Sunday Reflection - Moments of Transfiguration

Ever-faithful God,
you were well pleased with Abraham’s obedience and you accepted the sacrifice of your Son,
who gave himself up for the sake of us all.

Train us by Christ’s teaching
and school us in his obedience,
that, as we walk his way of sacrifice, we may come to share in your glory.

We ask this through Christ, our deliverance and hope,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, holy and mighty God for ever and ever. 

Opening Prayer for the

2nd Sunday of Lent - B Cycle

From the 1998 ICEL Roman Missal

One of the memorable experiences of my early priesthood occurred during my first visit to the Holy Land while pursuing post-graduate studies in Europe.  It was an absolutely stunningly beautiful Spring day when we visited Mt. Tabor, the place where tradition tells us the scene in today’s Gospel took place.  Like latter day apostles of the Lord, our group left the buses that parked at the bottom of the mountain and we made our way by foot up to the Church of the Transfiguration.  As our group reached the summit, we were treated to a breathtaking view of the countryside that seemed to go on forever.  The highpoint of my visit, however, was the privilege to celebrate Mass in the small chapel dedicated to Elijah who is described in Mark’s account of the Transfiguration as “conversing with Jesus” together with Moses.  To stand on this holy spot and to celebrate the Eucharist and speaking the Lord’s transforming words overly the simple earthly elements of bread and wine, is a grateful memory that remains with me still.

For the Lord’s closest disciples, Peter, James and John, their experience on this holy Mountain was not unlike the magnificent panoramic vista that I experienced on my first visit.   It would have been only human for these companions of Jesus, the teacher and rabbi, to wonder in their heart of hearts, ‘who is this incredible person who spoke so powerfully about love and forgiveness, who cured the sick, and comforted the outcast and sinners?”  Could he be the anointed of the Lord?  Graced by a singular moment of insight, they were privileged to see the deepest reality of their master as the scriptures tell us that “he was transfigured before them.”  The Evangelist, Mark, must have wrestled with that word as he attempted to articulate an experience that was undoubtedly far more profound than could conveyed with the poverty of words.  These three disciples for one brief moment glimpsed the inner reality of Jesus as transcendent Lord and their lives would never be the same.  This experience would give them the courage to continue to journey with him to Jerusalem and to experience the paradox of both the cross and tomb.  Despite the all too human tragedy that Jesus would endure – they would not forget this moment.  They would not lose heart as their hopes would ultimately be vindicated that first Easter morning when death would give way to new life in Jesus, the risen Savior of the world.

My friends, in the course of our own journeys of faith, there are times when we are graced to experience in ways beyond speech the Lord’s transcendent presence, touching our own lives and reassuring our hope and affirming our faith.  It may be as simple as basking in the unconditional love of another, or the gift of forgiveness freely given and received.  Maybe it is the exceptional and unexplained healing of a deep wound in mind or body or the daily freedom from some enslaving addiction because we have surrendered it to the God of freedom and healing.  These simple moments can be for us our own moments of Transfiguration, assuring us that we never walk this journey alone.  Reminding us that you and I have an eternal destiny of Glory with the Lord, who as St. Paul reminds us in our second reading, is always for us. And if that be the case who can be against us?

Managing transitions with grace and courage

Ok, I readily admit that I rarely peruse the sports' pages of the daily newspaper. However, with the Olympics and all, the following article about Scott Hamilton in the NYTimes, caught my attention (Scott Hamilton Was Demoted as an Olympic Broadcaster. Don’t Feel Sorry for Him)

I've often maintained that much of our success in life is shaped by how we manage entrances, exits and significant transitions in our life's journey. For the narcissists, so often 'entrances' are perceived as 'having arrived;' 'transitions' are seen as opportunities of climbing ever higher that ladder of unremitting success; and 'exits' can be crushing blows to our egos with their loss of power and influence.

For people of character, often forged by struggling and coming to terms with and befriending one's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, these moments are inevitably contextualized and transformed by what we gradually come to embrace as the truly valuable things in life. 

Scott Hamilton has been bumped from his prime-time role as commentator for figure skating competition at this year's winter Olympics. He is graciously making way for a new generation of commentators and he is doing so with grace and class.

He continues to face cancer squarely in the face. Illness, especially one that threatens the ultimate transition in life, has a way of relativizing so much of what we waste so much of our time getting angry and resentful about in our daily life. Hamilton has learned the great lesson from all this, in bringing a grateful heart to moments of entrances, exits and transitions in life. What a lesson for us all!

Sunday Reflection - Promise in the midst of Tragedy

Sadly, and tragically, this past Wednesday, our nation was once again plunged into a deluge of grief and seeming hopelessness as we witnessed yet another mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  We have almost become numb to the now dark routine of senselessness that these mass shootings inevitably bring.  Parents in frantic desperation trying to reach their sons and daughters on mobile phones; first responders doing their very best to shepherd survivors to safety as they hunt down the shooter who invariably is armed with an automatic assault weapon; politicians mouthing their meaningless platitudes about ‘sympathy and prayers’ while they refuse to jeopardize the support they receive from lobbyist groups with their specious interpretation of the untouchable 2nd amendment.  When will this madness end?

The growing perception of helplessness that many feel in the face of the litany of these ever-increasing tragedies, is not unlike the feelings of helplessness by those victimized by natural disasters that have recently up-ended the lives of so many in our country and world.  Hurricanes and floods, earthquakes and devastating fires, leave us terrifyingly vulnerable to forces that we perceive are beyond our control. 

God’s word in our first reading from Genesis, on this first Sunday of our Lenten spiritual journey, presents us with the familiar tectonic tragedy of the great flood that devastated the whole earth.  Noah and his family, together with all the animals and creatures of creation that he gathered for survival, are at the end of this mythic crisis.  And now, they hear the promise and its sign from the Lord, the covenant or bond of faithfulness between creator and created and the beautiful multicolored rainbow.  Never again shall humankind experience the ultimate helplessness and hopelessness of such devastation – for the Lord will hold humanity in his loving embrace and this love will prove to be stronger than the forces of darkness, death and destruction.

My friends, the Season of Lent provides us each year to enter once again into a time of great remembrance of God’s faithful and loving promise to his people.  It is a Season for us to be empowered once again to face the world with its temptations, armed now with the inner courage of knowing that we never face the darkness of this world alone or abandoned to be victimized by fate.  Though the mystery of human evil can seductively challenge us to question the goodness of a loving God, we are called to set our eyes on Jesus, who in his own journey to the victimization of the cross, transformed that moment into a triumph over death through his resurrection to new life.

A harbinger of promise for Noah and his family as the flood waters receded, was the dove that he released to ascertain if the promise of a new beginning after devastation had begun.  Eventually, the dove returned with an olive leaf in its beak, a sign that dry land was appearing and the beginning of new life.

Amid the heart rending stories told by the young people touched by this week’s tragedy in Florida, it was their passion for action and change, spoken courageously, boldly and loudly, to the present political and moral malaise, that is like the dove for Noah that held the sign of a new beginning.  As Christians, we too are called to be that bold and courageous sign of God’s promise to a world that can so easily succumb to the pessimism and hopelessness that victims feel.  Our hope now is in Christ, who, through his cross and resurrection, has redeemed the world.  

Thoughts on the Recent Mueller Indictments against Russians involved in the 2016 Elections

At the core of Trump’s historic dismissive attitude toward Russian involvement in the 2016 elections is, of course, a fear that it might cast a shadow of doubt on the legitimacy of his own election.  Here is a man who knows well the mercurial dynamics of casting doubt on the legitimacy of a Presidential election, since he spent years doing precisely that with Barack Obama, in the questioning of his qualification as a U.S. born citizen.

With the recent Mueller indictments against Russian operatives illegally involved in the 2016 elections, the Trumpian cover that this is all ‘fake news’ has been substantially blown.  Nevertheless, he has tweeted that the indictments have not mentioned ‘collusion’ and that there was no impact on his ‘legitimate’ election.  Hence, he is home free!

By now, commentators have rightly pointed out that such optimism is more than a tad bit premature on the president’s part.  The proverbial ‘other shoe’ has not yet dropped!

It appears that the bulk of the Russian ‘interference’ was on social media.  During the campaign, anyone who utilized social media was clearly aware of the increasingly strident posts, demonizing Trump's opponents, with a particular viciousness toward Hillary Clinton.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that social media undoubtedly played, at least a modest role, in the final decision of some voters who found themselves in a Catch-22 situation, between two flawed candidates. 

The indictment specifies that operatives worked specifically in Florida, doing their dirty work, for obvious reasons.  On election night, as I was watching the returns and saw how close the numbers were in Florida, I realized that there was trouble for the Hillary camp. 

Despite the BS from Trump that it was, in the end, a ‘landslide’ Electoral College victory for him, though losing the popular vote to Hillary by some 3 million votes – which, of course, he claims speciously to have been cast by ‘illegal’ Mexicans (give me a break), the truth of the matter, historically, is much more complex.

In a December 1, 2016, Washington Post article by Philip Bump, entitled “Donald Trump will be president thanks to 80,000 people in three states,” the author insightfully states:

…all that matters is that Trump got more electoral college votes, thanks to having won more states. In many cases, those wins were much more narrow than Clinton's, which also helps power the gap between the electoral vote and the popular one. Trump won 18 states by fewer than 250,000 votes; Clinton, 13. 

The most important states, though, were Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump won those states by 0.2, 0.7 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively — and by 10,704, 46,765 and 22,177 votes. Those three wins gave him 46 electoral votes; if Clinton had done one point better in each state, she'd have won the electoral vote, too.  Or put another way: But for 79,646 votes cast in those three states, she'd be the next president of the United States. 

Conclusion – Anyone who naively maintains that the Russians had absolutely no part in swinging the recent election toward Trump, and that includes the 'commander in chief,' might well question that conclusion.  I certainly do.

Gratitude

It is hard to believe that I am approaching the one year anniversary for my Rector Emeritus Blog! Anticipating formal retirement and knowing that I would still want an opportunity to offer reflections on the Word of God and other timely topics, this venture into Social Media has been energizing for me.  

Thank you to all who have found this Blog, interesting, inspiring, thought-provoking and even irritating now and then!  

Today, thanks to the ongoing design work of Roderick Fenn who has patiently mentored me in the world of Blog design and layout, we have added a new Archive feature to the Blog.  Grouping all posts by year and month, this feature can be easily accessed from the Cover Page or from the left side-bar of any post.  Hopefully, this can be an easy way to review past posts.

Ash Wednesday Reflection

Gracious and merciful God,
you look with love upon a sinful people and desire only their return to you.

We beg of you the grace to live this holy season, to persevere in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. By the discipline of Lent
purify our hearts of all pretension, bring us back to you,
and make the whole Church ready to celebrate the mysteries of Easter.

Grant this through Christ, our liberator from sin,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, holy and mighty God for ever and ever. 

Alternate Opening Prayer for Ash  Wednesday taken from the 1998 ICEL Roman Missal

Repent, and believe in the Gospel - Once again joining with Christians throughout the world those words of admonition will be soon be spoken over us as the simple sign of our mortality - the Lenten Ashes - will be placed on our forehead.

Our lenten journey begins with its call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Of its very nature this day seems to bring with it a certain solemnity and seriousness. Yesterday, I received an email from a dear friend who does not share our faith tradition. The message read, “Msgr. Art - have a Happy Ash Wednesday” - it was followed by a question - is it alright for me to say that? Instinctively we feel that somehow the human emotion of happiness should be far from our minds on a day like today.

Certainly, our Scriptures today underscore somber themes, of “weeping and mourning” and “rending hearts and not garments”. We are called to moral self examination, to lift the veil of denial that often keeps us from seeing our sins and moral compromises.

Yet, at the core of all sinfulness is the all too human tendency of forgetfulness. Forgetting the singular relationship that gives all others their deepest meaning - the relationship with the Lord of creation who has loved us into existence and whose Son has sealed that love in His reconciling Death and Resurrection.

And so, my sisters and brothers, at the heart of this Lenten journey and every Lenten Season,  the Lord is calling us to grateful remembrance. The ancient disciplines of prayer, fasting and sharing our goods with the poor - are to be daily reminders that we, in the words of St. Paul, are to become “Ambassadors for Christ” - “the very holiness of God.” This season is a powerful reminder to us of the dignity that is ours in being called brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of the Father - A dignity that should fill our hearts with joy and happiness even in the midst penance and self denial. And so, let our Lenten Journey begin and may it be a happy one for each of us!

Allegri's Miserere Mei

Mardi Gras and the Lenten Journey

While much of the Christian world will be celebrating wildly this Mardi Gras or ‘Fat Tuesday,’ thoughtful Christians will also be reflecting on the Season of Grace and Blessing that will soon open before us, the following day, Ash Wednesday.  With the solemn imposition of the primary symbol of this penitential day, ashes reverently place on our foreheads, we enter into the principal penitential season of the Church’s Year of Grace.

As those ashes are imposed upon us, we hear again the essential admonition and dynamic of this season, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  It is that verb, ‘repent,’ that captures the foundational rhythm of these 40 days that stand as a time of spiritual retreat and reflection for the Church Universal.  To repent is to turn our hearts and lives around in conversion.  Unlike the perception that some of our born-again sisters and brothers hold, that conversion is a dramatic and once in a life-time experience, we Catholics see conversion as a life-time vocation.  Every day should provide graced opportunities to discover again the goodness and mercy of our gracious and forgiving God.  And, in discovering again this unfailing love, we turn again from all that might promise ultimate fulfillment and happiness in this world to the one who can only fulfill that hunger of the heart, in this world and the next.

As we find ourselves poised to enter into this joyful season of spiritual renewal, I offer these following suggestions that I have found, over the years, to be beneficial for an enriching and grace-filled Lenten Journey:

1.      Rediscover the power of God’s Holy Word in the Scriptures.  Let God’s Word be our fundamental companion during these 40 days.  If it is impossible to participate in the daily Eucharist, prayerfully reflect on the daily scripture texts that are prescribed for each day of lent.  They can be easily found online:  http://usccb.org 

2.     Ideally, participation in the daily celebration of the Eucharist has been and continues to be the time-honored and traditional way of keeping a holy Lent.  However, when this might be very inconvenient or impossible, perhaps selecting the ancient penitential days of Wednesday and Friday to assist at the Eucharist.  Feasting on the Lord’s sacramental presence continues to be an unsurpassed way of entering into the spirit of Lent.

3.    Spiritual Reading.  Each Lent, I return to the daily reading of a splendid book that was published some years ago, Roman Pilgrimage by George Weigel, Elizabeth Lev and Stephen Weigel.  Taking as their theme, the ancient Roman Stational Churches designated for the Eucharist each day of Lent, this marvelous book provides scriptural reflections based upon the Lenten liturgies for each day of the season, insightful and fascinating historical explanations of these ancient Stational Churches, combined with beautiful photographs of these historic Churches of the Lenten itinerary.  I never tire of this wonderful Lenten companion.

4.     What about fasting?  While the ancient rigorous Lenten fast has been greatly mitigated in these last decades since the Second Vatican Council, now limited to abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent and Fasting only two days of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the voluntary ‘giving up’ of favorite foods and drink still remains a time-honored way of identifying with our crucified Savior.  Voluntary mortification through limiting what we might eat and drink, is a physical reminder of the deeper hunger of the human heart for the food and drink of God’s love, mercy, compassion and justice that should be the ultimate source of our deepest joy.

May these 40 Days be a time for us all to experience the spiritual renewal that is the hallmark of a Church that is ‘ever ancient and ever new.’

Sunday Reflection - Be clean of Heart

One of the films that was up for Best Picture of the Year in the 2015 Academy Awards, was, Selma, an historical drama directed by Ava DuVernay, that dramatically recaptures that sad period in our history when African Americans were denied their right as citizens of this land to vote.  After having received the Noble Peace Price in 1964, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is enlisted to lead a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, the State Capital, to highlight this gross in justice.  2015 marked the 50th anniversary of this shameful confrontation between state troopers as marchers began to cross the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge.  As the peaceful marchers advanced they were attacked with clubs, horses, tear gas and other weapons.  Many were badly injured. The scene was ominously broadcast throughout the nation on television.

Our nation’s long struggle to recognize the inherent dignity and equality of our African American brothers and sisters, brought to this country in slavery, freed in theory and law by the courageous Abraham Lincoln, yet viewed as second class citizens by many, is meticulously narrated by the author, Taylor Branch, in his now completed magisterial three volume work on the Civil Rights Movement.   Branch began his work some thirty years ago and, faithful to his calling as an historian, he is mindful of the wise saying of the philosopher Santayana, that those who are unmindful of their history are doomed to repeat it.  At the heart of this long and tortured story lies the reality of prejudice.

Prejudice, as Webster defines it, is a "preconceived judgment or opinion; unreasonable predilection or objection - an opinion or learning adverse to anything without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge".    My brothers and sisters, all of us, to varying degrees can find ourselves victimized by prejudice - either as the victimizer or the victimized.   It is easy at times for us to form judgments of others in an "unreasonable way - without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge"  - perhaps based solely on a "feeling".    It can be as simple and harmless as the years I used to tell my Father that I hated raw oysters, until the day I finally tried them and liked them" - to the much more serious and destructive prejudice that can lead to the wholesale destruction of peoples and nations.

So often, prejudice and discrimination are rooted in the "fear of the unknown".  Our Scriptures today give us a perfect example of how the Israelites feared the unknown - ostracizing the leper from their midst, unaware - of course from a medical perspective - that the contagion was very difficult to transmit to another.  This disease was thought to be God's divine punishment for one's own sins or that of one's ancestors.   Jesus would not be victimized by such ignorance and discrimination.  He saw beyond such small mindedness and fear to the person who reached out to him for compassion and healing.  In response to his faith and trust in the Lord's power to make whole again, the man is given a new beginning and cured of his illness.  But far more important, he is healed – he is made whole – by the gift of the lord’s unconditional love and acceptance.

We are not born with bigotry or prejudice.  They are all too tragically learned behaviors and attitudes that are passed down to us from one generation to another.   These attitudes and learned behaviors often grow in the environments of fear and ignorance. Whether it be the bigotry and prejudice towards other races, religions or even in this day and age, toward individuals with certain diseases, EBOLA or AIDS - our latter-day leprosies - all of this has no place in the life of a Christian.  Some, in the name of Christianity and even within our own faith tradition have said during the height of the AIDS crisis that it was God's divine punishment on wayward individuals.  I prefer to see it as, perhaps, God's way of discerning who among us will move beyond judgment and prejudice to compassion - like the Christ whose name we bear and, in whose name, we believe.

One of the great sins that we Christians will pay dearly for will be the bigotry and prejudice in which we have had complicity - whether it was the pogroms against the Jews, apartheid in South Africa; the genocide that has recently scared Eastern Europe as well as central Africa, the hatred that we have harbored toward our gay and lesbians brothers and sisters, or even the racial and ethnic slurs that all too easily come forth from our lips as we live in a multi-racial and culturally diverse communities.

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean'   My friends, as we look into our own hearts and acknowledge the prejudice and bigotry that may indeed continue to mark our lives, let us turn to the Lord, as the Leper in today's Gospel, with the request, “If you wish, you can make me clean”  To which the Lord responded, "I do will it.  Be made clean".    May we go forth today – clean of heart -  renewed and strengthened to reverence the presence of Christ in one another.

Pope-emeritus Benedict

“Where were you when….?”  From time to time, that question is asked, more often than not, in reference to major consequential moments in life.  For folks of a certain age, “Where were you when you heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?” or “Where were you when you heard that Kennedy was shot?” come to mind.  “Where were you during 9/11?” is remembered by far more folks today. 

As a Catholic priest, I am sometimes asked, “Where were you when you heard that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning the Papacy?”  Well, frankly, I was fast asleep when I heard the familiar ‘ping’ on my iPhone, indicating that a text message was sent at 3:30 AM or so.  For a few moments, I decided to ignore it and check it when I would wake up in a couple of hours.  However, my curiosity got the better of me and I finally reached for the phone and there it was.  The text was from Msgr. Mike Heher, a priest of our Diocese, who was in England at the time, giving a retreat.  It simply said, “The Pope has resigned!”  I could not believe what I was reading and, knowing Msgr. Heher as I do, I figured it was a joke.  But then, why would he be joking about this?  So, as we all do at moments when potentially historic news impinges on our lives, I turned on CNN, and there it was.  At the conclusion of a meeting with some Cardinals, the Holy Father announced that he was resigning the Papacy because the ministry required the vigor that was waning in his life. 

Scholar and Theologian that he is, the announcement was made in Latin! As I watched the reaction of the Cardinals and attendants at the meeting, one could tell whose Latin was ‘up to snuff’ and whose wasn’t!  Some leaned to their neighbor trying to confirm what they thought they understood the Holy Father was saying.  Others knew full well the historic and monumental import of this moment.

That simple yet historically astounding and consequential announcement would usher in events that, of themselves, would be astounding and historically consequential: the first Papal Conclave in centuries when a pope had not died and the election of the first pope from the ‘new world.’

As we near the five-year anniversary of the announcement by Benedict now Pope-emeritus, of his resignation this February 11th, the recent article from the National Catholic Reporter, is touching as Benedict acknowledges that he senses that his earthly pilgrimage may be nearing its finality.

I have always firmly believed that God sends us the right Pope at the right time to shepherd his Church.  Following the lengthy Papacy of St. John Paul II, whose extraordinary extroversion served the Church in ushering in a ‘new evangelization,’ the election of the theologian-scholar introvert, Benedict, may not have received the high-profile coverage of his illustrious and vaunted predecessor.  Yet, in his own quiet and saintly way, Benedict has left his indelible mark on a Church that is still integrating the herculean vision of the great Second Vatican Council.  Paradoxically, however, his greatest gift to the Church might very well be, his humble yet courageous decision to resign for the good of the Church, thus setting a reasonable precedent for his successors.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Pope-emeritus Benedict.  Following the death and funeral of St. John Paul II, through a variety of providential circumstances, I was able to fly to Rome and witness the legendary ‘white smoke’ from the Sistine Chapel, heralding his election.  I was among the thousands who heard his name announced by the Cardinal Proto-Deacon, Jorge Medina, from the Loggia of St. Peter’s, “Annutio vobis, gaudium magnum, habemus Papa!”  And, several days later, I witnessed the splendid Liturgy in St. Peter’s Square, inaugurating his Pontificate.  These were once in a life time moments for which I will always be truly grateful. 

Sunday Reflection - Proclaiming the Good News

The more cynical among us have said that of all the miracles that Jesus performed in his public ministry, only one may have been a mistake - and that is the cure of a mother-in-law! Of course, rather than continuing to feed the tradition of putting down mothers in laws - Jesus in his healing ministry reached out to bring wholeness to all people, including mothers in laws!

God’s word as we gather this Sunday is one that pulses with an urgency - an urgency to proclaim the gospel, speak the good news, enflesh it in the miraculous healings that were so much a part of the mission and ministry of Jesus.

St. Paul in writing to the early Christian community at Corinth speaks of this urgency in terms of an “obligation”. He goes on to say, "woe to me if I do not preach it!"  It was precisely this mission that now defined his deepest identity. Being a bearer of God’s good news to the world now became the passion that shaped his present life and future destiny.

I find it more that just a little interesting that St. Paul takes up this divine calling which he received from the Savior himself while paradoxically on the road to persecute those who had given their lives to the Good News of Christ. Filled with fanatical zeal, St. Paul experiences a profound conversion that turned this hatred for the gospel into its most ardent and passionate preacher.

On the road to Damascus, Saul encounters the overpowering presence of Jesus who transforms that self-righteous demon that holds him captive and now sets him free to speak and live and eventually die for the one whom he first persecuted. It was out of this encounter with the risen Lord that Paul’s whole life would find its only meaning in Jesus and him crucified and risen in glory.

The same Jesus who called Paul and transformed his demons of doubt and fanaticism into a passion to preach good news is the one who brings healing of mind and heart to all who came to him with broken lives and shattered hearts. Good teacher that he was, Jesus dramatically captured the attention of his audience by performing healing miracles. But the more profound healing that the Lord brought to our world ran much deeper than giving sight to blind eyes and strength to legs paralyzed from birth. The scriptures speak of Jesus expelling demons. While scholars tell us that epilepsy and other forms of seizure were often misunderstood as signs of demonic possession, the real demons that Jesus came to expel were those that imprisoned lives in hypocrisy, rash judgment, and an unforgiving heart. These demons can paralyze the human spirit and keep us far from the reign of God.

My brothers and sisters as we open our lives to the Good News this day and prepare, in a few weeks, for the great season of Repentance that will be upon us, may the Lord stretch out his healing hand to bring wholeness to our lives. In humility let us lay before the divine physician those demons that can keep us from both living and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. May the Lord who heals the brokenhearted, transform the inner darkness of hypocrisy, rash judgment and an unforgiving heart that may hold us captive. May we come to experience the unsurpassing freedom of the sons and daughters of God who have indeed been made whole in Christ our Savior.

Sunday Reflection - Prophetic Witness

Down through the centuries, Prophets have invariably been despised because of their courage to speak uncomfortable and inconvenient truths.

I have always been profoundly moved by the life, ministry and death of the latter-day prophet and martyr, Archbishop Oscar Romero.  Archbishop Romero was the chief shepherd in El Salvador in the 1970’s, during one of the most turbulent periods in his nation’s history.  During a period of unprecedented suppression of human rights and disregard for social justice by the government, Romero became the prophetic spokesperson for the poor and the marginalized.  He was unafraid to speak truth to power, to confront government officials who were oblivious to human rights and were corrupted by their thirst for dictatorial power.  In a profoundly moving speech he gave on February 2, 1980, at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Romero boldly spoke of the persecution of the Church that was taking place in El Salvador and the root cause for it:

In less than three years, more than fifty priests have been attacked, threatened, calumniated. Six are already martyrs--they were murdered. Some have been tortured and others expelled [from the country]. Nuns have also been persecuted. The archdiocesan radio station and educational institutions that are Catholic or of a Christian inspiration have been attacked, threatened, intimidated, even bombed. Several parish communities have been raided. If all this has happened to persons who are the most evident representatives of the Church, you can guess what has happened to ordinary Christians, to the campesinos, catechists, lay ministers, and to the ecclesial base communities. There have been threats, arrests, tortures, murders, numbering in the hundreds and thousands.... 

But it is important to note why [the Church] has been persecuted. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution has been attacked. That part of the church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's defense. Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the church: the poor.

Such words of stinging truth would single Romero out as a marked man.  And so, the following month, on March 24th, while celebrating Mass in the small chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence in San Salvador, he was gunned down at the altar of sacrifice – a martyr to the truth of the Gospel and all who hunger for the freedom and dignity of all God’s beloved children.

Indeed, down through the centuries, Prophets have invariably been despised because of their courage to speak uncomfortable and inconvenient truths.

Friends, God’s challenging words to us in Holy Scripture, once again is a call to rouse us from whatever complacency may be lulling us into living a faith of comfort, convenience and ‘cheap’ grace, into becoming prophetic Christians who are willing to confront the powers of this world with the inconvenient truth of God’s liberating mercy for all his children, especially, the poor and marginalized of our world, our society and our country.

This past week, the PBS series, Frontline, in a special segment entitled, Exodus, presented a comprehensive and dramatic overview to the plight of refugees from all parts of our torn world who are seeking a better life in Europe and the United States.  It was shocking to see how so many countries that historically had been bastions of the Christian ethic, beginning to close their doors to many of these men, women and families who are fleeing worn torn lands or persecution because of their religious beliefs or political convictions.   It is even more disheartening to witness such experiences in our own land whose striking symbol of Lady Liberty has beckoned countless generations of ‘hungry, homeless and tempest tossed’ to the freedom of our teeming shores.

It is precisely to the demonic of self-serving nationalism, racism and xenophobia that Christians are called to hear, once again, our call to be that prophetic voice calling our sisters and brothers to be attentive to the better angels of our nature.  At the heart of that prophetic call is the good news that God’s mercy and love know no boundaries or walls, that our solidarity as God’s beloved children calls us to ‘shelter the homeless and the widow, give food to the hungry, clothe the naked and welcome the stranger.’ 

Indeed, down through the centuries, Prophets have invariably been despised because of their courage to speak uncomfortable and inconvenient truths. Let us pray for that grace this day and every day of our lives.

Weekend Reflection - March for Life

In light of the annual March for Life that is held each year since Roe v. Wade in our Nation's Capital, I would like to share this splendid homily that was delivered by Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ,  at the Jesuit Mass for Life at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church before the 45th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2018.

Readings: Jer 1:4-10, Ps 139, Mt 5:38-48

Today, when you go out to the Mall and walk along Constitution Avenue to stand before the steps of the Supreme Court, will you be going out as God sent out Jeremiah, formed from the womb to be a prophet to the nations, to uproot and tear down, to build and to plant? Or will you be going out to walk those 1.3 miles with thousands upon thousands of people the way Jesus invites his disciples: turning the other cheek, rejecting the logic of violence and supremacy, willing to walk the extra mile even in the face of persecution? And even, for this is Jesus’ great challenge and invitation to us, to walk that mile with and for the persecutor?

Of course, the answer that our faith calls for is, in the great refrain of the Catholic tradition, both-and. We will be doing both—we will be speaking truth to power on behalf of the defenseless unborn and, if God gives us the grace, at the same time loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.

Very few if any of the counter-protestors we meet at the steps of the court will be able to recognize in our faces any love at all.

What we are doing today will be ignored by many people in our country. Many of those who do not ignore it will misunderstand and even mistrust our marching today. Very few if any of the counter-protestors we meet at the steps of the court will be able to recognize in our faces any love at all—for them, for women struggling with pregnancy and considering abortion or even for the unborn.

But you know this already. If you have managed to get from your school or campus into a pro-life meeting, onto a bus or plane and all the way to Washington, you have certainly already had your motivations and your pro-life commitment challenged and mistrusted. You have probably had someone accuse you of wanting to control women’s bodies or of hating sex or of wanting to impose a theocracy or of only caring about babies until they are born. Of course, none of these caricatures are fair to what pro-lifers believe at our best. Nonetheless, we will be mistrusted, sometimes even persecuted, and these will be the excuses.

And let’s be honest: We often return that mistrust in our assumptions about pro-choice activists and politicians and sometimes even just people who tacitly support abortion or try to let themselves off the hook with something like “Well, I don’t believe in abortion, but I can’t impose my beliefs on someone else.” We think they are willfully ignoring the science on fetal development; we are tired of the way they keep changing the subject from the hard question of abortion to argue about something like funding for contraception; we suspect that their real reason for defending abortion is because it is the final back-up to birth control and the sexual revolution cannot keep going without it. But most of all, we do not trust that they really believe in human dignity as a basic moral rule—and that often means that we feel we cannot really trust them at all.

This mistrust is neither accidental nor inevitable. It is the product of our broken politics on the abortion question.

This mistrust—on both sides—is neither accidental nor inevitable. It is the product, most of all, of our broken politics on the abortion question: Forty-five tragic years of struggling against the constitutionalization of abortion, where no real progress or compromise seems possible until we finally win at the court. Forty-five years of abortion being used as a litmus test, for or against, for which candidates can get support. Forty-five years of abortion providing a reliable wedge issue, on both sides of the aisle, to turn out the base.

Lack of trust is not a problem for partisan politics; on a wedge issue like abortion, it actually serves as an advantage more often than not. But it is a problem for the Gospel.

Considered from the standpoint of politics, it seems the right tactical move is to press whatever advantage we have as far as it will go. Pass every law we can; appoint every judge we can; and align ourselves with whoever gets us closer to the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, no matter the other costs. 

In contrast, the Gospel we heard today is a tactical trainwreck. It tells us to offer no resistance to enemies and love them instead. To be blunt, it calls for pre-emptive unilateral disarmament. To be even more blunt: When we began Mass with the Sign of the Cross, we were embracing exactly where the logic of today’s Gospel leads us and where it led Jesus.

On the cross, Jesus calls us to embrace our enemies, but we also need to remember how we got to the point of enmity to begin with. We become enemies when we lose the hope of being able to trust one another. We become enemies when our goals seem so different that we cannot imagine how we would ever walk together in the same direction for 20 feet, much less two miles.

The politics of the last year have, I fear, even further entrenched that enmity in many of our communities. We have only to look at how our politicians are, right now, trapped in a crazy zero-sum game where they cannot figure out how to pay for health insurance for children that almost everyone agrees is a good idea—or how to avoid deporting 800,000 young people who have lived here most of their lives, which almost everyone agrees is a bad idea. Even when we mostly want the same thing, we cannot figure out how to do it together.

Jesus calls us to embrace our enemies, but we also need to remember how we got to the point of enmity to begin with. 

And let’s be honest again: The pro-life movement is not blameless in this mess. We have allowed our support to be claimed by politicians who are right on abortion and wrong on nearly everything else and who have a more consistent respect for the pro-life vote than they do for the dignity of every human life at every stage. And these are among the reasons that we are often mistrusted and that we will be mistrusted by many people we pass in our march today. Even if the court reversed Roe v. Wade tomorrow, that mistrust would still need to be overcome in order for unborn children to be truly welcomed in love and protected in law.

I don’t know what rebuilding that trust will look like. But I do know how the Gospel calls us to start: by turning the other cheek, by walking the second mile, by loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors. The Gospel calls us, in other words, to accompany people who do not deserve it at great risk to ourselves, and in that accompaniment both we and our enemies may be transformed by grace in ways we do not expect.

The Gospel does not call us to win. It calls us to love.

And yes, we are also called to prophetic witness, as Jeremiah was. But Jeremiah was called to uproot and to tear down in order to clear the ground to build and to plant. He was formed from his mother’s womb to call Israel back to the covenant of love for which God had created them.

So, too, when we march, we must set out both to struggle for justice for the unborn and also to call our brothers and sisters back to the recognition of God’s love for each and every human life—both for the unborn and for themselves.

I have spent long enough in the pro-life movement to know how impractical and idealistic this all sounds. And if we leave it at the level of rhetoric, then it is impractical. Talking like this is not immediately likely to change any laws, get any judges appointed or win any cases.

But the Gospel does not call us to win. It calls us to love. And when we actually go out into the world and risk taking Jesus at his word, truly loving our enemies and walking the extra mile with them, we cooperate with God’s grace, grace so powerful that it was victorious even through death. I do not know what that is going to look like. But I trust that it will be better than any victory we could win for ourselves.

Sunday Reflection - The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

My first evening in the seminary as I began my journey to the priesthood, was September 14, 1966.  I had entered St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo that was referred to by Time magazine as, the “Jewel in the Miter of Cardinal McIntyre,” the only Cardinal at that time West of the Mississippi and great post-war builder of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  He was also known for being one of the arch-conservative bishops who had attended the recently completed Second Vatican Council and, frankly, resisted its reforms.  Several months before I entered the beautiful Seminary College, Cardinal McIntyre had solemnly dedicated the heart of this seminary, the St. James Chapel.  With all the panoply that only the Catholic Church can display on these important moments, St. John’s would be the academic home of thousands of seminarians until the College section of the seminary was closed in 2002.

On one of his frequent visits, the Cardinal once gave a ‘pep-talk’ to the seminarians that has stayed with me all these many years.  To the hushed silence of the student body, he told us in his distinctive New York accent (a cross between Michael Bloomberg and Elmer Fudd), that we were not ‘ordinary men’ but rather, ‘extraordinary men’ because of the vocation that we were responding to.  Such talk not only fed a nascent clericalism that not so subtly instilled in us a sense that somehow, we were the ‘elite’ of the Church, but it also betrayed a foundational theological principal that lies at the heart of the Christian Church and her beliefs.

As we mark what the Church somewhat prosaically refers to as the ‘Second Sunday in Ordinary Time,’ that word, ‘ordinary,’ reflects how God, so often in Salvation’s history, has come to stir a revolution in our world and in our hearts.

At the core of the Mystery of the Incarnation whose festival of remembrance we have just completed with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord this past Monday, we gloried in a God whose extraordinary and unmerited love and mercy for us, was revealed in the utter ordinariness of a new born child, cradled in the arms of his mother, Mary, with her husband, Joseph the carpenter, at her side.  Scripture and history tell us that, if I might be frank, these were ‘nobodies’ compared to the luminaries of the first century.  Scripture narrates, somewhat mockingly, the thoughts of Jesus’ contemporaries who would quote a saying, no doubt popular in first century Palestine, ‘could anything good come from Nazareth?’ the home town of this ‘nobody’ family and child.   With a thousand apologies for anyone who might be offended in my quoting President Trump, Nazareth was the quintessential ‘s***hole’ of this out of the way province of the great Roman Empire!  Yet, from this utterly ordinary place and time would emerge the Savior of the world.

This ‘incarnational principal,’ that God, who lives in unapproachable light, would embrace our world and our lives in one, like us in all things but sin, continues to be repeated within the sacramental life of the Church that the Savior founded. 

Through the utter ordinariness of water, wine, bread, oil, the simplicity of a human touch, words spoken and silence revered, God breaks into time and space to, once again, lavish us with his goodness, love and unfailing mercy.  The ordinary, then, becomes the astounding vehicle of the extraordinariness of God’s grace-filled presence in the messiness of the world in which we ‘live and move and have our being.’

This ‘sacramental’ perspective and ethic, touches most profoundly the holiness of the human person, created in the very image of God.  Our Catholic ‘pro-life’ ethic is profoundly rooted in this theological vision.  From the first moment of conception through to natural death, we hold to the intrinsic value of all persons, since they are indeed a reflection of their Divine Creator.

It is for this reason that one of my famous quotes from the 20th Century Anglican apologist, C.S. Lewis, has always been a source of inspiration and challenge in my walk of faith:

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, the holiest object presented to our Christian senses is our brother or sister, for in him or her, God, the glorifier and the glorified, is truly present.

Friends, this ‘ordinary’ time now beckons us to reverence what the world might dismiss as all too unimportant, pedestrian, simple and unworthy of our time and attention.  We do that at our own peril, for within the ordinary, we can invariably find the extraordinary goodness of God’s grace-filled presence.

Sunday Reflection - Epiphany

We Catholics venerate our traditions.  So important is the role that tradition plays in our faith that we often posit that we are a faith founded upon both Scripture and Tradition.  In the many years that I was privileged to teach about the faith, I would invariably make a distinction between what I would call, big ‘T’ Traditions, and little ‘t’ traditions.  Big ‘T’ Traditions touch upon the very foundations of what it is we believe about the nature of Christ and his Church.  The creedal formulations of our belief, such as the Nicene Creed, would be one of the big ‘T’ Traditions of our faith.  Innumerable little ‘t’ traditions, down through the centuries, frame what we believe in lesser ways but, nevertheless, hold an endearing place in our life as Catholic Christians.  Such customs as ‘genuflecting’ before the Blessed Sacrament reserved in our Churches would be an example of a little ‘t’ tradition or custom of respect and honor given to the sacramental presence of the Lord in the Eucharist.  Fasting and abstaining from meat on the Fridays of Lent would be another small ‘t’ tradition of our Church.

As we continue to reflect on the meaning of the great mystery of the Incarnation during this Christmas Season, we mark and celebrate today the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, a feast rich with tradition.  The traditional images that take center stage today are, of course, the legendary three Kings who come from the East to present their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh before the newborn King, cradled in the arms of Mary his mother.  Only St. Matthew records this charming story for Christians of all ages, undoubtedly based upon the oral traditions that sourced Matthew’s recollections of this pivotal moment in the history of salvation.

These stories, biblical scholars tell us, are filled with symbolism to inspire and encourage Christians of all ages as we strive to ‘unpack’ the meaning and significance of the Incarnation. 

God’s particularity in selecting the Jewish people to be a people ‘peculiarly his own’ is a theme that is reinforced by one story after another in the Hebrew Scriptures.  With the longed for coming of the anointed one, a monumental break occurs in this traditional understanding of Jewish self-identity.  That break is dramatically and symbolically portrayed in the scene that is the focal point on this Feast of the Epiphany.  Wise men (Magi) from the East come to adore the Christ who has come to us in the vulnerability of a newborn infant.   

The narcissistic notion of ‘Israel first’ is forever shattered by the highly charged symbol of non-Jews, wise men from the East, Gentiles who were not part of the Mosaic covenant, being one of the first to behold the manifestation of God’s glory, clothed in human flesh and ‘lying in a manger.’  They were not the first, however, to behold this startling moment in history’s salvation.  No, the first to be drawn to wonder and adore were the shepherds and the sheep, cows and oxen – those that held no power and lived on the margins of society and the animals that they tended. 

Herein, my friends, lies the power and meaning of the mystery of the Incarnation that cannot be safely contained and controlled by mouthing defiantly ‘Merry Christmas’ to a world and a society that is hungering for more than platitudes.

God’s unearned and unfailing mercy and love has been made manifest to all of creation in Jesus who has now made his home with us.  That home particularly beckons with hospitality, the poor, the disenfranchised, the powerless, the nameless, the stranger, the alien and the widow.  Down through the centuries, we Christians have done our best to obscure the real meaning of Christ and his good news by siding with the cheap grace of reducing the good news to slogans that insulate us from the messiness of what it truly means to live the costly grace of the Gospel.  Whenever the gospel is subverted by worldly politics that gives only lip-service to Christ and his good news, we settle for cheap grace.  However, when we let the searing light of the Gospels, tear down the walls that separate God’s family from each other and we have the courage to forge greater solidarity among God’s holy people, then, we have paid the cost of true discipleship.

May this New Year that is upon us, be a time for all of us to be a people of the Epiphany as we manifest the all-embracing love of Christ to a world that longs to see his face.

Sunday Reflection - Feast of the Holy Family

It was 2:30 in the morning, December 23rd  some years ago.  Knowing that the next few days would be quite demanding, I tried to get to bed earlier than usual.  However, since I was on duty and responsible for emergency night calls, it fell to me to answer the emergency line which rang several times waking me from a sound sleep.  The call was from a local convalescent facility.  The nurse explained that one of the residents was near death and that her son was at her bedside requesting a priest.   Within 15 minutes I was at her bedside as I watched her son tenderly hold his dying mother’s hand and caress her face as he stood vigil beside her.   The other members of the family had been notified and they were arriving one by one at this painful yet graced moment of farewell.  We prayed together around their mother poised now between this world and eternity.  They shared with me briefly about the life and legacy of their mother.  Through their sorrow, there was a deep sense of gratitude for what their parents had left to them - a sense of responsibility to be moral guides to their own families, a wonderful sense of humor, a dedication to education, and finally a deep and abiding faith.  A faith that sustained them at this difficult hour.

As I left the bedside and walked out into the bracing winter morning my thoughts and prayers went out to this family.   I could not help but reflect on how important family is to all of us.  For it is the midst of the family that you and I first come to understand what it means to be a person in the most fundamental sense.  It is in the family that ideally, we come to know what it means to love and be loved; to give and receive; to forgive and be forgiven.  As Catholic Christians, it is in the midst of the family that we believe we first experience what it means to be Church - a community of believers - where the Lord Jesus is to be found in the daily give and take that is part of every family.  It is in the midst of the family that the legacy of faith is handed down lovingly from one generation to another. 

It should then come as no surprise to us that Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the World, would enter our world as a member of a human family with Mary as his mother and Joseph as her loving and caring husband.    The feast that draws us together calls us to remember and celebrate the gift of family - the gift of the Holy Family; the gift of our human families, and for us as a people of faith - the gift of our faith family in whatever faith communities we find ourselves drawn to.

While piety may idealize the Holy Family, we should never forget that like all families, Jesus, Mary and Joseph experienced the tensions and tragedies as well as hopes and joys that all families do.  Homelessness and financial hardship; misunderstanding and doubt; suffering in the face of persecution; the death of a husband and foster father; the understanding and love of a mother who had to endure the death of her own son - these were the moments that shaped the life of this Family from Nazareth.  Yet, in the midst of it all, there was a love that bound them together and would carry them from here to eternity.

This Feast of the Holy Family calls us to remember and be grateful for that reality which we can so easily take for granted.   Where family mealtime around the common table is sadly becoming an exception rather than the rule in many households, the Church calls us to stop and take the time to be grateful for what we have and who we have become because of our families.  Perhaps with Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, this day could and should become another day to gather in a special way around a common table to give thanks to God for mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. As the author of the book of Sirach reminds us, we are to revere our fathers - even if their minds fail, and we are to bring comfort to our mothers; and as Paul in his letter to the Colossians reminds us, this is a day in which husbands should love their wives and not nag their children!

Finally, this Feast calls us to be thankful for who we are as a parish community who at its heart is a “family of faith.”  May the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph continue to guide, protect and inspire our families and all communities which we are privileged to call our faith family in the Lord, now and in the New Year that is before us.

Christmas Reflection

It all began with a Christmas Tree.  It was December 1914 and the Great War was still young.  Along the Western Front, German solders on one side and British, French and Belgian troops on the other.  It took place in the improbable setting of the mud, cold rain and senseless killing of the trenches of World War I.  It happened in spite of orders to the contrary by superiors; it happened in spite of language barriers.  And it still stands as the only time in history that peace spontaneously arose from the lower ranks in a major conflict, bubbling up to the officers and temporarily turning sworn enemies into friends.

It began when German soldiers lit candles on a small Christmas tree.  That tree  was slowly raised above their heads in the trenches so that those on the other side of “no mans land” now strewn with the bodies of the dead, could see this most improbable site of candles twinkling in the darkness of night.  Then the carols began for it was Christmas eve.  Carols in English, French and German - crescendoing with “Silent Night” “Stile Nacht”.  Finally, one soldier tentatively started to crawl out of the trenches, very slowly - very tentatively.  He could see the same happening on the other side.  Finally, both sides were emerging from the darkness of the cold, damp trenches to meet each other on this Christmas night - not with guns and bayonets - but with the simple gifts received from home, plum pudding, cigars, cognac, and letters from worried mothers and fathers.  Yet, there was work to be done.  Soon both sides were gathering and burying the dead, in an age-old custom of truces. 

As the Sun of Christmas morning rose, it was surprisingly a crystal clear and bracingly cold day.  The spontaneous truce continued, eventually leading to friendly games of soccer.  These men in arms, naively hoped that the war would be short-lived, and that they were fraternizing with future friends.  When angry superiors ordered them to recommence the shooting, many men aimed harmlessly high overhead.  In the end, the troops had to be completely removed and replaced by new ones who merely saw the faceless and nameless enemy across “no mans” land.

My brothers and sisters, sometimes the greatest beauty emerges from deep tragedy. For people of faith, it all began with a baby cradled in his mother’s arms.  In the stark stillness of a Judean night, nestled in a cave-stable with the warmth of sheep and cattle and goats to comfort him, the King of all creation took on the vulnerability of a defenseless child.

That child whom we call wonder-counselor, Prince of Peace, would eventually grow to maturity and experience the deep tragedy of rejection and death as a common criminal.  Yet out of that paschal journey the greatest beauty would emerge...a truth that transfigures you and me. 

My brothers and sisters as we mark and celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas 2001 in the shadow of our nations deep tragedy, may we come to see and give thanks for the great beauty that continues to surprise us with its power to renew and bring forth light even in the midst of darkness:  For a deeper awareness that we are indeed our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper in this land of freedom; for friendships renewed, for faith rekindled, a passion for justice, and a profound reverence for all those who put their lives in harms way to protect the dignity and safety of all God’s children.  On this Christmas Day may we cherish the face of Christ, born again in those who give their lives in the service of others. 

O Come, let us Adore Him

Christ the Lord!

Sunday Reflection - Advent IV

There are two things that a seasoned pastor, particularly of a large parish, does not look forward to:  Christmas falling on a Sunday because you generally loose a Sunday collection! And, Christmas falling on a Monday because after celebrating all those masses for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, you turn around and in a matter of a few hours, begin celebrating masses for Christmas Eve!  Well, folks, it’s that latter situation that we have before us this year. 

With the great feast of Christmas occurring in just hours, it might be tempting for us to simply by-pass the rich meaning of God’s Word that we find in today’s celebration as we, like so many in our society and culture, rush forward to begin our Christmas rejoicing.  Yet, that would be unfortunate. For, our Scriptures this morning offer a marvelous opportunity for us to reflect on a central person in the Christmas story, and that is, Mary, Mother of the Lord.

We Catholics, together with Christians of the East and a growing number of our Protestant sisters and brothers, hold Mary in high esteem and venerate her role in the History of Salvation.  While the unfortunate caricature of the ill-informed have sometimes posited that we Catholics have ‘deified’ this woman, to the point of seeing her as more important than the Christ whom she bore, such nonsense could not be further from the truth.

Our true understanding, appreciation and veneration of this woman who was, indeed, ‘full of grace’ is anchored in the moving narrative story that the Church in her liturgy sets before us in today’s Gospel of Luke.  St. Luke, unlike the other Synoptic Gospel authors, presents unique narratives that touch upon the infancy of the child Jesus. It is to Luke that we owe our gratitude for preserving the ancient oral traditions and stories that have endeared themselves to us during the Christmas Season.  These stories begin with the dramatic encounter between Mary and the messenger of the Lord, the angel Gabriel.  Surprised by grace, Mary is greeted by this mysterious messenger of the Holy One and invited to share in the pivotal moment in the transformation of all history. 

The Church in her teaching never forgets that Mary was one like us in all things but sin.  God did not force his will upon her but was paradoxically ‘dependent’ upon Mary’s freedom to say ‘yes’ to his invitation to bear his Son, through the ‘overshadowing’ of the Holy Spirit.  With full human freedom, Mary’s ‘yes’ to the Father’s invitation would usher in the redemptive transformation of the cosmos that would be accomplished by her Son and Savior of the World.

So much of the meaning of this still point moment in the redemptive history of humanity is captured in the carols and songs that frame so beautifully the Christmas Season.  The 19th century carol, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, sings of the moving significance of the Christmas story and the role that Mary, Mother of the Lord, continues to play as Mother of all believers in her Son.

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance;

Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.

Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance
Thus was I knit to man's nature
To call my true love to my dance.

Sunday Reflection - Rejoicing Sunday

An old man lived in New Guinea.  He made his living by cutting firewood for the mission hospital.  Everybody called him One Tooth, because his upper jaw contained just one tooth.  Besides cutting wood, the old man also spent a part of each day reading the Gospel to outpatients sitting in the hospital's waiting room.  Day after day, he shared his faith in Jesus with these suffering people.

Then one day something happened.  One Tooth began to have trouble reading.  At first, he thought it was something that would get better, but it didn't.  So, One Tooth went to see the hospital doctor.  After examining the old woodcutter, the doctor put his arm around the old man and said, "I have something difficult to tell you.  You're going blind, and there's nothing we can do."  "Oh no!" said One Tooth. "I'm already old. Now I'll be blind and useless, too." 

The next day One Tooth didn't show up at the hospital.  Nor did he show up the day after that.  One Tooth had vanished.  Later the doctor learned that One Tooth was living alone in a deserted part of the Island.  A boy who brought the old man food told the doctor where he was.  So, the doctor went to see One Tooth.  "What are you doing here?" the doctor asked.  One Tooth replied, "Ever since you told me I was going blind, I've been reading and memorizing the most important part of the Gospel.  I've already memorized Jesus' birth, several of his miracles and parables, and his death and resurrection.  "I've been repeating these over and over to the boy, to make sure I've got them right.  In about a week I'll be back at the hospital again, Doctor, telling the outpatients about Jesus."

Telling others about Jesus - that was what motivated old One Tooth to begin the difficult task of setting to memory the great Gospel stories.  Telling others about Jesus - that is what St. Paul was urging his early converts in Thessalonica to do.  Telling others about Jesus - that is what John the Baptist gave his life to, even to death, in the Gospel of today.

As Christians, we are all too painfully aware that we are not immune to the tragedies of life.  A young boy innocently riding in his parents’ car is killed instantly as a plane skids off an icy runway and crashes into the car.    Soldiers are taken from their loved ones in an instant of suicide bombing insanity.  A mother is presented with a life-threatening diagnosis by her physician.    No wonder, then, that Scott Peck in his now famous book, The Road Less Traveled, begins with the line, "Life is difficult".    Yes, life is difficult, yet for those whose lives are deeply rooted in the Gospel, for those whose minds and hearts have been fashioned by the promise and hope that Jesus Christ is in our lives,  then the pain and sorrow, the challenges and difficulties in life need not and will not have the final say.

The journey that began for Jesus in the backwater town of Bethlehem would lead him on a road that all of us have traveled at times.  He was loved by family and friends, but he also was misunderstood and misjudged.  He was consumed with passion in bringing the message of His Father to the world only to be crucified in the end like a common criminal.  But the darkness of this world could not hold him.  Through the transforming power of His Resurrection he opens a highway for all of us to face the darkness and pain of life with courage and hope.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon us, because the Lord has anointed us; He has sent us to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.

As we prayed in our Opening Prayer, in these final weeks of the Advent Season let us ask the Lord, "To prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow on us" now and in all the Seasons of our Life.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Story that anchors today’s great Feast in honor of the Mother of God, continues to inspire and bring forth praise and thanks.

A poor Indian was baptized and given the name Juan Diego.  As a 57 year old widower, he lived in a small village near Mexico City.  On Saturday morning, December 9th, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac, when he heard beautiful music like the sound of birds.  A radiant cloud appeared and within it there was the vision of a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess.  The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan, named Juan de Zumarraga.  The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign.  About the same time Juan Diego's uncle became seriously ill.  This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady.  The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.  Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop's presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees.  On Juan Diego's tilma appeared a painting of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac.  It was December 12th, 1531.

The meaning of this event particularly for those of us who are the ancestors of those men and women who carefully handed down the faith to us here in the Americas is profoundly important.  Mary's appearance to Juan Diego, who has now been canonized as a Saint of our Church, is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept, all peoples.  In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans.  For up to this point, few had been converted to the faith.  But with the spread this story that the Mother of the one whom Christians called the Christ, had appeared as one like themselves, speaking their language, over nine million Indians became Catholic in a relatively short period of time.   No longer was the faith viewed as an alien belief brought by Western conquers, but now it was seen embracing them in one like themselves.  Once again, the ancient Christian belief was realized - "Ad Jesum per Mariam" - "To Jesus through Mary".

An ancient chronicler records for us the words that Mary spoke to Juan Diego on that hillside 486 years ago.  They are words that continue to inspire, comfort and support us in this Advent Season:

My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me..."

As devoted sons and daughters of Mary, Mother of our Savior and Mother of the Church, may we continue to hold her in a special place in our lives of faith.  May her simple faith and complete trust in the Lord's will for her be an inspiration for us all as we await the Advent of her Son at the Feast of His Birth.

Sunday Reflection - Advent II

Some time ago, I had the good fortune of having lunch with one of our elected officials.  After our time together I came away with a much better understanding of the unique challenges facing those who are elected to public office in this day and age.  While elected officials at times must face the unfair caricature of being inflated with their own self-importance, making decisions motivated by selfish interest, it was refreshing for me to hear the moral struggle and soul searching that this individual candidly shared with me when it came to being a leader of principle and conviction. 

To be a person of principle and conviction has never been an easy task.  To be a person of principle and conviction is to live our lives out of a personal character that has been shaped by the perennial values of goodness, fairness, integrity, compassion and a commitment to the truth.  The term “character” has been defined as the collective qualities or characteristics, esp. mental and moral, that distinguish a person or thing. [The Oxford Modern English Dictionary, Second Edition]

In the second letter of Peter today, we are challenged with the question, “What sort of persons ought you to be...?”  What is it about our character that should distinguish us as a man or woman of integrity?  My sisters and brothers, one of the great tragedies in our contemporary society is that in midst of incredible scientific and technological advances, what has become of the person of character? 

The word of God during this Advent Season helps us all to reflect on the qualities that should shape our lives if we are to be men and women of character. 

The Prophet Isaiah sets before us the image of a God whose greatness is imaged through compassion.  “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”   Compassion is that human characteristic that enables us to be merciful and to enter into the struggles of others.  More often than not, there is no material gain that comes from compassion.  You’ll rarely find that term on the pages of the Wall Street Journal or in the Congressional Record.  But it is compassion that has the ability to shape our lives and our hearts into being men and women of Gospel Integrity.

In the letter of Peter, we hear that we are to conduct ourselves “in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...”  A person of character, possesses a perspective on life that sees beyond the hear and now.   The fatalism that so often stifles creativity and hope gives way to the realistic expectation that in the end, all will be well because our lives and our world are in the hand of a good and loving God.   A person of character can indeed say together with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream...”  That dream is not pie in the sky wishful thinking, but rather living our lives trusting in the power and providence of the God of gift and promise.

In the Gospel of Mark on this Second Sunday of the Advent Season our liturgy presents us with the familiar Advent character, John the Baptist.  John’s greatness as a man of character was shaped by a keen understanding that one mightier than himself was coming after him.  John knew who he was.  He knew his strengths and his gifts.  But he was also aware that his call in life was to point to another - Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. 

A person of character is a person for others.  A person of character is one whose greatest meaning and joy in life comes from his or her ability to be at the service of others.  A person of Christian character is one who humbly acknowledges that there is indeed one mightier than oneself to whom belongs obedience in faith and that is the God of our lives and surrender to the one has come in his name, the Lord of our lives.

During this Advent season, let us open our lives to the power of God’s spirit that our character may more and more be shaped by a sense of compassion, a vision of hope for the future and a humble acknowledgment of the one who is Lord of this Advent Season and all the seasons of our lives.