Cut It Down - Homily for March 24

Readings for Sunday, March 24 / 3rd Sunday of Lent:  Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15  |  Psalm 103  |  1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12  |  Luke 13:1-9

The readings this weekend both encourage and challenge us - God is with us, but He wants to see fruit from our lives.

Watch Your Mouth - Homily for March 3

Readings for Sunday, March 3 / 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time:  Sirach 27:4-7  |  Psalm 92  |  1 Corinthians 15:54-58  |  Luke 6:39-45

The Word of God speaks and it tells us to watch our own speech. What does your speech say about you?

Love is... - Homily for February 3

Readings for Sunday, February 3: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19  |  Psalms 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17  |  1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13  |  Luke 4:21-30

Better Than You Found It - Homily for November 19

Readings for Sunday, November 19 / 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31  |  Psalm 128  |  1 Thessalonians 5:1-6  |  Matthew 25:14-30

When God entrusts something to us, He expects us to make use of it. What blessings have been given to you? How can you use them to make the world a better place?

The Priest - Homily for November 5

Readings for Sunday, November 5 / 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10  |  Psalm 131  |  1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13  |  Matthew 23:1-12

The priest exercises an office of great dignity, but if he forgets the dignity is not his own he is the greatest of fools. Let us pray for our priests to recognize the dignity of their vocation and exercise humility in carrying it out. Let us pray, too, for more young men to respond to this great call to give one's life for the good of the Church.

Holy Mass: It is Right and Just - Homily for September 10

Readings for Sunday, September 10 / 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Ezekiel 33:7-9  |  Psalm 95  |  Romans 13:8-10  |  Matthew 18:15-20

This week the Lord reminds us that gathering to pray in community is powerful. We are not Christians who content ourselves with a 'Me & Jesus' approach to the faith. Rather, we are members of the Body of Christ and when we gather together the Lord fills us with His grace and then sends us out to do the same for others. 

We Found the Pearl - Homily for July 30

Readings for Sunday, July 30 / 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12  |  Psalm 119  |  Romans 8:28-30  |  Matthew 13:44-52

The pearl of great price and the hidden treasure, both of which we ought to be willing to sell all to

obtain, is the Catholic Church. Why? Because the Church is Christ Himself - we are the Body of Christ, she gives us the Words of Christ in the Scripture, she gives us the teaching of Christ, and we even receive the Body of Christ to truly make us united to His Body in flesh and blood. What a gift! And what sadness to go without it. 

Lent: The Plan - Homily for March 12

Readings for Sunday, March 12 / 2nd Sunday of Lent: Genesis 12:1-4  |  Psalm 33  |  2 Timothy 1:8-10  |  Matthew 17:1-9

God has a plan for you today. It involves your holiness and some hardship. Bear your share of the hardship in the Gospel and spread the joy of knowing Jesus Christ to all whom you meet.

Pre-Lent: Salt and Sand

Readings for Sunday, February 5 / 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Isaiah 58:7-10  |  Psalm 112  |  1 Corinthians 2:1-5  |  Matthew 5:13-16

On account of a crazy schedule this week, I will not be able to type up the text from the homily as preached.

Wake Up! - Homily for September 18

Readings for Sunday, September 18/ 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Amos 8:4-7 | Psalm 113 | 1 Timothy 2:1-8 | Luke 16:1-13

Wake-up calls - they come in a variety of ways, and at different times. It can be a pain in one's chest, or maybe bad news from the doctor, a late night phone call or the presence of the cops at your doorstep when you don't really want them to be there (of course when would that be). But they come - these wake-up calls - as a moment that shakes us and invites us to make a decision, some conversion of our own heart. And that's what the Gospel speaks to us this weekend - of the continue call to conversion, by the form of a little wake-up.

The dishonest steward is a parable that is rather confusing. When you first look at it and read through it, you kind of wonder what in the world Jesus is talking about as he is commending someone who is dishonest and stole from their master. What does it mean? He commends him not for his dishonesty, but his prudence because he recognizes what is taking place before him and he acts. The dishonest steward had apparently been doing this for a while, it was nothing new, that's why he was being reported to the master, and he was let go - he was fired. In some places sometimes it wouldn't have been that big of a deal, you could maybe look elsewhere, look at traveling around and connecting with other people. If things get really bad in our current day, you may be able to fall back upon some government assistance program, but none of those things were present in the ancient world: if you didn't work, you didn't eat, period. And so for him to be told, "You have no job. Make an account of all your works and what everyone owes me. You're done." would have been immediate desperation. He wouldn't have had something to rely upon, necessarily. And so, he realizes he is getting a wake-up call and we hear his internal dialogue, "I know I'm not strong enough to work with my hands. I'm not a physical laborer. I've been pushing the pen a little while longer, working with the books. I'm not a laborer, so I can't do that. I'm too ashamed to beg - I've got my pride. So what do I do?". He starts to think to himself and goes, "Ah, this is what I can  do." He calls in every one of his master's debtors one by one, and to each of them he gives a little discount. "How much do you owe? 100 measures of olive oil? Write a note for 50 - wink, wink - and remember that in the future." Then invites another one, "How much do you owe? 100 kors of wheat? Now write a note for 80, and when l come knocking at your door in the future, remember my generosity." He does this all the way through - dishonestly of course - he's already been dishonest with the wealth that wasn't his and he goes even farther all for himself.

And when the master realizes what the steward has done, he commends him. "Kudos to you man. You're smart. You’re wicked, but still smart, because you needed to provide for yourself. You knew that you had to have a future, and so you went to desperate measure to do it." The actions of the man weren't exactly foolproof, it wasn't a guaranteed thing. The steward could show up at the guy's door to whom we gave a 50% discount on the olive-oil measures, and he could say, "Yeah, thanks for that. Have a good night." and shut the door in his face. It was a gamble, and yet he knew he had to do something. He had to act.

The Lord Jesus doesn't just stop there, He doesn't invite us to be prudent in our actions and daily life. He takes it even farther. As always, He takes the physical connection and brings it into the spiritual level of things - the spiritual life.

How easy it is to forget the spiritual life. We get caught up with the things of the world. Those wake-up calls that come in the flesh are easy to recognize: the chest pains, when the bank account hits zero or negative, when you get bad news from the doctor - these things are physical and clear to us. But our soul doesn't send us a statement of how things are going spiritually. We don't get something that says, "You are going spiritually bankrupt. You need to take some time and figure out what's going on." Nothing of that sort happens. It happens quietly and subtly. We get caught up in worrying about the stuff of the world, and as we begin to take care of our self - and necessarily so (we need to have a roof over our head, clothes on our back and food on the table) - but if we focus on those things too much, it's easy for us to have all of those things and in the end to have nothing. That's what the Lord says, He says that you have nothing if you gain all the things in the world, but lose your soul. If we lose our soul, we have nothing. We can have all the food we want, we can have money for days, a dozen homes all to ourselves, but if our spiritual life is not "there," we've lost everything. So today the Lord gives us the wake-up call and asks, "How is your soul? Do you love God or do you love mammon - the things of the world?" How is your soul?

The wake-up call invites us to action, and that's what the Lord praises and the master praises in the servant. The servant sees that things are about to get bad and he immediately changes course because if he waits until next week he's out of a job completely and doesn't even have the resources to tap into the people he knows, so he has to do something and has to do it now. Do we realize the urgency of our spiritual life in the same manner?

I love technology - it's wonderful because it's helpful in so many ways. One of the things I love is the technology to-do list that can update, connect between my phone and my computer, the real-time updates that can remind me of things to do at certain times. But part of the problem with technology is it's easy to change it. I've had items on my to-do list for a year and a half that every single night, I go look at the list and think, "I'll do that tomorrow" and change the date. And for a year and a half - 500 days - every single day, I've taken that one little to-do item (that would probably take me 10 minutes) and move it because I don't feel like doing it right then. One more day. I'll do it tomorrow ... I'll do it tomorrow .... I'll do it tomorrow.

What's the thing you've been waiting to do until tomorrow in the spiritual life? Been meaning to go to Mass more often during the week, been meaning to make it more on Sundays, been wanting to pray the rosary a little bit more, been wanting to pray a little bit more, been meaning to go back and pick up that devotion I used to do a while back that I just let go a little bit, been meaning to pray the Bible, been meaning to go to confession, been meaning to talk to Father about that question I have about the faith. Been meaning to .... whatever. What's that thing? What's that place in your heart that the Lord is saying, "Wake up and do it! Don't wait for tomorrow. Don't wait until next week. Do it now." Because if we wait until tomorrow, next week, next month, or when we have a free moment whenever we feel like doing it, we will be here a year and a half later saying "Maybe tomorrow ..." Especially in the spiritual life - the spiritual life is everything. When we die, our soul is judge; it's our bodies that decay and wait resurrection later on. Our soul lives on. it's the most important part of us, and today we get the invitation to reflect upon the state of it. How is your soul?

The Joy of Imperfection

Readings for Sunday, December 27/ Holy Family Sunday:
1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
Psalm 128
1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Luke 2:41-52

Merry Christmas! Here I make my annual encouragement to keep those Christmas decorations up as we have only just begun the Christmas season. We have another two weeks of reflecting on the profound implications of the Incarnation of the Son of God. Today Mother Church celebrates the feast of Holy Family and invites us to reflection upon the mystery that the Son not only took on our humanity in flesh and blood, but that He even grew up in the midst of a family to be like us in all things but sin.

The Gospel we just heard about the finding of the Lord at the Temple is one of those that can be something of a sigh of relief for us all, and particularly for parents. We know that the Holy Family – the incarnate Son of God, the sinless ever Virgin Mary, and the pure and holy St. Joseph – is a model for families to look to and imitate, but I’ve heard from several people that they struggle with that model because it seems, well…perfect. The passage we just heard helps us to realize that while Jesus, Mary, & Joseph were sinless, that doesn’t mean that they were perfect. Sinless, but not perfect. I’m sure there were many nights when little baby Jesus didn’t sleep straight through the night (especially with that little drummer boy parumpapumpuming outside the door) and Mary and Joseph struggled to tend to His needs. I’m sure there were times when they were at their wits end trying to raise their son and discern what was best for Him. I bet that Mary and Joseph on at least a few occasions had little disagreements themselves that might have strained things a little bit. These and more remind us that thought they were sinless, they weren’t perfect.  

On Friday I was taking part in the annual tradition that my family often observes on Christmas Day of watching the movie A Christmas Story, the story of little Ralphie and his own experience of imperfect family life. As I sat there watching it I began to tie that experience with the story of the Holy Family and three things came to my mind and heart.

The first thing that struck me was ‘The Scott Farkus Incident’ when Ralphie beats up the bully that had been chasing he and his friends around the whole movie. As he was on top of the boy punching him relentlessly, a string of obscenities came out of his mouth that he didn’t foresee, intend, or have any ability to stop. The interesting thing about that is that it was exactly what his father would do at various points throughout the movie – sputtering and muttering a string of (more growls than actual words) obscenities. His father was an example that he followed to the ‘t’, although the example wasn’t really a good one. In contrast we have the Holy Family in the Gospel going up to offer the festival sacrifice in Jerusalem. They fact is that they, too, were setting an example. It was Jesus custom that only the father of the family had to go to Jerusalem to offer the sacrifice on behalf of the family, but St. Luke tells us that they all three were going up and that it was their normal custom to do so. Mary and Joseph were not only fulfilling obligations but were going above and beyond them, travelling together to celebrate their faith and to honor the Lord God. They were setting the example quite clearly for Jesus that ‘this is our faith and we are proud to profess it’ (as our baptismal rites remark).  They set the example and we can be sure that the child Jesus had learned the implications of it over the years.

The second things that struck me about the movie was when Ralphie went to help his dad change the car tire. What caught my ear was his response when his mom suggested that he go help: “Never had it even been suggested that I help my father with anything.” And as he hopped out of the car to help you could see the delight on his face and the enthusiasm in his voice. I know for myself that I can easily miss the immense good that can come from inviting others to do things along with us. Whether it’s children, grandchildren, godchildren, nieces, nephews, someone else’s kids, or even our peers or elders, there is a great gift in asking others to help with things. I can remember countless times where I was asked to help fix something or paint something at my house, knowing full well that my parents would have to go back and re-do it and clean up the mess I’d made trying to do it the first time. The bigger picture is that when we invite others to join with us, we honor their dignity and show them that they are loved and wanted. St. Joseph showed that same things to Jesus in this journey. It was custom also in the Jewish world that boys would become men in the eyes of the law at the age of 13 and would begin making journeys to the Temple soon themselves and so the fathers would begin to take them along when they were 11 or 12 to get used to the trip and introduce them to their faith. St. Joseph was essentially bringing Jesus along not only because Mary was coming but also to help him transition to manhood. I wonder what conversations were had. Did he teach him about the paths to take or places to stop along the way? Did they discuss the prayers that are prayed and what sacrifices are done and how? Did he explain why these things were done to begin with and help the boy to grasp the honor he was giving God? Surely the boy Jesus knew these and many other things, but it was at the invitation of Joseph that He began to be truly a son of the Father under the Law. How often do we do the same in our own lives?

The last point that this passage and the movie highlighted were that it is okay not to be perfect. When God took on flesh He did so not in a way that was sanitary and clean, away from our sinfulness and messiness. He was born in a place where there was no home to stay in and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for the animals. He came not to avoid the messiness of life but to walk with us in it and to sanctify us by it. We may not be sinless like the Holy Family, but we are called to do our best in the midst of the messiness that is this life. We are called to holiness not separated from our daily life, but in the course of it. And this the Holy Family teaches us. Jesus misunderstood, Mary and Joseph were frustrated and anxious. But at the end, they went home and all continue to grow in God’s grace and favor. May the Holy Family watch over us always and help us to be holy families to shine for others.

Hidden Saints

A few of the saints...

Readings for Sunday, November 1/ All Saints Day:
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14

Psalm 24
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Today we have the joy of celebrating in the Sunday celebration the feast of All Saints, that blessed feast when we call to mind the great crowd on men and women who have gone before us and reign gloriously with Jesus in Heaven. One of the awesome points is the universality expressed by such a fact: that all are called to Heaven. Male and female, rich and poor, old and young, regardless of time or place or any other factor that is found in this world. If you are a human, you are called to heavenly life, called to be a saint.

In other homilies I’ve mentioned the fact rather clearly that you and I are called to be saints and from time to time I hear remarks to the effect that ‘Father, I certainly can’t be a saint!’ My response is simply this: you can and you must, for there is but one fate for those who are not saints and it’s not a pleasant one. To be a saint is not necessarily to be a superhero of the spiritual life. Too often when we think of saints we call to mind those great men and women of faith whose lives are models of sanctity to which it would indeed be difficult for us to attain. St. Jean Vianney would survive for days at a time on a few meager bites of old potatoes. St. Pio of Pietrelcina endured the wounds of the stigmata for some 50 years. St. John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt and them went to forgive the shooter personally. St. Francis of Assisi in his zeal to strip himself of all earthly things began to give away his possessions and when confronted by his father who said, ‘You cannot give everything away, for that tunic was purchased with my money!’ stripped himself naked in the middle of town and went away to go find some scraps of cloth with which to make a new wardrobe. Now, I’m pretty sure we’re not called to strip naked in town at this point, that was presumably one of those events that just had to happen once in the life of the Church to mark it off the list. I mean, we’re going to be in Heaven for eternity, it’s good to have a great store of stories to fall back on to tell! But more seriously, those are the images we often recall when we think of saints, but the truth is that for every one of those great saints there is a great number of humble quiet saints who are enjoying the fruit of a life lived well, though not notably. Is this not what we profess in our faith?

As I was driving around the area blessing graves this weekend I noticed the great many cemeteries in the area – family cemeteries, public ones, and ones connected to various congregations – all full of stones marking the faithful departed. How many thousands just in our little slice of the world have died with the belief that they would be given the reward of their labors in this life? Are they not saints? I sure hope they are, or at least on their way!

Regardless of whether one’s life is a light shining on a mountaintop for the world to see or hidden in the Heart Christ, the call remains the same: to become saints. And to accomplish this we look to those who have gone before us as models and intercessors. The prayers of the Mass remind us of these realities over and over. They are models for us to follow, images into which we look and discern how we might imitate them. Here is the beauty of the universality of the saints in Heaven – that there’s a patron saint for anything and everything you can endure in this life. Are you a teenager (most of us here aren’t) but there’s a patron saint for you – St. Maria Goretti, whose relic happens to be here on the altar today. Do you like shooting handguns? There’s a patron saint of handgunners, St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, who is also here on the altar. Do you suffer from headaches? St. Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of people who suffer from headaches. Did you know there’s a patron saint of the internet? True story. It’s St. Isidore, who happens also to be the patron saint of farmers. Maybe the Church in her wisdom is subtly telling those who spend much time on the internet to go outside and play in the dirt once in a while? These and others are the ones who have walked the paths before us and provide us a model of how to live and can intercede for us on account of their special connections to us. Just as we’re attracted to people with whom we have things in common, so it is with the saints. And not just that – there are saints we can pray to as patrons of our parish, diocese, ones whose feast lies on our birthday, baptismal day, confirmation, wedding, children’s birthday and more. Saints all over the place! And rightly so. It’s the normal course of the Christian life to become a saint, Pope Francis reminds us, but it is a course that must be chosen. And here is the key to everything: choosing.

St. Paul of the Cross

The closing line of the reading from Revelation that we heard noted the great crowd before John, saying of them, “These are the ones who have survived the great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They survived the great distress. In other words, they bore the cross God offered to them. They knew that the cross of Jesus was His throne of glory and their own crosses were the ladders to heaven and they rejoiced to climb them. This is how to become saints: by accepting what comes our way from Christ in such a way as to turn it into our glory. To do all things for love of Jesus. And if you struggle with carrying your cross, St. Paul of the Cross founded the Passionist Fathers, whose community shows us the joy of the cross - he's here on the altar too. Pray to him. Pray to all of them. Pray that we can become the saints we’re called to be.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

St. Ann, pray for us.

St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

All you holy men and women, pray for us.

Going to the Breach (no, not the beach)

Readings for Sunday, October 4/ 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 128
Hebrews 2:9-11
Mark 10:2-16

The year was 1571. The Church was experiencing attacks from all sides and was reeling in response, trying to bring some calm to the storm that had brought such devastation. Some years before Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the local church and started a revolution that resulted in the breaking up of the Body of Christ. Others soon followed in his footsteps of protest and continued the divisions. The Council of Trent went to work to bring about some healing in the Body and to revisit Catholic teaching when so many things came to be questioned. As if this weren’t enough, the Church experienced attacks from outside as well. The Ottoman Empire had continued to grow in power and spread steadily toward Christian Europe. The nearness of the armies was a cause of great concern, as European culture and the future of the Christian faith itself both hung in the balance with each victory by their Muslim opponents. Fortunately the Holy Spirit had been at work and brought Pope Pius V to be elected Pope. He, seeing the invasion draw nearer, encouraged the whole Christian community to pray the rosary daily for a positive outcome in the battle that would soon take place, and so it was done. October 7 of that year saw the Holy League ships stumble upon those of the Ottoman Empire at sea and, though lacking strategy and with fewer men and ships, the battle was begun. Miraculously the Christian army came out victorious, the spread of the Ottoman Empire was kept at bay, and the Holy Father proclaimed a universal feast of ‘Our Lady of Victory’ for October 7 on account of the power of the rosary and Our Lady’s prayers. This feast continues today under a new title, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, and will be celebrated again this Wednesday for over the 400^th time.

The feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary highlights the fact that the rosary is not just a way for us to meditate and encounter God in His mysteries. It is also a very powerful weapon. St. Padre Pio knew this well as when he was too ill to move around he would ask the friar assisting him ‘Brother, get me my weapon’ and it was the rosary that was placed in his hand. Indeed the rosary, when prayed collectively and with fervor and focus can change history. So I invite you to join with me in praying the rosary for a new battle that is taking place. This new battle is not one involving weaponry or military tactics – it’s a battle that is being waged against the family in the world today. St. John Paul II often noted that ‘as the family goes, so goes society’ and we need only take a cursory glance around to see that society is not doing so well. Mass murders & genocides, name-calling and hatred in all directions, a loss of respect for human life in general. In our own community where years ago you had no need whatsoever of a lock on your front door, today we have not only locks but bars and alarms. Society is not doing well and the reason is because the family is not doing well.

Today (Sunday) begins the Synod on the Family that we’ve been waiting for since this time last year. Bishops, cardinals, theologians, and lay men and women from across the world gather once more for three weeks to discuss the family – the gift of the family, the challenges faced by families today, and the vocation of the family. Pray the rosary for the participants at the Synod, that they might be able to discern what is it that God desires to highlight in each of these areas and how it is that the Church can help families in their journey together toward the Lord. But pray not only for the Synod participants, but pray also for your own families. ‘This Hail Mary is for Aunt Suzie, this one for cousin Johnny, this one for grandma or grandpa…” Never underestimate the value of those prayers prayed with a pure heart and loving intention. It can change history.

At this point I want to change course a bit and get into the scriptures we just heard, but I want to focus the homily specifically to the men here today. I recognize that there are a number of women here and I don’t mean to exclude you from the points being made. I’ve been to many a talk on Holy Matrimony and though I’m not married and will never be getting married, the talks still encouraged me in my own vocation and faith. I pray, ladies, that the same can be said for you about what follows.

Men: this week Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix issued a letter to the men of his diocese entitled “Into the Breach” (found HERE). I have copies available in the back of the church for every man here to pick one up and take it home to read through. It’s a simple document that looks at us and discusses the role of Catholic men in the Church, what it means to be a Catholic man, what a Catholic man’s spiritual life looks like, and the importance of fathers, grandfathers, godfathers and so on. In essence it helps to break open what we heard in the scripture just a moment ago.

The Lord Jesus is tested once again with a question about whether a man can issue a bill of divorce to his wife. Jesus inquires what Moses said and they happily respond that Moses permitted it. “But for the hardness of your hearts Moses permitted it!” the Lord responds, but from the beginning it was no so. Jesus acknowledges the teaching of Moses, but demonstrates that such a thing was more of ‘Plan B’ when men weren’t strong enough to live the commandments. He then moves to ‘Plan A’ when God first created man and woman, husband and wife. Genesis is the model that we are called to follow because we have the grace of Jesus Christ at our fingertips and can do all things through Him who strengthens us. And so the call is to return to the first model, that set up by the Lord God Himself. I want to highlight for our reflection three points:

First, Adam is cooperating with God in the building up of the world. Later on we will see an Adam who has sinned and is hiding behind the bushes, scared to encounter His Lord. But that is not yet. Here Adam is fully present to God, assisting in the work of the Garden’s beautification. My brothers: what does our union with God look like? What does my relationship with the Father look like? How do our conversations with Him go? Am I aware that there are supposed to be conversations to begin with? Am I in union with God, or am I sometimes hiding behind the bushes afraid of what might happen if we step forward into the path of the Creator? What does my relationship with God look like?

Secondly, Adam gives a name to Eve. In this context, to name something was to exercise some dominion over it. In naming the animals Adam was taking up a responsibility in caring for each of them and ensuring that they would be able to attain their own perfection. In the same manner the Lord creates Eve and Adam gives her a name, ‘woman.’ The man Adam now has an obligation that he’s been given by God to protect, to care for, and to build up the life of woman and all that issue forth from her, their children, not because she couldn’t but simply because it was his calling. This was actually the first fault of man in the scriptures. Often we think it’s that Eve at of the forbidden fruit, but if we are attentive to the details it says that she ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. The problem was that the serpent (the literal meaning would be more like ‘dragon’) came to trick Eve into eating the fruit and Adam, though there, failed to step into the breach and defend his wife. We see here the ancient fulfillment of the words spoken by Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph evil is for good men to do nothing.” The invitation is for me today to not fall into the same trap. What the family needs today are men willing to step into the breach and fight for the life of their loved ones, not just in the earthly sense but also in the heavenly. To have men who are the first to call the family to pray together. The first to lead the blessing at meals, to do a family rosary, to sit down with the Bible and pray together as a family, to lead by example at Mass and in celebrating our faith in the midst of the world by selfless service to others. Are we willing to step into the breach in that way?

The last point for our reflection is that when Adam beholds the woman he joyfully shouts ‘At last, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ and he clings to his wife. Clings to her! The other day I wrapped up some veggies on a plate and when I tried to get the cling wrap off the plate, I had quite a time. It was tight on the plate and when I tried to peel part of it, other parts stuck back to the plate. It wasn’t that cheap stuff that just easily peels off and is quickly set aside; it clung to the plate. It’s about a willingness to be faithful first and foremost. To cling to one’s spouse and never to permit anything to come between you. And to show your love for her, and for your larger family, by signs of loves – embracing them like Jesus, blessing them, give your wife a kiss when you come home or when you leave, to exchange signs of affirm over and over the fact that you are one flesh. It is often the case that we men are reluctant to be vulnerable, to open our hearts to others, or to allow our love to be shown or spoken – but these are things that our families need and deserve from us.

This is the way that God desired it to be from the beginning; alive in God, willing to take up our mission, and able to cling to our beloved. My brothers, the battle is begun and casualties have already resulted. May God grant us the courage to step into the breach for love of Him and for love of the gift that is our family.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.