A Brief Tutorial

 

Understanding “gird your loins” and “light your lamps”

10/21/2025

Luke 12:35-38 Jesus said to his disciples: "Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants."

Whenever I preside at funeral Masses, I give a brief tutorial before we pray the Our Father, focusing on the words, “Thy kingdom come.” I say to the family and friends of the deceased: “At this point in the funeral we pray the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. And there are 7 things we ask for in the Lord’s Prayer, seven petitions. In one petition we say, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ What does that mean, ‘Thy kingdom come’?”

I continue: “It means we want Jesus to come back at the end of time and establish his kingdom definitively. And the sooner the better: Thy kingdom come!” Then I conclude: “Well, the kingdom has come in a very personal and permanent way for our loved one who has died. And we pray he stands before the King of kings today. That we, too, may be in that kingdom, we pray as our Lord taught us.”

That brief tutorial helps people to pray with more attention and hopefully more anticipation. That is, the end of the world is not something we should dread but something we should desire. Why? Well, because it announces the second coming of Christ, the Parousia, the Eschaton, the Consummation of the world.

Or, as the Book of Revelation 19:9 describes it: “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” In other words, we should anxiously await the end of the world like we look forward to a wedding: with desire, not dread.

In the gospel today Jesus uses wedding imagery to talk about his second coming. He tells his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.”

This wedding image in Luke 12:35-38 bears a striking resemblance to the parable of the ten virgins in Mt 25:1-13.

You recall the five wise virgins who kept their lamps lit with ample oil until the bridegroom (Jesus) were to return. Again, virgins know how to gird their loins and are awaiting the bridegroom from a wedding. Let me suggest two interpretations of the phrases, “gird your loins” and “light your lamps.”

First “gird your loins” refers to sexual restraint and virtue, that is, chastity. I tell young engaged couples that one of the best ways to prepare for their wedding day is to refrain from sexual intimacy. Why? If they have been engaging in sexual relations the whole time then their honeymoon night will feel like just another night. And if their sex life has become routine and even a little bit boring, they may look at it more with dread then with desire.

Incidentally, this phrase gird your loins is also why the Church recommends married couples practice Natural Family Planning, or periodic abstinence, instead of contraception. Why? So married people can also gird their loins and practice self-control, the self-mastery of chastity. Then after they have fasted for a time from sexual intimacy, they will look forward to the feast of sexual intimacy with more desire than dread.

Second, the phrase “light your lamps” – and especially Matthew 25’s mention of keeping the lamps lit – suggests our baptism, when we received the light of Christ as we lit our baptismal candles from the Easter Candle, the Christ Candle. By the way, how do our baptismal candles become extinguished and in need of re-lighting?

That occurs every time we commit sins, especially mortal sins. And then how do we re-light our baptismal candle? We go to confession. This is why in the early Church the sacrament of confession was frequently referred to as “a second baptism.” When Jesus says “light your lamps” and keeping your lamps lit he is talking about the sacraments of baptism and confession.

In sum, using two key images, “gird your loins” and “light your lamps”, Jesus teaches the ideal way to prepare for the end of the world. First, practice chastity, and second, go frequently to confession. And when we are thus prepared we can pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father with great confidence and even joyful expectation. Because when we say “Thy kingdom come” we will desire the end of the world, not dread it.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

You Can Take It with You

 

Making the poor our priority like Jesus did

10/20/2025

Luke 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions." Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?' And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"' But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."

I recently opened a small investment account with Fidelity. Priests, as you may know, can retire at the age of 75, so in case I live that long, I figured I should save a little money for my golden years. When I open my account now-a-days, a screen pops up that asks: “Would you like to designate a beneficiary?” That means: in case I die, who should all my millions of dollars go to?

They offer plenty of options, such as my spouse, my children, other relatives, or a charity. But I always skip that option because I designated a beneficiary for my millions 29 years ago when I was ordained a priest in 1996. Dc. Bo McAllister, an attorney for the diocese, helped me fill out my Last Will and Testament shortly after I was ordained. And he asked me back then what Fidelity asks me today: “Would you like to designate a beneficiary when you die?”

I think I laughed out loud when Dc. Bo asked me that question because I was 26 years old, fit as a fiddle, and fully felt like I would life forever. In case you are wondering: I designated the Diocese of Little Rock as my beneficiary. Why? Because a priest is married to the Church, and so I am leaning all my millions to you, my spouse, the Diocese of Little Rock.

In the gospel today Jesus helps someone to manage their Fidelity account and helps them to designate a beneficiary. A man asks Jesus: “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” And our Lord tells the parable of a man who kept skipping that question about designating a beneficiary and simply lived for the moment.

Like me at 26 and in the prime of life, the foolish man thought he would never die and have to designate a beneficiary. And Jesus concludes: “Be rich in what matters to God.” And by the way, what matters most to God? Well, if you have been paying close attention in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is primarily worried about the poor, the foreigner, and women.

That is, these categories of people are invariably the heroes in Jesus’ parables and teachings. Like the foreign Good Samaritan in Luke 10, the poor man Lazarus in Luke 16, the widow of Nain in Luke 7. In other words, if you want to know who Jesus would designate as a beneficiary for his millions, it would be the poor, the stranger, and the widows. Why?

Well, because they are the object of his special solicitude and care. They are the object of his love; they are his Church, and his Bride. Put differently, when you leave your inheritance to church or charity, you are effectively leaving it to the same category of people. Church and charity are synonymous, at least for Jesus. In a sense, the poor are the first-class citizens of the kingdom of God.

By the way, have you read Pope Leo XIV’s first document called Dilexi Te (I have loved you)? He continues Pope Francis’ profound priority of loving the poor. Leo writes: “I share the desire of my predecessor [Pope Francis] that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor” (no. 3).

In other words, Jesus’ love for the poor is so intense and unconditional because the poor are his Church, his Bride, who he came to die for and to save. Hence the document is title, “Dilexi te” “I have loved you, that is, Jesus is saying, “I have loved the poor.”

It is often said in estate planning that “you can’t take it with you.” Well, I rather disagree with that and feel confident you can take it with you. How so? Well, everything we donate freely and joyfully to the poor we will get back in heaven and with interest. But even more than simply an ROI (return on the investment), our gifts to the poor are actually helping the citizenry of God’s kingdom on earth.

In other words, giving to church or charity are two ways of saying the same thing, provided the church makes the poor her priority, like Pope Leo XIV is teaching us. When we designate our beneficiary as the poor, we are essentially taking it with us because it will be waiting for us in heaven. And we are making earth a little more heavenly for them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Keep You Out of Trouble

 

Making our prayers habitual, humble, and hopeful

10/19/2025

Luke 18:1-8 Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.' For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'" The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Have you heard the joke about when to pray and when not to pray? A young priest asked his bishop: “May I smoke while praying?” The bishop emphatically replied: “No, absolutely not!” Later the young priest saw an older clergyman puffing on a cigarette while praying. The younger priest scolded him, saying: “You shouldn’t be smoking while praying! I asked the bishop and he said I couldn’t do that!”

“That’s odd,” the old priest responded. “I asked the bishop if I could pray while I was smoking and he told me that would be a very holy thing to do.” You know I used to walk Apollo and pray the rosary at the same time. Now, it would be very unholy to walk your dog while praying, but it would be very holy to pray while walking your dog.

In other words, any activity accompanied by prayer in a sense elevates that behavior to God and thereby becomes a prayer itself. Prayer transforms earthly activity into heavenly ones, like the Eucharistic Prayer at the Mass transforms earthly bread and wine into Jesus’ glorified Body and Blood. Prayer raises earth to heaven and brings heaven to earth, especially the most perfect prayer of all, the Mass.

In the gospel today, Jesus encourages his disciples to persevere in prayer. He holds up the example of a relentless widow who will not take no for an answer until an unjust judge renders a verdict in her case. Jesus’ point is that if this determined widow can persuade an unjust judge, then God the just Judge does not need us to batter the doors of heaven with our petitions. Indeed, God knows what we need long before we even ask.

Let me suggest the three “H’s” of prayer which might help us to persevere in our own prayer, namely, prayer should be habitual, humble, and hopeful. First, prayer should be “habitual.” Now, sometimes, our Protestants friends complain that Catholics only know routine prayers – the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be – and we do not know how to pray spontaneously.

But have you noticed how most of our life is filled with routine but important activities? We brush our teeth in the morning, we make our bed, we eat our meals, we drink coffee, we kiss our spouse, we go to work or school, etc. It is precisely the routine that makes the spontaneous feel so special.

Instead, prayer should be habitually woven into the fabric of your day. When I was a small boy my family always prayed every morning before we left for school, and every night before going to bed: one Our Father, 5 Hail Mary’s, and one Glory Be. And we kissed our parents after we prayed. At the church office, as the spiritual father, I taught the staff to pray the Angelus together at noon when the church bells ring. Don’t worry, we skip the kissing part.

Second, pray should be humble. Archbishop Fulton Sheen memorably described the difference between the prayer of humility and the prayer of hubris (pride, arrogance). In 1 Samuel 3 God calls young Samuel three times at night. And Eli instructs him, “Next time the Lord calls, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’” (1 Sm 3:9).

But Sheen joked: “Most of us when we go to pray, we come with a long list of demands and say, ‘Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking.’” Rather we should persevere in prayer by humbly acknowledging that God knows better than we do what we truly need.

How delightful if a child went to his mother or father and said: “Mom and dad, I would really like to have a puppy. But I trust you to give me what I really need to be happy.” In other words, when we pray humbly like trusting little children, we say in effect: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening,” instead of: “Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking.”

And third, prayer should be hopeful. How so? Because prayer opens our eyes to see God’s grace at work in every situation, no matter how desperate or dire it seems. Perhaps the best known model of praying with hope is St. Monica who prayed for 30 years for her wayward son, Augustine, who had immersed himself in wine, women, and song.

But after years of tears and ceaseless prayers, Augustine not only converted back to the faith, but blossomed into a bishop and even a doctor of the church. He would pen these sublime words in his book Confessions, “Late have I loved Thee, Beauty ever ancient, ever new.” Monica’s long-suffering prayers were full of hope for her son, and she was not disappointed, like the widow in the gospel today.

My friends, don’t do anything without prayer to accompany it, not smoking or walking your dog, or anything else. And pray habitually, humbly, and hopefully. When I was ordained my mom told me: “Son, always wear your Roman collar. It will keep you out of trouble. And if you cannot go somewhere with your collar on, maybe you shouldn’t go there.” Moms know their sons well.

Keep my mom’s advice in mind when it comes to prayer: if you can’t do something while praying, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Prayer, like my Roman collar, will keep you out of trouble. And even more, it will raise earth to heaven and bring heaven down to earth.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Sifting Wheat from Chaff

 

Seeing how death can clarify our priorities

10/14/2025

Luke 11:37-41 After Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you."

You have probably heard the old adage, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” That means keep your heart and your head preoccupied with important and truly urgent matters rather than drown in the noise of daily details. But how can you tell the difference between the big stuff and the small stuff?

They often look similar, and sometimes, the small stuff looks even bigger. One way to distinguish the significant from the small is to reflect on what we want people to remember us for after we die. Death has a way of sifting the wheat from the chaff. This past Saturday I presided at a funeral for Dr. Jim Post, who was 101 years old.

His grandchildren delivered eloquent eulogies about how he attended their recitals, taught them about flowers and vegetables in his garden, how he saved children’s lives as a pediatrician, and what a devout Catholic he was. For example, there were four priests present for his funeral.

Even though Jim Post did a lot of things in over a century of life, he did not let the small stuff get bigger than the big stuff, namely, faith, family, and flowers. Last night at dinner Pat Nolte mentioned the difference in how we remember the Roman Emperors and the early Christians, remarking: “We name our sons Peter and Paul, and we name our dogs Nero and Caesar.” No offense to dogs! Peter and Paul didn't sweat the small stuff, but Nero and Caesar did.

In the gospel today, Jesus tries to teach a Pharisee how not to sweat the small stuff. When Jesus ignores the dietary details of washing before the meal, the Pharisee is shocked and scandalized. But Jesus reprimands him: “You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish [but] inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” Jesus is warning him in effect: “If you don’t differentiate between the what truly significant and what’s merely small, people will name their dogs for you and not their sons.

Today we celebrate the Optional Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, martyr. Before he became pope he cared for a cemetery on the famous Appian Way, which stretches from Rome to the southern tip of Italy. Hence, he is the patron saint of cemetery workers.

He served as pope from 217 to 222, and was the 16th pope, like Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president. He was martyred in 222 during a popular uprising by being thrown down a well.

Pope Callistus is another example of not sweating the small stuff. Perhaps by caring for the cemetery and reflecting on the lives of the dead he learned that people remember us for the significant matters in life. His life motto changed from, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die,” to “Pray, sacrifice, and love your neighbor for tomorrow we die.” Only after death will we be able to accurately appraise what was significant from what was small.’

My friends, take a minute to reflect on your own life. Are you sweating the small stuff? Another way to ask that questions is: “How will people remember you after you die?” One way to do that is follow the example of Pope St. Callistus I: meditate on the lives of loved ones who have passed and see what they are remembered for, like Dr. Jim Post’s legacy of faith, family and flowers.

Every October, my father reminds me to pray for our deceased family members. Do not forget the dead. At the beginning of November, on Nov 2nd, we commemorate All Souls Day. We pray for our beloved dead that they will soon complete purgatory and enter Paradise. And by the way, why are our family and friends in purgatory in the first place? I’ll give you one guess.

They were sweating the small stuff instead of focusing on the significant stuff. Like Jesus said: “But as to what is within, give alms, and behold everything will be made clean” that is, pure, purged, purgatory. In other words, our priority should be the poor. When we care for the needy on earth, they will be the ones who open the doors of heaven for us. Death has a way of sifting the wheat from the chaff.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Magnum Opus

Seeing children as our greatest achievements

10/13/2025

Luke 11:29-32 While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here."

Every great artist, composer, inventor, genius produces a magnum opus. That is, a work that is his or her highest achievement. That for which he was put here on earth. Most classical music critics would say Beethoven’s magnum opus was his 9th symphony, in which he combined both symphonic music with sung poetry. He believed that orchestral music alone could not express all he wanted to convey.

Joseph Krips, the leading Austrian conductor of the 20th century, summed up his personal vision of the finale of Beethoven’s 9th symphony observing: “For me, the Choral finale simply does not take place here on earth…In my mind’s eye I see quite clearly the instant in which Beethoven enters Heaven. The finale tells us of his arrival, and how all of Heavens stands still in his presence.” In other words, true genius moves not only earth but heaven. In a word, it is timeless.

This morning we hear the beginning of St. Paul’s magnum opus, his Letter to the Romans, our first reading. St. Paul wrote 13 letters in the New Testament: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

And as Sacred Scripture, each letter is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but Paul’s Letter to the Romans is a little more inspired than all the rest. That is, not only is the Holy Spirit at work, but he has harnessed all the human genius of his earthly counterpart, St. Paul. In the words of Joseph Krips, in his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul makes “all of Heaven stand still.”

In the gospel today we see that God the Father also had a magnum opus, namely, his Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord himself acknowledges his supreme status in Luke 11: “There is something greater than Solomon here…There is something greater than Jonah here.” And if Jesus wanted to include the New Testament, he might have also added: “There is something greater than Romans here.”

In other words, Jesus is the magnum opus that puts all other magnum opuses to shame. Why? Well because saying “all Heaven stands still” is a little hyperbolic for human genius, but it is simply cold hard fact for divine genius. That is, Jesus could rightly assert, “There is something greater than Beethoven’s 9th symphony here.” Indeed, Jesus is greater than all human genius combined, even human genius inspired by the Holy Spirit, like Sacred Scripture. You see, he is the Word of God in no way limited by human deficiencies or imperfections.

My friends, what would you consider your magnum opus? Since we have been created in the image and likeness of God, we are destined to be creators. We cannot be otherwise. God creates because his knowledge, power, and love cannot be contained.

So, too, we create in our own human fashion because knowledge, power, and love overflow in us. We may have a signature recipe: no one makes coconut crème pie like Laverne Neihouse. No one can preach a homily like Archbishop Fulton Sheen. And no one can play tennis as elegantly as Roger Federer.

But by far our magnum opus is when we become co-creators, or better procreators, with God’s help, that is, when we bring a child into this world. Why is a child your magnum opus? Well, because while mom and dad provide the genetic material for a human being, 23 chromosomes, only God can supply the soul.

In other words, every child is a masterpiece because it is not the achievement of what two people can do but the result of God’s grace. This is the deepest meaning of the scriptural phrase in Mt 19, “What God has joined together, man must not divide.” That is, God does not just join together a man and a woman in marriage, he later joins them together inseparably and eternally – through their intimate love in using their chromosomes – in a new human being.

And when that miracle of life occurs in a woman’s womb, the words of Joseph Krips comes true: “All of Heaven stands still.” My friends, you and I are also God’s masterpiece, not on the scale of his magnum opus, Jesus, but he delights in us like Beethoven delighted in all his symphonies. Every time parents bring a child into the world, they have created someone timeless, their magnum opus.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Riding a Drunken Camel

 

Learning how relationships need to be two-way streets

10/12/2025

Luke 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

I have lived in Fort Smith for 12 years now and I still have not gotten used to the crazy street configurations. Have you noticed this as you drive around? It is often said that the streets of Fort Smith were laid out by a man riding on the back of a drunken camel. I’m sure the man was drunk, too, to get on the camel.

But the hardest part of our beloved city’s traffic pattern is where two-way streets suddenly become one-way streets. A couple of times I found myself driving the wrong way into one-way traffic. And I felt like I was on the back of that drunken camel, who didn’t know which way he should go.

In the gospel today we see how one-way traffic can also afflict us in the spiritual life, and why two-way traffic is better. Jesus is traveling through Samaria where he meets 10 lepers. They beg for healing: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And Jesus heals all 10, but only one comes back to say “Thank you.” Jesus asks: “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”

You see, Jesus’ healing power had sort of traveled from him to the 10 lepers, but at that point it was all one-way traffic. And 9 of the lepers happily jumped on their drunken camels and headed home. But one leper, a Samaritan, returns – returns in the opposite direction – to thank Jesus.

If you were to look upon that scene through the eyes of faith, you would behold bustling two-way traffic. The gift of healing was going one way and the feeling of gratitude of heart was going in the other direction. In other words, the City of God, like the city of Fort Smith, functions best when there is busy two-way traffic.

Let me apply this two-way traffic to our own lives. The most famous citizen of Fort Smith is Judge Isaac Parker, the “Hanging Judge.” When he read his sentence of death, he said: “May God whose laws you have broken, and before whose tribunal you must appear, have mercy on your soul.” For 21 years Judge Parker, like a judicial traffic cop, directed one-way traffic sending men to the gallows.

But before his own death on November 17, 1896, Judge Parker discovered the wisdom of two-way traffic. What do I mean? Well, lying on his deathbed, Parker gasped to his wife, Mary O’Toole, a devout Catholic: “Mary, call the priest!” And Fr. Lawrence Smyth, pastor of I.C. ran down Garrison Avenue – a two-way street in more than one sense that day – to baptize Parker before he died. The most famous Fort Smithian died a Roman Catholic.

As he was dying, Parker was traveling a one-way road toward divine justice but Fr. Smyth came running to meet him with divine mercy, and effectively made it a two-way road. By the way, this is why the Catholic Church stands firmly against the death penalty. Why? Because we oppose sending anyone to the gallows before they can cry out for mercy to God, like Parker did. We all desire busy two-way traffic before we die.

We discover a different kind of two-way traffic in spousal communication. Some married couples’ daily dialogue consists only one-way traffic of criticisms and complaints: “You don’t help with the kids.” “You work too much.” “You spend too much money.” “You don’t make any time for me.” Think of the comic strip The Lockhorns.

But a much healthier traffic pattern of talking would be the two-way traffic not only of complaints but also of compliments. “You hit a homerun with dinner tonight.” “You must be the hardest-working employee!” “You look smashing in that dress.” “I can’t wait to spend eternity with you!” In other words, the one-way traffic of complaining must frequently – indeed always should – yield to the two-way traffic of complimenting.

A third example of two-way traffic can be seen in coming to Mass every Sunday. That is, we should not come only to hear uplifting music or a soul-stirring sermon or even to receive Communion. That is all one-way traffic: God gives and we receive. How often people complain: “I don’t get anything out of the Mass!”

I’ll never forget how our high school principal, Fr. George Tribou, would often tell us students: “You don’t come to Mass just to get something. You come to give something: to give some of your time, to give some of your attention, to give some of your love.” We come to say like the leper in the gospel, “Thank you Lord for all you’ve given me.” In other words, at Mass we should travel a busy holy, two-way highway of receiving God’s gifts and giving our gratitude.

My friends, be very careful as you drive home today from church. Fort Smith is infamous for its crazy one-way streets. But be even more careful about the same traffic patterns in life. The best roads in our relationships are busy two-way traffic of justice and mercy, and criticisms and compliments, and gifts and gratitude. Fort Smith’s streets may have been designed by a guy on a drunken camel, but our lives better not be.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom

 

Understanding the inestimable value of the Holy Rosary

10/07/2025

Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end."

Someone sent me a little picture – a meme – recently with the title “The First Rosary.” It depicted a cartoon image of Mary and next to her, holding her dress, was a cartoon figure of a toddler Jesus. And above Jesus’ head was a word bubble filled with the words, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom.” That’s like how we pray “Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary” in reciting the rosary. Jesus prayed the first rosary.

It’s humorous to think of Jesus praying to Mary because after all he is God and the only One he needed to or wanted to pray to was God the Father. And yet, because we believe Jesus was fully human, we must also acknowledge that Jesus often sought, indeed he even needed, the help of his mother Mary. How could Jesus possibly need Mary?

Well, for the first nine months of Jesus’ human life he was in Mary’s womb, an embryo entirely dependent on her to sustain his life. He was literally inseparable from her. Then, of course, for the first two years presumably Mary nursed Jesus. Hence, a woman exclaimed in Lk 11:27, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”

And Jesus’ worry for the well-being of his mother would be on full display as he hung dying on the Cross. There he said to his beloved disciple, John (speaking about Mary): “Behold your mother.” And we read in that same verse from John 19:27, “And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”

In a sense, just as Jesus had prayed, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom,” as an infant at Mary’s breast, so all Jesus beloved disciples – meaning me and you – should do the same. In other words, John 19:27 is the solid scriptural basis for our relationship with Mary as our mother, and further why one of the most beautiful expressions of that mother-child relationship is embodied in the rosary, where we say in effect, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom.”

In the gospel today we discover that when we pray the rosary we not only imitate Jesus who prayed “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom,” we also imitate the angels. When the Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary to announce – that’s where we get the word “Annunciation” – the Incarnation of God becoming Man, he says “Hail Mary, full of grace.”

In Greek, the three words “full of grace” is captured by one word, “kecharitomene”, which means jam-packed to overflowing with grace.” That is, you could not put one more iota of grace into Mary. The Annunciation, as you know, is the first mystery of the rosary. But do you recall the last mystery of the rosary? It is the Coronation of Mary as Queen of heaven and earth.

That means Mary is also the Queen of angels, like the Archangel Gabriel. To get the true picture of the exchange between Gabriel and Mary in Luke 1, we need to understand that Gabriel is not speak to Mary as if she were his inferior but rather as his superior. My nephew Isaac, a 1st Lieutenant in the Army, would say Gabriel addressing Mary is equivalent to a major addressing a general.

And if we translate Luke 1 into family terminology – which is always the most accurate way to understand the reality of all relationships – we would say Mary is not only the Queen of the Angels, but their Mother as well. In a true sense, therefore, Gabriel is saying like the Infant Jesus, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom.”

Indeed, those words of tender trust and endearment is what the whole universe utters as it beholds the magnificent miracle of Jesus' grace at work in his masterpiece, his prodigy: the sinless, ever-Virgin, Blessed Mary. Mary is the mother of all creation, heaven and earth. That is what we meditate on in the Most Holy Rosary.

Yesterday, a wonderful parishioner named Corinne Rose came to see me. She wanted to give me a rosary she had hand-made and it was stunningly beautiful, with lovely opague green beads and gold chain links between the beads. I was stunned at the elegance of her gift. And I mentioned how appropriate the gift was because yesterday was the day before the feast of the Most Holy Rosary.

I confessed to Corinne that I am hard on rosaries, and they usually don’t last long in my hands because the links inevitably break. She answered with a smile: “Don’t worry, Fr. John, this one can handle your prayers, no matter how hard they are.” She was absolutely right: Mary’s rosary can handle our prayers, just like she could handle the Infant Jesus’ prayers when he said to her, holding her robes: “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom!”

Praised be Jesus Christ!