Hearing voices

Most of us are aware, to one degree or another, of the isolation created by the pandemic. But, in truth, the pandemic didn’t create the isolation. It only accelerated us down a path we have been on for the first two decades of the 21st century. More and more our technology that we thought was going to bring us together has enabled us to each live in our own little world.  

In the previous century, when there were only three (perhaps four) networks to choose from, on any evening at any hour, chances were high that you and your neighbors were watching the same TV show and the next day everyone would be talking about it. In any area there would be perhaps one radio station for each music genre. Remember the world before earbuds, when people spoke to each other as they walked by. There was a time when we had common points of reference. 

Long before  COVID-19, we made a choice. We chose to use the technology not to communicate but to isolate. We chose the familiar. We chose sameness. 

In the first reading today we hear: 

Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted, to the tyrannical city! She hears no voice, accepts no correction

It raises the question: how many of us have chosen to move into the tyrannical city, where we hear no voice that corrects, because we are not wrong? THEY ( the people who think differently) are wrong? They need to change. We hear no voice but our own, and the people who share and echo our voice, our opinions. 

Ask yourself: when was the last time you truly allowed yourself to be corrected, heard information different from your current opinion and changed your mind (metanoia)?

The scriptures remind us that life should be a constant process of hearing, and allowing the voices we hear to correct us. This, of course, requires us to admit that we may be wrong.  

Today, can we hear the other voices, can we open ourselves up to the possibility that we are wrong, can we be corrected?

Day 16 St. John of the Cross

We are now on our 16th day of this new year. How are we doing at taking on a new way of being.

Yesterday was Gaudete Sunday. St Paul gave us three commands:

- Rejoice Always

- Pray without ceasing

-Give thanks in every circumstance 

How hard would it be to simply walk through this day maintaining a cheerful disposition, staying mindful and listening to the Holy Sprit, and focusing on the things for which we are thankful?

Today the Church celebrates St. John of the Cross who provides us with a wonderful metaphor, not Christ as shepherd or physician, but Jesus as a mine with many veins of gold. 

We must dig deeply into Christ. And “ however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.”

To be truly happy, we must lose ourselves in the mine, digging more deeply each day. Perhaps, in this sense, the pandemic can be good for us. It forces us to slow down,  It limits the running around we can do.  Sitting, at times feeling trapped in our homes, there is nothing to stop us from journeying down into the mine. Or are we afraid of what we will find? 

If so, remember, Christ is not only the mine, He is the light. 

Today, remember St. John of the Cross, and spend some quiet time mining. 

Opening Our Eyes

 In the Gospel of Matthew today we read, 

he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”  And their eyes were opened. 

St. Matthew doesn't focus on healing, but on the opening of their eyes which in some ways may be more difficult.

None of us wants to think of ourselves as the one who needs to open their eyes. Often when we talk about someone needing to open their eyes what we really mean is, if their eyes were open, they would see thinks my way.

The gospel states it in passive voice: not "they opened their eyes" but "their eyes were opened' (by someone else). They can't open their own eyes, perhaps because they don't know their eyes are closed. If you were born blind, how would you know what it means to see? Blind is all you know unless someone explains the idea of sight. You wouldn't even realize you had something that needed healing.

The paradox of the 21st century is that the means of communication we have, the more isolated we have become.

As we come to the end of this first week of Advent, this first week of the new year, perhaps now is a good time for us to pray that God and those around us will help us to identify those areas of our lives in which we are "blind". And having the humility to admit that we are blind, then we pray as the men in the Gospel "Son of David, have pity on us!" 

Then through faith our eyes can be opened and we can see clearly how to imitate Christ more fully each day. 

To truly know someone

On this third day of Advent, we have one of the thornier gospels in the Bible,

No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” 

Some Christians have interpreted this to mean that only Christians can know God. This is a misunderstanding of what it means to know.  Of the various languages that I have studied over the years, English is the only one that only has one word for knowing. Many distinguish between knowing in an absolute way, “I know your phone number” and knowing partially  “I know you.” I think we all realize that there are different meanings to the word “know.” I have been blessed to meet and spend time with some very well-known people.  I would not say I know them 

How do we humans know anything? — Through our senses. We see.; we hear; we touch; we taste;  we smell.  We read. We listen. We watch. So how can anyone know God?

By virtue of the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God, every human has some experience of God. But it would be overstating to say that we therefore know God. What we truly know of God is what God reveals. 

What Jesus says in the gospel today is absolutely true. Only Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, can truly know God in the fullest sense.  Jesus is God incarnate, the fullest revelation of the presence of God. Therefore, any revelation of God, like all creation, is through him.

On this third day of advent, this Gospel challenges each of us to look inside ourselves and ask “how well do I know God?“ As we begin this new year, now is the time for each of us to re-dedicate some part of each day to knowing God better. God has given us the tools. The two most important tools we have are the Bible ( the word of God) and the Eucharist in which Christ gives himself to us. Let us use these tools. 

May each of us know God more fully each day and share that knowledge with others. 

LY 2021 Day 2

This year, more than ever, I am ready to focus on this being the beginning of Liturgical  Year 2021.  And on this second day we celebrate St. Andrew.

When we think of the apostles, we often say “they left everything to follow Jesus,” which is true. But St. Matthew in his gospel describes it differently. 

About Peter and Andrew he says, 

At once they left their nets and followed him.

Regarding James and John, he writes,

Immediate they left their boat and father and followed him. 

Each pair is described as leaving something different.

Perhaps now, on this second day of the new year, each of us needs to ask ourselves, “What do I need to leave so that I can follow Jesus more fully this year?”

The two commands

When I was a child, I could never understand my mother’s ability to doze off while watching TV, even while watching something in which she was really interested. I have now become my mother. 

. In St. Mark’s gospel we are repeatedly given two commands.

Γρηγορείτε and βλέπετε 

The first of these words refers precisely to not letting ourselves doze off, to staying wake. The older we are, the harder this becomes, the more effort required. We sit still and we doze off, not just physically but spiritually. 

When we are younger we are filled with hopes and ambitions that drive us forward. We have a sense of becoming. We are occupied with questions like “who will I become?” and “what will I do with my life?”  

As we turn the corner of middle age those questions fall away and we can, unfortunately, start to settle into who we are. We lose interest in changing. We doze off into spiritual complacency. We stop striving to be better. We drift on the current of our lives. 

Today’s gospel demands that we wake up. Until the last day of our earthly lives, we are called to be active, to choose, to strive toward holiness. 

The second command is “to watch”, “to look at”. It is not simply about having something passively in front of our eyes.  We are called to really look, to examine, to study. What are we looking for? — the signs of the Kingdom of God. 

As we begin this Advent Season, can we open our eyes to see the signs of the presence of God? Can we see them in our brothers and sisters? Can we see them in the beauty and majesty of God’s creation? Can we see the presence of Christ offered to us in the Eucharist?

Wake up and look! And if we look we will see Emmanuel, God with us. 

The Under-appreciated Church

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John Lateran, Lateran being the name of the hill on which it is located in the city of Rome. It is, and has been for most of two millennia, the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.  (Not St. Peter’s ). 

It’s actual name is Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran. Inside are 12 enormous and magnificent statues of the 12 apostles, who form the foundation on which Christ builds His Church. 

Over the doors is inscribed SACROS LATERAN ECCLES OMNIUM VRBIS ET ORBIS ECCLESIARVM MATER ET CAPUT" ("Most Holy Lateran Church, mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world"). 

We need these magnificent, historic buildings. They soar to the sky and remind us, not of who we are, but who we are called to be. 

Today the Office of Readings gives us chapter 2 of the First Letter of St. Peter,

Strip away everything vicious, everything deceitful; pretenses, jealousies, and disparaging remarks of any kind. 

Could any words be more apt for the moment in which we are living?

Today, as we celebrate this feast, let us focus our hearts on those original 12 called to proclaim the gospel to the world. And should there be a moment when we are tempted to think ill of another, let us recall the command of St. Peter, our first Pope. 

Why we care about 787?

As the Church celebrates The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, once called Triumph of the Cross, it gives us an opportunity to look at a wider subject. What is the proper place of objects in Christian worship. 

From as far back as history can take us humans have held on to objects as a way of remaining connected to the past, particularly people who have past from this earthly life. The simple act of holding something that belonged to the person can reconnect us in a way that memory alone cannot. Portraiture as an art form developed and a next generation could connect to a person they had never met. 

It seems, therefore, not surprising that the early Christians held on their loved ones, the holy ones through keepsakes, relics.  The word relic means literally “to leave behind.” And with time came iconography - communicating with pictures, instead of words. 

To our modern sensibilities, the keeping of bones and other body parts mays seem strange.  It’s not what we would do, but it is how people in an earlier time held onto loved ones. 

In around 327, the Emperor Constantine ordered excavations around Jerusalem to ascertain the location of the place of the crucifixion of Jesus.  Church were then erected at Mt. Calvert and the Holy Sepulchre .   The recovered remains of the cross were divided. Part remained in Jerusalem and part was sent to Rome. 

As with all things, people have a tendency to go to far and so for a time all veneration of sacred relics and icons was outlawed. 

Then in 787 at the Second Council of Nicea, the Church defined clearly the distinction between “respect and veneration” and “true worship.”

Worship belongs only to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

The most we can give to any created things or persons is “respect and veneration.”

Today the. Church venerates the cross on which Jesus have his life for the salvation of the world. That simple, rough piece of wood was transformed by the blood of Jesus. That place was forever marked by his death. What Christian has visited the sites and not been moved ? 

There and in so many other holy places, we find ourselves speechless. That is the essence of respect and veneration. 

Today let each of us take a moment to look at a crucifix or a cross and mediate upon its meaning. 

The Future and Free Will

Today the Church celebrates the Passion of John the Baptist. Personally I like the new English title for the day because it parallels the way we speak of the death of Jesus, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is appropriate because much of what is written about today focuses on the parallels and how John is the Precursor. 

In this instance precursor does not simply mean the one who comes before, nor does it mean that Jesus copied John. It means that God’s whose plan they both carried out already knew the outcome. The problem we Christians have always wrestled with is if God knows the future, does He make it happen or do we really have free will.

The Christian answer is that we absolutely have free will. We choose what we will do. We choose whether we will cooperate with God’s plan or go our own way.  That’s what makes our wrong choices sin. For something to be a sin we must freely choose to act contrary to God’s law.

Does God know what we are going to choose, yes.  He knows because he knows us, each one of us. He knows us perfectly. But his knowing what we will choose does not mean we do not do the choosing. 

This month marks my 20th year as a tribunal judge. Many of us have worked together for all or most of that 20 year.  Can they predict with almost perfect accuracy how I would respond to most questions? Absolutely.  We often know what each other is going to say. I suspect you have family or friends like that.  They know how we will react because they know us, not because they control us. Now expand that to the perfect knowledge of God.

For me,nowadays, it give me peace. I know that God already knows how and when this will end. He already knows what the “new normal” will look like in every country in the world. My job is to stay calm, and seek to do God’s Will today. God has already taken all of our craziness into account in His plan. 

The hard parts

Before getting to the core of today’s first reading I do want to point out again a common Catholic error. I still hear Catholics saying “We don’t know the Bible.”  They imagine that their Protestant brothers and sisters have whole sections of the Bible memorized. Having lived on both sides of the street I can assure you that is no more a reality than the large Italian family. [In Italy these days there is perhaps one child per family].  Most Catholic have internalized more Bible verses than they realize. 

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Like almost all of mass it is a Bible verse, (2 Thessalonians 3:18), one every Catholic knows. 

Now to the hard part. 

St. Paul in this letter does give a clear and harsh instruction:

We instruct you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to shun any brother who walks in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us.

Some Christians take shunning very literally. Once a person is shunned, they are cut off from the community. 

For us, the most severe penalty we have, excommunication does not separate the person from the community. As the catechism says, it  “ impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts.” The excommunicated person is still Catholic. They are still a member of the Church. They are still a member of their parish. They still have, not only the right, but obligation to attend mass. They are still your brother or sister in Christ.  They cannot receive sacraments and cannot exercise certain other offices. 

In the Catholic Church, we follow the instruction of Mt. 18 and so the penalty is only imposed after every other method of bringing about conversion is tried. It cannot be imposed or declared by your local priest but only by the bishop as a last resort and the goal is always conversion, bringing back the lost sheep. 

This verse from St. Paul is a perfect example of why we must read each verse in the context of the whole Bible, in particular the gospels. Taken by itself, it would seem to encourage the individual Christian to judge the behavior of another and penalize the person they don’t think is living the Christian life. Taken in context we know that we as individuals have no such right. 

Nathaniel or Not

While most of the tradition holds that Nathaniel and Bartholomew are the same person, there are some who doubt it. It does make sense. Bartholomew is after all what is called a “patronymic.” A patronymic is a device used in many cultures to identify the father. In Russia, a person’s second name is traditionally a patronymic (ex. Ivanovich, son of Ivan).  In Scandinavia the suffix son is used, the son of Peter is Peterson. In Iceland, the patronymic is used as the last name. And so it would be perfectly sensible if he we Nathaniel Bartholomew, the son of Tolomei.

He is throughout the scriptures the one who travels with Philip. He is the one in whom there is no duplicity (or guile).Most famously he is said to have died by being flayed, and in artwork is often depicted holding him own skin which has been peeled off and sometimes holding the knife. Perhaps the most famous depiction is in The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. There he holds his skin in his left hand and the knife in his right.  The face on the skin is Michelangelo himself. St. Bartholomew is not suffering, but strong and vigorous. 

He is revered for having taken the gospel to modern-day Armenia and India. Beyond this little is known of his life. 

Today the Church prays that we may cling to Christ with the same sincerity of heart as St. Bartholomew who was privileged to be one of the 12..

Being His Church

I can hardly believe that it has been 20 years since I moved back from Rome. While there I never ceased to be filled with awe every time I walked into St. Peter’s Basílica —the beauty and the detail, the history, the thought of how many millions of people have prayed in that place over the centuries.  And as you look up into the dome, inscribed in Latin in one direction, Greek in the other are the words of today’s gospel:

 you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Twenty years later I look around at the Church, and I would be a fool not to be concerned. Entire generations have abandoned the faith. In many of our parishes in the U.S., if it weren’t for the Hispanic immigrants, there would be no children at all.

Some have gone to other churches. Many have simply abandoned church all together. To call them atheists it to presume too much. An atheist has thought about the question and decided there is no God. Many today don’t even give religion that much thought. 

In side the Church, we are seeing the same tribalism that has infected the political sphere. The right and the left declare incessantly that the other isn’t really Catholic. 

As for leaders, many of our bishops are so focused on the abuse scandal and money concerns, they have forgotten that their primary role it to teach, to evangelize. Instead of leading, they are proud of the fact that they are following the “best practices” of the business world. They have become, not shepherds, but  CEO’s. 

On the local level, what pastor doesn’t feel over-stretched...And then there’s COVID.

Where is the hope? Where is the light?

It is found in a single word in today’s Gospel — my.        

...Upon this rock I will build MY church...

The Church is not ours; It is His. The Church is His possession, totally. The Church is His body. It cannot be destroyed. It cannot pass away. It is eternal.  So, it cannot be destroyed.  As St. Paul tells us in vs. 36, Jesus is the origin the path, and the goal of it all.

It can however become practically invisible.  We, each of us, much choose to make it visible.  We make it visible when we show Christ to the world. We make it visible when we show our unity. We make the Church visible when we demonstrate our ability to be different from the world around us, when we build up rather than tear down, when we discuss rather than argue, when we love rather than label.

All one has to do is look at the plethora of websites, movies and programs dedicated to the subject and realize there is a hunger for the spiritual. Every human in the depths of their being knows there is something more than the physical world. We must feed to real human hunger, and then we will be the shining city on the hill, His Church.

Completing the Picture

Today the Church celebrates the queenship of Mary and we are offered a chance to reflect on why we need Marian devotion now.  

From the beginning the scriptures tell us that God created humanity in His image, male and female. Without the female the male is incomplete. Humanity  is composed of feminine and masculine and we need both aspects. 

Yes, it is true that if we look solely at the New Testament in terms of numbers of verses, we see an almost exclusive focus on God the Father and Jesus the only begotten Son.  But we Catholics have never looked at our faith this way. We have always looked at scripture as a unity of Old and New Testament. And beyond the Bible new have looked at how the faith has been lived and understood. 

There we find that from the earliest record Christians understood the unique place of Mary. Yes, it is true that when God became incarnate he chose a male body. But it is also true that while he could have simply appeared full grown he did not. God chose to become incarnate inside a female, to be nurtured by a female. 

While the number of verses dedicated to Mary are few, from the earliest day the Church has recognized her unique role, not only for Jesus but for us. 

Men and women would do well to turn to our mother in prayer, and to imitate her way of being, her form of discipleship. In every corner of our world today, we Christians need to let her “Mary, Queen of Peace” to reign in our hearts. 

Tangible Unity

Today the Church celebrates St. Pius X. Let us in the Diocese of Richmond pray for our brothers and sisters in Norfolk celebrating their parish feast day. 

In 1909 Pope Pius X established what remains the premier Catholic institution for the study of Sacred Scripture, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, known as the Biblicum.  Those who graduate can proudly use the initials SSL or SSD after their name. It means that they have spent years of their lives immersed in the world of the Bible, the languages and the cultures.

But every memorial of a saint who was a pope always brings up the most basic question, do we still need a pope? I would argue that we need him more than ever. 

It was the great petition of Jesus before he went to die 

that they may be one, just as you Father are in me, and I in you...so that the world may believe (Jn 17:21)

Unity among humans has always been an elusive thing. For as much as we are social, we easily fracture. The stain of original sin pulls each of us toward the self. 

Jesus knows that if the Church he  establishes is able to remain one, it will only be by the grace of God, the working of the Holy Spirit. It will also be a compelling sign of God’s power at work in the world. 

But for it to be a compelling, convincing sign, it must be real unity. It cannot be simply mutual toleration, agree to disagree. It must be a oneness of mind and heart. The Church must be a visible reflection of the unity of the Trinity. 

We human beings are, not merely spiritual, but physical creatures.  We need things we can perceive with our senses. 

Inside and outside the Church there are those how would pull us apart, as a Church, as a nation, as a human family. They seek to pull us apart for their own advantage. 

We need a pope. And God has given us Pope Francis at this moment in the history of the Church for a reason.  He as each of his predecessors is called to be the visible sign and instrument of the unity to which we are called. 

We must turn our back on every voice that seeks to divide, even if that voice be a priest, a bishop or a cardinal. Today, we pray for Pope Francis, and we know that Pope Pius X intercedes for him and for the unity of the Body of Christ, the Church, founded on the rock that is Peter. 

How to Love today

Today the Church celebrates the life and ministry of. St. Bernard, a monk who became abbot and a Doctor of the Church.

Usually on the feast days of saints, the church selects for the Office of Readings some writing of the saint. It is short and yet it is intended to be a snapshot of the saints teaching and life. For St. Bernard it is a homily on Love.  

I first glimpse is may seem simplistic for the moment we are living. It may in fact seem naive. And yet, as I read it, it became clear that is the one and only answer to this moment in history.  And we Christians have forgotten how to love. 

All you have to do is glance at Facebook. In an instant, it is clear how many people who call themselves Christians have forgotten the most basic truth of the Christian faith. They post and share hateful half-truths about people they don’t like. We are willing to believe any bad thing said about people we don’t like, no matter how absurd. 

If we are going to survive this moment in our history, we who call ourselves Christians are going to have to be the ones who lead. 

St. Bernard reminds us that love is not and emotion. Love is God. God is Love itself. God pours out Himself and loves us that we might in turn love him back. Our love is and always will be less, because we are less. We are the creatures; God is the Creator. But we can and must give ourselves totally that Love which is God. 

Only by allowing ourselves to be filled with the infinite, perfect love of God, can we then in turn love other people. 

But I tell you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you Mt. 5:44

We forget that we are Church, ekklesia - called apart. And what sets us apart from the rest of the world is precisely this love of those on the other side. 

Today, may the love of God fill us, that we may in turn show love, even to those people with whom we most disagree. 

To whom goes the credit

Today’s first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel opens with a stark image of a newborn, unwashed and thrown on the ground covered in blood. It describes how God came by, pick it up, clothed it and made it grow into a beautiful, finely dressed young woman. But then...

 But you were captivated by your own beauty

The woman become enamored of herself, and so begins the fall.

As I look at our country, I wonder if this isn’t us. 

There are certain things that you should never say of yourself. If others say it about you, that’s fine. But saying it of yourself is merely hubris. 

America is the greatest country in the world. Every time I hear it said by an American, I cringe. 

Not because I don’t believe,  but because of what scripture teaches us about that kind of pride. 

The problem is twofold:

First is the tendency to believe you did it yourself. The so-called “self-made man.” 

   Where is the gratitude to the creator?

 

Secondly, there is no room for improvement. If you truly believe that you are already the greatest, where do you go? Where is the room for improvement? And most importantly, where is your need for God?

The woman in the first reading was truly beautiful. God had made her and provided her with the best of everything. And it would have been fine if everyone who saw her commented on her beauty. The problem began when she began to focus on her beauty. 

Perhaps there is a lesson for us. 

Hidden Things

Our modern tendency when we hear something described as “hidden” is to immediately think it must be bad. If we say it is “secret”, it must be bad. “The Secret Archive” at the Vatican must contain horrible things. So think some. We fear the hidden. We fear the unknown. We fear the mysterious. 

In a world before safes, people also hid their most precious things, their valuables. We still hide our valuables. 

In yesterday’s gospel we hear reference to the treasure hidden in the field, because that’s what you did. If you had something of great value that you did not want stolen you took it out and buried it in a place known only to you. In the early Church, the Liturgy of the Eucharist was not open to the public. Only those who were baptized were allowed in. It was truly “the mystery of faith.”  

Yes, it caused horrible speculation among the pagans about what the Christians were doing, eating flesh and drinking blood. But it also underscore the precious quality of the sacrament. 

Today’s gospel ends with Jesus proclaiming “  I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.” And yet, there remains a hidden quality. He speaks not in straightforward declarations but in parables. 

He can do no other because God remains mystery. The fullness of God remains hidden. We can only know of God what God has chosen to reveal and chooses to reveal. We know only the tiniest fraction of who God is. 

And yet, as people of faith, we are called to entrust our lives completely to, and to love with all our being, this mysterious God. 

Perhaps we need to rethink how we feel about words like “hidden” and “mysterious”. As St. John tells us, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Jn 4:18).  When we embrace the mystery, embrace the hidden; our souls are opened to the reality that no human words can express, the God who has always been present. 

A Call to Conversion

Monday through Friday of this week we read the Book of the Prophet Hosea, a story of fidelity and infidelity. 

The kingdoms are still divide, the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. The Kingdom of Israel has wandered away to the worship of other gods. And So in chapter one God calls Hosea to marry and love “a harlot, Gomer.” He marries her and He loves her.

As we settle into our new life in a world with COVID, our activities are more limited. This means our excuses for not spending real time with God in prayer are also limited. 

It would be easy to launch into a critique of the world around us and rant about our country. More difficult is look inside.

Rather than compare our current culture to Israel or Gomer, our time would be better spent asking ourselves. 

How am I unfaithful?

How have I turned away from the demands of my faith?

There is no such thing as “a Christian nation.” A country  does not have a soul; a  country cannot be baptized.  When we speak of a “Holy Nation”we are speaking not of a human country, but of the Church. The Church always and everywhere has existed as a “people set apart” inside of human nations. 

We change the culture not by ranting but by setting an example, by demonstrating to those around us the attractiveness of the Christian life. It is the witness of the members of the Church being faithful that calls others to conversion.  We have tried imposing the faith on others. It always fails. Only by showing others the love of Christ will the message be heard and embraced.

Focus on God

Today’s gospel is our most repeated prayer: the Our Father

But how often do we actually pay attention to the structure of that prayer. 

The first three petitions are not about us, they are about God.

-hallowed be thy name

-thy kingdom come

+thy will be done

So often we think prayer is about us, meditation is about calming us, adoration is about how it makes us feel. 

The Our Father reminds us first of all that prayer is about God. It is about letting go of the focus on the self, letting go of the focus on our work, our projects. We can offer our needs to God, but only as part two of our prayer not part one. 

Prayer is that time when our full, undivided attention is given to God, and only God. It takes effort. It takes practice. It takes discipline. Our natural tendency is to be constantly mentally in motion, our mind running from thought to thought. 

Today God wants nothing more than a few minutes of your undivided attention. 

The 15th Appostle

When we think of apostles, we think of the twelve. But we must remember the others. 

There is St. Paul whom scripture calls “apostle”.  There is Mathias, the replacement for Judas Iscariot.  And there is today’s saint, Barnabas. 

A Jew from the island of Cyprus.  His birth name was Joseph. He is believed to be possibly the cousin of St. Mark, the evangelist, and was one of the earliest disciples. The fact that he can be an apostles establishes the fact that he was an eyewitness to the earthly ministry of Jesus. 

It strikes me that he may be a better model that Paul for most of us.

In the New Testament Paul is everywhere and his letters make up the bulk of the New Testament. Barnabas is there but in a quieter role. He is the one who accompanies Paul. He inhabits the background of the story, and only occasionally emerges. He is called, not nabi –the prophet , but bar nabia –the son of the prophet. 

In a world where it is possible classify “influencer” as a profession, and people’s sense of self is all too often tied to the number of “likes” or “follower” a person has, perhaps we need a Barnabas. He reminds us that it is ok to be quiet, it is ok to remain in the background. Great things can be accomplished behind the scenes. 

Daring to be persecuted

As we continue to read St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy we hear another of God’s promises:

all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

But there is a catch, particularly for religious leaders.  In the twenty-first century it takes money to run a church. Buildings, property, employees, programs— they all require money, which in turn requires donors. 

In other times perhaps people gave out of sense of duty, or because they understood that the scriptures required them to tithe. Now day they treat the Church like just another 501c3. They give to the one they like, the one that tells them what they want to hear. 

And so, bishops and other pastors will never be persecuted because they will rarely ever say what their donor base doesn’t like. 

This week we saw real courage. Archbishop Wilton Gregory had to courage to stand up and speak out when the president decide to use the John Paul II center for a photo op. Surely he knew that many of the “heavy hitters” in Catholic donor circles are Trump supporters. And yet, he spoke. He spoke directly and forcefully. His words were not carefully crafted by a committee so as to not upset anyone. 

When was the last time we heard one of our religious leaders venture beyond the safety zone? In my baptist days we called it preaching to the choir. 

St. Paul tells us that if we want to live a truly religious life we will be persecuted. In order to be persecuted, we have actually upset someone who is listening. 

Impossible for God

Many of us love to quote “with God all things are possible.” (Mt 19:26) But is it true?

In our first reading today from the Second Letter to Timothy, St. Paul reminds us that it is not precisely true. There are some things that are impossible for God due to his very nature. As St. John tells us, “God is love” and it would be impossible for God to act contrary to his nature. 

In the first reading today we are told  if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”

Here St. Paul affirms what we believe about baptism. In baptism we are transformed and become part of the body of Christ, and the transformation is permanent. We call it the indelible character of the sacrament. We become part of him, and “he cannot deny himself.” For this reason we never re-baptize a person. If their baptism is uncertain we conditionally baptize but we never re-baptize. 

We can commit moral sin and be subject to the just punishment. We can be “unfaithful” in many way, but God remains faithful to us. Fidelity is part of his very nature. Fidelity and love are linked. 

Today our hope is grounded in the fact that there is at least one thing God cannot do.

Back to the Ordinary

Today we jump back to so-called Ordinary Time.  First let me say in Latin it’s simply Tempus per annum (Time of the Year). It is not called ordinary. And certainly this year there is nothing ordinary about it. 

Today is Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time. We has that short spell of Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent. We pick up today Reading the Second Letter of St. Peter, a kind of farewell testimonial to the Christians. 

In today’s reading he provides us with a list of virtues that Christians must have.  He begins with faith and ends with love (agape). But in between he lists six other virtues all Christians must have

excellence αρετη - from the word for “better”, a sense of always striving to move forward toward perfection 

knowledge γνοτις for Christians specifically knowledge of God

self-control εγκράτεια Literally  internal power

Patient endurance  υπομονή  

devotion/godliness ευσέβεια     Literally Good worship

mutual affection/ affection for other Φιλαδέλφεια Philadelphia - love of other not love of self 

Not a bad list to keep handy as we put on the worn green vestments and go out to face the particular challenges of so-called “ordinary time” in 2020.

Prepare for the coming

With the Sixth Sunday of Easter, the readings begin to turn our hearts and minds toward the celebration of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These fourteen days offer each of us the chance to ask ourselves where the Holy Spirit fits into our lives. 

In the west, we Christians may be comfortable talking about our relationship with Jesus. We may often pray to the Father. But our relationship with the Spirit tends to be much more ambiguous. We say it is the third person of the Trinity, but I’m not sure we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, or related to it as a person. 

Often we either get locked into the image of the dove, or we think of it as a kind of mystical energy. The Holy Spirit is devoid of personality. 

If we think about it for a moment, the opposite should be true. We should have the closest relationship to the Holy Spirit.  From the first outpouring, it is the Holy Spirit that remains with us. The Holy Spirit transforms us. It is the Holy Spirit who changes mere bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. 

In the Office of Readings today St. Didymus of Alexandria reminds us:

The Spirit restores our original beauty and fills us with his grace, leaving no room for anything unworthy of our love. The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly men we were, men of dust and ashes, into spiritual men, sharers in the divine glory, sons and heirs of God 

In these days lead8ng to Pentecost, each of us should take time to pray with, in, and to the Holy Spirit, the advocate always with us. 

Unimaginable

As we make our way through the Acts of the Apostles, we see many miracles. But some are easy to overlook, like the one in today’s gospel.  

After Peter and John are released they go back and report what had been said, and then scripture tells us 

they raised their voices to God with one accord (homothumadon, in unison)

This may at first not look like a miracle, but think about it.  When was the last time you heard the Church or even some particular parish either speak or act in unison. The closest most churches come is singing a hymn on Sunday and even then, how many people simply opt out. 

For far too many,  Church is “spiritual restaurant” where I go to be spiritually fed, rather than the place we gather to raise our voices as one to give God the worship that we owe. We choose our restaurant based on which one offers the menu that best suits our taste. And churches often struggle to offer larger and larger menus so they can have something for every taste. 

Our Catholic concept of parish has always been based on the idea that we should gather to worship with the same people who live right around us, rich or poor, black, white or brown, Republican or Democrat. The State of Louisiana still uses that model for its civil jurisdictions. 

The Church should be the place where when we approach the doors, we leave outside all of the labels that divide us. The door to the Church is baptism and when we walk through those doors the only identity we should take with us is the one we receive at baptism, member of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Christ.   

The unanimity demonstrated by the Church in the first reading is difficult because it requires sacrifice. It requires that each individual set aside their wants for the common good. Most of all it requires each of us to sacrifice  the idea that “I am right.”  It requires a willingness to sacrifice the I for the We. 

I refer to it as a miracle because it is not something that we humans are capable of doing on our own.  It requires the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

This virus has in effect kicked us out of our church’s and perhaps we deserved to be kicked out. Let us pray in this Easter Season that when we are finally able to come back into our church buildings that we will come back, not as the squabbling children that we were, but we will come back as the humble loving disciples we are call to be. 

Is that so unimaginable?

 

Allowing the week to be Holy

Today is Monday, the second day of Holy Week. But in what way will this week be different. 

Certainly, it will be different because of COVID-19, but how will it be Holy? 

Today’s first reading offers us a strangely serene image of leadership.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, 

In the midst of pandemic where can we find such serenity? In prayer.

Not the pray of petition, telling God what we want, but the prayer of surrender, the prayer of Jesus in the Garden. 

Holiness comes from unity with the divine, and that unity comes from total abandonment, total surrender. On this Monday of Holy Week, can we surrender ourselves into the hands of our loving Father?

The need for a Daniel

Fin the first reading today we have one of the central stories from the Old Testament that we should all know. The main characters are Daniel and Sussana. 

Sussana is a woman of exemplary faith who goes out to bathe in her garden which would have been a normal thing in the time. Two old men who have hidden away try and trap her into sleeping with them. She says no and so they denounce her for having been with some young man. 

They know the law. Dt 19: 15 requires a minimum of two witnesses. The two men lie. The two men lie but are discovered when questioned separately. In accord with Dt. 19:19 the two men are condemned to the punishment they tried to inflict on her. 

In this story we see demonstrated basic principles of justice that we hold to this day. Susanna has a right to protect her good name. An accusation alone is no enough to convict. Sussana has a right to a trial. She has the right of defense. The presumption is that she is innocent. There must be some evidence and testimony. 

These are basic human rights that must be always and everywhere defended. Unfortunately, in our zeal to put the abuse crisis behind us, we as a Church have too often set aside the rights of those accused. In truly medieval fashion the dead have been accused and convicted without trial or evidence.  

On this day we pray for God to send forth that same Spirit that he stirred up in Daniel. It is possible for us to cleanse the Church of the scourge of abuse without abandoning our belief in the basic principles of justice. 

Rejoice, Be joyful, exult

Yes today is that Sunday, the Sunday when we break out the Rose (often pink) Vestment. 

In the entrance antiphon we are told to rejoice, to be joyful, and to exult. It all seems absolutely inappropriate given what we are living through at this moment. 

Preparing to celebrate for the first time in my 30 years of priesthood mess without a congregation I was walking through the entire missile and got stuck in the Creed.

We believe in one God the father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible.

Someone was telling me yesterday that there was a priest online saying that this was all the creation of the devil to destroy the Church. The problem with that theory is that the devil cannot create. Only God can create. We humans can manufacture. We take a tree and transform it into toilet paper but we cannot create the tree. 

In the gospel today the people assume that the man being born blind is a bad thing, that it must be punishment for sin. They cannot see the truth. Jesus proclaims that what they perceive as a curse is actually for the Glory of God. As a person born with a disability this gospel has had a profound affect in my life. It took me years to see it as a blessing and not a curse. 

The truth is that we are all born blind. We see only a tiny fragment of the universe. And yet, we claim to know so much. 

If I say the word bacteria, you think bad.  And yet,  they are an essential part of our world , of our bodies. If you killed all of the bacteria in your body you would die. 

Do we know why viruses exist? No. That is a part of the mystery. We may never know in this world. And we should pay no attention to those who offer facile answers to such a complex question

What we do know is this :

St John tells us: God is love.

St. Paul tells us : All things work together for good for those who love God. 

Just as the salvation of the world came through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we are going to see the glory of God through this virus. 

Look around we can already see it. People coming together and helping one another. Who would have ever imagined our government offering humanitarian aid to Iran.  We as a church are seeking new creative ways of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. 

we are people of Faith, Hope, and Love 

We can in fact Rejoice, because we know that God is always with us. We know that out of every Good Friday comes Easter

How firm is my faith

In the first reading today from the Book of the Prophet Hosea we hear,

What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away. 

Church as we knew it has been put on an indefinite hold. We can no longer come together and celebrate the Liturgy, as a Church. Some of our members have already lost their jobs, others are afraid they will be next, all of us are trying not to panic. 

It is moments like this that we need to remember that we are part of a Church that has been around for two millennia. We have been through this before and we have been through much worse. And our history shows that every time the Church has Gone through an event such as this we have come in it stronger. 

We are the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church established on the day of Pentecost by the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ as our Head. No power on earth can destroy us. 

Many times in our history the Faithful have been scattered to the four winds, forced to hide away, unable to come together to celebrate the sacraments. The prophet Hosea says of the people of his day that their piety is like a morning cloud or the dew, it passes away. In times of crisis personal piety, popular piety has been the glue that has bound us together. 

I would encourage each of you to grab hold of two thing: your Bible and your Rosary. 

In those moments of anxiety, nothing will calm you more than the rhythm of the Rosary, as you repeat those words allow yourself you be immersed in prayer. 

With your Bible, follow along with the readings of the Lenten Season available on the Bishops’ website. Or you can pick a book of the Bible a gospel such as Matthew would be my recommendation, and simply begin to read. 

We, the Church, have survived many times before and we absolutely will survive this. We will call on the Holy Spirit to show us how we can help our brothers and sisters in need and continue to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. This our faith and it sits on the firmest of foundations. 

St. Joseph, Husband of Mary

Today the Church takes a pause in the middle of Lent to turn our attention to Joseph. In terms of the historical person, we know almost nothing. And yet, he is the model for all men. While he not the biological father of Jesus, he carries out all of the other duties of a father. Today is a day to pray for all men, especially those who are fathers.

Many of our men work countless hours in order that they may provide for there families. So often in these true Christians fathers we see examples of quite selflessness.  I remember today my own father who was the ultimate introvert. Day after day he went to work in the local textile mill, and came home exhausted. He was not one to say “I love you” but showed his love through small gestures. 

Sadly, there are other men for whom we must pray, men who are merely biological fathers.  Let us today offer prayers that these men will come to understand and embrace the true meaning of fatherhood. 

Lastly, let us pray for all the men who are the truest copies of St. Joseph, foster fathers and other men who care for the children of others. One of our greatest cultural errors is that we think of child care as something maternal. Children need paternal love as well.

Today let us pray for all fathers as we celebrate St. Joseph 

Real St. Patrick’s Day

On any normal St. Patrick’s Day people all over the US, much more that in Ireland, would be throwing on something green and thinking about where they are going to eat, and drink, often way too much.  Little if any of it had anything to do with the saint. 

This year, as we are forced to abandon the gluttony, our best choice is to replace it with prayer and reflection. Time to sit down and actually read something about the life of St. Patrick.  And as we pray, include a prayer of St. Patrick.

Christ be with me, Christ within me

Christ behind me, Christ before me

Christ beside me, Christ to win me

Christ to comfort me and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger

Christ in hearts of all that love me

Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.

The Simplicity of God’s Mercy

In the first reading today, we encounter Naaman, the leper who goes to Elisha searching for a cure. 

The instructions he receives are simple: go and bathe seven times in the Jordan. 

Elisha does not wave his arms and jump around or demand that Naaman do anything complicated. Naaman is angry. He expects more. 

Some people can look at the sacrament of Penance and think, “It’s too easy. A person confessed to a priest, says a couple of prayers, and all is forgiven?” And our answer is “Yes!”, because that is the God we believe in, a God who loves us so much that he has provided a simple path to the forgiveness of our sin.

In this Lenten Season, let us turn to God. Let us accept the gift. In this time when we cannot do many other things, we can still go to our priests and bishops and individually receive the Sacrament of Penance. 

The need to argue

Some like to imagine that there was a time in the Church when Christians were one big happy family. Any of St. Paul’s letters show clearly that there has always been conflict in the community because it is made up of people. Conflict and argument will remain a part of the Church until we reach our perfection with the second coming of Christ. The question it seems is not how do we get ride of it but how do we love with it.   

There seem to be two equally erroneous but popular options.  One is to simply give up on the idea of unity and let everyone do whatever they wish. Everyone calls themselves Christian and the faith is reduced to using the name of Jesus.  The other extreme which some seem to promote involves a rigid uniformity, of action and thought. The Pope declares and all act accordingly. This model conflates unity and uniformity. It’s greatest flaw is that it is ahistorical. Such a Church never existed. 

Today the Church celebrates to great saints and great friends, Gregory and Basil. Both played important roles in shaping Christianity as we know it. Gregory the great writer and speaker would give us the language to talk about the trinity. Basil would shape monastic life in the East. Despite their deep friendship, the two were often at odds with one another. Their disagreements, rather than being the source of division became the crucible in which their ideas were refined. 

On this second day of the new year, our celebration of these two saints reminds us that it is precisely through disagreement that we are drawn into a deeper understanding of our faith.  Disagreement does not have to lead to division. There is a Christian way to argue. It requires the ability to truly listen.It requires the development of the virtue of patience. And most of all it requires us to constantly ask ourselves, do I really love this other person?  Without truly loving the other person the process can devolve into an ego exercise.

St. Gregory and St. Basil pray for us.