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.

Bridges

Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado

Readings for Sunday, May 18/ 5th Sunday of Easter:
Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12

I’ve always loved bridges. They fascinate me because of their function but also, often, because of their beauty. The highest bridge in the U.S. over Royal Gorge in Colorado, the longest rope bridge east of the Mississippi, and double-decker bridge leading into Cincinnati, and the numerous bridges sprinkled all across South Louisiana each in their own way give me pause to contemplate something incredible as travel over them – the ability to unite things that seem utterly separate.

That concept, though I never put it in such words, is what drew me to consider the vocation of the priesthood. In fact, in the early Church, the priest was often referred to by the Latin term ‘pontifex,’ which means ‘bridge-builder,’ because every priest is supposed to build bridges to unite humanity with the Divine. It’s the whole nature of the priesthood really and they do it by offering sacrifices. The role of the priest in the ancient Israelite community was to offer sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people to keep them safe in His care. The ordained priest today does a similar action by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and prescribed prayers each day to permit people to draw into communion with the Lord. The priest is a bridge-builder and the sacrifices that the priest offers are the means to building those bridges and strengthening them.

But the thing is this: it’s not just me and other ordained priests who are called to be bridge-builders. All of us are called to be bridge-builders and the Lord is inviting us to stop today to contemplate how good of a job we are doing.

Now here is where we get a bit theological, but stick with me! In First Peter we just heard of a people that is “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own.” We are that people! This phrasing was originally intended for the Jewish people but with the coming of Jesus is universalized and applied to every person who receives the gift of Baptism. Our baptismal ritual reminds us that every person baptized in Christ Jesus is anointed priest, prophet, and king. Christ Jesus is the One High Priest but because we are members of the Body of Christ by baptism, we participate also in His priesthood. Ordained priests do so in a different way, but we all participate in the priesthood of Jesus. But what does that priesthood look like? 

We hear the answer in the Preface before the Eucharistic Prayer today: Jesus Christ comes among us as the priest, the altar, and the lamb of sacrifice. This is significant because before Jesus, the priest and the sacrificial offering were distinct from one another - the priest offered a lamb, bull, wheat, etc. - but Jesus changes everything and makes the priest himself the offering, he is the one sacrificed. And the same with us. St. Paul put it this way in the Letter to the Romans: “I urge you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” (12:1) To put it simply, the sacrifice that all of the baptized members of the Church are called to offer God in a priestly manner is their whole self: we give ourselves to God in offering, we give Him everything that we have, everything that we are, everything that we desire, everything that we fear, our whole life with nothing held back. That is what God desires of us. Our whole life is supposed to be a priestly act, an act of sacrifice that works to build up bridges between those around us and the God that loves us all.

We're hopefully all working as bridge-builders to some degree now, but for every one of us, myself included, there is still room to grow and become even better at drawing people to God. And there are three concrete things we can do to make that happen.

First – to use the words of Pope St. Pius X, “Don’t pray AT Holy Mass. Pray THE Holy Mass.” The best way that we can be better instruments of bringing people to Jesus is to get closer to Jesus our self and the place where that happens is here at Mass. If we enter into this celebration more deeply, things change. If we listen to the prayers and pray them for ourselves, if we spend time with the readings and question where God is speaking to us, if we offer our needs and the needs of others at the appropriate times in the Mass, we will be changed and that will change others. If we want to build bridges to bring people to God, there's not better way than to celebrate the most miraculous bridge in Eucharistic Holy Communion.

Second – sacrifice for others. There are a variety of ways to do this. We can offer a sacrifice of prayers for people and spend time praying for them. We can fast or abstain from food, drink, entertainment, or some luxury for conversion of others. We can offer up a sacrifice of our desire and do something with or for them so that they can see love in action. God alone changes hearts, but He often waits for us to ask Him to do so. So let us ask and offer some gift to help the bridge come together.

Third – be willing to be used. Sometimes one of the best ways to be a bridge between God and humanity is to simply invite people to get closer to God. This can be an invite to join you at Mass, return to confession, gathering for prayer as friends, or scripture sharing with a group. It can be by talking about your faith to encourage them in theirs. It can be a whole host of things. But often we can shrink back in fear of what others might think, say, feel, or do if we bring God into the picture. Be not afraid of what might happen but remember that God often speaks to us through others and that sometimes He wants to speak through us as well. 

I always loved bridges. But as much as I love marveling at them, it is much more beautiful to be one ourselves. Countless others of our family and friends and helped us draw near to God by building bridges to connect us to Him. May God grant us today the grace to continue building bridges for others so we can truly be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people all his own.

HWP: Prayer for Life

Today, January 22nd, is the 41st Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in our country. Since then, over 55,000,000 of the most vulnerable people among us have been slain in the name of choice rather than cherished as the gift they are. Let us offer today this prayer from the Roman Missal from the Mass in Thanksgiving for Human Life:

God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother's womb; grant, we pray, that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

In addition to the prayer, you are invited to join by also offering up some physical mortification (fasting, abstaining, etc.) as an additional sacrifice on behalf of the sins committed and that hearts might be changed to end this evil and heal the wounds it has inflicted upon our nation and world.

Octaves, Novenas, and Pilgrimage, Oh My!

Hello everyone! Tomorrow morning we shall have nine buses of youth from our diocese heading north to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. I ask your prayers for our safe travel, for conversion of hearts among our group, and conversion of hearts for the people of our nation, especially those who enact laws, that we might be a people who thirst for God. Additionally, there are some big opportunities for an outpouring of grace in this coming week. 

Beginning on Saturday, January 18, we will celebrate the Octave of Christian Unity (which gains a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions) as well as the 'Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage' Campaign by the USCCB. These prayers and mortifications are sure to bring many souls to Christ and to win much merit for us in offering them.

For the Octave of Unity

Each day of the Octave the prayer 'Omnipotens Deus' is offered for the particular intention of the day.

January 18: For the return of the "other sheep" to the One Fold of our Lord Jesus Christ.
January 19: For the return of the Eastern Orthodox Christians to communion with the Apostolic See. January 20: For the return of the Anglicans to the authority of the Vicar of Christ.
January 21: For the return of all Protestants throughout the world to the unity of the Catholic Church.
January 22: That Christians in America may be one, in union with the Chair of Saint Peter.
January 23: That lapsed Catholics will return to the Sacraments of the Church.
January 24: That the Jewish people will be converted to the Catholic Faith.
January 25: That missionary zeal will conquer the world for Christ.

Pray: + That they may all be one, as Thou, Father, in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Let us pray. Almighty and merciful God, who wished to gather the scattered nations into one people through your Son, grant that those who glory in the name of Christians may put aside division and become one in truth and charity, and that all men may be illumined by the true faith and brought together into the fraternal communion of one Church. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage

Each day there are selected readings, prayers for reflection, and invitations to offer penances. As they are rather extensive, I figured simply linking to them would be better. Click HERE to download a copy of the novena in PDF format, download the phone app, receive prayers by email or receive prayers by text message. 

Circumcision, Adoption, and Us

Readings for Sunday, January 1/ Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God:
Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

All of us go through life and experience different things and those things – our baggage, in a sense – color the way we understand and interact with the situations, places, and people we encounter later in life. My own life experience greatly changes the way that I pray with the passage I just quoted from St. Paul because I was actually adopted shortly after my birth. To contemplate receiving ‘adoption as sons’ isn’t some lofty thought for me, but is strikingly concrete. I think of the decisions parents have to make about when, how, and if they should tell the child about their adoption. I think about the struggle to understand what it means to be adopted. I think about the occasional ‘out of place’ feeling that still makes it’s way into my heart and the frustration of having to say “I don’t know” to my family history on medical forms. That’s how I approach this simple sentence of the story of being brought into the family of God. It’s tough sometimes, it can be a bit messy, and it doesn’t happen without planning, preparation, and a price tag.

This past weekend I took a little road trip up to Ohio to visit my family up there and met up with my cousin Britt. He and his wife are working on adopting a child into their family and he was telling me all of the plans, preparation, and prices to make that a reality. It turns out that a family has to have $12,000 before they can even start the process because of legal fees and all sorts of hoops that one must jump through to be able to adopt. But the truth, my brothers and sisters, is that when Jesus Christ took on our flesh and came among us as a child, the price was much higher than $12,000.

God had the plan drawn up from all creation. He knew when He created Adam & Eve that they would fall and that they and their descendents would need a savior. He knew everything that would happen in all of time before time even began. He knew that you would be there tonight in the spot you are with the people you’re with and even the color of shirt you’d choose to wear. He’s God. He doesn’t predetermine things where we lose our freedom, but He does know all that will happen. And so He set out His plan and began to bring it to fulfillment. Those of you who attended the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve heard the Gospel of Matthew wherein he gave the genealogy of Jesus… ‘Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, and so on down to Jesus’. Through the Old Testament we can look to the many ways that God was preparing His people for what was to come; how the crossing of the Red Sea prepared the way for baptism, how the Manna in the desert prepared the way for the Eucharist, and how the prophets all spoke of the Christ who was to come. All of those things God was preparing for our adoption. And then the day came to make it happen, to pay the price and make us adopted sons and daughters of a heavenly Father.

The Circumcision from the Workshop of Giovanni Bellini

This first day of the New Year, the Octave of Christmas, in the Ordinary Form of the Mass (the Mass of Vatican II) we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This title of Our Lady emphasizes the fact that she indeed bore God in her own womb and gave birth to the Word Made Flesh. But in the Extraordinary Form Mass (the Mass prior to Vatican II/Traditional Latin Mass), this feast is that of the Circumcision of the Lord. This is so because in the Jewish tradition, on the eighth day after birth every male child would be circumcised and given their name as a sign of being brought into the family of God, the people of Israel. Interestingly enough, we Christians also have a circumcision that we must undergo to be brought into the family of God. But rather than a circumcision of the flesh, it is one of the heart. In baptism, we are brought before the Lord and by the blessed waters, original sin is cut from our hearts and we are joined to the Church, the Body of Christ, the family of God. And there, too, we are given our name in the Lord. That’s why the first line of the baptism ritual even today is ‘What name have you given your child?’ All of us have been circumcised in our hearts, brought into the family of God and made sons and daughters of the Father. But the truth is that we must continue to undergo a circumcision of our hearts to be able to rejoice in the riches of the kingdom. There are still sins that each of us cling to in this life, things that we have joined ourselves to that pull us away from God and try to take us out of the family. Things that the devil tries to use to make us think we don’t belong here. And the Lord invites us today to let Him come to us once again and cut those things away, to set aside the old and rejoice in the new. Christ paid a heavy price for our adoption as sons a daughters  - that of His own life and blood. Are we really willing to do the same for Him?

I realize I’m saying this and some of you are probably thinking, ‘Wow, Father, we were all joyful at the start of a New Year and came looking for a nice pick-me-up homily to cap off the Christmas octave but you’re being sort of a downer today.’ I recognize that. But think about this as well. When Jesus came among us He didn’t come in a nice little nativity scene like we have in the sanctuary. He was born in a cave, where the animals were kept, and He was laid in a manger, a feeding trough. I may be a city boy, but I have been to enough farms and barns to know that animals don’t smell nice and they aren’t neat freaks. They can be pretty disgusting at times, and yet that’s the place where Jesus comes. It’s not pretty, but it’s reality. Also, think about the fact that on December 25 we celebrate Christmas, the birthday of Jesus, the King of Peace! Then on the 26^th, St. Stephen the Martyr. On the 27^th, St. John the Apostle, the only one of the 12 Apostles not martyred. On the 28^th, the Holy Innocents, that army of youths slain in attempts to kill the Christ child. On the 29^th, St. Thomas Becket, who was martyred for the faith in England. Are you sensing a trend?! The King of Peace comes indeed, but the message is clear: the peace is not necessarily of this world but of the world to come. Should we strive to attain peace in this life? Absolutely! Should we be surprised if we don’t receive it like we want? No. That’s the journey of this life, the purifying fire, if you will. That’s one reason that I wear the particular vestments that I do. You have likely noticed that at almost every Mass I wear this extra vestment on my left arm. It’s called a maniple. It is a handkerchief and, since the priest’s hands were touching the Body of Christ, it was tied around the left arm so that when he needed to wipe off his face from the sweat of the work of celebrating Mass, he could do so without using his hands. After years it became an official vestment of the priest and the prayer that accompanies it when vesting speaks of it in reference to the ‘tears and sorrows’ of this life. Living the faith isn’t easily. But the word of consolation is this: Christ has taken on our flesh and was brought into the family of God on Earth so that we might be adopted into the family of God in Heaven. We are sons and daughters of a heavenly Father whose love knows no bounds, and that love promises that we his children are not just sons and daughters but also heirs of the Kingdom.

A Little Indulgence...

Readings for Sunday, November 3/ 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10

Today we hear the story of Zacchaeus, the wee little man, a wee little was he. He climbed up in a sycamore for the Lord he wanted to see. I don’t know if y’all had that children’s song in the Catholic Church but as a Methodist it’s how I learned about this passage, which thankfully is much deeper than just a simple children’s song. What strikes me about this passage is that the Lord reaches out to Zacchaeus first. Zacchaeus just climbs the tree because he wants to see this Jesus passing by, not like others who are compelled to touch Him or His cloak. And Jesus it is who calls out first and says He wants to go to Zacchaeus’ house. In that the Lord reveals His love for Zacchaeus. It is only then that Zacchaeus promises to give half of his belongings to the poor and to pay back fourfold what he had attained wrongly. After experiencing God’s love and even forgiveness, we see him giving something to make up for what he had done in the past.

When we go to Confession, we receive the forgiveness of our sins but the reality is that while our sins are forgiven there is still due to us some punishment due to us because of our sins. The wages of sin, St. Paul tells us, is death, and so every sin brings upon us some justly deserved punishment. But it’s not really a punishment like we usually think of it. Sin is often thought in our minds to be just the breaking of a rule, but we miss the greater part of the reality of sin if we limit it to rule-breaking. It is actually a wound in the relationship we have with our self, our neighbors, and, most importantly, our God. The punishment is found in the fact that it takes something on our part to build that relationship back up; we must make up for what we have hurt, just like Zacchaeus.

While there are many ways that God’s grace can come to us to help alleviate some of these punishments, there are some very specific ones that the Church holds out to us in what is traditionally known as indulgences. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that an indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven.” Again, it’s doing something to alleviate the punishments due after we’ve already been forgiven.

Indulgences have often gotten a bad reputation because there were times in centuries past where if you bought a brick for the parish church you got an indulgence, if you bought a whole bunch of bricks you got a whole bunch of indulgences and there were some who thought they could do whatever they wanted in this life and just build a church and more or less buy salvation. That’s not the case. Also, in the earlier part of the century we had a plethora of holy cards with a little note on the back of ‘100 days indulgence’, ‘300 days indulgence’, 500 days indulgence’ – you always wanted the 500 days indulgence ones! – and would often count the days we had gained up. Things have been simplified since then and days are not attached, but the underlying truth is that we still should strive to gain these graces because we are all sinners and in need of the freedom from punishments deserved.

While many of you may not be familiar with the term indulgence or with the practice of trying to gain them, they are indeed a very important part of the life of the Church and you’re likely doing some things already that are indulgenced without realizing it. Things such as serving the poor, praying the rosary, spending time in Eucharistic Adoration, praying approved prayers to the saints, teaching catechism and other such things. All of these are opportunities for us to mend that relationship with God. With these particular prayers and actions, and the many others that are approved by the Church, we have to recognize that it’s not just doing the action that wins us freedom from punishment like it’s some sort of magic trick. Rather, the Church says that is we have the right disposition of heart and we intentionally do these things we will be able to receive the grace of remission of punishment. The main things are to be aware of the opportunity to gain the graces and to have the right dispositions to do so.

Most of the things mentioned above are ‘partial indulgences’ which means that the punishment is only partially removed. These types of indulgences are available as often as we do them and can be gained many times throughout the day. There is also a plenary indulgence – or a complete remission of the punishment – that can be gained once a day each day. Those require specific actions from us including a reciting the Creed, praying for the Holy Father’s intentions (an Our Father and Hail Mary), going to Communion that day, making a good confession within 20 days before or after, and being free from all attachment to sin in our hearts. Those conditions plus other specific things gain a great many graces for us, but also for others.

Just as we can pray for one another here on Earth, we can also pray for those who have preceded us in death and the saints can pray for us too. I mention this because November 1-8 are special days of indulgences in the Church. We can gain a plenary indulgence for ourselves on November 1 and on November 2-8 if we visit a cemetery and pray for the faithful departed, as well as the other prayers above, we can gain a plenary indulgence for them! It’s a great gift of charity to take the time to do such an action because it could well be the thing that permits that soul to enter into eternal glory with God in Heaven. And you better believe that if you’ve helped them in any way get to Heaven they will be eternally grateful (literally) and will pray for us as we journey in this life and through any purgatory time we might have ourselves. Not that it should be done for selfish reasons, but that’s not a bad bonus there!

To conclude, I just encourage all of you to learn about indulgences, continue to open yourselves to God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and seek out these blessed opportunities to receive indulgences for ourselves and others, that we all might rejoice together in the goodness of our God and the glory of what is to come.

Standing at the Foot of a Cross

Below is a little talk that I was asked to give at the Baton Rouge 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil. The 40 Day campaign prays to end abortion and heal the wounds it causes in individuals, families and our culture. It begins today (September 26) and continues until November 4 - please consider joining in it with your prayers but also with your presence, if possible, at the abortion clinic near you. For the Baton Rouge and Louisiana area, more information is on the official website HERE.

Standing at the Foot of the Cross: Prayer at the Abortion Facility

Throughout my formation for priestly ministry one thing we frequently heard was that with all of our training and preparation, the often most influential part of our ministry would not be the part that we would speak with our lips but rather the part that we would speak by our lives. While the right word or prayer can sometimes be a powerful thing in ministering to others, quite often it is simply our silent presence that impresses itself most deeply upon a person’s heart and memory.

When 2000 years ago Our Lord climbed upon that Sacred Cross on Calvary to win for us salvation, He did not do so alone. With Him, the scriptures tell us, were His mother Mary, the Apostle John and several others who remained at His side until the end. In the silence of their hearts they bore the pain of seeing the Son of God pierced and dying; and yet they remained with Him, trusting all the while that the Father’s goodness would prevail. And indeed it did so in a most glorious way.

Now in our own day Our Lord is inviting us to follow in His footsteps and those of Mary, John and the others on the way to a new Calvary and a new Cross. All throughout the year, but especially in this 40 day period of intense prayer, we are called to be the Mary and John to a whole host of women who are in the midst of their own personal Calvary, quietly accompanying them with our prayers and presence in the midst of their sufferings, trusting all the while that God’s goodness can triumph still.

The thought of going to pray at an abortion facility can be an intimidating one. When I first began to pray at abortion facilities several years back, I often worried about what to say, what to do, and all sorts of other things. I quickly began to realize, though, that the most important thing was simply to trust in God and show up, knowing that He had the details covered. None of us on this side of Heaven can know how God’s plan is going to unfold, so it is not for us to worry about it. Rather, we are called to simply come before the Lord, place ourselves at His disposal, and offer prayers to Him on behalf of those in need. And when that happens, then we begin to hear the beautiful stories like that shared by Mrs. Elaine; stories of healing, stories of transformation, stories of minds and hearts being changed.

My brothers and sisters, we need to be out there praying. The world around us needs us out there. The parents and children need us. The abortionists and their employees need us. And God needs us. For as St. Paul reminds us in his Letter to the Romans: “How are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!’” And we indeed have good news to preach – good news that there is a better way, there is help, there is healing and there is a God whose love conquers even the most difficult of trials. Armed with this good news, let us place ourselves in God’s hands as we cry out with the words of the prophet Isaiah: Here I am, Lord. Send me.

Like Christ and the Church

Readings for Sunday, August 26/ 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18
Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21
Ephesians 5:21-32
John 6:60-69

Today we conclude the five week series of reflections on John 6, Our Lord’s sermon on the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. As we conclude this reflection, I am always struck by this brief conversation Our Lord has with St. Peter. As he sees many of the disciples leaving Him, He turns to Peter as asks “Do you also want to leave?” I find his answer intriguing: “Master, to whom shall we go?” It’s not exactly a bold profession of faith in Christ. He says that believes the Lord is the Holy One of God and has the words of eternal life, but he never actually says he wants to stay. He simply says he doesn’t know where he would go.

That response has always consoled me. Peter knows that Jesus is the Christ and the life, and yet it seems that he doesn’t always enjoy the path. When I was in the seminary I would often reflect on the weight of the cross in the Christian life. My brother seminarians and I would sometimes talk about how it seemed that our lives were easier before we knew Christ and followed Him; we didn’t feel the sting of conscience when we sinned, we didn’t worry about the life to come or bearing others’ burdens on earth. We simply lived in a way that gave us pleasure and enjoyment. And as we reflected on this in moments when the weight of the cross bore down upon our shoulders we always came to realize in the end that while our former way of life seemed easier, it wasn’t. While it seemed better, it wasn’t. We knew that Christ was Christ. We knew that He has the words of eternal life, that He is the Holy One of God, and that He is the way to life. And yet we still struggled, a small part of us wanting to be like those others in the gospel who simply returned to their former way. It’s difficult, I think because it’s difficult to be Christian. When we follow after Christ we must walk the way of the cross. We must die to ourselves.

There are many teachings of Christ that challenge us because they go against our disordered nature. To forgive not seven times but seventy-seven times. To turn the other cheek when offended. To be perfect at our heavenly Father is perfect. These things challenge us because they force us to go against the flow of our lives and our culture. And yet the beautiful thing is that if we pick up these crosses and follow after Christ then we know that just as He was resurrected and glorified, so also will we be resurrected and glorified. We are not without hope.

The scriptures today point to two of the most difficult, but also most transformative, teachings of Our Lord. Ephesians 5 is that infamous passage quote by so many to show how the Church is out of touch with modern man and is increasingly irrelevant in the world today: “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.” Taken out of context this teaching is indeed offensive and rightly to be cast aside, but understood properly it is among the most beautiful passages of the New Testament. Why is it that a woman is called to be subordinate to her husband? Because he is called to love. St. Paul charges husbands: “Love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church.” Look at how Christ loved the Church - He went without food, without sleep, without comfort, had no place of his own, was rejected by his family, friends and nation, suffered countless other sufferings and then gave Himself up to death all so that the Church, His bride, would be able to have life and everything that is good. Every man is called to do the same - to lay down his life and to do everything out of love for his wife in imitation of Christ. Any woman who objects to that kind of love is, in my opinion, a fool because the call of St. Paul for women to be subordinate is nothing other than for wives to allow their husbands to offer everything he has, even his own life, that they might have everything that is good, both on earth and in heaven.

This mystery is what we celebrate here in the Sacrifice of the Mass; this offering of life for the bride. You likely notice that I use a veil over the chalice on the weekends as a reminder that while the Eucharistic celebration is primarily a sacrifice and partly a meal, it is also partly a marital action of the bridegroom giving himself to the bride in the flesh. He says to us “This is my body” and awaits our reception of that gift that unites us together. Over and over again He does this not for His joy or pleasure, but for ours. He shows us what it is love and calls us to love.

In the gospel this weekend the people are challenged because the Law of Moses said not to taste blood because they believed that life was in the blood and life belongs to God. And to say that we ought to the blood of God was offensive to them because it meant we were receiving the life that belongs to the Lord. And that is precisely the point. Christ took on flesh and gave us the Eucharist that we might receive His Blood and be brought into the life that He has and so generously gives to us. This is a supreme act of love and one which teaches us much. He teaches men how to give entirely of ourselves out of love for our spouses. And he teaches women how to receive the absolute love of their spouses.

These things can be hard to accept and especially hard to live. The call to give everything we have. The call to allow others to give everything for us. The call to profess faith in the Eucharist. But if we persist, if we don’t flee like so many who have gone before us, but remain like Peter, we will be greatly blessed. So let us today make our own those words of Joshua and the people he led: As for me and my household we will serve the Lord, for He has performed great miracles before our eyes and has protected, and will protect us, along our entire journey. Amen. 

Face-Melting Quote of the Day

So today is the feast of St. Rose of Lima, a beautiful soul who wrote profoundly of the sufferings we endure in this life. I was particularly struck by the text taken from her writings included in the Office of Readings this morning:

Our Lord and Saviour lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.”

 

When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul.”

 

That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying:

 

“If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.”

Receptivity to Love

Readings for Sunday, May 13/ Sixth Sunday of Easter:
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm 98:1-4
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17

Before my seminary days, when I was dating, my mom would often lament the fact that she would one day be replaced by another women – my future wife – and would be sure to tell me, “Brent, just remember. Momma loved you first. And Momma loved you best.” After I entered the seminary, she happily told me that if she had to be replaced by another woman, Mother Church was definitely the most satisfying choice from her point of view.

At the time I thought it was a bit funny to hear my mom say these things, but I also knew that there was truth in what she spoke to me. With those words she was letting me know of her unconditional love for ‘her baby boy,’ as I’m introduced even to this day. In spite of all the things that I did wrong and all the trouble that I got myself into as a child and adolescent – and even now as an adult! – she never stopped loving me and she never quit showing it. I think this is a beautiful illustration of one of the most essential attributes of women – their receptivity.

Women, by their nature, are more receptive to things that men. The women in my family can recount events and details that I would never think to notice in the moment, much less ten years down the line. They can tell when something is going on and have an incredible sense about what it is and how to deal with it. But I think most of all, they are more receptive to the God who created us all. By default, women are more open to the love that God pours out upon us and are thus compelled to share that love. Love is compelled to share itself with others. And that is one of the greatest gifts of women to the world: signs of the unconditional love of our God and models of how to share that love with others.

While some in the world think that God is some tyrant who is constantly seeking to condemn and judge us, the truth is the exact opposite. God is a Father, a friend and love itself. And He desires that our joy be complete by remaining in that perpetual outpouring of His unconditional love. As St. Paul says, nothing in the world can separate us from the love of Christ. But the reality is that we must choose to remain in that love. It’s a conscious choice we must make and live.

As you may know, this past week the priests of our diocese went to Lafayette to a series of conferences by Fr. Ronald Knott, a priest of the diocese of Louisville, KY. In one of his conferences he looked at each of us and told us that one of the hardest days of his 42 years of priesthood was the Monday after his ordination. Ordination day on Saturday was full of excitement with the ceremony taking place and the reception afterward. Sunday was the big day to celebrate Masses of Thanksgiving and rejoice in the gift of priesthood. But on Monday he woke up and the honeymoon was over. There were no more parties, no more celebrations; he was simply faced with an incredibly difficult parish assignment and dozens of obligations that were far less exciting than ceremonies and after-parties. He was faced with a choice: either call it quits and walk away from all that was in front of him or to choose to remain a priest out of love for his people, despite the sufferings that would be part of that choice. He chose to remain.

St. Therese of Liseux

In a similar way, each one of us must make the conscious choice each day to get up and remain in the love of Christ Jesus by choosing to love those that He places in front of us that day. This will entail some suffering on our part, as St. John reminds us: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” Love manifests itself by placing the needs and desires of others ahead of ourselves, which means that we must take a back seat. The beautiful thing is that if it is truly love that compels us, the suffering will be a joy to us because of the love that flows through us. St. Therese beautifully put it this way, “I can no longer suffer, for all suffering is sweetness.” She knew that suffering was simply love being poured out of ourselves for the good of the other.

As we celebrate today the great gift of our mothers and those who have been like mothers to us, may we be thankful for their outpouring of love upon us and be mindful of the God who seeks to have us remain in His love by doing the same to others.  

Obedience and Christ

Readings for Good Friday:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

In the prophet Isaiah, we hear today about an unnamed servant who is raised up high and who, though marred and beyond human semblance, brings kings to silence. This servant was spurned by the people and yet it was their sins that he took upon himself. People saw him as smitten by God, but he was pierced for their sake, and their guilt was placed upon him who was innocent. In the midst of this torment he remained silent until he was placed in a grave that was not his own.

Taken by itself, this passage seems to be an account of the Passion of Christ, as if Isaiah had somehow seen the future and simply recorded the story of Christ’s own sufferings. And yet we know that it was written centuries prior to those horrendous events. This and many other passages scattered all throughout the Old Testament books seem to point directly to Christ; again, as if someone had actually known the future. The prophets speak in great detail and the ancient stories of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, and many others seem to have clear connections with the life of Our Lord. When I first began to really take my faith seriously and read the scriptures, when I would come across these and similar passages, I thought it was a great coincidence – I was fascinated how things tended to happen again in a pattern of sorts. Then one day I realized that none of that was coincidental, nor was it a pattern that human writers used to help us see things more clearly. Rather, the patterns that were shown in the Old Testament and lived again in the New Testament were quite intentional.

When the Word of God became incarnate and dwelt among us, He came not to do His own will by the Will of the One who sent Him (Jn 5:30) and so the life of Christ is wholly and entirely guided by the Will of the Father. In making the Father known to the world, Christ chose not to make up His own way of revelation but instead worked – and truly lived – within the only revelation of God that the Jewish people knew: the Sacred Scriptures. The narratives, prophecies, and prefigurations of the Old Testament, then, were not stories Christ could make use of. They were the things by which he configured His life. Christ knew the scriptures and knew them well. He knew who the Messiah was to be, what He was to do, what He was to suffer, and how He was to die. Christ, being obedient to the revelation of God in the Scriptures, then lived His life in conformity with those things. How many times, after all, did we hear just within this Passion narrative the words ‘so that the scriptures might be fulfilled’? He did this, so that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He said that, so that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He endured and permitted these things, so that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He didn’t endure the sufferings that describe the servant in Isaiah because He thought it was a good idea. He endured them because he was obedient to the Father in all things. As St. Paul said this past weekend, “He was obedient even unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

As we gather here to celebrate that incredible mystery and venerate the sign of that greatest act of obedience, the question that each of us must ask ourselves is this: do I truly try to conform my life to that of Christ, or do I sometimes seek rather my own preferences and ideas?

Ideally, we would all follow the Will God and conform ourselves to Christ and have no hesitancy in doing so. The problem, though, is that when we seek to do these things, when we seek the Will of the Lord, we will suffer. It’s not a possibility. It’s not a probability. It’s a guarantee. As the Book of Sirach so clearly puts it: When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials (2:1). And we have only to look at His closest companions, the Twelve Apostles, to verify this.

Andrew, Philip, and Simon were crucified. Peter was crucified upside down. Bartholomew was also crucified, but not before being beaten and possibly skinned alive. James the Greater, Judas Thaddeus, and Matthias were stoned to death. James the Lesser was beheaded. Matthew and Thomas were speared to death. John alone died of natural causes, and he spent his last days exiled on an island because of His faith. All of this is not even to speak of the countless other physical, spiritual and emotional pains they experienced in their lives in service to the Lord and His Church.

Pope Benedict XVI Venerating the Cross

We will suffer. When we make the personal choice to live the faith, we will certainly find our trials. St. Paul reminds us that in baptism we put to death the old self and put on Christ. And so, like Christ, we too must conform ourselves to the will of God. We must set aside our preferences, our desires, our ambitions, and our ideas, those things that we are so strongly attached to and so strongly resonate in our hearts. And in the place of those things, we are asked to place the Will of God.

The good news in the midst of that is that, like Christ, we too have no need of trying to discern what God’s Will for us is. As Christ has the Old Testament within which to configure His life, we too have a guide given to us. When Christ founded the Church, He gave her the gift of the Holy Spirit and promised that the Spirit would lead her into all Truth. And by the Spirit’s guidance, the Church gives to us today the Sacred Scriptures, the Catechism, teaching of the Popes through the ages, and countless documents on doctrine, liturgy, and the moral life. In these we find God’s Will for us and our lives. But, also like Christ, we will have to suffer greatly at times to conform ourselves to these guides. At times our opinions, desires and preferences will be contrary to that of the Church and we will be asked to set aside those opinions, desires and preferences and follow her in Truth. It happens to all of us, but that is the road that we must take because it is in obedience to Christ and His Church that we find salvation. So let us make great efforts to strive forward by setting ourselves aside and seeking the Lord’s Will in all that we do. To aid us in this difficult task, let us begin to make our own the words so beautifully spoken by St. Gabriel Possenti:

I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces.

I want to do God’s Holy Will, not my own.

Amen.

Repay to God what is God's

Readings for Sunday, October 16: 

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6

Psalm 96:1, 3-5, 7-10

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5

Matthew 22:15-21

Not to praise the Pharisees, but I am almost impressed by their perseverance in the face of constantly being humiliated by Our Lord. Onetime after another, they keep asking questions or responding to parables and wind up falling into the traps they had set for Our Lord. This gospel passage even gives us a little hint about just how angry they were at Christ. The Pharisees were religious leaders and were against the Roman occupation and control over the land of Israel. They hated the Roman leaders and would often fight back against them. And yet they join together with the Herodians, the Jewish group who worked for the Romans and whom they viewed as the most despised of Jews. They were consumed by hatred of Our Lord. And in response to this the Lord keeps pointing them in the way of Truth, as each parable or question gives us another little piece of the puzzle.

As the Lord hears their question, which comes off as a very flowery but insincere word of praise, he sees the intention of their hearts and asks for the Roman coin. Oddly enough, the very men who rebel against the taxes and the Caesar pull out the coin; they have already begun to condemn themselves just by this action. And then the Lord asks a question to allow them to continue to dig the hole a little deeper. By replying that the image and inscription on the coin were that of Caesar, the Lord has them right in place because to have your inscription on something meant that it technically belonged to that person. In this case, the coin was rightfully Caesar’s and ought then to be given. Simply leaving his response as “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” would have been sufficient, but because the Pharisees were gathered who would have rioted over this answer, the Lord continues, saying “and to God what belongs to God.”

To add this latter statement was to take the Pharisees question even farther and, really, to make it a non-issue. Jesus’ response ultimately leaves one having to ask the next question: What belongs to God? What bears His image? It’s simple – everything.  The Jewish people lived out this ‘repaying God’ by offering the first fruits of their produce and livestock. They offered tithes from their money. And they offered grain or animal sacrifices for graces received or in atonement for their sins.  They had a very clear way of repaying to God what was God’s. But then the question comes to us – how do we repay to God what is His?

Certainly we still tithe out of the riches the Lord gives us. More than sacrificing animals for the remission of our sins, we offer the Father the Christ’s own sacrifice of Himself in the Eucharist. But beyond that, the Book of Genesis speaks of how man and woman were created in the image of God, so what we are called to give God is actually our entire self. All things come from God and are given to us freely, but they must eventually be repaid. It’s interesting that the Lord uses “repay” rather than “give” in His response. To give means it’s optional, something done from the kindness of one’s heart. To repay means it is a duty, something that must be done because the other person deserves it. Thus, we must repay to God what is God’s and lead lives of praise, giving over our will, desires, and control in our lives because it is truly He Who is deserving of it.

St. Ignatius of Loyola summarized this well in his 'suscipe' prayer, which we now pray:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will. All I have and call my own, You have given to me; to you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.