Sunday Reflection: Praying for the gift of an understanding heart

I think all of us can identify with the fairly common question that kids ask one another at some time or another, “If a genie popped out of that mythic lamp and told you, you could have one wish granted, what would it be?”  Of course, I always responded with, "100 more wishes!"  Wouldn’t life be grand if periodically we had some omnipotent genie that could grant our wishes, dreams and desires every now and then? 

Perhaps because of the fantastic fantasy of such a dream we might find it odd that Solomon in today’s first reading when the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, God Himself, appeared to him and told him to ask for something and that it would be granted - one might have thought of all sorts of wonderful things that Solomon could have asked for.  Yet, he asked for only thing - an understanding heart to distinguish right from wrong.

My sisters and brothers, there is reason why Solomon in tradition is called wise or that we refer to the wisdom of Solomon - for in responding to the Lord’s generous gift, Solomon indeed chose wisely.

To distinguish right from wrong is the daily challenge that we must wrestle with as we strive to live lives of integrity as disciples of the Lord.  Matthew records for us the words of the Lord Jesus to his disciples - to us - speaking of the kingdom of heaven.  Through comparisons to everyday life, Jesus the master teacher, is urging us to see this new creation that he has ushered in as a treasure buried in a field, or the pearl of great price, or the great catch of fish.

In other words, seeking, living and building God’s reign in our midst must become the overriding passion that gives ultimate focus and meaning to our lives.  No wonder that we, like Solomon, should pray frequently for the gift of discernment that we too might have an understanding heart to distinguish right from wrong - what builds up the Reign of God or what can become a barrier and stumbling block for God’s Kingdom to Grow right here in our midst.

These last decades in our Church have brought home all too painfully how some who have been entrusted with the privilege of leadership in our Church have squandered that gift and have been a stumbling block that has inflicted a painful wound on the Body of Christ.  Because the gift to choose rightly and virtuously has been refused and all of us have suffered.

To choose wisely, to distinguish right from wrong will forever be the hallmark of personal integrity and holiness as members of the Kingdom.    More often than not the wisdom to choose rightly with an understanding heart begins with the seemingly insignificant choices of everyday life.  For husbands and wives, the choice to say that kind and loving word rather than to be self-righteously critical or to play those old tapes of an unforgiven wound that we hold onto to as a power play over one’s spouse;   for parents to be affirming as they maximize praise for their children and as they teach them the consequences of choosing wisely and unwiselyin their own lives; for employers who treat their employees with fairness and justice respecting the dignity of every person and for employees who bring a moral vision of what is right and wrong to the workplace.  For Bishops, Priests, deacons and all involved in the work of the Gospel, that they speak the truth in love and pray for the courage to serve rather than be served as well as the humility to seek forgiveness when we have failed to lead with integrity and virtue.

Solomon indeed chose wisely when he asked the Lord for an understanding heart to distinguish right from wrong.  In this age of moral relativism where the good is so often equated with the comfortable and convenient choices we make in life, let us too ask for that Gift from Lord.  May it be our path to integrity and holiness of life now and always.

Reflections on the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A morning ritual of mine is to be awakened each day at 5:00 AM with the top stories broadcast by National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.  Over the years, however, that morning ritual has included the inevitable sad reporting of one tragic terrorist attack after another.  Whether it’s in the Middle East or Europe or within our own Nation, these random attacks that are often motivated by an ideology of hate, indiscriminately target the innocent.  I still shudder on hearing the stories and seeing the images of the chemical attack in Syria some six months ago.  One would have to be completely heartless not to be moved and righteously angered at seeing defenseless children, victimized by such evil. We shudder as we see such darkness in the human heart that can bring itself to perpetrate such evil in the lives of innocent children.

My brothers and sisters, these are indeed the inevitable weeds that can appear to choke out the full growth of the good seed in the fields of our lives, our country and our world.  It would be so easy for many of us to succumb to despair as we hear another story of the innocent suffering, as we endure hearing another tragic story of the dark side of humanity.

Staring at the weeds infesting our so-called life, we inevitably wrestle with the question that none us can seem to voice: Can I trust God when this good life has so much bad in it?  In his bestselling book, Who Needs God?, Rabbi Harold Kushner writes: “I meet a lot of people who, in the face of personal tragedy or a major disaster, angrily conclude that there is no God.  I am often struck,” he writes, “by how angry some people get at God for not existing.” 

“Didn’t you, Lord, sow good seed in your field?”  My friends, we know somewhere deep in the earth of our souls God did and God does sow good seed, abundantly, generously, lovingly.  How can any of us look into the face of a child and not see the tracings of God’s hand in every dimple, every eyelash, every erupting tooth in a gummy mouth?  How can we witness the depth of love that blooms in this congregation when death visits one of our number?  How can we watch a father cradle his infant son and not believe that God can be trusted?  Times are, my brothers and sisters, we confess our faith in Christ standing deep in a river of tears, stuttering through our sorrow that God is good, God is great, God is love.  But, there are those other times, in the moments of darkest doubt when, we’re not so sure.  It is at those dark moments that all of us can so easily succumb to focusing all our time and energy in tracking down the weeds, doing everything in our power to root them out of what we hope will be our personal perpetual gardens of Eden.

Yes, we can spend our lives managing weeds, vainly trying to explain, fix, control.  Many of us do.  But history tells us from the bloody centuries of the Crusades to the meanness in every stripe of fundamentalism that weed control destroys more wheat than weeds.  Jesus said, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”  Why do that?  Are we to believe that Christians like being slapped around?  No.  Simply put, more gospel, more grace, more of Christ grows on a turned cheek than a clinched fist; always has, and always will. 

Times are, like St. Paul, we pray, staring at the weeds, “with groans that words cannot express.”  We long for answers, we want God to give us the green light, if not to “Round-Up” the weeds, at least to mow them down for a season.  Such is not always the work God places in our hands.  In fact, the parable clearly teaches that, at the end of time, God will ultimately deal with the weeds, not us.

So, my friends, you may take up the cause of weed control.  Some of us spend much of our lives doing so angry, bitter, and disappointed.  I know.  Like you, I’ve often rallied my angry soul to weed control.  Our Lord, however, offers us a better way to deal with the weeds of life.  His better way is a much holier calling, brimming with contagious joy.  And what is that?  Spend our lives nurturing the gospel.  Love those whose lives seem choked by weeds; comfort the confused; sit patiently with the grieving; surprise the cynic with an unexpected gift, and maybe do it anonymously.  For it is indeed better to light one candle in this world of darkness, to cultivate the field of God’s dreams for the human heart, than to spend all our time cursing the darkness.  

Reflections on - Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT community can enter into a relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity by Fr. James Martin, SJ

At the height of the AIDS crisis in the early 1980’s, when countless deaths as a result of this dreaded disease were occurring across our country and world, I remember vividly receiving an emergency call in the middle of the night.  It was from an AIDS Hospice here in Orange County.  The voice on the other end was agitated as he spoke quickly, “Is this a priest?  I need a priest as quickly as possible.  One of our guests is actively dying.”  I responded that I was a priest and aware that the facility was some distance from the rectory, I inquired if, perhaps, they had contacted the parish much closer.  The agitated voice said, “Father, I never want to call that place again.  The priest that came before, stood at the door and the first thing he asked our delirious friend was if he was sorry for the sins that got him into this situation?  He then mumbled a quick blessing and ran out!”  I, of course, said that I would come as quickly as possible.

That very painful situation seared into my memory not only this painful chapter in the history of AIDS in our country, but more specifically, how the Catholic Church that I love and to whom I have given 43 years in priestly ministry, has so often failed to be there in respect, compassion and sensitivity for our LGBT sisters and brothers.

It is with this personal experience in mind that I welcomed Fr. James Martin’s most recent book, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT community can enter into a relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity.  As narrated in the preface of this small yet insightful work, what prompted Fr. Martin to prepare these reflections was the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016 at the Pulse nightclub, in which 49 people were killed and 58 others were wounded in one of worst terrorist attacks since 9/11 in our country.  It was clear that virtually all the victims were from the LGBT community.  What was so unsettling for Fr. Martin and many sincere and concerned Catholics across our land, was the relatively few Bishops who named this unspeakable evil for what it truly was, the targeting of gay men and women.  Save for a few eloquent and candid statements by a handful of Bishops, the overall response was alarmingly tepid.

It was certainly not the author’s intention to present a detailed and exhaustive treatise on the moral dimensions of homosexuality as viewed from the Catholic Church’s perspective.  That perspective and teaching is clearly, if not painfully, known by the vast majority of the LGBT community.  Rather, focusing on three critical words that are found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding homosexual persons, his reflections center on how the Church and LGBT persons can mutually build a relationship – a bridge to each other – on the foundation of ‘respect, compassion and sensitivity.’  Fr. Martin is far more concerned with the pastoral exigencies of what we encounter in the present moment, where not an insignificant number of the Catholic LGBT community have either left the Catholic Church or, struggle to not only remain while tragically, at times, experiencing unjust discrimination at her hands.  Additionally, he poses the challenging question of how it might be possible for the Church, both clergy and laity, to be that ‘Field Hospital’ as Pope Francis speaks of, reaching out to those who, for whatever reason, are in need of hearing again the reconciling compassion of a loving Father and Shepherd.  So often it begins with the simple process of listening to one another.

We are all familiar with the ‘teaching’ dimension of the Church, classically framed as the ecclesia docens.  Rare, however, is it that we hear the corresponding importance of the ‘listening’ church, or the ecclesia discens. Yet, this dimension of our church beautifully mirrors an essential element within any community and certainly within the Body of Christ. Blessed Paul VI, in his first Encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam, spoke eloquently of the central dynamism of ‘dialogue’ within the household of believers.   From our own experience, I think it would be safe to say that successful dialogue always entails both speaking and listening, respectfully, compassionately and with sensitivity.

Dialogue, of course, presupposes language that itself is respectful, compassionate and sensitive. In one of the highly negative reviews of Martin’s book that appeared in First Things, the author begins with this sentence:  Is sodomy a sin?  I wonder how effective I would be in speaking to a group of divorced and remarried folks inquiring about the annulment process, if I were to begin, 'Is adultery and fornication a sin?'  The critic goes on and rather dismissively makes reference to, what our Holy Father has referred to countless times as the importance of the ministry of ‘accompaniment.’  By this is understood ‘to be there for others,’ in a supportive and loving manner, wherever one might be on the continuum of conversion toward greater virtue and Christian maturity. 

The teaching of the Church is unambiguous when it calls all to complete chastity outside of the marriage covenant.  The challenge for our gay sisters and brothers is that to be true to the Church’s teaching, they must remain celibate for the entirety of their lives. While with God’s heroic grace, this is not an impossibility, and for those who embrace this heroic discipline, they indeed deserve our support and encouragement.  However, based upon 43 years of pastoral and confessional experience, this way of life is extremely difficult. And, for those who find this teaching difficult or impossible to embrace and experience failure, what are we to do?  Do we turn our backs, close the doors of our churches and tear down any bridges of outreach until they arrive at perfection?  Or do we accept our brothers and sisters ‘on the way,’ as we continue to welcome, provide compassionate hospitality and encouragement toward growth in virtue for all of us.  For, in the end, truth be told, we are all ‘on the way.’ 

Reflections on the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is a quote that has always meant a great deal to me - it goes something like this, “Our lives are a gift from God, but what we do with them is our gift to God.”  That quote came home to me in a powerful way some years ago when I visited our Nation’s capital with my mother and sister.  Washington, DC is a city of powerful symbols and memorials that speak to us of the history, promise and destiny of this land.  Two of those memorials touched me deeply - the memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Vietnam Memorial.  Both these memorials powerfully convey in many respects the heart of God’s Word to us this day.

Shortly before my mother married my father, the Second World War broke out in Europe.  After the bombing of Pearl Harbor my father enlisted and served in the South Pacific.  During those turbulent times, it was President Roosevelt whom my mother remembers calmed the fears and anxieties of a nation with his fireside chats and hope filled speeches. No wonder then that on visiting his memorial a flood of memories touched my mother’s heart as she remembered what this one man, bound to his wheelchair was able to do for the spirit of this nation especially in the midst of war.

Roosevelt Memorial - Washington, D.C.

The Vietnam memorial remains one of the most visited sights in Washington.  This silent memorial from a grateful nation remembers the heroism of thousands of men and women, many of whom died before the age of 25.  History will be the final arbiter of all the factors - both positive and negative - that brought us into this conflict.  Yet, for the men and women who died in this foreign land, it was the ageless value of patriotism and their willingness to lay down one’s life in defense of others, that is their glory.

My brothers and sisters, each one of us have been blessed by God in rich and varied ways.  God’s creative word has fashioned each one of us with multiple gifts and talents.  And with those gifts you are I are called to leave a legacy for others by the way we live our lives. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the importance of sinking the roots of our lives into soil that will yield a rich harvest.  As followers of the Lord, we have the privilege of being enriched by God’s Word and the values that it challenges us to live.  In our tradition of faith, it is the sacramental life that nourishes and supports us in our Christian walk with the Lord.  These gifts are the soil out of which we are to yield a rich harvest and bear much fruit.

As members of the Church each one of us with our unique gifts and talents are called to shape a world with the values and convictions of Jesus Christ.  The responsibility to be church and to build the Kingdom in our midst belongs to no one else but ourselves who have been made new in Christ.    Our lives are indeed gifts from God, but what we do with them for the sake of the kingdom is our gift to God.

Sanctuary or Bully Pulpit?

Within the last few months, I’ve been amazed at the level of passion and energy created by Facebook followers.  My plunge into social networking was rather late, prompted by the beginning of my Blog, Rectoremeritus.org.  As I have shared in various posts, I have been gratified by the positive responses by various readers to my more serious musings in my Blog as well as my more “off the cuff” and whimsical postings on my FB page.  In addition to the postings of photos at lunches with family and friends, together with the selfies with dogs (l love dogs!), I have not shied away from the occasional political post or sharing an op-ed commentary from this or that major newspaper or journal.  Being now, both emeritus and retired, I am freed from the care and caution that characterized such sentiments and comments when I was pastor. 

During my 41 years as an active priest and more particularly, cognizant of my responsibilities as Rector at Holy Family Cathedral for 15 years and subsequently as Pastor/Rector of Mission Basilica for 11 years, I assiduously strove never to use the ‘sanctuary’ pulpit as a ‘bully’ pulpit for personal, partisan politics.  That is not to say that I shied away from raising what some might refer to as ‘social gospel’ themes and issues.  However, I invariably hued carefully to the guidance provided by the Bishops of our Country, particularly in their documents touching social and political themes, such as Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. 

Now, freed from these more public roles as a minister of the Gospel, there is a greater freedom to engage in sharing more partisan perspectives in the rough and tumble world of social media.  It goes without saying, that such musings and sharing’s are wholly personal and in no way, reflect official positions of the Diocese of Orange, its Bishop or anyone else holding public office in the church.  Rather, they are the fruit of my own thoughtful reflection and convictions.  Being retired does not mean that one retires one’s mind from ongoing engagement in the important social and political issues of our time.  Being retired does not mean that one retires from being a faithful citizen of this blessed land, nor engaging in the political discourses that might hopefully lead to a ‘more perfect union’ in our country.  And finally, being retired does not mean shying away from vigorous engagement with others on the important topics that will shape the integrity and goodness of our country both now and for generations to come.

It is with all this in mind, that I was disappointed in receiving recently the following response to a post that touched upon political themes:  “…. I just friended him to see first hand a "man of God," post cheap propaganda and fake news using his fame with his FB following to spread divisiveness between Republican and Democrats. Some Republicans did this to Obama when he got elected. #soreloosers unfriend and pray for them. God warned us about "shepards (sic) leading the lambs astray." Pray for him and others.”  My response was simple: “Wow,…….. that's quite an indictment. I too have the same freedom as others in our beautiful country to hold to my political convictions as I respect you to hold yours. FB is a forum for a variety of perspectives to be shared w hopeful civility. When you reached out to 'friend' me, I had no idea that there was an ulterior motive. That saddens me. God bless you and your lovely family.” 

Believe me, folks, in the many years of priesthood such indictments are pretty much par for the course.  One cannot preach the gospel with a modicum of integrity without “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable”  at some point or other!

In the end, I’ve always viewed Facebook like a buffet in Las Vegas.  Laid out in extraordinary abundance is every possible delicious goody one could ever imagine.  Invariably, though, there will be something we don’t like – broccoli or pig’s feet or whatever – and we just skip it.  Odd would be the person who marches up to the head waiter and demands that it be removed because we find it offensive.  This is America, we simply have the freedom of responsible choice!

  “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity” - Rupertus Meldenius

Reflections on the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Some of you may be aware that I’m a history buff.  Most of my personal reading is non-fiction and I particularly enjoy reading American History.  Some years ago, I made my way through David McCullough’s 1776, that tells the fascinating story of that fateful year that fashioned for us a Nation.  Not long ago I picked up a series of audio lectures by the Historian Robert Dallek, on great presidents of the 20th century.  In the opening lecture he asks the question, “what made a great President in the last century or any century, for that matter?”  He lists a number of traits that were inevitably present in the lives of the great presidents.  They were men of vision, great communicators, practical, men of integrity and also men of luck – being at the right place at the right time.   Nowhere, however, in this list of characteristics and attributes of a great president are we to find the two words that Jesus in today’s Gospel asks us to emulate – two words that are used to describe Jesus himself – meek and humble. 

In fact, I think most of us would be shocked if we ever heard a politician or any great leader for that matter speak of himself or herself as meek and humble!  In a culture that exults the self made individual, that extols so often the type “A” personality, that admires the great movers and shakers in society – meekness and humility don't quite cut the mustard!  They certainly wouldn’t be on most folks’ lists of indispensable attributes leading toward greatness.

Yet, Jesus in his call for us to come to him, particularly those who are burdened and stressed out by the relentless rat race of contemporary life and to rest in him – we are invited to put on the two qualities that so framed and shaped his deepest identity as the Son of God – meekness and humility.  Sound pretty counter cultural, doesn’t it?

Part of our difficulty in fully appreciating just exactly what Jesus is inviting us to is a language problem.  The English connotation of those two words – meekness and humility – clearly conjure up an image in most of our minds of weakness and passivity.  From a Biblical perspective, however, that could not be further from the truth.  As our first reading from the Prophet Zechariah points out, the kings of Israel saw their ultimate greatness in their keen awareness that all their power and authority rested in God.  This was powerfully conveyed through the symbol of the King entering the city riding on a humble donkey.  The King exercised power because it was a gift and responsibility from the giver of all power and prestige – the Lord alone.

In Biblical language, meek people were usually people of enormous power and potential.  Moses was called a meek man, and certainly he was not a weakling, a push-over, or a human doormat to whatever bully might be lurking on the playground.  Just ask Pharaoh!  And in our gospel reading, Jesus called himself meek.  Certainly, Jesus was no weakling, no retiring quiet pawn on the chessboard of the powerful.  And yet he was meek.  Because, my friends, meekness is simply controlled strength.  Meekness is great power and potential harnessed and directed toward its finest goal.  Meekness is strength placed in the control of a higher power, even God Himself.

We need only think about the Enron scandal in our society, some years ago, to realize that many a person possessing the characteristics or talent of greatness failed to achieve their potential because they squandered their gifts on themselves, or failed to refine and sharpen those talents through hard work and clear goals.  My sisters and brothers, it is not enough to be strong and talented and powerful or beautiful or wealthy.  If those gifts are not placed under the reins of God’s control for the greater good, then the great talent lacks focus, and soon dissipates.  As the maxim says – “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”   But on the other hand, if a strong and gifted person is meek allowing God to manage and direct their giftedness, that person has the chance to achieve their potential, and become the true leader and servant to the world they were born to become.

And so, my friends, seen from this perspective, “Who is meek among us today?”  Let’s pray for the courage and personal integrity to step up and be counted.  Jesus has a job for each of us to do in life.  It is not an easy job, but it is a great job.  Take his yoke, pulling alongside Christ himself, strength matched with strength, meekness aligned with meekness, we can partner with the Lord to help turn an untamed world back into a garden paradise.  Now, who wants to be called “meek”?

Independence Day

Some years ago, National Public Reading was airing essays entitled “This I believe” in which the authors share their foundational beliefs that have shaped their lives and give meaning and purpose to their existence.  The journalist, Andrew Sullivan, gave a reflection on his belief in living in a blessed land whose foundational documents extol the values of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 

My friends as we join with our sisters and brothers throughout our land to mark and celebrate this Independence Day in, it is good that we begin our great National Holiday in prayerful gratitude to the Lord – the giver of all good gifts.  It is good that we remember and rejoice in the values that continue to shape our lives as citizens of this blessed land.

As the coin of our realm consistently reminds us, it is “In God we Trust” and it was the wisdom of that insight that influenced our founding ancestors to create something radically new that would reverence the gifts of individual freedom and responsibility in this land so blessed by the Lord.

The Apostle James presents us with practical wisdom as we live out that freedom and responsibility.    Our greatness as a people will never be found in “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” but rather in the wisdom that comes “from above that is pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconsistency or insincerity”  For the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.

These words might appear paradoxical as we find ourselves as a nation engaged in painful conflicts that world terrorism have thrust upon us.  Yet, experience has taught us that our work for peace has always been costly.  The defense of liberty is not a cheap  grace but rather one that inevitably is paid for by the valiant lives of those whose convictions have led them to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters.  On this 241st anniversary of our Nation’s Independence, we cannot help but remember and give thanks for the Tradition of that selfless commitment that continues in our service men and women to this day.

St. Luke in setting before us the life giving words of the Master admonishes us to always set our sights on becoming “rich in what matters to God”.  Our greatness as a people and a Nation will always be in proportion to our daily striving in growing “rich in what matters to God”.  Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can never be simply ends in themselves but rather gifts from the creator given to help fashion a community where the intrinsic dignity of all God’s children will be reverenced and celebrated.   As we pray in the Preface of today’s mass “This message lives on in our midst as a task for us today and a promise for tomorrow.”

And so, my friends, as we enter into the wonderful rituals of today, as we gather with family and friends and enjoy our hot dogs and hamburgers and this evening see our skies brightened by the brilliance of fireworks exploding in mid-air, may our hearts be filled with gratitude for the author of liberty and for the God in whom we trust, now and always.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the great privileges of being associated with Mission San Juan Capistrano is, from time to time, baptizing infants in the venerable Serra Chapel.  Shortly after St. Junípero Serra founded this Mission on November 1, 1776, plans were laid for the construction of its first permanent place of worship. Even before the Chapel was completed, Fr. Serra holds the distinction of celebrating the first baptisms here at the Mission as early as 1778. When I was installed as Pastor of the Mission and the 34th successor to Serra, as part of the installation ceremony, Bishop Tod Brown, solemnly entrusted to me the first volume of the Baptismal registry of this Mission in which is inscribed, in Serra’s own handwriting, the names of those whom he first baptized. 

At the conclusion of the Gospel of St. Matthew, we hear the stirring mandate, given by the Lord himself to his apostles, to go and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  For nearly 2000 years, we Christians have been faithful to that mandate and have been privileged to lovingly hand on the faith from one generation to the next, through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

While we Catholics believe that the central Sacrament of the Lord’s enduring presence with his people is found in the Holy Eucharist, our access to the Holy Table and the food of eternity can only come through the life-giving waters of Baptism.

In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, we have an exquisitely beautiful meditation on this first sacrament of the Christian journey.  St. Paul reminds his hearers that in Baptism, you and I were plunged into the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  Through this sacramental moment, a radical transformation took place in our deepest identity – we became sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and brothers and sisters to Christ, His Son, and hence, brothers and sisters to one another.  No longer is the common expression, ‘blood is thicker than water’ applicable to us as Christians.  For, through the waters of Baptism, you and I are irrevocably bound to one another as members now, of God’s Holy and Beloved family.

To die and to rise with Christ in the waters of Baptism was powerfully conveyed in the structuring of Baptismal fonts or pools in the early church.  Invariably, they were positioned at the threshold of the church building and were literally pools of water where individuals would step down into the waters and be plunged completely, and then rise out of the waters, born again through the grace of this moment.

Archeological Museum in Sousse, Tunisia 

While Catholic theology over time developed an understanding that Baptism frees one from the original disorientation of our lives from God’s will and purpose – freedom FROM original sin – the grace of this Sacrament is far more a freedom FOR something.  It is a freedom for each one of us to live the life that we now bear as being ‘Christ-ed’ or ‘Christened.’  As the Baptized of the Lord, we are called and empowered by the grace of the Holy Spirit to be the prophetic voice of Christ in our families, society, nation and culture in which we live.  We are called to be the leaven of transformation to a world that is yearning to be freed from the power of darkness and despair by the bright promise and hope of the Good News of Christ.

No wonder, then, that as recipients of so great a gift, we should Forever sing the goodness of the Lord.

Saint Junípero Serra - the Great Evangelizer of California

In the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, July 1st in the United States is set aside as the memorial of St. Junípero Serra, the great Evangelizer of California.  On the occasion of his canonization, two years ago, by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, during his first pastoral visit to the United States, I was called upon to offer reflections on this great pioneer in the faith.  The following is the slightly edited transcript of my presentation, given at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

On this historic eve of the canonization of the founder of our beloved Mission San Juan Capistrano, it is a joy for me to offer these reflections on the Legacy of Fr. Serra. For all those associated with Mission San Juan, the visit of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, possesses special significance in light of the long anticipated canonization of our founder, Blessed Junipero Serra and Padre Presidente of the California missions.

As many of you know, Mission San Juan is the seventh of the nine missions that Fr. Serra himself founded. While all the 21 missions were under his governance as the Padre Presidente of the Alta California mission system, only nine were privileged to be founded by Serra himself, beginning with Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded on July 16, 1769.  The ninth Mission, San Buenaventura was founded on March 31, 1782.  Our own beloved Mission was founded on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 1776.

These reflections on the legacy of Fr. Serra, cannot be disengaged from the totality of his life.  And so, for that reason, these reflections are placed in the context of a brief overview to the life and ministry of Fr. Serra.  I will then explore briefly his road toward canonization, focusing on the often asked question: How does one become a ‘saint’ in the Catholic Church? Finally, I will conclude with a few personal comments on the ‘controversy’ that has surrounded his canonization.  Is Serra worthy of the title, saint?

Fr. Serra was born on the island of Majorca, off the eastern coast of Spain, on November 24, 1713.  At the early age of 17, he heard the call of the Lord to follow in his service and eventually joined the Alcanterine Franciscans, a reform movement in the order founded by St. Francis.  Within a relatively short time it was clear to Serra’s superiors that he was gifted with intellectual brilliance.  He went on to receive a doctorate in Sacred theology and was appointed to the Duns Scotus chair of Philosophy of the Lullian University in Palma.  Together with his academic prowess, his reputation was growing as an extremely engaging preacher and was sought after to give stirring parish mission retreats. 

Cathedral in Palma, Majorca

I share all of this with you to paint the picture that we have a young man whose career path in the church knew few limits.  He was one of the movers and shakers in his order at an early age.  Remaining in Majorca, he could easily have become Provincial or regional superior of his order.  But that was not meant to be. From his earliest days in religious life, Serra’s first love was simply to share the Gospel of Christ with others.  Serra lived during the heady times of continuing exploration and settlement in the New World.  Spain and her monarchs – designated as Los Reyes Catolicos – the Catholic monarchs – were laying claim to lands, to both enrich the Spanish treasury as well as claim new souls for Christ and the Gospel. Serra would eventually give up what undoubtedly would have been a brilliant career in the Church within the comforts of his homeland, to embrace the life of a missionary. 

In 1749, Serra and a group of his Franciscan companions landed in the port city of Vera Cruz to begin their Gospel adventure in the new world.  Walking most of the way to Mexico City, he first was assigned teaching duties in the College of San Fernando in Mexico City – until, at last, he was missioned to preach the Gospel to the indigenous people of central Mexico in the Missions in Sierra Gorda, in the present State of Querétaro.

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol in the Sierra Gorda

God writes straight with crooked lines – with the suppression of the Jesuit order to the delight and complicity of the Spanish government – a vacuum was created in the missionary efforts in Baja California as well as the Southwestern portion of what would later become the United States.  Worried about incursions of the Russians from the North and the British from the East, Spain began its conquest of these lands and, as was their custom, would bring the ‘cross’ along with the ‘sword.’

Serra was now missioned first to the Missions in Baja California and then to what was known as Alta California where his legacy as the great evangelizer of California began.

He labored for the gospel some 14 years in his beloved Missions – confirming some 5309 neophytes, many of whom he had baptized himself.  Traveling mostly by foot, he was plagued with an ulcerated leg that nearly crippled him a number of times.  Yet, he would not be deterred in traversing the length of California ministering to and administrating the mission system that he established. On August 28, 1784, Serra died at his beloved Mission San Carlos Borromeo and was buried in the sanctuary floor.  Presidency of the Missions passed on to his colleague, Fr. Fermín Lasuén.

From Volume I of the archival Baptismal Registry of Mission San Juan Capistrano - 1778 - Serra's own Baptismal notation and signature - (c) Mission San Juan Capistrano

Before we examine Serra’s own road to sanctity, the question that continues to fascinate both Catholics and non-Catholics alike is simply:  How does one became a saint in the Catholic Church? What is a saint?  In Catholic theology, a saint quite simply is one who has tried to live a virtuous and good life here on earth and is now in heaven with the Lord.  In other words, there are countless unnamed and unknown saints in heaven and we honor them in a special way one day in the church calendar – November 1st – the Feast of All Saints – the day this mission was founded. However, there are some men and women in the history of the Catholic Church whose lives have been such outstanding examples of holiness and grace that they are set before the household of believers as exemplars, mentors and models of holiness and integrity.  These are the men and women who upon their death have spontaneously attracted the attention of others for their goodness and devotion has been given to them.  In time and after careful study of their lives by the Church they have formally been declared saints. The agency within the organizational structure of the Catholic Church that does this scrutiny or investigation is called the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  It is part of what is called the Curia of the Catholic Church.

Over the centuries there have been various reforms in the process whereby one is formally declared a saint – the most recent reform having taken place in 1983 under the pontificate Pope St. John Paul II. At this point, it is important to note that canonization does not mean that an individual lived a perfect or sinless life.  Rather, it means that one so heroically and demonstrably lived the life of faith, hope and love that their life became a powerful witness of the goodness of Christ himself to the world.  Sin and evil never had the final say in their lives but rather the grace and love of God ultimately triumphed in the unfolding of their lives.

There are various stages leading to eventual canonization:

i)      After submission of a detailed spiritual biography of the individual in question, called the summarium, and if the Congregation finds the individual worthy of further investigation, they are given the title “Venerable”

ii)    Normally one miracle is required through the intercession of the person in question to be advanced to the next stage which is called “Blessed.”

iii)  A second miracle is required for one to advance to the final stage, that is, for canonization and formal ‘sainthood.’

iv)   These candidates for ‘Blessed’ and ‘Sainthood’ are moved through the process by advocates called postulators or vice postulators who prepare the extensive biographies for examination.  They also assist in bringing forward potential miracles to be scrutinized carefully by medical personnel.

v)     A much more detailed explanation of this process can be found in Kenneth Woodward’s fascinating study: Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines who becomes a saint, who doesn’t and Why.

When Father Serra died at the ago of 70 in 1784, he was mourned by friars and many of the Mission Indians, who referred to him for generations after his death at ‘el santo’ – the saint. However, it was not until 1934 that his cause was formally introduced to the Congregation by the Bishop of Monterey-Fresno. In 1941, the Vatican appointed a Vice Postulator for Serra’s cause who began the meticulous historical preparation of documentation required by the Holy See. He was assisted by the famous Franciscan historian, Fr. Maynard Geiger, the archivist for Old Mission Santa Barbara who prepared the 7500-page documentation that was submitted to Rome. It was presented to the Congregation in the summer of 1950 and finally in 1985 (Rome moves slowly!), Serra was declared ‘Venerable.’  Between 1985 and 1987, the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri and the Theological and Medical Commissions of the Congregation of Saints in Rome investigated a reported miracle of Sr. Boniface attributed to Serra.  The result was that there was no medical explanation for the nun’s healing from lupus.  The Holy Father affirmed the miracle and on September 25, 1988 Serra was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II.

In the course of pursuing the second miracle, Pope Francis – the Pope of Surprises – in an impromptu press conference on his plane on returning from a pastoral visit to the Philippines – said that he was hoping to canonize Serra in the course of his pastoral visit to the US in September of that year.  This announcement caught everyone by surprise, including your's truly, who had just become the Rector emeritus of the Mission! What happened to the miracle?  Since the Pope is the supreme legislature in the Church and while he cannot change doctrine he certainly can change his own structures and traditional processes in the church. He dispensed from the second miracle through what is technically called ‘equipollent canonization’ stating that the decades of veneration given to this holy man warranted such a dispensation.

It comes as no surprise that the cause for Serra’s canonization had not been welcomed by all.  While I am not a trained historian but rather an avid student of history, I have tried to understand both sides of the arguments both in favor and against canonization.  While I would like to say that I am being absolutely objective, I am well aware that all of our perceptions can be colored by our own individual histories.  I am not a Native American and so the deeply felt perspectives and narratives that strongly objected to Serra’s canonization have not been my experience.  In the end, however, that critique must stand or fall based on the facts of his life and legacy.  And, in all candor, they are disputed by historians with those who supported and favored his canonization and those who did not.  With that in mind, I offer these personal reflections and perspectives:

The Church is canonizing the man, not the colonization enterprise that he was a part of.  It is indisputable that the Spanish conquest of the New World failed to respect the inherent dignity of the indigenous people of this land and was the catalyst for cultural genocide.  For this reason, the Holy Father asked forgiveness during a pastoral visit to Bolivia. where there may have been complicity on the part of the Church.

To judge the missionary techniques and methods of Serra, a man of the 18th century by 21st century standards is unfair.  There was indeed corporal punishment used with the neophytes who were kept in the safe confines of the missions. This was rooted in a paternalistic attitude exemplified by the Mission fathers who literally referred to these neophytes as ‘my child’ or ‘our children.’ This sequestration was done to protect the Indians from the Spanish soldiers who invariably abused and took advantage of the Indians.  Relative to the use of corporal punishment, I confess that I was at the receiving end of some (on very rare occasions) in the grammar school I attended!

Historically, Serra was an advocate for leniency on behalf of the Indians in a famous incident that involved an Indian uprising around San Diego Mission when both soldiers and padres were killed in the uprising.  Serra pleaded with officials that those responsible not be given capital punishment, otherwise, how would they ever come to understand the God of unfailing mercy and forgiveness.

Sadly, disease was introduced by those involved with the conquest of these lands.  Yet, my read of the historical evidence points to the preponderance of deaths occurring after the Serra period.  The systematic victimization of the Indian nations reached its zenith, not during the time of Serra but decades after, becoming particularly brutal during the early years of California statehood. In the recent historical research and new translation of hundreds of Serra’s letters done by the historians, Rose Marie Beebe and Robert Senkewicz, in their recent book, Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary, it is clear that Serra’s sole motivation in life, the passion to which he left family and fame and the comforts of home, was simply to be a disciple of Christ and to share His good news with the people he was called to both serve and love.  He did this, not perfectly, but certainly heroically until his last breath. 

Padre Junípero Serra, the great evangelizer of California, was canonized on September 23, 2015, on the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., by Pope Francis.  The mission and ministry of this heroic and courageous man of the Gospel was finally recognized with the title of ‘saint.’  He truly was the apostle to California where the seeds of the Christian faith were planted here by him and his missionary colleagues.  Over the intervening years, those seeds have prospered.  From its relatively humble beginnings in 21 mission outposts, the Catholic Church in California has grown to 2 Archdioceses including the largest in the United States, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and 10 Diocese.  Catholics make up over 32% of the population in the State.  The motto of Serra remains an insightful legacy for all people of Good Will as together we strive to be good stewards of the common good in our State.  Siempre Adelante – Nunca Atras – Always forward – never backwards.

The statue of St. Junípero Serra in the Great Retablo of Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano

Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul

As war raged over Europe in the 1940's and the Nazis held virtually every Country in Europe in its tight grip of fear and terror, the city of Rome and its inhabitants were not spared this enslavement. The dictator, Mussolini, had entered into a war pact with Adolf Hitler and in time the Nazi storm troopers were marching down the via Appia into the Eternal City.

Pope Pius XII was keenly aware of the precarious situation that he and the Church faced in this dangerous situation. While Vatican City, of course, claimed neutrality and was narrowly freed from the terror of occupation forces within its hallowed precincts, nevertheless, the situation was precarious. The Holy Father through various diplomatic means attempted to provide safe shelter for members of the underground who were maintaining ties with the allies in their attempt to ultimately bring about the liberation of the city of Rome and all of Europe.

In the midst of incredible danger that was taking place “above ground”, there was another story - equally historic yet far more peaceful - taking place “below ground” - in fact directly under St. Peter’s Basilica. While the war raged on, Pius XII had ordered extensive excavations under the most well-known Church in all the world. Tradition has it that St. Peter’s Basilica, which in fact is the third Church to be built on this site, stands directly above the tomb of the prince of the Apostles and first bishop of Rome, St. Peter. The venerable story that has been passed down from one generation of Christians to the next is that St. Peter, having traveled to the center of the Roman Empire and having preached the Gospel of Christ, eventually died a martyrs’ death on Vatican Hill - crucified up side down - unworthy, as he said, to be crucified like his savior.

After the execution, his body was reverently taken down and buried in a small pagan cemetery not far from the place of his execution. Within a short time, his burial spot became a place of pilgrimage for early Christians who revered the man whose three fold denial of the Lord was transformed by his threefold profession of love which eventually would be a love unto death.

In order that undue suspicion would not be drawn to this place of veneration, a pagan altar was built above the tomb - to mislead the pagan authorities as to the real reason for the gathering of pilgrims to this holy spot. Yet, on a marble slab supporting the pagan altar, a devout pilgrim had inscribed a graffito in Greek helping pilgrims identify this spot as the tomb of St. Peter - It simply said, “Peter is here”!

And so, each day while Roman Jews were hiding for fear of their lives, and resistance fighters were gathering in secret, archeologists were quietly unearthing one of the most amazing and significant archeological finds of the 20th century right below the great Basilica. They eventually unearthed a city of the dead - a necropolis dating back to the time of the early Christians and St. Peter himself. They unearthed the tombstones and ancient burial chambers and then to their utter amazement, came upon a small pagan altar, intact, with a slab of stone nearby covered with ancient graffiti. As scholars examined the stone, they found the words, “Peter is here”! Excavating around the site they discovered bones which later through forensic investigation would be determined to be those of man in late middle age, short in stature, dating to the time of St. Peter himself. This news was immediately brought to the Holy Father who visited the site himself and in prayer, knelt to venerate as Christians of old, this most venerable site directly below the high altar of St. Peter’s.

The remains of St. Peter in the Confessio beneath the High Altar in St. Peter's Basilica

Following the war, news of this amazing archeological find was gradually made known to the public at large. The ancient necropolis has been almost completely excavated. Blessed Paul VI ordered that the bones not be removed, but rather remain intact, in what undoubtedly was the original tomb, so that pilgrims might come and give honor to the one whose feast together with that of St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, we remember and celebrate today.

Tomb of St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, in the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls

To this day, the Feast that gathers us in celebration this day remains a holiday in the city of Rome. St. Paul, who also journeyed to Rome, was slain by the sword and buried outside the walls of the city of Rome.

While the history of this feast and the archaeology that surrounds it may fascinate us, we remember today not just interesting facts of history, but a profound theological truth. When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised his followers that he would not leave us orphaned. He promised that He would remain with us always. Through the missionary zeal of those who have followed in the footsteps of St. Paul, and in the office of the one we call the successor to St. Peter, the universal Pastor of the Church, the Bishop of Rome - Peter and Paul remain with us still.

Statue of St. Peter - 5th cent. - St. Peter's Basilica

As a Church which is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, our roots are sunk deeply into a 2000 year heritage of belief. Yet, that belief while ever ancient, remains ever new. The heroes of our faith are not the dry and lifeless bones of the past, but the living and breathing flesh and blood of those men and women who join their response to that of Peter when asked by the Lord, “Do you love me?” - May we respond with them, now and always, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” To which, Jesus responds, “Then feed and tend my sheep”. May we do so with courage and gratitude for all those who have gone before us in faith.

New Decree from the Bishop of Springfield, IL: Pastors must deny funerals to Catholics in Same-Gender Marriages

There is a certain amount of pastoral wisdom that is gained by my 43 years as a priest – a few of which as a monsignor, no less!  I’ve learned that invariably, Catholics are either gained or lost at Baptisms, Weddings or Funerals!  A beautiful, gracious and welcoming celebration of one or the other of these significant sacramental moments have garnered such comments as, “Father, I was so moved by the beauty and prayerfulness of this celebration, I might just consider coming back to mass!”  Or, “Father, I’m not Catholic, but I felt so included in this special moment for my friends.  How can I find out more about the Catholic Church?”  Sadly, through the years, I have also heard such painful stories and comments such as, “It was clear that Father didn’t want to be at the Baptism.  He rushed through it as if he wanted to be anyplace else but in that Church!” Or, “Father didn’t even get the names right.  He was a robot, totally disengaged from any human feeling.”  The most painful comment, however, that a priest can ever hear is one that goes like this, “My father was dying.  He hadn’t been to Church in years but we knew that deep in his heart, he loved the Lord and was connected to the Church in his own way.  I called for a priest and his first question was, ‘Are you registered in the parish?’  When we said, we weren’t, he said that he wouldn’t come. That was the last time we had any contact with the Catholic Church.”

It is within this context that I painfully read the news of the recent Decree from the Bishop of Springfield, Il.  When one reads such an astonishingly heartless and cruel judicial directive, any priest with an ounce of human compassion, let alone, pastoral sensitivity, is left breathless and rightfully, angry.  Now, I want to be clear.  The received teaching of the Church regarding what constitutes marriage is unambiguous.  One need only refer to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in reference to what it is that we believe about marriage. I certainly am not questioning this reality of our church teaching.  What I am questioning is the pastoral propriety to exclude Catholics from the sacramental presence of the church at some of the most vulnerable and difficult moments in life’s journey - at death.

Pope Francis has set an inspiring model for all priests and bishops, when he spoke of the analogy of the Church as a ‘field hospital.’  For, we are about reaching out and building bridges of mercy and compassion for all God’s people, but with particular love and care for those on the margins of Catholic belief and practice - those who are wounded and broken.  That’s what a good shepherd does.  He reaches out to embrace the lost sheep – not with words of condemnation or exclusion, words of self-righteous judgement – but rather with words of affirming encouragement that is befitting the inherent dignity of any child of God.

The moral credibility of the Catholic Church was understandingly devastated by the recent sexual abuse crisis.  Its lingering effects continue to hang as a dark cloud over the leadership of the church.  Pope Francis has done a great deal to begin rebuilding an image of the Church by humbly acknowledging our own brokenness, while endeavoring to show a Church willing to ‘accompany’ all those who are reaching out for the mercy of God – even those who are on the margins of Catholic belief and practice.  We are all in need of the Lord’s mercy, and “Who are we to judge” the inner heart of our sister or brother?

When a bishop issues a statement such as the one recently promulgated in Springfield, he does an immense disservice to his brother bishops, many of whom, like Cardinal Tobin of Newark, are attempting to right centuries of harm to and exclusion of the LGBT community, not, of course, by changing church teaching but, more importantly, by changing and transforming a ‘tone’ – from exclusion to inclusion, from ‘you need not apply’ to ‘all are welcome at this Table, from you are ‘defective’ to you are a beloved daughter and son of God.

All the law degrees in the world, both canon and civil, are no substitute for a shepherd’s discerning heart that is always more concerned about binding up wounds for healing rather than banishment from the fold.

In this day and age when the term ‘cafeteria’ Catholic is vogue, referring to the penchant of picking and choosing what beliefs we want to follow, perhaps Fr. James Martin, SJ, said it best in his Facebook comments regarding this recent decree:

If bishops ban members of same-sex marriages from receiving a Catholic funeral, they also have to be consistent. They must also ban divorced and remarried Catholics who have not received annulments; women who have, or men who father, a child out of wedlock; members of straight couples who are living together before marriage; and anyone using birth control. For those are all against church teaching as well. Moreover, they must ban anyone who does not care for the poor, or care for the environment, and anyone who supports torture, for those are church teachings too. More basically, they must ban people who are not loving, not forgiving and not merciful, for these represent the teachings of Jesus Christ, the most fundamental of all church teachings. To focus only on LGBT people, without a similar focus on the moral and sexual behavior of straight people is, in the words of the Catechism, a "sign of unjust discrimination" (2358).

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Reflection

Years ago, Stanley Coopersmith of the University of California became curious about why some people succeed, while others with equal talents and opportunities fail.  To answer his question, he studied 1,700 students for six years, following them through the key growth years.  Coopersmith's findings are remarkable.  They show that the most important factor contributing to success or failure is a person's self image.  A person with a positive self-image is apt to succeed.  A person with a negative self-image is apt to fail.

In other words, if we perceive ourselves to be valuable or lovable, we will probably succeed in what we do.  But if we do not perceive ourselves to be valuable or lovable, we will probably fail. 

But the effect of our self-image extends even beyond this.  Psychologists now tell us that our self-image holds the key to success not only as professional people but also as Christians.  How is this so?  Our success as Christians is measured by our ability to love God and our neighbor.  Studies show that people with a positive self-image are far more capable of loving God and neighbor than are people with a negative self image.   The reason for this should be obvious.  For love is nothing less than to see ourselves as a gift given to another person.  If we don't think we are valuable or lovable we won't be able to give ourselves as a gift to another person.  No one gives junk to another person, especially to someone he or she respects or admires.

A critical question, however, remains.  How do we develop our self-image?  Where do we pick up the idea that we are valuable or lovable?  The answer should be obvious.  We pick up this idea from other people, especially those closest to us, like our family and friends.  No wonder then that the role of parent, to be father or mother is so important in our world today.  Parents hold the unique privilege of being the first to shape the identity of their children; to help them come to know and accept their goodness and lovableness through the tender care, the challenging guidance and the forgiving love which they show to their sons and daughters. 

As Christians, we believe that God is the ultimate loving parent in our lives.  With the love of a father and mother, our identities are shaped by God's abiding and caring love.  Today's gospel speaks an important message to us.  It says that we are valuable and lovable.  For, God himself has told us so.  It is up to us to speak this same message of love to one another, especially the young.  Their future well-being, not only in this world but also in the world to come, depends on it.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

Probably one of the most celebrated depictions of the Last Supper is that painted by the great Florentine artist, Leonardo da Vinci.  As a small child, I remember vividly receiving a Holy Card in the second grade from Sr. Dorothy Ann, which had this famous picture of the Lord seated at table with his apostles on the night before he died. 

Art Historians tell us that from 1495 to 1497 Leonardo labored on this masterpiece that was painted as a mural to grace the wall of the refectory, or dining room, of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.  Unfortunately, his experimental use of oil on dry plaster - on what was the thin outer wall of a space designed for serving food, was technically unsound, and by 1500 its deterioration had begun.  Since 1726 attempts have been made, unsuccessfully, to restore this magnificent treasure of Renaissance art.  A concerted restoration and conservation program, making use of the latest technology, was begun in 1977 and is reversing some of the damage.  Although much of the original surface is gone, the majesty of the composition and the penetrating characterization of the figures give a fleeting vision of its vanished splendor.  That restoration is now completed and those who have seen the newly restored Last Supper are astounded by it’s luminous quality with details appearing that have not been seen for centuries – details that have led to some incredible flights on fantasy on the part of the author Dan Brown in his book of some years ago, the DaVinci Code!

Leonardo was undoubtedly inspired to paint the Last Supper because of his own keen awareness of how important this central event was and is in the life of every Catholic Christian.  The greatest legacy given to us by the Lord is the gift of the Holy Eucharist.  Paul writing to the early Christian community at Corinth speaks of the radical unity that is ours as brothers and sisters in Christ who share this one bread and one cup.  Many though we are, when we eat this bread and drink this cup an intimate union - a divine communion - is forged between the Lord and each one of us who share this sacred meal.    It is this Tradition that has both anchored and shaped our identity as Catholic Christians.  It is the Eucharist that makes the Church.

It is the perennial teaching of the Church that in the Holy Eucharist, the Lord Jesus is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity under the sacramental forms of bread and wine. In the power of the Holy Spirit and through the great prayer of remembrance in which the Lord's own words on the night before he died are spoken, the great transformation takes place.  The deepest reality of what may continue to look like bread and wine, has been transformed into the deepest reality of the Risen Lord himself, as food and personal communion for our journey in faith.

Recent surveys, of American Catholics however point to an alarming trend regarding Catholic belief in the Eucharist.   A growing number of Catholics of all ages, no longer hold to teaching of the Church in regard to the Holy Eucharist.  Many see the Lord's presence in the Eucharistic elements only in a "symbolic" or personal and spiritual way.  It is as if- like the great painting of da Vinci, in the consciousness of many Catholics today, the integrity of Catholic belief in the Holy Eucharist is fading with its distinct features becoming blurred and compromised.  Perhaps in a subtle way this diminished belief is reflected in the growing and unsettling trend particularly among our youth of failing to reverence this Holy Presence in Church through the venerable custom of genuflecting or bowing in humility on entering this Holy Place. 

Each year, the Church sets aside one Sunday to once again call to mind the foundational and central place the Holy Eucharist has in our lives as Catholics.  On this Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord, we are reminded of the Lord's continuing desire to feed our deepest hungers - for unconditional love, forgiveness and inner healing - with the food of his life poured out in love for you and for me. 

Deep and abiding understanding and love for the Holy Eucharist must begin and be fostered in our Catholic families.  It is here in the most practical way that what was "handed down" to us by our ancestors in the faith, is now "handed on" to a new generation of Catholics.  If the commitment and reverence to this Sacrament of the Lord's loving and abiding presence is not central to lives of those of you who are privileged to exercise the vocation of parent, it will never become the heart and center of faith for your sons and daughters.

I am the living bread from heaven, says the Lord; if anyone eats this bread will live forever.  Each Eucharist provides an invitation to once again profess our belief in this wondrous gift.  May the "Amen" we speak as we receive the Eucharist in communion this day, truly reflect the conviction of our heart, "So be it, I believe".

O Sacrum Convivium - Thomas Tallis

O sacred banquet, 
in which Christ is received, 
the memory of His Passion is renewed, 
the mind is filled with grace, 
and a pledge of future glory is given us. 
Alleluia.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, who is also a practicing Roman Catholic, some years ago wrote a fascinating book entitled Bad Religion.  The heart of the book revolves around a critique of contemporary versions of Christianity that in many respects fall short of the orthodox heart and center of the Christian Gospel.  Too often, Douthat maintains, contemporary variations of the Christian message are manipulated to simplistically justify personal or political agendas that have very little to do with the classic Christian message.  This manipulation of the Gospel can be seen in the simplistic psychologizing of the Gospel into nothing more than the “power of positive thinking,” or the affirmation of materialism and consumerism that is so characteristic of what we see in our society today.  If you are rich, God has blessed you, if you aren’t, then he hasn’t! 

Orthodox or authentic Christianity cannot be reduced to such simplistic concepts.  Orthodox or authentic Christianity as reflected in the Gospels and the writings of the great theologians of the Church lives comfortably in two worlds, the world of mystery and the world of ambiguity.  And, it is precisely these two realities of mystery and ambiguity that are anathema to a scientific and post-modern world where we demand answers to every question, and thrive on the simplicity of the black and white.

My sisters and brothers, as we gather this Sunday, there is probably no teaching in Christianity that is more mysterious and ambiguous than the one that gathers us in faith this day, the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.  Orthodox Christians believe that the God who lives in unapproachable light and is uniquely One, is also a Trinity of persons whom we name as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons in one God.  Such a belief down through the centuries has had to defend itself against those who simplistically have concluded that such a belief is an affront to radical monotheism – the belief in a single God.  In the early Church such a belief was just too much for some and led to the development of some of the first great heresies of the Christian Church. 

However, thanks to the philosophy of Aristotle and his use of the categories of “person” and “nature,” Christian theology professes the radical oneness of God’s nature that is humanly experienced through the person of God who is Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.

Israel came to know the presence of God through their experience of a God who created all things out of love and then guided them to liberation in the great Exodus experience.  His commandments to them were signs of his abiding love and presence.

God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son to continue His loving liberation.  Christ, the anointed one, willingly embraced our human nature and the human experience of death itself so that our nature and death would ultimately be transformed by the power of redeeming love.

That transforming love continues to this day, penetrating every moment of our lives through the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, enabling us to experience in this present moment of our lives the God who carries us in the midst of our human challenges and brokenness by His unconditional love.

While theologians down through the centuries have attempted to “explain” the “mystery” of the Trinity, at their very best they help us to gain “insights” into the meaning of a reality whose depth can never truly be captured in words alone.  Like love, it must be experienced.

And so, my friends, in every moment of our lives when we experience the gift of life, the Trinity is there.  When our hearts are transformed by the love of another, the Trinity is there.  When we experience the precious gift of freedom, the Trinity is there. 

As we mark and celebrate this mystery of our faith, let us be grateful for a God who abides us with us still as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  May He be blessed now and forever.  Amen.

The beginning chorus of Bach's Cantata 129 for Trinity Sunday.  

Praised be the Lord,
my God, my light, my life,
my Creator, who has
given me my body and soul;
my Father, who has protected me
from my mother's womb,
who at every moment
does much good for me.

Character

One of the most insightful books that I read last year was by the New York Times columnist, David Brooks.  The Book is entitled, The Road to Character (Random House Publishing Group, 2015).  In the opening lines of its Introduction, Brooks writes:

Recently I’ve been thinking about the difference between the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the ones you list on your résumé, the skills that you bring to the job market and that contribute to external success. The eulogy virtues are deeper. They’re the virtues that get talked about at your funeral, the ones that exist at the core of your being— whether you are kind, brave, honest or faithful; what kind of relationships you formed. Most of us would say that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé virtues, but I confess that for long stretches of my life I’ve spent more time thinking about the latter than the former. Our education system is certainly oriented around the résumé virtues more than the eulogy ones. Public conversation is, too— the self-help tips in magazines, the nonfiction bestsellers. Most of us have clearer strategies for how to achieve career success than we do for how to develop a profound character. 

Brooks goes on to speak of the critically important virtue of character as it has been mirrored through famous men and women down through history.  Each chapter focuses on one of these personages and movingly narrates how ‘character’ and ‘integrity’ were the motivating ‘eulogy’ virtue in their lives.  I’d like to share with you a few ‘gems’ from his book as we all strive to live lives of virtue, integrity and character in the Lord.

The self-effacing person is soothing and gracious, while the self-promoting person is fragile and jarring.

Humility is infused with lovely emotions like admiration, companionship, and gratitude. “Thankfulness,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, said, “is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.”

If you don’t have some inner integrity, eventually your Watergate, your scandal, your betrayal, will happen.

“A sense of humility is a quality I have observed in every leader whom I have deeply admired,” (Dwight David Eisenhower)

Suffering simultaneously reminds us of our finitude and pushes us to see life in the widest possible connections, which is where holiness dwells.

Over the past few decades there has been a sharp rise in the usage of individualist words and phrases like “self” and “personalized,” “I come first” and “I can do it myself,” and a sharp decline in community words like “community,” “share,” “united,” and “common good.”  The use of words having to do with economics and business has increased, while the language of morality and character building is in decline.  Usage of words like “character,” “conscience,” and “virtue” all declined over the course of the twentieth century. Usage of the word “bravery” has declined by 66 percent over the course of the twentieth century. “Gratitude” is down 49 percent. “Humbleness” is down 52 percent and “kindness” is down 56 percent. 

Pentecost

In the great Feast of Pentecost, the Church brings to a close our 50 days of Easter rejoicing. We traditionally speak of this Feast as the “Birthday of the Church.”  For on this day, as reflected in our familiar first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples of the Lord underwent a profound transformation.  No longer imprisoned in the upper room by fear and doubt, they were empowered now by the gift of the promised Spirit of the Lord and went forth boldly to proclaim the Good News of the Risen Christ.  They became Evangelizers!  That word, Evangelizer – literally means one who brings “good news” to others.

Our familiar first reading from Acts that is always proclaimed on Pentecost is always a tongue twisting challenge for lectors.  For it narrates the various peoples who gathered from the different parts of the known world for the Jewish festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem.  However, this Pentecost would be one that would forever change their lives.  For on this day, the Church would be born as men and women would open their hearts and embrace in faith the saving news that the Risen Jesus is indeed Lord of Creation and Savior of the world.

The scripture story tells us that these diverse folk who represented different cultures and languages, all could understand the saving message proclaimed by those first apostles.  While we might conclude that some miraculous linguistic feat took place, empowering the apostles to skip arduous language courses to immediately be able to speak these different languages, perhaps something far more profound was taking place.

These first evangelizers were undoubtedly speaking the common language of God’s unfailing mercy, forgiveness and love to the people who gathered in anticipation that first Pentecost.  And it is that same, language, my friends, that is desperately needed to be on our lips today as women and men called to be the new Evangelizers to a world and culture that is in need of the transforming grace of the Risen Savior.

There are in life, languages that know no geographical boundaries.  The universal language of unfailing mercy, forgiveness and love, continues to speak powerfully to a world and to lives that more and more are scared by the darkness of hatred, resentment and prejudice.

It is a paradox that this language of mercy, forgiveness and love – virtues that are the antithesis of so much of the violence that we see in our world today – would empower a non-Christian, Gandhi the father of modern-day India, to bring about the peaceful liberation of his people into a new Nation.  Gandhi once said that “there would be far more Christians, if you Christians were far more like Christ!”

As we celebrate this great feast of the beginning of the Church, let us pray that our own hearts might be drawn into the Spirit’s gifts of mercy, forgiveness and love.  May those virtues be the universal language that we strive to speak each day and in doing so, may others come to know the marvelous works of God, as we strive to become more like Christ each day. 

10th Anniversary of Mission Basilica Grand Retablo

One of the most striking artistic enhancements to Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano in recent years was the installation of a monumental Retablo or Reredos, positioned in the Apse of the Basilica Church. The historic Mission, founded on November 1, 1776, as the seventh Mission in the 21 centers of evangelization in Alta California by St. Junipero Serra himself, is not only a sought after historic destination by pilgrims and tourists from throughout the world, but it is also a thriving multi-ethnic and multi-cultural parish community of over 3000 households.  Together with a vibrant Parochial School that was founded in 1921, the Basilica parish continues to serve the spiritual needs of many who visit this hallowed place that enshrines so much of early California history.

For centuries, the venerable Serra Chapel was the primary place of worship for the Mission parish community.  With the incremental growth of Orange County in the 1960’s and 70’s, this small historic chapel could no longer adequately provide worship space for the growing number of parishioners.  Under the legendary pastorate of Msgr. Paul Martin, the 33rd successor of St. Junipero Serra, plans were begun in the early 1980’s for a large new Church that would be able to meet the needs of the growing congregation, be reflective of the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and be in continuity with the artistic historicity of this ‘Jewel of the California Missions.’

The Serra Chapel - Mission San Juan Capistrano

Modeled after the Great Stone Church that was completed in 1805 and tragically devastated in one of early California’s legendary earthquakes on December 8, 1812, the new Mission Church would accommodate over 700 parishioners and would capture the dramatic vaulted and domed character of its historic predecessor.  Completed in 1985 and solemnly dedicated shortly after its completion, the new Mission Church was raised to the dignity of a Minor Basilica by St. John Paul II on February 14 in the Great Jubilee Year 2000.  It was later designated a National Shrine by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Prior to my arrival as Pastor and Rector in July of 2003, plans were well underway for the ‘completion’ of the interior of the Basilica Church and specifically, the Apsal wall in the sanctuary.  Due to significant cost over-runs in the original plans for the Basilica, the interior was left ‘rather modest.’  Plans for a monumental Retablo in the Sanctuary were never able to be realized.  Yet, that dream and vision remained very much alive, especially in the hearts and minds of a wonderful couple in the Basilica parish community, Mr. Art and Gaye Birtcher.  Unfailing in their generosity to the Mission parish for decades, it was their unremitting passion to see the interior of the Basilica Church completed with its center piece, a Grand Retablo crafted in the style of the great Retablos of the Mission Colonial period.

Art and Gaye Birtcher

Initial contact had been made with the world renown liturgical artisans at Talleres de Arte Granda in Spain, to do the initial realizations of the Retablo.  The designs were subsequently refined to reflect the stylistic approach that was taken by the Catalonian Churriguera family in the latter part of the 17th and early 18th century Spain.  It would reflect the exuberance of the Spanish Baroque period at the service of the sacred liturgy.

Providentially, as conceptual plans were being completed, the parish was the beneficiary of a wonderful bequest that had been earmarked for the Retablo project.  Together with a significant gift from the Birtcher family, funds were in hand to begin this long-awaited project.

Construction in Spain took some 15 months.  Over 50 craftspeople were involved in realizing this magnificent project.  When the Retablo was completed in Spain, it was disassembled and carefully placed into well insulated shipping crates for its journey from the port in Barcelona, through the strait of Gibraltar, across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the Western Coast of Mexico, finally arriving at the Port of Los Angeles for its final destination to San Juan Capistrano.

The shipping containers arrived on the Monday before Ash Wednesday in 2007.  Granda had flown a number of their skilled craftsmen to reassemble the Retablo in its final home in the Basilica.  When the crates were opened and the various pieces of the Retablo were laid out on the transept floor, miraculously, there were only two minor damages – the tip of the right finger of St. Joseph was broken off and one thorn on the crown of thorns of Jesus crucified was broken.  Both of these damages were easily repaired.  All other pieces of the Retablo arrived in perfect condition.

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It took the craftsmen two weeks to assemble of various sections of the Retablo onto the steel grid that had been erected prior to its arrival.  The steel grid provided the necessary earthquake stability specified by the structural engineers.  When the entire Retablo was finally put together, the twin scaffolding was removed to finally reveal the full glory of this magnificent artistic enhancement to the Basilica. Together with the Retablo, a new altar, ambo and Sacrament Chapel as well as new Stations of the Cross that would be in stylistic continuity with the Retablo, were installed in the Basilica.

The first mass celebrated with the completed Retablo was most appropriately that of the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19, 2007.  A fanciful element of the Retablo is the incorporation of a number of swallows nestled among its Corinthian columns.

Prior to the Blessing of the Retablo and Dedication of the new Altar, a Solemn Evening Prayer Service was held in the Basilica in June, 2007. We were graced with the presence of His Eminence, William Cardinal Levada, who at the time was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  Bishop Tod Brown, the third Bishop of Orange, presided at the Mass of Dedication.

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Photos of Vesper Service and Dedication courtesy of Gary Tinnes

Memorial Day - 2017

My father was proudly a member of the greatest generation.  Born into the Great Depression, he and his family knew the hardships of this perilous time in our Nation’s history.  He was always grateful to FDR for helping to save a nation from this economic black hole. He, like so many teenagers of his time, was rescued from the hopelessness and apathy that economic hard times can engender, by involvement in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Providing work and hearty meals, he worked on various projects here in Orange County, including bridges in San Clemente.  Raised near downtown Los Angeles, he fell in love with the pristine beauty of Laguna Beach in the 1930’s, as well as the charm of San Juan Capistrano. 

All of this was shattered on December 7th, 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States into the Second World War.  Within no time, Dad was proudly drafted and eventually served as a Staff Sargent in the Army deployed to the South Pacific.  Since he was in his latter 20’s when he was drafted, his army comrades, many of whom were 18 and 19 years of age, often referred to him as ‘pops.’  While dad rarely spoke of the inevitable horrors of war, preferring to gloss over ‘those parts of his remembrances,’ he often spoke of the brotherhood among his buddies that sustained him during what seemed like endless months away from his newly married wife and newborn daughter, my sister, Melinda.  I fondly remember his recounting how beautiful the beaches were on the South Pacific islands of the Marianas, islands of the Kwajalein Atoll, Saipan and Guam.  Very little if any words were spoken of the bloody battles endured and the deaths of so many of these young men fighting to secure peace for our world that had been torn apart by despots.  Thankfully, Dad was one of the lucky ones, honorably discharged shortly before VJ Day, and returning safe and sound to the loving and grateful arms of his wife, daughter and family. I came along in 1948!  

Every Memorial Day, I cannot help but think of Dad and his faithful service to our country.  For the men and women who have served our beloved country in whatever branch of the military, in whatever War or conflict in which our country has been engaged down through the decades, we honor their memory and service this day with gratitude.  For our service men and women, political partisanship gives way to a common passionate commitment to preserving and defending the ideals and values that have made our Nation both good and great.  We honor and reverence their memory this day!

Ascension Day

So often in life, when God closes a door he opens other ones for us.  I’m reminded of this expression particularly at this time of year when graduates in middle schools, High Schools, Colleges and Universities throughout our land find themselves leaving the security of familiar academic surroundings and moving on to new challenges and opportunities.  When God closes a door, he opens other ones for us.

Something of that reality is at work in the Feast that we remember in faith this day.  Today's feast celebrates far more than Jesus' return to heaven after this time on earth was completed.  Our Scriptures tell us that it's also the day that the disciples become apostles.  The word "disciple" means "one who learns".  The word "apostle" means "one who is sent".  The disciples have learned well the freeing Good News of the Lord and now they are sent forth to share it with others.  They are to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing and teaching.  They have learned from the Master, and now they need to teach those lessons to everyone they meet.

Jesus assures his followers that he will be with them till the end of the world.  They will baptize in the name of the Trinity - Father, Son and Spirit.  They will teach the message of the Good News of God's reign, the commandments of Jesus himself.  And they will heal in his name.  Truly, his presence, his Spirit, never leaves them.  Indeed, that saving presence in the power of the Spirit is here with us this day.

This past May 25th I celebrated my 43rd anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.  During those 43 years, I have been privileged to witness the growth of our Diocese since its inception in 1976.  Four bishops have served us as shepherds during these formative years.  Each brought their unique talents to shape us into the local church that we are today.  Each of them have heard the call of the spirit to be latter day apostles for our Church here in Orange.  

While Bishops exercise this ministry in a unique way, we need to be reminded that this mission is ours as well. Too often we're like the apostles in our first reading.  When we focus too closely on our own salvation, our own experience, people could say to us, "Why are you standing there looking up into the sky?"  We, like the apostles, have been sent.  We are to share our experience with those around us.  This sharing will take many forms.  It might be formal preaching; it might be telling a friend about the importance of our faith; it might be simply living our lives according to Jesus' command to love one another without counting the cost.

In December 2015, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, that great watershed moment in the history of our faith in the 20th century.  One of the great aims of the Council was to nurture a greater sense of unity, not only within our own household of the faith but among all Christians throughout the world.  It was the passionate commitment of Pope St. John XXIII that the sad divisions among Christians would be healed and that the great prayer of Jesus that he prayed the night before he died, that 'all may be one' might truly become a living reality.

An essential work of every apostle is to be a bridge builder for unity where ever God may put us in life. Husbands and wives do that as they strive to see each new day as an opportunity to deepen their love and commitment they made on the day of their wedding.  Parents are called to do this for their families by the quality of their inclusive love for their children. Citizens of this land are called to do this as we engage in the great issues that foster the common good of our Nation, disagreeing at times but hopefully never being disagreeable!

And so, on this Ascension Day, may we hear anew that challenge and mandate given to all believers - a mandate that can indeed renew the face of the earth: Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature!

This exquisite performance of Gerald Finzi's "God has Gone Up" by the Georgia Boy Choir was recorded in Hereford Cathedral during their 2014 tour of Britain.  This is one of my favorite choral pieces and a wonderful recording that is also visually stunning. There is nothing like the acoustics of a great English Cathedral!

Mentoring Civility

I readily confess, I am a late comer to Facebook!  I finally decided to take the plunge recently, because I was being asked by so many folks if I was on Facebook.  Once I took the plunge, in a relatively short period of time, I was connected to friends and acquaintances I had not heard from or seen in decades.  It has been thoroughly delightful.  With my mobility restrictions, being able to leverage social media to stay connected with others, to be a small part of their lives, to send a quick affirming message or ‘thumbs up,’ has precluded the kind of isolation that can so easily be part of ‘growing older.’ However, sadly, those who have been engaged with social media for some time and even new comers, like myself, have witnessed its dark side.                                                                                                

Within the past decade, all of us have experienced the eroding of civility, not only in our communication with one another but, more often than not, within the arena of political discourse.  Gone are the days when we would speak of the ‘loyal opposition,’ or ‘agree to disagree,’ or ‘disagree without being disagreeable.’  I recently got a taste of this in posting what I thought was a rather tame article encouraging young people to get involved with making a difference for the common good within the social fabric of our Country.  Don’t just complain, become involved.  Within no time, a responder was characterizing and name calling what he thought to be my political orientation. 

Frankly, like the proverbial frog in gradually heating water, we are so inundated with this kind of incivility, from the highest levels of our government to the talking heads on our 24-hour cable news, that we are often unaware that we are complicit in this kind of unworthy and potentially lethal behavior.

Part of the blessings and challenges in being part of a pluralistic society where we glory in the four foundational freedoms of our land - the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in our own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear – is the cultivation of civility and tolerance.  At one time, civility and tolerance would be values and virtues inculcated at home and in our schools.  One would be naive to assume that today. And so, where can these virtues be nurtured today?  In what safe environments can our legitimate differences of opinion, strongly held political convictions and cherished religious values flourish and be respected?

Would it be out of the question to think that this might occur within the very medium that can become so toxic, social media itself?  For those who might be willing to exercise some important disciplines, each one of us might be a mentor of civility as we vigorously wrestle with the issues that stir our minds and hearts with passion.  And so, with this in mind, perhaps the following might be a helpful guide toward civility:

1.      No name calling.  While we might vigorously disagree with the thoughts, concerns or positions of others, everyone deserves respect and dignity. This has nothing to do with being politically correct, but is rather the measure of one's integrity and maturity.

2.     Strive to understand.  I have found the following approach so much more helpful than an immediate knee-jerk reaction: I’m not sure I understand completely your strongly held perspective, can you explain a bit more about….?

3.     Demonization of those with whom we disagree ends all possibility of dialogue.  Taking the high road and ascribing the best of motives to those with whom we disagree, goes a long way in finding some common ground of agreement, no matter how modest it may be.

4.     Prioritize the level of your passion and outrage.  There are a lot of ‘tempests in teapots’ going around these days.  Folks, not everything spells the end of Western Civilization as we know it!  Turning down the emotional volume can go a long way in helping to listen attentively to the issues that really require our focused passion and concern.

The 17th century German Lutheran theologian, Repertus Meldenius, who lived during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a bloody time in European history in which religious tensions played a significant role, gave the Christian Church a worthy maxim that, perhaps, can provide a helpful guide for us today as we strive to “Speak the truth in love.”  In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.