Don’t Cut the Cord

Admiration and Affection for Mother Mary

05/24/2021

John 19:25-34 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

I love to admit this, but I am a proud momma’s boy. Yes, I love to admit it. Yesterday during my 25th ordination anniversary, my mom and dad were able to come from Little Rock for the 10 a.m. Mass and reception. I think my mom was more happy and honored than me by the outpouring of love everyone showed me. When I was sick with the Covid-19 virus, the one person I wished was at my bedside was my mom, who, by the way, is a registered nurse as well. So, my mom can use her head and her heart to heal me. I am convinced that “umbilical cord” that sustained me for 9 months inside my mother’s womb was still supplying life and love to me today, but now that umbilical cord is invisible. And I don’t want to cut it.

Apparently, Pope Francis is a proud momma’s boy, too. How so? He wants the Church to show the same affection and admiration that we pour out on our natural mothers to be lavished on our supernatural mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 2018, he decreed that the Monday after Pentecost – also called Whit Monday symbolizing the white garments of those baptized on Pentecost – as the memorial of Mary the Mother of the Church. In other words, the Holy Father wants us to understand there is an invisible umbilical cord connecting us to our Holy Mother, Mary.

She shares in our sorrows and successes, in our hopes and our happiness every bit as much as my mom loved my anniversary celebration yesterday and prayed for me while I was sick. The invisible umbilical cord underscores a connection between mother and child that cannot be cut, even if the physical umbilical cord is cut after birth. In other words, all Catholics, indeed all Christians, should be proud momma’s boys and proud momma’s girls. That is the point of the pope in making this new memorial.

The scriptures shows us we are only following in the footsteps of Jesus and apostles when we lavish love on our Lady. While Jesus suffered his final agony on the Cross, he must have been greatly consoled to see his Mother Mary at the foot of the Cross, like I would have been to see my mother at the foot of my bed. And she must have hurt in her heart almost as much as Jesus suffered in his flesh, as Simeon had prophesied in Lk 2:35 that a sword would pierce her heart.

And in Acts 2 the apostles are gathered in the upper room around Mary in the middle, who was encouraging them as her sons. Jesus said from the cross: “Behold your mother,” and that is what the apostles were doing in the upper room. As he hung on the Cross, Christ created that invisible umbilical cord connecting Mary not only to him but to every Christian, to you and to me. Jesus, too, we might say, was a proud momma’s boy.

My favorite Marian devotion is the Holy Rosary. I try to pray it daily, and sometimes I have to divide it up over the course of the day to complete it. I suggest that to people as a profound scriptural and spiritual prayer, meditating on the life of Mary and Jesus. As she was present in every moment of Jesus’ earthly life, so she wants to be present in all our important and even unimportant moments. Moms love everything their children do, and nothing seems silly or superficial to a mother.

I find great comfort, peace, joy and strength when I pray the rosary, and I think other people will, too. Why? Ultimately, I look at the rosary like a visible symbol of that invisible umbilical cord connecting me to my spiritual mother, Mary. When I pray the rosary, I fulfill the Lord’s command from the Cross: “Behold your mother.” In other words, our Lord is saying, look at her and love her like I do.

Jeff Meares is a coach at Trinity Junior High. He loves to greet the students every morning when their parents – usually their mothers – drop them off. As the sleepy students are getting out of their cars, Jeff smiles and waves and tell them: “Turn around and tell your mother you love her.” The student sometimes begrudgingly blurts out: “I love you, mom.” Jeff is saying the same thing as Pope Francis and Jesus, “Behold your mother.” There is an invisible umbilical cord that connects us to our mothers – to our natural mothers and to our spiritual mother, Mary. Don’t cut the cord.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

What a Life

Feeding families the Eucharist for 25 years

05/23/2021

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 Brothers and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

I celebrated my first Mass as a priest on Pentecost in 1996, and so this Pentecost of 2021 marks my 25th anniversary, and saying Masses for 25 years. If I had celebrated only one Mass every day for the past 25 years – I have celebrated a lot more than that – I would have said 9,125 Masses by now. There is a little framed saying hanging in the sacristy that connects my first Mass 25 years ago to this Mass today. It reads: “Priest of God, say this Mass as if were your first Mass; as if it were your last Mass; as if it were your only Mass.” That is, don’t just go through the motions of the Mass; rather, realize that every Mass is a miraculous Meal.

People often ask me why I decided to become a priest. I always answer: “Well, besides eating free in Mexican and Italian restaurants, I also wanted to become a priest so I could feed people spiritually, that is, so I could nourish people with the Bread of Life, the Eucharist." One priest jokingly said his superpower was “transubstantiation” – the power to change earthly bread and wine into the heavenly Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is the Entrée the whole world hungers for; and only a priest can provide the Meal of the Mass. That is why I want to be a priest: not only so that you can feed me, but also so I can feed you.

Now the superpower of transubstantiation should not puff a priest up with pride, and our people help us stay humble. A newly ordained priest, a brilliant theology student, was sent as a pastor to a mountain village of very simple people. The neighbors organized a gathering to welcome him, and the new priest addressed them saying: “Brethren, I am here for you. I come with my hermeneutics, and my homiletics, with exegesis and apologetics.” One older parishioner stood up and said: “Don’t worry, Father, I am here with arthritis, diabetes, conjunctivitis and rheumatoid arthritis, but the village doctor is magnificent!” Sometimes priests feed the people hermeneutics and the people feed us humble pie.

Last week the fourth graders in the school sent me and Fr. Daniel emails asking us questions to get to know us. The day before Fr. Daniel has taken his dog, a German shepherd named Lola, over to the school to meet the children. Well, all the emails Fr. Daniel received were about his dog, Lola, except one, where one student asked about me. The question was: “What does Fr. John think about Lola?” We can leave our hermeneutics at home, and just bring Lola to Mass and maybe people will feel more fed emotionally and spiritually.

A priest’s obituary always mentions the parishes he had served, like other people’s obituaries list their family members. I have fed 14 parishes with the Eucharist in 25 years, and I have been fed by them. If I were to die today, here is how my obituary would read. In 1996 I was assigned associate pastor at Christ the King in Little Rock. In 1998 was sent to St. Edward Church in Texarkana and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Ashdown. Two months later I was assigned to St. Joseph Church and St. Thomas Aquinas in Fayetteville.

In 2000 I was named pastor of St. Edward Church in Little Rock. In 2002 I was also made pastor of St. Anne in North Little Rock. In 2005 I was appointed to St. Raphael Church in Springdale. In 2007 I was given the additional pastorate of St. John’s in Huntsville and St. Mary’s in Siloam Springs. In 2009 I returned to St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville for the second time. I called that “my second tour of Fayette-nam.”

In 2013, the bishop assigned me to Immaculate Conception here in Fort Smith and St. Leo in Hartford. And lastly, in 2016 I was assigned pastor of Our Lady of the Ozarks Shrine in Winslow. In 25 years I have not been able to hold down a steady job! But I have also fed 14 different spiritual families, and those families have fed me, like a bride and groom feed each other cake on their wedding day.

Folks, what is your favorite food, spiritually-speaking? I would submit to you there is no meal more nutritious or nourishing, more life-saving or life-giving than Holy Communion. Yet sadly, so many Catholics have stopped coming to Mass, seeking spiritual food somewhere else. Have you ever watched that cooking show called “Chopped”? Well, we priests have prepared the meal of the Mass before the judges of the modern world and the Church has been “chopped” from the stage. At the Last Supper, Jesus held bread and wine in his hands, used his priestly power to change them into his Body and Blood, and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Eucharist is the Entrée the world is hungry for, and only priests can prepare it.

Fr. Henri Lacordaire, a Dominican priest, penned these poignant lines about the priesthood: “To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasure…To be a member of every family yet belonging to none…To share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds…To daily go from men to God to offer Him their petitions…To return from God to men to offer them His hope…To have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity…To bless and be blest forever. O God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!” And after 25 years as a priest, I have to agree: “What a life!” But you are probably thinking: “Yeah, that’s nice. But when do we get to meet Lola?!”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Progress or Perfection

Growing spiritually through mine, ours and yours

05/18/2021

John 17:1-11a Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

The great spiritual masters categorize progress in the Christian life into three stages. They are the purgative stage, the illuminative stage and the unitive stage. Have you heard of these three stages? The purgative stage is where we purge ourselves of pernicious and serious sins; the illuminative stage is when the light of faith shines brightly on our life; and the unitive stage is where our wills, our goals, our desires become perfectly one with God’s will, God’s goals and God’s desires.

As helpful as those classic categories are, I prefer Archbishop J. Peter Sartain’s subdivision of the spiritual life. He explained the stages using these three words: “mine,” “ours” and “yours.” The first stage of Christian life, therefore, corresponds to a small child who tenaciously tugs at his toys and cries “Mine!”

The second stage dawns maybe at marriage when a couple share their life together and declare, “Ours.” But the high point of holiness is achieved when we come to the end of our life and we humbly acknowledge, “Yours,” and leave everything behind for others. In the purgative stage we overcome the tendency to cry “Mine!” In the illuminative stage we learn to share and say “Ours.” And in the unitive stage we only want God’s will and so we say “Yours.”

We can discover these three stages in our Lord’s life as well, at least in his human nature. Jesus’ human nature was perfected by going through the purgative, illuminative and unitive stages of Christian life, and thus he can show us the way. Jesus triumphed over temptation during his forty days in the desert dueling with the devil. That was his purgative stage, when he never uttered the word “Mine.” His human nature also experienced the illuminative stage at the end of Luke 2. There we read: “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” That is when he went home after 3 days in the Temple and declared to Mary and Joseph “Ours,” and he spent the following 18 years with them in Nazareth.

And in the gospel today, Jesus prays to his Father for his apostles saying: “Because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine.” Can you hear that perfect unity of wills as Jesus uses the word “yours” three times in the same sentence? In other words, Jesus’ human nature passed through the 3 stages of the spiritual life – not because he was sinful or imperfect – but in order to show us the way to grow in holiness.

My friends, where would you rate yourself in the three stages of perfection in the Christian life? We all would like to think we are at the “unitive stage,” and our will is perfectly aligned with God’s will. But we see we are far from the unitive stage when the bishop transfers me to another parish, or when the bishop asks us to wear masks at Mass. Instead of praying in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy will be done,” we would rather utter under our breath: “My will be done.”

It is easy to feel we are in the “illuminative stage” on our wedding day and the word “ours” leaps so lovingly off our lips. But when it comes to spending or saving money, sending a child to Catholic school, or even how to squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube, it is not so easy to say “Ours.” It’s like that very honest prayer: “Dear Lord, so far I have done alright. I haven't gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, selfish or overindulgent. But in a few minutes I am going to get out of bed, and then I will really need your help. Amen.”

My friends, we are probably more like that tiny toddler who tugs at his toys and with trembling lips crying: “Mine!” than we like to admit. We insist: this is my pew that I sit in at Mass, my parking space in the parking lot, my parish where I am the pastor, my life that I want to life as I see fit. If we are honest, we probably say “mine” a lot more frequently than we like to think, and a lot more often than we say “ours” or “yours.”

Progress in the Christian life can be measured in three stages: the purgative, the illuminative and the unitive. Or, it can be measured by three words: “mine,” “ours” and “yours.” When we study these three stages closely, what we learn about the progress we have made in the spiritual life is how much progress we have yet to make.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Finishline of Faith

Seeing how heavenly hope changes earthly existence

05/15/2021

Mark 16:15-20 Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

How we think about heaven immediately impacts how we live on earth. That is, the afterlife affects our activity in this present life. A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human being because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Feeling irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.” The teacher sarcastically asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?” The little girls smiled and said, “Then you ask him.” Notice how the little girl’s hopes for heaven changed her beliefs and behavior here on earth; she fearlessly shared her faith, because one day she knew she would see Jonah and know she was right.

On the other hand, Karl Marx, the political philosopher and father of Communism, argued that “religion” – and its attention on the afterlife – “is the opium of the masses.” That is, heaven harms our humanity. Or, John Lennon sang in 1972, “Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people / Living for today.” In other words, how we think about heaven – or imagine there is no heaven – either helps us or hurts us as we find our way on earth. I am convinced that some of our most enduring earthly questions will only have heavenly answers, like whether a whale swallowed Jonah. Heaven is closer to earth than we might imagine.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, where “he took his seat at the right hand of God,” Mark tells us at the very end of his gospel. That description of Jesus sitting at God’s “right hand in heaven” does not merely mean Jesus is gone and out of sight and out of reach. Rather, he has reached his heavenly headquarters, and from that lofty vantage point, Christ our Captain can command his armies on earth.

That is why the apostles are not overwhelmed with grief and despair after his Ascension. Instead, we read: “They went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” Just like the little girl looked forward to meeting Jonah in heaven, and meanwhile shared her faith on earth, so the apostles fearlessly preach and teach their faith knowing they would meet Jesus again in heaven and be blessed.

By the way, Jesus explicitly compared himself to Jonah in Mt 12:40, saying: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Still, I am sure that teacher and Karl Marx and John Lennon would insist that such things are impossible. How can someone be swallowed by the earth for 3 days and 3 nights? Some of our most enduring earthly questions will only have heavenly answers. And therefore, the hope of heaven must guide our steps on earth.

My friends, may I suggest three ways how our beliefs about heaven affect our behavior on earth? First, keeping your eyes on heaven can help you with your marriage on earth. Today (May 16) my parents are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary, and I am so proud of them. But as much as my parents love each other, they also know marriage is only for earth, not for heaven. How so?

In heaven they will be married to Jesus, not to each other. My parents will be part of the Bride of Christ, the Church, as we read in Ep 5:25. So, they are running the marathon of marriage like a life-long race. The finishline is in sight, and the finishline is heaven, where Jesus is seated at God’s right hand, ready to reward them for their labor of love. Their hope for heaven helps them stay faithful in marriage, especially when times get tough.

Secondly, heaven can help us choose a priestly or religious vocation. This year on May 25th I will celebrate my 25th ordination anniversary. I am so grateful for the gift of the priesthood. But I gotta tell you, it has not always been easy. There have been times I have wanted to throw in my collar and call it quits. But I have kept going. Why? Because there is also a finishline for being a spiritual father, namely, heaven. My hopes for heaven help me remember the hard work of pastoral ministry is not forever. And the reward is a retirement plan that’s out of this world! My hopes for heaven help me to be a faithful priest on earth.

Thirdly, heaven helps us carry our crosses. How so? St. Paul said in Rm 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” In other words, we all experience problems and pains, misunderstandings and mistreatment, defeats and disappointments, losses and loneliness, failure and fatigue.

But folks, there is a finishline for all our second-places and setbacks, and it is heaven. Our hope for heaven helps us to persevere in our problems with peace, and carry our crosses with courage. Why? Because in heaven Jesus is waiting to crown us with his glory, which cannot be compared to our crosses.

My friends, we can choose to live like John Lennon sang and “imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try.” But I believe we will be far happier if we live with our hopes set in heaven, where Jesus, and Jonah, and maybe even John Lennon, are waiting for us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Natives and Newcomers

Clinging to Christ the true Vine

05/05/2021

John 15:1-8 Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Have you ever heard the adage: “immigrants know the country better than the natives do”? That means people who grow up somewhere (natives) can easily take their home for granted, but those who move into a new area (immigrants), find it fascinating and love to explore it. Many of you go on vacation as far away from Fort Smith as possible. But I have only lived in Fort Smith for seven years and feel like an immigrant to this city. I love “staycations.” My vacation starts when everyone else leaves Fort Smith. I finally enjoy peace and quiet. I have learned a lot of history about Fort Smith and sometimes I even teach it to people who grew up here.

For instance, did you know that the famous (or infamous) Judge Isaac Parker was a Catholic? He is sometimes known as “the hanging judge” because he strictly followed the law requiring serious crimes to be punished by hanging. But he was also married to a beautiful Irish Catholic lady named Mary O’Toole, who prayed daily that her husband (who wasn’t originally Catholic) would become Catholic. Finally, as he lay on his deathbed, Judge Parker whispered: “Mary, call the priest!”

Mary Parker ran down Garrison Ave to Immaculate Conception Church and told Fr. Lawrence Smyth to come quickly. Fr. Smyth grabbed his holy oils and gave the Hanging Judge the saving sacraments of the Church so that he would meet a more merciful Judge after he died. The obituary read: “The funeral took place at 2 o’clock. Services were conducted at his late residence by Rev. Lawrence Smyth, pastor of the church of the Immaculate Conception.” Immigrants know the country better than the natives.

This saying also helps us understand Jesus’ teaching about the vine and the branches in the gospel of John. Our Lord warns: “[My Father] takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” In other words, sometimes when we are born as “cradle Catholics” we take our graces for granted. We think it is no big deal to be united to Jesus in the sacraments like a branch bonded to the Vine. As a result of taking our graces for granted, we lose them and are cut off from Christ, as the Lord predicted.

But an immigrant to the faith, like Judge Isaac Parker, cherishes his newfound religion and clings closely to Christ, and bears much fruit, namely, the fruit of his example that echoes down the years, until it echoes in this homily for you and me to hear. Sadly, many Catholics are taking their native faith for granted and wandering off to far away faiths. They do not bear fruit because of their bad example, and are cut off from Christ. But fortunately, a new crop of Catholics is grafted on to the true Vine of Christ every Easter, those who become Catholics as adults. Their joy and excitement energizes the Church as they cling mightily to Christ. Immigrants know and love the country better than the natives do.

Today we want to congratulate one of our Trinity students who recently became an American citizen, Ngan Pham. Ngan is a wonderful example of this old adage. How so? Well, because I bet she cherishes the profound privilege of being an American citizen far more than many Americans who were born citizens. Ngan's family worked, suffered and sacrificed to come to this country and do not take it for granted for one second. I suspect Ngan really pays attention in Mr. Jones or Mr. Bruce’s U.S. history class and knows fun facts like I knew about Judge Isaac Parker being Catholic. An immigrant knows the country better than the natives do.

Boys and girls, I believe this same principle applies to the experiences of Catholic school here at Trinity Junior High. This year we will graduate both 8th and 9th graders because next year we will no longer have 9th grade. Will you miss Catholic schools or are you ready to get the heck out of Dodge? I was sharing with the Trinity teachers how sad I feel to lose 9th grade. To be sure we have great public schools in Fort Smith, but they are not the same as Catholic schools.

They do not have weekly Mass, no prayer before class, no uniforms, no crucifixes in the classrooms, no Advent or Lenten confessions, no May crowning of Mary, no Stations of the Cross at Lent, no religion classes, no reciting the rosary, no annual retreat with Bryan Charlton singing “Bless us o Lord” to the theme song of Gilligan’s Island, “Bless us o Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive: toot, toot!” If you have gone to Catholic schools all your life, you may be ready to leave and shake the dust from your Birkenstocks as you depart. Why? Because immigrants know and love the country better than the natives do.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Make A Wake

Wading in the wake of Paul’s missionary journeys

05/10/2020

Acts 16:11-15 We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city. On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.

Have you ever sailed on a ship or been on a boat? Perhaps you will this summer at the lake. If you have stood on the stern (the back of the boat), you no doubt saw how all ships make a wake. Some ships make such a wide wake, though, that they change the course of history. For instance, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 B.C. at the head of the Roman Army, the wake he made inaugurated the era of the Roman Empire.

When Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue in 1492” he made a wake that led to the exploration of a new continent and the establishment of a new nation. When General George Washington crossed the Delaware River in 1776, the wake he made changed the Revolutionary War. All ships, therefore, can make a wake, but some ships’ wakes are so wide they chart a new course for history and humanity.

In the first reading from Acts 16, we hear how St. Paul sets sail and would make a wake that changed human history even more than Caesar, Columbus and Washington combined. We read: “We set sail from Troas, making a straight run from Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.” If you study Acts, you will recall this is part of Paul’s “second missionary journey” where he crosses over the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Europe.

St. Paul’s setting foot in Europe as the first Christian missionary would prompt the proclamation by Hilare Belloc, the great Church historian, who said: “The Faith is Europe, and Europe is the Faith.” In other words, one of the ripples from the wake of the ship of St. Paul is our belief in the “Roman” Catholic Church. That is how wide the wake he made was on that sea crossing in Acts 16.

Another writer, A. N. Wilson, from Oxford, elaborated eloquently on Belloc’s bold statement asking what Europe might be like without Paul: “Europe without Benedict, Europe without Dante, Europe without the cathedrals, Europe without the medieval universities…No Ambrose, no Augustine, no Aquinas, no Marsilius, no Duns Scotus…No Bach, no Michaelangelo, no Shakespeare.” Wilson concludes: “We, whether Christian or not, inevitably think of Paul’s arrival in Europe as the harbinger of a new dawn, when the first seeds of Christian civilization are sown in pagan soil” (Paul, 137). In other words, Paul’s ship made a wide wake, as wide as the whole world.

Incidentally, St. Paul would undertake a third missionary journey in Acts 18-21, where he would make a yet wider wake. Have you ever seen people on the lake who like to splash people with the wake they make? Sometimes they spin their ship in a tight circle and splash people on the dock or on the shoreline. Well, St. Paul made a very wide wake and splashed the whole world with the water of baptism, like Lydia in Philippi. I bet he was loving it and laughing all the way, like Leo Anhalt on Beaver Lake or Bill Buergler on Lake Tenkiller. Some people, like Caesar, Columbus, Washington and Paul, know the kind of wake they make.

My friends, what kind of wake do you make with the little sailing vessel of your life? The first people the ripples of our wakes touch are our family members. Our interactions with our spouse, our siblings, our parents either splash people with grace, or drown them in our own distresses. What kind of wake do you make at work? Our actions and aspirations, our words and our work-ethic, our jokes and jabs, all make a wake that either blesses or burdens our coworkers.

And surprisingly, the biggest wakes we make and the most sensational splash, is when we go to our room, close the door and pray to God in private, as Jesus urged us to do in Mt 6:6. Why? Our Lord continues: “And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” How so? The Father will guarantee that the wake you make is as wide as the world.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Proud of Priests

Praying for and pondering on the priesthood

05/04/2021

Acts 14:19-28 In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.

This year is very special for our parish and for us priests because one of our own parishioners, Omar Galvan, will be ordained a priest, and I will celebrate my Silver Jubilee. So, let’s take a pause to ponder the great gift of the priesthood, or the presbyterate, as it comes to us from the Greek. But before we go to the heavy stuff, here is a little humor about Holy Orders.

A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic priest met at the town’s annual picnic on the 4th of July. Since they were old friends, they began their usual banter. The priest teased the rabbi: “This baked ham is really delicious. You really ought to try it. I know it’s against your religion but I cannot understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden!” He went on: “Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?” The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin and answered: “At your wedding.”

I mention this little joke about Jewish and Christian leadership because they are really Old Testament and New Testament counterparts. That is, the New Testament does not abolish the old but rather builds on it. Jesus said the same in Mt 5:17: “I have come not to abolish the law and the prophets but the fulfill them.” In the first reading from Acts, therefore, Paul and Barnabas travel through Asia Minor on their first missionary journey and make converts to Christianity building on the Jewish religious foundation.

But after they leave the area, do they abandon the neophytes and just pray they will persevere? No. We read in Acts 14:23: “They appointed presbyters for them in each Church, and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.”  Thus we see from the very beginning of the Church the institution of the presbyterate or the priesthood. Presbyter is the Greek word from which we derive the English word priest.

Where did the priesthood (or presbyterate) come from? Did Paul and Barnabas invent it out of thin air? Not at all. Rather, they instituted it out of the air of the Old Testament, and the Levitical priesthood. In the Old Testament there were three ranks of clergy: the high priest (in the line of Aaron), the priests (Aaron’s sons), and the Levites. Those three ranks correspond to the modern day three orders of Holy Orders: bishops are the high priests (like Aaron), priests like me and future Fr. Omar are like Aaron’s sons, and deacons like Greg and Charlie are like the Levites.

Even in the Jewish synagogue, which developed in the 400 years before Jesus, we see these three ranks of religious leaders: the rulers of the synagogue, the board of elders, and the servants. When the priest and rabbi in the joke, therefore, banter back and forth about forbidden food or forbidden marriage, their clerical kinship is much closer than they imagine. Their sacrifices serve the same God.

My friends, in a couple of weeks, we will have a little celebration for my 25th anniversary after all the Sunday Masses so I can greet everyone and you can give me envelopes full of money. And Fr. Omar will celebrate his first Masses on Sunday, May 29th. We will have more chances to pause and ponder the profound gift of the Catholic priesthood. But let me ask you a personal question: would you be pleased if your son said he wanted to be a priest? Would you even encourage him to consider it like you might suggest he become a doctor, a lawyer or businessman?

Children have a deep desire – it is perhaps their deepest yearning – to please their parents; to hear their father or mother say, “I am proud of you.” But if that young man feels he will disappoint his parents in choosing the priesthood, that will be one more huge hurdle to Holy Orders. Priests are born in families that believe faith is worth sacrifice, such as the sacrifice of ham and the sacrifice of celibacy.

Let me conclude with the prayer to Mary with which Pope St. John Paul II concluded his apostolic exhortation on the priesthood called “Pastores Dabo Vobis” (I will give you shepherds). The pope-saint wrote: “O Mother of Jesus Christ, you were with him at the beginning of his life and mission, you sought the Master among the crowds, you stood beside him when he was lifted up from the earth consumed as the one eternal sacrifice, and you had John, your son, near at hand; accept from the beginning those who have been called, protect their growth, in their life ministry accompanying your sons, O Mother of Priests. Amen.” Even if our earthly mothers and fathers may be disappointed in us, our heavenly Mother will always be proud of priests.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Information Insufficiency

Following the Holy Spirit into all truth

05/03/2021

John 14:6-14 Philip said to [Jesus]: “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

No one can reasonably argue that we live in the Information Age, and in general, that is a good thing. My brother works in information technology for a major company and often says: “The more information you have, the better decision you make.” Of course he says that because it means job security for him! When we lack crucial facts or ignore important data, we make mistakes in judgment.

We all experience the ease of accessing information when we search for something on the internet. I recently read this staggering statistic: “It is estimated that the world’s capacity to store information has reached 5 zettabytes in 2014, the information equivalent of 4,500 stacks of printed books from the earth to the sun.” That reminds me of what Wesley said to Vezzini in the movie “The Princess Bride,” when Vezzini bragged about his brilliance: “Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.” The information on the internet can be overwhelming and dizzying.

The great challenge for the Information Age, therefore, is discerning whether the information is true or false. Or, as we popularly ask today: “Is that fake news?” In other words, the Information Age cannot answer the question about truth; it can only provide additional data. You must bring other criteria to crack open the truth or falsehood contained in the information, like breaking open an Easter egg to see what lies inside.

Indeed, even the Easter Resurrection was not resolved on the basis of facts alone. The empty tomb, the appearances to the women and disciples, the Ascension itself, could all be disputed and dismissed as “fake news.” It takes the additional criteria of faith to access that information and interpret it correctly to see the truth that lies in it. In other words, information alone is insufficient to ascertain the truth; sorry, brother.

Today is the feast of Sts. Philip and James. In preparing for this homily I did a quick internet search about these two saints. After all, “the more information you have, the better homily you preach” as my brother always says. I was surprised to see on many Catholic websites a wide range of opinions and information on St. James, often labelled “the Lesser.” One website said he was called the Lesser because he was shorter than the other St. James, the Greater (and taller). Another suggested that he was called the Lesser because he was younger than the other James (the older).

Another argued that James the Lesser was the cousin of Jesus who looked so much like our Lord that Judas had to kiss Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in order to tell the two men apart. Yet another maintained that James the Lesser authored the New Testament letter of St. James and was the first bishop of Jerusalem, both assertions are roundly rejected by modern scripture scholarship. In other words, even when it comes to matters of faith, the Information Age cannot answer all questions, especially the touchy topic of truth. Information can only provide facts, it cannot provide faith. If all you have in an inundation of information, you will only end up with “a truly dizzying intellect.”

My friends, I am convinced our Lord knew that we would one day wander through the Information Age and struggle to find our way. We would feel dizzy. That is one reason Jesus promised in Jn 16:13, “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Jesus was spending, of course, of the Holy Spirit, whom he sent on the Apostles at Pentecost. But how will the Holy Spirit guide us?

The Holy Spirit helps us hear the truth through the Scriptures, the sacraments and the Church. In other words, when the weight of those 4,500 stacks of books from the earth to the sun start to overwhelm you with information, turn to the Scriptures, the sacraments and the Church for the truth. The internet can only provide facts – and sometimes fake facts – but it cannot provide faith.

Recently, I had a long conversation with a Catholic about why he would not wear a mask in church. He had obtained a lot of information on the internet and was convinced this was a conspiracy against the Catholic Church. Another parishioner insisted that the reason we are told to keep 6 feet apart is because that is a sign of Satan. After all, Rv 13:18 describes the number of the beast as 6, 6, 6. Can you see how simply more and more information does not help you find the truth? It only gives you “a truly dizzying intellect.”

My response to such arguments is simple: “Bishop Taylor has asked us to wear the masks at church, and so I will do it. Why? Because he is a successor Philip and James, the apostles to whom alone Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth.” Yes, the more information you have the better decision you make, most of the time. But the Information Age will not lead you into all truth, only the Holy Spirit will do that, through the Scriptures, the sacraments and the Church.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Abba or Allah

Understanding who God is and who we are

04/30/2021

John 14:1-6 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

One of the most radical things about the Christian religion is the revelation (and revolution) of Jesus as the Son of God. And if Jesus is the Son of God, then we are by adoption “sons in the Son” or, more famously formulated in Latin, “filii in Filio.” In other words, Christianity – indeed, every religion – not only tells us who God is, but also who we are. Have you ever considered that: religion not only reveals who God is, but also reveals who man and woman are?

Bishop Robert Barron put it this way in a very unassuming sentence in his book Catholicism, saying simply: “Once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do” (p. 22). In other words, once we recognize who God is (our Father), we realize who we are (his sons and daughters), and then we run along knowing he loves us. That is what it means to be “filii in Filio,” sons and daughters in the Son of God.

Recently, I tried to explain this to a friend about how radical and revolutionary the notion of Christian sonship was by contrasting it with Isalm. In Islam, Muslims do not worship God as Father – it would be blasphemous to suggest such a thing – but rather as Master, even if he is a merciful Master. But he is Master nonetheless. As a result he does not have children, but servants and slaves. In other words, Muslims worship God as Lord, Creator, and Master, but never as Father. He is Allah as Mohammed maintained, not “Abba” as Jesus cried in Mk. 14:36 in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And “once we know whom we worship, we then know what to do.” To be sure many, even most, Muslims are God-fearing people who promote peace, seek justice, help the poor, and pray devoutly (maybe more devoutly than many Christians do!). But they do all these things because their Maker is their Master, the divinity is not their Dad. We Christians do many of these same loving, giving, and sacrificing activities, but we do it moved by a Father who sent his firstborn Son to teach us how to be “sons in the Son,” “filii in Filio.” Every religion teaches not only who God is but also who men and women are.

In the gospel today from Jn 14, which is often read at funerals for very good reasons, Jesus asserts the radical results of the revelation and revolution of Christianity. Listen carefully to our Lord’s words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled…In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” Can you hear the revolutionary and radical results of our faith in this profound passage? Jesus draws out the full implications of being filii in Filio, sons in the Son. If we are the adopted children of God, then our true home is heaven, where our Father – not merely a Master – has prepared a home for us.

What is the practical application of this? Well, “once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do.” Knowing our Maker meanings knowing our marching orders. The reason Christians love the poor is because they are our siblings, not our fellow slaves. The reason we love our spouse and save our marriages is because we see a reflection of the Family of the Trinity in every father, mother and child, not merely as a commandment from a Master. The reason we pray to God is not from fear of Allah, but from faith in Abba, Daddy.

And the reason we pray and sacrifice for Catholics who have stopped practicing their faith is because they are like children who have run away from home. Or, maybe they are children we have driven away from home because of our sinful and scandalous behavior. How many Catholics cannot step foot in a church today because of the past twenty years of the priest-pedophilia scandal? So, there is plenty of blame to spread around everywhere; let us not be too smug as we say these truths.

If you want a one-sentence summary of the Second Vatican Council, and indeed of the whole New Testament, and even of the entire Christian faith, here it is: “Jesus Christ, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals many to himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et spes, 22). What is that supreme calling? It is to be “sons in the Son,” filii in Filio, where in heaven we have Abba not Allah. And “once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!