Deacon Mike's Blog

The Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time--Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:00:00.001-06:00

"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man."

I was originally going to talk about something altogether different today, but Friday night I was at a party and overheard a really tasteless joke. And, no, I'm not going to repeat it here. I'll just say that it involved Tiger Woods, the Pope, and the Blessed Virgin. The more I thought about the joke the more I thought about today's gospel. Most of us don't spend a lot of time considering that there are people who hate us and exclude us because of our faith. No, the Klan doesn't burn crosses on Catholics' lawns anymore, but go online and search the word "Catholic." You'll be surprised at the amount of hate that's directed our way.

But, as Jesus tells us today, we should rejoice and leap for joy because our reward will be great in heaven.

Rather than focus on the hate, I'd rather talk about love. Today (tomorrow) is Valentine's Day, a day for love. One of our sons refers to Valentine's Day as a Hallmark holiday. You know, a day that exists only for the selling of greeting cards and other stuff. It's true that Valentine's is the second biggest greeting card day of the year behind Christmas, with one billion cards bought just in the United States. According to the people who know about this stuff, 85% of all Valentine Cards are bought by women. That surprises me because I know that when I went to the card store last night, there wasn't a woman in sight. Just men. All hovering over on section of Valentine-Wife cards.

It's also true that the celebration as we know it today is much different than the Valentine's Day our grandparents celebrated. The celebration of Saint Valentine's feast day goes all the way back to Roman times. The oldest known Valentine's Day greeting was written in 1415, quite a few years before Hallmark came along. It's in the British Library in London. The first mass produced Valentines in the United States came along in the 1840s.

The man himself, Saint Valentine lived in Rome during the third century. He was martyred in 270. We don't know a whole lot about him but one legend says that Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made the best soldiers, so he outlawed marriage. Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages in secret. He paid for it by losing his head. Thankfully, that doesn't happen anymore.

Valentine's Day, either in the middle ages, or today, is all about love. At least it's supposed to be. For now, we'll forget about the commercial, gift-giving, part of the celebration. I'm glad the day's finally here so I don't have to hear any more commercials for Pajama-grams, or Vermont Teddy Bears, or 1-800-FLOWERS. I'm just too practical to spend thirty bucks for a dozen flowers that I can buy next weekend for $12.99.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about today is the sacraments, the signs of God's love for you and me. One of the real joys of my vocation is that I get to be involved in some of the most important days in people's lives through the sacraments. Yesterday I had the privilege of presiding at a wedding here in the parish. I wish all of you could stand where I stand during a wedding. The looks on these kids' faces is always priceless. To me, it's what love looks like. They're there in front of the altar of the Lord, kneeling, waiting for me to say the words that make them man and wife. It's something they've been planning for months, something they've been preparing for for their whole lives. It's a day that God has been planning since He removed Adam's rib to create Eve. It's the most important day of their lives so far.

I always wonder what life has in store for this new family. I hope and pray that it will all be perfect for them, even though I know that it won't be. But I always tell them that anything is possible as long as Jesus is part of their family.

Today after 10:30 mass, I'll be baptizing two young people. Every baptism is an act of love and what could be more special than being baptized on Valentine's Day? Even more special is the fact that these two kids aren't infants. They're brother and sister. The girl is 12 and her brother is 8. I just talked to you about baptism a few weeks ago. I said that sometimes, not all the time, or even most of the time, but sometimes babies are baptized for the wrong reasons. But, not in this case. The kids' mom is on fire with the faith. Her enthusiasm is contagious and she wants to share that with her kids. That, and not a pair of mail-order pajamas, is what love is all about.

Another sacrament that you may not associate with love is the sacrament of the sick. What many people still think of as "last rites" is actually a strengthening sacrament, a sign of Christ's love for us and a reminder that He still heals the sick. Father Gary offers the sacrament to all of us twice a year as part of mass and provides it to any of us when we need it; when we're in the hospital, or about to go into the hospital. Most hospitals, Catholic or not, make the Sacrament of the Sick available to their Catholic patients.

Two weeks ago my wife, Jan, received the sacrament from Father, just before she had cancer surgery. The surgery was successful and the cancer was removed. I know as sure as I'm standing here that the combination of the anointing and prayers from literally hundreds of family and friends played a big part in the favorable outcome. Thank you to all of you who offered prayers for Jan, and for me. Without them, our Valentine's Day could have been very different. We love you, too.

Last, but not least is the sacrament that we can all receive every single day, the sacrament of the Eucharist. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus laid down His life for us but left us His Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we'd never be apart from Him. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Let's go back to the mental pictures that Jeremiah paints for us in the first reading. Trust in human beings, seek your strength in the flesh, and you're like a barren bush in the desert. You stand in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. It's an unpleasant picture, but it's one that we can all appreciate. Hot and dry. Not good.

But for the person who trusts in the Lord, you're like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches its roots to the stream. You don't fear when the drought comes, your leaves stay green and you keep bearing fruit. Even in cold and snowy Saint Louis that's a peaceful picture and something we all desire. It's something we can all achieve. All we have to do is trust in the Lord.

Have a blessed Valentine's day. Guys, I'll see you later at the mall.

The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

2010-01-24T14:21:00.000-06:00

OK, admit it. When you come to mass and you see that there's a choice between a long reading and a short reading, you hope that we use the short one. Even though the longer reading may only take a minute more to read, there's just something about the shorter one that makes you feel just a little better. So, I picked the shorter second reading today, just for you. The bad news is that I want to talk about the part that we didn't read, so I'm going to have to give you the Reader's Digest version.

Paul's point in this particular passage is that we're all part of one body, the Church. The part we left out is where he talks about the various parts of the body and how they all have to work together. "If a foot should say 'Because I'm not a hand I don't belong to the body', that doesn't make it any less a part of the body." He goes on to talk about some other body parts including some that seem to be weaker and some parts that we consider less honorable, and some parts that are less presentable, that we usually cover up. At least we covered them up in Paul's day. Today, sometimes not so much.

Sometimes, when we don't like somebody very much, or if somebody makes us mad, we might call them one of those less presentable body parts. C'mon. You know which ones I mean. Sometimes, in a fit of anger, we might stick an adjective in front of a body part and call someone a name like dumb head, or something more colorful. I could be more descriptive, but I think you get the point. And, we ARE in church.

The thing is that when we talk about the "Body of Christ", we're talking about His Church. And if the Church is a body, then you and I must be parts of that body. And it takes all the parts to make the body work the way it's supposed to. It goes without saying that Jesus is the head. He's also the heart. We may think of ourselves as the eyes and ears of the Church. Some may think they're the mouth. We know that some of us are the hands, but some of us are also the feet. The thing is that none of us, you and me, are more important than anyone else.

This little book is called the Ordo. The Ordo lists the readings for every day's mass and Liturgy of the Hours. It gives a short, very short, summary of the day's mass readings, what the color is for the day, and a lot of other stuff. On the other side, it lists all the bishops, priests, and deacons in the Archdiocese who have been called home along with the date of their death. Page after page of men who had received the sacrament of Holy Orders, who had been chosen to serve the Church in a leadership role, but in the end they're just names in a book. Whether they were a Cardinal or a deacon, whether they served fifty years or fifty days, every listing is exactly the same.

Why do we need such a list? Because death doesn't break up a family. Uncle Bob is still Uncle Bob, even when he leaves this world. The listing in the Ordo reminds us of our clergy who have gone on. It reminds us to pray for them, just like they're praying for us. When we pass into the next life, all of us will have our names written in the Book of Life for our parish, which we bring out and display every November. It's another reminder that we're all part of the same body.

So, what's it all mean? Remember I said a couple of weeks ago that we're all baptized in the same water that Jesus was baptized in? It's that common baptism, along with our sharing in the bread and wine, transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ at the Lord's table that unites all of us. You and I are just as connected to a Catholic on the other side of the world as we are to the person sitting next to us. When one of us is cut, we all bleed. That's just the way it is. That's why we respond so generously when someone is in need. That's why Catholic Charities is collecting millions of dollars to help the people of Haiti. They're our brothers and sisters.

What Jesus is telling us today, through the words of Saint Paul, is that we share a common bond that's not just of this world, not just for a short time, but for all eternity.

Yesterday (Friday) was the anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court ruling in the case of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. It's an annual reminder of the millions of unborn children who have been murdered in the United States over the last thirty seven years. Roughly 1.4 million unborn babies are killed each year, just in the United States. We tend to think of abortion as an American problem, but there are at least 15 million abortions each year world wide, probably more than that.

The world was outraged, and still is outraged, over the death of six million Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. We call it the holocaust. In the early 1930s, between three and ten million Ukranians were starved to death by Joseph Stalin. There was plenty of food available, but the Communist government was exporting it to pay their bills, leaving the people who grew the food to die of starvation. The British did something similar to the Irish in the 1840s. There aren't very good records of births and deaths during that time, but the best guess is that a million to a million and a half Irish lost their lives. Another million uprooted their families and moved away.

During the 1960s and '70s, something like a million and a half Chinese were killed by Mao Tse Dung's troops during the so-called Cultural Revolution. As tragic as these four events were, all four together resulted in about the same number of deaths that take place in just one year on the abortionists' tables worldwide. Even the most pessimistic estimates of the death toll in Haiti amounts to just a few days work for the abortionists.

Why do we care about any of this? I think you know why. We are followers of Christ and we are all one body. Each of us loses a little bit whenever one of us dies. Whether it's a Jew executed by the Nazis, a family crushed by a falling building in Haiti, or an innocent life snuffed out by an abortion half way around the world.

Nazi Germany is long gone. The atrocities in the Ukraine happened eighty years ago. There's nothing we can do about that. There's also nothing we can do to prevent an earthquake. All we can do is support the victims with our money and our prayers. But we have to take a stand for all human life, right here and right now. As Catholics and as citizens of the greatest country in the world, we owe it to our brothers and sisters, our fellow body parts, to do all we can to protect their lives. None of us would just sit calmly while someone tried to cut off our leg. How can we ignore it when someone destroys a part of the Body of Christ?

There are still atrocities being committed by despotic governments all over the world. People are being killed for daring to challenge their governments. There are still wars being fought, two of them involving the United States. There are people getting on airplanes with bombs in their underpants, hoping to kill Americans and others, along with themselves. People are starving all over the world, including right here in the United States, even here in Saint Louis. And the abortions go on and on.

You and I don't have the time, the talent, or the treasure to fix everything that's wrong with the world. We all do the best we can with what we have. Most of us aren't going to get on a plane and fly to Haiti, even if we'd like too. Most of us aren't going to go to Washington DC to join the pro-life march. We won't even protest at the local abortion clinic. We don't have the time, or it's just not our style.

But we do have time to pray. And we should pray, and pray hard, every day for all human life. We should flood heaven with our prayers for every one of our fellow human beings. That's a lot to pray for, but God will hear us, and He will answer us. We just can't let up because we ARE one body.

The Baptism of the Lord

2010-01-10T14:47:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord by John the Baptist. We've heard the story lots of times. John's baptizing at the river and Jesus gets in line along with everyone else. But, why? He was the Son of God. He came down from heaven and would soon go back. Why did He need to baptized? The answer is that He didn't. Jesus didn't need to be baptized, but you and I needed Him to be baptized. Saint Maximus of Turin, one of the Church Fathers, wrote "Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy."

If you remember your grade school science you know that water evaporates, forms clouds, and returns to earth. The cycle repeats itself over and over. The wind blows the clouds so that the water that evaporates in one place comes down somewhere else. Eventually every drop of water on earth is connected to every other drop. When Jesus made the water of the Jordan holy, he made all water holy.

Obviously Jesus thought baptism was very important. In John's Gospel He said, "Unless a man is reborn in water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." In Matthew's Gospel he tells the Apostles, "Go, make disciples of all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Baptism is our response to Christ.

Here's what the Church says about the three sacraments of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and first communion, straight from the baptism rite.: "Through the sacraments of Christian initiation men and women are freed from the power of darkness. With Christ they die, are buried, and rise again." Notice it says "with Christ." Just like Maximus said, Jesus had to be baptized first. "They receive the Spirit of adoption which makes them God's sons and daughters and, with the entire people of God, they celebrate the memorial of the Lord's death and resurrection."

Here's what the book says specifically about baptism: "Through baptism men and women are incorporated into Christ. They are formed into God's people, and they obtain forgiveness of all their sins. They are raised from their natural human condition to the dignity of adopted children. They become a new creation through water and the Holy Spirit. Hence they are called, and are indeed, the children of God."

Jesus died and rose from the dead to defeat death, to save all of us from our sins. But what He does today makes it possible for us individually to be one of his people. Baptism is the beginning of our journey of faith. Jesus' seemingly unnecessary decision to be baptized by John, someone "not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals", is actually the beginning of OUR journey of faith.

Personally I was baptized at the age of twenty so I do remember receiving the sacrament, especially how hard it was for my godfather to hold me over the baptismal font. But for most of us, christened as babies, it's good that we celebrate today to remind us of the promises our parents made for us. This is what we ask the parents who present their child for the sacrament. "You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking? At this point the parents answer, "We do."
Then we ask the godparents if they're ready to help the parents in their duty as Christian parents. They answer "We do." Then the deacon or the priest says "The Christian community welcomes you with great joy. In its name I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of the cross on your forehead, and invite your parents and godparents to do the same."

Then we have a reading or two, maybe a homily, some prayers and then the actual baptism. But before we bring out the water, we ask the parents to renounce sin and to renew their own baptismal promises. We tell the parents, "On your part, you must make it your constant care to bring her up in the practice of the faith. See that the divine life which God gives her is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always stronger in her heart.

"If your faith makes you ready to accept this responsibility, renew now the vows of your own baptism. Reject sin; profess your faith in Jesus Christ. This is the faith of the Church. This is the faith in which this child is about to be baptized."
Then the baptism takes place, we say a couple of more prayers, the family takes a lot of pictures then everyone adjourns for a nice lunch.

Even if you don't remember your own baptism, you probably remember your kids' or your grandkids'. Maybe you've been a godparent a time or two. So you're probably wondering why I'm giving you this baptismal instruction. As usual, I'm taking the scenic route to make a point. Also, I want to make a disclaimer. If I've baptized your child and you're sitting here in church today, what I'm about to say doesn't apply to you. You get it. You're following up on the promises you made that day for yourself and your baby. Congratulations!

But often, too often, after the baby is baptized, after the parents and godparents have said they clearly understand what they're undertaking; after they promise to raise him or her in the faith, after everyone has renewed their baptismal promises, WE NEVER SEE ANY OF THEM AGAIN! Like I said, there are a lot of exceptions which give all of us hope. And sometimes we baptize kids whose grandparents are in the parish but who live somewhere else. They want to have the kids baptized in their home parish. My son and daughter-in-law are in that group. I've baptized my two grandkids here, but their parish is in O'fallon, MO. It's understandable that that happens sometimes. I'm not talking about them either.

The point I'm trying to make is this: Baptism is a big deal. It's a big enough deal that Jesus had Himself baptized, even though He didn't really need it. He did it for us. But too many of us don't take it seriously. A lot of babies get baptized because the grandparents insist on it, even if mom and dad haven't seen the inside of a church since their wedding day, if then.

Some parents don't really have a clue of why they're doing it, but they know that they were baptized, and their friends kids are getting baptized, so they'd better call the church. After all, christening pictures are always cute and they don't want to be left out. A lot of the time they're more interested in what the baby's going to wear, sometimes something really old that they wore for their own baptism, what they're going to have for lunch, and those all-important pictures.

The Church says that parents are the first and most important teachers and I agree with that 100%. It's up to us to bring our kids up in the faith. As a lot of us know, we aren't always successful. Sometimes they go their own way. Then it's up to us to pray them back. But I promise, if we don't lead them by our example, taking them to mass every Sunday, taking them to PSR or Catholic school, if we don't pray with them and for them, then our chances of success are a big, fat zero.

But, even if they are no small people in your life, it's good to remember our own baptismal promises. To remember that we rejected Satan and all his works and empty promises. It's good to think about the words of the Creed that we'll recite in just a few minutes. Not to just recite it along with everyone else, but to actually think about what we're saying.

We're talking about our immortal souls and the immortal souls of our children. Jesus did much more than His share to save us, but we have to do our part, too. Remember what God the Father said in today's Gospel. "You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased." I don't know about you, bit I'd like to hear those words myself when I meet Him face to face.

Feast of the Holy Family

2009-12-26T17:00:00.003-06:00

The Feast of the Holy Family

"And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and in favor before God and man."

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. In just a few hours we've miraculously jumped from Jesus' birth to his twelfth year. And when you think about it, this single line is about all we really know for sure about His growing up. He got older. He got smarter. And God and the people loved Him.

So why don't we have any detail about His growing up years? Apparently he lost His earthly step father during that time because we never hear anything about Joseph after this. We know Jesus worked in the carpenter shop because in those days the kids always worked in the family business.. But that's about it.

He might have been a studious kid since he was able to amaze the teachers in the temple with His questions and His answers. On the other hand, He was the Son of God. He's been here since the beginning. Remember, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be." Young Jesus may not have been studious at all. When the teachers were talking about God, they were talking about Him.

We know that when Jesus began His ministry at the age of thirty, He walked all over the Holy Land, so He must have been in pretty good shape. Maybe He was a child athlete. Maybe He played soccer or whatever games they played 2,000 years ago. He could walk on water. That would have made Him a pretty good golfer. Or, maybe the greatest joy in his life was to be in the carpenter shop with Joseph, helping him to make furniture. We just don't know.

We heard this morning from the book of Sirach, and from Paul's letter to the Collosians how families are supposed to act. But those are general things. Sirach speaks to us about children honoring their fathers and mother's authority over them. Sons are to take care of their fathers when they're old. I especially like the part that says, "Grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him." In other words, don't make fun of Dad when he can't find the car keys.

Paul's letter contains a passage that still causes controversy today. "Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged."

Some members of the female persuasion really get their dander up whenever they hear this one, but you have to take the whole passage in context. Before the wives be subordinate part Paul tells the Collosians to "let the peace of Christ control their hearts." He tells them to be thankful. He tells them to "let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly, as in all wisdom they teach and admonish one another" He says "Over all these put on love, that is the bond of perfection."

In other words, we should be like Christ. Every single one of us, male or female, is subordinate to Christ. But that doesn't mean that Christ is some kind of dictator, telling us what to do, making our decisions for us, or making us feel small. If that were the case, then Paul's advise would be pretty bad. Nobody wants to be treated that way and none of us has the right to treat someone else that way. But, as the passage ends, Paul admonishes husbands to "love their wives and avoid any bitterness toward them." Again, husbands, we should try to be like Christ. He's the Son of God, the only God/man to ever walk the earth, but there's no record of His ever treating anyone with anything but love, even those who would finally end his earthly life.

Paul's telling the Collosians, and us, that life is a two-way street. In a society where women and children were treated as possessions, Paul's words were controversial but not in the way that some people might think today. The husband may be the head of the house, but he's not a king or a dictator. He is to act with love and without bitterness. Wives aren't slaves. Men follow the Golden Rule. Treat them with care.

Kids, be obedient to your parents because that makes God happy. But fathers shouldn't provoke their children. Again, practice the Golden rule. This was radical thought in the days of the Roman Emporers.

So, knowing all this, we have to assume that life around Jesus' house must have been pretty nice. But we still don't know what a day in the life of the young Jesus was like. Maybe we're not supposed to. We have plenty of guidelines in the scriptures. We heard two of them today. But for the basic, day-to-day things that go on in our homes, we're pretty much on our own.

Let's think about that for a second. Every human being is unique and different. Every family, made up of these individual creatures is even more different. Remember the old Armour Hot Dog commercial, "Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks. Tough kids, sissy kids, even kids with chicken pox? God made us that way and He values our differences. If we knew that Jesus was a straight A student, or that Joseph came home from work every day and read the Torah for three hours, or that Mary was the best cook in Nazareth, would that set a standard for us that we might not be able to meet?

If Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are the Holy Family, does that make the Simpsons the "unholy family"? Or are they just different. As dysfunctional as they might be, Homer and Marge are doing the best that they can. Bart isn't much of a student, but he has a good heart and tries to be better, but he is who he is. Homer loves Marge. There's no doubt about that. He may do a lot of things wrong, but there's never any bitterness toward her.

The Flanders next door may seem like the holier family, the more perfect family, but are they really? There does seem to be some hypocrisy in the Flanders' holier-than-thou attitude and Homer and Bart usually see through it. Only God knows what's in our hearts, even if we happen to be cartoon characters. [By the way, did you know that, by actual count, the Simpsons have had more episodes involving God, church, and morality than any show in the history of television? It's true. You can look it up.]

So, maybe God has chosen not to reveal the details of Jesus growing up years so that we don't try to be something that we're not, so we don't become discouraged because we don't measure up. Maybe Joseph was like Homer. It couldn't have been easy to be the only person in the family who could sin. Or, maybe he was like Ned. Or maybe, probably, he was somewhere in between. We don't know. And since we don't know, each of us can imagine that we're the best dad, or mom, or son, or daughter that we can possibly be. And you know what. If we can practice what our readings tell us today, we will be.

So, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we can also celebrate our own families. God made each of us and He put us together in families. Families are the basic unit of our society. Without them, everything would come to a screeching halt. Our secular society may make fun of families or try to convince us that a family is something that it's not. Movies and TV may try to tell us that traditional families are a thing of the past. But they aren't. God made the world. He made Adam. The very next thing He did was to make Eve; not so Adam would have some one to play cards with. He made her so that the human race would grow. He didn't make five or ten Eves so Adam could have a harem. He made one woman for one man and told them to "be fruitful and multiply."

That's how families came to be and that hasn't changed in all this time. Whether it's Adam and Eve, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Homer and Marge Simpson, or Mike and Jan Buckley, we're all holy families, each in our own way. Thanks be to God.

The Third Sunday of Advent-Gaudete!

2009-12-12T16:00:00.003-06:00

Personally, I have a policy of not taking a man seriously when he's wearing a pink dress. But in this case, I guess I have to make an exception.
Today is the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday. The word gaudete is Latin for Pepto Bismol. It reminds us not to eat too much fruitcake or we'll be sick for Christmas.

Seriously, gaudete means rejoice. We wear the pink vestments to emphasize our joy, the same reason we light the pink candle. As Paul wrote to the Phillipians, "Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!" It's just eleven days until we celebrate the birth of the Son of God.

So, what are we supposed to do? That's the question that the people ask John the Baptist in today's Gospel. And he gives them some pretty good advice. If you have two cloaks, give one to a person who has none. Do the same with your food. He tells the tax collectors not to take more than is prescribed and he tells the soldiers not to practice extortion, not to falsely accuse anyone, and to be satisfied with their wages.

Luke tells us that the people were "filled with expectation." That's where we're supposed to be. We're waiting for Jesus to come and we know it's just a few days away. Gaudete! Rejoice! "In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace."

So here we are; faithful Catholics. We want to do the right thing. We really do. We want to uphold the traditions of the faith. We want to spend the Advent season getting ready for Jesus' birth. We call this season Advent. For us, the Christmas season BEGINS on December 25. For the secular world the Christmas season begins sometime right after Halloween and ENDS on December 25. The season we call Christmas, they call the end of the year clearance.

We try to keep one foot in each world. And sometimes it's a real challenge. We want to spend some time each day in quiet prayer but between work and shopping and baking and Christmas parties and visiting with family and friends, sometimes there just doesn't seem to be enough time. We want to share our extra cloak with someone who doesn't have one, but by the time we get around to it, it's Christmas Eve and we've missed our chance. With all the expense of the season, it's hard to be satisfied with our wages. Heck, in this economy we may not even have any wages to be satisfied with.

Movies like a Christmas Story or It's A Wonderful Life remind us of how Christmas used to be. The story of Ralphie and his beloved Red Ryder BB Gun reminds us of our own childhoods when things were so much simpler. The movie doesn't say where Ralphie's old man worked, but we know he had a job because the Bumpus hounds attacked him every evening when he came home from work. Everybody had a job. That's just the way it was. George Bailey's struggles with Mr. Potter and the Clarence the angel's reminder of all the people he's helped in his life is more of a morality tale, but the message holds true today, maybe even more so than in the 1930s.

Of course, the best Christmas story of all is the one that we'll tell here on December 24 and 25. It's a story of peace and love, of hope and joy. We'll have to get out extra chairs on Christmas Eve. That's how powerful the story is. It plays to standing room only crowds in churches all over the world. Even though we know it well, we still long to witness it again, year after year. Even in the midst of all the commercialism, even in the depths of an economic recession, the real Christmas story reminds us of what we're really about and what a great gift God gave us when He sent us His Son.

No matter how much we struggle to balance the anticipation of Advent with the secular world's craziness, we know that He's coming to save those who believe in him, and that includes you and me. With less than two weeks to go, I hope we can all get our heads on straight and focus on that wonderful gift. That doesn't mean we can't also focus on gifts for our loved ones. After all, we can't actually give Jesus a gift. He's God. He has everything He needs. But I know it pleases Him to see us giving gifts to the ones we love in His name.

It doesn't have to be the biggest, most expensive gift in the world. If you have the money and you want to give your deacon a flat-screen TV, that's great and it would be much appreciated. But a simple "Merry Christmas" would be more than enough.

Speaking of "Merry Christmas", maybe Advent isn't time to talk about pet peeves, maybe deacons shouldn't even have peeves, pet or otherwise. But I do have one or two and one of them involves the words "Merry Christmas." We've gotten so politically correct that people are actually afraid to use that magic phrase, especially in the world of business. I think the pendulum may be swinging back our way, but you still see and hear "happy holidays" and "season's greetings" taking the place of the "MC" words.

I was at the South County mall the other day and I happened to walk past Santa's outpost. I noticed a sign near his chair that asked parents not to take personal photos from the area where the professional photographer works. That's OK. They're there to sell pictures and that's what pays for Santa's visit. But at the end of the sign it says "happy holidays!" You're there to get your kid's picture taken with Santa Claus. If you're reading the sign he or she is probably sitting on Santa's lap! I don't think you're going to be offended by the mention of Christmas. Give me a break!

Today (yesterday) is (was) the first day of Hanukkah. As a Christian I'm not offended if someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah. In fact, I would consider it quite an honor of someone of the Jewish faith offered me that kind of greeting. After all, my boss is a Jewish carpenter. In the same spirit, I don't think most non-Christians are offended by our wishing them a Merry Christmas.

Here's what I suggest you do. When someone in a store wishes you "Happy Holidays" smile and answer "Merry Christmas", with the emphasis on the word Christmas. Being something of an agitator about this, I've been doing it for years. It never fails that the person will answer back, "Merry Christmas." Isn't it a shame that a Christian person working in a store has been instructed not to share a Christmas wish with a Christian customer at this time of year?

Maybe if enough of us take this outlandish step, retail employees and their bosses will take the hint and end the hypocrisy. Wouldn't that make this a more wonderful life? It's a little thing, but it reminds us what the season is really about. Sharing our joy of the coming of the Savior with a stranger is a kind of prayer that enriches our lives and the lives of those we meet. We can be modern-day John the Baptists. And isn't that what Advent is all about?

Gaudete! Rejoice!

PS. Check out this video on YouTube. It's great!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-10-25T12:09:00.002-05:00

Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizeable crowd. The blind beggar called out to Jesus, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” Some of the people traveling with Jesus told the beggar to get lost. “Don’t bother Jesus. He’s with us. He doesn’t have time for the likes of you.”

What does Jesus say? “Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’” He didn’t call the blind man himself, he asked the disciples to call him. Do you see the difference?

I want to tell you about two people, one at the end of her earthly life and one at the beginning. I went to a funeral today (yesterday). Mary Geeran, wife of deacon Bill Gearon, passed into eternal life on Thursday morning. These are two incredible people. Some of you probably know them. They’ve been teaching marriage preparation in Saint Louis for a very long time. If you’ve ever seen the Archdiocesan marriage prep video, they’re the elderly couple that are featured in the film.

Bill and Marry have touched the lives of thousands of young people through marriage prep. The thing that makes them special is that they have taken Jesus words to heart. When they were married sixty years ago this coming New Year’s Eve, right down here, in front of this altar, they became one. They were the epitome of the oneness that comes from the sacrament of marriage.

Until just a few years ago, when their health made it impossible, Bill and Mary led the first year retreat for deacon candidates and their wives. That’s how Jan and I got to know them. They have inspired a lot of deacon couples by their oneness and their spirituality. “Jesus stopped and said, call him.” Bill and Mary said “yes” to Jesus more times than anyone could possibly count.

The other person I want to talk about is a little child who was at 10:30 mass last Sunday. The family was sitting in the last row so I couldn’t see if the child was a boy or a girl. But at the Consecration, when the server rang the bell the child yelled out, “That’s a bell!” Of course it didn’t stop there. There were several other comments about the bell.

I couldn’t see the parents either, but being one myself, I can imagine them trying very hard to stop the monologue. But remember what Jesus said about little children. Wasn’t this little one really speaking for all of us? After all, the reason we ring the bell is to call attention to the miracle that’s happening on the altar. I know, it happens all the time. It happens at every mass at every Catholic Church in the whole world. But it’s still a miracle. Like the little child, shouldn’t we be filled with joy?

In our responsorial Psalm today we sang, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” As you sang those words, were you really filled with joy? Was your mouth filled with laughter? Was your tongue rejoicing? “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.”

Remember, Father and I can see you from up here. I’m not going to point fingers and I don’t want to offend anybody, but some of you weren’t looking all that joyful. But, hey, you can see me too and I know I don't always look all that joyful either. For one thing, I’m a terrible singer. But God doesn’t care. After all, I sing with the voice that He gave me. He wants to hear your voice, no matter how bad you think you sound. I promise I'm going to try to do better.

But what about the people sitting around you? Don’t worry about them. They’re just as concerned about how they sound as you are. They’re not even listening to you. If they are, and if they’re thinking about how bad you sound then they’re not really focused on God, are they?

I was on retreat this week with the Monks at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. They sing everything. They're in Church eight times every day singing their prayers. What an awesome way to express their love of God.

But we’re singing those words in church, surrounded by people who are also in church. It’s good for us to sing the words, to remind ourselves that the Lord has done great things for us. But aren’t we preaching to the choir? When was the last time you told someone outside of church how glad you are? Do our non-church-going family and friends look at us and think, “I want what they’ve got?” Or do they look at us and wonder why we bother going to church when it doesn’t seem to be doing anything for us?

If we saw someone going to the same doctor week after week and never seeming to get better, would we want to go to that same doctor? We’d probably go to another doctor, or maybe not go to a doctor at all. We might try alternative medicine, or acupuncture, or voodoo or anything rather than go to a doctor who doesn’t seem to make people better. Some of us even turn to alcohol or drugs. Or maybe we’d just stay sick, thinking there’s no hope.

Today is Priesthood Sunday. This year is also a Year for Priests. So today, we really have a double celebration. We have a God who loves us so much that He not only sent His Son to die for us on the cross, but He made it possible for pathetic creatures like you and me to actually walk out of here with Christ’s body and blood inside of us, thanks to our Priests. With his hands and his voice Father Gary is about to act in persona Christ, in the person of Christ, to give us the greatest gift of all. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to pass that up.

We’re like cell phones that lose their charge after a few days. Plug them in for a while and they’re good as new. Only, instead of electricity, we’re recharged with the actual physical presence of our Lord. What a gift! No wonder we’re filled with joy............... Or are we?............... And if we are, do we let it show?

Jesus showed all the human emotions during His earthly life. He was happy and sad, joyful and even angry. In His short three-year ministry he attracted thousands of followers. Today His disciples number in the millions. When do you think He was most successful in gaining converts? When He was turning the money changers’ tables over in the temple, or when He was speaking joyfully about His kingdom in heaven? Here’s a hint. Pick door number two.

So doesn’t it make sense that if we’re going to make converts or to get fallen-away Catholics back into church, we have to show them what’s in it for them? To show them what’s in it for them, we have to remember what’s in it for us. Don’t you imagine that we’re a lot more effective when we come out of mass with a smile on our faces? Aren’t we better disciples when we approach evangelization in the spirit of sharing something wonderful that’s happening in our lives? Doesn’t that spirit make our lives better?

When Jesus told the disciples to “Call him” He knew that He was going to do something wonderful, something miraculous for the blind man. He was going to give him back his sight. But Jesus has a lot more to offer than just one of the five senses. He offers eternal life. Knowing that, shouldn’t we be chomping at the bit to share that gift with everyone?

I know you may be thinking “That’s easy for you to say. You just came back from a retreat. Everybody gets fired up after a retreat. But this is real life. Times are tough. It’s just not that easy.”

I get that. You’re right. I am fired up after a week with the Monks. But isn’t it true that this a place of peace too? There’s not a thing that happens in a monastery chapel that doesn’t happen right here at St. Bernadette. The mass is the same. It’s the same God. We just live a different life-style.

I don’t want to use the word “escape” because you can’t escape your troubles, even in Church. But this is the place to ask God for help and to receive the power of the resurrection through the Eucharist. Our time on earth is very short. With God’s help we can get through anything, knowing that what God has planned for us when we leave this life is beyond our wildest dreams. I don’t know about you, but I want to share that with everyone I know.

There are some people that Jan and I love very much who have fallen away from the faith. We both pray every day that they’ll come back. But today’s Gospel, especially that one six-word sentence, made me realize that we’ve been doing it all wrong. God’s answer to our prayer, and the answer to any of your prayers if you love someone who’s not practicing the faith, is right there. “Call him.” Or, “call her.” Jesus healed the blind man after the disciples called him.

It seems so simple. We have to speak for Jesus. We have to call others to the Church, whether they’ve fallen away, or if they’ve never been here in the first place. If we can get them here once, then it’s up to the Holy Spirit, working through you and me here in Church, to get them to come back again.

I’m going to give you some homework. During the next seven days, pray that God will give you whatever you need to bring someone either to the Church or back to the Church. Whatever that is, whether it’s the courage to speak up, or the right words to say, or an inner sense of peace that others see and want for themselves, God will provide it if you ask Him.

Then, when He answers your prayer, invite someone to Church. If necessary, offer to pick them up and bring them with you. Maybe you can bribe them with the promise of a trip to Waffle House after mass. Be prepared for the possibility of a negative response. If that happens, start over. Get on your knees and say, “OK, God. That didn’t work. What else do you have?”

Just so you don't think that I'm just blowing smoke, I took my own advice today (yesterday). There are three people attending mass this weekend that haven't been to church in quite a while. Why? Because I asked them. I asked for God's help and He gave me the courage and the grace to approach these three people and invite them to come home. Whether they come again next week is up to them and to God. If they don't, then I'll have to ask God to help me again and I'll ask them again. Meanwhile, I'm thanking God for this first step for them and for me.

Don't get me wrong. I take no credit for this. It was God working through me because I followed Jesus' instruction. Maybe that's why I'm a little more joyful than usual today. Knowing that God can work with such inadequate tools gives me faith that He has even better things in store for all of us.

So, keep trying. Eventually the person may come to mass with you just to get you off their back. Once they’re here, it’s up to God and the rest of us to get them to come back. Remember that short six-word sentence: "Jesus stopped and said "call him."

28th Suday in Ordinary Time

2009-10-14T12:40:00.002-05:00

Murphy was circling the block trying to find a parking place. He was already late for an important meeting and he was starting to panic. He raised his eyes toward the sky and said, "Lord, if you help me find a parking place, I promise to give up drinking and to go to mass every Sunday." Just then, a parking spot opened right in front of him. He looked up and said, "Never mind Lord. I found one myself."

All things are possible for God, even if we don't always give Him the credit.

The readings today definitely give us a lot to think about. In the first, from the Book of Wisdom, Solomon tells us that riches are nothing compared to Wisdom. He says that gold is like sand and silver is no more than mire. He even tells us that he prefers wisdom to light. Our lectors' workbook tells us that the word wisdom, Sophia in Greek, at this time in history meant prudence for making intelligent decisions regarding life. Wisdom was a guide for following the will of God in the way you lived.

By the way, the word Sophia is a feminine noun.

Notice that Solomon says he prayed and prudence was given him. He pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to him. Even today we sometimes hear the phrase "the wisdom of Solomon." But he admits in this reading that he, himself wasn't wise. The spirit of Wisdom came to him only after he pleaded with God.

I know a lot of people who think they're "wise". Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, a lot of people who've received the sacrament of Holy Orders, that would be priests and deacons, think that the sacrament somehow confers wisdom. Or maybe they think that the Church only ordains the wise. Either way, they're very impressed with their own "wisdom". Or maybe I should say we instead of they. It's an easy trap to fall into. But as Solomon tells us, Wisdom is a spirit and it's a gift from God. Education doesn't equal wisdom. If anything, too much education may be the enemy of wisdom.

Remember the definition of Wisdom from the Lectors' workbook, it's a guide for following the will of God in the way you live your life. Being able to recite Church Law from memory isn't wisdom. Keeping a copy of the Catechism on your coffee table doesn't show that you're wise. Being well-versed in the changes that are coming in the mass isn't wisdom. You can be smart and lack wisdom. You can definitely be rich and lack wisdom. Jesus tells us that in today's Gospel. In fact He tells us that it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

But, getting back to Solomon, here's what he says at the beginning of Chapter 7, just ahead of today's first reading:

"I too am a mortal man, the same as all the rest, and a descendant of the first man formed on earth. And in my mother's womb I was molded into flesh in a ten-months period--body and blood, from the seed of man and the pleasure that accompanies marriage." The reason he says ten-month period is that in Biblical times, they used a different calendar. Ten Biblical months equals nine of our current months. Remember that Mary visited Elizabeth when Elizabeth was "in her sixth month" and baby John jumped for joy? All you moms know that you really feel the baby start to move around about the fifth month. Elizabeth's sixth month would be five months today. But I digress. Back to Solomon.

"And I too, when born, inhaled the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; wailing, I uttered that first sound common to all. In swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured." Remember, he was royalty, He was well taken care of." For no king has any different origin or birth, but one is the entry into life for all; and in one same way they leave it. Therefor I prayed and prudence was given me......"

In other words, I put my tunic on one leg at a time, just like you do. But instead of focusing on the wealth and power of the family I was accidentally born into, I prayed for prudence and God gave it to me. I pleaded for Wisdom and the spirit of Wisdom was given to me. What's your excuse?

In modern terms, who's wiser; the "learned" preacher who stands up here week after week spouting what he thinks are "words of wisdom" or the young couple who struggles and does without the things their friends have so they can send their kids to a Catholic school? Who's really following the will of God in the way they live their lives?

Don't get me wrong. The Church ordains priests and deacons to many things and one of them is to preach the Gospel. We all believe we're following the will of God. But it's easy to forget that the faculty to preach is a gift, as is the spirit of Wisdom. My job is help you follow the will of God. It's not my message. It's God's message. And there's a BIG difference!

The spirit of wisdom is an amazing gift! But if you think you have it and you really don't, or if you do have it but you think it makes you smarter or holier than anyone else, you're just going to make a fool out of yourself.

Last week we asked you to contribute to the formation of future deacons. Over the years the program for diaconate training has gone from just two years of classes to eight. That's why the formation program needs our financial support. It's an expensive program. I was right in the middle. It took me five years and I paid for everything myself.

We all need as much training as we can get because life is getting more complicated by the day. But, I know some very good deacons who would never make it through today's program. It's very difficult. But, all those years of expensive classes won't give anyone the spirit of wisdom unless they plead for it as Solomon did.

Here's a very simplistic example of what I'm talking about. Let's say you're married and things aren't going as well as you would like. You decide to talk to a minister. An educated priest or deacon will walk you through all the necessary steps for obtaining a declaration of nullity. He'll have all the forms and he'll help you fill them out. A priest or deacon who's been blessed with the spirit of wisdom will do everything he can to help you save the marriage. If that doesn't work out, then he'll get out the forms.

That's the kind of Wisdom Jesus displays in today's Gospel. The young man seems to have led a good life. He follows the commandments. But when he asks Jesus what he has to do to gain eternal life, he's shocked at the answer. "Sell all your stuff, give the money to the poor, and follow Me." And the young man went away sad. It's up to our imaginations to tell us if the man did as Jesus suggested. The Gospel doesn't tell us. Then Jesus tells the disciples that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.

But then He seems to contradict Himself when He says that "All things are possible for God." What is He saying? Is it impossible for a rich man to get into heaven or not? Don't we need rich people to help pay for things like the Seminary Campaign? If no one is rich, who's going to feed the poor, the government? No, that's not it. If we're all poor, then the government won't have anything to tax and they won't have any money either. Jesus was poor. He depended on the generosity of others to survive during his earthly life. Somebody had to pay for all those dinners He was always having. Even at the last supper, Jesus and the disciples were eating the passover meal in someone else's house, eating someone else's food. Apparently their host hadn't given away all his stuff.

He says "All things are possible for God." If that's true then maybe a camel can pass through a needle's eye and a rich man can get into heaven. Fortunately for most of us, this isn't a big personal problem. We're not rich and we don't own camels. That means it's easier for us to get into heaven, right? I'm not so sure.

We should all follow Solomon's example and beg for the Spirit of Wisdom.

I think Thomas Merton had the Spirit of Wisdom. I know I've used this before, but I'm going on retreat to his monastery next week and I think this prayer reflects a lot of wisdom and fits nicely with today's readings.

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-09-27T16:01:00.002-05:00

Wow, Jesus! Don't hold back. Why don't you tell us what's really on your mind?

Most Sundays the Gospel starts out "Jesus said to the disciples...." Then we hear a nice little story about lost sheep, or prodigal sons, or mustard seeds, or something equally pleasant that makes a point and tells us how to live better lives. Today, not so much. He hits us right between the eyes. And not just once, but a couple of times.

You may remember that at the end of last week's Gospel He was holding a little child. He told the disciples, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me", a very positive statement. Today's Gospel picks up where we left off last week. He's still holding the child and He gives them (and us) the flip side. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea."

We all know that Jesus was a master at creating word pictures and this is a picture that I think we can all relate to. Imagine being thrown into the ocean with a great weight tied around your neck. You would struggle to get free, knowing that in a matter of seconds you're going to drown. But you can't escape and every effort you make to free yourself just wastes precious oxygen. Your heart is racing which uses up even more oxygen. As your lungs empty they start to burn. At some point you must realize that there's nothing you can do to save yourself and the life drains out of your body. What a nightmare!

But even that horrible death is better than what's going to happen to you if you cause one of Jesus' children to sin.

But He's not done with us yet. He goes on to deal with our own sin. "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter into life maimed, than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire." It's another graphic word picture. Did He really mean it? Was he really suggesting self-mutilation? Probably not, but He's making a pretty strong argument for not using our hands to sin. He says the same about cutting off a foot or plucking out an eye.

Losing a hand or a foot or an eye would be a terrible thing but still better than going to the bad place because of our sinfulness. "Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Another really graphic image. But, it's an uphill fight.   We're not born knowing right from wrong. We have to learn that from our parents, our teachers, and other adults in our lives. When we baptize a child the priest or deacon tells the parents, "You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him or her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him or her up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?"

Maybe we should add that if you cause this little one to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were put around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. That is what Jesus said, isn't it?   But even if our parents do their part, sooner or later we're going to have to deal with a world that, frankly, doesn't care where we spend eternity. In fact, sometimes I wonder if some people have gotten this Gospel backwards. Maybe they think He said you should cause sin. An awful lot of people act that way.

But would someone deliberately cause a child to sin? Sadly, the answer is yes. Parents, we may think we're doing all we can. We try to teach them right from wrong. But what about our actions? Do we bring them to mass every Sunday? Do we set a good example by the way we act? Do we tell them not to take the Lord's name in vain, then curse the driver in the next car while our kids are sitting in the back seat? Do we tell them not to bear false witness then criticize others behind their backs, but in front of our kids? I could go on, but I think you get the point. We may not be deliberately causing them to sin, but we still do.

But, let's say we are being the best parents we can be. What about other people, what we call society? There are a lot of people who make a lot of money because of sin. Television, movies, video games. They all make money from sin. Sadly, a movie about sex and violence makes a lot more money than a movie about chastity and peaceful coexistence. Hugh Hefner is a very wealthy man.

I was listening to a talk the other day about the old Catholic Legion of Decency. Some of you will remember them. They rated movies and advised Catholics whether they should see them or not. There was actually a time, from about the 1930s to the 60s, when the movie producers were afraid of the Legion of Decency and were very careful not to make movies that didn't meet their standards. There wasn't much of a chance for a movie to make a profit if all the Catholics stayed home.   Sadly, the group disbanded when they realized that people, including some Catholics, would actually go out of their way to see movies that they had banned. In fact, movie makers started to advertise that their movies had been "banned" by the Legion of Decency. Our Bishops decided that they were inadvertently helping the makers of objectionable films.

So did Jesus really mean that you would be better off going through this life maimed if it meant that you'd avoid spending eternity in the place where your "worms do not die"? Yes, I think He did. But He said you'd be better off, not that you have to do it. There are better, less painful ways to avoid sin. In fact, if the only way we can avoid sin is to start cutting off arms and legs, that says something about our internal morality. There's really not much virtue in a blind man's avoiding pornography. A man who doesn't steal because he has no hands really isn't exercising any kind of moral code. Being a true follower of Christ really demands more. Resisting peer pressure and taking a stand against immorality may seem harder sometimes than cutting off a limb.

To look at this from a positive, rather than a negative perspective, there are plenty of good books, good movies, and good television shows. They deserve our support. There are plenty of wholesome places to go for entertainment. If we fill our lives and our minds with good things, there won't be any room for the bad. One thing we can do to fill our time and our minds with something good is prayer. It's very hard to sin and pray at the same time.

This past Tuesday was the feast of St. Padre Pio. He spent ten hours per day hearing confessions and also said as many as 35 full rosaries each day. He had to be a pretty virtuous guy, just because he didn't have time to sin. Obviously he was virtuous enough to be declared a saint. But you and I aren't called to that kind of life. We have to live in a world where sin and temptation are everywhere. It's up to us to avoid the sin and fight the temptation. But we don't have to do it alone. In fact, we can't do it alone.

But with God's help and the power of prayer, we can live saintly lives and keep all our body parts intact.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-09-14T17:26:00.002-05:00

The kids are back in school and the first thing they're often asked to do is write a paper on how they spent their summer vacation. So, in the spirit of the new school year I thought I'd tell you what I did on my summer vacation. Don't panic. I'm not going to show slides or anything, but a couple of things happened while Jan and I were away a couple of weeks ago that I thought were kind of interesting.

Three weeks ago we attended a wedding at a Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church is right next door to the Atlanta Cathedral so we decided to go to 5:00 mass and then walk next door for the 6:00 wedding. The mass itself was nothing out of the ordinary except for the number of clergy on the altar. There were four priests and a deacon. They were getting ready for a parish mission so the homilist that day was from Nebraska. The interesting thing was the pre-mass announcement. We don't do it here at St. Bernadette but a lot of parishes do ask everyone to silence their cell phones and pagers, nothing special there. But what the man said next made me do a Loony Tunes double take. He said, "please refrain from texting during the holy sacrifice of the mass."

Refrain from texting! I thought it might be a joke. But I looked around and no one was laughing, so I guess he was serious. Are there really people who would send and receive text messages during mass? Sadly, I guess there are. An announcement like that is usually made because it's been a problem in the past. C'mon, people. We're not at a ball game! Where are our priorities?

The other thing worth mentioning is the length of the mass. Jan and I did something that we haven't done in years and something that I'm not recommending to you. Don't say "the deacon does it so it must be ok." This was an emergency. We left after communion. Remember I said that the wedding was at 6:00 and the mass was at 5:00. We walked in just ahead of the wedding party.

Another thing worth mentioning: Even though Atlanta is almost twice as big as St. Louis and has 200,000 more Catholics, their Cathedral isn't nearly as big or as nice as our own Cathedral Basilica. We should be very proud of that. One more thing before we leave Atlanta. The wedding was held at the Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. It was a very nice church in a protestant sort of way, but Ponce de Leon was Spanish. He lived in the last half of the 1400s and the first half of the 1500s. Wouldn't he have been a Catholic? It just seems like a strange name for a Baptist Church.

Jumping ahead seven days, two weeks ago we went to mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Madison, Alabama. The pastor there is Fr. Phillip O'Kennedy, a fine Irish lad with a gift of gab. Quite a gift of gab. The one hour plus mass in Atlanta was nothing. This one lasted more than an hour and a half. I thought to myself, the folks back home at St. Bernadette wouldn't like this. We were supposed to meet our son and daughter-in-law for lunch at 1:00. Needless to say, we were late.

But here's the thing. No one in that church looked at their watch as Fr. Kennedy delivered his half-hour homily. It was that good. I've commandeered some of his words for this morning. They actually fit pretty well with today's readings, particularly the second reading from the Letter of St. James. We've heard from James for the last three Sundays (counting today) and we'll hear from him for a couple of more weeks.

Two weeks ago, the weekend that we were in Alabama, he wrote to us "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves." Last week he reminded us that we shouldn't show preference to those with gold rings and fine clothes over poor people with shabby clothes. Today we heard my personal favorite from James, "If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,' what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
You can't get much plainer than that!

Fr. O'Kennedy used a term that I'd never heard before, but that seems so appropriate when you're talking about James writings. He said, "Don't be a pew potato!" A pew potato. James couldn't have said it better himself.

We all know what a couch potato is. It's someone who just sits on the couch doing nothing. So, it follows that a pew potato comes to church on Saturday or Sunday but doesn't do anything. That's what James was warning us about. Some say that faith alone is all that we need to get into heaven. Solo fidae. Faith alone. But James says no. "Be doers of the word." "Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works." Don't be a pew potato.

Alabama isn't exactly a hot bed of Catholicism. There are seven Catholic churches in the Huntsville/Madison area. There are more protestant churches than that on the street where St. Joseph is located. So, I think the good father might have been taking a little bit of a shot at the competition. He said that we don't come to church to feel good. We come to do good and to be good. Isn't that exactly what St. James has been telling us. Our purpose in this life is to take others with us to the next life. We do that by doing good and by being good, leading by example. And that comes from church.

Some folks think that they can master the do good and the be good on their own. We've all heard someone say that they don't need a "building" to be close to God. They're right, up to a point. Between Atlanta and Huntsville we spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains. You can't visit the mountains without feeling close to God. At least I can't. But admiring His handiwork, as awesome as it is, won't help you to do good and be good.

For one thing, we need the Eucharist. We need Christ's physical presence coursing through our bodies to help us stand up against the pressures of modern society to be bad and do bad. We also need the encouragement of the Word of God. I'll let you in on a little secret. I may read Sunday's readings a hundred times, but when I hear the lector read them out loud, I always pick up on something that I missed reading them to myself. The word is spiritual food just like the Eucharist.

Here's something you may not know. Have you ever noticed that we carry the Book of the Gospels into church but we don't carry it out? The reason for that is that you carry the word out of church in your hearts and minds. The readings are crucial in your daily struggle to do good and be good.

Finally, we need to surround ourselves with a community of believers. We're not naturally solitary people. Remember that in the Passion the people shouted "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Chances are that if there had been only one person there he would have kept his mouth shut. But there's strength in numbers. In the same way, when we're challenged by society to do what's popular rather than what's right, we can be stronger knowing that we're part of a world-wide community of believers who gather each and every week to hear the Word, share the Eucharist, and worship with our fellow Catholics.

Before mass you heard Greg tell us how generous you are. You're the best when it comes to supporting the church and helping the poor. We've had a parish surplus for ten years. We exceeded our goal for the Annual Catholic Appeal with one of the highest percentages of givers in the Deanery. You should be very proud of that.

[long pause]
Eight years ago yesterday (Friday) our country was brutally attacked by terrorists who hate our country and hate our way of life. Thousands of our brothers and sisters were killed and injured that day. But instead of bringing us to our knees, those attacks brought us together. Instead of running away from the burning buildings, brave Americans ran in, hoping to save the people trapped inside. Some of those brave men and women died themselves. All Americans, regardless of our religious faith or political party banded together. For days and even weeks and months afterwards we rallied around the President and our country, determined not to let the acts of a few deranged individuals destroy the America that we all know and love. After all, we're one nation, UNDER GOD.

Sadly it didn't take us long to get back to business as usual. 911 became one of those days, like the moon landing or the Kennedy assassination, where we remember where we were on the day, but the significance has faded away. Remember how everything used to stop when their was a launch at Cape Kennedy? We were glued to our television sets. Not anymore. Did you know that there was a shuttle landing just last night? (Friday night?) I'm just sayin'...... Ironically, our country's success in warding off further attacks has lulled us into thinking that the threat isn't still there. Make no mistake. It is. But we, as Catholic Christians have other enemies, the first of all being Satan. And he's done a pretty good job of convincing us that he's not still around, just like we may have forgotten that Al Kaida is still around.

I apologize to those of you who were at yesterday's (Friday's) communion service. You already heard some of this. But I think it's important enough to repeat. Our country was founded on religious freedom. The pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution. Our founding fathers created a nation UNDER GOD. But in trying to avoid creating a national religion, our courts have done exactly that. Through a series of misguided decisions athiesm has become our national religion. Our brothers and sisters who don't believe in God are the only Americans who are 100% free to practice their faith, or lack of faith, as they see fit. Not only that, they demand that laws be changed to reflect their views and usually win. The bad news is that what they want may not be what God wants. When Christians sit by and watch as laws are passed that are clearly not what God wants, that's when we end up with the legal murder of unborn children. That's what happens when good Christians become hearers of the word and not doers of the word. That's what happens when we become pew potatoes. Complacency and inaction are the enemies of faith and of freedom.

God gave us free will so we have a choice. We can come to mass on the weekend, shake the priest's and the deacon's hands on the way out the door and go about our business or we can become "doers of the word." Nourished by the word and by the Body and Blood of Christ, fortified by the strength of the community, we can stand up for what we believe and show the world through our words and our actions that we're people of faith, or we can be careful not to make waves. Not to rock the boat. We can forget James' words, "Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." We can feed the hungry, clothe the poor, comfort the lonely or we can say 'Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,' Oh, and have a nice day!

He gave us free will so it's really up to us.

9/11/2009

2009-09-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

Eight years ago today, our country was brutally attacked by terrorists. Thousands of American citizens died due to a senseless act of terrorism which changed the course of life in our country. Many of us became aware that day of just how fragile this life really is. It's one thing for a soldier to die in battle. As terrible as that is, it's something that every member of the military knows could happen at any time. Like police and firefighters, our brave men and women know that they could make the ultimate sacrifice.

It's something else altogether for a secretary to die at her desk at the hands of a terrorist. Office work is not considered to be a hazardous profession, at least not a life-threatening one. The potential of being blown up isn't usually part of the job description.

Many people asked in the aftermath of that terrible day, "How could God let this happen?" A better question might be, "How could God NOT let this happen?" For one thing, He gave us free will. We're not puppets. We can do any stupid, evil thing we choose. Like a human parent, God wants us to love Him. He wants that more than anything. But how can He know if we love Him or not if He controls everything we do? He can't, so he gives us the freedom to choose. As it turns out, most people DO love Him and act accordingly. But some don't. Or, they have such a misguided, warped sense of what God asks of them that they do all kinds of stupid stuff, thinking they're doing the right thing. They've been misled by false prophets, as Jesus warned we all might be.

As Paul says in our first reading today, "I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated
because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." Maybe terrorists act out of ignorance, or maybe they're just pure evil. No one knows the truth except God Himself.

As Christians we believe that there is some good in everything, even something as vile as the 911 attacks. They did bring about great change in our country. In the aftermath of the attacks the country came together in a way that I've never seen in my lifetime. Suddenly partisan politics gave way to patriotism. "God Bless America" replaced "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at our stadiums. Republicans and Democrats joined together in searching for survivors at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the fields of Pennsylvania. President Bush's approval rating shot through the roof as he took decisive action to ward off future attacks. Did the terrorists misjudge us? Would the attacks make us better and stronger instead of bringing us to our knees?

For a while they did. Like I said, "God Bless America" became our song of choice anywhere we gathered in the months following 911. Lee Greenwood and his song "I'm Proud to be an American" was back on the radio. Greenwood himself, hardly a household name prior the September, 2001 was suddenly in great demand. Country singers rushed to record other patriotic songs. But gradually that all changed.

It didn't take long for the left and the right to get back to bickering over the best way to fight this new threat. The President's new-found popularity started to slip. Politicians and their cronies from both parties began to find ways to make money from the crisis. Before long, it was business as usual on Capital Hill and in the White House. Today, just eight years later, we're back to singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". With the Cardinals making another run to the playoffs, how many St. Louisians are really focused on the continuing threat to our way of life from people who are jealous of our way of life? I was at the Tour of Missouri on Monday and I was shocked at the number of men who didn't take off their hats for the singing of the National Anthem.

There have been no attacks on American soil since 2001, though many have been averted. But, rather than thanking God for these years of safety, many of us just complain about having to take off our shoes before boarding an airplane, or throw a fit when the security agent tells us that we can't take our pocket knife or bottle of shampoo on the plane.

Jesus asks us today, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?" Of course the context was different in the first century, but don't His words apply to us today? Are we blind to what's going on around us, or are we vigilant in our lives and our faith? As I said earlier, many people wondered how God could let 911 happen? God didn't make it happen but given our free will, He couldn't stop it either. Even if He could have prevented it, why would He?

This country was founded on religious freedom. The first settlers came here to get away from religious persecution. How could they have known that they were landing in such a vast land with abundant natural resources and a diverse climate which made it possible to grow crops to feed the entire world, not just in the sixteenth century, but even today? We have been truly blessed from the very beginning. Our founding fathers recognized God's gifts when they chartered our new nation. "We have been endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights."

But over the course of the last two centuries we've gradually turned away from God. In their efforts to accommodate all people and to avoid creating a state religion, the courts, through a series of misguided decisions have created a state religion. It's called atheism. Our brothers and sisters who don't believe in God are the only group that can practice their faith without fear of interference.

While the courts have led us down this path, you and I share in the blame by sitting quietly by and letting this happen. We can't display the Ten Commandments. We can't have a Nativity scene on public property. We can't have prayer in public schools. Worst of all, the killing of innocent, unborn babies has become the law of the land.

I don't want to turn this into a political rant and believe me, both parties have been instrumental in our turning away from God, but did you know that just yesterday the Senate voted to confirm Harvard professor Cass Sunstein as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management. This is a man who believes that animals should have more rights than unborn children. He's on record as saying that animals should have the right to sue human beings if they're mistreated. And, in his new job, he has the power to make it happen.

I have to ask again, "Why would God want to grant us special treatment?"

But all isn't lost. Like a human father who loves his sons and daughters no matter what they do, God loves us. When a parent gets that dreaded phone call in the middle of the night, "Mr. Buckley, this is the St. Louis County Police. We have your son (or daughter) at the police station." we don't say "Don't bother me. I'm through with him or her. He or she is just too much trouble." We get dressed and drive down there to bail them out. We love them no matter what. If we can be that loving, that forgiving, how much more will a loving God be there for us when we get in trouble?

You and I have the right and the obligation to defend our faith and to insist that we be able to practice it when and where we choose. Every time we come to church we're reminded of the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us free to do just that. So, as we remember the thousands of our brothers and sisters who lost their lives on that terrible day eight years ago, let's not lose sight of what's really important. We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Let's do all we can, through our prayers and our actions, to keep it that way. As Jesus said, "Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

2009-08-09T16:17:00.000-05:00

You've probably noticed that Father Gary and I are almost finished painting the church. Actually, Tom Turner, a member of our parish is doing the painting. If I had anything to do with it there would be paint on the carpet and paint on the pews and paint everywhere else. I'm not much of a painter.

I'll have to admit I was a little skeptical at first. Don't tell anybody but I liked the old blue. I know. I was in the minority, but I liked it. Maybe it's because I'm a hockey fan. Maybe it's just because I like to be counter-cultural. But I thought it was pretty. So, like I said, I was a little skeptical about the softer colors.

As it turns out, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's very nice. It definitely makes the church look bigger. And the soft contrasts are very peaceful and relaxing. It's definitely an improvement.

I was sitting here the other morning admiring the paint job and thinking about the places where we encounter God. In the first reading Elijah meets an angel while he's sitting under a broom tree. I didn't even know brooms grew on trees. Anyway, it does seem like an unusual place to have a life-changing experience like that. But the angel gave Elijah a cake and a jug of water. Strengthened by the food and drink, he got up and walked for forty days and forty nights. I guess you could say he cleaned up his life under the broom tree. You could say that, but you probably wouldn't.

We all know that God is everywhere, but when we want to meet Him, we usually think of coming to a place that we call a church. And we come here to receive the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, just like Jesus tells us to do in today's Gospel. But how important is the location where we receive Him? I've been to mass in great Cathedrals, like the one here in St. Louis. I've been to churches in Ireland that are hundreds of years old, built when they really knew how to build a church. I've been to mass at a church where the Blessed Mother once appeared. As a scout leader, I even went to mass sitting on a log where a tree stump served as the altar. I've even assisted Fr. Gary at mass on the parade grounds at Jefferson Barracks. We were standing on the back of a flat bed trailer.

Jesus once said that whenever two or more are gathered in His name, He would be there. So how important is the place where we worship?

Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN, the Catholic TV network, took a lot of heat for spending millions of dollars to build a shrine to the Blessed Sacrament at her headquarters in Alabama. Some folks thought that the money would have been better spent feeding the hungry. Our former Archbishop Burke was also criticized for building a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin. You have to ask the question, "How elaborate a building do we need to worship God?" Clearly we don't need a building at all. But all through history men have built temples and churches to house their religious services, and we've always made them as grand as time and money allowed.

Our new paint certainly doesn't rival the mosaics at the Cathedral Basilica, but in our humble way, it's our means of honoring God's presence in the tabernacle, on the altar, and in the pews.

Last weekend was very busy for me. Friday evening I officiated at a wake service for a young woman who passed away much too soon. It was a very small gathering at a very old south city funeral home. In fact I was told that it was the first funeral home built west of the Mississippi. It was a fairly somber service as I tried to come up with something to say to comfort the lady's two young daughters and the rest of the family. The best word I can come up with to describe the evening would be humble. And God was definitely there.

Then on Saturday, Father and I participated in the wedding ceremony of our music director, Adam Wright and his new bride Beth. It was held at St. Gabriel's in the city, which is a beautiful church. As Father told you last weekend, the wedding was wonderful. Not because of the location, it would have been just as wonderful if had been held in any church, but because of the time and effort that was put into preparing for the service. There was a full choir, there were two priests and two deacons, three seminarians, and a server, our own Brandon Dake, on the altar. The vestments were all ornate and fancy, not something that Father or I were very comfortable with, but one thing is for sure. Nobody left that church not knowing that they'd been to a Catholic wedding. There were a lot of young people present and I hope they got the hint.

Then on Sunday, I baptized little Finnegan Gorman. He's the son of Bernadette and William Gorman. Bernadette is the daughter of Maryann and Rich Heavrin, long-time parishioners. She graduated from our parish school in the same class as my oldest son. Bernadette and William live in Omaha. They came back to St. Louis, back to St. Bernadette to have Finnegan baptized just as they traveled all the way from Phonex to have their older son baptized. Why? Because this is home. They have lovely churches in Nebraska, but they chose to travel all the way to St. Louis because they know that Christ is present here to them, especially Bernadette, in a very special way.

So, three days, three very different services in three very different locations. Here's the thing. We call the building a church. But the real church isn't the building, it's the people inside the building. The Gormans didn't drive all those miles because of the building. They came to be with their family, their natural family and their church family.

Beth and Adam's wedding would have been just as special, just as holy, just as faith-filled if it had been held here rather than at St. Gabe's. But our building wouldn't have been big enough. Father and I were there, Brandon was there, our choir was there, and some of you were there representing our parish family. The wedding didn't come to St. Bernadette, so St. Bernadette went to the wedding. Our building may be small, but the reach of our parish family has no physical boundaries.

Finally, at the wake service on Friday I got the nicest compliment I think I've ever received, but it was more a statement about you than about me. One of the family members, a parishioner came up to me afterward and said, "That's why I go to St. Bernadette."

Think about that for a minute. Our parish numbers are growing. People are choosing to come here. Why? Because you people take Jesus' words "Love one another as I have loved you" seriously. Sure we have good music and outstanding preaching.......We have convenient free parking, we're close to major highways, and now we have a nifty new paint job, but that's all window dressing.

We all come here for two things. One is the Eucharist. Like He said, "This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die." The other is the community. That's you and me. If we didn't have that, this would just be a former movie theater with a new coat of paint.

Loaves and Fishes

2009-07-26T11:30:00.001-05:00

Jesus faces a dilemma in Today's Gospel. He's looking at 5,000 hungry people. All He has to feed them with is five loaves and two fish. These people are looking to Him for nourishment, but He doesn't have enough to feed them all. Lucky for Him, He's the Son of God. He knows exactly what to do. Drawing inspiration from the 2nd Book of Kings, and the story of Elisha, He feeds all five thousand from the little bit that He has.

Not only does He feed them all, but when they're done eating, there's actually more food left than they started with. Take that, Elisha! The people are so impressed they declare Him "the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." In fact, Jesus had to withdraw because He was afraid they would carry Him off and make Him king.

As I stand here and look at you, I can relate with this story. You're sitting there waiting for some words of wisdom......some inspiration to help you make it through the next week. You expect some Fulton Sheen-like intelligence to flow from this ambo like clean water from a mountain spring. You're expecting, or at least hoping for, a banquet and all I have is some bread and a couple of fish. When I prepare a homily, I start with a blank computer screen. Some times the words come very easily. Other times, not so much. Like this week. Feeding the 5,000 is the only one of Jesus' miracles, aside from the resurrection, that's repeated in all four Gospels. So, it comes up in the cycle of readings a lot. We all know the story by heart., What the heck can I say about it that hasn't been said hundreds of times before? I need a minor miracle.

But Jesus comes through for me, just as He did for the people in the story. You notice that the Gospels never say what kind of fish it was. It could have been very good, or it could have been very ordinary. You'd have to think that if the food came from Jesus, it was probably very tasty. But we don't know for sure. Likewise, I may not deliver a seafood banquet today, but I'm hoping for at least a Fillet o' Fish.

Anyway, Jesus always comes through for me, just like He did for all those hungry people on the hill, if I let Him. The result may be very good, in which case it's through the workings of the Holy Spirit, or it's very bad, which means I got in the way somehow. But either way, it's food for thought that comes from my fairly empty basket.

So, as I was staring at that blank screen, for some reason I thought of my Aunt Rowena, God rest her soul. She and Uncle Roy lived in Hannibal, MO. I was actually born in Hannibal, even though I've lived my whole life, so far, in St. Louis. But I spent many summer weeks in Hannibal, staying with my aunt and uncle, feeling very much like Tom Sawyer. There were just as many things for a kid to get into in that town in the 20th century as there were in the 19th, and I did my best to get into as many of them as possible. Times were much simpler then and I could do just about anything I wanted. They only lived a block from downtown, so there was plenty for me to do.

My uncle was a building contractor, in the very broadest sense of the term. He did build things, usually small things like houses. His real specialty seemed to be tearing stuff down. That was my favorite part. In the days before OSHA, and child labor laws, I couldn't wait for Uncle Roy to hand me a hammer and tell me to start hitting stuff. Tom and Huck had nothing on me.

Uncle Roy's office was in his basement and he owned one truck. His business probably wasn't something that you'd want to copy, but he liked what he did. He was also the smartest man I ever knew.

He was one of those people who had great ideas the day after someone else had gotten the patent. I guess you'd say he was always a day late and a dollar short. He did have one invention that was very successful. Unfortunately someone stole his idea and they made the big money, not him. Mostly my uncle was a dreamer. So he and my aunt lived their lives in a quiet river town just doing what they did.

Oh, Uncle Roy had one other business. He was a slum lord. Unfortunately, he wasn't a very good slum lord. He never had the heart to throw anyone out on the street because they didn't pay their rent. And most of his tenants didn't pay their rent. In fact, he didn't just let them live in his tenements rent-free, he often brought them home for dinner. Sometimes he brought some of his construction laborers home for dinner. Sometimes he brought total strangers that he met in the bar home to dinner. You never knew if there were going to be three people at the kitchen table or thirteen.

That's why today's Gospel made me think of Aunt Rowena. No matter how many people put their feet under the table, there was always enough food. I'm not sure how she did it. But she did. My aunt and uncle took Jesus' words to feed the hungry and lived them in their lives. The gave food and shelter to no telling how many people who needed them, even though they didn't have all that much themselves.

In the '50s and '60s, Hannibal was like the South. Maybe it still is. I haven't been there in years. Dinner was at noon. Supper was at 6:00. I never did figure out when they ate lunch. But supper, the evening meal, was usually left-overs from dinner; twelve baskets of fragments.

Jesus and Elisha didn't multiply the food to feed themselves. They did it to feed the hungry. And when they were done, they had some left over. In Jesus case, He had more food left over than He started with, proving that God can never be outdone in His generosity.

When we give to the poor, whether it's food, or clothing, or money, it always comes back to us, often in a greater amount than we gave. Think about your own life. How many times has it happened to you? You give something to someone and the next thing you know, something good has come your way. That's your loaves and fishes. That's your twelve baskets left over. That's my aunt's bottomless soup kettle.

And it isn't just stuff that God multiplies. It's also our actions. Cut your neighbor's grass once when he's sick and when you're sick he cuts yours twice. Visit a friend in the hospital and when you're in the hospital, ten people will come to see you. In my case, the Holy Spirit multiplies my words, sometimes making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Keep this in mind when there's yet another second collection...... and we're coming into the season of second collections. There are people who think the government is the solution to every problem. Let them take care of it. But the principal of the loaves and fishes never seems to apply to the government. In fact, they always seem to need ten times as many loaves and fishes to feed 10% of the people. Of course they do it with your money.

The government minimizes our money. The Church magnifies it. The difference is one word......faith. We do our best for our brothers and sisters when we have faith and follow Jesus' example in today's Gospel.

No, the responsibility for caring for our less-fortunate brothers and sisters falls directly on you and me. We're called to feed the hungry. We're called to clothe the poor. We're called to comfort the grieving. And, as today's readings remind us, we can never give too much, because God's there for us, making sure that we're taken care of too.

You know, the Apostles were hungry that day too. I'm sure they had their eye on that fish and bread. But they stood by silently as Jesus gave it all away. It's no coincidence that when Jesus sent them to retrieve the leftovers, there were twelve baskets of food, one basket for each of them..... enough to feed them for several meals........ much more than their share of the two fish and five loaves would have been.

My aunt and uncle never hesitated to help anyone in need, even though they weren't rich people. But they did the best they could with what they had, and I'm sure they're in heaven today, enjoying the reward for their efforts. They weren't church-going people, but they were protestants. In their wildest dreams they could never have imagined themselves being used to inspire a church full of Catholics. But that's the way God works. I pray for them every day, but I haven't really thought about them in a long time. But the Holy Spirit made me think of them when I was trying to come up with something to talk about today, and made me see them in an entirely new way.

That's my loaves and fishes for today. I hope you share them with others and have twelve baskets left over.

Evangelization and the King of Rock & Roll-- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-07-11T16:46:00.000-05:00

Imagine the task that Jesus gives his disciples in today's Gospel. They're to be the first Christian missionaries. The word "mission" comes from the Latin for "send", so He's sending them out to be missionaries, to preach the good news. All they can take with them is a walking stick. No food. No money. No warm cloak to ward off the cold dessert nights. Not only do they have to preach the Gospel, they have to depend on the kindness of the very people they're trying to evangelize to provide them with food and a place to sleep.

There was no television, or radio, or newspapers, or Internet in those days. Most likely the people they were going to visit had never heard of Jesus. They were Jews who were waiting for the Messiah. But they expected their Savior to come in glory, not to be the son of a carpenter.
The best the disciples could hope for was someone with an open mind. At worst they might be openly hostile. They were essentially beggars with a story to tell and their very survival depended on their ability to deliver the message. The message? Repent! Not necessarily something their audience would want to hear.

Just imagine you're a first century Jew. You're sitting on your front porch, maybe drinking an iced tea and these two guys walk up the sidewalk. They're dirty and sweaty and they want to tell you that the Messiah has come and they're His representatives. This glorious Messiah that your people have been waiting for for centuries has finally come and He's sent these two to tell you about it. The Son of the all-powerful God hasn't even provided these guys with money or food. They want you to believe their fantastic story AND to take them in for the night.    These migrant preachers, not very good preachers at that, want YOU to repent. Oy!

Remember, these weren't really preachers, or even public speakers. They were fishermen and tax collectors and other common working men. Their faith would have to sustain them. Jesus warned them that they wouldn't necessarily get a warm reception. He told them, "Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." I would imagine that there was a lot of foot shaking going on.

But they drove out demons and healed the sick. Somehow they got the job done. Of course, we know how they did it. They did it by faith.

Today, when we think about missionaries, we usually think of brave men and women who travel long distances to spread the faith. So we don't forget about them, the Church reminds us occasionally by asking us for money to support one foreign mission or another. And, that's good. This Gospel story is obviously telling us that evangelization is important. Most of us have no desire to travel to Africa or South America to spread the good news, so we put a few dollars in an envelope and leave the heavy lifting to others.

But what about spreading the word a little more locally. While our contributions may help get the message out to foreign lands, what about the guy who lives across the street who can't remember the last time he was inside a church? Who's going to evangelize him? Isn't that up to you and me? That's something we can do and we don't even have to wear sandals.

Unfortunately, we Catholics aren't known for reaching out. Our faith is the most community-centered faith of all, yet we tend to approach it as individuals. Our faith revolves around communion, the common meal we share with every other Catholic in the world, but we don't usually go out of our way to help others share in that meal.

Some Christian churches do nothing but evangelize. Where the purpose of our Mass is to share in Christ's Body and Blood, there are churches where the entire focus is to get people converted. Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing anyone's faith. In fact, there is plenty we could learn from some of our protestant brothers and sisters when it comes to spreading the good news.

In the church where I was brought up, we did it with food. Not with heavenly food, the Eucharist, but with beef stew and cherry pie. It's called fellowship and we had it every week. People would bring their friends to the fellowship which was a pot luck dinner. Of course, the fried chicken came with strings attached. There would be gentle, and not so gentle nudges from the pastor during dinner. With any luck at all, they'd have you singing "Amazing Grace" before you got to the dessert table.

Maybe we don't evangelize because we don't think we know enough. But what did the disciples know? They knew Jesus. But so do you and I. In fact, we know Him better than they did because we know the rest of the story. We know He died and rose again. We know He defeated death. The disciples didn't know that. But their faith was strong enough for them to go out and evangelize, even though they were risking their earthly lives. But it is easy to be embarrassed if someone asks a question we can't answer.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret and make a suggestion. Here's the secret. There are enough non-practicing Catholics to keep you and me busy for the rest of our natural lives, no matter how old we are. A lot of them are in our own families.   You don't have to go door-to-door to find them. You know where they are. They may not be open to a full-blown religious discussion right now, but be patient.

Here's the suggestion. Drop hints. Let them see how blessed you are to be a part of Jesus' Church. Save the nagging. Be gentle. Lead by example. Work your way up to asking them to come to church with you; Maybe on a special occasion; a birthday or anniversary.

Here's another secret. I'm blessed to be a minister in a Catholic hospital. I get to visit people of all faiths. They know that I'm a minister and they expect a religious conversation. I know, in advance from their chart, what their faith is. In nine years I've had one person ask me to leave. (A protestant minister.) I have some of the best discussions in hospital rooms, especially with people who aren't Catholic. But here's the most interesting thing. You'd be amazed at how many people say they're Catholics but when you ask them if they'd like communion, they tell you that they haven't been to church in 30 years. No matter how long they've been away from church, they still consider themselves Catholic.

On the other hand, non-Catholic Christians who haven't been to church in a long time almost always say they don't belong to a church. There's a permanence to being a Catholic, no matter how long you've been away. I think you have to understand that before you try to get someone to come back. Sometimes I can persuade the patient to speak to a priest while they're in the hospital. Some times I can't. But I always try.

So, maybe you would love to go door-to-door in your neighborhood looking for lapsed Catholics and potential converts. Good for you! Go for it! Or maybe you're like me and would rather find people where they are and use a little gentle persuasion. Good for you too! You don't have to have a walking stick and sandals to do the Lord's work.

In fact, the best way to evangelize is to just live your Catholic faith every single day. We all know what St. Francis said, "Always preach the Gospel and if necessary use words." You may never know what effect your actions have on others. But rest assured, they will have an effect.

Here's an interesting story. We've been inundated for the last two weeks with "news" about the death of Michael Jackson. We've had twenty-four hour coverage of his life, at least the good parts. There's even a move to put him on a postage stamp and declare a national day of mourning. I guess it's just a sign of our celebrity-obsessed society. But there was another famous singer who died at an early age, Elvis Presley. Elvis passed away before CNN and MSNBC and all the other twenty-four hour news channels, so I don't remember there being quite as big an uproar when he died.

But here's something I'll bet you didn't know about the "king of rock and roll." Delores Hart was a young actress who appeared with Elvis in two movies, one called "Loving You" in 1957 and "King Creole" in 1958. Hart was the first woman that Elvis ever kissed in a movie. She and Elvis would get together when they weren't working and read the Bible and Elvis would often question her on various passages and topics. In 1963 Delores Hart left show business and became a Benedictine nun. Did she plant any kind of seed with the singer back in '57 and '58?

We don't know for sure. But in 1969 he starred in another movie called "Change of Habit." In the movie he sang at a Catholic mass. Granted, it was just a part he played, but it's an interesting twist in the career of someone who had been raised a true Southern Baptist in the deep south.

In 1972 Presley recorded an album called "Elvis Now." The first song he recorded for the album, one he insisted on including was called "The Mystery of the Rosary." The song included the words to the "Hail Mary." It's a very Catholic song.

Finally, after he died, there were some Catholic books found in his personal library including "The City of God" by St. Augustine, and "The Key of Heaven" a book of Catholic prayers and instructions. The second book was full of notations and comments in Elvis' hand.

We don't know if he had planned to become a Catholic before his death but we do know that he was very interested in Catholic theology. He obviously had some kind of devotion to the Blessed Mother. We also don't know if Delores Hart started him on this path twenty years earlier. But there does seem to be a connection and it just shows that you never know what effect you're having on someone else, or how long it might take for the seed to bear fruit.

Jesus told the disciples to go out into the world with just sandals, a tunic, and a walking stick and spread the good news. That was how things were done in the first century. People were scattered all over and you had to go to them. Today we have much more contact with our fellow human beings. They see how we live our lives. And that's how we can do our part to spread the faith.

We can't all go on missionary trips to foreign lands. Some of us just aren't cut out to go door-to-door looking for converts. But we can still do our part. And our part is to bring as many people as possible to the Gospel. That's our mission. It doesn't matter so much how we plant the seeds, what does matter is that we bear much fruit. You and I are missionaries, often without knowing it. The best way for us to enjoy eternal life is to bring as many people with us as possible.

July 4, 1776

2009-07-03T11:24:00.001-05:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE
THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Click here for the full text.

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago fifty-six brave men signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that they might be signing their own death warrants. In fact, several of them were killed. Some lost family members, some lost all their property. But not one of them, even under threat of death, ever recanted or disavowed the Declaration.

Notice, too, that the writers included references to God twice in this introduction and that the document did not demand man-made rights. All they were asking for were rights that were ” endowed by the Creator”.

History tells us that this “grand experiment” was successful, at least so far. But 233 years is a blink of an eye in the history of the world. Great nations have come and gone. All men and women of good will must work together to maintain freedom for all.

Here in America, July 4th, Independence Day, is a time to reflect on just where we started, where we’ve come, and where we want to be in another two centuries.

Rush Limbaugh, Jr. (No, not THAT Rush Limbaugh. This is his dad.) gave an excellent speech on the signers of the Declaration of Independence, called “The Americans Who Risked Everything“. It’s worth a look, even for our non-American friends. It puts a lot of things in context.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time--The Year for Priests

2009-06-28T11:25:00.001-05:00

A week ago Friday, June 19th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart began "A Year for Priests". Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the special year to coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the death of Saint John Vianny, the parton saint of the priesthood. The year-long celebration of the will end next June. I imagine there were a lot of different responses to the Holy Father's proclamation. A lot of priests probably thought, "It's about time!" Some lay people probably thought "Isn't every year a year for priests?" I suppose some priests' family members and friends thought "What's the big deal about priests?" And I have some friends who probably thought, "So, when's the year of the deacon?"

Priests. We have a special relationship with them. They're with us for the happiest times of our life and for the saddest. They're absolutely essential for the thing that unites all of us in our faith, the changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. We hold these men in high esteem and to very high standards, but they are just men; just human beings like the rest of us.

A priest's life is full of irony. They take a vow of celebacy, never to have children. Yet everyone calls them Father. When we see them they're usually surrounded by people, but at the end of the day they go home alone. Out of billions of people on earth, they're the only ones who can consecrate the Eucharist, literally making Jesus Christ present for us, but they could make more money working at McDonalds. They're also on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But we often pay the parish secretary more than we pay the pastor.

The priest gets free room and board for life. But his "home" is often also the parish office. In exchange for a place to live, he gives up his privacy. Parish staff and volunteers often have a key to his house and don't mind using it.

If you were here when Fr. Tom Donaldson gave a parish mission marking the anniversary of our parish in , you may remember he read us a chain letter that was going around called the "perfect pastor".

The Perfect Pastor
The Perfect Pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone's feelings. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church janitor.

The Perfect Pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church. He is 29 years old and has 40 years' worth of experience. Above all, he is handsome.

The Perfect Pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church. He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.

The Perfect Pastor always has time for church meetings and all of its committees, never missing the meeting of any church organization. And he is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.

The Perfect Pastor is always in the next town over!

If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other churches that are tired of their pastor too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of your list. If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.

Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its' old pastor back in less than three months."

And we wonder why young men aren't breaking down the doors to get into the seminary.

As a deacon, I have some experience belonging to a part of the Church where there's much more emphasis on getting new recruits than there is on taking care of the guys who are already here. In fact, that's a common practice even in business. The cable company and the cell phone companies have all kinds of deals to get you to switch, but once you're a customer, you never get a deal. Every organization has to keep growing, so recruitment is almost always the number one priority.

I was only half kidding about a year for deacons, but I'm very glad to see a year for priests. But what's it mean? Is it just some PR stunt to keep the troops in line, or does it really mean something? When the Holy Father asks us to support the priests, is he suggesting that we all run home and bake Fr. Gary a pie? Or is he looking for something a little more substantial?

Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office said recently, "The priest's service is of findamental importance in the life of the Church. But it is a mystery that today endures not just a few difficulties." He said the priestly year "responds to struggles caused by various factors: "the general climate of secularization in vast regions of the world, a lessened appreciation for the role of the priest in society, the deep wounds inflicted on the public image of priests due to unworthy behavior by some of them, and even the worthy valuing of the lay vocation in the Church."

On one hand, the Pope is calling for priests themselves to take part in a spiritual renewal. He's asking them to use Fr. Vianney, the Cure of Ars, as an example. Vianney was a very humble man, but he understood what a gift he had been given in the sacrament of holy orders. He once said, "O, how great is the priest! ... If he realised what he is, he would die. ... God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host". Explaining to his parishioners the importance of the Sacraments, he would say: "Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put Him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die [as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest. ... After God, the priest is everything! ... Only in heaven will he fully realise what he is".

I'm not going to do a biography of St. John Vianney. There are plenty of resources you can look up, either on line or at the library. I'll just say that he was a model priest by anyone's standards and it's easy to see why the Holy Father chose the 150th anniversary of his passing to eternal life as a proper time to begin a year for priests. Benedict wrote, "In today's world, as in the troubled times of the Cure of Ars, the lives and activity of priests need to be distinguished by a forceful witness to the Gospel. As Pope Paul VI rightly noted, "modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses".

So, the Pope wants priest to be more like Fr. Vianney. Good for them! It's hard to argue with that. But what about us? Are we supposed to keep an eye on our pastor and email the Pope if we don't think he's doing enough? Not at all. And if you're already doing that, cut it out! No, Benedict has a part for us too. First and most important, he wants us to pray for our priests. We expect them to pray for us so isn't it reasonable that we should return the favor? And by praying for priests, the Holy Father doesn't mean adding a postscript to our daily prayers. "Oh, yeah. Bless Fr. Gary. Amen" No, he's looking for a little bit more and I'll talk about that in a minute.

Number two, the Pope is calling on us to support our priests. By support, he's not talking about financial support, even though that's important. You support your priest by not talking about him behind his back. You support him by offering your time to help out around the place. You support him by listening to what he has to say, not just during the ten minutes he preaches on Sunday, but all the time. You support him just by saying "nice homily" or "the church really looks nice" or simply by saying "thank you" when he's said or done something that's helped you.

Admit it, over the years we've not always been the most supportive parish in the land. Hurtful comments have been made. Annonymous letters have been sent. We've gotten pastors relocated and even helped one young man decide to leave the priesthood. Constructive criticism is a form of support, but we're sinful human beings and sometimes we cross the line.
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You and I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a man of God and listen to Letterman make a cheap joke about priests. Or to watch so-called comedy shows making a mockery of your vocation. But knowing that you have the support of the people around you surely makes it a little easier. So for you and me, the year of priests might better be called the year of supporting our priests.

The third thing the Holy Father asks us to do is to encourage vocations. We need more priests! I can't say it any more plainly than that. You hear people say that there is a decrease in vocations. Hogwash! There are plenty of vocations. What's missing is people who are willing to listen to God's call. God is not letting His Church run short of priests because He's too busy to ask people to serve. He didn't forget to put "call new priests" on His to-do list. He still asks, but because He gave us free will, the ones who are asked can say no. And they're saying no in record numbers. You and I are letting the Church run short of priests because we're not encouraging our young people to be open to the call.

You may have noticed that every week's petitions used to include a pray for "an increase in vocations." A while back we changed it to a prayer that those who are called and their families might be open to the Father's will. We made the change when a survey found that parents were discouraging their sons from priestly vocations. So the third piece of the puzzle is not just praying for an increase in people, young and not-so-young, who are open to religious vocations, but also to actively do something about it.

The good news is that here in Saint Louis we're actually running out of room at the seminary. In fact, the Archdiocese is beginning a capital campaign to raise money for an expansion. You may think, "Oh great. They're going to be asking for more money." Yes, they are. Everything costs money. But think it through. We need more room in the seminary! That's excellent. It's exciting! It means more young men want to enter the priesthood. Isn't that exactly what we need? By supporting a seminary expansion, both by our donations and by encouraging our friends to make donations, we're doing our share of part three of the Holy Father's outline.

I said earlier that I'd get back to part one, praying for our priests. Here';s what the Holy Father has suggested that we do. We've a;ready missed one of these, but there are still plenty of days left. On the Anniversary of St. John Vianney's passing, on the on the first Thursday of the month, and on the final day of the year for priests, we are to have attended confession, attend the sacrifice of the mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, for the priests of the Church, and for any good works that we have done on that day. By math, that's a total of 14 days in the next twelve months. The Pope has also left open the possibility that local Bishops may designate more days. In exchange for this small sacrifice we get a plenary Indulgence. We don't hear much about indulgences any more, but to refresh your memory, a plenary indulgence takes away the temporal punishment for our sins. In other words, our time in purgatory.

So, go to confession, go to mass, pray for priests, pray for any good works we've done that day (assuming we've done any good works that day) and get a "get out of pergatory free" card. You can't get a deal like that on E-bay!

Seriously, if you've heard me before, you probably know that I get very frustrated by the state of the world today. Just this week we lost three celebrities. One was a man who's helped raise millions of dollars to fight Muscular Distrophy. One was a woman who gave up her privacy to share her fight with cancer in the hopes that her story might help others. The third one was Michael Jackson. Which one got the most press coverage? This week the President appeared on television to explain his health care plan. Regardless of what you think of the plan, it's something that is sure to have a huge impact on our economy for years to come, affection our children's children's children. Yet the number one rated show this week, drawing twice the audience of the president, was Jon and Kate plus 8 where the couple announced that they're giving up on their marriage.

Obviously it's not easy to stand "in persona christi" in a world like the one we find ourselves in today. It takes faith. It takes courage. It takes commitment. And it takes the prayers and support of all of us. The Holy Father concluded his letter to priests with these words, speaking of Fr. Vianney:
May his example lead all priests to offer that witness of unity with their bishop, with one another and with the lay faithful, which today, as ever, is so necessary. Despite all the evil present in our world, the words which Christ spoke to His Apostles in the Upper Room continue to inspire us: "In the world you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world". Our faith in the Divine Master gives us the strength to look to the future with confidence. Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In the footsteps of the Cure of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by Him. In this way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation and peace!

The Body and Blood of Christ

2009-06-14T15:01:00.000-05:00

I was talking to a parishioner the other day and he was telling me about his new hearing aid. He said it was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen. Now he can hear conversations clear as a bell. He can hear birds singing and even crickets chirping. It was very expensive, but it must be the finest hearing aid in the world.

I asked him, "What kind is it?" and he said (looking at his watch) "12:30."

All of us have a hard time hearing some times. Even if our physical hearing is perfect, sometimes we just don't hear. We may think we hear, but for some reason, our minds just don't process the information. Today's Gospel is a perfect example. Jesus spoke very plainly.

"He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'"

He couldn't have been much clearer or more direct. He turned simple bread, wheat and water baked in an oven, into His own Body. Then he took wine, fermented grape juice, and turned it into His own Blood. He could do that. He's God. He can do anything. Yet, there are millions, maybe even billions of people on this earth who don't believe him. It's hard to find fault with that. Last weekend Father Gary spoke to us about the Trinity. One God in three persons. Remember, he said that it's beyond our understanding? We just have to take it on faith. It's the same with Christ's Body and Blood. It makes no sense. It goes against everything our senses tell us. The Eucharist looks like bread and wine. It tastes like bread and wind. How can it be Jesus' Body and Blood. But we know it's true. Why? Because Jesus said so! If we don't believe it, then we might as well throw everything else out the window too!

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He can't lie. Everything He says is true. If He told us even one lie, our entire faith would be a lie because we wouldn't know what to believe or not believe. Faith is the belief in something that can't be proven. Even something that our senses tell us just can't be.

Let's take a look at what will happen here in a few minutes. This is a bottle of the wine we use for communion. It's really the good stuff. It costs about $18.00 for this gallon bottle. We use about a cup of it at each mass. That means we'll use a little over a dollar's worth of wine at this mass. Father will say the words of consecration and turn that dollar's worth of wine into something priceless, the Blood of the Son of God. It's so priceless that when mass is over it must all be consumed. Not a single drop can be wasted. After it's consumed, the cups must be purified with water and the water must be returned to the earth. Even the water that touched the empty cup that held the Precious Blood must be disposed of properly.

What about the bread. This is a box of unconsecrated hosts. You think the wine's cheap? These cost about 21/4 cents apiece. 2 1/4 cents! But once Father consecrates them they become the most precious commodity on earth, the Body of our Savior. They're so priceless that we lock the leftovers up in a special safe called a Tabernacle. Through the years, people have run into burning churches to save the contents of the Tabernacle. Sane people don't run into burning buildings to save bread!

But when Father Gary says "This is my body which will be given up for you. Do this in memory of me.", it's not bread anymore. It's the Body of Christ. Same thing with the wine. When he says "This is the cup of my blood", that's what it is. The cup of Jesus' blood. We believe that Jesus turned water into wine. We believe that He walked on the water. Why is it so hard to believe that He can turn ordinary food, the simplest food of all, into His own Body and Blood?

When He first told the people that if they didn't eat His flesh and drink His blood, they would have no life in them, many of them walked away. "This is a hard saying. How can we eat His flesh and drink His blood?" They didn't understand and they didn't have enough faith to take Him at his word.

Even our protestant brothers and sisters who insist that every word of the Bible is literally true, just can't get their minds around this idea. Growing up a Baptist we had communion once a month and it was grape juice and oyster crackers. We weren't taught that they were anything other than that. There was no Tabernacle. If anything was left it was just put back into the plastic bag. The grape juice was served in little plastic cups. When the service was over, they threw them into the trash. We were taught that communion was just a symbol, kind of like eating cake on someone's birthday. What a shame! They're really missing out on something special.

In a few minutes most of you will stand in line to receive this precious gift. Hopefully you're expecting to receive something more than a 2 cent piece of bread and a penny's worth of wine.   As Master Card might put it. Wheat wafer--2 cents. Sip of wine--a few pennies. The Body and Blood of Christ--Priceless"

Tomorrow at our ten thirty mass (Today at the 10:30 mass) (In a few minutes) we'll be celebrating the Anointing of the Sick. It's also something special. By anointing the foreheads and hands of the sick of the parish, we strengthen them to fight their illness. Father will pray that the Lord in his love and mercy will help them with the grace of he Holy Spirit. Again, this makes no scientific sense. Our minds tell us that you can't make someone well by putting oil on their forehead and hands. You and I can't. But our faith tells us that Father Gary can. And, like receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, or confessing our sins to the priest, we have no way of proving if the sacraments work or not. We won't know in this lifetime. We will find out eventually.

But, meanwhile, our faith tells us that the sacraments are real. We believe in spite of what our senses tell us. Anointing and the prayers that go with it does strengthen us in our battle against illness. Receiving communion does make us closer to Christ by actually making his Body and Blood part of our body and blood. The priest does have the power to act on Jesus' behalf to forgive our sins.

I said earlier, it hard to fault nonbelievers because our faith is a gift and not everyone shares in that gift. That's why you can't just show up at a Catholic church and join. We're not Sam's Club or the YMCA. Wanting to be one of us is just the first step. It takes a while to teach people what we believe. We want to be sure they understand what they're getting into, because they're getting into something mysterious and wonderful. To fully participate in this wonderfulness, you have to accept these things that defy the senses. It takes time and it takes faith.

The thing that bothers me is people who leave the Catholic Church. They leave for any number of reasons but if they really knew what they had, they'd never give it up. Again, it's hard to fault them. Somewhere along the line someone, either their parents, or their teachers, or maybe the clergy failed them. If they had been properly taught the faith, they could never leave.

Believe me, I've heard all the arguments. I've used most of them myself in my non-Church-going days. So-and-so made me mad. Church is full of hypocrites. I don't have to go to a building to be close to God. All they ever talk about is abortion. They're just after my money.   Even if these things were true, how can they justify giving up the greatest gift that Jesus left us? The answer is, "They can't."

Of course this message isn't for those people. They're not here to hear it.   The message is for you and me. We're here. We know what we have, or at least I hope we do. The message is to never forget it! Never take it for granted! Never give it up! Don't mistake the lowly bread and wine for the all powerful sacrament that it is. Don't mistake my marginal preaching for the message it contains. Don't consider the humble origins of this building. It's no less the House of God than the St. Patrick's Cathedral.

If Christ wanted to make Himself food and drink, why did He choose bread and wine? Why not something more noble, more expensive, harder to get. Because He's always chosen the humble to represent the magnificent. He was born in a stable to a humble mother. His birth was announced to shepherds. He hung out with sinners, not saints. He chose fishermen and tax collectors to build His Church. No, bread and wine are the perfect materials for the Eucharist.

As we wait in line today to receive Christ's flesh and blood, let's say a little prayer for those who aren't able to share in this wonderful feast, either because they've never been told about it, or because they've forgotten what it is, or because they're physically unable, or because they're faith has been shaken. We long to welcome them to the table.

That's our faith. That's what we believe. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Ascension of our Lord/Memorial Day

2009-05-24T09:48:00.002-05:00

We used to call it Ascension Thursday. If you or your kids attended our parish school, you probably remember that it was always the day after our school picnic, so the kids got two days off; one to party and one to recover. But things change. The school is closed. They don't have the rides at Sylvan Springs anymore, and Ascension Thursday is now on Sunday.

Today we hear Jesus' final words to his disciples before He ascended into heaven. He tells them to go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Of course He was also speaking to us. The disciples faced a lot of challenges in proclaiming the word, just as we do today. We're not likely to be killed for our beliefs as many of the disciples were, but proclaiming the Gospel in 21st century America has its challenges as well. Sadly, a lot of those challenges come from people who call themselves Catholics.

I'm not going to be political here but the controversy surrounding the president's speech and honorary degree from Notre Dame University is just one of many examples of the watering down of our faith by people who should know better. Eighty Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops spoke out in protest of the speech, but the powers that be at Notre Dame decided to go ahead with it. In spite of direct instructions from the US bishops on honoring those whose positions are contrary to our views, the president who has vowed to make abortions freely available in our country received an honorary degree from Notre Dame, OUR MOTHER, the most prominent Catholic University in the United States.

While this was going on, priests, nuns, and lay people, many of them elderly, were being arrested in South Bend for praying the rosary! Like I said, I don't want to get political here, but what are we supposed to think about all this. Jesus didn't tell the disciples to preach a Gospel, He told them to preach the Gospel. And that Gospel is definitely one of life. It's also a Gospel of obedience. What are you and I supposed to think when this major Catholic school provides a forum for oposing views?

Jesus said "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned." I assume everyone in this church believes, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But people who call themselves Catholics, especially prominent people like university presidents and politicians who ignore the Gospel don't make it any easier for us. Who do we believe? What do we believe? I think we all know the answer to those questions. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty. We believe in His Son. We believe in the Holy Spirit. And we believe in one holy, Catholic, apostolic Church. One Church. One Church and one set of beliefs.

Don't get me wrong. Notre Dame isn't the Lone Ranger here. The president took his anti-life message to Georgetown, another university that calls itself Catholic. Even our own Saint Louis University has been known to stray from Church doctrine from time-to-time. When my daughter graduated from Fontbonne, another "Catholic" school, the commencement speaker was the president of the urban league. He talked about his proudest moment, being arrested along with Al Sharpton for blocknig traffic on Highway 70! In other words, civil disobedience is good. Conformity is bad. Admitting that the world doesn't revolve around you is old-fashioned.    You and I spend 18 years or so, raising our kids to be the best Catholics they can be. Then we invest thousands of dollars to send them to a Catholic University only to have them taught things that go against the very Church that sponsors them! What are they supposed to believe?

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but Jesus' instructions to us today, to go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel, aren't that easy to follow. It takes work. It takes determination. And it takes the time we need to study our faith so that we know when we're being misled by people we think we can trust. Meanwhile people who have an axe to grind against the Church, people who hate the Catholic Church for one reason or another, are using our lack of unity, our confusion, against us.

But the news isn't all bad. Remember that Jesus told Peter that he was the rock on which He would build His Church, "and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!" The Church will survive in spite of its many enemies. Just today (yesterday) four young men were ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral Basilica. Young people, and some not so young, are still giving their lives to the Church, so there's plenty of reason for hope.

But why does the Church have enemies anyway? For the last two weekends we heard from John's Gospel Jesus' message of love. "Love one another" is His commandment. "Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for a friend." What's not to like about that?

There are a couple of things that come to mind. We live in a society where a lot of people only care about themselves. Love thy neighbor is an old-fashioned idea. They're all about houses and cars they can't afford and easy credit. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die. It's hard for these narcisists to buy into loving their neighbor. Being a faithful Catholic is hard work so they justify their lack of faith by mocking those of us who do believe.

Of course, the other thing that drives our oponents is money, plain and simple. Abortion is a billion-dollar business. So is pornography and embryonic stem cell research. Touchy-feely stories about the good things that we do as a Church don't sell newspapers or build TV ratings.    People want controversy. They want the dirt. They want TV shows and movies that glorify sin. And that doesn't fit with the Gospel Jesus taught.

Many of you are part of what Tom Brokaw calls "The Greatest Generation" and he's exactly right. My generation, generation X, was the first to oppose military service in such huge numbers. Many of our kids are carrying on that tradition. We wouldn't have the right to do that if so many brave American men and women hadn't VOLUNTEERED to fight for our country, especially in World War II.   Here at St. Bernadette, we're blessed to have a daily reminder of the sacrifices so many men and women have made for our country. We see our current troops coming and going from Jefferson Barracks nearly every day. And, if we look the other way, we see the final resting places of more than 100,000 brave individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Contrast those brave souls to those who chanted "hell no, we won't go" in the '60s. We don't see the protests so much anymore since there's no draft and nobody is forced into the service. But there's still a selfishness in the world in the 21st century that we've never seen before.

There's an old saying that there are no athiests in foxholes and I suppose it's true. But I can't help thinking that there's a very close connection between faith in God and the willingness to serve your country, even if it means death. So, I think it's safe to say that most, if not all, of those men and women who have been laid to rest in our National Cemetery, and all the other National Cemeteries for that matter, are enjoying the Lord's banquet, even as we speak.

A space alien might find it odd that we talk about war and death in a religious sense, but it's hard not to. "Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends", or his country. (Tomorrow) Later this morning, hundreds of Boy Scouts will place flags on the graves at Jefferson Barracks. Some of them may not even know why. But we know. And we pray for our GI's souls, we pray for those who are serving now, and we pray for our country, that the current climate of selfishness and distrust, our culture of death, will somehow turn around and become, once again, the country that all those men and women have fought for.

We should pray for that.

2009-05-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

There are 73 books in the Bible, 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters will argue that there are only 66 books but that's a subject for another time. The point I want to make today is that if someone were to tell me that I could only have one small piece of the Bible to take with me to a desert island, I would have to pick today's Gospel and the few verses that follow it. If you ask me what I believe, this part of John's gospel says it all.

In last week's Gospel, also from John, Jesus uses the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep. It's one we're all familiar with. Jesus is the Good Shepherd watching over us, His sheep. You and I may not know as much about sheep and shepherds as Jesus 1st century audience, but we get the picture. Today's Gospel not only defines our relationship with Jesus, but also our relationship with God the Father and with one another. He tells us what will happen if we break that relationship, and if we read just five more verses, He tells us exactly what we must do to stay in the relationship.

This is a vine. It's in a pot. How did it get there? It was planted. God is the vine grower. Jesus is the vine. Each one of the branches represents you and me. If you or I don't bear fruit, God takes us away. He cuts us off from the vine and we all know what happens to a branch when it's cut off the vine. It withers and dies.

If we do bear fruit, God prunes us so that we bear more. How does He do that? Through the words Jesus has spoken to us. He says, "Remain in me as I remain in you." "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, becauise without me you can do nothing." If we decide not to remain in Him, we'll be thrown out, thrown into the fire and burned.

It seems pretty simple to me, stay with Jesus, remain in Him, and we'll bear much fruit. If we don't, we'll be thrown into the fire. And that's where today's Gospel ends.

But if we read on, here's what Jesus says next, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love." There's the rub. This isn't about lip service. We have to do our share. We have to keep Jesus' commandments. Notice He doesn't say keep THE commandments. He's not talking about the TEN commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. though that's part of it.. He says "MY commandments."

What are HIS commandments? Keep reading. "This is my commandment: Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Remember, Jesus speaks these words just hours before He's turned over to the Roman soldiers. When He says "Lay down one's life for one's friends", He's not kidding around. That's what He's about to do.

To sum it up, Jesus is telling us we'd better stay connected to Him if we don't want to be thrown into the fire. And the way to do that is to keep His commandment to love one another. And the greatest love of all is to lay down our life for a friend.
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Here's the part where the preacher (that's me) tells the congregation (that's you) how to use this lesson in your daily life. And, if you've been paying attention the last couple of weeks, you probably know where I'm headed with this. Long story short, fill out your ACA card and make as generous a donation as you can. There are lots of branches on the vine that need your help. We don't get to pick just the strong branches, or the healthy branches, or the pretty branches. We're connected to all of the branches. We help ourselves stay alive by helping those less fortunate than ourselves. This is the last weekend of the ACA drive and if you haven't filled out your card, today is the day. It just takes a minute. If you don't do it our ACA chairman will have to spend hours on the phone getting the information. Even if you can't make a pledge, please fill out your card.

Like Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that because I really want to talk about Mothers' Day. God may be the vine grower and Jesus may be the vine, but when it comes to adding new leaves and branches and helping them to grow and prosper, you just can't beat Mom. Every one of our moms lays down her life, not for her friends, but for her children. From the moment of our conception when we are completely helpless and can't survive on our own until the day she dies, when she may be helpless and not able to survive on her own, our mothers are constantly laying down their lives for us. They nourish us and care for us, they love us and defend us with every ounce of their strength.

It doesn't matter if you're the Pope, or a prisoner on death row, your mother is the one person who will always take Jesus' message today to heart. She loves you no matter what. Maybe we should forget about sheep and shepherds, and vines and branches and just say that there is nothing on this earth that's stronger than a mother's love for her child, and Jesus loves us more than that.

Hopefully you'll get to spend time with your mom this weekend, or if you're a mom, hopefully you'll get to have a special day with your kids. But maybe not. Maybe your mom lives in another city, or maybe, like me, your mom's not around anymore. If you're a mom yourself, maybe you have rich kids who'll shower you with gifts, or maybe you'll consider yourself lucky to get a card from the dollar store.

But if Jesus' words to us today are true, and we know that they are, there's a special place in heaven for mothers. "This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's (kids)."

3rd Sunday of Easter--We Have an Archbishop!

2009-04-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

"We have an Archbishop."
This was quite a week! Unless you've been living in a cave, you know that after months of waiting and months of endless uninformed speculation, the Holy Father has sent us a new shepherd, Bishop Robert J. Carlson from the Diocese of Saginaw, MI.

The archdiocese held a press conference on Tuesday to introduce the Archbishop-elect. He seemed personable, very bishop-like in his comments. He's an Irishman from St. Paul, MN which is a good thing. He's also a story-teller as most good Irish priests are. Not surprisingly, the local press started their negative spin almost immediately. The Post published their first negative piece just 24 hours later. (He takes instructions from the Vatican!) But local television didn't even wait that long. On one station, they interviewed a woman who said, "I just hope he's not as controversial as the last guy." No word whether the woman was Catholic or not.

If that woman were here, I would ask her why she wants a non-controversial leader. Isn't controversy exactly what our Church is about? Has there ever been a public figure in the history of the world more controversial than Jesus? Hasn't our Church been the center of controversy ever since?

Today we hear from St. Peter, by way of St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. We hear from St. John, and we hear from Jesus himself, again through the writing of St. Luke. Three men. All intimately familiar with Jesus and all giving us a controversial message.

Peter says, "Repent, therefore and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away."

John tells us, "Those who say 'I know Him', but do not keep his commandments are liars and truth is not in them."

Finally, Jesus Himself speaks to the Apostles and to us, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem."

You can't get much more controversial than that!

I spent some time this week looking at some of the things our Archbishop-elect has written and said and I'd say he is controversial. In January of last year he wrote a "Pastoral Letter on Evangelization". Here's how he began:

“The good diffuses itself”: It’s an old theological principle. But you don’t have to be a theologian

to know what it means. When we find a good restaurant we want to share it with our friends, and

we do. When we hear a good song we want to share it with our friends, and we do. When we see

a good movie or read a good book or find a good recipe we want to share it with our friends, and

we do. The good diffuses itself. The good wants to be shared, and anyone who resists the desire

to share it is rightly called selfish. [I think he just called me selfish.]

It’s a curious fact about many Catholics, however, that there is one good thing that we are reluc-

tant to share: the good news of faith in Jesus Christ. [I think he just called all of us selfish.] For one reason or another, our culture tells

us that it is selfish to keep good things to ourselves, but rude to share the good news of Jesus

Christ. And, for one reason and another, we have grown comfortable with this double standard.

We have believed what our culture has told us. [So, we're supposed to go against the culture. I think that's called "controversial"]

The time has come to challenge our culture, and ourselves. The time has come to stop follow-

ing our culture, which tells us to keep God out of the public square, and start following the Lord,

who tells us that we will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). If sharing the good

news about worldly things is an expression of joy and an outpouring of love for the people with

whom we want to share that joy, then it just makes sense that we would show our love for those

same people by sharing with them the joy of following Jesus Christ.

It’s time for us to stop conforming to the world, and start transforming it. It’s time for a new

springtime of evangelization." [I think our new Archbishop may be very controversial. He wants us to go against the culture and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, but I like him already.]

I'm not going to read you the whole seven page letter, you can find it easily online, but obviously it's about evangelization. It's about the hostility of our 21st century culture to Jesus' Church, a culture of that views murder as a choice. So what are we supposed to do when faith and culture clash? As the Bishop points out, this isn't new. We've been down this road before. Like the kids say, "been there, done that".

The early Christians lived during the heyday of the Roman Empire. For the first 300 years of the Church, the climate was very anti-Christian. It varied from unfriendly to the new Church to openly hostile. At times, Christians were even killed. But, as we know, the Roman Empire is long gone while the Church is still alive and growing more than 2,000 years later. Even the Empire's language is gone. It's pretty ironic that the only place you still hear Latin spoken today is in the Catholic Church.

But how did the Church survive? What was their secret? It's no secret, it was the words and deeds of the Christians themselves that drew new followers into the Church and made it a force to be reckoned with.

The bishop points out that the word "martyr" means witness. Even though we think of martyrs as those who gave their lives for the faith, early Christian martyrdom just meant bearing witness to Christ in words and deeds. He writes, "This is our roadmap. The Church today, like the early Church, needs people who are ready for martyrdom--people who are willing to let their words and deeds bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, people who are willing to make sacrifices so that the truth of the Gospel can be heard, our culture challenged, and our world transformed."

Jesus revealed Himself by His words and by His actions. Do we really think that people would have listened to Jesus if he had just been a preacher? In the history of the Jewish people there had been lots of preachers. Good, inspired preaching was nothing new. No, it was Jesus' acts that made people stop and listen. Without the healings; without the exorcisms; without the multiplication of the loaves and fishes; they might have thought this was just another guy roaming around telling stories.

Today is no different. We can tell the story. We can talk about Jesus, how He died and rose from the grave to pay for our sins. But like St. James said in his letter, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you do not give him the necessities of the body, what good is it? so also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2: 14-19, 26)

"Good works" is a pretty generic term. What are these "good works" we're supposed to do? It can be a lot of things. It can be stopping to help someone with a flat tire. It can be taking a casserole to a friend who's dealing with an illness or a death in the family. It can be bringing a yellow Meal-a-Month bag to church. And, of course, it can be contributing to the Annual Catholic Appeal. Once a year we ask you to be as generous as you can to support all the good things that the Church does in the community.

You may be thinking that it's a rough economy. You really can't afford to give any more. But look at it this way. There are people in this community who are in great need; greater need than any of us. But, and this is important, how do we know that this time next year we may not need the services of one of the agencies supported by the ACA? There are a lot of people in our community, right here in this church, whose situations have changed dramatically since April, 2008. Many of us have lost jobs. Many of us have gotten sick. Many of us have just gotten a year older and find ourselves in need of services provided by ACA agencies.

I'm not going to take your time to go over all the good things your money does, you can read about it in the pamphlets in the pews, or check it out on the archdiocesan web site. I'm just going to close with another quote from Archbishop-elect Carlson's letter, "Through our words we can offer the world something to believe in. But it's our deeds that give the world a reason to believe---or not believe---the good news that we proclaim."

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!
ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN!
This is the day when Jesus conquered sin and rose from the dead. He conquered sin. He didn't eliminate it. Sin's still around, but by dying and rising, Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to live forever in paradise in spite of our sin.

When Jesus was crucified, Satan thought he had won. He had sent Judas to betray Jesus and must have danced for joy when he saw them come to take the Lord away. But his victory was short-lived. Satan didn't realize that when Jesus died, He took the weight of our sins with Him and when He rose in glory that first Easter morning, our hope of ever-lasting life was assured. Satan had the lead in the game, but Jesus hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. He scored a goal in overtime. He kicked a field goal in the final seconds. He rose from the dead! Try to top that, Satan!

Here we are, more than 2,000 years later, still pinning our hopes of salvation on the carpenter's son. And He's still there for us. And I would suggest that we need Him now more than ever. He didn't just die for our sins but He's also there for us to help us get through this life in preparation for the next. Our protestant friends might ask if we've accepted Jesus as our Personal Lord and Savior. Of course, the answer is "yes". Our relationship with Christ IS personal. He walks with us every day, side by side, to show us the way.

Let's be honest. The world is in a mess right now. The unemployment numbers are high but unemployment is more than just numbers. There's not a week that goes by that someone I know isn't telling me that they've lost their job. It stops being about statistics when you or someone you know is out on the street. Including inlaws, three people in my family have lost their jobs in the last four months. Could there ever be a time when you need a personal relationship with Jesus more than when the paycheck stops coming in?

On a more global scale, war and the threat of war are a constant part of our lives. Just last week North Korea test fired a long-range rocket. Iran may soon have nuclear weapons if they don't already. Our country is involved in two wars that show no signs of ending. Pirates, not the lovable Disney-type with parrots on their shoulders, but ruthless, evil, murderous pirates are threatening American ships and lives in international waters. In times like these, who do we turn to? Our government? Other countries' governments? The UN?

What about natural disasters? It seems like we've been having more of them recently than we had in the past. It's the beginning of tornado season here in the midwest. Just last week there was a deadly earthquake in Italy. Our neighbors in North Dakota are fighting devastating flooding and unless I missed something in geography class, it would seem like all that water will eventually end up around here. The natural law is God's law. These things are going to happen. When they do, who do we turn to? FEMA? Jefferson City? State Farm?

Hopefully you see where I'm going with this. God loves us so much that He gave us His Son. The Exultet, or Easter Proclamation that was sung at the Easter Vigil mass last night contains these words:

"Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your son." Who would do that? Would you? Would I? I don't think so. But God did it because He loves us in a way that we won't ever understand until we come face-to-face with Him in heaven. In the mean time we'll just have to do our best to comprehend something that's incomprehensible. We'll have to rely on God's word. That's called "faith". And sometimes "faith" requires us to believe some pretty outrageous things.

Jesus left Peter and his successors in charge of His Church and that Church never makes a mistake when it comes to matters of faith and morals? C'mon, they're just men. How can they be "infallible". But Jesus told the Apostles, "Whoever hears you, hears me." And we believe it by faith.

We're supposed to believe that Fr. Gary turns bread and wine into Jesus' Body and Blood. That's crazy talk! Prove it! But Jesus himself said it, so our faith tells us it must be true. And where there's faith, there's no need for proof. In fact, where there's truth, there's no need for faith.

And the most outrageous thing of all, Jesus rose from the dead. How can that be? It never happened before and it's never happened again. Men don't rise from the dead. But Jesus is more than just a man. He's the Son of God. He can do anything. It might seem impossible but our faith tells us that it happened.

And that's what we celebrate today. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. He's the light at the end of the tunnel. He guides us through this troubled world knowing that something is waiting for us that's so amazing, so incredible, so wonderful that our feeble human minds can't begin to imagine it. But until we experience it for ourselves at some unknown future date, we take comfort in knowing that Jesus is walking by our side, helping us to endure unemployment, an unstable world, natural disasters and the personal disasters that all of us have to deal with as we pass through this life.

So, where is this "Jesus" that's supposed to be walking with us? I"ve never seen him. Oh, you've seen Him alright, you just didn't recognize Him. The Apostles on the road to Ameus didn't recognize Him even though they knew what He looked like, so don't feel bad if you've seen Him and didn't know who He was either. Like I said, He's the Son of God, He can do anything. He can appear as your spouse, your parents, your kids, or that homeless person you try not to make eye contact with as you walk by. He might even be your boss, telling you that your services are no longer required. You just don't know.

Easter Sunday is the ultimate recognition that tremendous good can come from seemingly bad things. If Jesus' death, the crime of deicide, the killing of God, can lead to the greatest event in the history of the world, then there's no reason that with God's help, we can't turn any situation into something good. It may seem impossible. We may not see it right away. But it's there just the same. Our faith tells us so.

Palm Sunday--Crucify Him!

2009-04-04T17:18:00.002-05:00

Crucify Him! Crucify Him! I don't know about you, but those words have always creeped me out. It's been a few years since I've sat in the pew on Palm Sunday, but I still remember the strange feeling I had as I said those words. But why? It's just a reading in church. We're not really asking that anyone be killed. Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We're like actors in a play. Or are we?

When you think about it, what we're doing on Palm Sunday is verbalizing what we do every time we commit a sin. He died for our sins, so when we sin aren't we really saying "Crucify Him!"? Of course the difference is that when we sin we're usually saying it in private as opposed to saying it in public, along with our friends and neighbors, as we reenact the Passion on Palm Sunday.

But make no mistake, when we fall, when we sin against God, either in what we do, or in what we don't do, we're adding our voices to the chorus calling for Jesus to die for those sins. We may excuse ourselves for any number of reasons but in the end only God can forgive us, and that's only possible because Jesus paid the price for us.

When Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" came out a few years ago there was some controversy. Was the movie blaming the Jews for Jesus death. Was it blaming the Romans? Who's fault was it anyway? In the end, it was our fault. Us. Sinful you and sinful me. That's why He died. The Jews and the Romans were just facilitators.

As we continue on with mass, and as we live out the last few days of Jesus' life on earth, as we recall the Last Supper on Holy Thursday and His death on Good Friday and His glorious resurrection on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, let's keep His passion in our minds, especially our part in it. Even though we only read the Passion twice a year, our weakness and our sinfulness cry out "Crucify Him!" every single day.
'

4th Sunday of Lent

2009-03-22T13:30:00.002-05:00

Since our local newspaper (The St. Louis Post Dispatch) is just slightly left of Pravda I rarely read more than the funnies, the sports, and the business section. Beyone that, if there's anything interesting my wife will point it out to me. Yesterday morning at breakfast she did just that. "You have to read this article in the "Lifestyle" section." I especially don't read "Lifestyle". Even though I definitely have a life, I don't have much style, so I don't find the articles in the section particularly interesting.

Normally when she does point something out there's about a 9 in 10 chance it's going to make me mad. This time was no exception. The article, written by Aisha Sultan was called "The prom invitation from hell". To make a long story short, the theme for a local high school's senior prom is "The Seven Deadly Sins."

Quoting from the article, "The junior class, which hosts the prom, voted for the Seven Deadly Sins as its theme. The invitations calling all "sinners" and beckoning them to "hell" went out about three weeks ago. The invitations feature illustrations of the various deadly sins (the one for lust (at the left)has a buxom woman in a long red dress ) and a fiery pentagram. It states: "Let the Sin Begin."

OK, teenaged cans can make some stupid decisions. It happens all the time. But where were the adults? Didn't some alleged grown-up have enough sense to say, "Wait a minute. This isn't right."? Aparently not. That's disturbing, but it gets better.

The school in question is the most expensive private school in St. Louis. It will set you back about twenty grand to send your kid there for one year. For those of us who went to public school and received little or no education in math, that means $80,000 total. For that kind of change, parents expect a lot but apparently a foundation of ethics and moral behavior isn't part of the expectation.

Sultan posted photos of the prom invitation on her parenting blog and asked for comments. Here are some of those comments from people who identified themselves as either parents from the school or alumni.

"Look at the college attendance rate, which colleges are being chosen by Burroughs grads, SAT/ACT score, accomplishments ... then you will see a true reflection on John Burroughs."

"The main voices going against the theme are coming from public school parents wanting to justify their own greed by not putting forth the effort to secure the highest education for their children."

Are you listening, public school parents. Sending your kids to a public school means you're greedy. Here's a similar sentiment,

"These responses are the feeble attempts of parents to justify their poor choices that lead them to sending their kids to mediocre public schools."

You public folks aren't just greedy, you make poor choices.

Here's a personal favorite,

"John Burroughs' students routinely place in the top ½ of 1% of academic achievement in this community. Don't they deserve a night to kick loose in between their acceptance into the Ivy Leagues?"

Of course they do. Nothing like a night of paying tribute to lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride to get teenagers ready for college.

Finally, my personal favorite,

""Inevitably, it will be these same students who designed this 'Horrific and satanic' invitation who will be well-regarded members of society and will be paying taxes that go towards your friend's wellfare (sic) allowance 10 years from now.""

He (or she) can't spell "welfare" thinks that anyone who doesn't attend this particular school is going to end up on it.

We're living in a sinful world, but it's nothing new. Look at today's first reading:

In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and poluting the LORD's temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.

No, sin and evil are nothing new. So here we are at the 4th Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday. Latare! Rejoice! But what is there to rejoice about? High schools celebrating sin and depravity? An economy in the toilet as a result of greed and dishonesty? Thousands of abortions each day? Wars? Terrorism? Rejoice? For what reason?

To find the reason we only have to go to the second reading. Paul writes to the Ephesians:

God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ--by grace you have been saved--raised us up with him....

That's why we rejoice. Because God is a God of mercy. He loves us so much that He's willing to overlook all the stupid, irresponsible, sinful things that we do and offer us hope.

In John's Gospel Jesus says to Nicodemus those"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him (that means you and me) might not perish but might have eternal life". That's our faith! That's our hope! That's our promise from God. "Believe in His Son and you can live forever!

That's why, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, in the midst of all the immorality in the world, all the problems, all the trials and tribulations, we have the courage to stand up and say "Laetare! Rejoice!"

Second Sunday of Lent---Be Not Afraid!

2009-03-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

So, you think you've got troubles. Put yourself in Abraham's sandals. Talk about walking in darkness! This guy's been tested over and over again. God has sent him from his home to Canaan, at the age of 75! Then he was sent to Egypt. From Egypt he and his wife went up to Negeb, then to Bethel. He finally settled at Hebron where he built an altar to the Lord.

It was Abraham who interceded for Sodom, arguing with the Lord about how many good men there would have to be for the Lord to save the city. He haggled with God until He agreed to spare the town if he could find just ten good men there. Of course, we know how that turned out.

At the age of 99, the Lord changed his name from Abram to Abraham and promised him that he would be the father of a host of nations; quite a challenge for a man who was almost 100 years old. In return, he and all his descendants would have to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant. Circumcision at the age of 100 with no anesthesia couldn't have been much fun. Not only that, but he changed Abram's wife's name from Sarai to Sarah and promised Abraham that Sarah would bare him a son at the age of 90.

We all know the story of the three visitors who came to Abraham's tent. He fed them home-made bread and meat, curds and milk. The visitors told him that in one year they would return and Sarah would have born Abraham a son who he named Isaac.

After all this travel, after all the years of disappointment at not having a child, after all the trials he'd been put through, Abraham and Sarah finally have a son, a son who God has promised will make it possible for Abraham to be the father of nations. Then we come to today's first reading. God is telling Abraham to slaughter this son as a sacrifice. And what does Abraham do? He takes Isaac by the hand and leads him up the mountain where they gather up the wood to build an altar.

He's actually raising the knife to kill his son before the Lord stops him and says "never mind." Is it any wonder we call Abraham "our father in faith"? Can you even imagine slaughtering one of your children to prove your faith? And this wasn't just any kid, this was the son that Abraham and Sarah had waited for for decades, their only child. This was the son that was supposed to carry on Abraham's line creating many nations.

Abraham had actually argued with God over the fate of Sodom, but when asked to give up his son, not just to give him up, but to actually kill him, he put up no resistance. His faith was so strong that he just did it. It's almost beyond belief. Of course we know that Abraham was rewarded for his faith.

"and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing---
all this because you obeyed my command."

But other than "Here I am", Abraham doesn't speak in this particular story. We have no way to know what he was thinking. We do know that the Lord has made a number of promises to Abraham, and so far, He's been true to His word. Elizabeth DID have a child at the age of 90. Was he thinking that there was no way that God would let him slaughter Isaac? Did he expect the angel's last-minute intercession? Maybe he did.
God DID tell him that Isaac would be the one to carry on the family line. He didn't just have faith in God, he had faith in God's WORD. God had made specific promises to him and he took God at His word.

So, what about us? Once we hit 90, the chances are pretty good that we're not going to become parents.. God isn't going to ask us to kill our own children, in fact He's pretty insistent that we don't kill our own children, though thousands of us do every day. No, this is a new covenant. The thing is, do we believe God's word as thoroughly and completely as Abraham did?

Right now a lot of us are in trouble. People, including some of in this church right now have lost jobs. Some have lost homes. As we can see from the stock market a lot of people are very fearful that they might face economic hard times. Interest rates are low. Prices are low. But there are five houses in my neighborhood that have been for sale for quite a while. Our country and the world, which means hundreds of millions of people, are facing an unsure future.

Maybe you aren't concerned about the economy. You may be optimistic, but maybe you're bearing some other burden. Maybe your health is bad. Maybe you've recently lost a loved one. There's no end to the problems that we can all face. But none of us are facing the kind of challenges that Abraham and Sarah did.

So here we are in the season of Lent, the second Sunday in the B cycle of readings. It's a cycle that's been in place for a long time. We hear these same readings every third year. In 1931, when the world was in the midst of the Great Depression, Abraham's story must have been a comfort to people struggling from even worse economic times than we're in today.

In 1943 Catholics around the world, especially in Europe, must have read and heard today's readings and considered their meaning in light of an impending world war. This cycle of readings came up again in 1955, 1964, and 1967, all years when Americans were sending their sons and daughters off to fight in foreign lands. In 1991, another B year, Americans were fighting and dieing in the Middle East, just as they are today.

Abraham and Sarah's lives of sacrifice and obedience to God, and their eventual triumph, have been inspiring people, and still inspire people in difficult circumstances, even today.

In his first inaugeral address in 1932, with the world economy in freefall, President Roosevelt told us that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Roosevelt was no theologan, but isn't that exactly what our faith is all about. "Be not afraid." "If God is for us, who can be against us." So why are we afraid? We're afraid because it's our nature. We fear the unknown. We especially fear the loss of control. The hardest thing for us to do is to surrender ourselves to God; to say to Him, "OK, Lord. I can't handle this alone. Please help me. And then letting Him do it! No matter how bad off we are, most of us still want to think that we can help ourselves, that we're masters and mistresses of our own fate. Especially masters. Men are the worst. That's why we won't stop and ask for directions or read instruction manuals. We want to be macho. We want to be the boss.

But when you really think it through, how stupid are we to think that we control ANYTHING? I can make plans. I can lay it all out. This is what I'm going to do tomorrow, next week, and next year. I can have a five year plan and a ten year plan. And if I listen really carefully, I just may hear God laugh at me. Because in spite of all my planning, all my desire to control my destiny, I can walk out of here after mass and a brick can fall off the side of this building, hit me on the head, and I'll be dead.

If we really have such little control over our future, why is it so hard to turn our destiny over to the one who does control it? That's the message that Abraham and Sarah are giving us today. Let go. Let God! Once we do that, we have nothing to fear. What's the worst thing that can happen to us? Most people would probably say that death is the worst thing. But if we Catholics really believe what we say we believe, then death isn't the worst, it's the best. Why? Jesus gives us a brief glimpse in today's Gospel.

Even though they were in the Lord's presence 24 hours a day, the Apostles still didn't understand what was ahead. Jesus took three of them, Peter, James, and John up the mountain, an important symbol in the scriptures, to give them a glimpse of what lay ahead. They saw Jesus clothes become dazzling white. They saw Him transfigured. They saw Elijah and Moses. They heard the voice of God.

How did they respond? Peter wanted to take charge. He wanted to put up tents. He wanted to show the people. Maybe sell some corn dogs and sno cones. What about some T shirts and caps? It might have become the world's first amusement park. But that wasn't God's plan. The transfiguration took place to show a select few Apostles what lay in store for them, if they turned their wills over to Him.

In the time between the transfiguration and the Resurrection, Peter and the others would face fear many times. They still didn't get it. They still didn't understand that the presence of Jesus means the absence of fear. So I guess we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves if we don't get it either. But it's Lent. It's a time of spiritual reflection. This year especially, it's a time to compare the promise of God's word with the reality of today's world. We face a lot of challenges, but nothing compared to what Abraham and Sarah faced. Or Noah. Or Moses. Or even Christ Himself.

As FDR said, "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." And as Jesus said, "Be not afraid."

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-02-21T16:44:00.001-06:00

"And now for something completely different" was the title of the first full-length movie by Monty Python, the British comedy troupe. Released in 1971, it was made up of clips from the group's TV series which hadn't been seen before in the United States. The movie was America's introduction to Monty Python. We really hadn't seen anything like Monty Python before, so the movie's title was very appropriate. Some say that Monty Python was to comedy as the Beatles were to music.

The movie's title became a catch phrase for the group. On screen we'd see an announcer in some really ridiculous situation, maybe sitting behind a desk that was floating through the sky held up by helium balloons. Then the announcer would say, "And now for something completely different". For it's time it was pretty outrageous.

I thought of Monty Python (that should give you an idea of how my mind works) when was looking over Isaiah's words in the first reading. Speaking for God he writes, "I am doing something completely new." Or in other words, "And now for something completely different." But, the outrageousness of what God was going to do was a lot more radical than anything Monty Python could ever come up with.

For centuries the Hebrew people had been living under a simple formula. They would suffer and they would complain. The people were tired of suffering and God was tired of listening to them whine, so he came up with a new plan, something completely different.

Fast forward to today's Gospel, the fourth week in a row that we've heard Mark's telling of Jesus miracle healings and exorcisms. After Jesus heals the paralytic, the witnesses were astounded. They "glorified God saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'" It was something completely different.

See, God has decided that the old suffering/complaining model just wasn't cutting it anymore. So He came up with this new plan where He would send His Son to become a man like us in all things but sin. Forget the past! Don't consider the things of long ago! This is a new covenant. My Son will die for the forgiveness of your sins.

No more commandments. No more floods. No more burning bushes. It's time for something completely different. I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice for you, the flesh and blood of my Son. And the people at the time, at least some of them, reacted like the people in today's Gospel, glorifying God. Before He would be given up to death Jesus told us, often through parables, what we needed to do to keep our part of this "new covenant." Then He put Peter in charge of his new church, the Church that would remain with us until the end of time to receive the word of the Holy Spirit and pass it along to the people.

Like anything completely different, like Elvis in the '50s or the Beatles in the '60s or Monty Python in the '70s, Jesus attracted loyal, even fanatic, followers. He also inspired detractors who were equally fanatical. Some of them so fanatical that they wanted to kill Him. Of course with 20/20 hindsight, we know that that was also part of God's plan.

As time has gone by, the number of Jesus' followers has grown from a few to a few hundred. Then to thousands and hundreds of thousands. We've grown to millions and today we number ONE BILLION. Some of Jesus' followers are just as fanatical as those first few. Sadly, many people who call themselves Christians are more interested in following Elvis than they are in following Jesus. There are people who wouldn't hesitate to drive to Memphis to visit Graceland but can't manage to get to Church more than once or twice a year.

This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Please don't anyone be offended by this because we all want to do the right thing but this is the time of year when people ask "What do I have to do for Lent?" In other words, "What's the minimum?" "What's the least I can do?"

You know how when someone does you a favor and you say "thank you", sometimes they answer "It was the least I could do"? In other words, "it was no big deal." or "I was glad to do it." It's a cliche and if you think about it it really demeans the act, calling it "no big deal". Doesn't saying it was the least that person could do mean that they could have done more?

The point is this: The Church gives us minimum guidelines for lent. Here's what Bishop Herman wrote in his pastoral letter on Lent. He called Lent "a time most strong in grace for our daily living in Christ. It is a time of annual retreat for the universal Church, when all of us who have come to life in Christ through Baptism accompany our Lord into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray, in order that we, with Him, may give ourselves more completely to doing the will of God the Father in all things."

The Bishop points out that Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The minimum requirements for Lent, the least we can do, is to fast on Ash Wednesday and good Friday and to abstain from meet on those days plus all the Fridays until Easter. If you're a kid or old like me, you don't even have to fast. If you have certain medical conditions you don't even have to skip the meat. But really, does eating at Red Lobster instead of Long Horn Steak House for 8 days of the year come anywhere near thanking God for the gift of His Son, or to prepare ourselves for the celebration of His death and resurrection? Even if it did, it's just one of the three things that we're akded to do. What about prayer and almsgiving?

This is where Lent becomes something between you and God. What you do in your own heart is up to you and it's nobody's business but yours. Cloistered religious already pray all day long. How can they add to that? I don't know. That's up to them. But maybe I pray just in the morning and the evening. Adding a rosary, or just an Our Father and a Hail Mary at lunch time might do me a world of good because it's something more, something completely different. As Catholics, there's no shortage of prayers that we can add to our day during the next six weeks.

What about alsmgiving? This year may be a tough one for many of us. We just might not have the extra money to give to the poor. But almsgiving isn't supposed to be about extra money. It's not supposed to be the least we can do. But I'm a realist. Since I've retired I know I don't have as much to give as I used to. But, you know what? I've got an attic, a garage, a basement, and a bunch of closets full of "stuff" that I don't use anymore. Maybe instead of cash, I can donate things. Our youngest kid just turned 23, I don't think I need a garage full of bicycles. Again, nobody but you, God, and the recipients of your generosity will ever know what you did. If you're broke and you give a dollar, that's a lot more meaningful than a Wall Street banker giving away a million. Just so it's the most that you can do.

Let's go back to prayer for a minute. Maybe you like things to be a little more structured, a little more organized. Here are some suggestions. We'll be having the Stations of the Cross here at St. Bernadette on Friday mornings during Lent right after the 8 AM communion service. It doesn't take long, but it's a good way to begin the weekend.

Father Gary has sent each of you a book of Lenten reflections that you can use every day. It takes very little time and can be very rewarding. There's a huge amount of Lenten material on the Internet. I'm doing a daily series based on the writing of Thomas Merton which I'll get everyday via email. This is one place where technology can be really helpful. You can practice your faith on the web, on your laptop, even on your cell phone.

Check out the St. Louis Review. Our neighboring parishes are having special services of the season, including Reconcilliattion services. Of course, we have Reconcilliation here every Saturday afternoon. Going to confession during Lent is the least you can do.

For almost eleven years we've had monthly Eucharistic Adoration here at St. Bernadette. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed every fourth Tuesday of the month from right after 8 AM mass until 8 in the evening. Harold Maurer and the other supporters of Adoration deserve a lot of credit for keeping it going. On the other hand, we've never had to get out extra chairs to accomadate the crowds. There's alway plenty of room for more. Here's a suggestion. This coming week you have a unique opportunity. This month's adoration falls on the day before Ash Wednesday. Why not commit to spending just 15 minutes Tuesday asking God what He wants you to do for Lent while you kneel in front of His Son. Then be quiet and listen for the answer.

I'll warn you up front that 15 minutes may turn into a half hour or maybe even an hour. But if you really seek an answer it will come to you and it will be the best time you've ever spent. If I'm wrong, I'll personally give you your money back. But wait, there's more! March adoration is on the 24th, during the fourth week of Lent, 2/3 of the way through. That's the perfect time to come back, kneel beore the Lord and reflect on how Lent's going so far. Again, it may take 15 minutes, it may take an hour.

Here's another warning. If you come to Adoration two months in a row, you may find it's habit-forming. You may just find yourself coming back every month.

Jesus spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying for you and for me. Then He gave up His life. Don't we owe Him more than the least we can do?

Conversion of St. Paul

2009-01-24T17:00:00.000-06:00

In 1948, (a very good year, by the way) Hank Williams Sr. wrote a song called "I Saw the Light." Thanks be to God, I'm not going to sing it, but listen to some of the words.

I wandered so aimless life filed with sin
I wouldnt let my dear Saviour in
ThenJesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the lord I saw the light.

Just like a blind man I wandered along
Worries and fears I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight
Praise the lord I saw the light.

I was a fool to wander and stray
Straight is the gate and narrow the way
Now I have traded the wrong for the right
Praise the lord I saw the light.

Sadly, just four years after Williams wrote this song, on New Years Eve, 1952, he died in a car crash on the way to a performance. The next day his band went ahead with a scheduled show in Canton, OH. They opened the show with the curtain closed and just a single spot light shining on the stage while the band played "I Saw the Light."

If you know anything about country music you know that Hank Sr. struggled with alcohol and drugs throughout his career, but he always included at least one hymn in every performance. The story goes that the inspiration for the song came one night when Williams' mother was driving him home from a concert in his usual drunken state. His mother said "We're almost home" and he answered, "I know. I saw the light."
[pause]
Today we commemorate the day when Saul, who was to become St. Paul, saw the light. In the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, he tells us about it in his own words. It's a familiar story.

He was on his way to Damascus to persecute some more Christians when he was knocked to the ground and blinded by a great light. Of course we know that the blindness was temporary and that when he recovered his sight he saw so much more than he had ever seen before. He saw the truth. Not only did he see the truth, but he came to understand that he was being called to witness to the whole world. Like the song says, "Praise the Lord, he saw the light."

We're in the middle of the year of St. Paul. It's sort of a year-long 2,000th birthday party that will end at the end of this-coming June. That's why we're celebrating the feast of his conversion today rather than the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary time. That's why Father Gary and I are wearing white and gold, so-called "festive colors" instead of the seasonal green. When Pope Benedict proclaimed this special year, he reminded us that St. Paul's amazing success in spreading the Gospel didn't come because of his great gift of speech or his amazing good looks. In fact, Paul himself tells us that he wasn't a gifted speaker and wasn't much to look at. Some scholars even believe he suffered from some kind of speech impediment. Paul's gift, given to Him by Christ was his profound conversion; his radical change from one of the worst persecutors of the early Church to it's greatest evangelist. This wasn't a guy who just went from doubting Christ to being a believer. Saul was the guy who threw Christians in jail. He led the crowd in stoning St. Stephen to death, making Stephen the first Christian martyr. He wasn't a non-Christian. He was violently anti-Christian. Then he saw the light.

He took Christ's words seriously as he made three very long a difficult trips throughout the middle-east telling Jesus' story and establishing churches. In the process he wrote letters to these new churches, either to follow up with them, or in the case of Romans, to introduce himself before his arrival. What did he get for his trouble? He was stoned. He was imprisoned. He was shipwrecked. He was martyred. Ironically, he suffered from the very things that he had inflicted on the early Church before his conversion.

It's a rare Sunday when we don't read the words of St. Paul at mass. Much of what we know and understand about our faith comes from Paul's letters. He leads us by word and by example. He wrote to the Phillippians, "Live in Christ. Your attitude must be that of Christ." In his letter to the Collossians he tells them "Make every man complete in Christ." "Whatever we do, whether in speech or in action, we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus." He wrote to the Galatians "Christ is living in me."

Once Saul saw that light and heard Christ ask, "Why are you persecuting me?" his life was changed. Notice that Christ didn't ask Saul why he was persecuting the Christians, why he was persecuting the new Church. He said, "Why are you persecuting ME?" That's because He lives in every one of us who believes in Him. That point is very central in all of Paul's teachings. In Ephesians 5:23 Paul writes that Christ is "head of his body, the Church, as well as its Savior."

You and I are the Church. Every Catholic in the world is the Church. And Jesus is the head of the body.

We've heard the Church as body analogy so many times that we probably take it for granted. What does it really mean? You may or may not agree, but here's my take on it. Most people would probably agree that certain parts of the body perform certain tasks that might be considered more important. For example, you can't live without a head. You can't get a brain transplant. Lose your head and you're pretty much done.

Then there are a few other parts, like your tonsils, or your appendix, that really don't seem to serve much of a purpose. You can have them removed and life goes on.

Then there's everything else. I was talking to one of my sons the other day about the time I had my shoulder operated on. Fortunately it was my left shoulder and since I'm right handed, I didn't really think it would be much of an inconvenience. Wrong!!! I thought I could drive. And I could. The problem was that I couldn't open and close the car door. I couldn't type or read the newspaper. And try putting your pants on with just one hand. I missed the supposedly unimportant left arm more than I could have imagined.

Or what about your little toe. What good it that? Other than that "this little piggy" thing, it really doesn't seem to have much of a place in our lives. But drop something heavy on it and see what happens. Your whole body suffers. Everything hurts. That one small, aparently useless digit can shut down the whole operation.

And isn't that really the point? No matter who you are, no matter what you think of yourself, even if you think you're the little toe on the left foot of the Church, when you hurt we all hurt. When you're in pain, we're all in pain. And when you're not here, the body is incomplete. That's why we help the poor. That's why we give money to foreign missions. That's why we care if someone else has an abortion. When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers.

Like most analogies, this one isn't perfect. I suppose someone who's struggling or in pain could say, "If the Church is a body, then I'm a tonsil. Nobody will miss me if I'm gone." That's the kind of thinking that can lead to withdrawel, even suicide. But that's the beauty of God's plan. You and I may think a tonsil has no purpose, but we also know that God does everything for a reason. There's a reason why we have tonsils, and appendixes, and ear lobes, we just don't know what it is. We're human beings and we just don't have the intellect to figure out all the little details of God's plan.

Make no mistake. Every single one of us is a vital part of God's design, and we're all critical to the life of His Body, the Church.

As we commemorate Saul's conversion, we're all called to be St. Paul in our little corner of the world. Paul could have said "Hey, I made a mistake. This Christ guy is for real. I'm not going to persecute Him and his Church any more. I'm going to start going to Church once a week."
Then he could have gone home and had lunch and called it a day.

But that wasn't what Jesus had in mind. Ananias told him "you will be his witness before all." Not just all the people he knew. Not just the people in his town, but before all, with a capital A. He spent the rest of his life doing just that. He didn't just witness to the people of his own time because through his letters, he's still witnessing today, 2,000+ years later. What's he telling us? The same thing he told the Collossians, "Make every man complete in Christ. Whatever we do, whether in speech or in action, we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Jesus told the Apostles in today's Gospel, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature."

In a few minutes we'll all gather around this table to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Every Catholic in every Catholic Church everywhere in the world can share in this same meal. One of the great mysteries in our faith journey is that the Body of Christ actually nourishes the Body of Christ.

Paul was blinded by a light that caused him to see the truth. Hank Williams saw a light that let him know that he was almost home. People who have had so-called "near-death experiences" universally tell of seeing a bright light. We all hope to see that ligtht at the end of our earthly days. But there are glimpses of that light all around us if we just take the time to see them.

You and I may not have the gift of writing or preaching but we can all act in a way that embodies Paul's teachings. We may value Paul for what he wrote, but we also have to admire him for what he did. Maybe the best way for us to see the light is for us to be the light for others. The light we see might just be our own light reflected back to us.

The Baptism of the Lord

2009-01-12T10:53:00.000-06:00

Jesus' Baptism
Friday afternoon I took down the Christmas lights at home and today after 10:30 mass we'll "undecorate" the church. We'll take down the trees and the Nativity scene. Everything will go back into storage until November or December when we'll put it all up again. Even though it's more work to decorate than to undecorate, taking everything down seems harder, probably because putting the decorations up is full of the expectations of things to come where taking it down means it's all over. But is it really?

Besides being the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, today is also the first Sunday of Ordinary Time. Ordinary time. It seems so, well, ordinary. It's the time between Liturgical seasons. This year there are seven ordinary Sundays between now and Lent. Ash Wednesday falls on February 25 this year, with the first Sunday of Lent on March 1. Then we'll have the Easter season and Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and the Feast of the Body and Blood. After February 22, the next Ordinary Sunday isn't until June 21. The calendar year will be more than half over. It will be the day when we have the most possible sunlight. By then some retailers will already be easing into Christmas mode. Time flies.

It's no accident that the Church begins this period of "ordinary" time with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The symbols of Christ's birth may be coming down, but today we begin to see the manifestation of His ministry. The Son of God will be baptised in the Jordan like any ordinary man. His cousin John is the baptizer. This is the same John who lept for joy in his mother's womb at the mere presence of Jesus, still in his own mother's womb.

This is the John who was born of elderly parents just a few months before Jesus. John's father Zechariah was mute during Elizabeth's entire pregnancy because he had questioned the angel's words that they would become parents. After John's birth, whe Zechariah regained his speech his first words to his new son were "You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sine." It was only fitting that John would be the one to send Jesus off on the beginning of His ministry.

We don't know much about Jesus' relationship with John. Since the scriptures are silent on most of the two boys growing up, we don't know if they were friends, if they ever played together, if they had any conversations about what was to come. We know that Mary and Elizabeth had a close relationship. When Mary became pregnant, the first thing she did was go off to visit Elizabeth. It would seem reasonable that John and Jesus had contact while they were growing up.

On the other hand, we also know that Elizabeth was much older than Mary. She gave birth to John after her child-bearing years while Mary was just a young girl when Jesus was born. We don't know how long Elizabeth might have lived. So we can only imagine that John and Jesus had some kind of relationship.

So, here's John, baptizing the people and telling them about the coming of the Christ and Jesus shows up at the Jorday, asking to be baptized. Jesus, the Son of God, present at the creation of the universe, came down from heaven, wants John to baptize Him. Why? What's the point? He's sinless. He has absolutely no need for baptism.

Well, God sent His Son to be one of us. He may be God but He's also a man. He knew that actions speak louder than words. He was to be like us in all things except sin. He wanted us to be baptized so He showed us that even He must be washed in the water. And of course, the result was the famous scene where the heavens opened up, the Spirit descended on Him and the voice came down from heaven saying "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased!"

While we may not see the physical signs, isn't that exactly what happens to us when we're baptized? Heaven is opened to us. The Holy Spirit descends on us. And God calls us His beloved sons and daughters and He is well pleased.

The workbook that we give to all our lectors, which gives a commentary on the day's readings, points out that we don't know if anyone besides Jesus heard God's voice. In fact, the writer seems to think that only Jesus heard it. I'm not so sure. But either way, Jesus heard it and Mark is passing the story along to us in the Gospel. Did the people present at the time have less information than we do? We don't know.

What we do know is that Jesus was the Son and that His Father was encouraging Him. At this point Jesus really hasn't done anything spectacular. His mission is just beginning. But we all have earthly parents and we know how important it is for them to give us encouragement. We long to hear the words that Jesus heard that day.

So we begin so-called ordinary time with words of encouragement to Jesus and to us. We're God's beloved sons and daughters. And because God is love, He's well pleased with us, even when we're not well pleased with ourselves. We've followed Jesus' example and been washed in the waters of baptism. We've received the Holy Spirit. Like John, it's up to us to go before the Lord and prepare His way because He will be coming again.

The Holy Family

2008-12-28T10:55:00.001-06:00

Feast of the Holy Family

Just last week, a lady walked into the Oakville post office. She wanted to buy 100 stamps for her Christmas cards. The man behind the counter asked her, "What denomination?"

She thought for a minute and said, "I know you guys print a lot of different stamps nowadays, but that's a new one. OK, give me 50 Catholic, 10 Baptist, 20 Lutheran, and 20 Presbyterian."

I realized the other day that I hadn't started a homily with a joke in a while so I went out and bought "The Book of Catholic Jokes--Confirmed Funny". It would figure that it would be written by a deacon, Deacon Tom Sheridan. So I'm all set, at least for a while.

Of course, the lady in the post office has very little to do with the feast we celebrate today, the Feast of the Holy Family. Except maybe that families buy stamps. But that's kind of a stretch, even for me.
[pause]

This particular feast gives us several choices. There are two possible first readings and two possible second readings. There is only one Gospel. All five readings have to do with families. Two of the readings focus on Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac. Their story has a a lot of similarities to the story of the Holy Family, with a heavenly visitor, an unlikely pregnancy, and with the Lord's asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

The other two readings, one from the Old Testament and one from the New are instructions to families on how to live a proper life. The Old Testament reading from the book of Sirach speaks of the honor due to a father and the authority that God confirms for mothers over their sons. In the New Testament reading Paul advises the Collosians in terms of the larger family, the human family. He writes of bearing with and forgiving one another, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. He finishes with instructions that deal with the nuclear family, including the not-so-politically-correct instruction that wives be subordinate to their husbands and that husbands love their wives. He also warns children that they must obey their parents because it's pleasing to God. To be fair, he also warns fathers not to provoke their children.

Even though our families are very important to us today, in Biblical times the family was everything. Where today society seems to be doing everything it can to break up and diminish families, in those days everything revolved around the family. Jesus working in Joseph's carpenter shop was a foregone conclusion. Sons and daughters didn't go away to school. They didn't take jobs in distant cities. They stayed close to their families. Friends and neighbors may have socialized, especially around the temple, but when push came to shove, the family was it.

So it made perfect sense that when God decided to send His only Son to redeem his wayward human creatures, that He must be part of a human family. He had to be totally God and totally man, which meant he had to be born of a woman and experience every human situation. On Christmas we celebrated His birth. Today we celebrate His membership in His human family.

Luke's telling of the story of the family in the temple is one of the most beautiful stories in all the Gospels. Mary and Joseph are following Jewish custom and taking Jesus to the temple to be consecrated, just like any good Jewish family would do. When they arrive they meet Simian. Simeon's been told by God that he wouldn't die until he saw the savior. As soon as he saw the Child he knew that the prophesy had been fulfilled. This was the baby he'd been waiting his whole life to see! This tiny baby was the one who would save us all! Simeon's faith and patience had been rewarded and now he was ready to die. What a powerful and dramatic moment!

He also warned Mary that her own heart would be pierced. Remember that not even a year ago Mary had told the Angel Gabriel, "let it be done to me according to your word." As shocking as the revelation that she was going to give birth to the Son of God must have been, this was something new for her to accept. But she and Joseph were in it for the long haul. They would experience a lot of things that they hadn't necessarily thought about when they each agreed to accept the Father's will.

Then they met Anna, another faithful Jew, one who never left the temple. She spent all of her days and nights in prayer and fasting. She also recognized who this infant really was. While Simeon was ready to die in peace, Luke tells us that Anna gave thanks and spread the news of the baby Jesus "to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem."

But what did Mary and Joseph do? They returned to Nazareth, to raise Jesus as a typical Jewish boy in a typical Jewish village. He would prepare for His destiny by studying and learning, by playing with other kids, and by helping his earthly dad in the carpenter shop. In other words, He would grow up just like everyone else.

We don't know anything about Jesus' childhood, and I think that's a good thing. We're left to imagine what it must have been like to grow up as the Son of God. Did Jesus play sports? If He played soccer, did He ever commit a foul? Did He break things? Did Mary or Joseph ever have to yell at Him? Was he ever spanked? What was it like for Joseph living with a wife and child who never sinned? I think God chose not to tell us these things because every family is different and it's up to us to work out the day-to-day stuff.

As we look at the Nativity scene, at this little human family, we should be reminded of our own place in God's plan. Most of us will never be asked to do anything extraordinary. Our sacred duty is to lead others to Christ, especially within our own families. We do that by living good lives, by attending mass, and by doing all the other ordinary things that every family does. We do it by contributing to the Church and other charities. We do it by bringing food to Church to help those in need and by donating money and stuff to St. Vincent de Paul and other organizations.

Some of us may do great things like going on missionary trips to third world countries, or working with the poor in our inner cities. Over the centuries thousands of Christian martyrs have emulated Christ by dying for the faith. Millions of us have signed up to serve our country in the military and many thousand of them have been laid to rest right behind our church at Jefferson Barracks. But most of us do our thing by just being the best mothers and fathers, or the best aunts and uncles, or the best kids we can be. That's what Mary and Joseph did and that's what we celebrate today. We celebrate their "familiness", their closeness as mother and father and Son. But we also celebrate our own families and every other so-called ordinary family.

We celebrate husbands and wives who work through their differences and honor their promise to God and one another to stay together until death do they part. We honor the families who honor God's will by being open to His gift of children, another thing they promised each other and God in their marriage vows. We honor families who teach their children the faith by word and by example. We recall Mary and Joseph's sacrifices and thank God for their example to the rest of us.

Jesus could have shown up as the Jewish people thought He would, riding into town dressed as a king would dress, on a golden chariot pulled by magnificant white horses, escorted by angels with trumpets blaring. But that would be a human plan. God's plan was different. God's plan included you and me and He chose the Holy Family to show us what we're supposed to do.

It turns out that it was a pretty good plan.

Christmas Midnight Mass

2008-12-24T18:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve

Some years ago, quite a few years ago, in fact, when we still had the elementary school across the street, my little girl came home one day with a catalog. Parents, you know the deal. You order stuff from the catalog and the school gets part of the money. How can a parent refuse?

So, I looked through the book and couldn't really find anything I wanted but little Megan was waiting for dad to buy something so she might win a prize So I found an eleven piece nativity set that wasn't too outrageously expensive, so I ordered it. A few weeks later the orders were delivered. Imagine my surprise when Megan handed me this. They didn't lie. There are eleven pieces in the box. They just didn't tell me that the picture in the catalog was actual size!

Here's Mary........and Joseph.......and the Baby Jesus. There are also three wise men, an angel, a shepherd and a sheep, a donkey and a camel.

So I took my new Christmas display to work and every year since, on the day after Thanksgiving I poured salt on my desk to look like sand and set up my little Nativity. I even built a house for it. I love my little Nativity set.

I've seen living Nativities with real people and animals, bigger than life Nativities and beautiful Nativities like the one we have here in Church. I've seen expensive sets by Fontanini and we even have a Veggie Tales nativity at home. But I still like MY Nativity the best and I'll tell you why. First, because it reminds me of my little girl. That makes it special even though my little girl is almost twenty-three years old, a beautiful adult. That's easy. The second reason I love it so much is a little more complicated.

For weeks now we've been reading and hearing about the problems with the economy. Some of us have even felt it personally, losing jobs or seeing our nest eggs shrink. According to the news media Christmas has been ruined by the struggling economy. But they're wrong. Christmas isn't ruined because Christmas was never about the gifts and the parties. Christmas is about this little family giving birth to the Savior of the World in that little manger in Bethlehem. My tiny manger scene is a wonderful representation of what happened that night. It was a tiny event that would change the world forever!

Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary had to go to Bethlehem to register for the census. They had no room to stay in. There was no doctor. They had no clothes for the baby. The magi wouldn't come for several days, so on that first Christmas night all they had was some borrowed straw to sleep on and the clothes on their backs. All they had were smelly shepherds, the dregs of society, to keep them company. And our Christmas is ruined because we can't afford an X-Box??? I sincerely hope not.

This past Sunday some of us got together to decorate the church. You may recall it was bitterly cold that day. But there was a warmth in this building that didn't come from electricity or natural gas. We hung banners and decorated trees and did all the other things necessary to get ready for this Holy Night. We ate home made chili in Fecter Hall and in general just had a good time getting Jesus' house ready for his arrival. That's what Christmas is about. Not computers and iPods.

Don't get me wrong. I've spent my entire life selling "stuff" and I always made the most money at this time of year. Giving gifts to one another is part of the spirit of Christmas. But it's just part of it. And it's definitely not the most important part. You can't measure love by the pricetag on a gift. Somehow we've gotten away from the simple idea of exchanging gifts we can afford with one another and gotten caught up in this gigantic spending spree, buying extravagant gifts that we can't afford and then taking until next Christmas to get them paid for. Maybe we need a little economic shake-up to bring us back down to earth.

Look around you. This is Christmas. The baby Jesus lying in the manger. The poinsettas and the candles and the retelling of that familiar story. In a few minutes we'll pray for those who are in need on this Christmas Eve. We're Catholics. That's what we do. We'll take up a collection for the young men studying to be priests at the seminary. We're Catholics. We do that too. We've brought gifts and put them under the giving tree so that people who might not have anything this Christmas will get a gift. We're Catholics. That's what we do. We've donated dozens of bags of food for the poor during this Advent season. You guessed it: We're Catholics. That's what we do.

Some of you may have already had your family celebration. Some of you may have yours tomorrow. Many of you probably do both. Hopefully your financial situation has no bearing on the quality of your celebration. The Almighty, all-powerful ruler and creator of the universe spent His first night on earth in a feeding trough for farm animals wrapped in borrowed rags. How can we think that we deserve more? How can we judge Christmas by the pile of loot we collect?

Yet that cold winter night was the most joyous, the most wonderful, the most widely-celebrated night in all the history of the world, before or since. It was so joyous that a multitude of the heavenly host praised God saying "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

We got a Christmas letter this week. In fact we get lots of Christmas letters. I hope I don't offend anyone, but I never read them. Sometimes I think they're just a little over the top. But Jan told me I had to read this one. It's from a young couple who had an experience that seems to happen a lot. Told that they couldn't have more children, they decided to adopt. Guess what? She got pregnant. The adoption went through and now they have two infants, both less than a year old, PLUS a three-year-old.

Did I mention that they're a remarkably religious young couple? They're Catholic and proud of it. I want to leave you tonight with the last paragraph of their Christmas letter:

"We thank you for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers over this past year, as I have no doubt that they have halped us immensely through our daily struggles with three under three. As I look back over this year which has been filled with so much love, I am deeply humbled by the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the Bishops of our great nation. 'People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love.' May God continue to bless you and your family with His infinite love this Christmas season.

Our Lady Queen of Ireland

2008-10-26T09:35:00.000-05:00

It was a rainy evening, Thursday, August 21, 1879 in County Mayo. But there's nothing unusual about that. There are a lot of rainy evenings in western Ireland, even in August. But before the night was over, something would happen in the tiny village of Knock that would make this a very unusual evening. In fact it was a night that would change not just Irish history, but the entire history of Christianity. On that evening, barely ten years after the American Civil War, the Blessed Virgin visited Knock. And she wasn't alone. She brought her husband, St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist with her.

Now, if you're like me you may be a little skeptical about this "apparition" stuff. Lourdes, Fatima, Knock; how do we know Mary was really there? There are no pictures. She didn't leave anything behind. There's no proof. Isn't this like the lady in Tennessee who saw Mary in her toast or the highway overpass in Chicago where the rust marks looked like Mary's face? I'm from Missouri. Show me.

There were fifteen witnesses to Mary, Joseph, and John's visit to Knock. They ranged in age from six to seventy-five years. They were all thoroughly questioned by Vatican representatives and they all told exactly the same story. Maybe the adults could have pulled a fast one, but you have to think that the six-year-old told the truth. Besides, in 1879 Knock was just a tiny, backward village. These were simple, honest people and the idea that they could have made this up just doesn't make sense.

More than 1,000,000 people visit Knock each year, which isn't all that easy. It's hard to get to Knock, even today.today. I can't even imagine getting there in the 19th Century. It's definitely off the beaten path.

Even today Knock is a really small town, fewer than 600 people. The town's main street has two pubs, one restaurant, one grocery store, and about a hundred souvenir shops. But they have three Catholic churches. The biggest, Our Lady Queen of Ireland basilica was built in 1967 and holds 2,000 people. But the original church, where Mary appeared is much smaller. It's about the size of our church.

Things were bad in Ireland in 1879. The great famine had lasted from 1845 to as late as 1852. The western part of the island, where Knock is located, had been the last area to recover. The people in County Mayo were very poor. During the famine, more than a million people had died and another million had left Ireland, never to return. The population had been decreased by almost 1/4. Even today, more than 150 years later, Ireland's population is still less than it was before the famine began.

You can imagine the feelings of the Irish people at the time. Most of them blamed the British government for so many deaths. During the period of the famine, the government continued to export food from Ireland to England while the Irish people were starving. Many Catholic were thrown into jail, some even died, because they refused to publicly deny the faith in exchange for food. With one out of four people either dead or emigrated, no one was untouched by tragedy. If anyone ever needed a visitor from heaven, it was the Irish people in the late 1800s.

Then, on that rainy August night, the Blessed Virgin appeared outside St. John's Church in County Mayo. Mary McLoughlin, the housekeeper to the parish priest, saw a bright light coming from the direction of the church. Mary was standing outside the church, bathed in the bright light, with St. Joseph on one side and St. John on the other. A small crowd gathered in the rain and recited the rosary for two hours while Mary stood with her eyes toward heaven. She never spoke, she just stood there, untouched by the rain. After she left, the ground where she had been was completely dry.

Scholars believe that she visited Ireland to show solidarity with the Irish people who are known for their devotion to her. Unlike Mary's other appearances on earth, she didn't say anything. She just stood there, looking up to heaven. She didn't speak because her presence was her message. The people understood. No words were needed.

Did she really appear? After questioning everyone involved, the Church officially said "quite probably". But there's no denying that the Shrine at Knock has been the site of hundreds of miracles, the first one coming just ten days after Mary's appearance, when a little girl was cured of a hearing disorder. One of the witnesses to the apparition, Mary Byrne, lived to be 86 years old, dying in 1936. Her account of that night never varied.

The reason I'm telling you about Our Lady of Knock is because it's one of the wonders of our Catholic faith. They've built an enclosure around the side of the Church of St. John and turned it into a chapel. Jan and I spent some time there on our trip to Ireland. I can't begin to explain the overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquility in that space. I've never felt anything like it. No one speaks in the chapel , so when we came out, I said to Jan, "Did you feel that?" She said she did.

The closest I can come to a description is that it was similar to the feeling I get at Eucharistic Adoration, but it was much stronger. At the same time, it was more gentle. If I had to find a word to describe it, I guess it was more "feminine". But human words just don't cut it. Christ is physically present in the Eucharist, but somehow Mary is present at that little church in County Mayo, too. You just have to take our word for it. Jan, me, and the million or so people who visit each year.

There are some things about our faith that you just can't explain. You can't explain the Eucharist to someone who's never experienced it. You can't explain it to some people who've received it. I think that's because there's a difference between receiving and experiencing.

You can't explain the feeling of peace and tranquility that comes after a good confession to someone who's never had one. Non-Catholics think we're foolish for letting a mere man intercede for us in the sacrament of reconciliation because they've never experienced it. They say that God already knows their sins. They don't have to express them to another human being. They've never experienced it. They just don't get it.

You can't explain Eucharistic Adoration to a non-Catholic because they don't get the Real Presence.

That's why it can be difficult to evangelize our faith to non-Catholics and even to some fallen-away Catholics who don't really understand exactly what it is that they're falling away from. We're stuck with intellectual arguments to define a FAITH. And what is faith? It's the ability to accept something that can't be proven. We all have faith in something, don't we? We have faith that that semi-truck heading towards us at 70 miles per hour is going to stay in its own lane. We have faith that the ones we love will never leave us. We have faith that our team will win the World Series, or the Super Bowl, or the Stanley Cup, even though common sense tells us otherwise. We seem to have no problem having faith in science or human nature, or human skill, but some of us just can't get our minds around faith in an all-powerful, all-loving God.

But, not only do we have to have faith in God, we're called to share that faith with others. All three readings today point to that fact. The first reading and the Gospel are about loving your neighbor. In the second reading, St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, "For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything."

Maybe that's the key. You can't experience the faith until you have the faith. Maybe by showing OUR faith, that's how we can share it with others. We can quote "chapter and verse", we can make all the logical arguments, but chances are we'll fail in our evangelization most of the time. On the other hand, if our friends and family actually see us living the faith, that might be the thing that lets them see exactly what our faith is.

Let me repeat that quote from St. Paul. It's important. "For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything." So, St. Paul, the man who did more to teach the faith than anyone who ever lived, the man whose words define the faith, believed that the faith of the Thessalonians was enough--that where their faith had spread, he didn't have to say anything.

Wouldn't it be nice if people would say that about us. How can we make that happen. Jesus tells us in today's Gospel.

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.....You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Like Mary showed us by visiting that small Irish village, maybe we don't have to say anything.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2008-07-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
If today's Gospel sounds familiar, it should. It's the continuation of last week's. You may remember that last week's reading was kind of long and this week's is about average. But if you put them together you get a VERY long reading. So, the passage is split in two and read on consecutive Sundays.

That's fine, but where does that leave the person who has to preach on the second weekend? Father Gary covered it all very nicely last weekend, so what should I talk about? I guess I could just stop here and go sit down. But you know me better than that. I'm not going to give you any less than you expect.

So I thought about it, and prayed about it, and good news! I do have something to talk about. This week's and last week's Gospel both end with the separation of good and bad with the bad being thrown into the fire. We know what Jesus is talking about, don't we? Good and evil. Heaven and hell. It's pretty clear what's going to happen to us at the end. Jesus is going to judge us. He's going to separate the good from the bad. He's going to say to the good, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The news for the bad will be, well bad. No heaven. No paradise. No choirs of angels. Just fire. Lots of fire. Fire forever. And not a fire extinguisher or a jar of Noxema in sight.

That's our faith. That's what we're supposed to believe. So why are there so many people who don't believe it? Not the heaven part. Hardly anybody doesn't believe in heaven. And most of us think, or at least we hope, that we're going there. But the other place? Not so much.

Somehow our society has come up with this alternate theology. The fact that we're all here in church today means we probably don't subscribe to this new system, but some of us might.

I'll call this new belief system, the Church of Me. The Church of Me breaks people down into three groups. Group number 1 is small and exclusive. It includes me, probably my family and friends, and a few other people like John Paul II and Mother Theresa. We're going to heaven.

The second group is bigger. It includes people like Sadam Hussein, Adolph Hitler, mass murderers, child rapists, other baddies. They're going to hell.

The third group is huge. It's everybody else. According to the Church of Me, we don't know where they're going and we really don't care. That's their problem, not mine.

The Church of Me pretends to worship God, the one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the God that you and I worship. But in real life, they worship a lot of gods. They worship the god of money. They worship the god of power. They worship their houses and their cars. They worship flat screen TVs and iPods. They'll stand in line for three hours to get the latest incarnation of the iPhone, but they don't have time to spend 45 minutes in church once a week.

The funny thing about the Meists is that they'd like to have what you and I have, but they don't want to give up what they have to get it. Sometimes they'll tell you that they have plenty of time to give up Meism and come back to the real Church. They'll get around to it......someday. It's strange, really. They have to be the first to own the latest gadget. They have to be first in line to see the new movie, but when it comes to their eternal salvation, they have no sense of urgency at all. It's like the old movie, "Heaven Can Wait."

But sometimes heaven can't wait. We saw that this week when a young firefighter lost his life in the line of duty. We saw it when a young child died when his grandma's car ran off the road and into the Meramec River. We see it over and over again. Young people die. They die before their time. They die thinking they have plenty of time to get ready. But only God knows how much time we really have.

The pressure on all of us, especially on young people, is tremendous. We may read the Bible. We may pray for a few minutes every day. We may go to mass every Sunday, maybe even every day. But all of that adds up to just a few hours a week, tops. The rest of the time we're constantly being reminded of how important it is to have the most stuff. Buy this car! Buy this house! You'll get more girls is you wear this cologne! You'll get more guys if you wear this perfume! We're assaulted in our own living rooms with commercials for things that nice people didn't even talk about just a few years ago. Woo hoo! If I take this little purple pill, my ED will be gone and I can do it whenever I want, even if the neighbors do drop by, for up to 36 hours.

Then, between the commercials, the real fun starts. Remember when Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore were the first TV couple to sleep in the same bed? It was scandalous! It was outrageous! Now we have "the Baby Borrowers." Teenagers playing house with other people's children. They even share a bed. This so-called "social experiment" isn't about the kids. It's about what happens to teenagers when they play house. And it ain't good. Shows like "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and Half Men" make non-stop fornication seem like the natural thing to do. The Catholic Church has one TV network, the Meists have hundreds. Where's it going to end?

This week marked the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical on human life. We all know what it said. No artificial birth control. Some critics say that this was the beginning of this teaching. But, like nearly every Church document down through the centuries, it was just the confirmation of something that the Church has taught from the very beginning. The purpose of marriage is love giving and life giving.

Here's what Humanae Vitae predicted forty years ago. It said that dire consequences would come from the wide-spread acceptance of artificial birth control including marital infidelity, a weakening of morals, and a fear that husbands may lose respect for their wives. The document warned that governments might mandate the use of certain contraceptives and maybe even abortion.

Now it's forty years later. Is the world dramatically different than it was in 1968? Have Paul VI's predictions come true? It turns out that he was an optimist! Things are even worse than he thought they'd be. More than half of all marriages are ending in divorce, even among Catholic couples. Here in the United States we lead the world in annulments. You know who's the only group to buck this trend? Couples who practice natural family planning. They have a dramatically lower divorce rate than all other couples.

In order to control the population in China, couples are limited in the number of children they're allowed to have. Birth control and even abortion are mandatory, just as Pope Paul predicted. The United States hasn't gone that far yet, but public schools spend your tax dollars to provide free contraceptives to students. The Meists seem to be winning.

But, not so fast! There are hopeful signs. I'm looking at one right now. Faithful Christians are coming to church. Here at St. Bernadette, our numbers are growing for the first time in a long time. Even though we've closed churches in the city, we're building new ones in the suburbs. My son and his family belong to a brand new church in St. Charles County.

Just this week we found out that the leaders of the rebellious board of directors at St. Stanislaus have been reconciled with the Church and are asking for the Archdiocese' help in restoring their parish to it's former, Roman Catholic, glory. They've learned, like so many before them, that they need the shelter and protection of the Church that Jesus established so many years ago; that the rules and laws of the world's biggest, longest lasting organization are there for a reason.

No, the world's a mess in a lot of ways. But Jesus told us that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against his Church, and He hasn't been wrong yet. Good things are happening. Hundreds of thousands of young people attended World Youth Day this month. While some couples go off and get married in a park, or on a ferris wheel, or while they jump out of an airplane, many, many more are being married in church, where marriage belongs. Every year the Couple to Couple League sends out thousands of NFP manuals. Babies are being brought to church to be baptized.

We have a lot of things going for us. But what we don't have is forever, at least not in this life. Our days are numbered and only one Person knows how many we have left and He's not telling. Death may come like a thief in the night. Or it may come as a heart attack in the middle of the day. It may come in a car accident or as the result of some demented soul with a gun. We just don't know.

What we do know is that Jesus' words are true. "Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." If today were the day, which group would you and I be in?

St. Peter and St. Paul

2008-06-29T11:52:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been to the desert? Even if you haven't, you'd recognize it the first time you went there. For one thing, it's hot. Sometimes it gets cold at night, but for the most part, if you're in the desert you're going to be hot. The other thing that's a pretty good sign you're in the desert is sand. There's lots of sand in the desert. There are also some rocks, but it's mostly sand. So if you ever wind up in the desert, you'll probably recognize it.

Jesus lived in the desert, so he knew a lot about being hot and he knew a lot about sand. Just a few Sundays ago Jesus spoke to us about sand. In the 7th chapter of Matthew's Gospel He said that everyone who hears His words and doesn't act on them is like a fool who built his house on sand. When the rains came and the wind blew, the house collapsed and was completely ruined. Of course he was really talking about our faith and how it should be built on rock and not on sand. He was telling us to do the will of God.

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. These two men are definitely rocks of the faith. You could say that St. Paul represents the rock of scripture. Nearly every Sunday of the year he speaks to us in the liturgy of the word. Much of what we know about our faith comes to us from St. Paul.

On the other hand, St. Peter represents the rock that is the Church. We know that because Jesus said so. "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." Of course we know that Peter's name was actually Simon and that Jesus changed his name to Peter, which means "rock".

You may be thinking, "So what, Deacon? He changed Simon's name to rock. What does that prove?"

That's a good question. But take a look at the whole passage. Jesus asked all the Apostles, not just Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Before anyone else has a chance to say anything, Simon jumps in and says "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Picture yourself back in school. For some of us that's quite a stretch. For others, not so much. Anyway, picture yourself in class and the teacher asks a particularly hard question. Suddenly the slow kid, the one everybody makes fun of shoots his hand up in the air! "Me, teacher. Call on me." Since he's never raised his hand in class in his entire life, the teacher calls on him. And he knows the answer!!! The slow kid gets it right! That's how the other Apostles must have felt when Simon came up with the right answer.

And what does Jesus say? "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Heavenly Father." In other words, Peter has received a gift that the other Apostles haven't; the knowledge, revealed by God, that Jesus is the Christ.

Then He calls him Peter and says that He will build His Church on him.

Remember, this is the same Simon who cut off the centurion's ear. This is the same Simon who almost drowned because he didn't have enough faith to believe that Jesus would keep him from sinking into the water. This was the same Simon who Jesus once told, "Get thee behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me."-----the same Simon who denied Jesus three times.

Now Jesus is telling him that he's the rock on which He will build His Church. He's been given the gift of Papal infallibility.

In the twenty-first chapter of John's Gospel (In tonight's Gospel) after His resurrection, Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Peter answers that he does and Jesus tells him, "Feed my lambs." Jesus asks him again and again Peter says "yes". Jesus says to him, "Tend my sheep".

Jesus asks Peter a third time, "Do you love me?" By now Peter's getting a little annoyed and says, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." We know that Jesus asking the question three times represents Peter's three denials of the Lord, but we don't really know if Peter has made the connection or not. Remember, he was never the sharpest chisel in the tool box.

Anyway, Jesus says to Peter, "Feed my sheep."

Jesus was the good shepherd. The Gospels are full of references to Him as the Shepherd and us as the sheep. For Jesus to tell Peter, "Feed my lambs." "Tend my sheep." "Feed my sheep." That was serious stuff. He wanted everyone to know that He was leaving Peter in charge.

Sand wasn't the only thing that Jesus knew a lot about. He also knew a lot about us. He knew He would be returning to His Heavenly Father and that we couldn't fend for ourselves. Like any good shepherd that has to go away for a while, Jesus made sure there would be someone in charge until He came back. So He left us an advocate in the Holy Spirit and He left us a Shepherd in Peter and in his successors. He left us His Church.

We know what Jesus said to Peter, but how do we know that Jesus meant for the authority to continue on down the line of future Popes all the way to Benedict XVI? He didn't say that, did he? No, He didn't say it specifically. But what shepherd would go away and leave his sheep in the charge of someone who wouldn't be there until He returned? Jesus knew He wouldn't be back in a single lifetime, or ten lifetimes, or even a hundred. He left us in the hands of Peter and his successors. It couldn't be any other way.

So why did Jesus use the rock analogy. Why not something else?

In Jesus' time, rock was the most substantial thing they knew. He wasn't talking about small rocks, He was talking about big, gigantic rocks. Remember the whole "You are rock" conversation took place at Caesaria Phillipi. If Caesaria Phillipi wasn't the biggest rock in the entire Holy Land, it was close. That was the backdrop for the scene. That was the kind of rock Jesus was talking about.

But why Peter? Why not James or John or even Simon's brother Andrew.? Like I said earlier, Simon Peter wasn't the sharpest tool in the tool box. He was a fisherman, and apparently not a very successful one at that. With all due respect, I picture Simon as the Apostle who would fall asleep and the other Apostles would tie his sandal straps together. The one with the "kick me" sign on the back of his robe.

Now Simon isn't just a rock. He's the rock. Why did Jesus choose him?

I think I have an idea. Look at today's other saint, St. Paul. Like Simon, Jesus changed Paul's name from Saul. No one had persecuted the new Church like Saul had. He didn't just persecute the new Christians, he killed them. He was even responsible for stoning the first deacon, Steven, to death. Why would Jesus choose such a man to be the author of so much of the New Testament?

I think Jesus wanted to show us that He could draw straight with crooked lines. Even the worst sinner could become a saint. With Jesus, nothing is impossible. If the evil Saul could become the Apostle to the gentiles, if Simon could become the rock on which Jesus would build His Church, how much hope does that give you and me?

The answer is that it gives us all the hope in the world, IF we build our faith on the foundation of the Church--the Church that's rock solid. But to do that, we have to build our faith on the whole rock, not just the part of the rock that we choose. If you believe in "one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church", the Church that was built on the rock called Peter and his God-given gift of the knowledge of Jesus Christ as God's Son, and all that that Church teaches, you're on solid ground.

But every time you decide that there's something you don't believe in, you chip away at that rock. When you decide that the Church's teachings on married love and the openness to God's gift of children don't apply to you, you chip away at the rock. When you decide that some human life isn't worth protecting, you chip away at the rock. When you decide that the Church should ordain women, you chip away at the rock. When you decide that the Church has too many rules, you chip away at the rock. The next thing you know, your house that was built on such a firm foundation is just sitting on sand.

If you think such a house can stand, take a look at the news from the last week. Look at the houses built on the sandy flood plain in Missouri and Iowa. They're ruined while the houses built on rock, on higher ground, they may be surrounded by the raging waters of the Mississippi, but when the waters recede, which they will, those houses will still be high and dry.

God gave us a great gift in His Church. Jesus may have been THE Good Shepherd, but He left us with shepherds who are good to protect us from Satan and all his works. Sadly, we all know people who think they can go it alone. Like the sheep that wanders away from the flock, they don't think anything bad is going to happen to them. And, for a while, they may be right. But as surely as the wolf is going to find that wandering sheep, our transgressions are going to catch up with us.
[pause]
I think most of us like to find ways to justify our particular short-comings. Me, I'm captain procrastinator. I always do things at the last minute. But not this week. My son and daughter-in-law are here this weekend from Alabama. So instead of waiting until the (today) yesterday to put my homily together, I went way out of character and did it early. So what happened? Our Archbishop went and got himself promoted on Friday morning. I should have waited until the last minute because you know I couldn't go without saying something about that, so here's some bonus homily for you.

I think most of us would agree that the Church often moves very slowly. Vatican II ended in 1968 and we're still working on those changes. Of course they're not substantial changes, remember the Church is built on rock, but after forty years we're still working on them. The permanent diaconate was restored in St. Louis in the '70s and there are still people who don't know who we are and what we do. But one thing the Church doesn't do is let us go without a leader. The Vatican announced yesterday (Friday) morning that Archbishop Burke was leaving St. Louis, effective immediately. He'll be in St. Louis until some time in August, but he stopped being our Archbishop when the announcement was made.

It will be a while before a replacement is announced, but in the mean time, Bishop Herman will be in charge. That announcement was made just hours after the announcement of Archbishop Burke's leaving. It's part of that "rock" thing I've been talking about for the last few minutes. People come and people go. Popes, Bishops, priests, and even "permanent" deacons are all temporary. But the Church goes on just like it has for 2,000 years and just like it will until the end. Individual Catholics are all part of the Body of Christ, but like the thousands of skin cells we each lose every day, new ones take their place and the body remains unchanged.

Let us pray that Archbishop Burke will have great success in his new assigment and that the Holy Spirit will lead the Holy Father to choose a worthy shepherd for us here in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Archbishpo Burke to Leave St. Louis

2008-06-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

It was announced today that Archbishop Raymond Burke will be leaving St. Louis soon to take the position of prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The appointment means that for the time being, St. Louis is without a bishop. The college of consultors will meet in St. Louis this afternoon to choose an interim administrator who will be in charge until the Holy See appoints a replacement for Archbishop Burke.

I personally have very mixed emotions about this event. On the one hand, St. Louis and the United States are losing an outspoken leader who has never failed to stand up for what is right, regardless of the personal consequences. He has gained a national reputation for being a staunch defender of the faith. He will be missed.

On the other hand, this is an outstanding personal opportunity for Archbishop Burke to serve the Universal Church at the highest level. He is the second American in recent months who has been appointed to a high Vatican office, showing that the Church does recognize the excellence of some of our American Church leaders.

It's no secret that the Archbishop has been treated poorly by the media in this town, and by many nominal Catholics. In spite of that, he has expressed a fondness for St. Louis, acknowleging the faith and loyalty of the majority of Catholics here.

Time will tell whether his replacement will receive the same shoddy treatment from the local media that he has received. I hope not. But if the only way for our shepherd to be popular is to allow abuses in the parishes, heretical clergy, and fringe groups like "womenpriests" to operate here, then we should pray for another "unpopular" leader.

God bless Archbishop Burke as he begins his new assignment and may God be with our local church during this period of transition.

Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Memorial Day)

2008-05-24T17:55:00.001-05:00

May 25, 2008

Granted, there are a lot of things that I don't understand. But Jesus' teaching is so crystal clear in today's Gospel that I just don't get it when someone says they don't believe in the Eucharist.

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." If we read on in John's Gospel we see that a lot of Jesus' disciples didn't understand what He was telling them, and left Him. He said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." In other words, He didn't try to stop the ones who left because He wanted them to have faith and faith comes from God.

We know that at the last supper Jesus instituted the Eucharist, turning bread and wine into His Body and Blood, in effect completing the teaching He begins in today's Gospel. Again, we need faith to see past the earthly elements of wheat and fermented grape juice and understand that Christ is truly present.

There's a good column about this in this week's Review. Father Thomas Smith points out that nothing God does goes against our nature. We're not cannibals. If we were to hand you a piece of human flesh and offer you a chalice of human blood when you approach the altar, chances are there would be a very short line, even if you knew that they were Jesus' body and blood. So He makes Himself present in the form of something we don't mind consuming, bread and wine.

Those early disciples may have seen Him and heard Him speak, but we can actually make Him a part of us, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, just as He tells us to do.

[pause]

There are three necessary elements for this miracle to occur. Bread, wine, and a priest. You and I can stand over bread and wine and recite the words of consecration but all we'll have when we're done is the same bread and wine we started with. No priest--no Eucharist. It's as simple as that. When Jesus told the Apostles "Do this in memory of me." He was talking specifically to them and their successors. He was telling you and me to eat His Body and drink His Blood, but it was the Apostles and their successors who received the power to make it happen. If we're going to receive the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, we need priests.

Fortunately for us, Archbishop Burke ordained nine new priests for our Archdiocese (today) yesterday at the Cathedral Basilica. That's the largest ordination in St. Louis in 25 years and one of the largest ordination classes in the country this year. That's nine more men who have the unique ability to carry out Christ's instructions to do this in memory of Him. They come from a variety of backgrounds. One's almost 50 years old. One is almost 40. The other seven range in age from 26 to 32. Obviously, when we pray for vocations, we shouldn't limit our prayers to just young men.

[pause]

Pay attention to this because you've never heard me say it before and I may never say it again. There was a good article in the Post Dispatch last week. It was about this year's ordination class and what the future holds. Next year's class will be down to about five again, but beginning 1n 2010, we're looking at larger classes every year. There's so much interest in the seminary that plans are under way to expand. There are currently 112 students, the largest enrollment in twenty years and a 50 percent increase over last year. It's expected that 120 students will enroll next year, doubling the seminary population from ten years ago.

The article mentions a number of reasons for the increased interest in the priesthood, but there is one thing the writer left out. Next January marks the tenth anniversary of a unique event that happened in St. Louis, something that never happened before and may never happen again. A lot of us were there. Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis. Like I said, there are lots of things I don't understand, but I do understand this. The Pope's visit coincides with the beginning of the increased interest in vocations. Coincidence? I don't think so.

As the article points out, just months before his death, John Paul told Archbishop Burke and other midwestern bishops to do more to increase enrollment in the seminaries. He said, "No one can deny that the decline in priestly vocations represents a stark challenge for the church in the United States."

It's still a challenge but we've come a long way, baby. Here's the thing: A big part of the responsibility for the so-called shortage of priests comes right back to the parishes. The Archbishop can't address it by himself. According to the Post, one church study found that 80% of parents whose sons are considering the priesthood try to talk them out of it. 80%!!! Only two of every ten young men who feel the call never get past their own moms and dads! How sad is that? According to the study, parents are afraid their sons are setting themselves up for lives of "loneliness and unhappiness."

I know a lot of priests and none of them seem to be lonely and unhappy. I also know a lot of people who are lonely and unhappy and none of them are priests. I think that's just an excuse.

Look, I get it. I have three sons. Of course I'd have misgivings about them entering the priesthood, just as I have misgivings about the careers they have chosen. I also have a daughter who's still in school. If she were to announce that she's entering the convent, it would be a shock, (believe me, it would be a shock), but I wouldn't try to talk her out of it. I'd pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to help me understand and encourage her vocation.

There are a lot of negatives for a parent whose son is considering the priesthood, especially if he's an only son: no grandchildren; no one to carry on the family name, no chance of having a rich kid to take care of you when you get old. But the pluses. They're beyond imagining. Only God knows what wonderful things will happen to and because of a man's vocation to the priesthood.

If you and I are going to continue to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, it's up to all of us to encourage young men to at least be open to God's call. That includes our showing the proper respect to our current priests and bishops. Kids are very perceptive. They study every move we make and every word we say from a very early age. How many of us can relate to trying to teach our kids to talk. "Say daddy. C'mon. Say daddy" We do it over and over. Then we hit ourselves on the thumb with a hammer and say "damn." The next thing you know the kid's running around the house, "damn, damn, damn." They listen. They learn. They emulate.

So how's it affect our kids and grandkids when they hear us bad-mouthing the pastor or ripping into the bishop? If they hear "Father So-and-So's a jerk" often enough, why would they want to do what he does? How do you think they feel when they hear that "all priests" are child-molesters? They see the news. They hear the jokes. Our jobs as parents, grandparents, godparents, even just friends of the family, is to show by our example that serving God, whatever vocation we've chosen for ourselves, is the most important thing we can do. And that only a very blessed few have been chosen to receive the gift of the priesthood.

It's easy to pray for vocations.... if we think that it's other people's kids who'll get the call. We do it at every mass. It's like praying that our neighbors will be generous in their cash contributions. Offering one of our own to serve God's Church is one of the most generous things a human being can do. Let's pray that He gives us the grace to be so generous. This Tuesday is the day set aside for Eucharistic Adoration here at St. Bernadette (in spite of what you may have heard last week). If you're one of our regulars, why not use part of your time to pray for vocations. That was the original purpose when we set up monthly adoration, to pray for vocations.

If you're not an Adoration "regular" maybe this week would be a good time to make the effort to spend some time in Christ's presence, praying for more workers for the vineyard. But even if you can't make it, adding vocations to your daily private prayer is certainly a good thing to do. God does hear and answer our prayers.

[pause]

Normally, that would be it. But, considering the history of our parish and so many of our current and past parishioners, I can't sit down without saying something about Memorial Day. I can't imagine a parish in the whole Archdiocese that's more connected to the armed forces than St. Bernadette. Even our church and rectory were once military buildings. Every time we come to church the sight of the National Guard base to our east is a reminder of the brave young men and women who are putting their lives on the line very day to help secure our freedom. We see them leave on their way to active duty and we see them come back. Sadly, there are always more leaving than returning. It's a constant reminder that freedom is never free.

To our south and east lie the remains of more than 100,000 brave military men and women and their spouses. Some of them have been there since the time of the Civil War and some of them have been there for a matter of hours. Some died from military action, some died of old age, but they all served our country.

It's great to have a three-day weekend. Memorial Day weekend is the traditional beginning of summer. We may be going to a barbecue or a ball game. I'm painting my house. Part of the freedom that our military has secured for us is the freedom to ignore them on the day set aside in their honor. But let's not do that. Even if all we do is pause on the parking lot after church, look their way, and say a silent prayer for all those buried at our national cemetery, that's something. If you can spend a few minutes visiting the cemetery, that would be even better. There are a number of events scheduled over there this weekend that you might want to attend.

I didn't serve in the military myself. Many of you did. Some of you have someone you love serving right now. Let's never forget the price that must be paid to keep our country the land of the free and the home of the brave.

God bless America!

St. Louis Prelate Named to 2 Dicasteries

2008-05-07T07:52:00.001-05:00

From the Zenit News Agency:

VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed St. Louis' Archbishop Raymond Burke to both the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the Congregation for the Clergy.

For those "Catholics" who think Archbishop Burke has been making things up as he goes along, this news should put your fears to rest. As Jesus said, "Whoever hears you hears me."

The Last Acceptable Prejudice

2008-04-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

On April 3, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints compound was raided. Its founder, Warren Jeffs, was convicted last year of being an accessory in the rape of a teenage girl. This past Friday, April 11, Bill Maher made the following comments on his HBO show, "Real Time with Bill Maher":

"I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult..Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America this week and, ladies, he's single."

"If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you 'Pope.' It's like, if you can't pay your mortgage, you're a deadbeat. But if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're Bear Stearns and we bail you out. And that is who the Catholic Church is: the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia -- too big, too fat."

"When the current Pope was in his previous Vatican job as John Paul's Dick Cheney, he wrote a letter instructing every Catholic bishop to keep the sex abuse of minors secret until the Statute of Limitations ran out. And that's the Church's attitude: 'We're here, we're queer, get used to it,' which is fine, far be it from me to criticize religion. But just remember one thing: If the Pope was -- instead of a religious figure -- merely the CEO of a nationwide chain of day care centers, where thousands of employees had been caught molesting kids and then covering it up, he'd be arrested faster than you can say 'who wants to touch Mr. Wiggle?'"

Can you imagine if Maher, or anyone else, made similar comments about a Muslim leader, or a Jewish leader, or any other leader? The outcry would be deafening. Consider Don Imus' comments about a black women's basketball team. He insulted a few women and was fired. During Rush LImbaugh's short-lived stint as a color man for ESPN, he comment that Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb was over-rated because the media wanted to see a successful black quarterback. He was fired almost immediately.

So, what will happen to Maher? If the past is any indication, nothing will happen to him. The Catholic Church is an acceptable target. You can attack it with virtual immunity. If that doesn't make you angry, then I'd say the Church faces more danger from within, than from without. Our failure to demand that this Catholic-bashing stop makes us just as culpable as the brain-dead commentators who make the inflammatory statements.

Here are some facts that Maher conveniently ignores.

Pope Benedict was never a Nazi. In pre-war Germany, every young man was forced to join a Nazi-sponsored youth group. The young Ratzinger got out as soon as possible. If he were, in fact, a Nazi, Jewish groups would be screaming for his head. In fact, the Pope has been exonerated by virtually every important Jewish group.

Cardinal Ratzinger had nothing to do with the child abuse crisis. It just wasn't his job. There was never a letter written by anyone in the Vatican instructing Bishops to cover up abuse cases. In fact, Pope John Paul II, was firm in his condemnation of priests who abused children.

If you aren't outraged by this idiot's calling your Church a "child-abusing religious cult" and " the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia" then you need a reality check. This isn't an isolated incident. Maher has made similar comments in the past, and he's not the only one doing it. The longer we remain silent, the worse it's going to get. If we don't stand up for our faith, and for our leaders, we are facing a future of more intense persecution, perhaps the worst in history. It's only a matter of time before some psychopath is motivated by the likes of Maher to assassinate a priest or bishop.

In preparing this post, I searched Google News for the terms "Bill Maher" and "Catholic". There wasn't one single reference to a major news outlet. Only Catholic News Service has covered the story online. Conservative talk radio has publicized Maher's comments, but NBC, CBS, and ABC are conspicuous by their absence.

According to Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, HBO's response to two earlier cases of Catholic-bashing by Maher was that "it's a free country" and that Maher's remarks are "a matter of creative freedom." Since when does libel equal "creative freedom"?

It IS a free country and you have the freedom as a subscriber to cancel HBO.

You can contact HBO's CEO, Bill Nelson, at bill.nelson@hbo.com

Great Minds of the 21st Century

2008-03-26T07:04:00.002-05:00

SLU basketball coach Rick Majerus continues to embarrass his employer by his ill-advised comments about religion. You may recall that he ran afoul of the Archbishop of St. Louis by telling Channel 4 reporter Mike O'Connell that he supports abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Rather than apologize when he had the chance, he basically thumbed his nose at the Archbishop and Catholic doctrine, in effect declaring himself the pope of the church of rick. SLU president Larry Biandi, rejected Archbishop Burkes's suggestion that he discipline his loose-canon coach.

Now he's taken on the Mormons. As a former coach of the University of Utah, he's well aware of Mormon beliefs. When asked by radio sportscaster Dan Patrick to choose a winner in last week's NCAA tournament game between Brigham Young University and Texas A & M, he chose A & M, saying"A&M. I don't like BYU from my Utah days. The magic underwear Mitt and those guys send themselves."

The so-called "magic underwear" is a garment Mormon's wear to remind themselves to be chaste. Making fun of their religious garment is considered highly offensive. It will be interesting to see if Biondi intervenes in this one. Obviously many Mormon's are outraged.

If you reject Christianity, don't join the church

2008-03-24T07:06:00.002-05:00

I came across this article from John Robson, writing for the Ottowa Sun. I have to share it here without comment, because there's nothing I can add to it.

Published: Friday, March 21, 2008

It's Easter and time for the annual journalistic display of baffled hostility to Christianity. On cue the Roman Catholic archbishop of Ottawa, Terrence Prendergast, pops up with the suggestion that adherents to his church who don't actually observe its rules should not expect to enjoy all the benefits of membership. A predictable chorus of howls erupted.

The archbishop might be forgiven for wondering why. No one would think themselves entitled to join a chess club but refuse to move bits of plastic around an 8x8 square board. If they insisted on denouncing the game as a colossal waste of time for losers who couldn't get a date using the Benoni counter-gambit (purely hypothetically, you understand), or showed up and played trumpet instead of chess, club officials would try to reason with them but, if that failed, would insist that they depart. And no one would think it odd. What, then, is so hard to grasp about the Catholic Church being a voluntary organization with rules that are meant to be enforced?

Remember, people who say they are Roman Catholics necessarily claim to believe the Pope is the heir of St. Peter to whom Christ gave the keys of the kingdom. This belief may be false or even foolish. But it's no secret. And Canada is a free country so you are free to reject it. The one thing you can't do is reject the authority of the Bishop of Rome yet remain in his Church, any more than you can go to a chess club and deny that its bishops move diagonally.

Roman Catholics would then say they oppose abortion on religious grounds and welcome the votes of anyone who, for whatever reason, is also pro-life. Atheists or agnostics would say they don't know what God wants, if anything, but here are their policies; members of some faiths could say they think God is cool with abortion and so are they. In each case there would be no taint of hypocrisy. But anyone who says they know what God wants, they just don't care, is acting like an idiot and should be denied political power on that basis alone.

Especially as Easter seems a particularly propitious time to ask whether your soul is not more important than your seat in Parliament. Certainly it's a lot more permanent. Only if the result of this soul-searching is negative, if you conclude that winning an election is more important than standing up for things you claim to believe are the will of God almighty, creator of heaven and earth and our judge when time itself has ended, is it appropriate to say although I am Catholic I will govern as an atheist. In which case you're in a pretty feeble position to object if sternly excommunicated.

There is nothing oppressive about this statement. The Inquisition put away the thumbscrews years ago. No one is suggesting introducing theocracy, making it mandatory to join the Roman Catholic Church, or illegal to oppose its teachings in print or on the stump, provided you have a willing audience. They're simply saying you have no more right to make those arguments within the Church, physically or metaphysically, than to insist on playing jazz in a chess club.

Why would you even want to? I can understand a politician lying about religion to deceive the public, but that can hardly be the motive today. I don't imagine that one voter in five knows Stephen Harper's religion (Protestant), let alone cares. And in any event, if politicians were pretending to be Catholic to win votes, they'd presumably feign adherence to Church teachings. Something else is going on, and it's not pretty.

What scandalizes moderns about the church, I think, is not what it believes but simply that it believes. We are perfectly at ease with Christian clergy who deny the divinity of Christ or the resurrection, don druid suits and praise shariah law, or claim they can be at the same time priests and imams. Just as we are happy to give tenure to academics who proclaim that there is no truth, and give large fees to artists who insist that their works do not communicate or uplift and are not meant to. But we are baffled that the Pope is Catholic and if you don't like it you need to find, or found, another church.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T13:02:00.003-05:00

Easter and Christmas are the very epitome of our Church’s liturgical year. The birth of our savior and his glorious resurrection into heaven are the greatest events in our Christian history.

I heard a commercial the other day where the announcer says, It‘s not a very good commercial because I don‘t remember what they were selling, but the announcer says, “If you found something this good, wouldn’t you want to tell everybody you know?” Naturally they want you to say “yes, I would”. That’s how I feel standing here today. I have found something good and I do want to tell everybody I know.

Here’s what I’ve found. It’s the ultimate reality show. It’s bigger than Survivor. It’s bigger than American Idol. It’s even bigger than The Biggest Loser. And it plays out right here, and in every Catholic Church in the world, every single Sunday. We don’t even charge you to get in. It’s called Sunday mass.

And it’s an action-packed story. Just in these last ninety days, we’ve celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family, with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fleeing to Egypt to avoid Herod’s order that all male children be killed. Then, after Herod’s death, the family returns to Nazareth.

On January 1, we celebrated the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. We heard of the shepherd’s coming into Bethlehem to reveal what the Angel had told them about the infant Jesus.

Just five days later, we celebrated the Epiphany, the coming of the magi to do homage to the newborn king. They brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Herod tried to use the visitors to find out where the child was, but a dream warned them not to return to Herod. They left town by another way.

Then we fast-forwarded to a the time when Jesus was an adult. He meets John the Baptist and asks to be baptized. John protests that he’s not worthy of baptizing the Lord, but Jesus insists and when He comes up from the water, the sky opens up, the spirit of God descends on Him and a voice from heaven says “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Over the next few weeks we heard about John the Baptist’s imprisonment, and Jesus’ calling his disciples. We’ve heard Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount where He gave us the Beatitudes.

During the last six weeks of Lent, we’ve prepared for the Lord’s death and resurrection. We’ve gone with Him into the desert, we’ve seen his transfiguration, with that same Voice from heaven telling us again, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

In His meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, Jesus tells us that He’s living water. When he restores the blind man’s sight, He tells us that He’s the light of the world. Then He brings Lazarus back to life, telling us, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

The last seven days, Holy Week, have brought the story full circle. Last Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph. The people threw palm branches in his path shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! Before the week was out, these same people would yell “Crucify Him!”
He was scourged, beaten, humiliated, then nailed to a cross until He died.

But, before He died, He made Himself available to us through the Eucharist. He knew that those original disciples had the advantage of His physical presence. What about us? How could we experience His Real Presence after He physically left us? He took care of that on Holy Thursday. He said, “This is My Body. This is my Blood. Do this in memory of me”.

Receiving this wonderful gift, the Real Presence of our Lord and Savior, should be more than enough of a reason to come to mass. If the Word is the cake, the Eucharist is the icing.

So, here we are on Easter Sunday, the most Glorious day of all. He’s defeated death! He’s risen from the grave! By doing that, He didn’t just save Himself but He made it possible for you and I to be saved too. He died for our sins. We don’t have to be afraid of death because we can live forever in paradise.

But, that’s not the end. It’s really just the beginning. The drama continues next Sunday, and every Sunday until the end of time. And, even though the readings repeat every three years, no two Sundays are ever the same. That’s because we’re part of the story. You and I are just as much a part of this reality show as the people we read about every Sunday.

See, Jesus knew you and me before we were ever born. The story of His life, the Greatest Story Ever Told, is our story, too. My family has been part of this parish for a long time, 33 years next month. Compared to some of you that makes us newcomers. But it’s still a third of a century. In that time we’ve seen the parish change. It’s gone through cycles. When we had a school we had lots of young families. When the school closed, a lot of them left, leaving us a more mature parish. Nowwe’re seeing more young families again.

There have been rumors about our parish closing as long as I can remember, even back when our oldest son, who’s now almost 35, started school. “Don’t send him there”, they told us, “They’re getting ready to close.“

But we’ve proved them wrong, celebrating our 60th anniversary last year. And that’s thanks to you. You’re St. Bernadette parish. Not this building. Not the grounds. You. We pray for one another when we’re sick. We comfort one another when necessary, and celebrate together whenever we can. Your presence here every Sunday is a big part of our on-going story--your presence and your participation.

Sometimes you’ll hear someone say, “I don’t get anything out of the mass.” Could it be because that person doesn’t put anything into it? C’mon. Would we go to a baseball game without at least checking the standings, maybe reading that morning’s newspaper, or going to the team’s web site to get an idea of what’s going on with the teams? When you get to the game, do you cheer the good plays? Do you stand and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”? Or do you just sit there silently?

Would you spend your hard-earned money to go to a movie that you’ve never heard of? Wouldn’t you at least check out the ads and see what the critics have to say ? Do you get emotionally involved in the story, or are you just a silent observer, taking it all in, but not investing any of yourself into the story?

So, what about mass? Do you check ahead of time to see what the readings are? Do you come early so you can go over the readings again and ask God to help you get the most out of the mass? Or do you read the bulletin? During the mass, do you join in the songs and the prayers? If not, you’re missing something. The mass isn’t just a reality show. It’s all about audience participation.

Today is the pinnacle! This is the summit! Jesus has climbed Everest and taken us with him! But the story goes on. This early Easter means that it’s 9 months and 2 days until we celebrate Christmas. That’s a long time. We’ve seen the highlights, Now it’s time to fill in the gaps in the story, preparing for the beginning of Advent on November 30.

During the upcoming Easter season, reading mostly from John’s Gospel and from the Acts of the Apostles. We’ll follow the events that took place after Jesus’ resurrection. We’ll hear how our Church was formed and how it grew. On April 20, the 5th Sunday of Easter, we’ll hear how the Apostles chose the first deacons, one of my personal favorites. We’ll wrap up the Easter season with Christ’s Ascension into heaven. Before he leaves, He’ll tell the Apostles “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

You wouldn’t watch the first episode of Survivor to see who the players are and then not watch again until the finale to see who won. You want to see what happens every week. You want to learn who the players are. You learn about their personalities. You watch the relationships build. That’s the part that makes a reality show not just a show. The same is true of any fictional series. We want to know what makes the characters tick.

So, as we leave Church on this beautiful Easter morning, nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood, keep in mind that today is just part of the story. It’s the top of the mountain, but we didn’t just wake up here today. As Paul Harvey would say, “stay tuned for the rest of the story.” Next Sunday our second graders will receive their first communion, and my grandson will be baptized after 10:30 mass. Their stories are just beginning, and you and I each play an important part.

Like any good reality show, we don’t know how this one ends. We know that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We hope that when the time comes, we’re not voted off the island. We hope to be among the survivors. But only Jesus knows for sure if we’re going to meet all the challenges. The good news is that it’s not a competition. We can all win. We don’t have to outwit, outplay, or outlast anyone else. As this morning’s Gospel said, “To Him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name.”

Everyone! That’s you and me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss a single episode of that story.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T20:10:00.001-05:00

Most of you know I was raised Baptist. Not much of a Baptist, but technically that’s what I was. At least, that’s what my mom was. In the Baptist church, you weren’t baptized until you were old enough to decide for yourself, usually in your teens. We went to church once in a while and I went to Vacation Bible School, every summer. But as a kid, my knowledge of religion was pretty meager.

What I knew about Good Friday in those days was that it was the day Jesus died….and that we got the day off from school. That was in the days before political correctness, so even the public schools called it Good Friday. We also got the day after Easter off, which the kids called Good Monday.

We had a small family, just my mom and dad and me, and an aunt and uncle, Aunt Mary and Uncle Elmer. Aunt Mary’s mother lived with them. Her name was Aunt Fern. My mom worked, so I spent a lot of time at Aunt Mary and Uncle Elmer’s house.

The only time I remember seeing Aunt Fern in church, was at her funeral. I don’t even know for sure what church she belonged to. She was buried from the South Side Christian Church in Hannibal, MO, so maybe she belong to that one. That would explain why she never went to church. It was more than 100 miles away! Which is a long way of getting to the other thing I knew about Good Friday.

There were two things about Aunt Fern that would make you think she was a religious woman. One was a beautiful picture of Jesus that she had in her bedroom. It was the one where Jesus is standing outside the closed door with no door knob. I loved that picture even though I didn’t understand what it meant; that Jesus can’t come in unless you open the door for him. I used to lay on my Aunt’s bed and just stare at it.

The other thing was that Aunt Fern thought you would go straight to hell if you ate meat on Good Friday. She would have rather been tied to the railroad track that ran behind the house in front of an oncoming train, than to eat meat on that one day of the year.

So, you can imagine that as a kid without much religious background, I knew that this was a very special day. What I never understood was why they called it GOOD Friday. If it was the day they killed Jesus, what could possibly be good about it. Even getting the day off school didn’t seem like enough to make it a good day. I thought it was a terrible day. It was the day of the worst crime in history; the day they murdered God.

That idea didn’t leave me until I was much older, like maybe a few days ago. If you’ve been following along in the Lenten readings that Father Gary sent us at the beginning of Lent, you know where I’m going with this. Sister Melannie explains it very clearly in the reading for today.
She writes:
“What a paradox! We call good the day we commemorate Jesus’ passion and death. Why? Certainly Jesus’ death was anything but good. It was a terrible event--an awful evil, a loathsome crime. But we call today good because it revealed once and for all just how much Jesus really loves us--so much so that he could embrace such a horrible death for us. As we meditate on Jesus’ terrible sufferings, let us also ponder his tremendous love.

“Think of those who love you most. Now multiply those loves by a million, a billion, infinitely. That’s how much Jesus loves you. That’s how much God loves you.

“If we could really believe we are the apple of God’s eye, what a difference it would make in our attitude, our outlook our choices. How eager we would be to love someone else in the same way. Yes, there is much suffering in the Passion of Jesus--repeated beatings, the crowning of thorns, the carrying of the cross, the pounding of the nails in his flesh, the hanging on the cross. But most of all there is much love. Instead of merely feeling sorry for Jesus, let us accept the challenge to follow his way of loving--a way that inevitably includes the cross. Then we will have another reason to call today Good Friday.”

So, it is a good day after all. It’s the day Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for you, and for me, by shedding His blood on the cross.

In a moment, we’ll venerate this cross, as a sign of our love for Him. But let’s not end it there. Let’s live our lives as a sign of how much we love and appreciate the Lord for making such a sacrifice for us.

Third Sunday of Lent: Seeing Through Your Lens

2008-02-24T15:50:00.005-06:00

History was made recently when a beagle was named "Best in Show" at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. No beagle had ever won the award before. The dog, named Uno, was born and raised in Belleville, IL, not far from here.

A duck hunter, named John, who lives nearby decided that one of Uno's cousins might make a pretty good hunting dog, so he made the trip to Belleville and bought himself a brand new beagle.

The next day he went out to his favorite hunting spot to see what the dog could do. After a few minutes in the blind, a duck flew over and BANG!, the duck fell out of the sky. John looked at his new dog and pointed to the floating duck. The dog took off after the bird, running across the top of the water! John couldn't believe his eyes. In a few minutes, another duck flew over, John shot, and the bird landed in the water. Again, the beagle took off across the water, grabbed the duck and brought him back.

Now John has a neighbor who's one of those people who always to have the upper hand. If you have something, he has one that's better and more expensive. If you do something, this guy's already done it, and done it better. John thought to himself, not this time. This dog's finally going too make me the winner.

So, he called the neighbor and invited him to go hunting. The next day they took off for the lake along with John's new beagle. After they'd been in the blind a few minutes, a duck flew over. John shot. The bird fell into the water. The beagle took off across the lake to get it. John waited for his neighbor's reaction........nothing. He didn't say a word.

The scene was repeated all morning as both men bagged their limits of ducks. Finally John couldn't take it anymore. He asked the neighbor, "Have you noticed anything different about my new dog?"

The neighbor answered, "Well, yes I did, but I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. Your dog can't swim."

We all look at things through different lenses. Our individual lens is colored by our experiences, our prejudices, our environment, even our genes. The neighbor and Joe are very competitive. They’re always trying to outdo each other. The neighbor didn’t want Joe to have such a miraculous dog, so he found a way to put a negative spin on the animal’s talent. “Your dog can’t swim”.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is in Sychar, a town in Samaria. He meets a Samaritan woman. Big surprise! The disciples have gone into town to buy food, so it’s just Jesus and the woman at a well. Jesus says to the woman, “Give me a drink.”

The woman answers, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Think about her answer. John explains, looking through his Jewish lens, that Jews and Samaritans used nothing in common, so it’s not surprising that the woman would ask such a question.

But, look at the situation through her eyes. The reason they used nothing in common was that Jews thought Samaritans, especially Samaritan women, were “unclean”. The woman knew that. She’s lived with it her whole life. Now, here’s this stranger, this Jewish man, asking her for a drink. Can you imagine that her answer might have been a bit sarcastic? “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink?” Might she have added, “Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch something?”

She was passing judgment on Jesus, just as she must have felt the Jews had always passed judgment on her.

What about the story in the first reading? Moses has led the people out of Egypt; out of slavery. Are they grateful? Are they praising him? No, they’re grumbling against him because they’re thirsty. They seem to be saying, “What have you done for us lately? That Red Sea thing was pretty cool, but now we need water. C’mon Moses, work another miracle.”

You really can’t blame them. They have to have water. Without water, they’re going to die. Through the eyes of someone dying of thirst, yesterday’s miracle just doesn’t seem so miraculous. “Your dog may be able to walk on water, but he can’t swim.”

So, how much are we like the Samaritan woman? How much are we like the Jews in the desert? How much are we like Joe’s neighbor? C’mon. We all do it. We all have a set of life experiences that color the way we see things. The glass may be half full or it may be half empty. We’re Catholics. We see, and are seen, by non-Catholics in a certain way.

People who believe in God see things differently than people who don’t. Republicans see things differently than Democrats. Kids see things differently than adults. Black or white, man or woman, St. Louisan or New Yorker, we all see through different lenses.

Most of you know that I used to be a soccer referee. There’s a thing in sports called “home team eyes”. It’s very real. Two people, rooting for opposite teams, will see the same play and see two different things. Two kids run into each other and fall down. Half the fans will swear under oath that they saw Johnny push Billy and the other half will swear that they saw Billy push Johnny. The thing is they’re both telling the truth. They did see what they thought they saw, through their “home team eyes”. That’s why you have officials in sports. The referee or the umpire is supposed to be looking at the game through neutral eyes, or at least through the lens of the rules, not through the lens of either team.

Whenever you see two sides passionately for or against something, they see things very differently. People who are strongly pro-life and people who are just as strongly pro-choice see an abortion in an entirely different light, colored by their particular lens.

My wife, Jan and I were talking to our twenty-two year old daughter this morning. It was an eye-opening conversation. She made us realize that the world today is very different than it was when we were twenty-two. There are cars, and electricity, and indoor plumbing, and the internet, just to name a few things. There’s also crack cocaine, and heroine, and date-rape drugs. The places that Jan and I were worried about, like the bars and night clubs, are no worse than the so-called safe environment of the Catholic University she attends. In fact, the campus may even be worse. Our daughter is much better equipped to make good choices in 2008 than her hopelessly out-of-date parents.

So, what’s the point? We’re at the halfway point of Lent. I hope it’s been everything you wanted and needed it to be. If not, maybe it’s because you’ve been looking through a cloudy lens. Maybe these last three weeks would be a good time to try and see things through different eyes. Like the Samaritan woman and like the Jews in the dessert, maybe our judgments are colored by past events, that may or may not be letting us see things clearly.

Like the beagle, Jesus walked on water. Do we look at this, and all of His other miracles in awe? Do we come into His presence with thanksgiving, joyfully singing Psalms? Do we bow down in worship, kneeling before Him? Or do we ask “What have you done for me lately?”

A REALLY Inconvenient Truth

2008-01-27T09:33:00.001-06:00

Have you seen the movie, “The Bucket List”? If you haven’t, the plot’s pretty simple. Jack Nicholson’s plays Ed, a gazillionaire hospital owner. Morgan Freeman plays Carter, an auto mechanic. Carter is black. Ed is white. Carter is a family man. Ed has four ex-wives. Carter works for a living. Ed doesn’t. Carter believes in God. Ed believes in Ed. The two men have absolutely nothing in common.

When we meet Ed, the board of directors of the hospital are accusing him of being cheap and putting profits ahead of patient care. One of the board’s complaints is that Ed insists that there be no private rooms. “Two people per room! No exceptions!”

During the meeting, Ed keels over. When he wakes up, he’s sharing a room with Carter. Remember, two people per room, no exceptions. As it turns out, both men find out that they have just a few months to live.

Ed sees Carter writing on a legal pad. He asks what he’s writing and he says a list of things he’d like to do before he dies. He calls it a “Bucket List” because it’s a list of things to do before he kicks the bucket. But, he says, it’s too late now. But Ed’s not so sure. He has more money than God. He has no family to leave it to. He convinces Carter that they should go for it.

Carter’s list includes things like “helping a complete stranger for no reason”. Ed’s list includes things like jumping out of an airplane.

The two men have absolutely nothing in common. Nothing except that they’re both going to die. And that one thing is all they need to become fast friends. In fact, they become more like brothers than friends.

[pause]

I’d like you to take a look at the people around you. Not the ones you brought with you, but at the others here in church. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

From where I’m standing, I see a lot of different people. Some of us are young. Some of us used to be young. Some are short. Some are tall. There are men and women, boys and girls. Some of us work for a living. Some are retired. Some have hair. Some, not so much. We’re a lot like Ed and Carter. We don’t have much in common; just the one thing.

The reason we’re here, in this Church, on this Sunday morning is because we believe. We believe that this man, this Jesus, died for our sins. And that’s all we need to be part of a family. Jesus’ family. The family that we call the Catholic Church. We’ve been called to be a part of this family just as surely as Simon and Andrew were called in today’s Gospel.

In the second reading today, St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” What do you suppose he was talking about?

The first century world of the Corinthians was a dangerous place. Being a Christian could be a capital offense.

Paul knew the Christians in Corinth were in danger. His advice? Stay together. Don’t be divided. There’s strength in numbers. “Be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” In the 1960s he might have said “keep the faith, baby.”

Most of you know I have a beautiful wife, four great kids, and two of the world’s cutest grandchildren. There’s nothing in this life more important to me than my God and my family. This may come as a surprise to you but life in the Buckley isn’t always sweetness and light. Sometimes there are problems. Sometimes we argue. Jan may be beautiful and the kids may be great, but none of us are perfect. Sometimes we put the “fun” in “dysfunctional”. I can say that because it’s my family.

But don’t expect me to say any more than that. Like Las Vegas, what happens in the family stays in the family. And don’t you even think about saying anything bad about my family. If you do, I’m going to defend them like an angry mother bear. That’s what family members do.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had skirmishes with teachers, principals, coaches, and referees who’ve had the audacity to say one of my kids wasn’t perfect. More than once I’ve come away with egg on my face when it turned out that they weren’t. But I’ll keep fighting for them as long as I have breath in my body. I may make a fool out of myself once in a while, but it won’t be the first time.

The thing is, I feel the same way about this family, this parish family. We may have our disagreements from time to time, but I consider you my family and I’m not interested in hearing anything negative about you. It doesn’t happen much anymore, but for a long time the rumor was going around that this parish was going to close. I’ve had more than my share of “discussions” about that. I’m sure you have too. We may not be the biggest parish. We may not be the richest parish. We may not be the best parish. But we’re my parish and that’s enough.

Then there’s our BIG family, our extended family, the billion or so folks who call themselves Catholic; the descendents of those Corinthians that Paul wrote to. The ones he told to “Be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”

In a few minutes we’ll receive the Body and Blood of Christ along with all those other Catholics. That’s why we call it communion. We’re a community of believers with a common set of beliefs. With all those believers, and with all the choirs of angels in heaven we’ll proclaim Christ’s glory and join in the unending hymn of praise: “Holy, holy, holy Lord.”

[pause]

Why did Paul feel the need to tell the Corinthians to “be united in the same mind and in the same purpose”? He tells us. “For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, that there are rivalries among you.” He goes on, “Is Christ divided?”

Some things never change, do they? Even in its infancy, there were divisions in the Church, just like there are today. And it’s no less important today than it was 2,000 years ago for our Church family to be united in the same mind and the same purpose. But, what’s that mean?

It means that we understand and accept what the Church teaches. We all have questions and doubts. No one is 100% sure about everything all the time. But there are plenty of people to answer our questions and lots of resources that we can go to.

See, most of us see right as the opposite of wrong. But there are some who think of right as the opposite of convenient. Or right is the opposite of popular. If you were lucky enough to be born in a Catholic family, you were taught to accept the whole package. This is what the Church teaches. This is what we believe.

I think I’ve told this story before, but I was raised Baptist. I did have a few Catholic friends. Sometimes we’d go out on a Friday night after a dance or a basketball game. My Catholic friends would either order a mushroom pizza or they’d sit there until midnight before they’d eat their pepperoni. I had no idea why they did it, but I was impressed and even a little envious that they had something so strong in their lives that they would deny themselves something, especially when the rest of us were chowing down. Didn’t they know that their parents would never find out?

Not eating meat on Fridays was a little thing, but it taught Catholics something about discipline and sacrifice. Besides, it was just part of the deal if you were a Catholic. It was part of Paul’s “one mind one purpose” thing. My friends didn’t care if they were different.

Little by little some of us have let “society”, whatever that is, chip away at our resolve. Maybe we give in to the convenience of the birth control pill. We may feel guilty for a while but we get over it. Then we start to think, “hey, the Church was wrong on that one, what else are they wrong about?”

Or, “There’s no reason why my boyfriend and I should pay double rent. Let’s just move in together. We’re going to get married eventually. What’s the big deal?”

Of course, we really won’t know if the Church was right or wrong until it’s too late, will we? Then it will be a big deal. But, hey, live for today. Eat drink and be merry, right?

And so it goes until you have situations like we had this week in St. Louis where a prominent person tells a TV reporter that it’s ok to murder innocent children, and yes, he is a Catholic.

So, what’s my point? My point is that Paul wasn’t kidding around with the Corinthians when he told them ““be united in the same mind and in the same purpose”? He knew that the Church might fail before it even got started if it began to split up into factions. He knew that the way to heaven was through Jesus and His teachings and he understood that Satan is an expert in the strategy of divide and conquer. Make no mistake. Satan’s still around and he’s still using the same strategy. Don’t let him win.

A REALLY Inconvenient Truth

2008-01-27T09:33:00.000-06:00

Carter’s list includes things like “helping a complete stranger for no reason”. Ed’s list includes things like jumping out of an airplane.

[pause]

I’d like you to take a look at the people around you. Not the ones you brought with you, but at the others here in church. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

The first century world of the Corinthians was a dangerous place. Being a Christian could be a capital offense.

[pause]

Or, “There’s no reason why my boyfriend and I should pay double rent. Let’s just move in together. We’re going to get married eventually. What’s the big deal?”

Of course, we really won’t know if the Church was right or wrong until it’s too late, will we? Then it will be a big deal. But, hey, live for today. Eat drink and be merry, right?

And so it goes until you have situations like we had this week in St. Louis where a prominent person tells a TV reporter that it’s ok to murder innocent children, and yes, he is a Catholic.

Here We Go Again

2008-01-23T16:28:00.000-06:00

Once again, our good Archbishop Raymond Burke has gotten embroiled in a media-created controversy. Of course he's being vilified by the usual suspects who would find fault with him if the sky opened up and he was taken directly into heaven. The issue this time is whether an employee of a (nominally) Catholic university should be allowed to espouse his pro-choice, pro-stem cell research views on television.

The problem started this past Saturday evening when Rick Majerus, St. Louis University's men's basketball coach attended a rally for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Reporter Mike O'Connell of KMOV-TV stuck a microphone in the coach's face and asked for his opinion on abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Majerus pronounced himself "pro choice" and in favor of ESCR.

Make no mistake, the reporter knew who Majerus was and was well aware that Majerus has never met a microphone he didn't like. The coach fell right into the reporter's trap.

O'Connell's next move was to contact the Archbishop for his comments on Majerus' comments. Naturally Archbishop Burke objected strongly to the coach's comments and suggested that the university take disciplinary action.

The firestorm was ignited and KMOV is taking full advantage. The story, which originally aired on Sunday continues to get air time and is on the station's home page. Meanwhile, the other local media have also picked up on it. The story has even gotten play on some national web sites.

Here's the thing. Majerus is a darling of the media. He loves the camera and the microphone. He came out of retirement to coach SLU and public expectations for a miracle were high. So far, the results aren't there. But, the school did get national attention recently for setting an NCAA record for the fewest points ever scored in a game.

As the most recognizable face of a school that most people consider Catholic (more on that later), Majerus has a responsibility to not make his employer look foolish. I doubt that he intended to create such a kerfuffle. Frankly, his comments were just stupid.

The Archbishop has a responsibility to correct St. Louis Catholics when they publicly deny authentic Church teaching. That he did.

The true villain in this piece is O'Connell who deliberately manipulated a situation in an effort to gain some much-needed viewers. At the very least he should be suspended pending a public apology. Ideally he should be fired. Reporters are supposed to report the news, not create it. His actions were dishonest and unethical.

Back to St. Louis University for a minute. In an effort to secure state funding for a new athletic facility, the school went all the way to the state Supreme Court to have themselves declared a "non-religious" institution. According to their application, they are not governed by any religious creed. A few years back they sold their teaching hospital to a for-profit company over the objections of then-Archbishop Justin Rigali.

They can't have it both ways. Either they're a Catholic University or they're not. If they are, then they should reprimand Majerus at the very least. He should apologize for embarrassing the school and its Jesuit sponsors. They probably shouldn't fire him just for being stupid.

If they're not a Catholic University, as they told the state, then the Jesuits should pull out, the school should be renamed, and they should stop accepting Catholic funds. The school's alumni should be up in arms over Majerus comments, but that doesn't seem to be the case. However, if the basketball team doesn't improve, that may be another story.

How sad.

Midnight Mass

2007-12-24T23:22:00.000-06:00

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown.”

Have you ever gotten away from the city, out where there’s no pollution, and looked at the sky? You look up there and see millions of stars. Some are bright. Some are so dim you can’t even see them. But you know that each one of them is as bright as, or even brighter than our own sun.

I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that most of those stars have planets circling them, just like our own sun. And a lot of those planets are probably bigger than our own planet earth, since earth is just a medium sized planet, even in our own solar system.

But each of those stars, each of those solar systems looks like a tiny point of light to us because it’s so far away. And there are thousands more that are even farther away that we can’t see at all. That how big the universe is. It’s so big that we can’t even begin to understand its size. Now try to imagine the One who created this universe.

Whether you believe in some kind of a “big bang” or if you think that He made every single star and planet one at a time the whole thing is just too big to comprehend.

But that Creator, that being who’s beyond our tiny minds’ ability to understand, cares about you. And He cares about me. He cares about us so much that one night more than 2,000 years ago this Creator, this all-powerful, all-knowing, magnificent being chose to become a tiny, human baby; one of the most helpless creatures in His entire universe.

You know, human babies really are helpless. Baby horses can stand up almost as soon as they’re born. A lot of animals lay their eggs and then leave the babies to fend for themselves. Baby sea turtles come out of their eggs laid on the beach and have to find their way to the ocean before something eats them. A baby rattlesnake comes out of the egg with enough venom to kill you.

Even baby animals that are born helpless grow very quickly and are ready to go out on their own in a matter of weeks. But a human baby is absolutely dependent on its parents for months, even years. But the all-powerful God, the Creator of the universe, lowered Himself to become one of these helpless creatures. Why? To save you and me after we’d basically turned our backs on Him. If you can think of a greater love than that, please see me after mass. I’d love to hear about it.

________________________________________________________________

“Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.”

So this all-powerful God chose to become a helpless human baby and He gave the news to shepherds. Shepherds? Shepherds were so far down the social ladder in Jesus’ time that there’s really nothing today to compare them to. If somebody had to be at the bottom, they were it. Their only friends were sheep. . Their only role in life was to keep the sheep safe. If a lion showed up, the shepherd had to fight him off. If one of the sheep wandered off, the shepherd had to go get it. That was their job and the sheep were their only companions.

Mothers of little kids can relate to that. When you spend your whole day with no one to talk to but a two-year old, you begin to get a little crazy. Imagine having no one but sheep to talk to for months on end. It was a tough life.

A sheep is an eating machine and the middle east is more sand than grass so shepherds had to be constantly moving their flocks around to find something to eat. Shepherds didn’t even hang out with other shepherds because they were basically in competition with one another for scarce food. They often went deep into the wilderness looking for new pastures.

A shepherd’s job was twenty-four hours a day, seven day a week, with no vacations or holidays.

So imagine yourself as a shepherd. You’re sitting on a hill, watching your flock, talking to my friend here about your day. Suddenly an angel appears and says “Do not be afraid.” (Right!) “I PROCLAIM TO YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY THAT WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE. FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU WHO IS CHRIST AND LORD.”

Notice the angel said “A savior has been born for you.” Not for mankind. Not for the world. Not for the rich. The angel tells the shepherds that the Savior has been born for them. Sheepherders. Outcasts. Loners. They’ve never been invited to a party in their entire lives. They don’t own a suit. Their only friends are sheep. But a Savior has been born for them.

The angel tells them where to find the Child then “suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

“On whom His favor rests.” A multitude of the heavenly host is telling these lowly men that God’s favor rests on them. Can you even imagine what that must have felt like?

You don’t have to imagine it because His favor rests on you, just a surely as it rested on those shepherds. There were a lot of people in Bethlehem that night. They were there for the census. The angel could have appeared at the inn. Remember it was so full that there was no room for Mary and Joseph. The angel could have appeared to the rich and famous. But he didn’t. He appeared to shepherds. Why?

Two reasons, I think. First, the angels didn’t have iPods. They didn’t have televisions. They didn’t spend their days trying to build up their social status by schmoozing with one another. They were just sitting there, talking to their sheep who never answered back. The angel could have the shepherds undivided attention.

Second, there was no one more lowly than a shepherd. Nobody on earth, either in year number one or in 2007 could say “Well, Christ may have come for the shepherds, but He didn’t come for someone like me.” You can’t say that because He came exactly for someone like you, or like me. He came for the poor. He came for the lonely. He came for men and women in prison. “He came to call sinners, Christ have mercy.”

That’s what this night is about. It’s not about presents. It’s not about who has the most stuff. It’s about the Creator of a universe so big that we can’t even begin to imagine it deciding to become a tiny baby to save us from ourselves. It’s about the angel announcing His birth to the most lowly members of society, men whose only family and friends were sheep, so you and I wouldn’t feel left out. It’s about the single most important event in the entire history of the world, the night that even non-Christians use to set their calendars. A night like no other that ever was or ever will be. Tonight we recall that night.

When you leave church tonight, look up. Imagine the immenseness of the universe. Think of how the One who created it became a tiny child on that holy night so many centuries ago. Then think about the shepherds looking up at that same sky when the angel appeared with the greatest news that ever was, the news that a savior had been born for them and for us.

Merry Christmas!

4th Sunday of Advent

2007-12-22T17:23:00.000-06:00

My granddaughter, Isabella, is nineteen months old, so this is her second Christmas. Since she was so small last year, this is really her first time to be aware of what's going on. Rather than put out the expensive Precious Moments Nativity scene, my son and daughter-in-law decided it would be better to buy something that she could appreciate, so they bought a Fisher Price Little People Nativity scene. Now, instead of telling her to stay away from the expensive, breakable figures, she can look at them and pick them up, and mom and dad can tell her the story.

For whatever reason, she's decided that Joseph is her favorite. She carries him around the house, plays with him, and calls him "Joey". I like that because Joey's always been my favorite, too. Maybe it's because I'm a father myself, but I've always felt like Joseph is the least appreciated of all the players in the Nativity story. Maybe it's because Joseph isn't Jesus biological father. Maybe it's because we don't have a single recorded word that Joseph ever said. Maybe it's because we don't know what happened to him. He just disappeared from Scripture after Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple. When and how did he die? Did he just leave when he heard the painful words, "Didn't you know I must be in my FATHER'S house?" Mary outlived her son, but we just don't know what happened to Joseph.

[pause]

Obviously God's plan was for Christ to become human with a human mother. He could have just appeared as a man. After all, that's what the Jewish people were expecting. In fact, it's what they're still expecting. But that wasn't the plan. In the ninth chapter of the book of Isaiah, the prophet wrote "For a child is born to us." Jesus had to be born of a human mother.

Nothing in the scriptures said that He had to have a human father. It was the Holy Spirit that caused her to conceive. She could have been a single mom, except for one thing. This was the first century, not the twenty-first. Right or wrong, single women proudly bear children today. In Jesus' time, that just wasn't done. Mary most likely would have been stoned to death before Jesus was ever born. Even if she and the baby had survived, who was going to listen to a Messiah that had been born out of wedlock? No, there had to be a human father in the picture. And Joseph was the man for the job.

If you think about it, Joseph was chosen to be Jesus' earthly father just as surely as God chose Mary. He could have walked away from Mary and no one would have thought anything of it. In fact, by accepting this pregnant girl as his wife, he shared in her shame and humiliation.

There's a movie that was released last year at Christmas time called "The Nativity". It tells the story from the time that the Angel visited Mary until just after Jesus' birth. It's a pretty good movie. They've taken a few liberties with the story, but for the most part, it's faithful to the Scriptures. The discrepancies in the story aren't bad enough to keep you from seeing it. The reason I liked the movie and I would recommend that you see it is that seeing this story acted out makes you appreciate some of the things that happened.

For example, Matthew's Gospel says, "Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly." In those days, the Jewish custom was for a man to take a woman for his wife but not to live with her for a year. It was during that year that today's Gospel takes place. She was technically his wife, but she still lived with her parents.

So, when the Angel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was going to have a child, she went to visit her. She was gone for several months. All the time she was gone, Joseph the carpenter has been building a house for them to live in when their year was up.

Picture this scene from the movie. Because Nazareth was such a small town, and because Mary was a popular girl, the whole town turns out when they hear that she’s coming back. They're all standing there waiting, including Joseph and Mary's parents, when her wagon pulls into town. Everyone gathers around. They're all excited to see her until she climbs down off the wagon, obviously very pregnant. The mood changes from happiness to disbelief. Imagine what must have gone through Joseph's mind.

Of course, Mary told Joseph and her parents what had happened, but who could believe such a story? Parents, put yourself in Joachim and Anne's place. Would you have believed Mary? It wouldn't have been easy.

There were only two possibilities that anyone could imagine. Either Joseph had gotten Mary pregnant before she left, which was a horrendous sin for both of them. Or, she had gotten pregnant while she was away which was even a worse sin for her, but not so much for him. What was he going to do?

Matthew tells us what he did. He was going to divorce her quietly. But the angel came to him in a dream and confirmed Mary's story. He took Mary into his home as his wife; but not exactly as his wife. Under Jewish law, Mary was technically God's wife. She must remain a virgin for the rest of her life. "Blessed Mary, ever virgin." If Mary was to remain a virgin, Joseph must do the same.

[pause]

No, Jesus' birth couldn't have happened without Joseph. Not only that, if Joseph hadn't been willing to give up his business; give up the house that he had carefully built for his new wife, and take off in the middle of the night for Egypt, Jesus would have surely been executed when Herod ordered every male child to be killed, hoping that by killing all the little boys, he would kill this new "King" that he had been hearing about. Then when Herod died, after Joseph had built a life for his family in Egypt, he had to turn around and move them back.

Face it, the world today has a lot of problems. One of the biggest is the breakdown of the family. God placed his Son in a traditional family for a reason. Until the world returns to accepting the model of the Holy Family, many of the other problems can never be solved. If we can’t accept God’s plan for families, it’s not very likely we’re going to accept His plan for anything else, is it?
[pause]
Even though they were expecting someone who looked more like a king, it's very possible that the Jewish people might have accepted Jesus as their savior in spite of his ordinary appearance if He had just shown up one day and begun to preach. But God never does anything without a reason. And by giving Jesus the human experience of growing up in a normal family He gave us an example to endure for all time. If the Holy Family was good enough for God's Son, isn't that the example we should all follow? Not a family with two mothers. Not a family with two fathers. Not a family where the parents haven't bothered to get married. Not a family where the child doesn't know who his father is.

No, God defined the family very clearly when He sent the angel first to Mary and then to Joseph to ask them to be part of His plan. Thanks be to God, they both put their own interests aside and said "yes".

Being Jesus' parents was hard. It was very hard. But having a child today is hard too. At least, it should be. If we're not making sacrifices for our kids, just like Mary and Joseph, are we really being the best parents we can be?

On this last Sunday of Advent, when the Savior is so close we can almost hear Him crying in the manger, let's pray for God's blessings on all families, even the ones that don't look like that very Holy Family from Nazareth so many years ago. Let's pray that all parents will give of themselves and especially that they'll set an example for their children of faith and fidelity to God's wishes, even when God's plan interferes with their plan. And let’s pray that this Christmas will be a reminder to all God’s people that it is possible to live in a world of peace and love.

Hate Speech

2007-11-23T19:08:00.000-06:00

Here in St. Louis, it seems like the Catholic Church has been largely spared from the kind of hate-filled anti-Catholic propaganda that has existed for decades in other parts of the country. I may be naive, but the first time I ever saw actual printed anti-Catholic rhetoric was in 1999 when the Holy Father visited here. I don't know if it's because of the large Catholic population of the area or the general laid-back nature of the Midwest, but in my world, religious tolerance seemed to be the rule.

For some reason, recently the Catholic Church, particularly our Archbishop, Raymond Burke, have been subjected to some of the most vile rhetoric I've ever seen, not from some fringe hate group, but from the so-called mainstream media, particularly the daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Rather than spend a lot of time establishing the background for these attacks, especially since it's all based on lies, I'm just going to take a look at what's been said and printed in the last ten days or so. The events that supposedly sparked these attacks have been widely covered and anyone interested can easily find the details using a Google search.

First, on November 15, J.C. Corcoran, a worn-out shock jock on a local radio station and occasional commentator on KTVI, the local Fox TV affiliate, pontificated why he thinks that the Archbishop is doing a terrible job, in spite of admitting that he dropped out of the Church years ago because he thinks religion is "silly". Among other things, he said, "What I see, again from the outside, is the Catholic Church pretty much at the end of its public relations rope. The sex scandals continue to mount, the flock is thinning, and young men and women aren’t exactly knocking down the doors of seminaries and convents trying to get in. And locally, instead of a respected spiritual leader in the community, you have a guy who’s been stomping around, alienating, threatening, intimidating, excommunicating and carrying on since the day he got off the plane from Wisconsin.”

You can see the rest of his rant here, if your stomach can take it. His words were so offensive that they attracted national attention, including a response from Bill Donahue of the Catholic League who said in part, “They have some serious problems at Fox 2 in St. Louis. They have a commentator whose insulting remarks are matched only by his ignorance of his former religion, and they have a news director who is equally irresponsible."

For the record, I emailed the station and several of Corcoran's radio sponsors. To date I've received no response. Note that November is "Ratings Sweeps" month, when the stations set their future advertising rates based on the number of viewers during the month. Channel 2 and Corcoran, desperate to improve their ratings numbers have attempted to attract some attention by stirring up a hornet's nest. Sadly for them, this stunt, if it has any affect at all, won't move them out of the ratings basement. Anyone interested in seeing the video can do so on the Internet and TV advertisers don't pay for Internet clicks.

But, Corcoran's tirade was only the beginning. On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, our daily paper published not one, but two rants against Archbishop Burke. First, Deb Peterson, the paper's "gossip columnist" wrote the following:

"TURKEY TIME: It is the somewhat anticipated, somewhat dreaded time of the year for this columnist to hand out her "Turkey" awards for Thanksgiving 2007. If your particular gobbler's carcass didn't get picked over, don't stew. We'll just have to try it again next year. But for now, the winners are:....

The Archbishop of Perpetual Turkey, Raymond Burke, had another year of ill-planned press and recognition. He threatened to excommunicate more local Catholics; caused a ruckus by publicly protesting a fundraiser to benefit the Bob Costas Cancer Center because it was going to include pro-choice supporter Sheryl Crow; and warned Rudy Giuliani that he would not give him Communion because the GOP presidential hopeful is pro-choice. Hopefully someone can persuade Burke to keep his gobbler down and out of the spotlight for the upcoming year. Nothing would make me more thankful than to not to have to give him this recognition again."

Some facts: The Archbishop did not threaten to excommunicate anyone. In a private letter to two women who were recently "ordained" to the priesthood, he warned them that if they followed through on their plan, they would automatically be excommunicated. The two women made the letter public.

He did not warn Giuliani of anything. He did state that he would not give communion to so-called pro-choice Catholic politicians, and that no one else in his Archdiocese should either. The original remarks were not made to Giuliani, or specifically about Giuliani. Rudy's name was brought up by a local reporter.

For the record, this is not the first time that Peterson has been caught "embellishing" the facts. By the way, is a "gossip" column really needed in the twenty-first century?

Finally, at least for today, another Post Dispatch columnist, Sylvester Brown attacked the Archbishop in the same newspaper. Brown, also a non-Catholic, is the paper's token black columnist. His columns usually follow the theme that any problem in St. Louis is the result of racial discrimination. If there are potholes in the street, or if it's been unseasonably cold or hot, he manages to find a way to make it racial. His attack on an individual white man is somewhat unusual. Yesterday's rant was actually the second time this month that he's played the anti-Catholic card. In a list of things to be thankful for, after suggesting that we "kick the mayor out of office, he wrote:

"Lastly, we must humbly acknowledge the one, true, wise and omnipotent decider of all things pure and holy — be they political or pedestrian …

Here's to Archbishop Raymond Burke, who tells Roman Catholics how to vote and warned new board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church that they could be excommunicated as part of a property and asset dispute.

Thank you, Archbishop Burke. You've helped many non-Catholics appreciate their religions.

Amen!"

There's been more, but you get my drift. What concerns me, and should concern everyone in this town, whether they're Catholic or not, is the logical result of this vicious rhetoric, whether it's leveled at the Church or at any group. If the quasi-official voices are mouthing these things, how long is it before the "man in the street" decides to join the fun. How long will it be before some priest or nun is physically attacked, before some Catholic Church is torched, or before burning crosses start to show up on individual Catholic's lawns?

Freedom of the press and freedom of religion are important parts of our American culture. But you can't yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and you can't publish bigoted rants against minority groups, unless of course they're Catholic. This kind of trash would never be allowed if it was directed at women, or racial minorities, or other religious groups. The P-D recently refused to publish the cartoons that pictured Mohammed for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. But if it's the Catholic Church or it's spiritual leader, all bets are off.

I wonder how long Catholics in St. Louis are going to continue putting up with this? C'mon people. Take note of who the sponsors are. Refuse to patronize the advertisers who pay for this nonsense. Stop your subscription to the paper. Write to the editors, print and broadcast. When your child or grandchild comes home with a bloody nose because some bigot's kid attacked him or her for being Catholic, then it will be too late.

We have to stand up for ourselves and our leaders!

Christ the King

2007-11-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We Americans seem to have a problem with the idea of Christ as king. I suppose we have an excuse. After all, we booted King George out of our country 200 years ago. As Americans our only experience with a king has been bad. The United States is a democracy. Shouldn't the Church be a democracy be too. What's with this King business?

There ARE some kings in the world today, but twenty-first century monarchs just ain't what they used to be. Have you heard of King Harald V? He's king of Norway. Norway has a parliament that really runs the country. They have a king, but aparently he doesn't do much.

Of course we know about Queen Elizabeth. She's not a king, but she's the female equivalent. Does anybody know what she actually does? There are other kings and queens today, but they're hardly household names outside their own countries. Today's kings (and queens) are mostly figureheads. They open parliament, ride in parades, live in castles, and act as ambassadors.

But in earlier times, kings were really something. They ruled their kingdoms with an iron fist.. They made the laws. They handed out the punishment for law breakers. Their word was law. You didn't mess with the king. The king could be benevolent, as many of them were. But they were still in charge. When the king said jump, everybody said "how high?".

An example of a good king would be our own patron saint, St. Louis IX of France. He's the guy on the horse in front of the art museum. He spent long hours in prayer, fasting, and penance, without the knowledge of his subjects. He was a good ruler who worked closely with the Pope He personally fed more than 100 beggars every day. Besides being king, the man was a saint.

Then you have kings like England's Henry VIII. You know his story. Married six times, he led his entire kingdom out of the Church when the Pope refused to declare his marriage to Catherine null so he could marry Anne Bolyn.

As different as they were, the two kings had one thing in common. They were absolute rulers. They weren't to be questioned. Good or bad, they made the laws and you had to follow them.

Today the word "king" has an entirely different meaning. We call Elvis Presley "the king". We have prom kings and homecoming kings. Budweiser is the "king of beers." The Los Angeles Kings play pro hockey and the Sacramento Kings play basketball. There's Burger King and Smoothie King and until McDonald's decided we should Super Size, the biggest of anything was king size." No, we Americans really don't have a good idea of what a king really is and we hate the idea of someone telling us what to do.

Of course, Jesus knew about kings. He lived under a king, King Herod. Herod was an absolute ruler and he was extremely jealous of his power. Remember, when he heard that there was a new "king" in town, he ordered all the male children to be killed. Jesus escaped when Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt and didn't return until Herod was dead. That's the kind of power that kings had in the first century. They made the rules. You obeyed them without question.

Benevolent kings would issue and enforce benevolent laws. Not-so-benevolent kings treated their subjects much differently. But even benevolent kings ruled with absolute authority. So when Jesus was referred to as King, it was with the understanding that His would be an absolute authority, since it came directly from God, his Father. It was also understood that He would be a just, benevolent King.

So what do we mean when we call Christ, the King? No, we're not comparing him to Elvis. We're saying that He's our ruler. He laid down certain things for us to do. He will come again in glory to judge. Jesus may be our brother. He may be our friend. He may be our comforter, our hope, our companion. But in the end He'll be our King, just as He's always been. When I stand before Jesus on my day of judgment, He's not going to be intersted in excuses. He's not going to be fooled. He knows me better than I know myself.

In the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel He said "You are my friends if you do what I tell you." What He left unsaid, but what we should understand is the reverse is also true. "You are not my friends if you don't do what I tell you." And what did He tell us? Love one another. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." It's really pretty simple.

But you know what? It may be simple, but it's very hard. It's hard to always love one another. It's hard to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. It's simple, but it's hard. So, what's the use? There's no way I can ever live up to the standards of this King. Does that mean I'm doomed?

No, it doesn't. How do I know? He tells us in today's Gospel. Here's Jesus, our King, hanging on a cross. He's being mocked by the crowd. He's about as humiliated as anyone could be, especially a King. He's surrounded by criminals, one on his right, one on his left. We don't know what these guys did, but it must have been pretty bad. The Romans didn't crucify people for littering. One of the criminals mocks Jesus but the other one says, "hold on. We deserve to be here, but this man doesn't. He hasn't done anything wrong." Then he says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." His kingdom. This guy recognizes who Jesus is. He IS a king. And the thief wants to be part of His kingdom.

What does Jesus do? As the benevolent King He is, He says, "today you will be with me in paradise."

There's OUR hope. A man who's led a life of crime, a life that has ended up with him hanging on a cross, a punishment that he admits he deserves, asks Jesus for forgiveness. And Jesus says "YES. THIS VERY DAY, you and I will be in paradise!" If Jesus forgave him, He'll forgive me....and you. Like the thief, all we have to do is ask.

See, He can do that because He's the King.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

2007-11-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, I went on my yearly retreat to the Trappist monastery in Kentucky. In case you’re not familiar with the Trappists, their life is made up of three things: prayer, work, and spiritual reading. I think when most people think of the monks, they think of prayer, more than they think of the work or the spiritual reading, and that’s no surprise. The prayer is what visitors see. Most of the work and all of the reading are done in areas that visitors aren’t allowed to go.

They start their day at 3:00 am. They pray Vigils at 3:15, Lauds at 5:45 followed by mass at 6:15. Then at 7:00, after they’ve been up for four hours, they have breakfast. In total, they’re be in the chapel eight times each day ending with night prayer at 7:30 pm.

They follow the same schedule, every day, seven days a week. Sunday mass is later to accommodate the people who live in the surrounding area, but otherwise it’s always the same. They started in December of 1848 and will continue as long are there are monks there to carry on. So, if you ask most people what the monks do, they’ll say “they pray”.

I was disappointed that last week wasn’t my turn to preach because the Gospel was the story of the persistent widow. Monks are very persistent in prayer. By the way, you know what monks pray for? They pray for you and me. They don’t watch television or listen to the radio, but they do read magazines and newspapers. They even have a few hours each day when they can use the Internet. They know what’s happening in our lives and they pray for us.

But, back to the Gospel. It turns out the monks live today‘s Gospel even more than last week‘s. It’s about humility.

Notice that it begins, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” He goes on to compare the self-righteous Pharisee to the humble tax collector. “I tell you the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The real story of the Trappists isn’t the time they spend in prayer, it’s what they do with the rest of their day. If you do the math, they actually spend about three hours and forty-five minutes in the chapel each day. Subtracting eight hours for sleep, that leaves twelve hours and fifteen minutes for other things.

The second part of the monk’s lifestyle is work. It takes a lot of work to run and support a community of sixty men. They have some outside help, but for the most part, they do everything themselves, from the Abbot who runs place to the men who cook and clean up.

They run a retreat house for the hundreds of visitors they welcome each year. The operate three factories; one making fudge, one making cheese, and one making fruit cake. They operate a retail gift shop and a huge mail-order business. There’s a lot of work to be done and unless a man is in the infirmary, he’s expected to do his share.

I think when most people first visit the Abbey, they’re impressed with the peace and spirituality of the place but think they could never stand the schedule. How can they do the same thing, day after day, without going crazy? How do they stand the boredom?

The monk who greets visitors to the gift shop is eighty-nine years old. He entered Gesthemani when he was fifteen. That’s seventy-four years! The monks pray the 150 Psalms every two weeks. This man has prayed them 1,924 times. Do you think he still needs the book? I doubt it. Talk to this man and you’ll realize that here’s someone who is truly happy and content. He loves to tell his life story and it’s very interesting, not boring at all.

After going back to the Abbey several times I realize that it’s not the repetition that would do me in, it’s the humility that I couldn’t handle.

When a man first enters the monastery as a novice, he’s given a short white coat, kind of like a chef’s jacket, which he wears all the time. When (or if) he takes his final vows, he’s given a long white robe and a black scapular. He’ll wear those every day from the time he takes his vows until they lower him into the ground in the graveyard outside. Their habit is symbolic of the fact that we’re all equal in God’s eyes.

No matter what job a man has, no matter what his rank is in the community, they all dress the same. There are about a dozen priests at Gesthemani, but unless you go to mass and see them on the altar, there’s no way of knowing who’s who. Even the Abbot, who’s the equivalent of our bishop, looks exactly like everyone else. The only way to distinguish him is in the chapel, where his staff is mounted next to his choir stall.

Here’s the part where I wouldn’t pass the test. The monks are given jobs at the discretion of the Abbot. There’s no set amount of time for a particular job, but they do change occasionally. It all depends on the needs of the community. One day you may be managing the fudge plant. The Abbey calls you to his office. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to be working in the garden. Just like that. No warning. Today you’re working in an air conditioned office, supervising the other monks, making decisions, and testing the bourbon fudge to make sure it‘s ok. Tomorrow you’re out in the hot sun, working alone, eating dust.

Father Anton, who used to run the retreat house now works in the kitchen. Notice I said Father Anton. Being a priest gets you a good seat at mass and that’s about it.

No, the cold hard fact is that I could learn to follow the monk’s prayer schedule. If you look at it, there’s plenty of time in the day to get in three hours and forty-five minutes of prayer. Most of us watch more television each day. There’s only one fifteen minute time of prayer at the monastery that actually falls within the normal nine to five workday. I could do that. We all could.

But, I just don’t think I could handle the humility. If my boss called me into his office and told me that from now on, instead of working in a nice office, I’d be working on the loading dock, I don’t think I could do it. After a few days of sore muscles, I could handle the physical part of the job. I could learn to live with the heat and the cold. I just don’t think my ego could stand it. How do the monks do it.

The answer is that God has called them, just like He’s called all of us to live the Gospel. Not just the parts we like. Not just the parts that make us feel good. ALL OF IT! Even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Even when it’s not convenient. He’s given each of us the grace to live our particular calling, whether it’s cloistered or something else.

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” What kind of logic is that? It just doesn’t make sense. Why should a bunch of grown men put on long dresses, all of them exactly the same, and put up with a lifestyle that makes them get up at three in the morning knowing that today may be the day that the Abbot decides they’re going to have to give up their comfy job in the guest house and go dig ditches. Why should a man invest years of study to become a priest, knowing that he’s liable to end up washing dishes? Why should I humble myself, beat my breast and pray, “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner?”

The fact is that we’re all the same. Any differences between us are superficial. It doesn’t matter whether you wear a Roman collar or a button-down collar. It doesn’t matter if you wear a miter or a baseball cap. It doesn’t matter if you live in a mansion in Town and Country or an apartment in Lemay. It doesn’t matter if you’re a household name of an anonymous monk in an abbey in the Kentucky mountains. The old saying “you can’t take it with you” doesn’t just apply to money. When we stand before Jesus on our personal day of judgment, we’ll be naked and empty-handed. All we’ll have to offer is the life we’ve lived.

The question we all have to ask ourselves when that day comes, not if that day comes, but when it comes, will we be more like the Pharisee or the tax collector?

Deacon Mike's Blog

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