Jun

29

Teach Me to Labor

June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I came across a prayer attributed to St. Ignatius a while back -

“Lord, teach me to be generous.  Teach me to serve you as you deserve.  To give and not count the cost.  To fight and not heed the wounds.  To toil and not seek for rest.  To labor and not ask for reward, save for knowing that I am doing your will.”

I know someone who is trying to live the last phrase of that prayer - “To labor and not ask for reward, save for knowing that I am doing your will.”

He is doing something that will result in others gain, yet he will probably not be rewarded for it.  He is doing something that will benefit many, yet his family questions his career path.  There is always the question left unsaid, but always hanging in the air, as to whether he should be doing something more distinguished or of greater monetary worth.

Yet, he has confided in me that he truly believes that he is doing God’s will.  He is exactly where God needs him.  He is laboring for Christ.

I told him about St. Ignatius’ prayer because I realized he is trying to live it.  He is trying so hard to keep from falling into the chasm of self-pity where he will crave reward for his labor.  He is trying to satisfy himself with the reward of knowing that he is doing God’s will; he is serving Christ.  I can tell that it is not easy.

And I reminded him that it doesn’t matter whether we measure up in someone else’s eyes; whether we are doing what others expect of us.  What matters if whether we are doing what God wants us to do; whether we measure up to what Christ expects of us.

The saints lived the prayer of St. Ignatius; each and every phrase.  We are called to do the same.

We all are called to be generous and serve and give and fight and toil and labor; but not to count the cost or heed the wounds or seek for rest or ask for reward.  We are all called to just serve Christ and do God’s will.  We are all called to be a saint.

Jun

24

Weekday Solemnities

June 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

It was only recently that I started to understand the difference between the different types of days on the Church calendar.  I couldn’t tell you the difference between solemnities, feasts, memorials, optional memorials and ferial days. I thought feast days were all the same.

So, as I began to learn about the Church calendar, I started to understand its structure and what the Church is trying to teach us as the year unfolds.  I also began to understand why solemnities are reserved for the most important days during the year.

Most solemnities are well-observed (Easter & Christmas) or fall on Sunday (Epiphany, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, Christ the King).  Holy Days of Obligation are also solemnities (Mary, Mother of God; Ascension; Assumption; All Saints; Immaculate Conception).

But there are a few solemnities that do not fall on Sunday and are not Holy Days of Obligation.  These are St. Joseph (March 19), the Annunciation (March 25), Sacred Heart (Friday after 2nd Sunday after Pentecost), Sts. Peter & Paul (June 29), and St. John the Baptist (today, June 24).

All of these days are important to us and allow us to spend time thinking and praying about great people in the life of Jesus and the Church, as well as great mysteries that form the foundation of our faith.

With today being one of these most important of remembrances, we should spend some time thinking about the life of St. John the Baptist, what he meant to Christ’s ministry, and what he means to us today.

He was the voice crying in the wilderness.  He prepared the way for the Lord.  He was the fulfillment of prophecy.  He taught repentance, conversion, salvation and forgiveness.

This is a great day to go to Mass, pray the Rosary, read the story of St. John in Luke 1.  It is also a great day to think about whether you are listening to God through the people he has sent into your life; whether you need to get to confession to ask for forgiveness; whether you need to change things in your life; whether you are accepting the gift of salvation from Christ and are serving him.

Are you doing God’s will as St. John did?

Today, place yourself on the banks of the Jordan River and listen to what St. John has to tell you; listen to what Christ has to tell you.

Jun

12

St. Paul to the Americans

June 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As we come to the end of the Year of St. Paul, I’ve been wondering what St. Paul would write to us if he was sending an epistle to the Church in America.

While I think this question can be redundant because St. Paul’s epistles are timeless for every Catholic in every time, today’s Mass reading from 2 Corinthians 4 is especially instructive for us today.

Let’s face it, we’re going through some uncertain times; times that would have seen familiar to the people of Corinth.

Do you feel “afflicted” - from today’s reading, we learn that so did the Corinthians; so St. Paul assured them that they would not be “constrained.”

Do you feel “perplexed” - so did the Corinthians; so St. Paul assured them they should “not be driven to despair.”

Do you feel “persecuted” - so did the Corinthians; so St. Paul assured them that they would not be “abandoned.”

Do you feel “struck down” - so did the Corinthians; so St. Paul assured them that would not be “destroyed.”

While some may feel afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, all must know that we are not constrained in our afflictions, must not be driven to despair in our perplexity, are not abandoned in our persecution, and cannot be destroyed when facing supposed defeat.

As long as we keep Christ as the center of our lives and serve him as he deserves, we will overcome anything that is thrown at us.  We must have faith, hope and love, while yearning for the peace and joy that is Christ’s grace to us when we truly believe in him and serve him.

I think St. Paul would tell us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves or fearful or uncertain, and to get on with the business of serving Christ in whatever way he calls us to do so.  While not touchy-feely, I think his would be good advice and exactly what we need to hear.

Jun

3

Sunday Solemnities

June 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As every Catholic knows, Sunday Mass has the prime spot on the church calendar.  It is the centerpiece of a devout Catholic’s week and a fixture on their schedule.

But, let’s take a quick quiz - how many Sundays in the Liturgical Calendar have special significance over and beyond being a “# Sunday of [Advent][Lent][Easter][Ordinary Time]?”  How many are considered Solemnities, the highest form of celebration on the calendar (above feasts, memorials, and optional memorials)?

Of all of these special days, Easter is the easiest to come to mind.  I don’t know if Palm Sunday is considered a solemnity, but it would fall into the category of being pretty memorable.  How about the  Epiphany (2nd Sunday after Christmas) and Christ the King (Last Sunday of Ordinary Time before Advent), both of which are solemnities?

There are also two other Sundays in Christmas that have a special spot on the calendar - Holy Family (1st Sunday after Christmas and a feast) and the Baptism of the Lord (1st Sunday of Ordinary Time and a feast)?

These days are important to us, to our faith; yet we tend to gloss over some of them.  Other than Easter and Palm Sunday, they become just another Sunday with no real significance to us.

And that’s a shame because each of these Sundays carries so much meaning about Christ, that we short-change our spiritual lives when we treat these days as nothing special.

That is why I’m really trying to pay attention to the period of Sundays we are in now, because they are all solemnities.  Two Sundays ago was Ascension Sunday; last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday; next Sunday is Trinity Sunday; and then the next Sunday is Corpus Christi Sunday.  Throw in Sacred Heart Friday (solemnity) and Immaculate Heart Saturday (memorial) for the weekend thereafter.  Six very holy days (five of which are solemnities) following distantly behind the Resurrection, and centered around the Ascension and the Pentecost.  It is a period when we reflect upon separate parts of Christ’s life and his being, and the very essence of the triune God.  Six very holy days that always occur together.

The Nicene Creed, which we pray most every Sunday, professes that we believe in one God, in one Lord, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.  We believe in Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and that the Holy Spirit is the giver of life who has spoken through the prophets.  We believe that Christ was born of the virgin Mary and became man and that for our sake he was crucified, suffered, died and was buried.  In these passages of the Creed, our Creed, we have the essence of these holy days during these four plus weeks.

As the priest exclaims at baptisms, this is our faith, this is the faith of our church.  As these six holy days say so much about our faith, we need to make sure we are paying attention to them, instead of just letting them float on by, on our way between Easter and the laziness of Summer.

Jun

1

Daily Mass Readings

June 1, 2009 | 1 Comment

A lot of people are blessed in that they are willing and able to attend daily Mass.  They have both the call to spend 30 minutes a day celebrating the Sacred Mysteries of the Mass, and they have access to a Mass that fits into their work schedule.

Some of us aren’t so lucky.  We may have the call, but not the Mass.  For example, the parishes between me and my office have Masses after 8:00am (including my own); not exactly conducive to getting me into the office by 8:30.  There is a parish with a 11:30am Mass, but it is 20 minutes away from my office.  I do go there on Fridays when I can afford some extra time at lunch, but it’s not a Mass I can make every day.

But I have found a way to keep in tune with the daily rhythms of the Church, especially the celebration of the Mass.  I read the daily Mass readings.

It’s important to me to actually read the readings and follow the prayers of the daily Mass because it connects me with Christ in a very profound way.  It also makes me feel part of a greater whole.  Think about it - these readings and prayers are being said on that day in every church in the world.  It’s a way to join myself to every other Catholic in the universal Church.

It’s also important because it gives me a chance to reflect on passages from the scriptures and do some bible study.  By reading the Daily Mass readings, I can cover most of the non-gospel part of the Bible in two years.  The first readings alternate from year to year with the daily gospel remaining constant from year to year.  (Keep in mind that the Sunday readings are on a three year cycle.)

Last night was the end of Easter; now we head back into Ordinary Time.  It’s a good time to look forward as to what the Daily Readings hold in store for us for the remainder of the Church liturgical year.

The first readings start with readings from the Book of Tobit this week and then jump to the 2nd Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians for the following two weeks.

From there, the first readings launch into the Pentateuch, starting with Genesis 12 when God makes his covenant with Abraham, and going through to Deuteronomy.  We then go into a little history with Joshua, Judges and Ruth.  At the end of August, it’s back to St. Paul with readings from his 1st Letter to the Thessalonians, Colossians, and his first letter to St. Timothy.  At the end of September, it’s back to the Old Testament with three weeks of readings from the minor histories and prophets (Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Nehemiah, Baruch, Jonah, Malachi and Joel).  Then it’s four weeks of readings from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, a week from the Book of Wisdom, a week from the 1st and 2nd Book of Maccabees and then a week from the Book of Daniel, when we end one liturgical year and begin another by heading into Advent.

The gospel readings don’t jump around like the first readings.  For this week, the gospel is taken from Mark 12, which tells about Jesus teaching in the temple.  Next week, we start with Matthew 5 (the Sermon on the Mount) and, over the next 12 weeks, go through to Matthew 23 (the eve of the Passion).  At the end of August, we switch over to Luke, starting with Luke 4 (beginning of Jesus’ ministry), and going through to Luke 21 (the eve of the Passion).

So, from the first readings, you will get a good mix of the Old Testament and the Epistles.  From the gospels, you will get two different perspectives on Jesus’ active ministry and teachings.  Not a bad way to spend fifteen or so minutes a day.

I suggest three different ways to keep in touch with the daily readings, if you cannot make it to daily Mass.  The first, easiest and cheapest is to go to the bishop’s web site for the daily readings.  You can also subscribe to a periodical that will give you the Mass readings, the prayers of the Mass, and reflections.  One periodical is Magnificat; another is Word Among Us.  The other way is to buy a missal.  One option is the St. Joseph Missal from Catholic Book Publishing (need 3 volumes to cover all of the weekday and Sunday readings).  Another option is a one-volume missal - the Daily Roman Missal from the Midwest Theological Forum and Our Sunday Visitor.  I have the Daily Roman Missal and it is a truly amazing volume of work.

Enjoy the daily Mass; learn from the daily readings; let the Mass become a part of your daily life, even if you cannot actually make it to Mass.  Join your daily prayers to those of the universal Church.  Offer your day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.  It is a wonderful way to spend part of your day.

May

28

Wow, Now That’s Amore!

May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Sometimes when St. John starts talking about “love” in his gospel, my eyes glaze over and I don’t even try to figure out what he means.  Yea, I know it’s something important and profound, but I tend to take all of this talk about divine love with the same attitude that I watch a Nicholas Sparks’ chick-flick with my wife - with unenthusiastic indifference.

So, it was to my surprise that this morning I really decided to dive into the gospel reading for today’s Mass (from John 17) and found some absolutely incredible passages from Jesus’ prayer to God as to what he wanted and desired -

“that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you”

“that they may also be in us”

“that the world may believe that you sent me”

“I have given them the glory you gave me”

“that they may be brought to perfection as one”

“that the world may know that you sent me”

“that you loved them even as you loved me”

“they are your gift to me”

“I wish that where I am they also may be with me”

“that they may see my glory that you gave me”

“I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

All of these things are what Christ wants for us - for you, for me.  He loves us so much, he wants us to have unity with him and our God; he wants us to have faith; he wants us to have eternal, divine love; he wants us to JOIN him in eternity; he wants us to see his divine glory.  The most astounding passage of all is where he acknowledges to God that WE are God’s gift to him - think about it, he considers you and me to be a divine gift to HIM.

How can we walk away from such love?  How can we not soak in this love each and every day?  How can we not seek to do our best to return this love in every thing we do and every word we say?  How can we continue to commit the same sin over and over again, knowing we are weak but refusing his loving mercy and forgiveness which is there for our asking?

Christ gave us himself on the Cross; he gave us himself through the Holy Spirit; he gives of himself in the Blessed Sacrament.  He shows his love in the sacraments and the events of our daily lives.  He loves us.  He means those things in his prayer to God; they aren’t just empty words mouthed to hear himself talk.  They are pure, unadulterated, incredible love for all of his flock.

His love has been accepted and returned by Mary and the saints.  We should emulate them on a daily basis by offering our love to him.  What will you do today to show your love for him?  Think about it as you work, study, think, pray, play, interact with others; think about it as you contemplate giving into the temptation in front of you, or skipping out on a chance to spend some time with him.

Christ loves you; do you love him?  Do you show you love him?  Do you experience joy and peace from his love?  Do you show his love to others?

Soak in this amore; it won’t take long until you are doing things for Christ; living your life for Christ; doing so because you love him; showing his love to everyone around you.

Remember, Christ considers you to be a gift from God to him; so make sure you are proved worthy to be such an esteemed and divine gift.

May

26

Keeping Your Word

May 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

If you are a man of honor and integrity (and most men are), you want to keep your word to others.  You want to have the reputation of getting the job done and being dependable; whether it’s your family, friends, community or job.  You don’t want to let others down.

But do you take the same attitude with Christ?  He has a plan for each of us.  He asks something of each of us every single day.  As a member of his body, we are called upon daily by him to do something, big or small, to help build his kingdom.

Yesterday for Memorial Day Mass, our priest talked about all of us being “Soldiers of Christ.”   He spoke about each of us having a duty to Christ to do his will; to stand up and join the battle.

Ask yourself these questions.  Do you strive to do your duty as a treasured son of God?  Do you strive to do his will?  Do you strive to keep your word to him in living your life?  Do you put your body, heart and soul at his disposition?

Today’s first reading is about a man who answered these questions with a resounding affirmative.  In Acts 20, St. Paul is giving one last sermon to the Ephesians.  He concludes by stating - “Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace. . . . And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

There you have it.  St. Paul had no regrets; he knew he had done what he was called by Christ to do.

How about today’s Gospel from John 17.  Here we have Jesus praying to our Father in heaven - “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.  They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

Talk about a great performance review -  “They have kept your word.”  His apostles and disciples had answered the questions the same as St. Paul.

How about today’s Saint of the Day - St. Philip Neri.  He lived in 16th Century Italy at the height of the Reformation and the start of the Counter-Reformation, when Catholic faith and devotion were rapidly declining and in need of someone to help reverse the plunge into the abyss.  St. Philip responded to Christ’s call as well by doing great things to reinvigorate the faithful throughout Italy, most particularly in Rome.  He enflamed the laity and fostered a great love among all for the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Paul; the Apostles; the first disciples; St. Philip Neri - all became worthy Soliders of Christ.  They kept God’s word and fulfilled their duty to Christ.  They gave their lives to be used according to the Lord’s will and then, more importantly, kept their word to him.

Can the same be said of us?

May

22

Beautiful Faces

May 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Today is the feast day of St. Rita of Cascia.  She was a wife and mother in 15th Century Italy who, after her husband and sons died, entered an Augustinian convent.

She is known for being a patron saint for many things.  I looked her up on CatholicCulture.org and found she is the patron saint of abuse victims, against loneliness, against sterility, bodily ills, desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, impossible causes, infertility, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sickness, sterility, victims of physical spouse abuse, widows, and wounds.  I also happen to know that she is the patron saint of baseball.

But I think she should be the patron saint of another cause - facial deformities.

One day, St. Rita was praying before the Crucifix when a thorn became embedded in her forehead.  It would stay there the rest of her life; foul smelling and unsightly.  She was even ostracized by her fellow sisters.

When that thorn became a permanent mark on her forehead, St. Rita became one of many who live with a facial deformity.

I was born with a cleft lip and other cranio-facial deformities.  I’ve had surgeries to close the lip and make the other deformities less pronounced, but you can still see that my face isn’t quite right (or as I’ve had others tell me, “you look funny”).

But, my deformities don’t hinder my life in any meaningful way.  I look different, my eyes are screwed up and one of my ears is shot, but God left all of the important parts fully functioning.  And I know I am designed as God intended.

And I know that I’m not alone.  According to the CDC, cleft lips and cleft palates are the most prevalent form of birth defects in the U.S.  Approximately 6,800 babies are born every year with one or the other (Down Syndrome is 2nd with 5,500 babies).  These statistics do not include those who are born with other facial deformities.  These deformities can affect much more than appearance; they can drastically impact speech, eating, hearing, sight, breathing; basically any bodily function between the throat and the brain.  And then, there are the stares and double-looks; the snide comments from the malevolent and the innocent questions from the curious.

The good news is that these deformities can be minimized with surgery.  Lips and palates can be closed; other facial deformities made less pronounced; bodily activities for the most part restored.

For more information about facial deformities (or cranio-facial birth defects), go to AmeriFace.org and cleftAdvocate.org.

Of course, the U.S. isn’t alone in having kids born with these facial deformities.  There are kids in every part of the world who are born with some type of facial birth defect.  Except for them, these defects may not be treatable because of the medical care in their country.  Their only hope are organizations like Smile Train and Operation Smile who focus on repairing cleft lips and palates in the poorest of nations.

The work of these organizations is sorely needed.  They are doing the work of Christ.

And next time you see someone with some facial deformities or scars, think of what they must go through; and then say a little prayer to St. Rita.  I bet she already has the beautiful faces of these precious children in her sights.

May

21

Weeping or Rejoicing?

May 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Do you ever get the feeling that everyone is rejoicing; while you’re stuck with a feeling of anxiety mixed with a spark of hopelessness?  That somehow, you’re left on an island, solitary and alone, worried about the future; while everyone else is regaling in the excesses of the present?

Recently, I’ve actually been talking to a great number of people who share this view.  They fear that the world has gotten more dangerous, the economy more uncertain, their futures less promising, and their religious freedom less secure.

Yet, if we are to believe the polls and media, and many of our political and cultural leaders, things have never seemed more hopeful.  We are being told that we should embrace, not fear, the Teutonic shifts threatening to overthrow the way we live our daily lives; that we should join the chorus celebrating these shifts as great progress, just like everyone else.

If you’re one of these “unenlightened” folks, guess what?  Today’s (non-Ascension Day) gospel (from John 16) has a message for you.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Jesus was talking to his disciples on the eve of his Ascension.  He was discussing with them the meaning of the words he had just shared with them - “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” I can’t blame the disciples for not exactly grasping what Jesus was trying to say there; but, his followup - “you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices” - is easy enough to understand.

There are going to be times when you will be on the David side of the fight; when you will stand up for what you believe in and will be laughed at, ridiculed, demonized and demeaned.  You will be told that you are a fool, short-sighted, unenlightened, hateful, counter-cultural.  You will watch others revel in their power, influence and good-feeling, while you are stuck wondering what can possibly come next.  You will grow especially wary when even those you think should be on your side line up with the rejoicers.

The question to ask yourself in these circumstances is - do you truly believe you are standing on the side of reason, faith and truth; that you are doing God’s will and serving Christ as he deserves; that you are living as you should as a son or daughter of God?  If the answer is “yes” than you can take comfort from John 16.  It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing, even if everyone else is “rejoicing.”  What matters is whether your thoughts and actions are in uniformity with God’s will - even if it means that you are left to “weep and mourn.”

And if you hold onto Christ’s hope and God’s will for you, especially when it’s the unpopular thing to do, you will find that you are not alone.  Others feel the same way.  Even better, you will also find that one of two things will happen.  You will find out that you are wrong and you can join in with the happy crowd; or you will find out that you are right.  In either case, you will find that one day “your grief will become joy.”

May

20

Times of Ignorance

May 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

There’s a passage in today’s first reading from Acts 17 that seems ripe for the times.

St. Paul was addressing the Athenians and commenting on their belief in an “Unknown God.”  The Athenians, as enlightened as they were, understood there was an all powerful God, but couldn’t quite get their minds to understand anything about him, thus he remained “unknown.”  They were comfortable with Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena and even Hades; but they couldn’t grasp the concept of the omnipotent, monotheistic Being who we too often take for granted.

Later on in St. Paul’s sermon, he stated something that seems especially applicable to our age:

“God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.”

“Times of Ignorance” - are we living in them?

As I witnessed the totality of what occurred at Notre Dame on Sunday and on the Holy Father’s trip to the Holy Land last week; as I hear about the world’s response to Israel’s concern about its very existence and the attacks on a beauty pageant contestant who dared to honestly answer a question posed to her on national TV;  I get the sinking feeling that we are smacked dab in the middle of these Times of Ignorance.

We hold ourselves out to be the most enlightened, smartest, advanced, progessive people of all time.  Yet, we can be so ignorant.  We are ignorant when we’ve replaced the power of God with the power of man.  But, we’ve forgotten that God created the world and raised Jesus from the dead.  Based on these two facts alone, Man cannot be deluded enough to think that our power can ever be equal to His.   But when we relegate God to just another special interest or faith as just another past-time, we do just this - we assume our power is separate from His, instead of realizing that our power is derived from Him; to be used according to His will.

I always got the impression that the Athenians thought they controlled their gods.  I got the same feeling about the Romans and their stable of deities.  St. Paul succeeded in dispelling their ignorance and spreading the faith in both civilizations.  But, I wonder - what would St. Paul say to us were he physically in our midst?  What would he say were he writing “The Letter of St. Paul to the Americans”?

I bet he wouldn’t be subtle.