and the sorrows, the triumphs and the defeats.  With the arrival of a child, you can plan for what you can expect but there is so much, much more that you cannot expect.

In the holy season of expectation that is Advent we have heard of and considered in prayer and worship the mysterious prophecies of the promised Messiah, the anointed one, called Christ.  But biblical prophecy also spoke of the coming of God Himself.  The first reading [of the Mass at Night] is an example of a prophecy about the Messiah that begins to take on more than expected.  Listening to the promise of the child born from David’s throne one gets the distinct sense that something more is going on than the promises associated with the Messiah who would be a king-priest.  One begins to hear something more, something divine.  The Prophet Isaiah said that this child to be born would be called “God-Hero and Father-Forever.”  There is something more going on in this prophecy.  This is important to note in order to catch something in the Christmas Gospel in the message of the angel to the shepherds.  The angel tells the shepherds that the one who is born is a savior who is “Christ and Lord.”  ‘Christ’ is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word ‘Messiah.’  It means the Anointed One.  The word used over and over in the Scriptures to refer to God is what we have in English as ‘Lord.’  Notice the angel’s message to the shepherds.  The angel indicates the birth of Jesus fulfills both prophecies in one because the angel says that the savior born is both Christ AND Lord!  Our unique Christian contribution is that Jesus fulfills the prophecies of the Messiah, the Christ, and that he fulfills the promises that God Himself would come into this world and to His people.  I suggest that the angel’s message is a signal to the shepherds and to all of us to whom Jesus came to save that tells us that Jesus fulfills our hopes and expectations, but also that he does still more… he fulfills more than we dare to hope!  Like the birth of a child, we can predict and expect many things; yet, there is still so much more beyond our expectations.  The message that a savior has been born in the city of David points to the expected Messiah.  Yet, the comment that he is Christ and Lord points to so much more.  Jesus arrives in fulfillment of so many messianic expectations; yet, he is still more.  He is Lord.  He is God.  The arrival of God is so much more than one dared to hope in the stillness of a Bethlehem night.  God’s glory shone round the angel as he made the announcement to the shepherds.  Their natural reaction to God’s breaking into their time was fear.  Yet the angel reminds them to not be afraid and speaks to them of peace.

 The birth of Jesus fulfills certain expectations.  Perhaps that is why we come on a day like this.  We expect this day and come to celebrate a special birthday.  But a birth brings so much more than can be expected, so much more that carries you beyond the due date itself.  Maybe that is the part that should keep us coming back here well after today to draw near to Jesus who first came near to us in history at his birth and who comes near to us at each Holy Mass.  The shepherds learned that the arrival of Jesus was more than they might have expected or even dared to hope in the midst of their night watch.  Might that be our focal point for a spiritual lesson this Christmas?  What do we dare not to even hope for from God?  God wants to fulfill the promises that his Kingdom will be firm and last forever and that His anointed one will lead His people in right relationship with God.  But He also wants entrance into what we dare not hope, where we still live in darkness and gloom and where unrest, burdens, and lack of peace still rule our hearts and minds.

 Discover and name the parts of your life – your family, your job, your struggles and sins, your joys and sorrows – those places where you dare not expect or hope that God can be present to do the unexpected for you.  Be not afraid to let the glory of God do the unexpected.  To permit Jesus entrance into all the expected and unexpected areas of our lives is what can keep, to borrow words of the second reading, the grace of God appearing in us well beyond Christmas Day.  I proclaim to you good news of great joy; a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord!

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Dominica IV Adventus A

22 December 2019

 This holy season of Advent calls us to silent and patient waiting for the celebration of the birth of Jesus; it likewise calls us to expectation for his return in glory at the Second Coming.  The arrival of God in our flesh at Christmas and His promised return in our flesh at the end of time are truths of our faith that need our meditation.  The Collect, the first prayer of the Holy Mass today, is the very same prayer that concludes a devotion called the Angelus.  The Angelus prayer fosters our faith in the Incarnation.  I want to highlight it today in order to promote its practice as part of our Catholic culture.  The Angelus is a simple verse and response prayer, together with praying the Hail Mary three times, that highlights those moments of the Archangel Gabriel’s message to Mary, her yes to God’s plan, and the conception of Jesus in her womb.  The Angelus is traditionally prayed three times each day, at 6:00 am, 12 noon, and at 6:00 pm.  Church bells traditionally have a special ring at these three times to mark the praying of the Angelus.  Since our bell tower is in the city near neighbors we try to be a bit considerate and so our bell tower here rings at 8:00 am, 12 noon, and 6:00 pm.  If you have ever noticed and wondered why the ringing at those three times clearly stands out as different, that is the answer.  It is a call to us to pray the Angelus.  Any good Catholic prayer book would have the Angelus and I am sure you can find it online.  I encourage you to learn it and to pray it.

  Why is it important to foster devotion to the mystery of God’s incarnation?  To answer that, and in the briefest of summaries, I want to suggest three key elements in God’s plan for the salvation of the human race, creatures He has made as both body and soul.  Those key elements are (1) man and woman; (2) union; and, (3) flesh.  They are critical aspects of the plan for salvation and they are intricately related to one another.

  First, man and woman.  In the act of creation, the Book of Genesis speaks to us the truth that God made human persons in two broad categories.  He made them distinct yet complementary.  “Male and female he created them,” the Book of Genesis says (Gen. 1:27).  He made them for one another.  That is clear from the very design of the bodies of male and female and clear by the design of the dignity of sexual love that God made to be good as a participation in His own creative power.  The creation of male and female, and that God the Father employs it as well in salvation history by having the Savior enter the world as a man who learns from a father and a mother, tells us something of the truth and the irreplaceable value of the two sexes of mankind and their related gender identities.

 Secondly, union.  The story of salvation history shows a personal God who is madly in love with His creation and who, having made mankind in His image and likeness, destines us and desires us to have relationship and communion with Him.  He promises that time and again and the call to union is in the mouth of the prophets all through the Scriptures.  Being made in His image and likeness, then, we reflect and echo this relational capacity.  We are made for relationship and union.  We are made for union with God.  We are also made for relationship with one another.  We experience the importance of union in that we are not made to be alone (cf. Gen. 2:18).  We experience union in varying degrees on the large scale of human society and down to the smaller scale of intimacy.  In this category of union as part of the plan of salvation, I want to highlight only one very particular and specific type of union that is clearly used by God in His plan to undo the disorder ushered in by Original Sin.  This very specific union is the nuptial union, that of marriage, which has been enshrined as a sacrament in Holy Matrimony.  God makes use of the one flesh union of man and woman to be a sign of the permanence of His union with creation, to be a sign of His fidelity in His promises to us, and to be a sign of the fruitful, life-giving nature of His love.  This unique relationship of union between man and woman is used by God in salvation history such that His Son in the flesh is born within a holy marriage.  This teaches us of the truth and the irreplaceable value of marriage as a reality made by and received from God and not manufactured by man alone.

 The third critical aspect of God’s plan for salvation is flesh.  God indicates the dignity of human flesh made in His image and likeness by blessing Adam and Eve, and calling them to be fruitful and multiply.  This gives a clear moral itinerary for marriage and a clear guide for how spouses should live that vocation still today.  And most specifically, after the preparation of prophecy over centuries and the formation of a people, God would show the prominence of flesh in His saving plan by the mystery we ponder in this holy season and which we will celebrate anew in the Christmas season about to begin… that of the Incarnation.  ‘Incarnation’ literally means the taking on of flesh.  We profess belief that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the eternal Son of God, took on our human flesh in the fullness of time (cf. Gal. 4:4) as salvation history came close to its most climactic moments.  That God created flesh and called it good, that He told man and woman within marriage to be fruitful and multiply, and that He sends the Savior in our flesh tells us of the truth of the dignity of human flesh and the dignity of human life formed in the womb.

   So why am I highlighting these three aspects of (1) man and woman, (2) union, and (3) flesh as key elements in salvation history and key realities of the Incarnation, of which we are reminded in the prayer of the Angelus?  Because if you train your eyes on spiritual realities as we must, and if you avoid the tendency to think of reality only from a secular and non-spiritual perspective, then you note that these three key elements of salvation history are precisely things under attack most violently today.  And if we admit that, we can’t help but remember that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle.  Those three key elements of salvation history reveal three places of critical attack from secular and demonic forces in our time.  (1) The first key element of salvation history, God dignifies and makes use of the reality of man and woman.  Today, elitists and those they mislead think that sex is purely a social construct and they insist that biology and anatomy are not determinative or stable.  They want to obliterate all meaningful distinctions about sex while claiming that people of faith are the ones who are unscientific.  Change and mutilate a body all you want but the truth of its biology and chromosomal make up bespeaks the lie of modern gender ideology.  (2) The second key element of salvation history, God makes use of the exclusive union of husband and wife in marriage.  Today, everything that promotes violating that union or severing it, or manufacturing same-sex unions as equivalent, or any other construct that does not uphold the truth of the exclusive union of one man with one woman… these are violent attacks at the root of God’s creation and attempts to disfigure what God has done in salvation by means of marriage and family life.  We are in a spiritual battle.  (3) The third key element of salvation history, God creates human flesh and he uses it to send us a Savior, His Son, who will carry our human flesh into the saving sacrifice that brings salvation to us.  The hatred of human flesh that is at the root of viewing pregnancy as a disease to be prevented, that is present in the promotion of contraception, that is literally active in the destruction of unborn human life, and all the other modern means of manipulating vulnerable human life… here we see another critical theatre of battle for the soul of mankind and the soul of our world.  These places of attack, so common, popular, and viewed as enlightened in our society, have spiritual and eternal consequences.

The Gospel passage today gives us a glimpse of each of these three key elements of salvation: a man and woman, Joseph and Mary, distinct yet complementary; the union of marriage (betrothal was real marriage in Jewish culture; we need to dismiss the silly interpretations that Joseph and Mary were only engaged); and the flesh, for Mary was found with child by the Holy Spirit.  We are called to be witnesses in a battle that is leaving the good world God made more and more disfigured.  Our faith and our advancing of the truth has value in this battle.  Don’t underestimate the value of a devotion like the Angelus, for it trains our eyes, our hearts, and our minds, away from the tendency to think only of this world and of material reality. It helps us marvel with wonder and child-like joy at the presence of God and His activity in our midst, and with our cooperation, to renew the world!   And the Word was made flesh; and dwelt among us!