Pentecost Sunday Year C

Thinking over the whole liturgical year, I would argue that Pentecost is the second most important Feast Day of the year, behind Easter. It brings to an end what we call “The Great Sunday,” the 50 days of the Easter Season. It marks the birthday of the Church as it is sent forth, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the praises of God and to forgive sins.

Today the Church has placed us in the middle of two of the most powerful events in salvation history. The Risen Lord appeared to the apostles on the evening of Easter Sunday, breathed into them the Holy Spirit, and gave them the power to forgive sins – a sort of foretaste of the Spirit the Apostles received in full, 50 days later. Then, the Holy Spirit almost seems to be breathed into them from the lips of God the Father Himself – “suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.”

This isn’t just one among many miracles. The power breathed into them on Easter Sunday and the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are intimately connected. The only other times in Scripture when God breathed on mankind, was in the beginning – in the book of Genesis, when “the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen 2:7) – and in Ezekiel, where God raises an army of corpses to new life by the breath of the Spirit (37:9). Just think of how the apostles felt! They probably remembered when Jesus breathed on them 50 days before and they knew the Scriptures of Genesis and Ezekiel. All of this comes together in one magnificent moment in which the apostles receive a newfound courage and zeal and the ability to praise God in languages they didn’t even know. Their hearts, and souls, and minds are filled with God, the Holy Spirit. The Church is on fire and alive! Today this moment is ours too! We are that same Church today. We are the Church of the Apostles, still alive, still on fire, forever young with the exuberance of the Holy Spirit!

God the Holy Spirit wants to fill us too. He wants us to receive the same fullness of Himself that the Apostles received on this very day, over 2000 years ago. In fact he has done this already. He infused in our souls Faith, Hope, and Love through the waters of our Baptism and he enhanced and completed these gifts when we were Confirmed. But He hasn’t stopped there! The Holy Spirit wants to fill our souls every single day so that the Church 2000 years from now will still be on fire and alive.

We have our own part to play in this. Most importantly, I think, would be to simply pray to God, the Holy Spirit. Often times we have no problem praying to God, the Father, because we can imagine a fatherly figure, with gray hair, and a beard! And we can pray to God, the Son, because Jesus Christ is so vividly depicted in the Gospels and in artwork. But the reigning image of the Holy Spirit is a dove! We don’t pray to doves! Most of the time we think of God, the Holy Spirit, simply as a force, or a power, that comes and goes, as if He is the magic pixi dust that God sprinkles on us every now and then! He is much more than this! He is God. He is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. And, as God, He welcomes and answers our prayers.

Throughout my childhood and still today, my Dad always encouraged my brothers and me to pray to the Holy Spirit. Any time we were nervous about a minor league baseball game, or a test at school, or an argument with a friend, my Dad would always tell us to pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance before we went into it. I recommend that for us today. If you have not been in the habit of praying to God, the Holy Spirit, today is the perfect day to start, the day when we celebrate how generously He filled the apostles, and us, with courage and zeal.

Maybe during the quiet time after Communion today, or at home together with your family, or before you go to sleep tonight, call to mind something that may be troubling you. It could be the pressures of our economy, a difficult project at work, a relative who has fallen away from the Church, a wound from your past that is still painful, or anxiety over an illness. Ask God, the Holy Spirit, to renew in you the graces He gave you at your Baptism and Confirmation. Ask him to make you on fire and alive with the same courage and zeal that He gave the Apostles on this very day. Ask for big graces! Ask him for wisdom or healing or reconciliation or faith. Heck, ask Him to make you a saint! There probably will not be a driving wind or tongues of fire. He may only come to you in a very small way. But when he does, he will stretch your soul to receive him in a little bit bigger way the next time he comes. Then, he will work on your soul even more. And between His visits, if you maintain your soul with prayer, with Confession, with the Eucharist, He will find you more and more receptive of bigger and bigger gifts.

Come Holy Ghost, Creator blest, and in our hearts take up Thy rest; Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid to fill the hearts which Thou hast made, to fill the hearts which Thou has made. Come the same Spirit, let us pray, that breathed into the Apostles on Easter Sunday and filled them when Easter had ended at that great Pentecost. Come, the same Spirit, let us pray, that makes the Church, then, now, and forever on fire and alive. Let us, each one of us, go forth today bearing new fire and life to every place and relationship we have.

Pentecost Vigil Year C

When Jesus, as St. John’s Gospel tells us, stood up and exclaimed to all the people, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink…‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.’” – this was a bold statement. John explains, “He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.” For Jesus, timing is everything. This happened on the last day of the Jews’ great seven-day celebration called, The Festival of Booths. During this annual liturgical celebration, pilgrims who came to Jerusalem would live in huts made of braches, called “booths.” In one of the major rituals of the week, the high priest drew water from the Pool of Siloam, carried it in procession into the Temple and then poured it on the stone altar of sacrifice. This ritual commemorated the time in which God provided for his people during their Exodus journey through the desert by making water flow from a rock. It is against the backdrop of this celebration that Jesus stands up and exclaims that he is the source of spiritual water, the Holy Spirit, and that it is he who satisfies all that we thirst for.

Everything that water means for the body, now has meaning for our soul. Just as water cleanses the body, gives us strength, and refreshes us, so the Living Water of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, cleanses our souls of sin in Baptism and Reconciliation, gives us strength in Confirmation, and refreshes us in the Eucharist and the Anointing of the Sick. The Holy Spirit is active in all seven of the sacraments constantly forming and transforming us as the New People of God as we wander in our own Exodus journey through the desert of this life to the Promised Land of Heaven. How are we doing on this journey? At times do we doubt that the Lord can provide for us? If we see ourselves as God’s chosen people, joined to Him by a covenant, then we can ask ourselves, “Am I faithfully keeping my covenant with God? Do I avail myself generously of all that the Holy Spirit provides me through the Church in order to stay faithful to God? Do I turn to other things to satisfy my deepest thirsts?”

Our first reading began to describe how God forged the covenant with his people; it was done amid the majesty of Mt. Sinai, amid thunder and lightning, heavy clouds, loud trumpet blasts, columns of smoke and fire, and earthquakes. This was done in order to show His people that his might and power exceeds that of all the other pagan gods. God is the One, True, God of Power and Might. This spectacle also showed them the great significance of what they were being brought into; what it means to be the chosen people of such a powerful God.

The Lord said to His People through Moses: “If you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine.” Our covenant with God wasn’t forged amid fire and lightening, rather, it was forged amid the fire and light of our Baptismal candle and the fire and light infused in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Holy Water. With His grace, we become more and more God’s special possession. In fact, we become, as Moses foretold, a holy nation.

As a people set apart, for all the world to see, we can also ask ourselves: As one member of the entire Body of Christ… As one Catholic in the whole universal Catholic Church… How am I serving the larger body? How am I portraying the Catholic Church to the world around me? Do I make the life of a Catholic one that others would want to follow? Do I act in a priestly way – and this question is for all of us. Do I make sacrifices for other people? Do I offer up my sufferings to God? Do I pray for my family and friends? In these ways we all, ordained or not, can become the holy people that God wants us to be.

All of his would be a heavy yoke, burdensome, and impossible if we were formed as God’s people and then sent forth to rely on our own power. But, neither God nor the Church gives us responsibilities and then leaves us to our own devices. Rather, we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified. It is this same Holy Spirit, who spoke from all time through the prophets and through the Church today, who is our help, our advocate, our guide. He is the one who makes the yoke and the burden of the life of holiness, the life of a Catholic Christian, easy and light rather than harsh or restrictive. The Holy Spirit makes life as a child of God one of joyfulness, happiness, peacefulness, and calmness. Does this describe our lives today?

The Holy Spirit comes to each of us in His own way. But we can find hope in knowing that the Holy Spirit has indeed come to all of us. At this Vigil Mass we anticipate and long for Him to come again in our lives. This is His desire too! We have only to acknowledge and remember the great things He has already done for us, plead for Him to come again and again, be willing to receive Him, and then be willing to live according to Him. The Holy Spirit will even help us ask. For as St. Paul says, “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” How happy the Lord will be to look down upon his people and see in each one of us rivers of living water flowing forth in a life of holiness and a world transformed by His Power in us.

Homily 5th Sun Easter – Self-sacrificial love renews the earth

In the Catholic Church, we don’t just celebrate Easter for one day, we celebrate it for fifty days! This year, we celebrate Easter by following the early Church, step by step, through the Acts of the Apostles. We have an inside look into how the graces of that miraculous Easter morning helped the early Church to endure many trials and thus experience rapid expansion. I think it has been fascinating to watch how our Church first began its mission to preach the Good News and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Along with our journey with the early Church, we are also steeped in the Book of Revelation, the account of the mystical vision St. John received while exiled on the island of Patmos. Today it reveals that “a new heaven and a new earth” will be perfectly formed when God’s Son comes again. God the Father, the one who sits on the throne, said, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is in the present-tense. Although incomplete until the end of time, He is making the new heaven and the new earth, the Kingdom of God, presently, currently, right now. This is what we celebrate!

How does this come about - When, as John’s Gospel says, we “love one another” precisely as our Risen Lord has loved us. The early Church we are following in the Acts of the Apostles shows us exactly what living this love looks like. “It is necessary,” they said, “to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” True Christ-like love involves sacrifice.

On Monday, May 10, we will celebrate the feast day of St. Damien of Moloka’i, an excellent example for us of true Christ-like love. As we look at his example, let us ask ourselves, “Does the love I say I have for God, for my family, for my friends, have an element of sacrifice too? Could it be characterized by sacrifice?” If not, it is not Christ-like love.

St. Damien, a Belgian priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, lived in the mid to late 1800’s. When his brother, also a priest, was unable to take an assignment to go to Hawaii to minister to the native peoples, Damien took his place. At the time the natives were undergoing a grave crisis as they struggled to cope with the new diseases introduced to their population by foreign traders and sailors. The worst of these was leprosy. Knowing very little about the disease or how to treat it, and fearful of its spread, the King in 1865, in a decree that would last over 100 years, ordered all lepers in the kingdom of Hawaii to be quarantined in a small settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, accessible, even today by only a narrow mule path. Between 1865 and 1969 over 8000 lepers were sent there with very little food, supplies, or health care.

In 1873 the Bishop of Honolulu asked for four volunteers to minister to the settlement. Fr. Damien was the first to volunteer and he entered the quarantine which then had over 800 lepers. There he built them a parish, gave them the sacraments, and dressed their wounds. He and the healthier natives also built homes, beds, farms, and schools for them. He also built proper caskets for the dying and dug them proper graves. Out of great love for them, Fr. Damien wrote: “Here I am in the midst of my dear lepers. They are hideous to look at but they have souls redeemed at the price of the blood of our Savior… I love my Hawaiians very much… I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.”

He knew that his ministry among them would soon bring the disease upon himself. But he wrote, “I would not want to be healed if leaving the island and abandoning my work were to be the price.” So he persevered, ministered to them, and showed the natives great love as they died. “By keeping the lepers close to me when they are sick,” he said, “a good number have died with good dispositions.” Fr. Damien himself died of leprosy on April 15, 1889, at the age of 49. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and on October 11, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI canonized him St. Damien of Molokai. In his homily for the canonization, Pope Benedict said:

His missionary activity, which gave him such joy, reached its peak in charity. Not without fear and repugnance, he chose to go to the Island of Molokai to serve the lepers who lived there, abandoned by all… He invites us to open our eyes to the forms of leprosy that disfigure the humanity of our brethren and still today call for the charity of our presence as servants, beyond that of our generosity.

St. Damien’s life illustrates what John’s Gospel means when it says we are to love one another as Jesus has loved us: by self-sacrifice, by sacrificing ourselves for each other. Through suffering, offered to the Father, Jesus showed the depth of his love for us and won for us our salvation. That was the way Christ went and so it is our way too, for the disciple is not above his master. St. Paul loved this way too. We have heard all about his traveling from place to place, preaching, ordaining men to lead the local Churches, praying, fasting, and even returning to lands that had persecuted him in the past in order to strengthen the Christians there. All of this he accomplished after being stoned, dragged out of the city of Lystra, and left for dead! He endured all of this in, and out of, great love. This is why he was able to say, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

Self-sacrificial love is how, here and now, God makes all things new. This is how we begin to live in a new heaven and a new earth, the kingdom of God that He is making. Self-sacrificial love is how God dwells among us, wiping every tear from our eyes. This is how he conquers death, mourning, wailing, and pain. This is how the old order passes away – when we endure suffering that comes our way with patience and humility. When we ask God to unite our sufferings with those of his Son’s Cross for the salvation of our friends and family. When we give of ourselves like our Lord, like St. Paul, like St. Damien; when we sacrifice ourselves for those we love, because we love them.

Homily Good Shepherd Sunday Year C

This Sunday is the fourth Sunday of the Easter Season, but we also call it “Good Shepherd” Sunday after the image of the Good Shepherd presented in our readings today. Typically we devote this particular Sunday to fervent prayers for Priestly and Religious Vocations and we should certainly do that today. But we also pray for your current shepherds, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, our bishop, Archbishop Kurtz, and the priests and deacons who serve us every day. With the pressures on the Church from the world around us, it is not easy to be a shepherd.

St. Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles that as St. Paul and St. Barnabas spoke to the people and “urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God”, some in the crowds “were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted” what they said. But, “both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly” and “the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region.” In fact, “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” These great shepherds of the early Church, out of love for their flock made up of Jews and Gentiles, called them to faithfulness. Those who heard their voice and believed “were delighted” because they heard in Paul and Barnabas the voice of Jesus Christ. What set Paul and Barnabas apart from other shepherds, from other voices calling for the attention of the people? It was their willingness to truly love their flock that set them apart. And true love always involves some degree of sacrifice, even suffering.

When a husband cares for his dying wife, this may not always bring the most pleasant feelings, but he does this because he loves her. When a son cares for his ailing father, this brings difficulty and disruption, but he does this because he loves him. When parents sacrifice their own goals, or wants, or needs in order to provide for their children, this can bring difficulties and disappointment, but they do this because they love them. Similarly, we can recognize a true shepherd by his love for his sheep, by what he is willing to endure for them.

True shepherds are those who lead their flock with self-sacrificial love, who boldly preach the truth with love despite the pressures or ridicule. When the wolves come among them, true shepherds do not run away, afraid for their own welfare, neglecting that of their sheep. No, they stay, throwing themselves among them, standing guard and confronting the wolves in order to protect the sheep. This can be a test for anything or anyone trying to shepherd your life… for anyone you find yourself following, like a family member, a friend, or a public figure like a politician or someone in the media. What does that shepherd do when you are in danger, a danger that could envelope the shepherd too?

The story of the good shepherd that we hear from Scripture, about the shepherd who had one hundred sheep but was willing to leave 99 of them in order to find the one that is lost, illustrates God’s great love for us. All of humanity was the lost sheep, lost in the desert, lost in our sins and distant from God. But before we could be lost forever, Jesus our Good Shepherd left the glory of heaven, so to speak, left the 99 and came among us to reclaim us as his own, to take our lot upon his shoulders and carry us home. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Through all the voices crying out to lead us, can we hear and recognize the voice of Jesus?

The way to hear His voice is through some time each day in prayer and Scripture reading, by challenging ourselves and each other to remain faithful to the Church, by coming to Mass every Sunday and making a monthly confession… with these we will be able to hear and follow Jesus’ voice above all others. And when you bring your children to Sunday Mass and to monthly confession then you ensure that they too will be able to hear His voice above all the others vying for their attention. God forbid that the First Communion of these children today, becomes a rare Communion, or their last Communion. God willing it will be a weekly, if not daily Communion that nourishes them and the entire flock of Christ. For the sake of our children, we must follow His voice and remain strong so that they might find a faithful fold in which to be refreshed and restored.

Good Friday Homily

As I have examined my own spiritual life and interacted with others through ministry at many different parishes throughout seminary and Priesthood, one thing most evident to me is that a true concept of sin is quite hard to find. I think we all, myself included, at different times in our lives vacillate between a lack of a sense of sin on one hand and a scrupulosity or shame on the other hand. But, it is when we are not vacillating, when we are not moving from one to the other as we seek with God’s help to find the truth in the middle, then we are really in trouble.

When the lack of the sense of sin becomes concrete and determines our way of life then we have started down a troubling path indeed. This type of person coasts through each day, one after the next, oblivious to the little sins he commits that often add up even to unnoticed mortal sins. This type of person may not go to confession in years but if he, by chance does one day, he is at a loss to think of one single thing he has done wrong. An equally troubling path is the scrupulous person. Once this becomes a concrete way of life it settles from the soul into the psyche and begins to resemble obsessive compulsive disorder. Minor sins become serious sins in the heart of this type of person and not even God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation or the power of the Eucharist to forgive minor sins is enough. Often shame builds up to keep this person from the sacraments altogether.

Thank God for Good Friday. One of the reasons it is “Good,” I think, is because it helps us to apprehend the truth of sin and forgiveness. For one who has lost or is losing a sense of sin in his life, Good Friday is a yearly reminder that it was not only the sins of the Romans and Jews of Jesus’ time that nailed him to the cross, but each one of our sins too. Fr. Luis de Granada, following the spirituality of St. Josemaria Escriva, writes vividly about the role our sins had to play in the drama of the passion and death of Jesus. The following excerpt definitely afflicts the comfortable:

“Imagine that divine face: swollen by blows, covered in spittle, torn by thorns, furrowed with blood, here fresh blood, there ugly dried blood. And, since the sacred Lamb had his hands tied, he could not use them to wipe away the blood running into his eyes, and so those two luminaries of heaven were eclipsed and almost blinded… Finally, so disfigured was he that one could not make out who he was; he scarcely seemed human; he had become an altarpiece depicting suffering, painted by those cruel artists, producing this pitiful figure to plead his case before his enemies… Therefore, sins – yours and mine – were the executioners who bound him and lashed him and crowned him with thorns and put him on the cross. So you can see how right it is for you to feel the enormity and malice of yours sins, for it was these which really caused so much suffering” (Navarre Commentary, Jn 19:1-3)

Such a reflection is a reality check isn’t it? The little sins that we commit each day, that we just brush off or don’t give much thought too – when seen in that perspective, cause us to take them more seriously and to turn to God more often for his mercy and help. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin,” the Letter to the Hebrews explains in our second reading. “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help” (Heb 4:15-16). Receiving this mercy and help frequently in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the best way to avoid one of the most clever tricks that the evil one plays on us: the formation of an attitude in our lives that sin doesn’t really matter and that I never really ever do anything wrong. A monthly confession, preceded by an examination of conscience, will help us become more astute observers of sins in our lives and give us continual grace to avoid these sins and grow in holiness – this more examined life brings comfort to our Lord’s sacred heart.

In Christ’s Passion and Death, there is not only gruesome reminders of the gravity of sin but also much comfort for the afflicted. Those who are scrupulous or filled with shame are also corrected. We find St. Peter falling asleep three times rather than praying with Jesus. We see him denying Jesus three times out of cowardice. But we also see him express repentance and upon Jesus’ Resurrection, state three times his love – a love that brings him forgiveness and makes him a pillar of the Church. St. Josemaria Escriva himself writes of this truth, that “In this adventure of love we should not be depressed by our falls, not even by serious falls, if we go to God in the sacrament of Penance contrite and resolved to improve. A Christian is not a neurotic collector of good behavior reports. Jesus Christ our Lord was moved as much by Peter’s repentance after his fall as by John’s innocence and faithfulness. Jesus understands our weakness and draws us to himself on an inclined plane. He wants us to make an effort to climb a little each day” (Navarre, Jn 18:27). Again, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is helpful for the scrupulous person too if it can be seen for what it really is – as the way in which Christ’s victory over sin is shared and applied to each one of us. With God’s grace we can be victorious over sin too! Then when victory brings confidence and mercy softens the heart, harshness with oneself can be relieved. Then guilt can be seen as a good thing that motivates one to renewed union with God and the Church rather than as shame that causes isolation and alienation.

The grace of Reconciliation helps us settle into the middle, into the truth of sin and forgiveness. We thank God that we have a heavenly mother to help us with this also. Jesus from the cross gave his mother to his beloved disciple and so to all of us. When he took her into his own home, he took her into everything that makes up his inner life. “Mary certainly wants us to invoke her, to approach her confidently, to appeal to her as our mother” (Navarre, Jn 19:26-27) so that she can teach us about her Son and how to take sin seriously while still living a life of joy.

Palm Sunday Year C

Homily after the Commemoration of the Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem

This morning, like the children who cheered in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” when they saw Jesus healing the blind and lame (Mt 21:14-15) – we too shout out with unbridled joy, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Lk 19:38) And just like the multitude of the heavenly host that praised the Eternal Word who processed into our lives as a child, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will,” (Lk 2:14) we too sing out, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk 19:39) as our Lord processes among us. From the beginning of his life, toward the end, all men, from children to adults, sing his praises and bless Jesus’ Name. Before, our Lord had cautioned us not to cheer for him, his hour had not yet come. But now it is nearly here. The Pharisees tried to quell the children in the temple – “Do you hear what these are saying?” – just like they tried to quiet us today, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” Our Lord takes up for us: “I tell you,” he said, “if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” As the prophet Habakkuk foretold, against those who try to cut off God’s people, even their own houses will cry out to God: “For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond” (Hab 2:11). Even all creation sings His praises. It has begun. Nothing can stop him now.

Homily After the Gospel

The time from the beginning of Lent through Easter Sunday is marked with a rapid succession of external rituals in the life of a Catholic. We remember Ash Wednesday when we received the blessed ashes on our foreheads. Today we receive palm branches and we fold them into neat little crosses. On Holy Thursday we have the foot-washing. On Good Friday we kneel and kiss the Cross. And Saturday night, the Easter Vigil, is filled with incense, chants, exclamations, water, oil, and light. All of these, even the deadening silence and emptiness of the altar on Good Friday, are rich experiences that flood our senses.

It somehow makes sense that we show up in such larger numbers to these liturgies than to the common Sunday obligation. Our Lord made us to be sensing beings and uses our senses to help us know him. But what will we do when Easter is over and the rest of the liturgical year marches on? What will we do when all the sensational things give way to the sobriety and noble simplicity that most often marks the Holy Mass?

Today, Palm Sunday, and continually until Easter Sunday, you I are called to re-examine our Faith. We must remember that all of the external rituals of our faith are not ends in and of themselves. We have them to remind us of the deeper spiritual realities that they signify. Religious sentiments are good and appropriate in response to these beautiful things for they often serve as invitations to more fully enter into our faith. But our experiences of these things must not stop at the external level or the level of sentiment. We must consider the underlying spiritual effect that is taking place: what the ashes mean, what the palm branches mean, what the foot-washing, the cross, the water, oil and light mean – what difference they make for our faith.

We are made for deeper realities, for solemnity, for transcendence. Deep down we are longing for something greater than ourselves. Some of the Jews of Jesus time, though, were only caught up with the spectacle of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem; they had not let Him enter into their hearts. St. Luke also describes how Herod treated Jesus with contempt and mocked him because of his malicious desire simply to “see him perform some sign” (Lk 23:8). He had no real faith in him. Up to today, Jesus has been telling those he cured to remain silent so that his signs would not be misunderstood.

This day, though, is different. He allows us to proclaim him as king to teach us to look for a savior not in one who is dominating and ambitious but in One who is humble and obedient. Therefore our Lord rides into Jerusalem not upon a warhorse along a path of gold but upon a peaceful colt along a path of palm braches. This he did to the shouts of praise of a “whole multitude of his disciples” (Lk 19:37). But, then, only a few days later, this same group, riled up by the high priests, shouts for his crucifixion. Pilate said to them, “What evil has this man done? I found him guilty of no capital crime. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.” “With loud shouts, however, they persisted in calling for his crucifixion, and their voices prevailed” (Lk 23:22-23).

It’s easy to shout with praise and acclamation to Jesus when everyone around us is shouting too. But when the leaders of our society disperse enough ill will, are we quick to condemn him? Do I preach Christ, and Him Crucified only when I am surrounded by attentive parishioners or brother priests? What do I say to those who disagree with Church teaching or try to persecute the Church? What about when I’m with friends or family and my guard is down? Do I praise him still?

How can we live differently today because of the scenario that has unfolded before us? You and I have to make sure that our faith doesn’t stop at the externals. If we live our lives no deeper than the surface level, then we are easily swayed by those who have the loudest voice. But when we allow the external signs of our faith to take us deeper then we come to know the truth of our faith and come to know Christ for who He really is. If we allow the grace of his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, signified by so many beautiful rituals over these coming days – when we allow that grace to penetrate deeply into our hearts, deeper than our surface feelings, then Christ can begin to mold and transform us into Catholics who are always faithful, always at His right hand, even if we are the only ones standing up for Him, even when there is “darkness… over the whole land” (Lk 23:44).

If we can go deeper, we can be Catholics who wear ashes to show contrition, who wash feet to honor the Institution Eucharist and the Priesthood, who are sprinkled with water to reclaim our Baptism, who receive oil to be sanctified, healed, and strengthened, and who light candles to show the world that Christ is the Light. We never use symbols because “that’s just what we’ve always done” – we use them because their deep and underlying meanings make us holy and glorify God. We use them because they flow from our faith and stir up our faith. We use symbols in order to be empowered to stay true to Him.

Homily 5th Sun Lent, 3rd Scrutiny, Year A Readings

In the summer of 2008, I had one of the most difficult experiences of my entire formation to be a priest; I participated in a program at U of L Hospital called C.P.E. – Clinical Pastoral Education. This is an ecumenical program in which I worked as a hospital chaplain while learning how to be a more effective minister. Each of us in the group of different faiths, genders, and ages were assigned to visit the patients in a particular department of the hospital. We would then gather as a group to discuss and study our experiences.

My department was particularly difficult: Palliative Care – which is the care that one receives in order to manage pain or to aid in making end of life decisions. Most of the patients I visited were dying or near death, but I felt like it was a great honor to be with these patients in their greatest need. Perhaps what I appreciate the most, though, are the times I spent with patients who, while they were dying of a terrible cancer or intense pain, were comforting and praying for me, consoling me, and reassuring me. Shouldn’t I be taking care of them? What was it about these particular patients that enabled them to be so other-centered, so loving, so peaceful? I saw a wide range of reactions to death that summer. I myself had a wide range of reactions! The Gospel from today’s Mass, of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, has helped me to understand better what I experienced during that summer almost five years ago.

In today’s Gospel reading and in many other places in Scripture, we can see that wherever Christ is present at significant events, he sanctifies the situation. One of the reasons we celebrate Matrimony as one of the Church’s seven sacraments is because Christ was present at the Wedding Feast of Cana, thus making it holy, grace-filled, and a sign of his love. One of the reasons we celebrate Baptism as a sacrament is because Jesus entered the waters of the Jordan River to be baptized by John even though he was without sin, thus making the waters of Baptism holy and able to wash away sins and give divine life.

And so today, on this 5^th Sunday of Lent, Jesus enters into our lives too, particularly our experiences of suffering and death, making them holy too, making them a mystery, and taking away the crude and narrow finality that we too often give them and replacing it with his presence. Even death, even times of great suffering, when Christ enters into them, can become times of his healing and divine life. What was a time of grief and confusion for Mary, Martha, and their friends and family, became an occasion of faith, of hope, and of love.

Because Jesus Christ was fully human, we can feel comfortable inviting him into any place, any circumstance, any struggle whatsoever. He was like us, completely human, in every way except for our sinfulness. That humanity he still has in heaven, but in a glorified state, no longer affected by the limitations he once felt alongside us. He did feel them. He felt the full range of human emotion too. The Gospel mentions that he wept in sympathy for Mary and Martha and for what Lazarus had to endure. He understands our lives and what we are going through. At the same time though He is fully God and so wherever he goes, wherever we welcome him, he brings the fullness of divinity and all that God has to offer.

To places of pain and suffering he brings new purpose, meaning, and value; he brings the Resurrection. To places of happiness and success he brings a glimpse and a foretaste of eternal happiness with him in everlasting life. He wants to be for us, right here and now, Resurrection and Life. He wants to show us too, like he showed Martha and Mary, that death is not the end; it is simply the step, God-willing, to eternal life. He wants to give us a share in eternal life, which grace brings to the soul, even while we still live on earth. Mary and Martha have shown us how to enter into this type of relationship with Jesus Christ. “They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’” As Catholic Christians, I think we would do well to have these words always on the tip of our tongue in prayer: “Lord, come and see.”

To the students here, for example: Whenever you get a good grade on a test, pray to him, “Lord, come and see” and he will share that joy with you and help you to know he is proud of you whenever you use the gifts he has given you well. What else can we invite the Lord to come and see today? What is it for you? Perhaps it is a childhood trauma that has affected you for years. Perhaps it is a physical or psychological illness or the struggles of someone in your family. What can you invite the Lord into to give it new meaning and life?

Mary and Martha have taught us what power can come from the simple prayer of invitation, “Lord, come and see.” They have also taught us that when we run to the Lord without delay, with patience and humility, and without presumption, even though he may seem to delay he actually desires to exceed our expectations. He is not content to simply restore us to level zero. He wants to do that and so much more! He wants to restore us and then increase us! This may be hard to believe when the Lord doesn’t respond to our invitation when we want him to. If Jesus had come to Lazarus in two days rather than four then Lazarus could have been cured and would not have died. But, Jesus knew that raising Lazarus from death to life would have a more profound effect on his disciples’ faith than simply raising him from sickness to health.

“So then Jesus said to them clearly, ‘Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe.’” Despite this though, when Martha came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” she said this not in order to complain or ridicule him but because she actually believed that to be true. Her faith was so deep that she didn’t even ask him to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. She abandoned herself to him, trusting that if he willed it he would do it. Jesus, moved by her faith and the sympathy he felt, did indeed raise Lazarus from the dead. He could have left it at that! But he also asked his disciples to unbind Lazarus after he had risen. Then he had a meal with Lazarus and his family!

One of the most profound ways Jesus is present to us, giving us peace and strength, is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. St. Augustine saw the episode with Lazarus as an image of this sacrament. Whenever we sin, our spiritual lives can begin to deaden and we find ourselves in our own tomb of despair or isolation. The call to reconciliation that this Lenten season brings is like Jesus crying out to each one of us, “Lazarus, come out!” Through the words of absolution our sins are forgiven, we are given new life and emerge from the tomb. Then Jesus instructs the priest in the confessional, like he instructed the friends of Lazarus: “Untie him, and let him go.” We are released from the sins that bind us and are restored to full fellowship and communion with God and with the Church, our spiritual family.

All of this is offered to each one of us, individually, personally, during the remainder of this Lent and beyond. The prayer to the Lord to “come and see” and his call that we be unbound and “let go” – these are how a dying cancer patient can have more peace and strength than those sent to minister to her. When the Lord is present and we are set free, our happiness can be transformed from happiness that fades away to happiness the brings a taste of eternal life. And suffering and death are transformed from a meaningless pain or a senseless end, to experiences that give faith to others by the sheer power of faith in the heart of one who believes. Jesus Christ gives us the hope that with death life is changed, not ended.

Exhortation before Rite of Baptism in the Extraordinary Form

The 1954 Collectio Rituum says in the Praenotanda before the Rite of Baptism, “If there is to be an instruction, the priest should give this at the beginning of the rite, at the church door, or upon entering the baptistery, at the point when the change of stoles is indicated, or at the dismissal.  Since I needed to bless the water for Baptism beforehand, I gave the instruction/exhortation before that.  Here it is:

It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be able to celebrate the Baptism of my niece little Margaret Susanne with all of you this afternoon. First, a little bit of context is needed. Before recently, if Catholics wished to celebrate the Mass or the sacraments as they were most commonly done before the Second Vatican Council, that is mostly in Latin, one needed special permission from the local bishop even though these were never abrogated. Thankfully, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has expanded access to the older forms so that those who still desire them no longer need special permission. The older form of the Sacrament of Baptism is what we have gathered this afternoon to celebrate so I would like to explain a few of its different parts.

First, there will be an elaborate blessing of the Baptismal water that is required by the ceremony. Then, we’ll see that the ceremony for the baptism of a child is simply an abridgment of that for an adult. In olden times baptism of adults was not administered in one continuous ceremony but in stages spread out over a period of time. We see this in the RCIA today.

The ritual of Infant Baptism itself is divided into four parts with different subparts that move from the narthex to the nave to the font. The first major part takes place in the entryway symbolizing that at this point the child is not yet a member of the Church. This part involves the Questioning of name and intent, the Breathing on the child, the Sign of the Cross, the Imposition of hands and the Imposition of salt. These basically outline the ancient enrolling of adult catechumens.

The breathing ritual harkens back to the book of Genesis. The priest breathes three times on the child in the form of the cross recalling the breath of God breathed into the nostrils of Adam. This breathing is also a form of exorcism and it, with the two that follow, symbolize not that the child is possessed or has sinned, but simply that due to the original sin of Adam and Eve her human nature as well as ours is fallen, weakened, and susceptible to the power of Satan. These exorcisms symbolize a true dispelling of the evil spirits that would try to influence her. The laying on of hands that happens here symbolizes an act of appropriation. The Church acknowledges or claims the child as her own, places a protecting hand around her, and commends her to God.

The last ceremony of the first part is the imposition of salt and also may seem unusual. Salt is a condiment meant to flavor foods and also preserve them. Christ told the Apostles: “You are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13). In the Rite of Baptism salt is a symbol of wisdom – that the child be given a taste for heavenly doctrine; and a symbol of immortality – that she be preserved from final corruption. The ancient ritual of the enrolling of catechumens also ended with the giving of blessed salt. This salt will also be blessed with an exorcism prayer of its own.

The second part of Baptism brings about the Admission of the child into the Church building. This involves a Second exorcism, the Sign of the cross, the Imposition of hands, the Admission into the Church, and the Recitation of the Creed and the Our Father.

The exorcism of the child here has its roots in olden times when the catechumen had at this stage advanced to the rank of a petitioner. He continued with his instructions and was subjected to an examination called a scrutiny. The priest now uses the power of exorcism received from Christ to free the child from the tyranny of Satan and to fit her throughout life for the whole Christian warfare against sin. The ancient enemy of mankind seeks to dispute with the Son of God for the possession of a child’s soul. But in this confrontation Jesus is victorious.

In the laying on of hands here, we remember the occasion when little children were brought to our Lord. St. Mark tells us that “embracing them and laying hands on them He blessed them” and St. Matthew adds that this blessing was accompanied by a prayer.

In admitting the child into the main body of the Church, the priest places one end of his stole on the child, a beautiful gesture that reminds us of those in the Gospels who reached for the fringe of Christ’s garment in search of salvation. Furthermore, the Church has now thrown open her doors to the child and welcomed her into God’s house. In the Adult catechumenate a special day is assigned for entrusting the candidates with the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Gospels – the whole deposit of faith. It is this stage that is being recalled when the priest, together with the godfather, recites the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer as the child and family process to the font.

The third part of the Baptismal Rite takes place in the nave or main part of the Church near the baptismal font and includes the third and definitive Exorcism, the Ephphetha prayer, the Renunciation of Satan, and the Anointing with the Oil of Catechumens.

After the final exorcism we see the last semblance of the ancient last scrutiny or examination. It was called “the opening of the ears” or the Ephphetha prayer, Aramaic for, “Be opened!” In the Gospel, Christ used spittle in healing the deaf mute. Here too, the priest wets his thumb, touches the ears and below the nose of the child, and prays that her inner faculties will be attuned to perceive the good news of Christ’s redeeming grace and its fragrance.

The child through the godfather, now publicly renounces the devil three times, corresponding to the later threefold profession of faith. After renouncing Satan, the child is anointed with the Oil of Catechumens. The Christian life is a contest and a struggle against the powers of evil. Therefore, as an athlete of Christ the child is anointed with oil, signifying that she is willing to engage in the contest, and that she is being given suppleness and strength for this purpose. In olden times the entire body of the candidate was anointed, in imitation of wrestlers and athletes who anointed their entire bodies with olive oil prior to entering the arena.

Finally there is the fourth and last part of Baptism which occurs at the Baptismal font and involves the Profession of faith, Baptism itself, the Anointing with Chrism, the White linen cloth, the Lighted candle, and the Last words of good will.

The candidate is now brought to the font, where we have the most highly symbolic act of the whole ritual: baptism in water which signifies and effects the cleansing of the soul, death and burial of the old life that comes from Adam, and resurrection to the new life that comes from Christ. After Baptism, the newly baptized receives the anointing with Sacred Chrism. The child is given a priestly anointing, because through baptism she shares in the priesthood of Christ; and the anointing is done on the crown of the head, because she shares likewise in his kingship. Finally she shares too in His Prophetic life in order to preach the Gospel by her words and deeds.

The bestowal of the white garment reminds us of ancient times when baptism was administered by immersion and the candidates stripped off their old garments before descending into the font, never to wear them again. Figuratively it meant putting off the old man of sin who stems from Adam. On coming out of the font they clothed themselves in new white garments as a sign of their new innocence as St. Paul says, “putting on Christ as a garment.”

Finally, the child is presented with a lighted candle. Formerly, with burning torches held aloft, the “newborn from the dead” marched into the church to assist for the first time at the Eucharist, singing as they went, the psalm, “I will go to the altar of God.” This is reminiscent of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. The present ritual points to the truth that baptism is related not only to the past – the sacrifice of Christ; not only to the present – the grace of new birth; but also to the future – the glory of the life to come. After the ceremony, as so many before her have done, the mother may consecrate the child to the protection of our Lady.

This beautiful prayer, said after the Baptism, is as follows:

O Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, when the Son of God decided to take upon himself our human life in order that we might share in his divine life, he did not wish to come to us without your pre-cooperation; He deliberately willed to have need of you. Look down today from heaven upon little Margaret. She has received from her parents the life of man and now by the Holy Sacrament of Baptism she has been given a life which is infinitely superior, the very life of God. We know that just as God is her Father and our Father you are in regard to her spiritual life her Mother and our Mother. We confide this child to you, show yourself as mother, watch over her education, nourish her with the life of grace, make her progress in her Christian life just as her human parents aid her to progress in physical as well as spiritual life. Protect the precious life which has just been received. Be for her a real mother, to guard her in your arms when the devil seeks to destroy her spiritual life in your Son Jesus Christ. May she love you as Jesus Christ loved you, for our love for you is nothing else but a participation in the love of your Son for you. In the name of this child, Margaret, we wish today to make her very first prayer to her heavenly Mother, “Hail Mary, etc. Amen.”

Mass for the Election of the Pope

While I was on my yearly retreat recently, at the Passionist Monastery of cloistered nuns in Whitesville, KY, the Holy Father retired.  So I celebrated a Mass one day for the pope and one the next day for the election of the pope.  For the latter, I used the following readings from the Common of Pastors:

First Reading: Ez 34:11-16 (no. 9) - “God will shepherd his sheep”
Responsorial psalm: Ps 23:1-6 (no. 2) – “The Lord is my shepherd”
Gospel Acclamation: Jn 10:14 (no. 5) – “I am the good shepherd, says the Lord, I know my sheep, and mine know me”
Gospel: Jn 21:15-17 (no. 12) - “Feed my sheep”

Here are the notes from my homily:

For the Gospel, I originally chose Mt 9:35-38 (no. 1) where the Lord has compassion on the Jews for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.  But I decided last night to change the Gospel to Jn 21:15-17 (no. 12).  We may be harassed but we are not helpless.  We feel lost and without a shepherd because of the great love we have for Pope-emeritus Benedict but we are neither lost nor helpless.

The pope, our earthly, visible shepherd, is seen and heard and identified with more easily.  But this period between popes helps us to see our Lord as they chief shepherd of his flock, the Church.  He is the Good Shepherd, the Pastor Bonum; He is our shepherd-king – the New Joshua, the New David – the invisible but always vital shepherd and pastor of the Universal Church, as our readings so beautifully describe.

Nevertheless, our Lord desired that His Church always have a visible head, a Vicar, an Ambassador on earth sharing in His authority, the invisible Head.  There is no tension between His role and His delegation of St. Peter as Peter himself said in his First Letter to the Christians of Asia Minor: “And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).  And so in our Gospel we see our Lord, by commanding Peter three times to “Feed my sheep,” entrusting to him the task of shepherding his entire flock.

Vatican I in 1870 solemnly defined what had already been believed; that in this episode Christ made Peter the visible head and visible chief pastor over the universal Church.  Out of our Lord’s great Love and Mercy for His flock he has continued to care for them through a visible head, one “Peter” after another, in unbroken succession to our current day and to the end of time.

Through the instrumentality of the College of Cardinals our Lord will again say to his chosen apostle in our own day, “Feed my lambs; Tend my sheep; Feed my sheep.” It is imperative that today and in the coming days, we say the traditional Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for this chosen man, that we offer our Lenten prayers, works of charity, and sacrifices for him, so that he as Peter will be able to say – as Pope-emeritus Benedict, Bl. John Paul II, and so many saintly popes before him faithfully said - “Lord, you know that I love you” and “I will never fall away.”

Mass for the Pope

At today's votive Mass for the Pope from the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions, I used the following readings which support, I think, his humility and closeness to God:
Dt 10:8-9 (option no. 2 from Common of Pastors)
Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 11 (option no. 1)
Lk 22:24-30 (option no. 9)
The 1st reading highlights how Levi was set apart, his portion was the Lord and attending to Him.
The Psalm proclaimed "You are my inheritance O Lord"
Luke's Gospel admonishes the leader to be the servant. The greater is the one who serves.
I can imagine these three readings ringing from Pope Benedict's heart as he is so close to the Word of God. He reflects their great humility.
Two other virtues that I think characterize his legacy are Gratitude and Unity.
Gratitude especially with regard to the liturgy as he has tirelessly taught us to receive generously the liturgy as a gift from God through the Church rather than trying to claim and craft it as our own. Receiving it generously means receiving it from the bountiful hands of its tradition and organic development from the whole spectrum of history, not just its apostolic age. What was good before is still good today. We express gratitude to God when we receive this with fidelity and care.
The third virtue of the pope's legacy, I think is unity. He is not the divider and conqueror everyone supposed him to be. His work to bring traditional Anglicans back into the fold through canonical and accommodating structures shows his great generosity in working for unity in the Church. His work in maintaining a continuity with tradition by expanding access to the older forms of the Mass and sacraments as well as his patient and persevering work in dialogue with the SSPX shows his desire to help the Church see traditionalist Catholics as part of the same family rather than as fringe relatives. Finally his work in establishing the Year of Faith and official structures for the New Evangelization has brought us all together in a new ardor for the Faith we have all received and share. May he be blessed all the days of his life.
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Ash Wednesday Homily, Year C

This afternoon, as we enter into the Season of Lent, Jesus sets the tone for the attitude that we should have. He says, “when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” meaning, do not be self-satisfied our puffed up about what you do this Lent. Our Holy Father has definitely helped us with that attitude hasn’t he? He just made what I’m giving up for Lent look really trivial! Hah! I wish I could take credit for that joke but it comes from a buddy of mine, Fr. Chris Larimer. Seriously though, his great act of humility, wanting to hand the office of the papacy to a man with more physical strength to meet the unique difficulties of our world today, is a great example. With this and so many other things, we can follow the pope’s lead. Profound humility is the way to enter into and proceed through the Lenten Season.

Today I am struck by the words of the final blessing that I will offer at the end of Mass; I hope that you will listen for it. It says, “Pour out your spirit of compunction, O God, on those who bow before your majesty, and by your mercy may they merit the rewards you promise to those who do penance.” That word “compunction” isn’t a word we hear very often. It has the same root as “puncture” and so praying that God will pour out on us a spirit of compunction probably means that we are praying for our inflated egos to be punctured so that we can be purified and disciplined for ongoing conversion. Lent is the great spiritual equalizer; no matter who we are, we are all together in need of the purification that this season brings. We are all together in need of practices that subdue our passions and impulses, practices that tell our bodies to take a step down so our souls can take a step forward. St. Leo the Great said, “Appropriate fasting and almsgiving, together called works of mercy, are praiseworthy and pious actions; in times of inequality of wealth and possessions, the souls of all the faithful may be one and equal in their desire for good.”

I think this “desire for good” that St. Leo says brings us all together during Lent is what it is all about. It sounds like Jesus in our Gospel is discouraging giving alms, praying publicly, or fasting while putting on ashes. But what he is trying to discourage is doing these things with impure motives, with an intention to be recognized rather than with a desire for good. We must certainly give alms during Lent, give gifts to the poor, or to those we love – but not in order to “win the praise of others.” We must certainly pray publicly – Lent is filled with public prayer like the Stations of the Cross which can serve to motivate others to pray. But we must not do them simply “so that others may see them.” We must certainly fast during Lent and wear ashes today as so many of you have come to do, but not simply so that we “may appear to others to be fasting.” We must do these things only out of a desire for good. That good is our own ongoing conversion and the salvation of the poor and those we love.

This desire for good helps us to see that our Lenten prayers, almsgiving, and fasting aren’t only about us. Often Lent can become a very self-centered season – but then that just serves to inflate our egos, which, we remember, need to be punctured. When you pray, when you offer something up or do acts of charity, when you fast, do these not only to advance your own salvation, but the salvation of others as well. Don’t just offer something up, offer something for.

We are the members of the mystical Body of Christ with Christ as our head. He offered the ultimate sacrifice, His own Body and Blood, for us out of a desire for good, the spiritual good of our salvation. Because we are His members we too can offer sacrifice for the spiritual good of others. And we offer sacrifices, gifts, good things, to God in Lent, not sins. For example, if you want to purify yourself of laziness, pray “Lord, I will offer to you not laziness but five minutes each day of Scripture reading for the good of my grandmother who is sick.” Or if you want to purify yourself of lust, pray “Lord, I will offer to you not lustful actions but reading one article each day from the Catholic Encyclopedia online for my friend who I know is struggling with this.” Or if you want to purify yourself of gossip, pray “Lord, I will offer to you not gossip but saying one nice thing about someone each day for the salvation of my son who has left the Church.”

Don’t just offer up sins, offer gifts for those you love. The very act works for good in us too. Instead of simply not doing some sin or excess in your life, start doing the opposing virtue. Let a desire for good motivate your Lenten practices. Being the Mystical Body of Christ makes this possible and gives us hope that if we share in His sacrifice then we will one day share in His glory.

Homily 5th Sun O.T. Year C: The Universal Call to Worthiness

As I’ve been a priest for almost two years now, and a deacon a year before that, I have seen how the pursuit of holiness in parish life tends to be a two-edged sword. As we pursue holiness, its light shines on our weaknesses and makes them stand out in our eyes all the more. But then as we step into the light, we are encouraged to be a light to our brothers and sisters.

Before I entered seminary at St. Mary’s in Baltimore, where I went for 6 years, I remember thinking that all the guys there were going to be ten times holier than I was. I thought I would be fumbling around with guys who were way above my head. I was startled to find out how really normal and down-to-earth most of the guys were – we were all together trying to increase in holiness, trying to be formed into priests of Jesus Christ, after the pattern of his own Heart. There were a few guys who stood out though, who truly were advanced in holiness, who made me feel like I was in a strange paradox of, on one hand, feeling discouraged because I wasn’t that far along yet, and on the other hand, feeling encouraged by their example to keep going. I finally found that a I let their example embolden me and give me hope for my own progress, then I was able to be an encouragement to others in return.

That feeling of being called to something greater, being called toward a certain light that attracts us and motivates us yet at the same time reveals how not-there-yet we really are is indeed a strange two-edged sword. Many vocations and ministries become stilted, I believe, when we focus our attention too much on the not-there-yet aspect of ourselves rather than on the hopes that lie ahead of us. I hear many discerners of the priesthood tie themselves in knots about how unworthy they are of seminary or the priesthood, an unworthiness revealed to them as they step into the light of that vocation. They tend to let their unworthiness become an obstacle to seminary rather than let the light of priesthood spurn them forward to new heights.

Recently I went to a training session for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and I was impressed with the sincerity of the group. But, as the theology of the Eucharist and the importance of this ministry was explained, they felt more and more intimidated by it. They felt more and more unable to go through with it. These types of feelings are common in parish life as people with great humility and sincerity are called to participate in great things. I am glad they stuck with it.

The three main figures in our readings today, the prophet Isaiah, St. Paul, and St. Peter, help us to sort through this type of dilemma. The prophet Isaiah was given a vision of the Lord on his heavenly throne, surrounded by angels who forever sing a chorus that we join into at every Mass, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” Faced with such holiness, his own sinfulness stood out all the more. So Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips… yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” But then an angel touched his lips with an ember from the burning incense, removing his wickedness, purging his sinfulness, and empowering him to go and proclaim the word of the Lord. If Isaiah had turned away, if he had let the light of God’s holiness drive him away, then he would have remained in his unworthiness. Instead, he let God approach him and make him worthy. This whole scenario plays out at every Mass before the priest proclaims the Gospel. He bows low to the altar before picking up the Gospel book and whispers a prayer to God, “Cleanse my heart and my lips almighty God, that I may worthily proclaim your Holy Gospel.” Then the very Word of God that streams from his lips makes them more and more worthy to proclaim Him. After the Gospel he prays, as he kisses the text, “By the words of the Gospel, may our sins be wiped away.”

The Second Vatican Council’s document on the Church, called in Latin Lumen Gentium, has a paragraph that is very comforting to me. It says, “The shepherds of Christ’s flock must in a holy way and eagerly, humbly, and courageously carry out their ministry, in imitation of the eternal high priest, the shepherd and guardian of our souls. They ought to fulfill this duty in such a way that it will be the principle means also of their own sanctification.” I thank god every day that this dynamic is possible. If I only shuddered at the thought of my unworthiness before the light of the priesthood, I’d never get out of bed each morning. Rather it is that same light, the Light of Christ, that not only exposes sinfulness but also heals it, bandages it, and binds it up. The Light of Christ converts the soul, strengthens it, and expands its view, calling it forward to progressively become the light so that the Light of Christ can shine before all men, not just those by the Lake of Gennesaret, but even in Elizabethtown, and St. James parish too.

This is the light that caused St. Peter to cry out, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man” after Jesus performed the miracle of the huge catch of fish. But Peter didn’t let that stop him there. He let that call him forward to the primary place among the apostles who together, as fishermen, caught men and women into the saving net of Jesus Christ and the Church. This is the light that caused St. Paul to call himself, “the least of the apostles” and “not fit to be called an apostle.” Yet it is the same light that turned “one who persecuted the Church” into an apostle indeed, the greatest missionary the Church has ever known, one who “toiled harder” than all of the rest.

Finally, to laypeople, the Council’s document on the Church also gives a very encouraging word. As you pursue the call of God in your lives, do not think that it is in addition to one’s tasks in life that one is sanctified; rather one’s sanctification occurs in the very accomplishment of these tasks. All states in life must be lived in such a way that charity permeates all its aspects. All are called by their holiness to cooperate with Christ in the salvation of our brethren. Don’t let your sinfulness or unworthiness convince you that all you can be is a sinner. Let the Light of Christ progressively call you forward with courage and hope to what you were created to be: a saint.

Why Does Fr. Hardesty Do That?! Part Five

Question: Why does Fr. Hardesty bow his head at different parts during the Mass?  Does he have a crick in his neck?

Answer: Yes!  Also (!) it is because of a long-standing tradition in Catholic worship to bow our heads out of honor and reverence.  This is not only for the priest, but for the people too.  This was a very common practice in the older form of the Mass and in fact is still in the instructions today, for the new form of the Mass.  In the Extraordinary Form there are many different types of bows of the head and body for many different occasions in the Mass.  These have been simplified in the Ordinary Form but are still there.

GIRM 275 says: “A bow signifies reverence and honor shown to the persons themselves or to the signs that represent them.  There are two kinds of bow: a bow of the head and a bow of the body.  A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.”

According to the traditional practice, the head bow in worship is made by solemnly drawing the chin to the chest rather than the nod that you see guys give each other on the street.  Some bow the head when they hear “Jesus” others just when they hear “Jesus Christ” (as is my practice).  During the homily, rubricians back in the day advised that you only needed to bow the head (or doff the biretta) at the first mention of the name of Jesus – otherwise you could be bowing your head quite a lot!  In the Extraordinary Form, this is indeed quite comical when a preacher in a flurry of piety repeats the name of Jesus every other sentence and you see birettas at the sedillia and choir jumping up and down!

How to Go to Confession

Have you ever wanted a step by step on how to go to Confession but didn’t want to take your iPhone with the iConfess app into the confessional with you?  Below is how I trained the 2nd Graders who made their first confession this morning.  This is straight out of the Rite of Penance.  Practicing the rite in class, it was precious hearing the children dutifully answer “His mercy endures forever” after I said, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” (which is at the end of the rite)

1. Father welcomes you.
2. You make the Sign of the Cross with Father.
3. Father says a prayer to help you and you answer: “Amen.”  The prayer is: “May God who enlightens every heart help you to know your sins and to trust in His mercy.”
4. Father may read a brief passage of Scripture to inspire you.
5. You tell Father what your current state in life is and when your last confession was, for example: “I am in the 2nd grade and this is my first confession” or “I am a wife, father, priest, etc. and my last confession was a month ago.”
6. You Confess your sins specifically and how many times you did them.
7. Father gives you counsel on how to do better.
8. Father gives you a penance
9. You tell Father if the penance is acceptable
10. Father invites you to say the Act of Contrition. You say these or similar words:
    “My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.”
11. You bow your head as Father extends his hands over your head and says the Prayer of Absolution.  The prayer is: “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.  Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace.  And I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
12. At the end, you may make the Sign of the Cross and say: “Amen.”
13. Father says: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.”
14. You answer: “His mercy endures for ever.”
15. Father says: “The Lord has freed you from your sins. Go in peace.”
16. You may say, “Thanks be to God” or “Thank you, Father” and depart.
    

That’s it!  I have found that if you practice the rite at each religion class running up to First Reconciliation rather than waiting to go through it at the end after you’ve covered the theology, it reinforces it much better.  I also made up fake scenarios and sins and did a “straw” confession in front of the class with a volunteer 8th grader – this was a big help too.  I also never use the word “nervous.”  I avoid planting in their heads that this is anything they should even suspect being nervous about – other than the natural nervousness of something new.

Homily, Baptism of the Lord, Year C

Last week when we celebrated the Solemnity of the Epiphany, we recalled that Jews and non-Jews alike, the shepherds and the Magi, were drawn to behold the Lord, the fulfillment of the blessings promised to Israel. Because they were both Jews and non-Jews, they symbolize all people of all times who are called to be co-heirs of these blessings. This week our Lord reveals that Baptism is the way to claim this inheritance. This also gives me an opportunity to do a little bit of catechesis on the Sacrament of Baptism to help you understand and explain our faith.

Jesus submitted to St. John’s Baptism not because he was in need of purification, but as a act of humility and in order to bring to fulfillment what was done for the Israelites long ago. At the time of Moses, they were held in slavery in Egypt. Moses, through the Passover, led them in an Exodus from Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. But Pharaoh’s armies chased them to the Red Sea so Moses, by the power of God, parted the waters of the Sea so that the Israelites could march through to the other side. Once safely across, the waters came crashing down behind them. In this episode, God’s People were saved through water from slavery to Egypt in order to pursue the Promised Land. By passing through the waters of the Jordan River, Jesus leads a new exodus from slavery to sin and for the promised land of heaven. And Jesus does this so that all peoples of all times could hear the words pronounced over him by the voice of the Father: that each of us is a beloved son or daughter of God.

In our modern day, this dynamic still unfolds for the People of God. Nonetheless, it may shock you to know that infant Baptism in the Catholic Church is in decline.[1] Let’s take a moment to look at the Church’s teaching on infant Baptism so that our own parish doesn’t fall victim to this trend (see the CDF’s “Instruction on Infant Baptism,” October 20, 1980).

The Church’s practice of baptizing infants comes primarily from our belief in original sin and in the necessity of baptism for salvation. We believe that Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendents a human nature wounded by their own first sin; a human nature deprived of its original holiness; this deprivation is called original sin. As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened, subject to ignorance, suffering, and death, and inclined to sin (CCC 416-418). It is this sin, contracted not committed, that is washed away when an infant is baptized. And so the Letter to the Romans says, “For if, by the transgression of one person [Adam], death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17).

Our belief that Baptism is necessary for salvation comes from Christ himself, who said in John’s Gospel, “Amen, amen I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5). And we read in the first letter of St. Peter that it is Baptism “which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 3:21).

The practice of infant baptism is also well established in Sacred Tradition. St. Augustine considered it a “tradition received from the Apostles” When the first direct evidence of infant Baptism appears in the second century, it is never presented as an innovation. St. Irenaeus, in particular, considers it a matter of course that the baptized should include "infants and small children" as well as adolescents, young adults and older people. The oldest known ritual from the start of the third century contains the following rule: "First baptize the children. Those of them who can speak for themselves should do so. The parents or someone of their family should speak for the others." The magisterium, popes, and councils from the earliest centuries affirmed this practice, from the Council of Carthage in 418 to Pope Paul VI in our own day.

Why then is the practice of infant baptism in decline? In other parishes I have been in, I have heard parents say, “Well we want to wait to have our child baptized until she can choose it for herself.” Why do parents say this? Perhaps they’re influenced by the example of the adults who were baptized in the Gospel. These adults after being converted to the Christian Faith by the preaching of the Apostles were then baptized. We may ask, “How can infants be baptized if they have no faith to profess beforehand?” But, this question fails to acknowledge that in the case of an infant, it is the faith of the Church that is professed. Plus, remember that Baptism is not simply a sign of faith as many of our Protestant brothers and sisters believe, but it is also a cause of faith. Through Baptism the child is given the gifts of Faith, Hope, and Love. The child is also made a son or daughter of God and a co-heir with Christ of the riches of Heaven. Furthermore, Baptism is the gateway to the sacramental life of the Church and all of the blessings God gives us through the Church. How could we delay their reception of these gifts?

Some may want to wait to let their child choose baptism because they think that baptism as an infant restricts his freedom to choose. They may think that it is unjust to impose on him future obligations that he may perhaps later be led to reject. Therefore parents should wait until the child can make the commitment himself and in the meantime they and the child’s teachers should hold back on the Catholic stuff. As reasonable as it sounds, this attitude is simply an illusion. There is no such thing as freedom completely immune from any kind of influence. Parents make all sorts of decisions for their child’s natural life before he can choose them himself, like the proper house in which to live or the elementary school he will go too. Having a so-called neutral attitude toward the child’s religious life is in fact a negative choice to deprive the child of all of the gifts and graces of Baptism.

Besides, the New Testament presents entry into the Christian life not as a form of slavery or constraint, but as admittance to a truer, more ennobled freedom (see Jn 8:36). When the child grows up, he will still be able to reject his baptismal faith, a sorrow attested to by many parents and grandparents. But, we should not underestimate the power of the seeds of faith sown in the soul in infant baptism, to one day spring to life again, aided by the parents’ patience, love, prayers, and authentic witness.

Jesus today has shown us that he has sanctified the waters of Baptism, making them a passage-way to healing and freedom, a fountain of new birth and everlasting life. Let’s work together to ensure that our children and grandchildren, our nieces and nephews, our neighbors and our friends that have not been baptized can be washed and graced by baptism without delay. The Church, described by St. Paul as Christ's "body" and His "fullness," is the visible sacrament of Christ in the world, with the mission of extending to everyone the sacramental link between the Church and her glorified Savior. Accordingly, the Church cannot fail to wish to give to everyone, children no less than adults, the first and basic sacrament of Baptism, the sacrament of our salvation.

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[1] Baptism is a first step in involvement in the Church. A 10 year study in the Archdiocese of Louisville shows that as baptisms decrease so does elementary school enrollment. Baptisms are down from 3,065 in 1998 to 2,329 today, while total elementary school enrollment is down from 16,732 to 12,469 students.

Why Does Fr. Hardesty Do That?! Part 4

After a brief homily today, I addressed another topic concerning the celebration of Mass.  This time on the use of the low or quiet voice during the Ordinary Form (“new form”) of the Mass.  I’m not going to be very detailed regarding the various types of voice traditionally used.  So this is all off the top of my head.

Question: What is Fr. Hardesty whispering at various times of the Mass?

Answer: The Mass is one extended prayer to the Father.  Most of this prayer is said in a loud voice, audible to the congregation.  There are also some prayers said in dialogue with the congregation to facilitate their active participation in the liturgy according to the reforms of Sacrosanctum Concilium of Vatican II.  Sometimes though, there are prayers said only between the priest and God.  In the prior translation of the Ordinary Form (“new form”)missal, the rubric was mistranslated to indicate that these prayers are said “silently.”  Therefore, most priests pray these prayers interiorly.  With an eye toward celebrating the O.F. in continuity with the Extraordinary Form (E.F. or “old form”) of the Mass though, we know that prayers that makeup the content of the Mass are never said simply interiorly.  If so, how could we verify that these prayers were said at all?  Therefore when the translation of the Missal of the O.F. was revised, this rubric was correctly translated to indicate that the private prayers are said “quietly” or in a “low voice".  This better conveys that they should be at least vocalized, namely with a whisper.  It also paces the Mass well when you have to pause to vocalize these rather than saying them interiorly on top of another action.  Note that Deacons should whisper their own private prayers of the Mass too.  I find these to be very personally edifying.  You can pray these interiorly with the priest if you have a Daily Roman Missal or a Magnificat to follow along with.

For your edification, here are the private prayers of the Ordinary Form of the Mass:

Before the Deacon proclaims the Gospel, the priest blesses him saying:
”May the Lord be in your heart and on your lips, that you may proclaim his Gospel worthily and well, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”

If the priest proclaims the Gospel himself, he bows before the altar and says:
”Cleanse my heart and my lips, almighty God, that I may worthily proclaim your holy Gospel”

After proclaiming the Gospel, the priest or the deacon says the following:
”Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away”

In preparing the altar and the offerings, after offering the paten the priest or deacon pours a little water into the chalice and says:
”By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity”

After offering the chalice the priest bows profoundly and says:
”With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord, and my our sacrifice in your sight this day be pleasing to you, Lord God”

Then while washing his hands the priest says:
”Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”

After the Sign of Peace, while the Lamb of God is being chanted, the priest beaks off a small piece from the Host and drops it into the chalice saying:
"May this mingling of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it”

Before the “Behold the Lamb of God…” the priest prepares himself for Communion saying one of two options:
”Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit, through your Death gave life to the world, free me by this, your most holy Body and Blood, from all my sins and from every evil; keep me always faithful to your commandments, and never let me be parted from you.”

OR

“May the receiving of your Body and Blood, Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to judgment and condemnation, but through your loving mercy be for me protection in mind and body and a healing remedy.”

Before consuming the Host the priest says:
”May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life”
Before consuming the Precious Blood he says:
”May the Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life”

Finally, during the purification of the chalice and paten, the priest or deacon says:
”What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what has been given to us in time may be our healing for eternity.”

Those are all of the private prayers of the Mass.  I do say a few interior prayers though that don’t make up the content of the Mass.  First, as I sign my forehead, lips, and heart before the proclamation of the Gospel I pray “May the Word of God be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.”  Second, either during the petitions, before the Preface, or during the times set forth in Eucharistic Prayer I, I call to mind the intention of the Mass.  Lastly, after consecrating the Host and the Chalice I say during the elevation of each, “My Lord and my God” – an indulgenced prayer.  Sometimes when I genuflect I’ll pray “You are great and I am small.”

Homily Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Year C

Happy New Year – my blessing to you for the new year is the text of the First Reading: “The Lord bless you and keep you!  The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!  The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!”

It is because of this Solemnity that we celebrate today, that Mary has all of her other titles and graces: Her Assumption, Immaculate Conception, Immaculate Heart, and Most Holy Name; her own Nativity; her appearances at Fatima, Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Mt. Carmel; her Sorrows, her Rosary, her Presentation, and Queenship; and her Visitation of her cousin Elizabeth all depend on her being the Mother of God.

Today’s solemnity is one of the many great mysteries we having been, and will continue to, move in and out of.  Paul’s verse in the Second Reading, “God sent his Son, born of a woman,” encapsulates the whole day.  The Eternal Son of the Father, the Eternal Word, the Second Person of the Trinity assumed human flesh, taking the body and blood of his mother Mary at his conception; he truly became man.  From that point he is forever fully God and fully man.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  He is the son of a woman.  He is OF God and OF Mary.  The mother of Jesus is the Mother of God.  This great gift of divine Motherhood is not a gift for her alone but for us all.

The meaning and purpose of Mary being the Mother of God are profound mysteries. Who she is, her relation to her Son, what the shepherds told her about all Glory being due to Jesus Christ, that He is Savior, Christ, and Lord – all of these things, the Gospel said, Mary “reflected on” in her heart. This means that she continually “pieced together” in her heart the meaning of these mysteries.  As she raised our Savior and watched him grow, they expanded more and more in her faith and understanding.  When we turn to her and remain close to her, when we place ourselves under her mantle, she pieces these together for us too, helping us to see how she is our Mother too, that Christ is our brother, and that God is our Father.

By the Holy Spirit of our Baptism we enjoy adoption as sons of the Father, sharing in the Sonship of Christ, so that we can proclaim “Abba!” - “Father!” – an intimate, personal way of addressing God.  Mary helps us to see ourselves in such an intimate relationship with God.  She brings us close to God and helps us approach Him. She is the short and easy way to Him. Going to God through her is also the more humble way to approach Him. True, Christ is our sole mediator with God.  But Mary participates in this mediatorship, humbly and lovingly drawing us close to Him.

St. Bernard explains that: “She consoles us in our distress, enlivens our faith, strengthens our hope, gets rid of our fears, and invigorates our timidity.”  She also teaches us like a mother should – parents being the primary formators in the faith of children.  She teaches us how to say Yes to God’s will, how to receive Christ deeply in our very being, how to generously give him to the world.

She also helps us with our images of the Father.  Often our images of God come from the experiences of our natural fathers.  If our natural father was harsh, she helps us to know God’s mercy.  If our natural father was absent, she helps us to know God’s presence.  If our natural father was distant, she brings us close to Him.  When our natural fathers do well, she helps us to see how this points to our heavenly Father.  When our natural fathers are merciful, present, and close to us she helps us to attribute these values to God.

In this new year, our Blessed Mother, the Mother of God, is challenging us to say Yes to Him.  Today we take time to consider how it is that Mary is truly our Mother; what kind of son or daughter we have been to her; how we can allow her to be our mother; and each of us to be her son or daughter.  This could be a new year of a renewed relationship with Mary, our Mother.  Perhaps we could strengthen or pick up a Marian devotion that has fallen away, like the rosary.  Our we could take up some spiritual reading to learn more about her. Scott Hahn’s book, Hail Holy Queen, or Fulton Sheen’s book, The World’s First Love, are excellent places to start. Any time we honor, venerate, or pray to Mary, she always redirects these to her Son, she never keeps them for herself.  Know that as we grow in our relationship with the Mother of God, we can be assured of growing close to her Divine Son.

Homily Midnight Mass Year C 2012

            To those this with us this evening who are new to St. James, friends and family of parishioners, on behalf of our pastor, Fr. Chuck Walker, and our entire staff I welcome you to St. James and wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas!  I hope that you will find our Church and our parishioners to be warm and inviting and feel welcome to pray with us any time.  We are available to you and want to help you maintain and grow in your faith.  We also want to help you get reacquainted with your faith if you haven’t been to Mass in a while.  Let us try our hand at helping you answer a question or solve a problem that has been an obstacle to you.  We have a large and active parish with prayerful and resourceful people with many helpful gifts and talents all at your service… starting with this very Mass, the greatest help of all.

            One of the most helpful parts of our Gospel reading tonight is the strong example of St. Joseph.  It is Joseph who took Mary, pregnant with the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, to Bethlehem in order to register in the census; it is Joseph who, in doing this, fulfilled the prophecy of Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; it is Joseph who worked to provide for and protect his family by finding shelter in a nearby cave when there was no room in the inn (Navarre Lk 1:1-2:23).  St. Bernadine of Siena explains that it was Joseph, our Holy Patriarch, who was “a father to our Lord Jesus Christ and a faithful spouse to the Queen of the Universe, our Lady of the Angels.  The eternal Father chose Joseph to be the guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, his Son and his Spouse, and Joseph fulfilled his calling with perfect fidelity.  If the Church is indebted to the Blessed Virgin for having given Christ to us, then, after Mary, great gratitude and veneration is also owed to St. Joseph.” (ibid)

            Sometimes we can forget to turn to St. Joseph for help in our own lives.  He has such a humble witness in Scripture, but his role in the early life of Jesus Christ and his closeness to Him, makes him a powerful intercessor for us.  We should turn to him and ask him for his prayers any time we are in need.

            One of the lessons that St. Joseph teaches us, is how to properly line up our priorities.  Let us not treat him as all the others who neglected him.  Our Lord’s poverty at his birth rings throughout the Scriptures.  Mary laid him in a manger, our Gospel tonight said, “because there was no room for them in the inn.”  John’s Gospel opens with the words, “he came to his own home, and his own people received him not.”  Matthew’s gospel reminds us that “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Infancy Narratives, p. 66)

            This stark reality should cause us to reexamine the priorities we live by.  Joseph knew that his highest priority was tending to his Holy Family.  From the moment of his birth, Jesus is outside of what is important and powerful in the eyes of the world.  Yet he will prove to be the truly powerful one.  Part of what it means to be Christian is to leave behind what everyone else thinks and wants, the prevailing standards, in order to know Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (p. 67)

            There are many other inspiring details from our Gospel that can provide much fruit for prayer.  The fact that Mary wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes, the equivalent of bandages, calls to mind his death.  From the outset then, he is the sacrificial victim and the manger could be seen as a kind of altar. (p. 68)

            Our Holy Father, in his new book on Jesus’ infancy, describes a beautiful insight into the manger from St. Augustine.  The manger is the place where animals find their food.  But now, lying in the manger, is he who called himself the true bead come down from heaven., the true nourishment that we need in order to be fully ourselves.  This is the food that gives us true life, eternal life.  Thus the manger becomes a reference to the table of God, to which we are invited so as to receive the bread of God. (p. 68)

            Finally, there are the shepherds who are the first ones to receive the message of the newborn King.  Being outside of the city, Jesus was born close to their fields.  They were physically close to him and so they teach us to be inwardly close to him too.  And they were poor, showing us the great love God has for the poor and challenging us to resist being tied down by too many things so that we can be freed by the profound mysteries that only those who are humble have access too. (p. 71)

            We receive then, tonight, a great gift and a great challenge.  For Christ to not only be born at a specific time and place in human history but also in each of our hearts, we need the help that our faith gives us; we cannot receive such a precious gift by our own power.  We turn to St. Joseph as the patron saint of those seeking to re-align our priorities around Jesus Christ.  With the aid of Joseph’s prayers we can see that Jesus’ whole life, from beginning to end, is offered for our salvation.  We can see that allowing him generously into our lives is not simply a challenge but a great gift.  He is still giving his entire Life to us.  With the humility and poverty of the shepherds, we allow Jesus to enrich us with his blessings.