No Unfinished Homework

Learning wisdom from the example of our parents

10/14/2024

Wis 7:7-11 I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.

Several years ago, a psychiatrist gave the talks at the Continuing Education for Clergy. He mentioned the best description I have ever heard of how parents influence and impact their children. He said, “Children are their parents’ unfinished homework.” That is, parents get a lot of things right, but they also get some things wrong.

No set of parents is perfect. The children’s life-long task, therefore, is to learn these lessons and finish their parents’ homework. You know, parents help children with their homework when they are small. But the children help parents with their homework when they are big.

This year my father turns 90 years old, and by that age you have mastered virtually all of life’s lessons. My dad doesn’t have much unfinished homework left to do. In honor of his 90th birthday, therefore, I would like to share some of these life-lessons – his homework – that my father has taught me and my brother, Paul, and my sister, Mary.

One profound lesson was something Dad says in Malayalam, our native language from the state of Kerela, India. Dad often says, “innu njaan, naale nee,” meaning “today me, tomorrow you.” In other words, be kind to older people who may be slower or more forgetful. Why? Become one day you will be walking in their shoes.

I remember talking with an 12 year old altar server before Mass one Sunday morning. I had just turned 54. I asked him if, “Do you think 54 is very old?” And he replied diplomatically, “No, not at all.” Figuring he was just trying to be nice, I asked him the same question differently, “Do you think you will ever be 54?”

He immediately shot back, “No way!” Now, that was a little more honest. I said to him, “Innu njaan, naale nee,” but I he didn’t understand. And it wasn’t just my Malayalam he didn’t understand. You see, I was trying to pass along some of my father’s finished homework to him.

My father came to the United States when he was already 42 years old in 1976. He had to learn a new culture and strange customs, and even driving a car was different. Once while driving down the highway at night, dad noticed there were light bulbs on the road that would light up as he drove by them.

But when he looked in the rearview mirror, the road lights had suddenly gone off. He thought, “What an amazing country: lights come on and off for every car!” But later he learned they were just reflectors, not lights. And he shared with us his great discovery. So no unfinished homework there, meaning, we would not make the same mistake.

Before he left India, he confided in a dear Hindu friend how scared and nervous he was to transplant his family in a new country. And that friend gave him some sage advice, saying: “The same Christian God you worship here in India will be with you when you arrive in America. You will not be alone.”

In other words, you may lose your home country, but you will never lose God. Those words gave him profound courage to embark on our family’s great adventure in America. And every time my father has shared that story, he was making sure to finish his homework. God is with us wherever we go.

Perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of my poor immigrant parents was to send their three children to Catholic schools. As far as I know my parents never asked for tuition assistance because they believed that was for poorer families. Or, maybe on the other hand, they just wanted to remind us how much they sacrificed to send their kids to Catholic schools. Why?

So that good ole Catholic guilt would motivate their lazy children to study hard and make good grades. And it worked! My siblings and I have done the same. My brother sits on the board of Ozark Catholic Academy, I’ve written three books to raise money for Catholic schools, and my sister has sent five children through Catholic schools.

My father would often say, “The best inheritance you can leave your children is a Catholic school education, because that is something they can never lose.” I’m not sure if by that he meant that we should not expect any monetary inheritance! But he was spot-on: growing in faith, self-discipline, and love of neighbor is the best education anyone can receive. Why? Because it will benefit us in this life and in the next. No unfinished homework regarding Catholic schools.

The first reading from the book of Wisdom beautifully echoes how my father did not leave any unfinished homework for his children. We read: “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison to her.” And isn’t that what our homework is: to seek the wisdom from above and pass it along to our progeny?

The highlight of my parents’ week these days is being able to celebrate Holy Mass, and receive Holy Communion. At Mass they pray and prudence is given to them, and they prefer Jesus in the Eucharist to scepter and throne, and they deem riches nothing in comparison to Christ. If we three children, and nine grandchildren, can have half that much devotion to the Mass, perhaps we will leave a little less unfinished homework as well.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Aquinas for President

Trying to look, listen, and learn from others

10/09/2024

LK 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

One of my favorite anecdotes about St. Thomas Aquinas was while he was studying to become a Dominican friar. He was rather large in stature and rarely spoke, so his Dominican brothers gave him the nickname, “the Dumb Ox.” One day, they decided to pull a prank on Thomas. Three brothers stood by the monastery window looking outside with eyes wide open and pointing in amazement. When one saw Thomas walking down the hall, he shouted: “Thomas come quickly! Look! Cows are flying!”

Thomas lumbered to the window as quickly as he could to look at this unusual sight, but alas, he saw nothing strange. The three brothers laughed loudly and guffawed at Thomas’ gullibility. Then the Dumb Ox turned back from the window and said, “I would rather believe that cows can fly than that brothers would lie.”

A few days later all the Dominican students were in class, and their teacher was St. Albert the Great. He was aware of the nickname and jokes the student played on Thomas. He said to the class of future mendicants: “You may call Thomas the Dumb Ox. But I tell you that one day this ox will bellow so loudly that he will be heard all over the world.” Indeed, we still study the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas in the seminary today, 800 years after his death.

I mention this anecdote about Aquinas because even though he had a lot to say, he was first of all silent. That is, his first instinct was to be quiet, to listen, to look, to learn, to perceive, to penetrate, to understand, long before he opened his mouth to speak.

There is an ancient Latin maxim that teaches: “nemo dat quod non

habet,” meaning “you cannot give what you do not have.” Thomas Aquinas gave the world great treasures of wisdom, but first he adopted a posture of quiet contemplation and receptivity. First silence, second speak.

Both readings today touch on the topic of quiet contemplation. In Galatians 1, St. Paul recounts what he did shortly after his dramatic encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. The Apostle to the Gentiles writes: “I did not immediately consult flesh and blood…rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.” St. Paul first traveled to the site of Mt. Sinai where Moses spoke to God so that St. Paul could receive his marching orders directly from God, too.

And we are all familiar with the gospel, where Mary strikes a pose of quiet contemplation while her sister Martha is over-busy with housework. In other words, the great saints always had the attitude of the Dumb Ox and desired first to listen, to look, and to learn. Why? Because “nemo dat quod non habet,” you cannot give what you do not have.

Let me make a brief application of this attitude of quiet contemplation to our toxic political environment today. What makes it so difficult for me to listen to the rhetoric from both Republicans and Democrats is that everyone is talking and no one is listening, or looking, or trying to learn from each other. Each side is behaving like the immature brothers of St. Thomas, trying to make fun of the other party and make them look foolish.

Both sides are guilty of doing whatever it takes to get into office and maintaining that power. And we, you and I, are complicit in encouraging this rhetoric to the extent that we are only interested in promoting our own agenda. Very little civility or sanity is left in our modern political discourse.

My recommendation, therefore, would be to take a page out of the book of Dumb Ox, that is, instead of shouting or more campaigning, take time to stop, to look, and to listen. Try to hear what both sides are saying and sift the wheat from the chaff, and then blow away the chaff.

I believe both parties promote issues that have value and protect the common good, especially in serving the most vulnerable in our society, the unborn baby and the undocumented immigrant. But the way things currently stand, I am afraid no one would vote for him if Aquinas ran for president. They would just call him, “the Dumb Ox.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Cavalry We Can Call

Cavalry We Can Call

10/07/2024

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." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

October 7 marks the day for us when Hamas extremists massacred 1,200 Jewish civilians and sparked the Middle East war we have witnessed for the past year. But long before this October 7, 2023, we Catholic Christians remembered October 7 for another important battle, namely, the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Christian forces, called the Holy League, fought a naval battle against Muslim Turks off the shores of Greece. The Turks were threatening to take over Europe, and the Battle of Lepanto marks the decisive battle that not only repelled them but changed the tide of the war.

The night before the battle Pope Pius V had asked all the Christian sailors to pray the rosary. And they devoutly did. When the Christians won, Pope Pius named October 7 the feast of Our Lady of Victory. Later, however, it was changed to Our Lady of the Rosary. And that is what we celebrate today, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was built on a day of battle. Why is that?

Well, because the battle is always the Lord’s, and when he marches with our armies, we are sure to celebrate victory. Someone said that I prayed for the Razorbacks to beat Tennessee at the Saturday evening 5 p.m. Mass, and that’s the reason the Hogs won. But I had just said that “we believe in a God of miracles.”

And this divine assistance in battle should not surprise us because it is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. One note-worthy instance is the famous fall of Jericho in the Book of Joshua. You know how the impregnable walls of Jericho miraculously collapsed. But the cause of the collapse was the powerful prayers of the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant for seven days around the city.

And the Ark of the Covenant that carried God’s promises inside was a perfect symbol of Mary, who carried inside her womb Jesus, God’s greatest promise of salvation. In other words, the battle first and foremost belongs to God, and only by praying for his divine succor can we hope to celebrate any victories.

In the gospel today we witness the profound moment in which Mary accepts the responsibility to become the new Ark of the Covenant. The angel Gabriel explains how this transformation will occur: “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” In other words, the true Commander of the Lord’s armies is not Mary but the Son whom she carried in her womb. It is to him to whom she gives all the glory for victory, and so too should we.

My friends, sometimes we engage in decisive geo-political battles like on October 7 in Israel, or at the Battle of Lepanto. But far more often we wage spiritual wars in our own hearts and that we observe in those we meet every day. Archbishop Fulton Sheen used to say, “If we do not turn the sword of war against our own hearts we will surely turn it against our neighbor.”

So, let me ask you: what are all the spiritual and moral enemies you do battle with daily? Maybe you battle versus lust or alcoholism, maybe your foe is gambling or gossip, perhaps your enemy is laziness and greed. Then enlist the aid of Mary, the Ark of the Covenant, our Lady of the Rosary, to be victorious in these battles.

Perhaps you are trying to help others in their struggles and against their enemies. You may worry about children or grandchildren who no longer go to church. Maybe a son or daughter has lost his or her moral way, and wanders “the valley of tears” of drugs, or gangs, or atheism, or same sex marriage, etc. I worry about the increasing homeless population and that more and more street corners are populated by panhandlers.

Surely, all these people have enemies every bit as powerful and dangerous as Hamas extremists and the Muslim Turks. Well, there is always one great Cavalry we can call, namely, Mary, the Mother of God, the Ark of the Covenant, who will give us victory over our foes. Pray the rosary daily because the battle is ultimately in the Lord’s hands. Remember, long before October 7 was known for the massacre in Israel, it was called the feast of Our Lady of Victory.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Ups and Downs

Seeing our marriages through the eyes of children

10/06/2024

Mk 10:2-16  The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"  They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?" They replied, Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries  another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

Someone sent me this little joke last week. The two-letter word “up” in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word.  It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v]. It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election, and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?  We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers, and clean UP the kitchen.  We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times, this little word has more special meanings.   People stir UP trouble, we line UP for tickets, we work UP an appetite, and we think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is also confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

If you are UP to the task, try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.  It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more examples. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP! Oh . . . one more thing:  What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? Can you spell the word “up”? U --- P! Hey, why are you laughing? I am just spelling a word.

Today’s gospel deals with what causes the greatest ups and downs in life, namely, marriage. Think about it: the happiest day in your life is your wedding day. But the saddest day in your life is the day you get divorced. Indeed the Pharisees ask Jesus precisely about these two great ups and downs, marriage and divorce: “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” And Jesus answers: “What God has joined together no human being must separate.”

And then Jesus seems to lose his train of thought, and changes the subject by talking about children. Not at all, I think he’s still laser focused on the topic of marriage, namely, children, marriage’s greatest up. How so? Well, children are literally the embodiment of the one-flesh union of their mom and dad.

I remember Scott Hahn saying once: “The two become one and the one is so real that nine months later you have to give it a name!” That two (husband and wife) become one flesh, a baby. And isn’t this why some parents wait until their children are adults and out of the house before they divorce? That is, children remind us of the responsibility of marriage; what God has joined no one must separate.

Every week I spend several hours a day working on annulments for the diocesan marriage tribunal. On the tribunal staff, I am called the Defender of the Bond, but a better title might be “the devil’s advocate." Why? Well, because I try to think of all the reasons someone should NOT get an annulment. Yeah, people really love me. That is, I examine all the ups and downs in someone marriage, and make observations about why the ups outweigh the downs – especially if there are children – and why the couple in question should still be married.

Folks, I am convinced that the toughest teaching of the Catholic Church is not what we believe about Mary, or the infallibility of the pope, or even the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Rather, our hardest doctrine has to do with what we mean by marriage. Why? Well, think of all the people who struggle with divorce and remarriage, with same-sex marriage, and remember how King Henry VIII separated from the Rome and started his own church because Pope Clement VII would not give him an annulment?

And people today are still leaving the Church over her teaching about marriage. In other words, the ups and downs of our marital relationships often reflect rather accurately the ups and downs of our spiritual relationship with the Church, which is to say, with God. The question: “Where am I in my marriage?” is often a profoundly an insightful way to understand the question, “Where am I with God?”

Perhaps one way we can approach what the Church means by marriage and why she insists on its indissolubility is to see it through the eyes of children – surely the greatest “up” of married life. That is, when we feel the natural responsibility we have for our children, we begin to sense the supernatural responsibility we have for keeping our marriage vows. And then we glimpse why the Church’s teaching is so rigorous and uncompromising.

In the gospel today, Jesus says “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Then he embraces, blesses, and places his hands on little children immediately after his tough teaching about marriage (arguably his hardest). It is almost as if he says to their moms and dads, “The reason you endure all the ups and downs of married life is more for them than for you.” Children are your most precious Up.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Closet Christians

Opening the doors of our hearts and homes to Christ

10/03/2024

LK 10:1-12 Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”

As you all know well by now, one of my favorite past-times as a priest is to visit people in their homes. Usually the evening includes dinner and a house blessing. Now this past-time is ironic for me because growing up we never invited the priest over to our home because we put priests on a high pedestal. And my family felt that our humble home was not worthy to have Jesus’ ambassador come for dinner.

So, I can understand why some people get super nervous when I come over for supper. One mother, however, greeted me with a big smile at the door and said, “We are so happy you came for a visit! Our teenage son finally cleaned his room because he knew you were coming!” So, there can be many reasons to invite a priest over for supper.

But the main reason I love to visit parish families is because I finally get to know my parishioners. That intimacy is hardly possible after Mass with a five-second handshake and a hurried “Hello!” One way I symbolize this getting to know you is by blessing the family’s home. And when I bless a home, I bless the whole home, including the closets. By the way, you never know someone until you look into their closet and see where they throw everything right before the priest arrives.

But I sprinkle holy water in every room of the house, including bathrooms, closets, laundry rooms, garages, and even front and back porches. And what the family is really doing (in a spiritual sense) is not only opening their closets to me but opening their closets to Christ. Why is that so significant?

Well, so that nothing is hidden from his loving eyes, his gentle touch, and his transforming grace. In other words, when we open our homes to priests, we really open our hearts to Christ, especially those cluttered closets where we throw all the stuff we don’t want anyone else to see.

Part of the ritual of blessing a home includes today’s gospel from Lk 10:1-12. Notice the first verse where it says, “Jesus sent 72 other disciples ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.” That is, Jesus is sending these disciples as his personal ambassadors so that the people who welcome them, in effect welcome Christ. So, my family was not far off to put priests on a pedestal. Priests are indeed Christ’s ambassadors.

My friends, whether or not you invite a priest over for dinner and to bless your house, no one is exempt from inviting Jesus into the deepest recesses of their hearts. Today, therefore, ask yourself: is there some corner or crevice of my life that I have not asked Jesus to be the King and Lord of? Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “We all cultivate little gardens in the back of our hearts which are just for us and not for Jesus.”

One Protestant friend of mine remarked: “I find it easy to tithe 10 percent of my income to the Church because I know that all 100 percent already belongs to Jesus!” That is the right attitude of someone who has opened all his closets to Christ. But I am convinced there are three perennial closets we keep closed to Christ, and inside are lurking our love for money, sex, and power.

By the way, this opening our closets to Christ is precisely how we live the third Luminous Mystery, commonly titled, “The Proclamation of the Gospel and the Invitation to Conversion.” If you have trouble meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, think about Luke 10:1-12 and priests coming to dinner and blessing your closets when you pray that third luminous mystery. That is the meaning of that mystery.

Every time I visit a family for dinner and walk across the threshold of their house I say “Peace.” Why? Well, because that is what Jesus told his 72 disciples today: “Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household’.” And that is what Christ’s ambassador brings to our homes and our hearts, namely, Christ’s peace. But only if we open our doors to him, especially our closet doors where we hide things from the eyes of the world.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Reluctant Carmelites

Understanding how everyone becomes Carmelites

10/01/2024

Lk 9:51-56 When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

Before I came to Immaculate Conception, I spent 3 months considering becoming a Carmelite friar, and people laughed at me because they said I couldn’t stay quiet that long. But I believe in the latter stages of life, we might all consider becoming Carmelite friars and nuns. Why is that? Well, I visit my parents on Fridays, and their home has virtually become a Carmelite monastery.

They do not drive so they are stuck in their home, their cell. They watch Mass daily, or when the priest (me) comes to visit them. They have scheduled hours of prayer at morning, noon, and in the evening. They do not receive lots of visitors. Their life now consists of long days of silence, solitude, and suffering as they deal with the aches and pains of older and weaker minds and bodies. They have become reluctant Carmelites.

Today on the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, arguably one of the greatest Carmelite mystics and doctors of the Church, I want to share my discernment to become a Carmelite in the hopes of encouraging people like my parents who have become reluctant Carmelites. Sooner or later we all become reluctant Carmelites.

One way to understand the unknown Carmelite vocation is to contrast it with the well-known vocation of diocesan priests. Everyone knows what we diocesan clergy do: we baptize your babies, we hear your confessions, we celebrate your marriages, and we finally send you home to heaven at your funeral Mass.

Think of diocesan priests as electricians who fix your electrical problems at home. If your power goes out at home, you call an electrician and he investigates where the power outage occurred and remedies the problem. You are pleased, you pay him, and you go on with your life. But did you ever think: where does the electrical power originate that finally ends at your house?

It is generated in a far-away hydro-electric plant, a dam in a river, that sends power to hundreds of thousands of people in an area. No one ever hears of these hydro-electric plant workers. They spend their days in silence, solitude, and suffering because no one thanks them or pats them on the back after a long day. Nonetheless, they work at the very source of the power that we use – and take for granted – every day.

And that describes the life of Carmelites – even reluctant Carmelites like my parents – whose lives of silence, solitude, and suffering (and prayer) bring them close to Christ, the source of spiritual power that Christians rely on. Just like civilians cannot live without hydro-electric plant workers, so Christians cannot live without Carmelites dedicated to lives of contemplative prayer and penance.

In the gospel today Jesus prepares himself to launch a new chapter in his ministry as the Messiah, namely, traveling to Jerusalem for his suffering and death. We read in Lk 9:51 (a very significant verse): “When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” Another more literal translation has it, “he set his face like flint.”

This section of Luke’s gospel, from 9:51 to 18:14, is called the Lukan Travel Narrative, or LTN for short, where Jesus travels from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south. In a spiritual sense, Jesus prepares himself for his final days when he too will experience intense solitude, silence, and suffering, becoming in essence, a Carmelite at the end of his earthly life.

My friends, God calls a few chosen souls to the religious vocation of a Carmelite friar or a nun. But I believe he eventually calls everyone, especially in the latter stages of our lives, to become Carmelites, spiritually-speaking. When I visit hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers, or even my parents living in their own home, I feel I am visiting a Carmelite friar or nun in their cell, their little cubicle of contemplation.

They spend long swaths of time alone, often they are in pain or suffering, and when they turn off the television, there is golden silence. One elderly friend of mine likes to say, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.” And he has good reason for saying that because we all eventually become reluctant Carmelites, which ain't for sissies. And we would do well to “set our face like flint” as we, too, travel to Jerusalem.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Beer and Bible

Appreciating the recent resurgence in Bible study

09/30/2024

2 Timothy 3:14-17 Beloved: Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Have you noticed the recent resurgence of Catholics reading the Bible? It used to be said that the Protestants have the Bible while the Catholics have the rosary. But not anymore. Today Catholics carry the Bible in one hand and the rosary in the other, analogous to holding Jesus (the Word of God) by one hand and Mary (the Mother of God) by the other hand. When Jesus and Mary are the company you keep, you will never get lost. The Bible, therefore, is no longer “that Protestant book.” Put humorously, Catholics are learning that BYOB really means “bring your own Bible.”

So what is this recent resurgence all about? For instance, literally millions of people have watched Fr. Mike Schmitz podcast called the “Bible in a Year.” It’s hard for me to listen to Fr. Mike because he talks too fast, and it feels like I am taking a sip from a fire hydrant listening to him. But lots of Catholics have fallen in love with the Bible thanks to his motor mouth.

This coming December 8 (the feast of the Immaculate Conception) Ignatius Press will publish their ginormous Catholic Study Bible edited by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. It consists of no less than 2,320 pages of sacred text and sound commentary. It is my personal favorite version because it is so informative but also because it is the one I used in my Bible studies.

A third option for Bible fans is called “The Word on Fire Bible” produced by Bishop Robert Barron. The first thing you will notice about this Bible is how beautiful it is, not only the book itself – cover and content – but also how it uses art, architecture, and literature to explain the Sacred Scriptures.

Just like a beautiful girl can turn a boy’s head, so a beautiful Bible can inspire us to turn its pages and fall in love with God. The producers of this Bible like to call it “a Cathedral in print.” Just imagine capturing the beauty of this church of the Immaculate Conception in words, and you get the reverse of the idea of the Word on Fire Bible.

Today is the feast of St. Jerome, and he would remind us that this recent resurgence of biblical attention is really part of a recurring resurgence in Scripture study over the years. How so? Well, St. Jerome lived from 342 to 420 and was so enthralled with the Bible he wanted the whole world to read it. At that time the common language was Latin but the Bible was still only available in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

So like Fr. Mike Schmitz, Scott Hahn, and Bishop Barron, St. Jerome tried to make the Bible more accessible and exciting to lay persons and translated the entire Bible into one language, Latin, called the Vulgate. Vulgate comes from the Latin word “vulgatum” meaning common or popular. In other words, this recent resurgence is only the latest wave of Scripture study crashing on the shores of Christian souls trying to covert us to Christ, the true Word of God.

My friends, have you become part of this recent resurgence? Well, why not? There is no longer any rational excuse not to read, study, and meditate on God’s Word. I am so pleased with the tireless work of Surennah Werley who provides many different vehicles and venues for Bible study. Our parish spiritual life committee has launched an on-line Bible study which you couch potatoes can participate in while wearing your cozy pajamas.

Pope Francis is doing his part by designating the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (usually the last Sunday in January) as “The Word of God Sunday.” And why is the recent resurgence so urgent? St. Jerome put it best and famously: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” In other words, our claim to be a Christian rings hollow and empty without a deep and intimate familiarity with the Holy Bible.

St. Paul taught Timothy in the first reading today: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” That is, if we do not become part of this recent resurgence, we will not be “equipped for every good work.” Or, to paraphrase the movie The Godfather, “Leave the beer, take the Bible.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!