Scriptura et Ecclesia

Corpus Christi

2011-06-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity flows into today’s celebration of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The Church, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, leads us from the mystery of God’s sublime unity in three equal divine persons toward meditation on that union, now expressed in the Holy Eucharist. Our communion today is in the same Body and Blood of Christ that he promised to share with his followers so many years ago. Jesus is not merely a man, for we know him to be fully united with God. He demonstrates his humanity by uniting himself fully with us in the Eucharist. The unity that we have in Jesus Christ calls us to give everything and receive even more in the world to come.

As Jesus is offering himself, the hearts of his Jewish hearers were filled with protest. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? It was impossible to understand the meaning of the Eucharist without faith, and faith could only be founded upon the resurrection. We are learning how to live and never die just as Jesus says. His death means life for us. In the Eucharist, we commemorate the death of Christ, but are led into an ever greater share of his life that surpasses all death. It is necessary for each Christian to discover this life and the living of it. Our Blessed Lord unites his life with the act of our living so that the Church would have an undivided life.

As Jesus introduces his teaching about the Eucharist, the ancient memory of manna in the desert comes to the minds of his hearers. The food that God gave instructed the people in addition to feeding them. By allowing Israel to undergo the pangs of hunger, the Lord intended his instruction to permeate the entire being of his newly claimed people. Man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. The Lord wanted to know whether his people were intent on following him with all that they had. The life of God’s people is determined by the will of the one who gives them life.

Man does not live by bread alone. By taking up our symbol of bread, God has added his own word of life to what appears ordinary to us. Bread is meant to be shared just as the life of Jesus is meant to be shared. Jesus is the Word made flesh and the true bread sent from the Father. While the desert was hard for the Egyptians, the bread God gave was a reminder that they were not alone, because their life was not only from bread. The life of Israel came from God.

I cannot deny that these are difficult days, and especially for the Church. Loneliness is a very common thing amongst us these days that ironically seems to unite us. Jesus accompanies us through conditions that are even more difficult, dry and barren that the desert traversed by Israel. While trials come to us at every hour of our Christian life, the Eucharist encourages each person to remain united with the living one.

The scandal of the Eucharist was not an outright rejection of divine assistance, but more a realization that death seemed to make the Eucharist an impossibility. Jesus allowed his hearers to be scandalized or tripped up by his words for the sake of the faithful who wanted to know the truth. The truth for us is that in addition to worshipping Christ in the Eucharist and receiving the sacrament of his body and blood, we are also surrounded by countless stumbling blocks of a lesser sort. For much less, people do abandon Jesus Christ and his Church. The sublime unity that Jesus offers us by means of the Church and the sacrament is lost on people again and again.

It has always been very fitting to speak and right about the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ is fully and really present under the accidents of bread and wine. In other words, the sacred species are not bread or wine any longer. This is Jesus’ choice to be humbly and substantially united to us through an abiding sacrament.

At the level of being, that is reality itself, Jesus is uniting himself to believers. Through the faith that God the Father implants in our hearts, we are joined to the Body of Christ in communion. The Holy Spirit and He alone makes Eucharist joyful. Life is meant to be lived for this communion with God and one another. This is the life Jesus promises to the one who feeds on him. Though he cannot be harmed in the Eucharist, Jesus is united to us more fully than ever, even as we ourselves are harmed by the many vicissitudes of life.

As people abandoned the gift that they did not know, so to people abandon the Catholic Church for trivial and superficial reasons. When compared to the love of God in Jesus Christ, the serious sins that separate people from God melt away with a genuine conversion of heart. Christian faith for us means commitment to the Eucharist in spite of all that comes. We want to remain always united to our God no matter who ignores this union. Union with God makes our problems seem quite insignificant.

Remember then that Jesus was willing to make himself insignificant for love of you and I in the Church. He made the doctrine of his most abiding gift in this world seem unimportant. Christ wished for the faithful to discover the union of man with God here and now in unsuspecting moments, in the midst of lives that seem ordinary. Christ knew that his faith could only stay alive in us if it became somewhat ordinary, akin to what we call food.

To this humble king, reigning from the cross and the tabernacle of our Church, we rightly give adoration and praise. The praises we utter this day fade in time, but they are heard in eternity. Our worship appears to us to be quite finite, even though it is the very best each of us can do. I have learned so much by worshipping with you each Sunday. Today, our prayers are rising and our love is growing. I pray that my love for you and yours for me would always be united in an eternal embrace of love.

May the Trinity we do not see draw us more perfectly together in the Eucharist this day.

Pentecost Vigil Homily

2011-06-12T20:42:00.001-07:00

I took this from the vigil readings, option for Ezekiel's dry bones.

The words and ministry of the prophet Ezekiel are a profound demonstration of God's goal in sending the Holy Spirit. How would we know of the life in our midst if it were not for the Spirit of God? How else would the Hebrew people have known of God's intention to raise the dead, if it hadn't been for Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones? Ezekiel saw those bones. How dry they were! The Lord then commanded Ezekiel to prophesy. So the same Spirit that led the prophet also was the Spirit entering into the dry bones and bringing forth life from them again.

The story of the dry bones takes place in two stages. First, Ezekiel prophesies the physical regeneration of the human person. He sees sinew, flesh and skin covering the bodies so that they are like bodies suspended. Clearly, the flesh is not enough to make a person alive. The Hebrews believed that the breath that coincides with life in the body is no less than God's gift. This represents a less scientific view of the human body than we have. At the same time, this Gospel demonstrates two ways that we are also regenerated for this life and the next. Jesus seals the gift of his salvation permanently by granting us life in the Holy Spirit.

As dramatic a picture as Ezekiel gives us of flesh returning to dry bones, the image is not foreign to us. Death is one thing we can universally agree about in the way that we complain. The bones, though lifeless, seem to be a partner in dialogue with God through Ezekiel. While not very articulate, the bones perfectly communicate the futility of death, especially since our faith unites the identity of a real person with those bones. Though living, we can also experience futility and symbolically relate it to death. All of the ways that we are not fully alive seem to reveal our succumbing early and often to the pallor of death.

Yet all the while God says, I will do this for you, O my people and my Spirit will live within you. How will we know that God is doing this?

We know well enough when we are getting our own lives together. Like any one of you, I know a little bit about trying to improve my life in place where previously I had found failure. It takes a bit of work to make yourself better than before. So many times it began with a complaint of mine. I was able to look at my life and see where I felt that I was not yet fully alive. This is like Ezekiel reporting that the bones of the fallen are so dry. While we cannot command flesh to return to dry bones, our lives are subject to a restoration. Without also being aware of it, the Lord restores life to us. We do not see constantly that God is hard at work. While we work, we benefit from the grace of God.

The Spirit moves where it wills. While we cannot know the thoughts of God purely, Paul reminds us that we do long for knowledge of God's ineffable work. We would like our spirit to be revived interiorly with God's Spirit. I know that having lived only a little while, I already feel tired and stretched. Anyone who tries to live for God experiences this longing. We groan in expectation for the redemption of our bodies. We have hope for something much more than we can ever accomplish in our finite capacity, but we do not see it perfectly. The desires of our hearts are just beginning to be revealed in the living of this life.

Who then unlocks the desires of our hearts? None other than Jesus Christ our Lord, for Paul says, that there is one who both searches our hearts and also knows the intention of the Holy Spirit. He intercedes for us according to God's will.

Christ would not search our hearts for nothing. He would not have become man, knowing everything about us humans from within, without bringing his work to fulfillment. Therefore he says, "Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me." Our hearts will be ever increased in the Spirit just as the water flowing from a river.

How then shall we know that there are rivers of water flowing? An experience of the Holy Spirit is often thought to be like the overpowering surge of a flood, a powerful river bursting its dams. It is interesting that Jesus promises us a river flowing from within. A river flowing in this way would be consistent and true, but it would also be drawn from a source deep inside. Like a spring in the ground whose origin seems to be small, so the river of living water in us flows from inner recesses of our hearts. Though the divine origin of the Spirit is great and mighty, the place where the Spirit encounters our spirit is inward and secret to even to us an certainly to the world.

How shall we then really know that the Holy Spirit is alive in our hearts? Jesus came to search out the desires of our hearts. He goes to the bottom of it all. He does not merely judge our actions by how they appear, but he looks for our intention to know and love God as the foundation of our lives. Where there is faith, living water begins to flow. The Holy Spirit then accompanies us through life. In every situation of life our desires and intentions are converted by the power of the Holy Spirit into deeper love. Wherever our desires and faith in Jesus Christ meet, there the Spirit of God is at work.

God creates us anew, making us his sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. This depends on the Holy Spirit. How do we know that we are being created anew? It is when we look at all of life and see an uncreated love guiding us and pouring himself out continually. The water has flowed and continues to flow without end. As God's favors collect in our lives, we are more firmly convinced of the infinite capacity of the giver to give.

How do we know that we are even worthy of this love? Faith expands and dimishes the possibility for disbelief. As our capacity to accept God's love for us approaches infinity, we can finally believe that no situation we face in this life is outside of God's love. No matter how difficult this can seem, God's love will accompany us and never abandon his faithful ones in the Holy Spirit.

The Olden Days

2011-05-07T12:05:00.001-07:00

Third Sunday of Easter 2011 Year A

How shall the Word of the Lord be proved true in the lives of his faithful ones? The proof of our God's victory over sin and death comes in ways that we do not easily see. As we hear the Word of God today, the hopes of past years burn up in our hearts again. Were not our hearts burning within us as he opened the scriptures to us? Christ transforms our old desires into hope for eternal life.

We often think about what life must have been like in the old days. The resurrection reveals the transcendent in our earthly days. It is in our very heart and soul to desire the kingdom to come. The disappointment of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus was based on the expectation that Jesus Christ raised during his earthly life. Instead of bringing the kingdom around in visible form, the king of kings surrendered his life to God and to his persecutors. Jesus seemed to have failed and left his closest friends confused.

The risen Lord stays out of the way as he walks with them. Jesus is able to be fully present in their lives by helping them to examine the whole history of Israel in the scriptures. Every line of scripture speaks about how the Messiah had to suffer and so enter into his glory. This is not simply a cause and effect. A mere temporal reversal of suffering into glory does not show the depth of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Spirit. He is in every suffering and difficult moment of these present times.

How is Christ revealed today in your trials and suffering? We are living in times when the Son of God is revealed fully through faith. In his first letter to the Church, St. Peter explains how the Son of God was known before the foundation of the world. He is at the foundation of everything that matters to us. Every word that the Son of Man speaks is full of rich life for us. Every moment of life is redeemed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, that a drop of this sacred life more precious than gold would not be wasted.

These days that pass swiftly are pregnant with the life of the Son of God. So then when we suffer, let us no longer look to find fault with anyone or anything. Avoid any easy cures that prop life up on so many crutches, as easily abandoned as they are taken up. It is so easy for us to forget the intimacy of Christ with the human heart. Our moments of doubt and weakness can each be transformed in their time into a spiritual flourishing of Christ's promises. The structure that upholds every unfulfilled desire has as its reverse a beautiful Temple for God to dwell.

The life of king David is another notable example of this tension. Even in his day, he longed to see the people dwell in peace under one God and king. David nearly attained it. Nevertheless, David's reign, like his life were filled with gritty personal hardships. He learned through the prophets and priests of Israel that the meaning of his life was always caught up in the mystery of God's intimate love for him. This is why he could confide his mortal life into the care of God. David witnessed from afar that there must be one whose desire for life is even greater than his own. Christ's desire for human life to flourish extended even to his enemies. In him, we see life shining through these days and not the corruption of death.

In looking back, we would very much like to believe that our times are different. History has a direction to it and longs to reach its culmination. This can be seen in modern times in the many revolutions, social, and political movements that demand lasting change. Many things also stay the same even as some others change. We trust God that the wearisome parts of life, the things that we cannot control, are also for God's glory. Ultimately, it has to be Christ who is the Lord of history. We cannot suppose that any time of man's own making can be more filled with grace than any other. It is the same Holy Spirit that guides the world toward fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

What are the things that God loves the most? Christ is just as much interested in the little things as in the bright glory of the last day. Jesus loves the simple joy of being with men and women in their good traits and their foibles. He has a passionate desire for human life to be lived to the full. If these days are still the old days, it is because there are still solid gold nuggets left in the mineshafts of life.

For example, yesterday was a difficult day for me. The limits of my energy and ability have been hitting me lately with a sense of fatigue. I would love to be able to do all the things that I dream about doing. As I was praying and participating in the ordination last night, I was impressed by the size of the crowd. I started to realize that the life of the Church still has a long history ahead of it. Where I have expected fulfillment in my lifetime is really only a seed. Through effort and the faithfulness of prayer and love, this will contribute even more to a greater fulfillment in ages to come.

What symbolized the truth in my mind was actually a four year old girl with curls and a nostalgic dress that could have been from the fifties. To see this little person in living color confirmed the vision: These are the old days. The truth is growing each day in the church so the victory of Christ will be even clearer in the life span of young ones like that little girl.

Our Eucharist reminds us that our olden days are still breaking into new life. Christ was going on to the next town, even as the day of resurrection grew long. His disciples called the traveler into the inn with them where they would spend the night and seek relief from their weariness of soul and body. Christ was finally revealed in the thing that he loves the most. Jesus Christ loves to sit down and share a meal. Christ is as close as the things that matter most, where each of us can find meaning in daily life. May our lives break forth again into the eternal desire even of the hills.

Pseudo-liturgy definition

2010-11-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

Pseudo-liturgy is when prayers are written ad hoc by those with little theological training and imposed upon a Catholic liturgical structure in order to merely lend legitimacy to very ordinary and unliturgical realities. Pseudo-liturgical collect:

Oh, God the winds of winter frighten us. Do not let us grow cold and weary in our hearts and protect us from the long shadows of darkness. We ask this all in your name. Amen.

This sort of prayer suggests a human person that is not open to revelation. The existence of God is lost alongside the existence of wind, shadows, trees, winter, and any other items of the imagination. I am eager to read more of the collects of the new translation of the missal. These prayers promise to address God in reverent and suppliant language. I am not saying that the current translation is anything like the mess I just composed. I do however think that our language about God has been lacking in the reverence needed to teach people about his holiness, omnipotent love, and his absolute oneness. Such language, with good teaching, could keep Catholics from skipping quickly over the God parts of their prayers and filling the vacuum with their own emotions. May pseudo-liturgies cease and devotion begin anew.

Marriage homily

2010-10-29T13:09:00.001-07:00

Today you begin a new journey of love. Realize that marriage celebrates what is new. God has revealed himself to you in Jesus Christ, I pray that he continues to be with you both in every day of your marriage. Love calls out to you to follow. Nobody is abandoned who God loves and chooses. Release your hold on your old life. By turning to the Lord with all your heart and all your mind, you obey his great commandment to love him and to love one another.

These are noble thoughts indeed. You have chosen this Gospel today, in which Christ invites you to recognize love as the greatest commandment. The commandment closest to the heart of God is not a prohibition, but an invitation and a gift. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. Jesus would not have to remind us of this if it weren’t for the fact that we often do not love him with all of our heart, and our soul and our mind. In mind alone, we wander from the pure intention to thank and love God hundreds of times a day. The totality of this commandment is what makes it so great. This, by the way, is what makes our faith so full of hope and life. While he reminds us of our frequent diversions, Jesus also compels us by his very life to believe that all moments of our lives swell with the majesty of the divine. God is present in an undying way, living in the midst of you.

This Gospel reading is truly valuable for the sacrament of marriage. As a Gospel in miniature, you can turn to this proclamation frequently for inspiration and daily help. Love the Lord your God with all your being. Pray this Gospel often during your day. Plant the desire to love God with everything you have as a cornerstone in your lives. By doing this, you will never lack for inspiration. This commandment is great because it truly represents Jesus himself. Christ, while being divine, enjoyed a complete human nature. He had a full human body, soul, heart and mind. With these, Christ gave perfect witness to the human sense of the divine love that the Father and Son share in heaven. God’s own love is manifested in the life of Jesus Christ and all those whom he calls to live in him.

Therefore, do not be discouraged when you fall short of the greatest commandment in some way. It is the greatest and we surely are not so. God helps us to follow through on our deepest desires. If you want to love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, the Lord will actively help you and teach you. He is always present, ready to work through any event or person or thing in your life. From God’s perspective, we will always have things to discover about him and about love. Paul reminds us that love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, pompous, inflated, rude, or seeking its own interests. It is not quick tempered, nor does it brood over injury or rejoice over wrongdoing.

We cannot act out of love when we commit these sins against it. This reading also challenges us to have a heart of love. We are to bear all things, hope all things, endure all things, and believe all things. Remember then that loves presence in your relationship as husband and wife is not defined by its absence in your behavior. If you should take on any unloving characteristics, turn to the God of love who ratifies all of the desires of your heart and more. We are not to simply add up good and bad in such a way that we measure our own success or love. God calls us believe in his love as the foundation of our own.

Marriage calls you back to the creator himself. He made you male and female for the purpose of bringing new life into this world through you. Already God renews you and enriches you as man and woman. In trusting in one another and in him, you experience your own life in a new and fundamentally different way. The measure of you love is in the way you exchange your noble and good gifts with one another. Marriage is not an addition of yours and hers. It isn’t even a multiplication. It is both of those things at times. In another way, marriage is like adding another dimension to everything. Even in the ordinary tasks of life, God now says to you, “It is good!” and indeed you discover that it is. What was normal before can become good. Every simple moment of life can now become an opportunity to love your spouse even more. I pray and beg then that you keep the dimension of church and sacrament alive in you. Today, the horizon of God’s loving commandment is set. Rise up then to meet it.

Post-liberal post

2010-09-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have no desire to retract anything from my last post, but I have been asked to clarify what I mean by liberal. Liberal is a term that has gone through a long history. I did not specifically mean that my religious development was directly stunted by Catholics who are at variance with the orthodox doctrines of our church. Liberalism as I define it is simply the state of affairs that we now have. For many people, God has no real value in daily life. I like this quote from the Catholic encyclopedia,

"By proclaiming man's absolute autonomy in the intellectual, moral and social order, Liberalism denies, at least practically, God and supernatural religion. If carried out logically, it leads even to a theoretical denial of God, by putting deified mankind in place of God."

Without very explicit instruction on how to pray and how to lead a spiritual life, we are all subject to this liberal environment. We unknowingly are taught to continue seeking ourselves. God is pushed to the margins. No one is required to be an atheist to actually live like one in practice. The new atheists are just coming out to challenge people to finally admit their godlessness.

Would I like a more staunchly Catholic country, and some noble king to assure the godly order of public affairs? No! We cannot hope for history to turn backwards. In many ways, I sympathize with the original charter of liberalism. Free and magnanimous thought is not something that I fear, because I more heartily trust that a free mind will all the more freely turn to God.

The problem with relying on liberalism as a label for anything one hopes to accomplish in Church, is that it has become liberalism falsely so-called. When God is actively excluded from our public debate, I must confess that freedom is not accomplished in thought or in deed. When the guidance of the Holy Spirit is excluded as the prime mover in the hierarchy and teachings of the Church, I confess that my mind is not free to fully grasp their riches and wisdom.

In this sense, I would say that serious religious Catholics are not true liberals or even true conservatives. Matters of doctrine must be approached catechetically. There must be an eye to conversion, not only on an intellectual level, but the goal of catechesis is the conversion of hearts to trust more fully in God's providence for the Church as a whole and for me in particular. The right to disagree is softened by the Holy Spirit into a real freedom to learn. That is the post-liberal phase that most American Catholics are now in. To adapt a verse of scripture, he who has learned much loves much.

Liberal Protestantism was not thoroughly evil. We gained many treasured insights into scripture through the historical-critical method. Yet some went too far in their quest for the historical, even ruling out the divine inspiration of the scriptures. That is the danger of hard-core liberalism today. God's unique role in the church has been sorely neglected. Why else would there be all these vain attempts to define God in so many new and different ways? Sacred breeze of new life... enough of that. At some point, we simply believe that what the Church promises us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is what we can have through faith.

Now, I have been asked to un-label myself as a conservative, too. Whether that would be disingenuous is for others to decide. I will say that I had a staunch conservative phase at the beginning of my seminary career. Problem was is that I knew far to0 little about what I was trying to conserve. I found myself in one parish assignment disagreeing with a couple of nice sisters over what candles might be appropriate for the altar. When we too quickly condemn something, we fail to understand it, and unknowingly lend an idea some sort of power. I could have driven people to become a sect of the hippie altar candles (joking).

Sometimes I page through old Catholic books to find that they were written to keep Catholics from ever wanting to wander from Christ's sheep-fold. That's a very good thing. There is so much understanding in those old volumes from 1850-1965. That kind of resourcement of Catholic knowledge contributes to a mature orthodoxy. Some want to use the word conservative, but I think that just doesn't do enough justice to those who actually want a full theological understanding of Catholicism. It is another label. When I think of conservatism, I don't immediately juxtapose that term with someone who loves the liturgy of the extraordinary form of the Mass. My image of conservatism is more like my old reaction to militantly defend my image of the Church while at the same time remaining deeply ignorant myself and all the while hurting others.

I do not like the legacy of either liberal or conservative colored name badges. I think that I would be post-conservative as well. I desire to not only be orthodox in teaching all that the church teaches, but I would like to make that message accessible to more and more people of any inclination. Would it be possible to write a fully Catholic book from a non-Catholic's perspective? I don't know that I have seen one. Can we speak to the world on its own terms, or do we require a great assent of faith before anyone can learn much about Catholicism?

The key to a balanced, mature Catholicism is always a love for scripture and the church. In these we discern the Holy Spirit working all things out for our good.

Thank God I am not a liberal

2010-08-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

I just want to vent, O, internet world. The title says it all. It is God alone to be thanked and praised forever and ever that I am a Catholic Christian priest of Jesus Christ. Otherwise I would be have been swept into the great mass of unbelief long ago. As a child of thirty years today, I will tell you who I really am today.

Thanks be to God for the misery that he allowed me to undergo. Thanks be to God for the innate sense of the hell rising up all around me. May Christ be praised for the courage to believe that I was made for something more!

Praise Jesus Christ for the Catholic friends who welcomed me in my searching. Thank you God for the people who first challenged my notion that abortion was a compassionate response to the plight of young pregnant women. Thank you God for those who calmly told me that premarital sexual intercourse is wrong and that man and woman should not live together before marrying. I don't know why I accepted all of these liberal teaching as a very young man out of high school, but they seemed to be things I took completely for granted. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for dispelling the fog of liberal dogmatism. Thank you for opening my mind in the beginning.

Thank you, Jesus, for not letting any other lights attract me as your own light of life did. From the first moment that I saw it, truth entered my mind. Before Christ, there was no truth there. Once he came into full view his truth entered as well. I could not counteract his truth with arguments of my own making. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for drawing me toward you in prayer and in your holy word. You held me close when my mind could not fathom your truth. When I questioned, you communicated everything to me as though I were trustworthy. As your confidant and you mine, you helped me to align my life with you laws one step at a time. Thank you for not letting the fear, shame, and pain of my past life win out, O Christ. For you alone have the words of everlasting life, and I would gladly look like an ignorant fool one thousand times a day than lose you.

Thank, Jesus Christ, for drawing me to you in the Holy Eucharist. Thank you for the daily sacrifice of the Mass, ever living and true God! Thank you for confession, where again I finally became a new creation as I was created to be. Thank you for loving me more each day. Finally Lord, when you were ready, you made me a creature that could really love you back. You forgave my debt so that I can love you more. Thank you for calling my relentlessly to your holy priesthood, my Jesus, and for the steadfastness with which you have continued to call, even as I truly became aware of all the reasons that I was unfit. Thank you Lord for giving humility to me and to all of your priests. For in the end we have nothing but you. Thank you for your people who we are called to serve. Thank you for teaching us about the souls that we encounter and allowing us to share in that healing, teaching, and apostolic live that you once showed to us. Thank you Jesus Christ for being a real person at the beginning and the end of all that we do.

Thank you Blessed Mother of God for your undying vision of your Son that you manage to see in us. You, Mary are the comfort of a priests life and the easy yoke that we take unto eternal life. Thank you Holy Mother Church for binding and loosing. Without you, know one in this "liberal world could make any good thing stick to me. Nor could anyone loosen any of the tragedies that constantly befall us in this dark valley. Thank you Saints for you witness to the very end. You show us how to live and how to die for him who is forever raised.

So for this great story that is my life, I lost the liberalism that permeated me. I gave up the inconclusive data of my life. Prior to Christ's sweetness, thoughts about myself dominated my existence. Why and from what natural cause can possibly stem this constant questioning of self? For what reason did I look to other creatures simply to believe that I could survive my life? Was I not as real as everything else? Was I conditioned incorrectly to so refuse to become like my surroundings? Ah misfit and restless soul, was there every a gift that you did not in someway reject prior to the gift of God himself?

I thank God that I am not a liberal. I am skeptical of the world and its wisdom so as to be more and more trusting of God's world and God's wisdom. Notice by world, I do not mean the natural world by the spirit of the age that seeks to dominate the meaning of my life and yours. By worldly wisdom, I do not mean scientific knowledge of the natural world nor the human sciences of our visible nature, but the so-called wisdom that has currency only because it seems to be new or unheard of. We all to easily adopt thinking that seems so correct without making a lick of common sense.

By believing in all that we see with our eyes we all the more fully distrust the God who loves us. We distrust the one happiness that we can actually aspire to that won't ultimately fail.

Hold on to that Feelin'

2010-07-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

I suppose I risk turning this into a selfish pop-culture rant. I've noticed that our young people are very interested in this song "Don't Stop Believin'" made popular again by the television show "Glee". It is kind of surreal to hear the voices of a hundred teenagers singing about streetlight people in the night. I haven't actually watched the show, so how can I comment on it? I think that I can say something about the appeal of the song even so far removed from its original context, i.e. South Detroit, where perhaps a negligible number of teenage watchers of glee actually live.

I can remember passing through my own Don't-Stop phase as a freshman in college. Me and another buddy went on a nice winter break ski trip to the Rockies. What a big deal for me, especially since I financed the trip with my own grocery bagging wages. I was tossed in between having fun and suddenly realizing how terribly vulnerable I felt in the wide, wild west. Being suddenly responsible for something was almost too much for my emotional system to handle. I chose to make this trip. I dove into the thrill of the mountain. As my old high school friend and I stepped out of a mountaintop lodge, the loadspeaker blared "Don't Stop Believin". I stared out over the great snowy basin below and sang along with feeling. Disinterested, sweaty skiers walked by as my disbelievin' friend stared and wasn't quite sure what to make of me.

That was about as long as the music lasted, that very phase of my life. Did this singing set me up for a lifetime of Believing? As I continued on my journey of faith, I did occasionally view this experience as the first rumbling of a greater earthquake of faith. Now, I am more inclined to characterize this as a brief relief from emotional strain. It was not faith but just growing up. I knew that I believed in the existence of God, and that was the minimum requirement to hold on to that feelin'.

Don't stop expresses a desire to live in spite of everything to the contrary. But what do all of these preppy type glee students have standing in their way? Certainly, our children are overwhelmed by feelins that seem to hold on to them, this author included. The obstacles to life today are not so intimidating as those that would have faced streetlight people in the night of the late seventies. I enjoyed this in its original form, because it seems to reclaim the humanness of those "searching just to find emotion". Now, our youth obsessed culture has made a mockery of this song. It seems wrong that people thoroughly soaked in emotionality are just crying out for more of the same. The song should be rewritten to say "searching just to find a clue". Please show me what life actually means.

Faith and feeling are bound to come in contact with each other. Believin' as in this song is running cover for a deepened cultural solipsism. Faith gives us truth that can persist in all types of feelings. The needful thing is for us is not merely to hold onto that feeling, the feeling that I am a person after all. God helps us to understand the meaning of the feelings we would rather forget. The only way we can do this is to hold onto a Person who is no feeling.

We are well on the way to being at the mercy of our feelings. Whoever can control our feelings will have the better of our persons. The alternative is actually to grab onto the more woeful feelings that menace us. The inner turmoil of souls is not acknowledged by our culture, and we have silently accepted the lie that we do not have to suffer, nor will we, nor should we. It therefore has no meaning. All of the inner agony of our youth becomes a full, isolated hell before its time.

Yet all a person has to do is grab onto God in one hand and an undesirable feeling in the other to see that this is not hell and that life can go on. We sometimes hold onto feelings, but what or who holds onto us?

Year of the Priest closure

2010-06-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a homily that I was honored to give before Bishop Robert Morlino in celebration of the year of the priest.

Today we unite our prayer and praise with that of the universal church even as our own hearts long for Christ’s kingdom to be fully realized in her. We long for Jesus Christ to return and fill all creation with his presence. We thank God for the Year of the Priest, in which we have celebrated together the gift and mystery of the priesthood. We have celebrated the presence of Christ through our priests. We have recalled that we need these servants of Christ to maintain His real presence in the church until he returns. The year of the priest marks the 150^th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, a sure model of priestly ministry in the doubtful circumstances of our time. I believe John Vianney carried Jesus Christ with him even in his very flesh, with great humility and love for souls. In our age, people everywhere long to see Jesus Christ in every priest. The wavering Christian and seeking soul are all but compelled by modernity to doubt Jesus Christ and his promises. Yet hope emerges again and for souls and for this world. Truly, there can be no fulfillment or satisfaction without Jesus Christ. Souls are more deeply compelled to look for him by the longing in their hearts. Together then we thank God for the priesthood, for those men who so firmly have rooted their identity in that of the great high priest.

The Year of the Priest officially closed on Friday, June 11 at St. Peter’s Basilica. In his homily, our Holy Father Pope Benedict remarked, “God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf.” Jesus chooses to continue his presence through the sacramental words of the priest, in the forgiveness of sins and the institution of the Eucharist. Benedict writes, “the Eucharist transforms the common elements of the world, bread and wine, into the very body and blood of Christ”. Through the Eucharist, the elements of the world are transformed and the world is opened to God. In the Eucharist, Christ’s sacrifice is presented to us again. He died so that we might live. And Jesus lives fully in the Eucharist so that we might each live and die for him. The faith of every Catholic Christian is realized and concretized in the sacraments. The Holy people of God need their priests so that they might truly live through him. A faith that is real and concrete has the power to give hope to every family and nation in this world.

Fathers, brother priests, we each accepted the offertory gifts, the loving oblation of the people of God on the day of our ordination. “Know what you are doing, imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.” Christ personally calls us to be his brothers in this noble task of breathing life into the Church and the world. Know what you are doing. We can never know all that we are doing when we act in sublime union with Christ our savior. All priests must approach the blessed Trinity in prayer, humbly beseeching a greater taste of that mystery we celebrate. We shall never grasp or contain the fruits of Jesus’ victory. Though we are called fathers, Christ embraces us as brothers, so that in our hearts we will know and love God as sons.

Christ calls his apostles to solitude in today’s Gospel. With Jesus, priests are invited and called into a sacred solitude where they can be formed. In prayer, priests discover spiritual strength and the Father’s love. No priest can be authentic without first knowing himself as a man, loved and cherished by an everlasting Father. Like Jesus himself, priests are called from among men, from among the ordinary activity of this world. Jesus chooses solitude for himself and for his disciples to teach us the divine source of this calling. As fallen creatures, we too have lost the splendor that we were created with. We fall short of the image of God. Our human origin dominates our lives, and the divine origin is a distant memory. It is frequently neglected, scoffed at and ignored in our own day. Christ, whose origin is divine, comes as the Son of Man and the image of the Invisible God. What he shows to you, Christian soul, you must proclaim from the housetops.

Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The answer is a reminder that the world does not recognize the Christ, the anointed. Even though the world knows today that Jesus is its savior, many in that crowd of humanity cannot see, hear, and touch what it means to be Messiah. We cannot simply assent to Christ as an abstraction. The one who confesses Jesus as Lord, must die the death of baptism. We cannot be saved by him without becoming like him. There are too many graces and blessings in our lives. Jesus wants us to know that the world itself is longing to see Christ come to full stature. Without knowing ourselves as sons and daughters of God, these blessings would go to waste. In the crowd, the gift of John the Baptist, Elijah and the prophets has only led to confusion, for they could not yet know that God has loved him as he has first loved his only Son. Like Jesus whom the crowd does not know, the celibate priest remains an enigma. To those who are thirsting for God, celibacy is a sign that God may be found and that his love is very, very good. Let us accept this gift joyfully, brothers, and be sealed with Jesus Christ in spiritual bonds of love and mercy

Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, and for this, the scripture says, he and his friends are rebuked by our Lord. Jesus Christ loves his priests very much, so he is also quite free to be stern with each of us. He knows that we need it. We drag our feet and endlessly petition that Jesus would find some easier way for us. It is our right in prayer that we get all of this out, but finally Jesus will warmly and strongly remind us what is required. Don’t just tell the crowds about Jesus Christ. No, take up your cross and do as he does. If you try to save your life, you will lose it. Christ addresses these words above all to his beloved priests. Lose your life for my sake, Jesus says, and you will save it. As priests we must remember that we are standing in the place of Jesus and oftentimes must go against our natural tendencies. This makes us more authentic to our people and not less. We are called to perfection in virtue and in faith. In our behavior let us imitate the kindness and reverence of Jesus Christ. There can be only one Son of God.

The prophecy of Zechariah must be fulfilled, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. On that day there shall be open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.” The passion of Jesus Christ is that living fountain of life that can alone purify the Church of her sins. As the new Jerusalem, the whole church mourns for the wounds of our Lord. Our sinfulness necessitates this sacrifice even today. We thank God for all of the priests who have ministered reconciliation to us. We thank them all for ministering to us out of their own hearts and out of Christ’s wounded heart.

In following Christ to the cross, we are restored to the image of God. Jesus loses his life for the Father’s sake, and in losing his life he has saved it in so many who had been lost. In this way Jesus is one with the Father. He restores the image of God in us and allows all of us to be sons and daughters of the Father. Thank you, dear priests. We are honored to call you father, for it is your life’s purpose to raise up the image of God again countless souls. Thank you for your kindness and your skillful and honest teaching. Thank you for teaching the truth even when it was difficult for me to hear. We owe so much to our priests and we are all grateful. And dear people, on behalf of Bishop Morlino and all of our priests, we thank you for all the ways that you help us and pray for us. We are encouraged each day by your faith and we think that you are great. It is an honor to love you and serve you for the sake of Jesus Christ. Together as the Body of Christ let us offer our praise to the Father in this Eucharist.

Widow's mite

2010-06-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I had Mass in another parish. In the course of the morning, I found two pennies lying about and decided to collect them. A widow's mite, perhaps? I'll keep it in my room as a reminder to give everything to God. Above all, I owe him the honor and glory of all that I have been given.

The widow could perhaps represent the Catholic Church. Everything that she has, she gives to God for the salvation of souls. Though she is the bride of Christ, to the world she appears to be his widow. Our secular world is building up its image. We assume that there is a lot to live for in this world. BP oil still deceives itself into trying to redeem its image in the wake of the current disaster. They hope that by the enormity of their efforts to stop the oil they will inevitably have to become heroes in the face of looming disaster. They are much like those wealthy who put large sums in the treasury. In works of charity, size does not ultimately matter.

The Church must give everything it has to God. Most importantly, the church and all its priests and all its ministers must give to God the credit that he deserves. He deserved all of the credit for the Temple in Jerusalem. The Lord deserves all of the praise for every soul that is saved and every one that serves. Mary, widow of St. Joseph, teach us to glorify God with inner sacrifices of praises. Lead us in your Magnificat. Let us humbly share in the joy of Jesus christ so that we may share him with others.

First Timothy

2010-06-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

Readings

Today is good day to reflect on the gift of priesthood. Many people have already remarked upon 1st Timothy in the context of the ordained priesthood.

The letter opens by invoking the ancient privilege of worship. Paul declares that he worships God with a clear conscience just as his ancestors did. The manner of worship greatly changed between the Old covenant and the new. The old covenant relied on a temple made of human hands, namely that in Jerusalem. According to his conscience, Paul declares himself to be clear. In other words, he is free from any suggestion of idolatry or false worship. Though Paul's goal is not different from those of the great men of Israel, his assurance has far surpassed that of Israel.

Paul is classically confident and on the point of boasting. He has to address this concern directly in other places throughout his writings, assuring that he would boast in his weaknesses. When writing to a dear friend in Christ, we can see that his clear conscience is not an idle boast. This clarity works great things. It allows Paul to remember Timothy day and night in prayer. Even if we remember to pray for someone in a moment, God hears it. To pray constantly for others, even while sleeping, this is only the result of a total shift in Paul's life. Somehow, Paul is completely available to God and to the spiritual needs of others.

While I was in the seminary, different scholars in their books seemed to debate whether Paul actually wrote this letter himself. It seems to me that whoever wrote it understood Paul very well. Additionally, in my Eucharistic theology class, we even speculated about whether Paul was a priest of Jesus Christ. To me, Paul had to have been a priest as well as an apostle. The laying on of hands indicates a share in the apostolic ministry from Paul to Timothy.

"For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame

the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control."

Paul includes himself in this spirit of power, love, and self-control. This is an apt description of the priestly calling. We've already touched upon the power of worship and prayer. Paul lives confidently out of this power. Love for the priest and for all of us comes from knowing Jesus Christ. The manifestation of Jesus according to the flesh makes God's love known in the flesh. This love grows each day and guards the heart of the disciple until the day of Christ's return. "I am not ashamed," Paul says. His heart, like his labors, are preserved for him by Christ who also called him and administered grace in the first place. The priest has a share in Christ's ministry, and needs a great share in the love of Christ in order to do anything.

The spirit of self-control here seems to go beyond ordinary Christian moral standards. A priestly self-control includes the courage to stand up under the weight of various trials. That is a strong theme for the imprisoned Paul, as we see in this passage. The Gospel must involve suffering for the one who preaches it, for Timothy and for Paul. As priests, they are men who stand petitioning, suffering, and co-redeeming in heaven's courts. Their lives are fully human and fully stretched towards heaven. Pray for your priests that they might all give a faithful witness to Christ by the content and manner of their lives.

Peace and Relaxation

2010-05-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Readings

Christ offers his disciples peace, but not in the manner that the world offers peace. Indeed, the ruler of this world is on the verge of killing our Lord in Tuesday's Gospel reading. In the midst of this, Jesus counsels the disciples to remain and peace and to live without fear in their hearts.

What are the terms under which the world can offer peace? The peace that the world gives comes with fear. We must have anxiety, caution, and a bit of trouble in our hearts, because we know that peace in this world is short-lived. It is fragile, and can only last as long as the interests of the powerful are met.

The peace that Christ gives lasts. His peace is not given with terms. If there is faith, we can have peace. "If you loved me you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I." God the all-powerful Father has great love for us. Just as we have loved Jesus Christ, we can now understand the love that filled Jesus Christ and gave him peace. The peace that the world cannot give calmed Jesus as he offered up his body.

One thing that has dawned on me lately is that this peace is a gift. There aren't any conditions to meet and no buttons to push that guarantee this peace. It is a gift for each of us to receive. As a disciple of Christ, I need to accept Christ's peace, even as my own world cannot seem to give it to me. I have a natural desire for peace. I accomplish my work and other goals and expect to get a little reward for it. Namely, I want to have some time without anxiety each day, call it "me-time".

I'm not saying relaxation and leisure is out for me. I just observe that I tend to mistake this for peace. When this happens, it's not altogether relaxing because there is never enough of it.

Now I have it in my heart that I can be at peace all day. Against my natural tendency, I accept the truth that there will always be more work to do. The worry-free island I am seeking in this world is at best an illusion and sometimes even unhealthy. If I keep my work close to my heart, I'll be at peace with it. Paul was diligent. Even after being stoned he marched back into the city to regroup with Barnabas. That's a bit like the surrender and confidence I'd like to have more of.

Christ's peace is a real gift. I may not be sure what my next move has to be. How do I work with engaged couples? How do I teach eighth grade morality in a sensitive and faithful way? How do I write a homily that is of the Lord and not Fr. Wordspinner? One thing I know is that Christ has ascended to the Father, and a good bit of my heart is resting peacefully with Him.

For Easter: A Doorway to Life

2010-04-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was writing my Easter homily and thinking of the notion of salvation as a door. The stone from the empty tomb is rolled back. Maybe the door of Christ is two fold: one to let Christ into our hearts and also that we step out of this world and into heaven. Here's my homily for Sunday morning.

A little yeast leavens the whole loaf. So clear out the old yeast and make a fresh loaf for the Lord! Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the feast. Let us make of our lives a fitting complement to the divine Savior that we worship today.

Mary Magdalene is the preacher today. It is she who most effectively threw out the old yeast of her sinful life. She who was forgiven much loved much. Mary can preach today because of the eloquence of Christ’s life. Christ preached so fully on Good Friday, in his own suffering and dying. Jesus spoke so few words, but they were full of meaning. In Christ’s wounded body, our own souls tremble at the sight. He suffered for our transgressions and sins. Christ spoke of his forgiveness and of his love. At the foot of the cross, Mary Magdalene prayed and wept for the man who saved her from hell.

Mary Magdalene is the one from whom Jesus drove out seven devil. She was known to be a great sinner. Though she was Jewish, she grew up with pagan ways in the pagan town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. She was very beautiful and very proud. After meeting Jesus, Mary regretted her sinful life. She wept at Jesus feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. She anointed Jesus’ feet with oil and kissed them. Christ turned to her and told her that her sins were forgiven. The crowd was amazed that any man would make such a pronouncement. This is the one thing Jesus had on Earth that none of the Pharisees had. Jesus gave this gift to his priests, so that the ministry of reconciliation would continue in this world.

Each year, the feast of Easter reminds us as Christians to reconcile with God. As a priest, I know the joy there is in coming to the Lord and confessing my sins. With confession, I have the hope of living planted in me again. I know the privilege of saying with Jesus Christ, “Your sins our forgiven! Go and sin no more.” Go and make that new start. There is nothing in the world like the sacrament of reconciliation. We enter with sorrow and we leave with new purpose for our lives. Mary Magdalene lived her entire life closely tied to Jesus Christ, in his ministry, in his dying, and in his rising from the dead.

The Gospel of St. John puts the focus on Mary’s lack of understanding, but there was no lack of love. It takes love to get up early on a Sunday morning. I know that it does. A good sense of obligation also helps love along and enables it to grow. I must go to Mass like I must live, love, work, breathe clean air etc. I really want to do this. Mary got up at sunrise to take spices and perfume to the tomb of Jesus. I believe that she must do this. Without understanding or seeing Jesus, Mary must by the love in her heart sacrifice of herself for God. She saw that her Lord wasn’t there. Mary had confusion.

Here we can see a little bit into Mary’s heart. We don’t know where they have taken him! Her mind goes to her greatest fear. Someone has taken away Jesus Christ. Have I lost him forever! How can I live or love or breathe air again in the same way without him. Mary is attached to this man beyond words. Her own hearts fascination is proclaimed from the housetops. What you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops! What I mean is, there are now so many millions of ways to preach the Gospel, the devil cannot possibly obstruct them all. The end of the story is that Jesus did appear to Mary, but he decided to play the part of the gardener for a moment. Christ loved just to be with her, even though she was in pain, even though she didn’t understand, even though her heart had to search for him all over again, even though she had not yet found him.

Christ treated Mary so well when he was alive! He healed her and sent the devil away. Christ cared for her as his own daughter! Everything was pure and new and her heart knew it. Mary Magdalene had that faith, precious faith of a child. Have you lost your beloved? Let us help you. We will look for him with you. Our heart remember the days when we could smile with child-like faith. Now something has happened that has blocked our vision. Any one of a million things could be blocking my view. Why can I not see Jesus? We want to see Jesus!

The paschal lamb has been sacrificed. Why do you seek the living among the dead? Jesus breaks in on Mary’s search and utter the name of a dear friend. Mary! She cries out, “Teacher!” She found him again. We live for that moment, Christ appears as a light to our souls. Let us run quickly from the dark shadows of our sins. Let us enter into the light, as Paul says, in sincerity and truth. Didn’t Mary show the greatest of sincerity? After Christ had blessed her, she no longer had use for trickery, malice, or intrigue. There was no need to second guess herself anymore. The false strength of sin had lost its appeal. Freedom is a great banquet and feast.

The Gospel we preach to you today is the Gospel of life, the only Gospel by which we can be saved. Turn over your hearts to Jesus Christ the only savior so that they may indeed flourish in freedom. You belong here at this table. You and I belong here and with the saints in glory, free from sin and free from death forever. Let us throw out the old leaven of sin, which buoys us up no longer. We need not sink, but simply stride forward in to the mercy of this Eucharist, this great and eternal day of blessing. Christ now knocks at your door. Open and stride into his house. This is where Jesus has gone and Mary Magdalene, and Mary the sweet mother of God. This newly discovered door leads to the delights of heaven. Walk through it, and head not the call to remain contented in this world.

Cast the First Stone?

2010-03-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

“The Lord has done great things for us. We are filled with joy!” Today’s Gospel certainly presents a discouraging scene. The sins of the woman caught in adultery are made public. The world reveals in public the shame of things done in private. The world recoils and writhes at the horror of sin. The gift of life is marred and its beauty is lost. Sin discourages everyone when it is made public. Those who seem to be righteous make matters worse. The Pharisees denounce the sinfulness of this woman out of pure spite. Each of them assumes that they are free to pronounce judgment, but they are all under the same sentence.

When a body is wounded in one part, the damage ripples throughout the flesh in the nerves and tissues. In our human family, sin is a shared condition. What effects one member effects us all. As the Pharisees bring out the rocks of accusation, Christ gently embraces the dry sand of Jerusalem’s streets. Life is so hard for God’s people, but what the Pharisees intend to do is really making matters much worse for everyone. They have forgotten the words of the prophet Isaiah. Surely Jesus knew these words from the bottom of his heart. “Remember not the things of the past! Behold I am doing something new. Now it springs forth. In the desert I make away.” Christ enters into any place where life has no longer bloomed and flourished. Jesus Christ is faithful as a pure clean spring of rushing water to have us drink.

Flowing water is an image that speaks to us again in this springtime. Although our land is lush and fertile, winter is really a time of year when we experience dryness and desert like condition. New life from the soil is put on hold. Even in lands that are quite dry, beautiful farms and gardens can develop when water is introduced. It is truly amazing the way farmers can manage their water resources to bring about the most abundant crop possible. Water is a symbol of God’s faithfulness. Water undergoes very little chemical change but it is always moving and flowing. Water has power to destroy and power to create in abundance.

Even in this dry scene of the adulterous woman and her accusers, Christ Jesus shows the flowing abundance of God’s mercy. At the moment where Jesus seems trapped by Moses’ law, Christ does something surprisingly new. He turn on the faucet of grace and mercy toward the woman’s accusers. It would have been all too easy for any of us to dismiss concern of the Jews. Authority can be such a drag, man! We don’t need your law! What gives you the right to judge her! Et cetera. Yet this dismissive response is also masking our own hurt. We are wounded by sin. Paul makes it clear that with or without the law we are all deprived of God’s goodness and glory.

Christ turns himself not to the scofflaws as I just did, but toward those who are eager to preserve Moses’ heritage. “Let the one among you who is without the first sin cast the first stone.” This is not a counter-attack. Jesus is not suggesting that all those men were adulterers as she was, all though some of them may have been. Jesus points each man inward to his own heart. He allows them the freedom to carry out Moses’ command, saying “cast the first stone.” In doing this, Jesus also shows his people how to examine their own hearts and consciences. The passage declares that the accusers abandoned the case one at a time. Consider all the hearts of these tough guys cracking open one by blessed one. Consider how perhaps for the first time these proud citizens were accusing themselves of sin and acknowledging their need for mercy. Throwing a stone can’t fix it.

Beginning with the oldest, they each went away. It is so important for a Christian to examine his or her conscience daily. Only in this way can we maintain our desire for eternal life. Sin is a separation from God. Every examination of conscience is a renewing of the desire for eternal life. As often as we reflect on the problems of our lives or the sins of others’ without reflecting on our own we too fall short of the glory of God. Consider St. Paul. He was more advanced in Judaism then all of his contemporaries. He considers all that is past to be rubbish for the sake of the glory that lay ahead, the upward calling in Jesus Christ.

Strive and attain to that resurrection. We are not merely pardoned in Christ but freed to attain to the glory of God. Even Paul admits that he had not attained it as he wrote to the Philippians. In this Eucharistic meal, let us all strive to know our own hearts. As Christ washed away the Egyptians to a memory in the Red Sea, so too has our past been superseded by God’s grace. The paths to the Lord’s altar to his risen Body and Blood vary, but the future and present glory of all of us is up. Up from sin and up to heaven!

The Word itself is banished from their speech

2010-03-11T12:10:00.000-08:00

Daily Readings

Jeremiah describes the people who have ceased to listen to the voice of the Lord. They have stiffened their necks. The people as a whole ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. Their deeds are worse than their fathers, and they can not be spoken to in order to recognize their condition. Sounds like today. No one would care to admit that we do greater evils than those in times before, but in many ways we do.

Jeremiah complains that faithfulness has disappeared. The very word, faithfulness, is banished from their speech. Jesus' own encounter with the Pharisees is a difficult reminder of that fact. Upon casting out the mute demon, the very Word of God is maligned. Their is no faithfulness in the power of God's word to banish the devil.

By who do your people cast out demons? Jesus asks the Pharisees in essence whether they can even acknowledge the divine Word, the Son of the Father. All those who cast out demons implicit acknowledge a greater power to drive them out.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. No demon can do a basically good act. He does not permit himself to use God's gifts according to their nature. He is all deception and darkness. He only hides behind goodness to "arm his house" against the light and the voice of Christ coming into the world.

Are very many literally possessed? I hope that it is not many. Yet many are not able to hear the Word and are guarded by the false security of this world. We seem to cling to what we know. Often, I must acknowledge my own fear of going deeper in prayer and trust. Fear is a sin particularly in the sense that fear causes sins of omission. By fear I fail to step out of the shelter that I have created for my self into the great and undivided house of God's kindness.

There were many lepers in Israel...

2010-03-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Readings for this blog

The readings for Monday of the third week of Lent give the impression that God has something against the many. Jesus puts it at the level of an impossibility that a prophet would be accepted by his own people in his native land. Grace comes in the specific and limited scope of real human feeling. Details are great pious jewels.

The king of Israel falsifies his own outrage. See! The king of Aram is only looking for a quarrel with me. Perhaps the king of Aram would say the same thing. If this main believes that he can find comfort in Israel, who would the king of Aram be to stand in the way. Naaman, pagan though he was, seems to be a dignified person who desires that his one weakness be healed. It is rare for a person of greatness to come to terms with such weakness. He nearly turns aside because he cannot find his cure in the rivers of his own land. To accept God's will, a very particular man must accept the uniqueness of God in a particular people.

Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Throw the picture into reverse. Now I know that there is no God among men but this man Jesus! As God's people, we are each unique and beloved of the Father in Christ. Thanks be to God! How then do we feel to know that we belong to the "many lepers of Israel"? Why can we not all be healed? Why then can we not all be healed of unbelief, as Jesus own kindred?

Perhaps we can all be healed, but not until we are willing to sacrifice all the riches of our treasury, offering them in tribute with Naaman to the King of Israel. In good faith, God receives our gifts. Our instructions are to carry out small trusting acts of prayer and worship. In exchange, we receive a savior, wounded and healed. God leaves the traces of his presence in the little details of our lives so that somehow we will know that these details lead us to greater glory in Christ Jesus.

So, kiss a crucifix gently, read a bit of scripture slowly, kneel and reflect momentarily. Trust that you are healed of unbelief in every act of faith.

Lent: What's in it for Me?

2010-03-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

The readings for Wednesday of the second week of Lent have the apostles fighting over honor. Christ rigorously leans toward the cross. Like Jeremiah of old, Jesus must accept the condemnation and ridicule of others. Like Jeremiah's persecutors, those who crucified the Christ felt that religion would always be on their side.

As an institution and Temple authority, the priests and prophets remained with Jeremiah's persecutors. The institution carrying on in its formalities has to be the force of continuity. Jeremiah knows that he is doing the people good by warning them about the trouble ahead and he cries out to the Lord. "Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit for my life?"

The church today also seems to stand by. In a world of freedom, believers are in competition with one another. In everything from missal translations to visions, we compete and debate. We are passionate about how to be the "best" Christians. In the background, there are so some who could not care less, just so long as there continues to be someone to baptize, bury and marry. "Can you drink the cup that I am to drink?" There's the rub.

People can be quite prejudiced and merciless. In the church, it sometimes does matter how good you are. When it comes to suffering, James, John, and probably the rest of us need to face the senselessness of it. Let the greatest among you be as your servant. Does that include floggings?

So, when tempted to do something just for myself and my glory, I really need to ask God what part of my life needs to be saved right know. What energy is being wasted and how can it be saved and channeled toward something good. For Lent, let's suffer smarter. Let's not just suffer from slamming into one another in a vain comparison. Let's suffer alone, in the dark, where no one but God can hear our cries for help. Let's suffer the right way until every nerve ending can feel it. Not for the pain of it! But that every organ sense that life itself is on trial and stand ready to consume the cup of God's will.

I said it, let's hope I can live it. What's in it for you and for me is gold purified by fire. A willingness to accept suffering can precede the correct manner of suffering.

Who Shepherds the Shepherds?

2010-02-22T12:49:00.001-08:00

St. Peter and the eleven were called to become like their teacher himself. "Who do people say that I am?" That first question leaves everyone feeling a little rootless. Some say Elijah, some John the Baptist, and others one of the prophets. "Who do you say that I am?" This question goes to the root of who Peter and the twelve are.

"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus reminds Peter that his confession does not come from flesh and blood. The opinion of others is not enough to make anyone a disciple. "My heavenly Father has revealed this to you." Peter and the twelve continue on as flesh and blood, but they are more deeply informed about the Father's special anointing of the Son in this world.

Their life is now to live Jesus' life. Peter reminds his fellow shepherds to eagerly watch over the flock. Personal gain is excluded by Peter's letter. Leading God's flock is at its heart hopeful, joyous and fruitful. We are warned not to become little lords, falling into traps of worldliness in what is truly other worldly.

The chief shepherd will be revealed. Whether priests in this age live in the image of that chief shepherd, we know that he continues to do his work. All shepherds are firstly and lastly accountable to that chief shepherd, Jesus. Jesus first loves, chooses and shepherds all of his shepherds.

People need examples to follow, as St. Peter says. The example that we set is to know this revelation of Christ Jesus the Christ. A happy priest, a lively priest, a joyful priest and hard working all make for shepherd who leaves the greatest example to his neighbor.

Flesh and blood tells people many different things, even about Jesus our savior. Only God the Father can speak the one thing that all people need to hear. Only the Father can reveal divine life in humanity indwelling. All flesh and blood listens for this.

In God's Company 2: Father Whalen's Healing Prayer

2010-02-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

We really need God's help if we are to make it to heaven.

In God's Company 2: Father Whalen's Healing Prayer

Rend Your Hearts not Your Garments

2010-02-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

Rend your hearts and not your garments. It is Jesus Christ who leads through the movement of Lent. Christ calls us to trust him as we begin the movement of penance and discipline. There is no way that we can truly open our hearts in love without the gentle lead of Jesus, whose heart was first opened for us on the cross. In Lent, we move from a trusting love of Christ the savior to finally becoming full of love in our hearts for the one who gave everything to save the world.

The challenge of Christian discipleship is to remain in a state of grace. As Catholic Christians, we believe in the universal salvific will of God, but not a universal response. This is why the scriptures and the church call out to all people to make offerings to the Lord. Not everyone chooses to do this. Not everyone let’s Jesus into their hearts to stay, although anyone could. Paul reminds us that now is the acceptable time for salvation. This is the day of the Lord, the day that the Lord comes to save us.

What does it really mean to rend our hearts? Jesus challenges his disciple not to let other people know that they are fasting. When you pray, let it be in secret. Let your almsgiving be in secret. Do not blow a trumpet before you. A person can make a show of their religious discipline. Anyone can tear their garments, but only those who know and trust the love of Jesus can truly open their hearts to Him.

The prophet Joel preached danger and trouble to a people who had learned to live without God. The God who made Israel also made them free so that their own love would be perfected. Yet still Israel was also free not to follow in God’s ways at all. The God who made them allowed them to face the realities of Godlessness. Our abuse of freedom does not make God mean. Israel sinned to the point where God was restrained. God did not seem free anymore to bless his people. His blessings they did not value highly. In time, God is forced by his own justice to give what we deserve.

But Joel says, perhaps he will relent and not punish. Perhaps he will leave a blessing instead. In place of loneliness, punishment, and illness, God acts freely as he wishes. Out of his inner freedom, he loves us. When we seek Jesus freely, God the Father show his blessings in everything. God’s presence is more clearly seen in our lives, and his response to each of us is no longer feared but cherished.

Jesus Christ can make great blessings flow from even a small opening in our hearts. Rend your hearts. The most significant rending that the scripture speak about is repentance. Joel encourages us to turn to God with all of our hearts, weeping and mourning. It is painful to admit that I and only I have caused this breach with divine grace. The more practiced we are at repentance, the more we open our hearts. Repentance does have its sting and its admission of guilt. There is a real but voluntary tearing. This is the hardest part of turning to God. The suggestion of the devil this day is that repentance can only be a violent breaking open of God into our lives. There isn’t any violent breaking in. Religious people can sometimes seem violent in the manner that they break from the world. Yet in matters of the heart, God alone asks us ever so humbly to tear open the wound of guilt, now covered and scarred by the violence of sin.

Jesus Christ has the key to our heart, but the lock only opens from the inside. If we can take the sting of our repentance, Christ will work on us and solve the puzzle of our broken heart. More than any rubik’s cube, the heart is a mixed collection of past events present good and evil and future hope. Christ has the genius to truly unlock the world and all it holds for the believer. To Jesus Christ whose Sacred Heart has been pierced for us be all praise and honor. As our Lord offered up his heart for us, the curtain of the temple was torn. The earth shook and tremble, as though it were being remade, as though the Earth may hope to be put back right.

And our hearts will rend as we behold the one whom we have pierced. For the calamity we deserve, Christ has placed abundant blessings instead.

Why should we pray?

2009-12-28T07:30:00.001-08:00

I have contributed to my friend Fr. Brian Carpenter's website. Give him a visit.

Working to Beat Hell

Holy Family Homily Draft

2009-12-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

Here's what I typed preparing my sermon.

Christ invites us as a family through all of our differences to remain untied in the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to remain united.

Even in the Holy Family, visible unity was a challenge. Most of us do not say goodbye to sons and daughters at the early age of twelve, but we will all learn to say goodbye to those we love. The Spirit moves where it wills, as Jesus declares in the Gospel of John. To the momentary confusion of dear Mary and Blessed Joseph, Jesus goes missing. In finding the child Jesus in the Temple, it is only Mary who can interrogate Jesus. Jesus had been seizing the instruments of religious faith. After interrogating the men of professed learning in Israel, Mary interrogates her own flesh and blood.

Mary knows well that whatever her child gets into will be brought into her home and her heart. I can remember times when my mother’s voice would carry over a quarter mile just on the suspicion that I was doing something inappropriate or dangerous. Mary’s situation is a little different. Jesus’ bond with his mother surpassed any human bond of love ever known. “Why have you done this to us?,” she asks. “Your father and I have been looking all over for you.” How could Mary and Joseph go on without this child in the family? “Did you not know that I would be in my Father’s house?”

Joseph does not protest, not even for a moment. The Eternal Father has predominance over Joseph’s authority both in the order of nature and in the final destiny of the Son. Joseph’s privileged vocation was to watch the unfolding of mystery. Christ goes out from the Eternal Father into our world. Joseph to discovers what it means for the savior to go out from the Holy Family into the world of men.

One of the fruits of Christ’s holy mission is to become the central point of worship. He must be in the Father’s house. Consider to how the birth and calling of the prophet Samuel prefigures Jesus’ own. His mother Hannah had been without child for many years. She had taken to finally swearing to God, weeping, that she would offer her firstborn to the Lord. At his weaning she fulfilled her promise to God and left Samuel at the Temple at Shiloh, to remain there in the care of Eli the priest. She took the most extreme measure to receive the blessings of maternity. How blessed the Son and blessed the mother to be so chosen by our God. And blessed is the nation and the people to be assured of upright and holy priests.

Mother’s have taken it upon themselves to offer their children to God from an early age. The explicit acknowledgment of God’s providence in children reminds the family of his blessing over the whole house. How ever many children a family thinks they ought to have by reason alone, it is even more beautiful to go beyond the natural prudence of parents. Have one just for the Lord as a gift to him and a sign for yourselves of God’s blessing and protection. As God’s children, we all know deep down that they belong to God in the end and are not completely for our satisfaction.

We do not always know what will come of our children. Yet John assures us in his letter that we are all God’s children now. What we shall be we do not know, only that we will be like him. We will all be like Jesus. At baptism we say that Christian mothers most especially rejoice at seeing the promise of eternal life spring up in their children. Because of Christ’s coming, our going forth may become like his, a journey to the Father’s house.

We are on a journey in life by many paths and even difficult switchbacks as we mount the heights of Zion. Christ send his Spirit so that each child may be united in him, even for all of their differences. There is so much pleading today to be different. In Jesus Christ, the diversity of our lives can be united as a harmonious whole. The diversity promoted by the world sometimes has a more sinister goal. The diversity of the world tends toward division as often as is seek s to separate people from the moral law. Every journey is fulfilled only in reaching the Father’s house, in other words, worship, Mass. Sin divides the family and spread darkness over the Earth, so that the ways that people might travel to God become obscured from the pure light of faith. Those who discard Mass and other Christian practices seem to risk nothing by not venturing. But alas they cannot journey to God who do not journey to the Mass. The may only sit in darkness, not knowing what dangers lurk or what distance may truly be in the home.

A candle is lit in the family hearth. Worship comes home and all know Mary as mother by the grace of God and the extended family of the parish and the worldwide church. As Jesus goes out, he brings back all of humanity into the house of Mary. She has the courage to take us all in. With Mary to guide our hand, let us continue to seek Jesus.

4th Sunday of Advent

2009-12-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

The prophecy of Micah foretells Christ’s birth in Bethlehem of Judah. That one town of David’s royal kingship was truly tiny and still is today. By the coming of the Christ the king, we too find ourselves in that ever growing household. In the smallness of our Savior, gaze upon the greatness of your God. The life of the Virgin Mary shows in miniature all that God hopes to do for the human race. In the our human flesh, a small but noble altar is found to unite the human family.
Religion is what calls us back to mother and father. Specifically, Christ calls us through his mother back to God the Father. Jesus is aptly quoted in the letter to the Hebrews, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but an offering you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, behold, I come to do your will, oh God.” What could not please God in the sacrifices of men grew and took shape in the body of a woman. A body was prepared for Jesus so that he alone could do will of the Father. Forever Christ has exalted our human nature by making it the place of true worship forever.
Among Mary’s symbolic titles, many invoke images of Temple worship. She is called the House of Gold and Ark of the Covenant. The sacrifices of priests from time past did very little to truly unite mankind with God. In Mary’s own flesh, a fitting sacrifice is prepared that unites us each with God the Father. As Elizabeth hears the voice of the Virgin Mother of God, she too receives the Holy Spirit. Her own child is a blessed child of grace, John the Baptist. In the encounter of the Visitation, the old priestly lineage of Zechariah and John the Baptist and the New covenant of Jesus the Nazorean are met in joy.
The letter to the Hebrews’ declares that Christ takes away the sacrifices of the first covenant. How can he take this worship and bring us such a willing joy to praise him? The old sacrifices were carried out according to the Law of Moses. They were done under the fear of penalties and divine retribution. They were done in precise and external ways. The sacrifice that Christ makes is internal from the start. The Lord sacrifices the dignity of his own nature as God and dwells fully in the human person of Jesus Christ. Within the body, blood, soul, and will the man Jesus Christ, God is united to our human nature our family.
The worship that Christians are called to is personal and intense. There is an unpredictability to Mary and Elizabeth’s meeting. It is necessary for worship to come fully home. Hearth and altar are not so separated. “Whenever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them,” Jesus says. The Lord does not say that he will be present in a vague way, but in every gathering in the Lord’s name. Jesus warned us about putting family members above the kingdom of God. Yet it is the promise of Christ’s personal presence that makes Christian family life hopeful for each of the members, the church and the whole world.
“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled,” Elizabeth says. For Christ’s promise to come true for us at home or at the altar, each person ought to believe with Mary the promise of the savior’s presence. It is one thing to pray “Bless us, O Lord…” before eating as a family. It is quite another to speak openly to Jesus in your own words from the time your children are small. It is quite a noble thing to ask the children what they want to pray for and to listen to a four-year-old’s prayer to God and to consider it as real as yours. It is something graceful and beautiful among the children of God to begin a family meal in this way. I was caught nearly breathless in worship seeing friends raise their children in this way. Gather your family in the Lord every time you gather and you will never have to fear them being too far from you.
My experiences in the faces of real people have at times had the same character as some of my deepest adoration during Mass or adoration. Lord, make us turn to; let us see your face and we shall be saved. The High Priest of our confession came from one of the smallest families in all of the tribe of Judah. Worship comes home to us in Christ’s Advent so that we may never turn from him again. Let us see Christ’s coming in our lives and be compelled from within to worship, joyously and spontaneously.
The family of Jesus Christ will only continue to grow whether we know it or not. Elizabeth was caught by surprise. Christ is merciful really and catches many families by surprise, even some who do not invoke him daily as their head. What Mary has done is to bring worship into all of human life. Christ’s presence in our family would not be possible without her. Perhaps this Christmas, we will embrace the Christ that never leaves us and have courage to never leave him, even if we cannot always worship in these four walls. Our God has become the mighty king and Lord of all.

2nd Sunday of Advent

2009-12-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

We are a church who remembers. The season of Advent is a worthy reminder of what God did for his people in Jesus Christ. Last week we heard about how suddenly the Lord will come. This week, we look at a different aspect of the Advent mystery. Yes, it seems that God has given us yet another week. It’s beginning to look more and more like we will have another blessed Christmas. In the time then that is given to us, the Holy Spirit calls us consider God’s promises.
Christmas has become a time of celebration. I get just as excited about the festivities of the season as anyone else, especially caroling. What concerns me is that Christmas has got us making promises, many that we cannot keep. We cannot keep up with all that we promise to make Christmas to be. Everyone knows that the feast is occasioned by the nativity of Jesus, but that doesn’t stop everybody from Hollywood on down from searching for the reason of the season. This Christmas has to be bigger than the last we think. Or are we trying to make it bigger than the first.
Advent gives us time to remember God’s promise. The reading of the prophet Baruch today is uplifting. Take off your robe of mourning and misery. Put on the splendor of glory from God forever. If you only internalize one verse of scripture, make this one it. Sew this in the lining of your heart. So much of life is what we wear isn’t it? Choosing the right clothes for the right occasion is important. As life changes, wouldn’t it be great if we could change from sorrow into joy so readily and radiantly?
Many people in this season take the opportunity to remember what it means to belong again. People hope to belong to family and to church. We all have doubts about this transformation from sorrow to new joy. The season gives everyone pause to examine life from the inside. Is there so much water under the bridge at this time? Do I still belong? Doubt can happen in a moment. Change takes place through the whole of life. Here the Lord says that he remembers everyone. He has them all well in mind. God is prepared to move heaven and Earth in order bring each soul back and lead us on together to the glory of Christ Jesus. As quick as doubt may attack, God love surges forth all the quicker.
This is your homework for this week. Let someone know that God is thinking of them right now. God has a special gift for that person. Remind them. Believe in them as God himself does, and you will become like God. Remember how God moved heaven and Earth at his first coming. He will do it again at his second. But let this time today be the time to remember what he promises.
To live from a promise is to live with intense courage. Paul is confident and so am I. The one who has begun the good work in you will bring it to fulfillment. Let us not surrender to the darkness of these days, but thrive on the hope of Jesus. Jesus fills our soul with light and truth. He comes to shine the light into the place that are unknown or incomplete in our lives. When the light comes at Christmas, we will receive the gift of Christ anew. We anticipate it now through our waiting and the lighting of advent lamps and candles.
John the Baptist is like a candle anticipating the bright light of salvation. Yet it will have to be enough. We have no fullness of sight in this light when it comes to God’s glory. What lights we do have will have to be enough. As we separate from the clothes of sadness and misery, can we trust that we will be clothed in a more beautiful way? Shine brightly through the darkness O Christ, we long for Thee. You have promised us much. As we hold to your promise, let us recall the glory of your children. We belong to you. Let us remember again what it is to belong to your house. Mary is great comfort in these days. She believed in the greatness of her Son even without knowing his earthly power. In order to prepare for him as mother, she prepared for God as a believer. She believed this, God is always faithful.

Tired of "Apparitions"

2009-11-27T11:34:00.001-08:00

Massachusetts Woman Sees Image of Jesus on Her Iron - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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Regarding an iron with burn marks in them, purported to look like Jesus' face, I urge you to click on the above story.

Okay, got it now? My first impression of this story is that this woman doesn't really believe deep down that Jesus appears to her. She plans to put the iron back in the closet and buy a new one. If this were really a divinely appointed sign, the right thing to do would be to get back to church. Go to the priest and not the reporter.

I can say that I've seen a lot of different things that looked like other things. I know the whole range of emotions that comes. There is a surprise and shock certainly whenever I see something that I didn't expect. It's exciting for a moment to think that I am special.

What bothers me about these household apparitions is that they are all counterfeit. The media mocks Our Lord and Our Lady with impunity. I once saw a John Stewart program where they brought out all of the recent events like the Jesus grilled cheese sandwich. They wouldn't dare mock the apparitions at Lourdes or Fatima, because they fear the authenticity. The mass appeal for conversion would convict the hearts of scoffers and non-believers. The destiny of vague smudges is to reaffirm to doubters that we are simply stuck in this present world with no possible escape, even for Christians.

What these every day apparitions mean for me is that there is a desire for our own dreams to come true. "He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!" Luke 21:8. If there is a sign, so what? Move on. What does the image mean? What is it saying to you that you didn't know before? Do Christians really have such weak faith? Whatever part God may have in these events, I wish to hear nothing more about them. The fruits of these so-called apparitions ironically have the rational secular world poking fun at confused Christians with idols in their hands.

If Christ's incarnation was a stumbling block, his image on the bottom of an iron will be a laughing stock.

All Saints

2009-11-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God.”
Christ sees us as his brethren and with him sons of the Father. We are witnesses with Jesus. That is what we are. Such vision comes from the Father. Christ desires that all would be saved and come to know the glory of God. Many feel that true holiness is out of reach. God the Father knows differently and helps us to witness to his goodness in freedom. The role of the priest is not only to bring the Eucharist, but to cheerlead for God amongst his children, uniting them all as saints.

The feast of All Saints originates in the rededication of the Pantheon in Rome. Once a Temple to all of the gods, Boniface IV rededicated the circular structure as a church in honor of Mary, Queen of All Martyrs in 610. Why did the Romans build the pantheon in the first place? As their power grew, I suppose that they had to hedge their bets. Playing it safe meant trying to appease whatever spiritual forces may try to govern our world. Even in the height of grandeur which facilitated the Pantheon, man was still a slave to fears as numerous as the sky.
What held the imagination of men and women captive in the pagan world, was to be laid hold of by Christian souls. The victory hymn of the martyr reveals the hidden mysteries of the vault of heaven. Who are all of these people (sweeping hands across the assembly) wearing white robes, where did they come from? These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Christ for awhile was made lower than the angels. He gave shared his divine life with us. The new pantheon became the sign of all who have overcome the oppressive powers of this world.

Christ our High Priest has chosen us and called us by name. In him we are created anew. Each one has been set aside for life from the dawn of existence. Jesus can say with all authority, Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the clean of heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Christ knows and calls us each in turn. The work of salvation is from our God. Salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb who was slain.

No longer do we shuffle about to curry petty favor from fickle gods. Salvation belongs to our God. Furthermore, we have a savior, the lamb of God who knows what it means to be poor, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger for righteousness. Indeed our Jesus shows us mercy, purity, and peace. Christ like us in all things but sin. We praise this one Lord who alone frees us from death and raises us to life beyond the splendor of the stars.

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, the violent are taking by force. Christ prepares us for the battle we must each face against evil. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence. Our identity as Christians is under attack from the devil from the day of our baptism. Moreover, Christ says only the violent shall enter it. The envy of the devil toward the Christ’s brethren deserves a violent response. We do not submit to any servile fear as the pagan Romans did, cowering under the hands of evil spirits. Instead, we witness to the power of Jesus Christ. Our wager is to aim for the heights of heaven.

Some still try to live with servile fear not only of the devil but certainly of God himself. There can never be any compromise with evil. From the moment we serve disorder, we are bound to reap its rewards. Too often, folks feel that true holiness is out of reach. On looking at the sins we have already committed, we easily lose hope in ourselves. Yet we never have a real excuse for surrendering our hope in Jesus Christ.

We don’t deserve the help he gives us. Yet there is the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. We receive the call at confirmation to be soldiers and witnesses for Jesus Christ in the world. All are called to the heights of glory. What, me be a real saint? As with Mary, there is no natural explanation. Thought we have sinned grievously, our saviors image is born in us. Mary had no relations with a man, yet she bore us a savior.

I can’t give you a natural or physical explanation. But even the hubble telescope and all of the microscopes in the world cannot perceive all that the heavens and earth truly cannot contain. In this year of the priest, I’m humbled to be a witness of the Lamb of God for you. As a priests and witnesses, it is our joy and our honor to bring you the Lamb of God on the altar. By this year of the priest, may priests always lead people to be saints, to stand forth more fully in the light of heaven. Rise up saints of God! Don your white robes, made pure in his blood. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Honor your Father and your Mother

2009-10-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

I'm almost thirty, but my parents have the ability to make me feel like I am four. That's something to be thankful for. "Brian! please don't do that. Oh yes, I thought I was pretty grown up.

Responsibility: the final frontier. After overcoming many challenges and grievous personal sins, the battle against sloth rages on. It's easy to procrastinate. The more time I have, the more likely I am to think that I have "enough time" to complete them. This phrase is a non-entity. By thinking in this way, I'm giving way to the notion that my work is not important enough to take up the whole day or alternatively that I shouldn't enjoy it. Just do it.

"Just Love It." would be a more fitting slogan. Greatness is on my mind especially with tomorrow being All Saints. Rise up! Responsibility be thou a joyful and creative burden. By doing things beautifully, I would mount the walls of the Holy City where the saints dwell.

I just wonder why I have been running all out like a pole vaulter toward the wall. I come away disappointed that I just have to climb. It's the climb that changes me and proves me and that I enjoy the most. "You rejoice with indescribable joy because you are achieving faith's goal: your salvation." (1 Pet 8-9) Work is pleasing. The flights of my ego leave me down below the moat.

I would have been a challenging child to raise to be sure. The saints give their parents joy by accepting and imitating the higher parentage of the Spirit. Though I cringe at it, I'm happy to be reminded of my four-year old days. I just enjoy helping different parents now. How long since I wanted to be like my parents? Wow.

Foul Ball: Anti-Catholicism Is the Nation's Other Pastime - FOXNews.com

2009-10-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

Foul Ball: Anti-Catholicism Is the Nation's Other Pastime - FOXNews.com

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Blind Bartimaeus

2009-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Something said that this is right. What prompted Bartimaeus to call out in need to the Son of David?
When I in college, I went with some of my friends from Church to work in a day care. It was the largest day care in Kansas City, Missouri, in the inner city, where most of the kids came from difficult family situations. Often, their own mothers were not fully able to give them the affection that they so needed. The children were two and three, and as we sat and played with them, they had a constant need for attention. Simply to be held by an adult was a luxury to them. They had learned skills to try to capture the most attention for the longest amount of time.
From a young age, our hearts are crying out to God. Embrace us Lord show us the fatherliness of God. The Father does not wait for us to be ready. A very common spiritual mishap is to go to God on my own terms. In the time of the prophet Jeremiah, all the people of Israel recognized the danger they were in. Only God could possibly save them from the invading Babylonians. They knew of the many sins of the past. How they tried to be acceptable to God! They put their faith in temple worship, and trusted in God’s mercy. They tried to be good and it still wasn’t good enough. Bad things still happened, and an entire people went into exile.
In the midst of this turmoil, Jeremiah has the audacity to preach, “Shout with joy! I will bring them back. For I am a Father to Israel.” That they had lost the Temple and the possession of the land, led Israel to deep self-doubt. “They departed in tears but I will console them.” We never can measure up by the world’s standards nor by our own. But God’s ways are not ours. What we see as failure and confusion, is crystal clear to God. The Father has a different standard.
Jesus can pull a person from the brink of despair. What anguish is flowing out of this man who declares, “Son of David, have pity on me.” One of Israel’s lost sheep calls out in search of the Good Shepherd. The voices that command our silence only spur us further on. That dirty devil would drive us further into a hole, perhaps of our own making and also of his. “Have pity on me!” As a son, measure me and weigh me to see if I am still your own, you who are indeed Son of the Most High. How are we judged? We are judged as his own. To judge ourselves before the time is folly. Any of our feelings of self-worth are premature and irrelevant. What matters to God is that we are his own. Through the prophetic words of scripture he calls out to us.
Anyone not smart enough, not strong enough in their own eyes, can be heard and understood fully for who they are. Every life is so precious. In this respect life month, let us acknowledge that every human life is treasured by our God. Those alienated and marginalized by society deserve our charity and respect. This includes the poor, the sick and dying, and all those with mental and physical handicaps. They face the greatest threat when those who are diagnosed with down syndrome and other conditions are slated to be murdered by the abortionist. Why are so many afraid to let these lights shine? They want to live, but society has become like the crowd, silencing the voice of those who suffer.
Jesus, the High Priest, glorifies the one who sent him. He shows God’s greatness in every child he redeems. Rise up! Throw off despair and follow Christ with a willing heart.

A Look of Love

2009-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

You will have treasure in heaven. The problem with earthly wealthy is its weight. Analysts and investors of the stock market know that what goes up must come down. What ever money is thrown upon the pile must have a final destination and purpose. The economic system does not have value in itself. Like electricity, the energy of our economic system is always generated by resources in the physical world. As investors try to time the stocks or the real estate market will they be able to build new wealth, or will the foundation shrink like the sand of an hour glass?

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul instructs the young pastor to teach those with means not to rely on wealth. Jesus insists that the young man plant his good on solid ground. Let your wealth go and you will have treasure in heaven. That rich man went away sad, for he had many possessions. The scripture could have well added, “and he was still not rich.”

It is well established that many people in the early church of Jerusalem took the Lord at his word. They abandoned their wealth and means of production to supply the needs of the poor. They were not Communists due to their respect for existing temporal power. In fulfilling the Lord’s command to the letter, faithful disciples gained treasure in heaven and disregarded its status on Earth. For the Acts of the Apostles teaches us how they held everything in common, sharing in the breaking of the bread, prayer, and the teaching of the apostles.

This way of life is an idyllic picture of the Christian faithful. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if the things that always topped our priorities were consistently fellowship, Eucharist, prayer, and the teaching of our faith? It can still be this way even though the strict rigor of austere poverty is impossible. The community of Jerusalem discovered the practical difficulties of being poor all together in the literal sense. Let we the comfortable not forget that the vast majority of the Christian faithful still live at the subsistence level, where community necessarily affords greater wealth than privacy.

I prayed and prudence was given to me; I pleaded and the spirit of wisdom came to me…all good things came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands. Christ could anticipate the reaction of the man who had been faithful in the commandments. The man wanted to inherit eternal life, and all along he still wished for his subservience to remain intact. That rich man had not yet found sweetest delight in God. If he had only admitted his poverty to the greatest degree. Exiled from heaven, our souls also find the bountiful gifts of God to be foreign.

St. Augustine of Hippo wrote about how he treasured the goodness of creation. He cherished all the beauty of the world only to discover be found wanting more. It was as if the moon and stars and sun were saying, “I am not He. He made me, but I am not he whom you seek.” Dear friends, the word of God is living and effective, a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. For a millennium the poor have been taught to have patience in their state and to hope for heaven. Even as the heart of the poor man is joyfully separated from his infirmity in the living presence of Jesus Christ, so to the man find all of his goods to have only a relative importance.

The less any individual has in what matters to God, the poorer he finds himself even in the face of great sufficiency. How difficult it is to get to heaven! This astonishing phrase has even more meaning today. How difficult to manage income and balance priorities in just the right way. When do the returns on investment cease to matter? If it is difficult balancing the goods of this world, the Lord knows how challenging it can be to be simple divine in the management of one’s wealth.

The Lord looked at him and loved him. Jesus loses nothing by sharing the wealth of the Father with us all. This age is soon coming to its close. Paul says that all who buy should live as if it were not theirs to keep, all who use wealth as not being engrossed in it. Those who have wealth can do the most good by using their wealth for the wise and loving intentions of the creator. How beautiful it is to provide education and opportunities not only for one’s children, but for their children, and for children in a distant and foreign slum. Though we are blest with private property, we own it only as stewards. This is the real engine of economic growth will always be human development. All other signs off wealth, frills, should be treated sparingly. If a little extra enjoyment reminds me of that smile from Jesus, that’s good. Yet we know how easy it is to take God’s place and try to arrange everything just right. “He went away sad for he had many possessions, and even after all that he still wasn’t rich or happy.”

All of the goods of this world are just a prelude to the glory of God, fully expanded in heavenly glory. Blessed are they who share in Jesus’ look of love, blessing others through love and good works. Let us not be ashamed to listen to the word of Christ. Hearken to him friends. He wishes for us to build one another up and plan for a happier future, lest our economic security become shallow in resources and in aims.

Alpha-Omega talk

2009-10-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Given at St. Paul's 10/08/09

Alpha-Omega
The Heart of Discernment
Heb 4:12 “Indeed the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”
I hesitate to say much about discernment. Many people who struggled to live out their vocation could tell you that they’re example is not the typical one. As I planned for this talk, I tried to imagine, where was I at in college. There are many stages in discernment. Perhaps by talking about different movements in my spiritual journey, God will be able to draw some profit from my own words, reflections and thoughts of the heart.
When I got to the seminary, I identified with the story of St. Augustine. I still have my copy of Augustine’s Confessions. I devoured that book. It was the most important book that I read in first theology, because it was Augustine’s confession that helped me to look back on my own spiritual life. Augustine. When I was a freshman, I enrolled in a course entitled, Western religious literature. I was fleeing from the sciences, in which I found no life. Sorry to all you science lovers. God has his plan for us all. In me, the Lord used this course to set me once and for all in deep personal contact with his word.
“I entered into the innermost part of myself, and I was able to do this because you were my helper.” These words of Augustine fit my first assignment well. I had to write a small paper on the different versions of the Ten Commandments. As I read these commandments, my heart began to open for the first time, like the buds of the trees in spring time. I felt God’s presence and his light. My first reaction was almost like paranoia. Never before had any spirit neared so close to my consciousness. But the Lord was soft with me. Augustine says, “And when I first knew you, you raised me up so that I could see that there was something to see and that I still lacked the ability to see it.”
Psalm 32 says be not like horse and mule unintelligent, needing bridle and bit. Brute animals are led into their work by force. We go because of the leading of the intellect. Our intellectual journey is not only about knowing the doctrine of the faith. Thanks to my Catholic upbringing, it only took me about six months to find the answers to my doctrinal questions. For Augustine it was much longer. He had much success in the world and a span of years to form a system of thought that was very developed and intricate. I am grateful that my Lord found me before I was very intelligent on my own. Even Augustine reached a point when he said, “I no longer desire to be more certain of you, only to stand more firmly in you.” The more the Lord makes his presence personally felt, the less that idle doubt can weigh you down.
Romans 12:1-2 I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
The mind can become sensitive to God through worship. My posture and attitude at Mass came alive over time. At St. Paul’s I wanted to assist with the Mass. I remembered wondering if I was worthy to be a welcome minister, if I was able to brighten another person’s day. Many of my thoughts about myself were still unhappy. But, God be praised, I found courage to participate and to worship. I was welcomed into the Catholic conundrum of worthiness and worship. My heart was drawn upward, and it was in the liturgy that I always felt close to God. I was elated at Mass. In my heart, I never was able to shake my feeling of being scared to death. Over time, I realized that the church wasn’t going to personally rebuke me in my shame, but a real doubt of God’s love was taking hold. It effected my life outside of Mass as well. In my sophomore year, different people were recommending that apply for Peer Ministry for the coming year. I applied, but then, a day after my interview for the position, I went back to Faye’s Darnall’s office to apologize for my unworthiness.
It took me a couple of years to get find my way out of this. It may sound like I am talking about humility, but really I was dealing with ego. God spoke to me especially through the words of 1 John 3:18-21. “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.”
Friends, words are not enough to convince anyone of God’s love for them. Spiritual understanding that John talks about is not some high class wisdom. Remember Deuteronomy, “this commandment that the Lord has set before you today is not to remote for you. It is not across the ocean or in the heavens above. It is in your heart. Spiritual wisdom and understanding is really a single truth. God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Take that to the chapel and meditate.
I desired to serve God and serve my neighbor. I relished things like prayer and daily Mass, but even these things became dry after almost two years of turning a deaf ear to persistent thoughts about priesthood. I compared myself to some of the more tragic figures in scripture like Job and that guy in the Gospel who used to hit himself with rocks. Fortunately, I came across a book by Fulton Sheen called Peace of Soul. It was the first time that I read about general confession. I had made several confessions and I was doing my best to follow the moral law, but I had not yet dived into the bowels of my soul. I went to visit Fr. Eric Nielsen for the first second time and told him that I want to try to actually remember and confess all the things that I had ever done wrong. I timed it at about ten minutes of solid evildoing and regret. Once I took the church’s medicine I vomited up all my self-loathing in the only way that it’s really appropriate. I even think that I wore Fr. Eric out a little bit if that’s possible. Confession and spiritual direction are like a solid rock foundation for keeping God’s love in sight.
It takes time to learn the Lord’s ways, but everything leads a person back to that same truth. God knows everything and he’s greater than our hearts. When I got to the seminary, I didn’t have a whole list of reasons for why I wanted to be a priest. When I was asked why I was there, I said “the Holy Spirit, is that good enough?” Our pre-theology professor Fr. Gus told me that I was a romantic, and I guess that it’s basically true. The heart is what drives the discernment process and also what can hold it back. The heart desires life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The heart knows deep down that it must be stretched.
Jesus Christ is compassionate with us. The motto of John Henry Newman was “Cor ad cor loquitur”, the heart speak to the heart. In our journey there are two movements. 1 Peter 5:6-7 “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” In return for our humble obedience in faith, Jesus offers us his charitable and loving care. The care of Jesus over my life and yours governs the greatest plans and also the day to day details that are even more important.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” The third stage of discernment is accepting the cross. Through five years of seminary, I dealt with every kind of doubt and movement of my heart backward. From the beginning, I knew that my natural tendency was to vacillate by the petty reasoning of my mind. Therefore, I had the attitude that I was no longer treating the priesthood as a debatable question. Instead, I was ready to learn how to live it. We develop the grace of charity by accepting the life that we have been given, knowing humbly that our decisions may not actually reflect God’s unchanging will. I left it up to God to throw the necessary roadblock that would prevent me from being a priest.
Be on guard for remaining in the second phase too long. It is the Lord who calls! His redemption has been won for us. Scripture says that we find our salvation by working quietly. We can look at our lives and our gift rationally only to a point. The decision to follow Christ in a concrete way comes from the heart. Ultimately, the romantics seem to win. Let your heart decide really works, but only if your heart has genuine contact with the kings a center of all hearts

Sic et Non: Homily in progress

2009-09-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

I won't give you my finished product for this Sunday's homily, but as long as I'm here I'll open up the can of worms. Before I retire, perhaps these thoughts can give my spirit some meaningful things to rest with.

Jesus doesn't want the apostles to prevent others who speak in his name. The Word of the Lord is eternal. Clearly, God will not stop any of the voices who speak in his name. This is part of the trouble we seem to be in. Certainly a random wannabe preacher in the time of Jesus would get it wrong! Master, you are letting relativism go unchecked.

Moses would have everyone prophesying, all the sons of Israel. I don't think I hear that very often. We would like everyone to be confirmed. Confirmation, like ordination, is a sacramental mark of the Holy Spirit not required for justification in the strict sense. Yet is not disputed that the will of the Church is that all would be confirmed. It's not that we need the servility or service hours of our youth but that we would have them all be prophets.

No one can speak a mighty deed in Jesus' name and speak ill of him. I don't suspect factions within the Catholic church give each other this kind of credit. I don't really want to talk about envy this Sunday but rather the Holy Spirit's gift! But I have to address envy at least as far the gift of prophesy is concerned.

If all are called to prophesy, than all his sons and daughters proclaim his glory out of their own goodness. The mouth of a baby, though it knows not yet how to speak, is beautiful and pure. Jesus warns the twelve against leading his little ones into sin. If by envy you should gag the authentic voice of another believer, you shall become spiritual fish food.

Let them speak, though they do not speak in your preferred theological language. Let them talk about God. I'm thinking about my ninth grade religious ed class that I'm preparing to teach this year. How often have they been spoken to about the same thing? That only happens to kids when they've been bad. From experience I can say that the comparison is not lost on them by the time they reach high school.

From the spiritual perspective we have all been very bad boys and girls at some point. It's better to go about maimed, spiritually, than to be strong and confident and wind up with a powdered milk head after the millstone is through with us.

To be a spiritual adult, accept willingly the incapacity of old age. Pluck out your eye because maybe you don't see. Did anyone but the Lord recognize my condition? Don't prefer your hand; it's far less skillful than it seems when weakened by sin. And with Jesus' eyes and heart and hands I can do mighty deeds and those that are mighty only to him and myself. This is the only way I can "cut off" my own parts. It is by shunning them in preference to his own.

Should we stop those who speak in Jesus name falsely? Say no to yourself and not to the wayward son. Then say yes with his own AMEN. Let the church's AMEN resound and we'll all live to fight another age.

How High, Lord?

2009-09-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

There isn't enough time to do all the things that I might do in faith. "Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be. How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!
Were I to count, they would outnumber the sands; to finish, I would need eternity." -Ps 134: 16-18

Each day is a chance to climb the Lord's mountain. There are challenges, boulders thrown in the way. There are switchbacks and detours. Mountaineering is best though for the view. Expeditions like Everest show us that there is only one direction to really travel. Religion seems like a mix sometimes. How can we have that confidence of the Early Church to speak boldly and to know of the Holy Spirit's blessing on our daily effort? What gives me confidence as a Christian today?

The journey of the heart sets upon several courses at the same time. It's just a fact that of its own accord, our heart goes after anything that moves it. Still, there is one Christ who raises up and satisfies all of the diverse longings of the human heart. We are precious to God. You would have to be eternal to know all of the reasons why. So instead of circling the base of the mountain incessantly, marveling at its prowess from all angles (or guarding one's ascent from enemies), climb and trust in him!

"In the Lord I take refuge, how can you say to my soul, fly like a bird to its mountain." (Ps 11:1) We can sift through our many desires, rightly ordered and even disordered ones. In the Lord, we have taken refuge. "The wicked are bracing their bow, fit their arrows to the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright. When foundations are being destroyed, what can the upright do?" (v. 2-3) The violent only know how to exploit weaknesses. Foundations are being destroyed, in the minds of men. They are ending God's reign over the inner man. To the one who shuns religion and to the one who hoards it, God has become a thing. He is, rather, the foundation.

Many are giving into all kinds of discouragement, not to mention those who launch criticism after criticism. The Lord's throne is in heaven (v. 4). Though the psalmist expresses his trust in the Lord as cause to stand fast, his spirit is on the ascent. With God, he begins to see and to number his own many concerns. Those who ascend the spiritual mountain are made like our Lord in knowledge through the many trials that they undergo.

The knowledge of this life and the next supports my more quotidian effort to use well the time and energy that I am given. I will not get what I want by planning this or studying that. Yet I'm still going to do it because that seems to be what I need to do. Somehow, I must learn how the saints and fathers got to God. I'll not be able to guard myself from interference. Why would I want to? Christ himself is just and fair. He loves to interrupt my work and my supposed progress. It is me that he loves. I pray that you too would believe his love for you. How high have you gone today? Look up and down and all around. You've come farther than you think.

Sanctifying my desk

2009-08-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the most important thirty days of my life. I've been doing everything but this. The retreat has put me deep in touch with Jesus in order to know that I am never alone.

Now that HE will be influencing me more, I am experiencing the challenge of learning to live my life all over again with his eyes. The computer, perhaps before a place of random tasks and random thoughts, is being reclaimed. This machine is discovered anew for me as a dignified tool where God is working out salvation. My experience of life and self-expression finds an intellectual mirror. From the output of one homily, I can catch a glimpse of Jesus reflecting out of technological solitude.

At the Institute for Priestly Formation, they have encouraged us to have a monasticism of the heart. Tomorrow morning I will be surrounded by hundreds, and tonight I am by myself. In all of it, I share with Jesus what in my heart for I am never alone.

Zechariah and the pent-up desire

2009-06-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

In the last few preparation days before the thirty day reterat, I'm spilling a little more of my soul through the power of html. Zechariah was unable to speak of the blessings that he prayed the Lord bestow upon his son, John. The desire for a son remained in his soul for the full term of Elizabeth's pregnancy. He didn't have any way to understand Gabriel's great message before. The silence afforded him the time to desire far more than a son. He prophesied boldly about his desire for a prophet to save not only him, but all of Israel.

Zachariah knew the promises to Israel, being fulfilled in his midst. "He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant." He spoke to the infant John about his role, "to go before the Lord to prepare his way." Zachariah prophesies the future coming of messianic peace. "In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us." Dawn is still breaking.

I wish that I could be like John, announcing this peace to all people. If only I could walk the streets of my own place proclaiming the kingdom that Christ did. I have not yet done this. My desire is not yet fulfilled. I want to do great things for Christ. My goal and desire for the thirty days is to hear the loving voice of the Father, speaking more joyfully than that of Zechariah to his own son.

The dawn from on high has broken upon us. In our temporal perception, salvation seems to have come to its noon day. I'm still tempted to say that many are wearing sunblock if they have to go out at all. I find it all too easy to comment upon the facade of modern living and standards of success. But this is the perennial problem of the age. Christ turns it around to make of it a constant reminder of his Divine Mercy.

Today, I was able to sing the Tantum Ergo with more love than I ever had before. How connected we truly are to Christ and one another through the Eucharist! Turn the key and unlock our desires. Mercy also beckons us to build on these desires. If Christ and the Church are now truly shining in the full day, the Father will grant great desires. There is no where to hide them away with such brightness of Christ's glory shining in the world. Love God, and he will be glorified through your desires.

I am drowned beneath your waves- Ps 88

2009-06-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

The cry for help reaches the ears of our eternal Father. Coming from one whose, "soul is filled with evils", weighed down by the Lord's anger, this appeal also finds its way to the heart of God. Once our soul is submerged by the waters of baptism, we are also pummelled by this waves of indignation from our loving God. Lord, I am drowned beneath you waves.

Each moment for us to remain in God's presence. If only we could even somewhat lament the myriad ways that we discover distraction from our Lord, then perhaps we could enter into this most pathetic of all Psalms. Psalm 88 is a bitter reminder of our fallen nature. The waters of the sea pass like vapors before the eternal one. Yet to our downcast eyes the salty tears of relentless waves symbolize the lengths to which Christ has gone to set us free.

The passion of Christ extends all time and space, specifically where there is privation of grace. While God's presence is ostensibly ignored, why not rejoice with Paul in whose flesh was fulfilled some of what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ? (Col 1:24) God relentlessly pounds at the threshold of human consciousness, even if it should take an age. Let us then be relentless with our joy and desire to entertain human hearts. Water represents human energetic vitality, directed toward human purposes. Salt mixed in the water is prayer and acts of virtue, the grace to wear through the dull and hardened rock. Waves can wear through the rock shore to hollow out a peacful lagoon.

The point is, we can't just simply ask people nicely or persuasively to change their minds about God and religion. The casual dimisser of religion or practice (soft apostasy) will never reveal the contents of his mind. Those are intentionally disorganized. Instead, there is a beautifully formed coastline where the church's boat may not dock. God must smother the soul with his waves. That is, real human interest mixed with heartfelt acts of mercy and forbearance.

What is remarkable is that a Christian, called to intimate identification with Christ Jesus, is willingly in the boat bound for eternal life. By this token, we are aware of what waves yet churn, while those on the shifting sands have no knowledge of the darkened state of their mind. The Christian's life seems far more perilous for all that has been risked to gain eternal life, but it is he who stands firm upon the rock, the source of living water. The bitter sting of salty waves is meantime felt. The Christian soul has the courage to speak a word from whatever depth it may be plunged, while the unbeliever is already in unspeakable agony, darkened, unseen.

There is a savior who calls back from the unfathomable abyss of mercy

Going off-line

2009-06-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

In the past week, I've thrown out the first pitch at a local baseball game, marched in a Eucharistic procession, and taken the altar servers to a waterpark.

I have to admit that being off-line is a blast. And all be off-line until nearly August. Thanks to my pastor, our bishop, and St. Ignatius Loyola I have the honor of making the Spiritual exercises for thirty days.

If I get another post in, its a bonus. My throw was hard, but down in the dirt. Off-line!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Suffering for the black

2009-06-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

It ain't even hot out. It hasn't gotten hot in Southern Wisconsin yet this year as far as I'm concerned. I've been to Mexico City, Rome, the Dead Sea, and Los Angeles. None of them could have as mild a spring and early summer as we are having. By all rights I should not even be writing about having to wear black all the time.

So on this beautiful spring day, I got the third degree from. Today was "field day" and I had come out to see what fun game the kids were playing at. I wear basic black priest clothes except when I am exercising or sleeping or very occasionally minding my own business at home. Joining in the kids cup-stacking game didn't count for my daily exercise.

So one individual asks me, "Aren't you hot?" It's sunny, but maybe 72 degrees.

Again, "Don't you think that if you came out in shorts and a T-shirt, the kids might invite you to join in a game?" Uh, there's no rule that says a priest can't play in his blacks. And I did do the cup stacking race, thank you very much.

Finally, "I know. You think that since you've earned the black, you have to wear it all the time." (Second time I've heard this since ordination.)

To which I said, "I really feel like I am being psycho-analyzed here." Nice job, father. Dodge the question with the obvious, "What gives you the right!" I know that she is trying to kid, but I can kid right back because I am aware that it's not entirely a joke.

I just want to thank all the clergy out there who have gone before me and managed to make me look original for wearing black four seasons of the year. Ironic! I wouldn't emphasize so much that I earned it. I just did what was asked of me. God's grace gets a vast majority of the credit. "By the grace of God I am what I am." 1 Cor 15:10 What use is to possible try to understand the motives of a Catholic priest? I'll be a fool for Christ and wear whatever color he wants me to wear on cue.

That's why I wear black. I hope to confound the idea that I am a priest because I copped an attitude about life. I'm not doing it my way. The priesthood requires sacrifice, and that is the attitude of Christ. He hands it on to priest and teaches us through our ministry, our dedication to the work. If I am conspicuously dressed, then the sacred ministry is always active in my life. Always I am being taught and always teaching. Why pretend that one of the seven sacraments is not active? Actual grace and sacramental grace intersect constantly, I think.

If only all Catholics could learn to share their baptismal and eucharistic graces or at least desire to do so. Then I may not be such an oddity in my own parish. Throwing on blacks is the very least thing that I do. Speaking to people about our holy religion is more challenging. Playing with children is also part of Christ's will . In all things, I act as a priest.

A Prie-Dieu is a Terrible Thing to Waste

2009-06-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prie-dieu
I've now got a prie-dieu in my room. The rectory attic had several choice to offer me. I got one with a good thick red pad. It's solidly made and just my height. After a little cleanup, she sits there right next to the door as I leave my room. It's a pretty constant reminder I'd say.

My cat, Madeleine, is still getting used to the thing. I've placed it somewhat near her food and water.

I've struggled on and off to be consistent with the rosary this past year as a priest. As I knelt at the prie-dieu last evening, I completed vespers and took up the rosary. As I prayed, I had to overcome the anxiety of kneeling helplessly there, outside of my "normal" prayer and scripture in the morning. Much of my time spent on my own pursuits was a cover for this anxiety, which perhaps loosely qualifies as neurosis.

I'm looking forward to going back and letting gravity have its way again tonight. Once discovered, the Interior Castle mustn't again be abandoned. I have promised today to never leave. From the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I can well see everything that I need to see. I can see the world better from one prie-dieu than from watching the news. This prie-dieu installed in my room is a new symbol for an attitude, a spiritual posture that I hope to foster in my heart.

Nothing is more important than prayer. Help me to never leave you again, Jesus!

God shows no partiality

2009-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

"In every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Acts 10:35

Our modern life has us all fighting. Yet, no one fights to actually win. No one wants to take superiority. Rather, we fight to be equal and show that we are just the same. Everybody knows that this is true. We are like children all clinging to our end of the playground carousel.

God is the only one who is able to see impartially. Indeed he loves us perfectly. So, God's fairness is to our infinite benefit. Following this revelation of the Gospel to the gentiles in Acts 10, Peter realizes that the gentiles shall be free to praise God as the Jewish people have. Cornelius sent for Peter because he feared God. He recognized something that he lacked and that the apostle had.

There are so many directions to go in. Peter's amazed discovery of equality, transcending the boundaries of his holy nation, is far from the mundane modern mind. Modernity tends towards an equality of merit. Whether I fear God or not is irrelevant. Spiritually, morally, and otherwise I should see myself as equal. Besides, fearing God is no longer recommended by psychologizing clergy in the West.

I see a profound lukewarmness, if that makes any sense. So many baptized people act as if their goal were to be respected equally by everyone. Don't respect me too little and not too much. Afraid of being different? Act the same. No one needs anyone else. We have all become equal in our own downcast eyes.

So, I find people raising their eyes to heaven right on cue. For the appropriate events in life, when everyone is watching, they seem quite assured that they are perfectly spiritual. They now apparently sell a clergy proof vest. No matter what the priest says, the heart remains encased even as the wearer tells him what a great job he did with Gram's funeral, Billy's baptism, or Suzie's first communion.

This is a well anchored secularism, that has now put down roots at the everyday level of society. I feel at times like the mole sniffing around and seeing not what kind of dirt I am traveling through. I have no idea whether seeds will sprout or not. We must be sowers, living and breathing the Word of God.

I go back to the apostles and translate their task to the clergy of today. There are some people who have a different way of living, whose object is not to align themselves to the prevailing culture. The sacraments all tell of a life that is measured from above. The Holy Spirit is then poured forth in equal measure to all who fear God actively, doing something about their desire to be pleasing to God. God spits out passive fearful ones.

When can I say "Christ" to my family?

2009-05-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the challenge: In what family relationships may we mention Jesus Christ?

I've learned from the painful effects of witnessing to family members that I should stop trying to witness to family members. That is, I need to not mention religious conversion again. As one writer put it, it can more greatly distress a person if we should be found implying that they cannot handle their own affairs. This is the contemporary wisdom. When in doubt, speak with kindness, silence. Don't correct the ones you love until it's too late.

If Christ is not mentioned explicitly in a Christian family, is there real love? How is Jesus' name kept a secret amongst so many who are his beloved? I almost agree with the general advice that I have received. Jesus' name should be mentioned at least once. I'll not need to correct the lesser faults (practically any fault). I should never have to remove a single speck from my brother's eye if I simply remove the plank from my own eye. (Mt 7:5)

The plank: Never having spoken love's name to one whom I love. i.e. Living as if our problems, our neighbors' could be boiled down to a set of moral conditions.

I may not have preached with all eloquence and faith to move mountains, but I can trust in the name that I preached. So, I almost agree. Christ's name should be mentioned but once to the loved one in trouble.

Eventually, once the interference has faded, we can trust that the enduring Word will reach the ear of one loved, moreso by Christ than any earthly lover may know. In the waiting time of life, I listen for the Word, to be spoken back. The one who dares to speak the Word does so as its hearer.

So, I think that it is good to preach of Jesus to a loved one only once in a lifetime. There will be echoes of that message, but with the explicit intention of saving a soul, one time is enough.

Divine Mercy to the Small

2009-04-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

God's silence speaks to our smallness. It seemed to me that God is letting his voice go silent. That's my perspective, but maybe I am quite deaf at times.

In the tower of Babel, the people of the world wanted to shout and make a grand statement. Our human voices grow to a noisy, angry concensus. The loudest voice is not the one that speaks the truth.

Perhaps God is silent so that we listen harder and ignore the distracting noise around us. There is a secret discussion between God and the heart.

The Lord tells Thomas to no longer be unbelieving, but believe. Thomas at first hears of the Lord's presence, but took the report as a distraction from a major issue. Christ died! If only I could put my fingers in the wounds!

A flood of faith filled Thomas as he found Jesus fully present. In front of the great God, we are so aware of our smallness. The cry of faith erupts from the sudden silence within the soul. The Heavenly Word spoken to our hearts silences all the voices we habitually hear.

Who knows what messages are falling suddenly and indiscriminately upon our hearts? Christ says one thing. "Put your hand in my side." As in the Anima Christi, we pray that the wounds of Christ hide us. He who suffered is greater than any probing or full hiding that we may do in his very wounds. In his Eucharistic sacrifice, we are hidden for God forever.

Easter Evangelization

2009-04-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

To let you all know what is in my heart, I'll write briefly. Easter is a fantastic chance to reach a new audience. I ate up the two Sunday morning opportunities that I had.

1. Liturgy: Full, joyful solemnity was employed. I had to be very kind to the servers who aren't used to incense and Gospel processions being employed. I just talked the kids through the whole Mass, as if to let them know that I trust them. It relaxed me too to be able to say, "Wait a little bit.", or, "Okay, now follow me."

2. Homily: It was all about believing and doubting going on at the same time and in the same people (see previous post). As a fellow believer and doubter, I spoke not of glorified and succesful faith, already having accomplished its goal. That's for All Saints Day, perhaps. Easter is brand new, delicate shoots reaching up from the soil and grasping for sunlight.

3. Thanksgiving: I thanked the parishioners. I didn't thank them for the specific things that they do. I thanked all the people for their joy. "Even though we can't have Mass for well over an hour every Sunday, the joy of this parish is always the same. That's why people want to pray here." As with the resurrection, the onlookers in the building may have questioned, "Could it really be true that they/we are that joyful?" Once we start looking for joy and thankgiving, we can easily find it popping up all over.

4. Opportunity for Inquiry: Informal drop-in classes were announced targeting brand new or returning Catholics. Confused, seekers, and curious welcome. I'll be holding my seminar this Thursday evening, next Sunday at 10AM and the following Thursday. An ad was placed in the local paper. I am excited to give the uncertain a special way to follow up on their Easter experience.

5. Happy Priest: Easter Sunday is not the time to wonder if I could have done more to mortify myself during Lent. It's better to believe that sin has been defeated, thanks much more to the paschal mystery than any effort I might have made. I am so thankful for all of the people who make it great, and I look forward to seeing parish in the risen light of Christ.

Easter mystery and doubt

2009-04-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Doubt has a place in Christian faith. Especially in the place of Mary Magdalene and the apostles, there has to be some sense of confusion at least at first. An empty tomb by itself proves nothing. It in fact raises much in the hearts of good people. It needs to be addressed.

The Gospel for the Mass of Easter day is taken from John, when Peter and the beloved disciple are running to the tomb. They don't have any idea what is about to happen, for, "they did not yet understand that he had to rise from the dead. So there are three in the greatest of haste; Magdalene, Peter, and John. It seems they are driven as much by doubt and disbelief as they are by love for the Lord.

Mary assumes that the sepulchre has been grave-robbed. But who can believe that, "they have taken the Lord." She calls him Lord and refuses to believe that God could allow this absence. We ordinarily do not get to see the dead absence of Jesus Christ in the heart of his early disciples.

Unless we admit that Christ has also found a grave in our hearts, we shall not truly rise by his power. Why does Christ permit me a Christian to forget about his death? I rise to often from my own egotism, and put off the useful doubting that would make me ask, "Where have you taken him?" Mary, in today's Gospel begs for the body of her savior.

Christian, by the grace of God you are a believer. Utter the creed as one who knows what it is to seek and ask for him everywhere. If we had seen him die, would we not look and race just as these three holy people? Run so as to win. Joseph of Arimathea gave bought Jesus a tomb. Fully examine the tomb that doubt has bought you rightfully and ask, "Who will roll back the stone for us?" Christ shall you truly be raised in my heart as well?

Pro-life cause

2009-01-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

This is late in coming. If you look at this video, you can see myself and others praying outside of Planned Parenthood in Madison. http://www.memorylanevideo.com/gallery/40.html.

We know that next week will be an important one pro-lifers. On the one hand, Barack Obama will be inaugurated. Among other things, he has promised to enact the Freedom of Choice Act. It's the most extensive pro-abortion legislation imaginable. Imagine in restriction, warning, caveat, limitation, information, or support that may now be imposed on abortion practice by any law at the state level. Once this is enacted, all will be swept away. Some worry that the new law of the land would eliminate conscience clauses that now allow doctors to refuse abortion.

Two-days after Obama takes office, hundreds of thousands will march on Washington for the annual March for Life. In the past, President Bush has called the march's organizers to publically encourage them. Now, we can hope that there will be a critical mass of people to discourage Mr. Obama from moving fast and loose on his pro-abortion agenda. There is a crisis in the nation that is deeper than economics. That crisis deepens in human conscience with each passing day. With that, we more desperately need a firm witness to life.

With all that going on, I will be traveling to Honduras in order to aid a medical mission high in the mountains. I'll be leaving Friday, and when I return the US will be a truly different country.

Living up to the Holy Family

2008-12-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

"Behold, this child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted -and you yourself a sword will pierce.-

Family is hard work. It takes a real effort and intention to build up a loving family. Family is also a vehicle where the Holy Spirit can intervene and teach us something meaningful. The greatest virtue in the family is obedience, not only for children, but also for parents who hear the word of God and continue to learn by teaching something of his love. In all of these elements, the sword of sorrow threatens to pierce to the very heart.

"Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord." "How could the Holy Family relate to my own?" Beyond all others, the holy family discovered the fullest meaning of consecration to the Lord. What is troubling for most of us is that we have an apparent lack of saints in our families when compared to Mary and Joseph, not to mention Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Zechariah, Joachim, and Anne. Yet for the family in peace or in trouble, the Holy Family exemplifies love and mercy.

The Holy Spirit was prepared to intervene at the time of Christ's presentation in the Temple. Imagine the memories Mary and Joseph would have had at such a place. What effect would it have had when they heard such great promise and prophecy for their dear child Jesus. "My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people." Were the parents of Jesus humbled or exalted by Simeon's words? If we can imagine their surprise, we can see that they feel not so different than we might if we tried to compare ourself to the Holy Family.

How did they live up the responsibility of raising Christ? We understand that Joseph practiced his carpentry and taught Jesus to be a man through that trade. Mary's heart, free from sin, was always with her son which also gave her the benefit of meditating on God's presence in their home. They did what was most human and natural to them, and in this way lived up to the noble calling.

Put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Put these on as God's holy and chosen ones. If we could reflect on the worth that we have to God, there would be little to hold a family back. In whatever does hinder us, we are asked to forbear and forgive. Many ordinary faults are unknown by the person who committs them. Let the peace of Christ control your hearts.

To those who are afraid in this day to be family, I would ask where is your faith? What is your life and what does it mean without family? There are those who look at their parents or other relatives and feel unworthy to take the responsibility and begin anew. Are we so indebted to the past and what has been done for us that our future efforts seem ambiguous or unimportant? What is deeper is what God has done for us in calling us into existence and giving us bond of love that save.

Christ did not take a human wife in spite of some recent popular mythology. He did lay down his life for his bride the Church. Marriage fits this model: unashamed vulnerability to life's changes cast in the die of a solid and believing commitment. Jesus put up no spiritual walls to keep difficulty or questions out, but welcomed all into his family.

Mary, your gift to your people is compassion and love. You allowed the sword to pierce your heart and hid not from it. You saw the death of your son and your God before your very eyes. So you desired for all to be according to the Father's will. Remember how the prophet told you that Jesus would be a sign so often contradicted. He stands against all who attempt to rule their own lives only according to their own plans. He is destined for the rise and fall of many still today. How glorious it is that the man who will judge our deeds was born to you and became your loving Son.

Light and Life

2008-11-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

As a priest, I desire to celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King as reverently as possible. How can we honor him most as our king? There is a paradox. While we desire to exalt Christ with our puny means, we can scarcely fathom the influence of such a king. Can creatures possibly enhance the kingdom of Christ, the way noble courtiers add legitimacy to there Lord's.

When the Son of Man comes in glory all the nations will be assembled before him. He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (See Mt 25:31f) The exaltation of Christ is apparent. This same exaltation never meant the withholding of his personal presence from any of the sheep. He was always there in the weakest of them, to the point that salvation can only be fulfilled as often as the weakest are also lifted up, at least in Spirit if not in circumstance.

How many glasses of water can a person give? How many choice morsels? We will give an account for these things. What is most important is that in these efforts we have also given something of the love and grace we have received. Pride even has the ability of ruining works of mercy. We are to reflect the joy and love of the Lord.

In the morning at Sacred Hearts Church, the rising sun pours in through the stained glass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is right behind the altar facing east. As my eyes adjust, I see how the light overwhelms everything in the sanctuary. The particles and molecules of the air glow with light until everything becomes light. What seems completely insignificant is truly alight and present in full way.

A heavenly spectacle such as this lets us see deeper into the mystery of God's own light. What we could never gaze into becomes comprehensible to our vision. The grace of Christ's presence among us increases when it is shared. No matter how small we may seem, we cannot afford to let such brightness terminate.

Evangelization and liturgy

2008-11-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

There is a conversation that I've had in several different ways.

Fr. Brian: It would be great for you to go to Church! So, go to Church.

Parishioner: Yeah, we go to Church or not according to how we live. Yep, we sure do go! Have a nice day, Father!

Well, that paraphrase can be applied to many situations. Lighting a fire in someone's heart has to be more fun and interesting than that. I am just getting to know how to introduce the contents of the Gospel into these newly forming relationships with parishioners. Last night, it felt like I was giving a pop-quiz to a young couple as I introduced an ad hoc Bible study on 2 Corinthians. Any teacher giving a pop-quiz should have no particular expectations. There is no cause for dismay. A good pop-quiz simply provides more information for the teacher about the students.

Asking folks about their religious habits and practice is less effective. It has two negative effects very early on. First, it seems like the religious zealot needs to express his obvious desire for everyone to attend Mass. Secondly, it puts the whole religious impulse in the hands of the one who doesn't know quite what they are supposed to do with it. If the little apostle wants to share Jesus Christ, he or she had better call him into the conversation somehow.

How much hand-wringing or head-to-pew banging can be avoided with a little guts! "Oh Lord, if only they would come to Mass! They would see how great we are doing and they would understand everything!" But the Gospel is not performance based. Liturgy gives clarity and truth to believers. Those who vacillate may find the Mass further concealing the mystery that they already don't understand. Even effective preaching can slide out of mind for many a faint heart. If they would come and fully participate at Mass, our work would be very complete.

What does the Mass do for the non-participant? It is the offering of sacrifice. While dwelling in said pew before our Lord, what better thing than to imitate that sacrifice and intercession? When we self-sacrifice for his sake, the hearers of his name will already understand just a little bit more of what we are talking about. Maybe its a little personal sacrifice to introduce the Lord into a conversation, risking the impression of being forward. Seeming shyness would try to mask, if possible, the implication that relatively few people can grasp this, and I'm one of them. Or else it could even reinforce doubts about knowing how to speak of him.

It's not always hard. With a little trust, we can relate Jesus Christ directly to aspects of real life. Impressions, questions, doubts all emerge and even profound faith. Nothing is expected. Everthing is granted in the firm hope we share in Christ. This is how we present a willing sacrifice along with Christ. "Reconcile with your brother, then present your gift to the altar." -Mt 5:23-4

Priestly Love

2008-10-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Looking at the Gospel for Sunday, Christ defines the greatest commandment of all of the law and the prophets. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Christ elevates this commandment with divine authority. In his human nature, he become the new man who so loves the Lord with fully invested heart, soul and mind.

The selection stops short of including Christ's own reply to the Pharisees. "The Messiah," he asks, "whose son is he?" The Pharisaic answer unites the Messianic dignity to David's kingship. They insist that he is David's son. But David himself makes him not only king but the Lord's clear proxy, representative, vicar, priest. "The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool." If David calls him Lord, how can he be his son. If God calls him Lord than his kingly dignity is high priestly as well.

My own diocese suffers from the discontent of some of the faithful and priests. Differing sides (a shame that we must speak of sides) cling to their ecclesiology. The name for this theological discipline could be confusing. Rather than study of the Church, many use this word to talk down to one part of the body of Christ and remind it of its place. Yet, Paul says that we give the less presentable parts the greatest honor (1 Cor 14). Perhaps Paul is referring to the poor or those whose conscience is weak. We don't know for sure, but we honor them by including them in unified and healthy body. Further still, there is a member who is most presentable in every diocese. He is the bishop. To denigrate or defy him is the closest thing to a sin against the local church as a body.

The future of the Church hinges upon our union with Christ the High Priest. Every priest and lay Catholic is called to affirm the value of the ministerial priesthood. The priesthood exercised by a few privileged members of Christ's body is a sacramental gift to the Church. The priests are most presentable by standing with their bishop. In solidarity with him they honor Christ who presented himself for sacrifice. He made us all his neighbors and loved us as he loved himself. The priest especially is called to accept this teaching into his heart. The love of the Father for his priests bestows on them the Holy Spirit's abiding presence.

Dear lay Catholics, show love for your priests always. This love does not depend on how a priest makes you feel. Gimmicks and tricks that priests learn do not actually make them good priests. How is the priest able to communicate grace to the Church? This is the gift of loving sacrifice that makes the body of Christ flourish. Only the love of Christ can make someone a good priest