Sunday Reflection - Prophetic witness

One of the great privileges of every priest is to be called to share in the intimate and most personal moments in the journey of life of the people he serves.  From the wailing cries of new and vigorous life in baptism to life’s final breath as we gather to mourn the death of our loved ones - each of these moments are utterly unique and moments of grace and blessing for those of us called to proclaim the gospel in the midst of life’s journey.  It is sometimes a challenge for us to emotionally change gears from celebrating a baptism in the morning and then hours later to bring comfort and solace to grieving a family as they take leave of a loved one. Yet, even in these poignant and painful moments there is grace and blessing.  

As I often listen to the beautiful and moving eulogies given by family and friends on the occasion of these funeral celebrations, one cannot help but wonder - what will be said of us when our moment of passing from this world to the next will come?  What will be our legacy, the lasting remembrance of our lives here on earth? 

As Christians you and I are called to leave a lasting mark on this world in which we have lived.   God’s word which we have heard proclaimed this day speaks of the role of the Prophet in the life of the community.    The Prophet is one whose life has made a difference for the good in the community in which we have lived.    

Jeremiah was the conscience of Israel, calling them back to faithfulness in walking in the way of the Lord.   Jesus, in the great tradition of the prophets before him, transformed our world and our lives not only by his words but far more powerfully by the witness of his life lived for others.

As the baptized, you and I have been called to share and live this same calling of the prophet in our world today.    Some among us will live that identity in profoundly dramatic ways raising our voices and laying down our lives for the truth of the Gospel.  For instance, Archbishop Oscar Romero, recently canonized as a saint of our church, lived his prophetic calling as a Christian eventually giving his life in defense of the poor and powerless of El Salvador.   

However, the vast majority of us will live out our prophetic calling to make a difference in our world by striving to live what St. Paul spoke so eloquently about in the famous 12thchapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians which we have heard today.   In a world and society that is so often caught in a cycle of violence, where the misuse of power and moral compromise has become a way of life; where the dignity and value of each person is often determined by their usefulness and productivity rather than their inherent goodness as a child of God - in the midst of this world, we are desperately in need of prophets.       

We need the prophetic witness of husbands and wives who take their vows seriously and have learned the power of a love that is patient and kind - a love that can trust and hope and endure whatever may come.  We need the prophetic witness of men and women in the workplace and community who do not brood over injuries but have discovered the transforming power of forbearance and forgiveness.    We need the prophetic witness of youth who have come to know the power of living lives of integrity - not putting on airs, not snobbish, rude or self-seeking, but living and rejoicing in the truth - knowing that the truth will ultimately set us free to fashion a better and more just world. 

My brothers and sisters, let us pray for the grace and strength to live the life of the prophet in our families, neighborhoods, jobs and communities.   May that truly be our lasting and greatest legacy as followers of the Lord.

Big Pharma

The content of this post is somewhat different from the one’s I generally post in my Blog; however, it is my hope that readers will find it not only of interest but a commentary on a critical issue for a growing number of users of prescription drugs. 

As many of you know, some ten years ago I was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular condition called primary lateral sclerosis.  This condition primarily impacts the upper motor neurons in the brain that control voluntary muscle movement, adversely impacting my ability to walk normally as well as my balance together with the impacting the muscles that control speech.  Thankfully, it progresses slowly and I have fortunately received exceptional medical care by my neurologist connected with UCI. 

Approximately five years ago, I began to notice that I was having a difficult time controlling my emotions, particularly unexpected moments of both crying and laughing.  I would be watching the evening news (not just stories about Trump!) and a story would come on about a tragedy or soldiers dying in combat and I would find myself breaking down and crying unexpectantly.  On the other hand, I’d be watching a comedy and something humorous would trigger laughing over and beyond what would be my normal response to something funny. 

Speaking with my neurologist, I was diagnosed with a condition that is not uncommon to persons with neurological conditions such as ALS, PLS, MS and Parkinson’s Disease or those with spinal cord injuries.  It’s called pseudobulbar affect or PBA. Perhaps some of you have seen the commercials on TV that highlight this condition such as the following: 

Fortunately, there is an FDA approved drug to address this condition.  It is called Nuedexta and it is made by a local pharmaceutical company here in Orange County, Avenir Pharmaceuticals.  Amazingly, the drug is a simple compound of two very old and common ingredients: Dextromethorphan that is found in many over the counter cough syrups and quinidine a drug that has been on the market for years as an antiarrhythmic medication.  The price for these drugs is cheap, really cheap! 

For a number of years, I was able to control the condition but in the last two years it was becoming more and more bothersome, particularly in public.  I’d be talking about my experience on 9/11 or even simply hearing the National Anthem, and I’d break down in crying.  My doctor wisely encouraged me to begin the medication this past summer. 

After five days of taking the samples he gave me, I found that appropriate emotional control had ‘miraculously’ returned to normal levels!  There were only very slight initial side-effects that subsided in a matter of days and I thankfully could engage in conversations without worrying about a topic that might trigger a crying episode.  That’s the good news of this story. 

The bad news introduced me personally to the Byzantine world of ‘big pharma’ and the insurance industry and the sky-rocketing cost of drug pricing in this country. 

After the initial sample was completed, I called in the script for the medication.  To my shock, a 30-day supply of the medication was over $ 1000.00 and with my insurance it was $ 900.00 a month!  My doctor and his staff then began the onerous appeal process with my insurance carrier.  It appears that this appeal process is still in process, going on over five months! At each level, they reject an appeal for any lowering of price.  At this point I am not terrible optimistic that the pricing will be lowered. 

The Diocese of Orange has an exceptionally good and generous medical coverage for its retired priests. Our supplemental insurance plan to Medicare is excellent together with our prescription drug coverage through United Health Care.  I have been assured that the Diocese will cover this expense even if it is not covered by our insurance carrier.  However, at this point I refuse to saddle the Diocese with this kind of outrageous expense without a fight.  Fortunately, as my doctor and his staff battle with the insurance company, they are supplying me with free samples of the drug. 

My story is only a small chapter in the incredible challenges that so many in our country face who do not have the quality insurance coverage that I am fortunate to have and are faced with truly outrageous drug pricing for a variety of illnesses.  Of course, research and development in new and effective drugs requires appropriate funding.  However, it is clear that someone is making out like bandits in this scheme to gouge the American public in drug prices that are truly out of bounds.   

For those who have stuck with this story this far, the following video provides additional information on this drug.  My only quibble with it is that, in my case, the drug has proven to be extremely effective in addressing my condition.

Sunday Reflection - The Body of Christ

A bishop told one of his priests that he was sending him to be Pastor of a really difficult parish – so difficult, in fact, that it had become known among the priests as “the graveyard of Pastors.”    “I’ve been advised to close the place,” the bishop said.  “But I’d like to make one last attempt.  I’m asking you to go there and see what you can do.”         

            The priest had not been in his assignment a month when he found that everything he had heard about the parish was true.  Attendance at Sunday Masses was pathetic.  The only thing parishioners seemed to be good at was malicious gossip, backbiting, and criticism.     So, one Sunday the Pastor announced: “I have some bad news for you.  I hate to tell you, but this parish is dead.  So, at 10 o’clock next Sunday we’re going to celebrate a funeral Mass for this parish.”  

          In the days following news of this sensational announcement spread like wildfire.  At 10 o’clock the following Sunday the church was full.  There were funeral wreaths up front, and an open coffin.  The Pastor announced that before beginning the Mass, he wanted everyone to come forward to pay their respects to the deceased.  As people filed by, they got a shock.  The coffin was empty – save for a large mirror.  Each person looking in at the deceased saw a picture of himself or herself. 

          My brothers and sisters, I have told you that story – and of course it is just a story – because St. Paul is saying something very similar in our second reading.  “You are Christ’s body,” he writes, “and individually parts of it.”  And Paul goes on to say that though Christ’s body has many different parts, each with its own function, there are no unimportant parts.  

          Where did Paul get this idea that the Church is Christ’s body?  He got it in the event which changed his life: Paul’s dramatic encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus.  That encounter was so important to Paul that it is recounted three times over in the Acts of the Apostles.  We find it first in chapter 9.  You know the story.  “As Saul [his Jewish name, for he not yet received his Christian name of Paul in baptism] approached Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed about him.  He fell to the ground and at the same time heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’  ‘Who are you, sir?’ he asked.  The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’”     Note Jesus’ question: not, “Why are you persecuting my followers, or my Church?”, but “Why do you persecute me?”  Paul’s insight, that Jesus’ followers, born into the Church by baptism, comprise Christ’s body,came straight from that question, and that encounter. 

          But what do we really mean when we say that the Church is Christ’s body?  No one has stated it better than the sixteenth century Spanish Carmelite, St. Teresa of Avila.  This is what she said: Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he is to go about doing good; yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now. 

          My friends, do we really believe that?  Do we believe that the Church is not just the clergy and other religious professionals, but all of us?  Many Catholics today do believe that.  But not all.  Old habits die hard.  Some of our ways of speaking betray a different view.  We hear people saying, for instance: “Why doesn’t the Church do something” about this or that problem?  Or when a young man is ordained a priest, people say: “He went into the Church.”  In both of those examples the assumption is that the Church is synonymous with the clergy — and today perhaps other religious professionals who work with the clergy.           

            That older view of the Church sees the laity as something like customers in a filling station.  If they are good customers, they drop into the station weekly to fill up their tanks.  When they need a tune-up they may go to confession.  Otherwise the customers are content to leave the running of the station to others.  There are still Catholics who think that way, and act that way.  They like that model of the Church.  It is easier, and less bother.           

            I called that the older view of the Church.  It is not the oldest view, however, and certainly not the original view.  The original view is the one set forth by St. Paul in our second reading.  The Church is Christ’s body.  That means that the Church is all of us.  We don’t just go to church.  We are the Church.  If the Church is truly Christ’s body, and not just a spiritual service station, then there can be no passive customers.  We are all called to be active messengers of Christ’s mercy, healing, and liberating love.             

            We can take this a step farther.  If baptism has made us active members of Christ’s body, on whom he depends to continue his work in the world, then our relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the head of the body, cannot be a merely one-to-one, private affair.  As members of Christ’s body we are related not merely to Christ our head, but to all the other members of his body as well.  As Paul says in our second reading: “If one part [of the body] suffers, all parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”          

              So often we think of our religion as a striving after high and distant ideals which constantly elude us.  That is wrong!  Being a follower of Jesus Christ never means trying to become something we are not.  It means living up to what, through baptism, we already are.  In baptism we were born into the great family of God called the Catholic Church.  We became, in Paul’s language, members of Christ’s body.  None of the members is unimportant.  None is passive.         

            The differences between the members of Christ’s body are differences of function.  Paul lists some of these functions at the end of our second reading: apostles, prophets, teachers, the doers of “mighty deeds,” healers, administrators.  All are equally important.  And all of us, as members of Christ’s body are joined in intimate fellowship with one another.  Together we all have an intimate relationship with the head of the body: Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord – but also our brother, our lover, our best friend.

Sunday Reflection - The gift and grace of Marriage

One of the enjoyable and ministry enriching experiences that every priest is privileged to have is to preside at wedding celebrations.  We priests have a special perspective as we look into the eyes of brides and grooms as they come before God’s Holy Altar – a perspective that is sometimes missed by the congregation. There is that special moment when the doors open and the groom sees his bride for the first time bedecked in her wedding day splendor.  For some of the guys the emotion of the moment is just too much as they do everything possible to control their uncontrollable emotion.  As they nervously kneel on display in front of their families and friends, we see the little gestures of endearment that each gives to the other as the special moment in their lives unfolds.  The touch of a hand, the knowing look, the gentle wrestling to get the ring on the other’s finger, a loving embrace.  Yes, these gestures all reflect the special joy and grace of this moment.   However, the journey is just beginning.  I often tell couples that not every day of their lives together will be the golden, joy-filled peak emotional experience of their wedding day!   There will be challenges, there will be moments of heartache, there will be times where romance can indeed give way to disillusionment. Yet, that is indeed the case for all of us in the human journey of life – no matter what way of life God calls us to. However, my friends, we never face those moments alone.  As the Body of Christ, we are called as a Church to give support and encouragement to all who selflessly give themselves to another in Holy Matrimony. 

As we enter into Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar and leave the Christmas Season to be celebrated again next year, it is providential that God’s word sets before us Scriptures that speak to us of the most fundamental reality that grounds our society – the gift and promise of marriage.   Our Catholic theology beautifully tells us that in the ordinariness of love between a husband and a wife something profoundly important, something exceptionally extraordinary, is revealed and disclosed to us about the way that God himself loves us.   We call marriage a sacrament in our Church, not because the Lord Jesus created marriage – which of course he did not – but rather he embraced this fundamental human reality and made it the opportunity for us to see through this human and profound love to the way that God himself loves us.  For God’s love for us is permanent, faithful and life giving. 

As a priest, I can only point to the contours of the mystery that marital love is for us as members of the Church.  My knowledge is theoretical and for that reason only partial.  That is why we hold up in our Church all couples who have given themselves to each other in Holy Matrimony as a living theology of the beauty and intimacy of God’s love for us, his holy people. 

In many respects, Marriage is an endangered reality in our world and culture today.  Most of us are aware of the tragic and painful reality of marital failure. While upholding the dignity and sanctity of Marriage, we are also a Church of healing and understanding for all whose lives have been painfully impacted by marital failure.   

We must never forget the wise words of “Dear Abbey” who reminded us many years ago that the Church is not a “Museum for Saints, but a Hospital for Sinners!”  And so, as we extol the beauty and grace of marriage together with a realistic understanding of its challenges, we pray and support within our Church who have had to face the crucible of marital failure.  We pray that the Lord who knows “our heart of hearts” will grant our sisters and brothers the grace and courage to move through this difficult journey in life with dignity and integrity. 

As we reflect on the gift and promise of Christian Marriage, let us remember this day all couples who share this wondrous sacrament, that the Lord will deepen the love given and received however many years ago.  That through that love and intimacy, all of us might come to see a glimpse of the way the Lord himself loves us, his Holy People.

Sunday Reflection - Baptism of the Lord

As a young priest one of the ministries that brought me great joy was teaching a seminar for the deacons, soon to be priests, at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, my own alma mater.  The seminar was a very practical sharing with these men on the dynamics of how to celebrate the sacraments well.  We would look at each of the sacraments and I would have these deacons literally walk through, ‘how to baptize,’ ‘how to anoint the sick,’ ‘how to lead a funeral liturgy,’ ‘how to celebrate a wedding mass.’  I was gratified some years ago having one of those deacons, now a priest for almost 25 years, tell me how important and helpful that seminar was for him. In fact, he even quoted back to me what I told those soon to be priests, “Catholics are either made or lost at baptisms, weddings or funerals…so celebrate them well!” 

Indeed, these moments of grace not only anchor our faith as Catholics, they express the faith of the Church, what it is we believe about coming to life in Christ, experiencing his healing mercy, as well as our call to mission and ministry in the life of the Church of Christ. 

As we gather to formally bring to a close the Christmas Season on this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, it is an opportune time for us to reflect on this first and foundational sacrament in our journey of faith. 

We have all heard the expression, ‘blood is thicker than water,’ to express the intimacy of relationship that exists with our families. Paradoxically, however, through the waters of baptism an intimate relationship is forged with all who are made new through these waters of grace and blessing.  For in baptism, each one of us becomes a son or daughter of the Father, brother or sister in Christ and to one another.  In many respects, together with the Eucharist, baptism is the sacrament that forges this divine communion with one another and the Lord. 

We sometimes hear folks talking of ‘Catholic’ baptism or ‘Lutheran’ baptism or ‘Presbyterian’ baptism.  While such terms have commonly crept into our vocabulary, it is important to keep in mind that there is really only one baptism, and that is Christian baptism.  For it is this sacrament shared by so many Churches that share a common belief in a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that binds us all together as members of the common household of the Christian faith.  Sadly, over the centuries, that household has become divided. Divergent traditions and expressions of faith have developed.  Yet, these differences in belief can never erase the common identity that we share as the baptized of the Lord. 

St. Paul in his letter to Titus, beautifully captures the deepest meaning of this sacramental moment that radically has changed your life and mine.  

When the kindness and generous love

of God our savior appeared,

not because of any righteous deeds we had done

but because of his mercy,

He saved us through the bath of rebirth

and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

whom he richly poured out on us

through Jesus Christ our savior,

so that we might be justified by his grace

and become heirs in hope of eternal life. 

Justified and saved by the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior – that, my friends, is the unmerited gift and hope that we share in this first sacrament of the Lord’s unfailing Love.

Sunday Reflection - Epiphany

Who were these “magi from the east,” who set out to follow a star and found instead “the child [Jesus] with Mary his mother”?  We know the magi from other translations as “the Wise Men.”  To their contemporaries they were not wise.  They were crackpots who were not playing with a full deck.  Who were they in reality? 

The Wise Men were searchers          

            They were not content with routine, with life as they found it.  They wanted more.  Yet the Wise Men were not idle daydreamers.  They were willing to abandon routine, to set out on what seemed to everyone but themselves a madcap journey, following a star. 

          People are searching today – searching for answers to life’s mysteries.  If this is God’s world, people ask, why does he permit so much pain, injustice, and suffering?  Must we always live under the threat of international terrorism?  How can we master the dark forces within ourselves that threaten to drag us down from the highest and best that deep in our hearts we want, and to destroy our inner peace: dark forces like envy, hatred, lust, resentments, sloth, and the self-centeredness of conceit and pride?  Is death simply the end, like the snuffing out of a candle?  Or is there life beyond death?              

            Those are just some of the questions that perplex us today.  There are many more.  Sometimes it seems there is no end to life’s questions, problems, and mysteries.  When we are tempted to fear that there are no real answers to our questions, because life at bottom is meaningless, the Wise Men can help us.  Like us, they were searchers.  But they were more. 

The Wise Men were discoverers. 

          They continued their search despite its seeming futility, despite all discouragements and setbacks.  In the end they were rewarded.  They found the One they were looking for.  Matthew tells us that when the Wise Men finally arrived at the end of their long journey, “they were overjoyed.”          

            The One whom they encountered as a baby would speak about this joy three decades later.  He would tell of the shepherd’s joy at finding his lost sheep; of the woman’s joy at finding her lost coin; the joy of the dealer in precious stones finding one day in the bazaar a pearl so large and flawless that it made all he had seen and owned up to then seem cheap baubles by comparison; the joy of the day laborer at discovering in his employer’s field an unsuspected treasure that would change his life.            

            For all these people the joy of discovery was purchased at the price of lengthy searching.  Even the laborer accidentally finding the treasure buried in the field he was plowing had behind him years of grinding toil, when the very idea that he could ever rise above the subsistence level seemed ludicrous.  The Wise Men’s joy was purchased at the price of perseverance in the face of many defeats and the scorn of those who thought them mad.          

            Our own search for answers to life’s mysteries is – whether we know it or not – a search for the One whom the Wise men found.  It is a search for God.  The search is not in vain.  God can be found.  God wants to be found.          

            We think the search is all ours.  In reality, God is already searching for us.  The One who led the Wise Men by the shining of a star leads us onward by the powerful attraction of his love, shining in the face of his Son, Jesus Christ.  For us, as for the Wise Men at the end of their search, great joy awaits: the overwhelming joy of knowing that we have been found by the One who, all along, was searching for us, though we never realized it at the time.           

            The Wise Men’s search, and their joy in discovering the One they sought, encourage us.  But the Wise Men were not only searchers and discoverers –  

The Wise Men were worshippers 

          Matthew tells us that in the joy of discovery, “they prostrated themselves and did him homage.  Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” – the most precious, and the most costly thing that each possessed.          

            The end of the search, then, is neither the discovery nor the joy. When at last you have found the One who, all along, has been searching for you, everything is transformed.  The only fitting response is worship.          

            To worship means to forget ourselves. It means entrusting ourselves to the One who is greater than our greatest thought and higher than our most lofty imagining; and yet who is present in the humblest and smallest and weakest of his creatures, as he was present in the infant at Bethlehem. Worship is the highest form of prayer there is. The late Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote:          

            “The person who thinks only of himself says prayers of petition.  The person who thinks of his neighbor says prayers of intercession.  The person who thinks only of loving and serving God says prayers of abandonment to God’s will.  And that is the prayer of the saints.”             

            So who are the Wise Men?  They are our fellow travelers on life’s pilgrimage.  Matthew leaves them nameless.  Hence they can bear our names.  Wise is every Anne and John and Mary and David who is not content with life as it is; who is willing to break with routine in order to search for answers to life’s mysteries; who refuses to admit that life is meaningless, but continues to search for answers and meaning despite all difficulties and discouragements.  Yes, wise are all those who persevere in this search until it ends in joy – and joy gives way to worship.          

            Who, then, are the Wise Men?  The Wise Men are ourselves, in God’s plan and according to God’s will.  One thing alone can prevent the accomplishment of God’s plan and God’s will for your life: your own deliberate and final No.            

            “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,” we heard at the end of the gospel, “they departed for their country by another way.”  The Fathers of the Church say that this was natural: no one comes to Jesus and goes back the same way he came.  The encounter with the Lord changes us.  We go home from worship changed, because here we have been brought into the bright circle of God’s love – not just to give us a warm feeling inside, but so that we may share that love with others: Jesus’ sisters and brothers – and ours too.  

Sunday Reflection - The Holy Family

Not long after his surprise election as the successor to Pope Benedict, Pope Francis surprised many in selecting the island of Lampedusa as the destination for his first papal visit outside of the city of Rome.  Lampedusa is an island off the Western tip of Sicily. Since the early 2000’s, Lampedusa, the European territory closest to Libya, has become a prime transit point for illegal immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia wanting to enter Europe. The treacherous journey from Africa in waters that are prone to sudden storms and strong currents has tragically been the occasion of the death of thousands of these migrants, including whole families. Pope Francis’ decision to visit this island and to call the world’s attention to the plight of these refugees has become a stinging indictment of the complacency that these refugees face as they seek freedom from tyranny and a better life for their families. 

As we gather in faith, basking in the joy of the Feast of the Nativity, the Sunday following Christmas is always dedicated to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  In the mysterious unfolding of Salvation history, God our Father choose to reveal His Son as a member of a human family with Mary his Mother and Joseph as his foster father.  Touched by so great a gift, all families are ennobled.  When we hear the word, ‘family’ it is easy for us in our American culture to think immediately of what social scientist refer to as the ‘nuclear’ family of father, mother and children.  Yet, for the vast majority of other cultures around the world, that word ‘family’ is understood in an expansive and extended way to include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins crossing generations.  The notion of the ‘extended’ family speaks of the profound interrelatedness that we have as members of the human family.  

For people of faith, there has always been a core belief in the intimate bond that exists among all God’s children.  As daughters and sons of a loving father, we are called to see in our neighbor as a brother or sister in the human family.  One of the most tragic ironies that can mar the true face of all religions is to deny this foundational belief.  Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi in Britain, argues this point in his remarkable book, Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence.  Hechallenges believers to face this painful fact.  He states, too often in the history of religion, people have killed in the name of the God of life, waged war in the name of the God of peace, hated in the name of the God of love and practiced cruelty in the name of the God of compassion.  He insists that when religion turns men into murderers, God weeps. 

To Cain’s perennial question in the Book of Genesis that reverberates down through the centuries: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s unfailing and consistent response has been a resounding ‘yes!”  As Christians we are called to nurture bonds of solidarity and communion with all the members of God’s family here on earth.  In doing so we can give the most credible evidence of the heart of what it means to bear the name Christian.  

With this in mind on this Feast of the Holy Family, let us listen again with open ears and hearts to Paul’s admonish to the the first Christians in Colossae and pray for the grace to live these words daily in the New Year that is before us: 

Brothers and sisters:

Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,

heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

bearing with one another and forgiving one another,

if one has a grievance against another;

as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.

And over all these put on love,

that is, the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,

the peace into which you were also called in one body.

Christmas Reflection

There was a lovely and poignant story that appeared toward the end of November some years ago as Churches around the country prepared to celebrate the Advent Season.  José Moran, a janitor at Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hills, in Queens, New York had just completed setting up the traditional manger scene in the Church – if I might add a personal liturgical opinion at this point – a bit early for my taste!  Shortly afterward, as he was doing his usual cleaning of the Church in anticipation of the weekend masses, he heard the sound of a crying child coming from the direction of the Nativity.  As he neared the Nativity display, there, lying in the manger was a newborn child with his umbilical cord still attached.  He ran to the rectory to notify the priest, Fr. Christopher, a recently ordained priest. Both of them immediately attended to the needs of this tiny child, wrapping him carefully in a small towel as they notified authorities.  Upon investigation, it appears that this little fellow was apparently abandoned by his mother who desperately wanted a home for a child she could not care for. Fr. Christopher, said, "God has a way of working mysteriously because I believe when this woman who came in with this child, saw this creche, this empty home, this home in which we'll welcome Jesus in just a few short weeks, I believe she found in it a home for her child." 

My friends as we once again mark and celebrate this feast in which we with grateful hearts remember the birth of the Savior, this lovely story points to a profound truth of our faith – a truth that is meant for you and for me this day.   

Each and everyone of us is like that small child.  For through the mystery of the Incarnation, our loving Father in His Son, Jesus, has reached out to make a home for us in His Heart.   From the very dawn of creation, God’s loving plan for the human family was to enfold us in his creative and unfailing love.  Yet, humanity turned from this invitation and embrace seeking its own way in a fragile and broken world.  Yet, God’s love and mercy is unrelenting.  Through Prophets of old, the call to return to that original embrace was proclaimed time and time again.  Finally, in the fullness of time, the God who lives in unapproachable light, embraced our humanity, making his home with us in the vulnerability of a newborn child.   

That, my friends, is the meaning of the Christmas mystery – the good news that you and I are never alone, never abandoned no matter how frightening this world of ours might appear.  No, we are never alone. 

And our response to so great a gift?  Just one wonderful word – Gratitude.  And so on this Christmas Eve we come to this Table of Grace and Blessing with grateful hearts to say ‘Thanks’ to our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whose name is Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Sunday Reflection - The God of Surprises

There was a terrible shipwreck and only one man survived, cast ashore on a tiny island with nothing but the clothes on his back.  For a while he hoped for rescue.  But in time he knew he had to make a life there on the island. And that is what he did.  He taught himself to fish and hunt, to garden and cook, and he built himself a charming little cottage overlooking the bay. He even carved a tiny flute which he played every night after supper. 

One day he hiked to the top of the mountain at the center of the island to see what he could see.  As he reached the top, what he saw was a tower of smoke and his little cottage going up in flames. 

He ran down the mountain as fast as he could.  But it was too late.  The cottage was in ashes – and – his flute, his garden, his tools, his bow and arrows – everything he’d made with his own hands was gone, all gone! 

He wept.  He raged. He cursed God.  He despaired.  And finally, as night came, he collapsed on the sand and fell into a deep sleep.  The next morning, he was awakened by sailors who had rowed ashore from a great ship to rescue him.  “But,” he exclaimed, “how after all this time did you know I was here?” “Ah,” said the captain, “we saw the smoke from your signal fire.”   

My friends, when all seems lost and we can feel our emptiness and feel our aloneness, God has a way of surprising us.  If our hearts are open, God has a way of filling us in a way we’d least expect.  And that’s precisely the insight that the Lord sets before us today in the Gospel of Luke.  Elizabeth, a childless old woman, and Mary, a peasant girl with no prospects, come together in a tiny country village to share a secret that no one else yet knows: God had not left them empty.   

As they meet, God is filling the two of them with new life that will be a joy for all their people and that remains a joy for us today.  And so, they hug and kiss and cry for joy because they know that God has not forgotten his people or left them empty.  And never will. 

Jesus is God’s living promise never to abandon or forget us, but always to be a life giver for us.  God can give us life even in the worst and emptiest of times, even when all seems lost if we let go of the inner barriers of despair, anger, and distrust.  God can open the doors of a new world for us and fill our emptiness full – just as he did for Mary and Elizabeth.  God can do all that if we let him. 

So, my friends, let us pray with confident hearts: 

Come, Lord Jesus, come now.  Take away our emptiness.  Fill us with your presence and make us your own!  Amen.

Christmas Rejoicing & New Year Blessings!

Dearest Friends, 

For over four decades I have carefully prepared each Advent Season, Christmas cards sent in the traditional ‘snail-mail’ fashion to dear friends.  With advancing age and the ease of digital communication, I hope you don’t mind this more ‘contemporary’ form of delivery via my Blog!  

2018 has been a blessed year.  I continue to thank the good Lord for his many blessings with a special prayer of gratitude for a loving and caring sister, endearing and supportive friends as well as relative stability in health.  I have been fortunate that there have not been any substantial changes to my neurological condition other than a bit slower speech.  For that, I am grateful. 

My consultation work on our soon to be completed Christ Cathedral continues to be extremely gratifying.  All major construction should be completed by March or April of 2019, with its Solemn Dedication set for July 17, 2019.  The very last element in the renovation/restoration project will be the reinstallation of the completed refurbished Hazel Wright Memorial Organ with its over 17,000 pipes!  While it will not be readied for the Dedication, when it is, later in the year, there will be an additional celebration to mark this milestone.

Melinda and I have enjoyed a year filled with opportunities to celebrate our friendship  with so many good friends over lunches and dinners. Being a dog-lover, I have valued my times with my good friends, Chuck & Christine Dow and their brood of 3 dogs, Bella, Roxie and Max!  Saturday morning breakfasts ‘with the dogs’ have become a weekly ritual. 

Retirement has provided a marvelous opportunity to indulge my great passion for reading, the fruit of which I’ve generously shared on Facebook.  The present political climate has certainly fueled no end of ‘fascinating’ commentary! 

May the New Year that is soon upon us be a time of grace and blessing for you and your loved ones as we prepare to soon celebrate the Feast of the Incarnate Lord of Life and Love. May His peace reign in our hearts and homes this coming year. 

Love,

(Msgr.) Arthur

Sunday Reflection - From Paranoia to Metanoia

Gathering on this Third Sunday of the Advent Season with its traditional name of “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” Sunday, we hear that familiar theme spoken of not only in our first reading from the Prophet Zephaniah, urging us to ‘shout for joy,’ but more importantly in our second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, I shall say it again, rejoice.’  Well folks, no matter how many times we may say that word these days it is not going to magically dispel the understandable fear and paranoia that seems to be gripping our world and our society.  The specter of terrorist attacks the world over, like the most recent attack that shattered pre-Christmas festivities in the Strasbourg Christmas market, haunts so many of us since 9/11.  

That term, paranoia, is defined as ‘a thought process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. The concern that grips our land is far from irrational.  Ever since the defining terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11 in our country, it is understandable that the specter of apprehension in the face of today’s present menace of fundamentalist jihadi terrorists is a present reality.  Any responsible nation concerned with the security and common good of its citizens does well to be appropriately responsive to such real threats.  This fear, however, becomes irrational and delusional – indeed paranoid – a word from the Greek that literally means, ‘out of one’s mind’ – when it becomes unhinged from reality.  When it becomes an obsessional reality fed by the often opportunistic ravings of the irresponsible.   

The Advent Season for us as Christians is a clarion call for each of us to replace paranoia with metanoia– the beautiful Greek term that means the conversion of our minds and hearts to the one who ultimately can calm all our fears with the transforming power of His hope and His promise.   

It was this reality that was at the heart of the preaching of the last and greatest of the Israelite prophets, John the Baptist.  Paranoia invariably has the tendency of causing those who are victimized by its irrationality to go inward – destructive voices are heard in one’s mind, everyone is out to get us, fear surrounds us at every corner.  Whereas, the message of metanoiaor conversion that John preached is a challenge to his hearers of every age to go out of oneself in order to truly find the meaning that gives all life value.  

“Whoever has two cloaks

should share with the person who has none.

And whoever has food should do likewise.” 

Metanoia – or a change of heart, is living a life that in many respects is counter to the exultation of the self and the narcissism that surrounds us daily.  Metanoia living is quite simply the essence of the Christian way of life that tells us that life will only truly be found if we are willing to give our lives away in service to others. 

The most profound example of this kind of living, will of course be found and celebrated in the mystery of the Incarnation for which these days of Advent prepare us.  For in the mystery of Christmas, the God who lives in unapproachable light, embraces our human nature, becomes like us in all things but sin, so that fear might be transformed by hope, loneliness by divine communion, death by the gift of eternal life in his unfailing and merciful love.  

As the great feast of Christmas approaches, may the gift and meaning of this feast truly touch the minds and hearts of so many who continue to live in the shadows of fear, so that its grace may indeed free and empower us with its hope and promise.

Sunday Reflection - Truth-telling

Do you remember the television game show from the 1960’s, To Tell the Truth?  Three people tried to stump a panel of celebrities, all three of which claiming to be someone who had accomplished an unusual feat.  The panel tried to guess which of the three was telling the truth.  It was harmless enough.  But it also showed how persuasive and tricky lying could be.  Sometimes it is hard to tell who is telling the truth, isn’t it? Don’t you wish there were a little buzzer that went off when someone told a lie, exposing the deceit before any damage could be done? 

         But there is no such buzzer.  There is no spell that makes a person’s nose grow like Pinocchio’s when they lie.  In fact, even when a person swears with their hand on a Bible in a courtroom, under penalty of perjury, they still may not be telling the truth.  As a result, we are all a bit jaded these days, wondering whom to trust, wondering who is really telling the truth.  We long for the legendary honesty of George Washington and the cherry tree.  What ever happened to politicians who could say, “I cannot tell a lie?”  Of course, the outstanding majority of those in honorable professions are scrupulously honest; and that is why the deception of a small few makes the headlines.  But the damage to our national psyche is done nonetheless.  Does anyone really tell the truth these days?  Or is the truth so twisted by spin-doctors that it simply does not exist these days? 

         We are not the first generation of humans to ask this question.  In the dawning days of the New Testament the people were facing the same despair.  There was no lack of people who had climbed the ladder to success by twisting the truth to their own benefit, like Herod the King.  There was no lack of religious leaders who had learned the fine art of political correctness, soft-peddling the truth lest the powers-that-be become offended, or their own position of power be threatened.  There was no lack of tax collectors and Roman soldiers who were corrupt, bending the truth in whichever way suited them.  But into this caldron of half-truth and deception, what happens?   God sent a messenger named John, with a new word of pure truth.  We tell his story these days of Advent to remind us that truth always wins in the end, even if the person who tells it is killed for telling it.  My friends the truth is, we are all dying to hear the truth, the real truth.  Like the game show, we want to say, “Will the person telling the truth please just stand up?” And John the Baptist stood up. But the real challenge for us in this day and age is how can we be people of the truth too?   

         To tell the truth means a person must have a moral center, a sense of truth that keeps them anchored to integrity. 

         No one sets out to be a serial liar, any more than a person intends to become an alcoholic.  It is a slow drift, an almost imperceptible slide across time.  The first lie is a small one, an impulsive dodge of a question whose truthful answer would get us punished for a small misdeed.  Soon, we learn the art of half-truth, of diplomatic word-smithing, of situational ethics.  By the time we are pathological liars we have developed the skill so well that we cannot even tell where the line is between truth and deception anymore. Is there any hope for a person like this, or for a culture like this? 

         Well, yes, there is.  Telling the truth is a choice.  And it is a habit, a discipline.  And ultimately, it becomes a matter of character.  My brothers and sisters, as a people of hope, it is never too late to reverse the course of our lives.  But the first place to go is to the very heart of the person, to secure the heart in the only Source of all truth, God Himself.  Truth-telling is not just a matter of a New Year’s resolution, like losing ten pounds or organizing the tax receipts better.  Turning from a life of deception to a life commitment to truth-telling begins by anchoring oneself to the God who is all truth, in whom is no shadow or deception at all.  It is a faith matter, at its core.  The more a person ties their sense of truth to the God of truth, the more likely that person is to resist twisting the truth to their own benefit.  God can redraw that line between truth and falsehood for us, etching it gently but firmly into our psyche until a little buzzer does go off in our brains when we step across it.  And then, the more we practice telling the truth, the easier it becomes, until after a while it hardly seems like a choice anymore, it just feels right. Because it is right. 

         John the Baptist had such an anchor in God.  He feared God, that is, he respected only God’s opinion of him, and as a result, he cared very little about the opinions of others.  And because he feared God, he did not need to fear anyone else.  And thus, he was not tossed around by public acclaim nor by the threats of the powerful people his truth threatened.  John’s message dared to expose the secrets that everyone knew, whether they be in Herod’s household or in the secret hearts of ordinary people.  And that truth-telling was so rare in those days that people sought out John, to hear his message of repentance.  Like water in the desert, John’s words slaked the thirst of the people’s hearts to hear the truth. 

         But to tell the truth has another benefit; telling the truth is a simpler way to live. 

         My friends, how much emotional and mental energy does it take to lie, and then to cover up afterwards?  Those who tell the truth do not have to waste time looking over their shoulder, fearing when the lie catches up to them.  As Satchel Paige once said, “A lie will take you far, but a lie will not get you home.” Spouses involved in affairs become ensnared in an ever-tightening vise of the double life.  Business leaders who attempt to deceive investors or employees must keep increasing their level of intrigue to stay ahead of the baying hounds of consequences that pursue them.  In the end it simply becomes too complex, too difficult, too exhausting to continue.  But the person who tells the truth, even if that truth is painful at first, lives free of these complications.  That is not to say that truth-telling has no risk.  Folks, Herod killed John the Baptist.  But even that cruel act did not cut off John’s voice, because Jesus came to pick up the message, and the disciples of John continued to venerate his work, even to this very day. 

         In the end, the truth wins, every time.  And maybe that is why people today name their sons John.  Have you noticed, no one names their son Herod?

The American Disabilities Act - 1990

There are many inspiring and moving tributes occasioned by the recent death of George H.W. Bush, our 41stPresident who died on last Friday night.  I would like to offer my own personal tribute for his lasting mark on persons with disabilities in our country.  As many of you know, due to his unfailing efforts in building bipartisan bridges in Congress, President Bush was able to sign in 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act, that prohibits discrimination due to disabilities.  Going against the oft repeated Republican refrain of ‘deregulation’in government, President Bush supported and signed this bill because it was the just and right thing to do. 

In 2008, I began to experience the beginnings in my own life of what would eventually be diagnosed as Primary Lateral Sclerosis, a rare upper-motor neuron disease that would dramatically alter my mobility, requiring the use of a walker, electric scooter and wheelchair.  While I was aware of the provisions and requirements of the ADA law as a pastor often involved in remodeling projects that required access accommodation for persons with disabilities (and its added expense!), it was only when I was personally impacted by a disability that I came to fully understand the profound impact of this law in our land. 

Prior to this law, such simple things for persons with disabilities such as crossing the street in a wheelchair, communication for the hearing impaired or speech impaired using a telephone or simply attempting to use a public restroom, were cumbersome if not impossible due to the inability of access.  Embarrassed by such restrictions, persons with disabilities often withdrew not only for being productive members of the workforce but sadly, began to live in the shadows of life.   

The ADA substantially changed this, providing dignified and near-universal access in public spaces. I can’t tell you how important it is to not have to worry if I will have access to a restroom in going to a restaurant or other public space for fear that I wouldn’t be able to maneuver my scooter or electric wheelchair into the restroom!  While contractors or owners of public spaces may bristle at times at the expense such accommodation may cost, when you are a person with mobility challenges it is quite simply, priceless! 

Such support for this important Bill, is another reflection of the measure of the man who understood that compassion was an indispensable aspect of his character as a leader of integrity. While wielding immense power, those who worked for him unfailingly said that rarely if ever did they hear him belittle, demean or even raise his voice in anger to others, so important was his respect for the important office that he held as President of the United States. Thank you, President Bush!

Sunday Reflection - Integrity

Since last night’s sad news of the death of former President George H. W. Bush, I have been tremendously touched by the tributes that have been pouring in from all over the world.  The last President of ‘the greatest generation’ and a hero of World War II, his entire life was a living legacy to the word ‘service.’  Exceptionally prepared for the Presidency having served our country in Congress, as an Ambassador to the UN and envoy to China, the Director of the CIA and finally, serving as Vice-President under President Ronald Reagan, he was the epitome of the now lost art of politics at its best – serving others rather than self.  Over and over again, the word that came to mind in reflecting on this man of character was integrity. 

Integrity is a relatively rare virtue today. It is the fruit of day after day after day of living in hope, trying to be the kind of person you would admire, “even when no one is watching,” so writes the famous Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.   

My friends, as we celebrate today the beginning of a new liturgical year with this First Sunday of the Advent Season, God’s word once again calls us to a foundational truth of our faith.  That truth can be summed up in the following scriptural maxim, We have not here a lasting city.  It is so very easy for all of us caught up in the daily challenges that are before us each day, whether that be our work, school, family life or other relationships, to lose sight of the bigger picture of our human and Christian existence.   God’s word in these first weeks of Advent calls us to reflect on the somewhat unpopular and unpleasant realities that we sometimes call the four last things:  death, judgment, hell and heaven.  Let’s be honest folks, when was the last time you heard a homily about these topics? As uncomfortable as these verities are in our lives, we avoid them at our own peril.   

I began these reflections with a quote on ‘integrity’ because our pilgrimage in life will ultimately be judged by how well we have lived that virtue, even when no one is watching.  Of course, in truth, you and I are always under the watchful and loving gaze of a God who has challenged us to be his voice, his hands and his heart in a world fractured by brokenness and fear.   

The Prophet Jeremiah in our first reading speaks of two realities that we all long for in life:  to be safe and secure.  These are indeed fragile realities that can be snatched from us in an instant by jihadi terrorists or a crazed gunman in a second-grade classroom. 

In the midst of the world’s fragility, God’s word calls us to be ready at any moment for these four last things.  Our readiness, of course, must be grounded in the courage and tenacity we give to living our lives daily with integrity.   

In these recent years on the political scene, we sadly have an overabundance of examples of what it means not to be a person of integrity -  The crude and demeaning caricature of fellow human beings, the twisting of truth to serve one’s own narrow ends, the narcissistic exultation of one’s own self-made accomplishments.  Yes, we do indeed have one too many examples of what it means not to be persons of integrity in our world and society today. 

No wonder then that all of us hunger for mentors, heroes and examples of courageous men and women who have selflessly paid the price of living lives of integrity, even when no one is looking.  

Often, these individuals will never make the front pages of our newspapers or be in the media’s spotlight.  The parents who daily attend to the needs of a child with special needs, a husband whose unfailing love is there for his wife with Alzheimer’s disease, a government official who quietly and without fanfare is truly concerned with shaping the common good of our country. 

Integrity is a relatively rare virtue today. It is the fruit of day after day after day of living in hope, trying to be the kind of person you would admire, “even when no one is watching.”  My friends, let us pray this Advent for this grace in this life so that we can face with hope and joy the eternal home that awaits us in the next.

Sunday Reflection - Christ the King

The Revelation of John has way of inserting itself in the daily news, the way it is every time the planet heaves and quakes and people don’t know why.  Network commentators who wouldn’t know Genesis from Geritol scan the Bible hunting for “Revelations,” bringing on self-anointed prophets who confidently announce, “This is it!  Look at the signs!  It won’t be long!  God has to do it now!” 

Just like they did in 1999 on the faux eve of the Millennium.  And like they do after every earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attack, really bad hurricane, stock market crash, bank failure, increase in the price of oil, drought, flood, war or rumor of war.  They fall into the ditch of treating this book like a supernatural crystal ball whose inscrutable truth only they can divine, a secret treasure map which every Christian who has ever read it has misunderstood- until now, the real, honest-to-God, “last days.” 

Before hearing the really good news of this text, be sure to read again verse 1, the key to the entire apocalypse.  “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.”  John was a good enough pastor to know that you don’t comfort persecuted people by telling them, “God has spoken and God will be working all this out in the 21stcentury.  Be of good cheer!”   People aren’t stupid.  If they go to dinner and the waiter spends all his time telling them about the specials they’ll be serving next month, they leave and go find food now.  Revelation is present food for the church getting kicked in the head by the Roman Empire.  Those people didn’t need magic decoder rings to know who the Beast was. They didn’t sit around in fellowship halls trading theories on the identity of the Antichrist.  They were living that persecution, and daily being slaughtered by it.  And John comes with great good news which will “soon take place.” 

First, he makes sure they understand he has a message from the Risen One.  Don’t talk about Him in the past tense, he says; remember his resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead, the precursor for all the rest of us for whom death still hovers as the scariest prospect we know.  If you want to know what death holds for you, look at Jesus.  If you want to know the worst thing that can happen for being faithful witnesses under persecution, look at Jesus.  He died, yes, he did.  But God raised him up!  Just like God will raise you. 

Second, he reminds them that the Risen Christ is not a silent partner in the work of the world, but in fact the “ruler of the kings of the earth.”  It was from the Revelation to John that G. F. Handel chose that mighty clarion call toward the end of Messiah: 

                           The kingdoms of this world have become

                           the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

                           and he shall reign forever and ever.  (11:15)

Hear the cry of Easter morning all over again, persecuted church:  He is alive! And, though we fail to see it as clearly as we should, he is in charge. 

Third, John gives the persecuted church a new identity.  The Risen One has made usa kingdom, a kingdom of priests, each of us, and all of us, serving God together.  Now, Jesus was not a professional priest, nor did he ever refer to his disciples as priests, as though their role was to fulfill that clearly-defined biblical office. This call to be a kingdom of priests, to a church being persecuted beyond belief, is a reminder of who and whose they are, how they should conduct themselves, and what they are called to do. We are not just a priestly body, as in Israel, we are Christ’s priestly body now, offered afresh in obedience to God and in compassion for the human family. 

And what do priests do?   We serve and worship Almighty God.  We speak praise.  Our theology is doxology.  Our gaze is vertical.  We bear witness, in a world where gods can still be fashioned with our own hands and in our own image, “to him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom” (5b-6). 

And priests witness, which means we leave the altar and enter the world in Jesus’ name.  As Carlyle Marney said so directly, “the church has got to get out of the house.”   We minister at the intersection of life, where the vertical meets the horizontal, where we reach one hand out to God and the other to our fellow pilgrim, and spend a lifetime bringing the two together. 

Finally, John leaves his trembling flock with a doxologyof such comfort one can scarcely imagine what else we would want to hear from the Lord in our distress: 

                           Look!  He is coming with the clouds;

                                    Every eye will see him, 

                                             even those who pierced him.                           

He brings comfort and justice, as only He can, Alpha and Omega, pioneer and perfecter, who is and who was and who is to come.  That’s enough God for all of us.  And so, my friends, let us hear his call to be his priests at work in the world, scanning the clouds to be the first to see.  Amen.

Thanksgiving Reflection

You can’t have “Thanks” without “Giving!”  so went the saying that appeared on a full page ad in the New York Times some years ago. The advertisement was a call by religious leaders throughout our land to realize that the blessings that are ours in this land of plenty, challenge each of us to reflect on how we can be gift for others in the human family. 

My brothers and sisters, so often we tragically underestimate the difference each of us can make in helping to build a better world.  Maybe that’s because we think that the contribution that will make a difference has to be some monumental act of heroic virtue or colossal contribution of time, energy and money.  While the philanthropic endeavors of the Bill Gates and Michael Bloombergs of our world do indeed help to advance the endeavors of the human family, each of us is called to give in proportion to what has been given to us. 

Some years ago, I was unexpectedly moved when I heard Celine Dione being interviewed on the Today Show.  At the time, she announced that she was taking a two year sabbatical from her phenomenally successful career as a singer and entertainer to devote her time, presence and attention to her husband who was to undergo chemotherapy treatment for cancer.  In one particularly moving moment in the interview, she shared the moment when she realized that this was what she needed to do. After a particularly difficult round of chemo treatments, her husband lovingly took Celine’s face in his hands and looking at her said, “I love you and I need you now more than ever!” While the best of medical attention that money could by was being provided, what her husband needed most was what only Celine could give, her love, time and attention as wife, friend and faithful companion on the journey of life. 

We can’t have Thanks without Giving.  Once again, as a nation we gather to remember that first Thanksgiving in 1621 and to acknowledge and give thanks for the providential care of our all loving God. The first thanksgiving was an “inclusive” celebration where native Americans who reverenced this land as their ancestors did, came together with the newly arrived immigrant pilgrims to share a common meal at a Table of Bounty and Blessing.  The pilgrims survived that first harsh winter because of the aid given by a Pawtuxet Indian named Squanto, who showed them how to plant corn and other native crops.  Because of this, they had a bountiful harvest.  Inviting their Native American saviors to join them, they prepared turkeys and other wild game, seafood, corn, dried berries and vegetables.  Their harvest festival lasted three days.   In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving recognizing our historical roots to the pilgrims.  However, it was Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed that this celebration be marked nationally each year on the fourth Thursday of November. 

Just as the Table that first thanksgiving was an inclusive symbol of solidarity between all God’s children so it is for us as Christians. Many today rightfully begin this national holiday around the bountiful Table of God’s Word and Sacrament. It is our hope that all will be found welcomed at this table. The Lord extends his loving hands to each of us and reminds us that we are his beloved people.  My friends, see and taste his goodness, know his divine favor lavished upon us in his beloved Son, Jesus. 

The gift and call that we have received from the Lord in this blessed land of freedom and plenty is unworthy of the self-serving nativism, isolationism, misguided narcissistic nationalism and prejudice that at times have marred our history and brought shame to the noble calling that is ours as a people and a Nation. Our true greatness will never be rooted in walling out the ‘wretched refuse of our teeming shore,’ but rather, in the embrace of welcome we give to all who see the beacon of light on that shining hill of hope and promise.

Our moments of greatness have invariably come when the arms of a beleaguered world have turned to us and have said, “We need you - we need your courage - we need your sense of justice and fairness - we need your material help now more than ever.” Whether that help came through the selfless gift of our service men and women in War, the gift of our technology and science, the gift of the dedication of our youth wanting to help build a better world through such outreach endeavors like the Peace Corps. Together with countless other efforts on the part of people of this land we can indeed realize our highest aspirations, blessing others with the blessings that we have received. 

We cannot have Thanks without Giving.  While much has been accomplished in this land of bounty and blessing, the work of building a new world transformed by the love and grace of the author of all life never ends.  In this land of abundance, too many still hunger.  In this land of opportunity, too many remain without dignified work and just compensation. In this land of inclusion, too many are marginalized because of the color of their skin or the language they may speak.   

My brothers and sisters, may our Thanksgiving festivities and feasting this wondrous day be a time for us all to rededicate ourselves in whatever small or seemingly insignificant way to be a gift and blessing for others.  May we see in the faces of our children a future generation who will take up the continuing challenge of shaping a great nation by helping us be a good nation.  May that goodness be rooted in a generous heart and a humble acknowledgment that we cannot have Thanks without Giving.   

The Altar of Christ Cathedral has arrived!

It is providential that on this eve of our National holiday of Thanksgiving, the Altar destined for use in Christ Cathedral arrived yesterday from Italy. This is the first image of the unpacked Altar Table or ‘mensa’. It is fitting that the Altar was gifted to the Cathedral by the priests of the Diocese of Orange. The following article is a more comprehensive reflection on this important symbol in our new Cathedral Church.

The Holy Table 

One of the most important and cherished National holidays in our country is that of Thanksgiving. Gathering around a common table, families share the meal that has become synonymous with this holiday –the revered turkey and all the fixings!  As much as we may lament the vanishing ‘family meal’around a ‘common table,’we get a taste for this important family ritual yearly at the Thanksgiving celebration. 

As Catholic Christians, we too have our ‘common table’in the ‘House of the Church.’  That Holy Table is the focus of everything we are and do when we gather for liturgical prayer.  For, that table is, of course, the Holy Altar of Sacrifice upon which the Eucharist is celebrated. In its 2000 document, Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship, the Bishops of our country state this about the Altar of Sacrifice: 

The altar is "the center of thanksgiving that the Eucharist accomplishes" and the point around which the other rites are in some manner arrayed. Since the Church teaches that "the altar is Christ,” its composition should reflect the nobility, beauty, strength, and simplicity of the One it represents. In new churches there is to be only one altar so that it "signifies to the assembly of the faithful one Christ and the one Eucharist of the Church."  

It is for this reason that at the very beginning of our creative re-imagining and re-purposing of the former Crystal Cathedral for its transformation into Christ Cathedral, it was the positioning of the Altar of Eucharistic Sacrifice that was of paramount importance.  Critical to its design was both its proportions that would bespeak its importance as the primary liturgical symbol in the Cathedral Church and its visual accessibility to the entire worshipping assembly of nearly 2000 people. 

Choosing fine marble for the construction of both the mensa or Altar top, as well as its monumental pedestal supports and in amble proportion, eight-foot square, it will powerfully convey Christ, as our ‘sure foundation.’  In accord with ancient tradition, the mensawill bear five crosses that will be incised into the marble. These crosses represent the five wounds of Christ on the cross.   

In ancient times, the Holy Sacrifice was often celebrated over the tombs of women and men who gave their lives for Christ, the martyrs.  It is for this reason that Built of Living Stones, states: 

In the Church's history and tradition, the altar was often placed over the tombs of the saints or the relics of saints were deposited beneath the altar. The presence of relics of saints in the altar provides a witness to the Church's belief that the Eucharist celebrated on the altar is the source of the grace that won sanctity for the saints. The custom of placing small relics of martyrs or other saints in an altar stone and setting this in the mensa has changed since the Second Vatican Council. Relics of martyrs or other saints may be placed beneath the altar, as long as the relics are of a size sufficient for them to be recognizable as parts of a human body and that they are of undoubted authenticity. Relics are no longer placed on the altar or set into the mensa in an altar stone. 

In light of this changed practice, beneath the Altar in Christ Cathedral, a precious reliquary has been designed of noble proportions, containing the holy relics of martyrs and saints of particular importance to our local Church of Orange.  It is our hope that relics of the venerable Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican Martyrs will be enshrined in the reliquary as a testimony to the living Christ who is the source of all holiness and grace.

Sunday Reflection - The end-times

It shall be a time unsurpassed in distress – so we heard today in our first reading from the Book of Daniel.  These last few months in our country has once again been stained by senseless mass shootings of innocent people gathered in worship in a neighborhood synagogue in Pittsburg or enjoying country western dancing in Thousand Oaks, California.  In a horrifying instant, lives were snuffed out by the madness of gun violence that has become a pandemic in our country.  How difficult for any of us not to be utterly disgusted when we confront so brutally the face of evil in our world.   

My sisters and brothers as we gather in the wake of these recent tragedies and as we draw close to the end of our Liturgical Year, we once again providentially hear God’s word calling us to be prepared for the end times.  There will always be those who see the catastrophic finality of the world as we know it lurking around every corner.  Yet, there is no whitewashing of God’s word in denial. Our lives and this world will indeed have a finality. For those who suffered death in these recent tragedies, the end came all too soon and unexpected.  This biblical and doctrinal truth of our faith can indeed be the fuel that feeds endless anxiety and despair.  Yet, for the faithful Christian, for those attuned to the breadth of God’s saving message in his revealed word, this truth should not be the occasion for despair but rather, as paradoxical as it may sound, a hopethat is rooted in the one whom we gratefully call Lord and Savior of the world. 

"But of that day or hour, no one knows,

neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." 

St. Mark wisely sets before us the words of Jesus reminding us that our task as Christians living in a world that awaits future glory is to not waste time in idle speculation as to when the end will come.   Each day that God gives us is a gift to be lived fully and faithfully in His loving service.  Our real preparation for the life of glory – to which all of us are destined by God’s loving will – is to live the present moment with deep and abiding faith, unfailing hope and generous love.  

Some of you might say, “Well, Father, that’s easy for you to say, but I am woefully conscious of the many moral compromises in my life, I see my failures, my sins, as King David said, are before me always.”  It is when we find ourselves burdened by such darkness that we need to take heart by the words of the author to the Hebrews this day: 

For by one offering

He – Jesus - has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. 

My friends, it is Jesus who is indeed Savior of the world.  It is Jesus whose sacrificial life, death and resurrection has ‘consecrated’ each one of us for eternal glory with him.  No wonder, then, that with St. Paul, all of us can proclaim, “Death is swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 55:55-57).

Sunday Reflection - Preferential option for the poor

Recently, the Church officially raised to the altar of holy ones, the 20th century archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero.  His life as a good shepherd was the embodiment of one of the cornerstone principles of the Catholic Church’s social ethic of a ‘preferential option’ for the poor. Criticized by the political elite of El Salvador as well as conservative brother bishops with the canard of being a ‘Marxist’ and a follower of the discredited ‘theology of liberation,’ Romero transcended such simplistic labels in his utterly Christ-centered, love for the poor, disenfranchised and marginal of society.  However, he was unwilling to be content to just give lip-service to such love.  He was willing to put his life on the line as he spoke truth to power on behalf of those who had no voice nor power.  As a prophetic witness to this foundational truth of the Gospel, he literally laid down his life in martyrdom. 

God’s word today presents us with the Biblical foundation for God’s preferential option for the poor. In gratitude for the hospitality of the poor widow Zarephath, Elijah, the great prophet, provided for her needs and would not permit her to die of starvation or want.   

Jesus in today’s Gospel, castigates the duplicity of the religious elite of his time, the scribes, as he points to the sincerity and simplicity of the widow who was willing to give from her scarcity to the Lord. 

The courage to speak truth to power in whatever age has never been an easy reality.  Invariably, it is the stuff of suffering and even martyrdom.  Yet, it can be the truest measure of Gospel conviction especially when done on behalf of God’s ‘little ones,’ the poor and the powerless, the disenfranchised, the marginal and underserved in our society. 

The wisdom of this Gospel message comes to us at a providential time as the Bishops of our Country gather for their annual meeting this week in Baltimore.  Once again, our Church has been rocked with destabilizing scandal in the continuing wake of incidents of child sexual abuse at the hands of priests and bishops and the inability on the part of some in authority to honestly and conscientiously root out this scourge in the life of the Church. 

Pope Francis has time and time again pointed to the cancerous poison of ‘clericalism’ that insidiously feeds a mentality that the religious ‘elite’ of our time, those invested with sacramental ordination, are somehow immune from the consequences of failing to safeguard the sheep.  Many in power have sadly forgotten the Gospel maxim that ‘to those who have been given much, much is required.’   

We have undoubtedly reached a crossroads where God’s little ones can no longer suffer at the hands of those who might lack the courage to confront with honesty the consequences of these actions, as well as take the necessary steps to ensure that all of God’s little ones are safe and free from the danger of exploitation within the House of the Church. 

Fortunately, while much progress has been made in Dioceses across our land and here in our own Diocese of Orange, to safeguard the vulnerability of God’s little ones, much remains to be accomplished.  While we understandably look to the leadership of our Church to courageously set the example of integrity at the service of truth, as God’s people, all of us share in the responsibility of birthing a new age of corporate responsibility in being good and faithful stewards of our sisters and brothers of whatever age. For that grace, let us pray for both courage and wisdom.

Sunday Reflection - Loving God and our Neighbor

A holy hermit was on a hilltop praying.  As he looked down, he could see several people in the distance, making their way along a country road: an old soldier in a tattered uniform, stumbling along on one leg, a gaunt and pale woman staggering under the weight of her starving child, a young man so badly beaten by robbers that he could barely move at all. Looking down upon this terrible parable of life and death, the holy man cried out to God, “O God! How can you, who claim to be a loving father, see such suffering and do nothing about it?”  

His question echoed in the silence.  And then, out of the silence God responded in a whisper, “I have done something about it, my son, I made you.” 

My brothers and sisters, God made that hermit - and all of us - to be a family, to take care of one another, and watch out for and protect one another, the way good families do. When we do that, life works.  Even amidst all the messiness and struggling that are part of life, when we do that, happiness is ours. 

The Great Commandment which Jesus give us in our Gospel today is not just a rule that God cooked up and we have to obey if we’re interested in heaven.  It’s a lot more than that.  Loving God and loving each other with all our hearts is, quite simply, the only way of living that works, because it’s the only way of living that makes every last one of us “family” to one another.  And “family” is the only place we find happiness.  It’s what we’re made for, and nothing less will do. 

When we talk about “laws” in the physical sciences, we know, for example, that the law of gravity is not a law because Isaac Newton decided it should be.  Newton simply described what is.  If anyone doubts that they need only attempt to walk off the roof of their home. 

The Great Commandment is like the law of gravity.  It’s not something made up.  It just describes the way things are.  Living our lives out of the Great Commandment makes it possible for each one of us in our own unique way to build up the solidarity that should be a hallmark of the human family. 

My brothers and sisters, many of us this week, will have the precious opportunity in this land of freedom to cast our votes in this coming Tuesday’s Election.  Today’s Gospel of the Great Commandment is a providential reminder to all of us that the decisions that we make in conscience for the good of our community, State and  Country should flow from that larger vision that is ours as a people whose eternal destiny rests on the quality of our love of God and Neighbor.  While good Catholics can obviously differ at times in the application of these principles, each of us have a serious obligation to shape the quality and direction of our State and Nation by the Gospel values that are at the heart of our faith:  

Will my vote support or weaken a profound respect in our land for the dignity and value of all human life from the first moment of conception to natural death? 

Will my vote move us as a society towards or away from universal access to affordable health care for all members in our society - especially the most vulnerable and powerless in our land? 

Will my vote promote or weaken social policies which enhance security for all children, unemployed adults, immigrants, and elderly? 

Will freedom of religious expression in public life be respected or denigrated as a consequence of my vote?

My friends, the Great Commandment calls us as citizens of this great land not to be timid in voicing our values but rather to be strong, loving and wise in the decisions that we make that can either build up or tear down our national family.   So, let us then, take very good care of one another through the responsible decisions we make in this land of freedom.