The Word became flesh

 Scripture readings for Christmas Day can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/122516-day.cfm

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son…

Since the beginning of December everyone has been busy preparing for the coming of Christmas. Christmas shopping, Christmas decorations, Christmas parties, Christmas music on the radio since Thanksgiving. Santa Clause at the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade! All of this is good, but does it really point to the true meaning of Christmas? In all this hustle and bustle that we've been dealing with for the past month are we really centering our selves on the birth of Christ? Are we truly preparing ourselves for what Christmas really is?

What we should have been remembering and celebrating during all this past month of preparation is the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago. Today we are celebrating the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us.

We can learn from the Old Testament prophets what the true meaning of Christmas is. They were waiting for the coming of the Messiah for centuries. During today's First Reading from the Book of Isaiah, he continues to proclaim that God was coming into the world through Jesus. Isaiah says, “All the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.” Jesus is that salvation that Isaiah was talking about.

In our second reading from Hebrews we are reminded that in the Old Testament God spoke to the people in many and various ways through the prophets. But, when Baby Jesus was born, things changed. Now, God was going to speak to us through His beloved Son. For it is Jesus, through whom all things were created, that God had appointed as Lord and Savior for all people.

We see in Jesus a reflection of the glory of God. Jesus is the very imprint of God's very being. Jesus told his disciples that whoever sees Him, sees the Father.

Jesus, the Son of God, sustains all things by His powerful Word. When He had made the perfect human sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God for the remission of the sins of the world, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. His work on earth as Jesus in physical form was completed. Now, in conjunction with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is ruling over His spiritual Kingdom in Heaven and on earth.

Baby Jesus came into the world for each and everyone of us, so that we may be saved. Through Jesus, our living faith that is manifested through the Sacraments of the Catholic Church leads us towards the Light of God and the truth as our assurance of salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Let us never forget this! From the time we rise in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, let us always be thankful to Jesus for manifesting to us the goodness and love of God.

On this Christmas Day let us forget all the hustle and bustle of the past month in preparation for this day. Let us remember that it is the presence of Christ born of the Virgin Mary that we celebrate! Let us, like John the Baptist, point out to others in our lives that Jesus ranks ahead of us, and He should be the center of who we are and what we do. Jesus is the reason for the season!

Today we celebrate that a Child was born for us. As you look at Baby Jesus in the manger, always remember that the fullness of God dwelled in Him. In Jesus was the fullness of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Those who know Jesus also know the Father for they are One.

Let us, with the angels from on high, say to those in our lives on this Christmas Day, “We proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”

Merry Christmas!

Third Sunday of Advent

Scripture readings for the Third Sunday of Advent can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121116.cfm

Today, the Third Sunday of Advent, is known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for the word Rejoice. So, today is Rejoice Sunday. We are rejoicing the coming closer of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. This is also the time of the year that a lot of us grow a little impatient. We see long lines at stores, a lot of traffic clogging up the streets making it hard to get around, yearly Christmas parties that we may not really want to be at, but feel obligated to be at. All of this can lead to frustration. The key on this Gaudete Sunday with all this hustle and bustle is to be patient because we know the Lord is near and we can rejoice at His birth.

Some years ago, a magazine article stated that there are more family fights at Christmastime than at any other time of year. I think it's because people have an unrealistic expectations of Christmas, and often because these expectations are not fulfilled, tension arises, and then fuses blow leading to family fights. As someone once told me, "Learning patience takes a lot of patience." Maybe as we reflect on who Jesus is  and what type of Messiah He chose to be, we can learn to patiently allow Him to lead us to a deeper appreciation of the season - frustrations and all.

As we rejoice this Gaudete Sunday because the Lord is now very near, we continue to prepare for Christmas by looking at the Lord's birth as the birth of the Messiah. While his disciples and John the Baptist himself awaited the Messiah, they came to realize that Jesus is that Messiah. So too, we realize that the infant born on Christmas is the Messiah. But what kind of Messiah do we have? Matthew tells us that the very presence of Jesus and His concern for the poor are true signs of the arrival of the Messiah.

Herein lies a message for us as well. Look around and see the presence of God despite the difficulty you are in.

Look around you  and see the blind seeing again, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, and the dead being raised to life.

Remember the last line of the message Jesus sent back to John in prison, "Happy the one who does not loose faith in me." In other words, when our hopes are dashed, let us turn to Jesus.

Once we allow Jesus to expand and explode our expectations of Him as Messiah, then we also allow Jesus to expand and explode our expectations of ourselves and others.

Jesus does not sell us short, so why should you sell yourself short?  We must make the transition that John and his disciples made with new and expanded vision. Here we learn that Jesus was the true Messiah. Jesus also wants to expand and explode our understanding of Him as Messiah.

Jesus is answering John and saying, Yes indeed, I am the Messiah for all, especially the poor. I'm not going to be the military leader that you expect. The Messiah is for everyone, especially for the week, the poor, and the needy.

If we are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ in Matthew's Gospel, we have to accept the Messiah on His terms. And his terms are that He's going to be the Messiah for the weak, for the poor, the lonely, and the disabled.

We have to remember that Jesus is Messiah for the rich and powerful also. His very way of coming challenges such people to realize  that they, too, are really poor in God's sight.

If you are going to accept Jesus Christ, then who you are accepting is the Messiah.

As we receive the Eucharist this week, let us remember that God is coming to save us. We must be filled with joy, and must patiently prepare ourselves for his arrival by repenting and turning ourselves around. Our Advent is both a nostalgic event and one which also looks forward to the future glory. We need to experience the healing and the wholeness which Jesus can bring into our lives. When we do this patiently, we can truly welcome Him at Christmas as the Messiah. Rejoice!

What are we truly Thankful for?

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112416-thanksgiving.cfm 

On this Thanksgiving Day, the question we all must and should be asking ourselves is, “What are we truly thankful for?" In this day and age of instant gratification and fast pace life thanks to computers and smart phones, are we truly thankful for the many blessing that God has given us?

Most people today gather to eat turkey, watch football in the afternoon, and maybe argue about the results of the recent elections. Further, many of us are planning on rushing through the Thanksgiving dinner with family and loved ones in order to rush to the nearest stores for an early start for the Black Friday sales. We tend to forget the things that we should be grateful for.

In today’s gospel we hear of 10 lepers begging Jesus to cure them. Jesus sends them off with the instructions to see the priests. While on their way, they are healed! Only one returns to Jesus in gratitude. What about the other 9? Are they off to party and celebrate their healing? The one that returned to Jesus realized that it was through Jesus that he was healed, and returned glorifying God. He realized that Jesus was present in the healing that he received and came back to give thanks.

There are times in our lives when we may be facing problems, sickness, family issues, and we turn to Jesus to ask for help. We, like the lepers, turn to Jesus to seek help. When we receive a response from Jesus, are we truly thankful for His help?

There are other things to be grateful to God for in our lives, besides being helped through whatever problems or issues we may have had. Many of us have good health, spouses who love us and are with us in good times and bad times. We also may have children that are gifts from God that we should be thankful for. There are times when children can be difficult to deal with as they grow and mature, but as they mature with your help, know that God will bless you for being there for them. We also have extended family and friends that are there for us in our ups and downs that we should be grateful for.

In addition to all the blessing that we are grateful for here on earth, let us, as Catholics, be grateful for the great gift of the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. In this sacrament we are able to receive Jesus fully: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Let us not take the Eucharist lightly. Remember as you approach the Blessed Sacrament that it is Jesus you are receiving. And if you feel you are not fully prepared to receive Jesus in Holy Communion for whatever reason, know that you can approach Jesus in the healing sacrament of Confession. Jesus is always present for us in confession with His healing power to forgive our sins, and He is present to us in the great Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Let us, on this Thanksgiving Day, to be grateful to Jesus for our family, friends, the blessings we have received, and for His presence in the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Solemnity of Christ the King

Scripture readings for the Solemnity of Christ the King can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112016.cfm.

This Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, closes our Church year. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a new Church year. This feast of Christ the King originated in 1925. Because it was celebrated at the end of October, that month became known as the month of Christ the King. As the age of dictators was beginning, the Pope at that time, Pope Pius XI, wanted to remind the Church that, with all the groups seeking loyalty in our life, our ultimate allegiance should be to Jesus Christ.

Today, over 90 years later, all the dictators whose power seemed so huge and permanent back then, who dominated the world scene as the Soviet Union, the Japanese Empire, Fascist Italy and later the Third Reich are now all gone and Jesus Christ remains. And ninety years from now, the power brokers of our time will be gone and Jesus Christ will remain.

Yet, ironically, on this feast of Christ the King, the Gospel reading shows Jesus at what seems to be his weakest and loneliest, the moment of His Crucifixion on the Cross. But here, Jesus is not at His weakest but really at His strongest. He is not at His loneliest but at His most generous.

Jesus seems to be at His weakest here on the cross but is really at His strongest because here, on the Cross of Calvary, Jesus does what no one else on earth can do. He forgives a man's life of sin and gives him eternal life and entry into the Kingdom.

Furthermore, here on the Cross, Jesus is atoning for the sins not of a particular group but of the world, the sins of all time and places, the sins of His time and the sins of our time. Here, on the Cross, Jesus is absorbing, almost like a huge blotter, the sins of the entire human race. Here, at this moment on Calvary, all by Himself with nobody else's help, Jesus is unilaterally restoring the life of grace to human history.

What looks like a moment of weakness, then, is really a moment of enormous, supernatural power as, on Calvary, a cosmic lock springs open, a wall is broken down and heaven is again "open for business."

The Kingdom of Christ on earth is not a place on a map, that we an locate through global positioning system from a satellite. It is a condition of soul. The Kingdom of Christ on earth does not belong to any particular era, it spans all times and centuries.

On this feast of Christ the King, we look to the Cross: what many saw as a place of weakness became a tower of strength; what looked like a place of loneliness continually gives life to the world.

To be at the Cross, to be at the Mass, is to be at the headquarters of the Kingdom of Christ on earth, the center from which Jesus Christ changes lives and our world, because the sacrificial bread and wine of the Mass, the body and blood of Christ, contain all the power of Christ's Death and Resurrection.

Christ is King not only because He reigns from above but because He reigns within our life. In this coming Church year, we can resolve to keep a crucifix in our home so we can reflect on it, meditate on it, and consult it. St. John Vianney called it the "deepest book we will ever read."

Place Christ at the center of all you do, venerate Him as King of your life. With Christ as center of our life, we have grace and hope for ourselves and others.

Today Salvation Has Come to This House

The Scripture Readings for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/103016.cfm.

I can relate to the character in today's gospel on a couple of levels. I am short in stature and I have been employed by the NYS Tax Department as a Tax Collector for more than 30 years. (I can't really relate to the wealthy part!) So, as a result of being short and being a tax collector, I can relate to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, like me, and like most of us, was searching for something more in life than what he had. Metaphorically, Zacchaeus couldn't see God or the message of Jesus because of the crowd in his life.

How often in our lives do we allow the people and things in our lives "crowd" God out? We get involved in working hard to get ahead in our jobs. We work hard to get the better things in life, like a bigger home or a bigger car. We get involved with the day to day routine of our lives with our family and children. We allow these things to block our view of God. We can't see God or Jesus because of the crowd!

Because of the type of person Zacchaeus was (a tax collector for the oppressive Roman government), he was despised and shunned by his own people as were all tax collectors. He became wealthy as a result of receiving a percentage of what he collected in taxes. He, a Jew, was profiting from his own people in order to support the Romans and himself. He turned his back on God and the Jewish community in order to get ahead and to live a comfortable life.

Then he heard about this Jesus teaching about the love and forgiveness of God. Something touched his heart. He wanted to find out more about this Jesus and His message. So he went to get above the crowd to get a better look at Jesus. Jesus, knowing that Zacchaeus was searching for something more than what he had, called out to him. Jesus recognized Zacchaeus' inherent dignity as a human being and his spiritual potential. The Lord did not judge by labels and instead affirms Zacchaeus' dignity in front of the crowd.

In this story, Zacchaeus climbed the tree to see Jesus out of curiosity. People make their initial contact with Jesus and His Church not necessarily for theological reasons. Some are drawn by intriguing aspects of the Church's life. Some are drawn to the Church's history, architecture, music and art. Some are drawn to intriguing aspects of the Church's life. In this time of scandals,some people are curious as to why Catholics do not leave the Church in droves. They are curious about the Catholic instinct that the Church is a realty greater than her individual members. They wonder about our belief that the episcopacy and priesthood are offices from Christ that  are much larger than their individual occupants because the office ennobles the  individual rather than the the individual ennobling the office. A bishop or priest may fail but the episcopacy and priesthood remain Christ's gift to the Church that rises above and survives individual failings.

Let this story of Zacchaeus be a lesson for all of us. First, we can count on God's sight of who we really are: people created in God's image. Every one of us has a value deeper and beyond what others may think of us. Secondly, Jesus can use a person's attraction to any aspect of the Church's life to begin to touch that individual's soul. His first entry into another's life is not through theology and doctrine. Finally, we should never underestimate the power of Christian friendship to be an instrument of Christ's grace to others.

Love for another is shown not only in the heroics of self sacrifice. It also is shown in the courtesy, respect and civility we show them. These too can be highways of Christ's grace to them.

As we receive Holy Communion this week, let us not be so concerned with the crowd, but on getting closer to Christ, and bringing Christ to others in our life.

Be Merciful to me Lord, a Sinner

The readings for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102316.cfm.

We have in our gospel today a parable that I'm sure we are all familiar with about the prideful Pharisee and the humble tax collector. The Pharisee is bragging about all the great things he does and how wonderful he is in the sight of God. "Thank you, Lord that I'm not like the rest of humanity especially that tax collect collector back there." The Pharisee goes on to brag about all the right things that he does: he fasts twice a week and he pays tithes on his whole income. I can imagine him saying, "Boy, God, aren't I a great guy!! I deserve a pat on the back for being so wonderful!" There is one thing that he lacks that makes him fall short of pleasing God: humility! He's busy telling God how great he is while bringing down and judging the tax collector. He's busy making himself look good at the expense of another person.

Meanwhile, the tax collector realizes he falls short of pleasing God and turns to God to ask for forgiveness: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." The tax collector realized that he falls short of what he should be doing to please God, and turns to God and asks for forgiveness.

For many of us "Pharisee" is almost synonymous with hypocrisy. But we should remember that there were good Pharisees in Jesus' time. Nichodemus was one of them, for example. The Pharisees were laymen. There were about 6,000 of them and they were in charge of the local synagogues. The Sadducees or priests were in charge of the Jerusalem Temple. But people in Israel couldn't travel to the Temple every Sabbath, so they had the local synagogue where they could gather for what we today call the "Liturgy of the Word." The Pharisees were devoted to the Law of Moses and to making it workable in a changing world. They believed that for the Jewish people to survive, all of life should be somehow distinctively Jewish. As a result they became prideful in how they lived out the law and were judgemental about those who fell short of how they felt the law should be lived. The Pharisees were considered to be holy men, while tax collectors worked for Rome, the occupying power, and were considered to be traitors and sinners.

The contrast in the parable is striking to a Jewish audience. The Pharisee and tax collector pray in the Temple. The tax collector is the one who is truly forgiven, not the Pharisee.

We may ask what is wrong with the Pharisee's prayer?

In it there's no sense of the need for forgiveness, no sense that he needs to grow spiritually closer to God in his life. His prayer was a prayer about all the wonderful things he had done. He comes to the Temple to tell God about all his fidelity to do his religious obligations. Meanwhile the tax collector was humble before God.

What the Pharisee did in his life was good. But, he compared himself not with the holiness of God, which he was called to imitate, but to the tax collector. In the Torah (the Jewish bible) God reminds us over and over, "Be holy because I am holy." The Pharisee was looking around at others, rather than looking within. Instead of striving toward living in the image of God, he compares himself to another human being. We can do that as well when we say, "Thank you, Lord, that I am a faithful Catholic, unlike some other people that I know." "Thank you, Lord, that I don't commit adultery, unlike some people I know." "Thank you, Lord, that I am honest, unlike some people I know."

In other words, we stand before God not in need of more of His grace, not appreciating how far we have yet to go, but reflecting on how much better we are than others. Spiritual maturity, spiritual growth comes when we compare ourselves not with our neighbor but to Christ. We can always find people around us that may not be living as they should. Comparing ourselves to them may make us feel good about who we are and what we think we are doing in order to please God. But, when we look at ourselves in the light of Christ and His readiness to forgive, His obedience to the Father, then we see a different picture. Our conclusion that we are better than another person leads to a spiritual dead-end.

It's important that we strive to imitate Christ and not settle into a spiritual arrogance or spiritual complacency that comes from comparing ourselves only to others.

We need to look at the love of Jesus and realize that we fall short and try once more to show His kind of fidelity, His obedience, and His love in our lives.

When we are finally judged at the end of our lives, we will all be judged not on whether we are better than others but on how much we resemble Jesus Christ.

As we approach Holy Communion this week, let us pray the words of the tax collector, "Be merciful to me a sinner."

Pray Always

Scripture readings for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/101616.cfm

Our readings for today center on the fact that prayer should always be a part of our daily lives and in all situations that we face, whether good or bad. In our first reading from Exodus we see the battle between Amalek and the Chosen People of God. Moses in his wisdom knew that he can trust God to be present to help them in their needs. But like all of us when we are in prayer asking for a particular need that doesn't seem to be going our way, we grow tired and weary of asking for help from God. When we have our hands symbolically raised in prayer to God, we can know that God will be there to help us in our need. It's when we stop praying (or as what Moses did, "let his hands rest"), things don't seem to go our way. We need to remember that God is always present in all our needs and we should never grow weary of turning to Him for help in whatever tough situation we are facing in life. Trust in God's presence and His help is an important part of our faith.

In the reading from St. Luke's Gospel, we hear our Lord teach us about the necessity of praying always, without becoming weary. Faith and prayer in God needs to be an integral part of who we are. In good times and bad times we need to always pray. When things are tough in our lives we need to be consistent in our prayer. Our Lord teaches us that God will always be open to our needs. God will always, "secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night..." Pray always is the message of our Lord. Further, we must always maintain our faith in the fact that God is always present in our lives, both in the good times and the bad times!

As we approach the Lord in Holy Communion for this week, let us be grateful to Him for His presence in our lives and ask him for the things that we desire. Also, give thanks to him for the many blessings we do have in our lives.

The Ten Lepers

The Scripture Readings for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100916.cfm.

The word "leprosy" terrified people in the time of Jesus. It is hard for us to imagine the many thousands of people who suffered from various skin diseases in Judea back then. Even today, the word leprosy strikes as much fear in us as does the word "anthrax" or "cancer".

In our readings for today are two instances of cures of this horrible and dreaded disease.  In our first reading we hear of the gratitude of Naaman the Syrian who expresses his gratitude to the God of Israel. In the Gospel, we have the cure of ten lepers, one of them a Samaritan. The Samaritans and the Jews hated each other with a passion, but evidently this illness united these ten hapless and lonely individuals. It is said that in a flood, animals who are natural enemies of each other will stand side by side on dry ground as the water level rises. Crises makes them allies. The same thing happened with these Jewish people with the Samaritan.

All ten were cured by Jesus. But only one of them, the Samaritan, was cured in his soul because of the gift of healing and his gratitude for it brought him to Jesus to express thanks. He then came to know Jesus not only as a healer but as Savior.

There's a lot of talk these days about rights and entitlements. Maybe because of the wealth and prosperity of the past century, we feel that we have a right to all kinds of things. We all feel that we deserve to be happy or to have a long life! Or to be healthy or to have peace! Are these rights or blessings?

We can easily lose a sense of gratitude for the blessings we have been given. We come to church with our needs and burdens, as we should, but we forget to thank the Lord for the blessings we have received in our life. Do we notice the blessings of God in our everyday lives?

Did we show gratitude to our parents who gave us life, food, shelter, clothing and education, and, maybe, by their love, gave us a sense of self-worth. Do we show gratitude to those friends in our lives for their friendship and support in good times and bad times? Are we grateful for those people who helped us throughout our lives in school or in our jobs or careers? Do we show gratitude to God for our intelligence or for the gift of sight, hearing or health that He blessed us with?

Another thing we should be grateful to God for is for the gift of our Catholic Faith! There are thousands of people entering the Catholic Church each year through the religious educations classes all throughout the United States. What is it about the Catholic Church that is attracting them to it? Do we take our Catholic Faith for granted?

There are converts who are attracted to the beautiful gift of the sacrament of confession where they can receive the gift of God's forgiveness . Others speak of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament in every Catholic Church. Others see that the Church is universal. They can see that no matter where they go in the world, there is a Catholic Community that shares their gift of faith, ancient and powerful. Others may see that we take human dignity seriously and knows that with God's grace we can live in the image and likeness of God. By God's grace, we can be faithful to our promises, we can speak and live in the truth, we can exercise self-control, and we can respect human life from the first moment of conception to natural death.

When coming to Mass we should bring not only our petitions and concerns to God, but we should bring our gratitude  for the good things the Lord God has given us in our lives. The prayer of gratitude, of thanksgiving, widens our vision to see God in everyday life. One of my favorite saints, St. Theresa of Avila, once wisely said somewhere that the memory of a favor received can bring a soul more readily to God than many sermons on hell. Whatever  else we do at Mass, let us never forget to give thanks to the Lord. It is good even to list blessings in our life because we tend to forget how many they are.

Ultimately, the prayer of thanksgiving doesn't benefit God, it benefits us!

The Mustard Seed

The Scripture readings for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100216.cfmhttp://usccb.org/bible/readings/100216.cfm



We hear in our readings today about faith and fidelity, the power of faith and the power of fidelity which is faith put into action. These readings for today fit into our world today with all the violence we face on a regular basis.

How many of us can relate to Habakkuk in today's first reading? "How long, O LORD? I cry for help
but you do not listen! I cry out to you, 'Violence!'" (Habakkuk 1:2) With all this violence here in the United States and around the world, how many times do we ask the Lord, "When will it end?" We certainly can understand and relate to Habakkuk. It is the prayer of each Sunday. The Lord says three things to Habakkuk. First, the vision, the Kingdom, still has its time. If it delays wait for it. It will surely will come. Second, write it down for all to read. Third, the just man because of his faith in that vision, in the Kingdom, will be saved.

Then in today's Gospel from St. Luke, we hear Jesus teach about faith and service to God. The context is a continuing dialog between Jesus and His followers about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The two sayings of Jesus in today's Gospel make us wonder about the other side of the story. When the apostles ask, "Lord, increase our faith," are they secretly quite satisfied with their record of faithfulness? Jesus tells them that if they really have faith they can tell a tree what to do, and it will do it! The story about the faithful servant tells us that Jesus' disciples should be grateful to God. We have, after all, done no more than "what we were obliged to do."

Being a disciple of Jesus requires faith, and the apostles were discovering that.  They have been impressed by the assurance that Jesus had, by the way he spoke to God as Father, with conviction and an intimacy that they had not me before.

The disciples wanted to have the same conviction and intimacy; they wanted to see things the way Jesus did and share his outlook. Understandably, they realized that they had a long way to go before hey could know the Father as Jesus did. The disciples  realized that their faith was still week and fumbling. In asking the Lord to increase their faith, the disciples realized that total trust in God can achieve amazing and seemingly impossible things. It's not the quantity of faith, but the kind of faith that matters.

In the second part of the Gospel Luke talks about "What we are obliged to do." We hear of the dutiful servant who is expected to go about ordinary tasks in a responsible, devoted, and self-giving way. The bottom line in this parable is obedience, which is not a means to some reward. You can't expect a reward if all you are doing is your duty.

Luke often uses this role of master and servant/slave to talk about discipleship, faith and faithfulness. It is simply what being an apostle and a disciple are about: faithfulness.

Christ in the Gospel, reminds his followers that they are "the faithful servants of God" and that their humble submission is necessary to grow in faith.

It is easy to say that we have faith in Jesus when everything is going fine. But when there are big problems, crises, calamities, well, things start possibly to change for us and our faith. But Jesus wants us to have faith in Him, even and especially in moments of crisis so that we can triumph over them. The message in the Gospel for today is an invitation to many of us who have found life to be unbearable because God seemed to have abandoned us or God seemed to be silent. Let us humbly pray  to God and say, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Increase my faith!" This is the good news today!

The Rich Man and Lazarus

Scripture readings for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time can be found at  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/092516.cfm

We have a powerful parable from Jesus today that speaks about death, about life, and about our spiritual life.

It is primarily about death and the fact that eventually we all will face death. Whether we're rich or poor, just or unjust, famous or unknown. We all know the saying, "There are two sure things: death and taxes." Death is a fact of life that we all must face. We don't know where, don't know when, but it will come. There's no way to stop it. In the invocation of the saints, there's a phrase that says, "From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, O Lord." Death can come suddenly and unexpectedly, as with people killed in terrorist attacks, accidents, hurricanes or other natural disasters. We don't know when or where the Lord will call us. But we need to ask ourselves: are we ready?

There are some practical things that we should consider. Do we have a will so that our property will pass to the people  or institutions in the way we want? Have we provided for someone to make medical decisions for us in the event we are unable to do so?  Have we decided  where our final resting place will be? Most priest, deacons or those in ministry will tell you about stories of how sudden and expected death can throw a family into chaos. To make these preparations is not morbid, but practical. It is an act of consideration for the family  to make these preparations and then get on with life. I'm sure there are people that think that delaying these preparations will delay dying. But it doesn't. Death is a fact of life we all need to face.

A second point of the parable  is about life and how we live it. We go through life but once. We get only one chance! Abraham says to the rich man in today's parable that there is no going back to his brothers. There is no reincarnation, no rerun, no second chance.  The Letter to the Hebrews says that it is appointed for every person to die once. The days or years we waste do not come back. Are we using the time that God gave us to know, love and serve Him in this world and be happy with Him forever in the next?

Then there's the central point to the parable, our spiritual life. What did the Wealthy Man do wrong? Jesus is not condemning him because he is rich. The wealthy man did not make Lazarus poor. The parable does not indicate that he gained his wealth in any immoral or illegal way. The problem with the rich man  is that he did nothing! He was indifferent to the needs at his front door. He didn't harm Lazarus. He just didn't care about him and treated Lazarus as if he didn't exist.

This parable is about the good that we fail to do. This is called the sin of omission. So often we examine our conscience and think, "I didn't kill anyone. I didn't steal, I didn't commit adultery. I can't think of anything  wrong that I've done." But what about the good we fail to do to those around us?

In our first reading from Amos, we hear, "Woe to those who are complacent in Zion." (Amos 6:1)
 He describes them as lounging on their couches, listening to music, while their fellow Jews in the tribe of Joseph are going through a terrible crisis. The rich man's vice was not wealth but indifference. This parable teaches us and calls us to look at our sins of omission, the good we fail to do.

We are called in our following of Christ not to focus only on avoiding sin, but also in doing good for others. We are called to bring more light, more strength, more truth in this world and in people's lives by being Christian. Are we promoting righteousness and justice, the things St. Paul describes in the second reading? If our spiritual life seems to be on hold, maybe we should go beyond examining the sins we've avoided and start looking at the good we are doing by  projecting, proclaiming, introducing something of the Kingdom of God into our part of the world.

The key to doing that is how we treat the Lazaruses at our door. The parable tells us that Lazarus was poor. In our time there are all kinds of poverty, not only poverty of the body but poverty of spirit, poverty of soul. How do we deal  with the Lazarus at our door?

This parable asks us some questions that can profoundly enlarge our Christian life. What are are sins of omission? Do we even notice the good we fail to do for others? We are called to not only to avoid doing evil, but to do good for those in our life. The judgement against the rich man in the parable is based not on what he did, but what he didn't do. He lost forever his chance for doing good. But, like his brothers in the parable, we still have our chance to do good to others.

As we approach Holy Communion this week, let us remember to bring the Jesus we are receiving in Holy Communion to those in our lives, those who may be the Lazaruses in our lives, and then we can truly call ourselves Christian.

The Prodical Son

The readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/091116.cfm.

In all our readings for today we see the love and forgiveness of God the Father for all of us. Jesus very skillfully shows in the Gospel how God is always reaching out to us when we turn away from Him. We are always on His mind and in His heart.

In the Gospel we hear the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son. This parable can also be called "The Loving Father" or "The Judgemental Brother". Who do you relate to in this story?

I can imagine the hurt the father must have felt when the Prodigal Son asked him for his inheritance. The son is pretty much saying, "I can't wait for you to die. Give me my inheritance now!!" The father, though, looks lovingly at his son and gives him what he asks. I imagine that as he's giving his son what he asks for, he was also praying for him to come to his senses. That's the love the father has for his son. Are we like "The Loving Father" praying for those in our lives, even when we know they are doing something they shouldn't be doing?

The son eventually learns the hard way (as we all do) from the mistakes he makes with wasting the money on a lifestyle that is not appropriate. God expects us to use our resources wisely and for the good of all people around us. Rather, the Prodigal Son was very self-centered and selfish with the gift he received from his father. It was only when he became desperate that he realized that he should turn back towards his father and seek forgiveness. Though he was experiencing physical hunger ("... he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any..." Luke 15:16), he was also experiencing the hunger of the love of his father towards him, and he comes to his senses and went home to his father.

Then there's "The Judgemental Brother." How many of us good Catholics and Christians can relate to this son & brother saying, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders" (Luke 15:29)? We do the "right thing" every week. We go to confession, we attend Sunday (and even daily) Mass. We're the "goody two shoes" always doing what we think God expects of us in our lives. We may have family members that are away from the church and we may feel they don't deserve the love and generosity of God because of the kind of life they may have lived. What God is telling us is that, though all the things we do are good (going to confession and to mass), we also must be all embracing with those in our family or friends that may be living in a way that may not measure up to what we think God is expecting of them. It is through our way of life, and our love not only towards to God, but towards them, that will bring them into closer relationship with God. Instead of saying, like the Pharisees and scribes, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:2), we can, like the father, say "...we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." (Luke 15:32)

As we approach our Lord in Holy Communion this week, or in the Sacrament of Confession, let us pray for those in our lives that may have turned away from God and His love. And let us pray for ourselves that we can be like the father, there waiting for them when they return to relationship with God.

Humility

Readings for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082816.cfm.

Many years ago, Christian professor Stuart Blackie of the University of Edinburgh was listening to his students as they presented oral readings. When one young man rose to begin his recitation, he held his book in the wrong hand. The professor thundered, "Take your book in your right hand, and be seated!" At this harsh rebuke, the student held up his right arm. He didn't have a right hand! The other students shifted uneasily in their chairs. For a moment the professor hesitated. Then he made his way to the student, put his arm around him, and with tears streaming from his eyes, said, "I never knew about it. Please, will you forgive me?" His humble apology made a lasting impact on that young man. This story was told some time later in a large gathering of believers. At the close of the meeting a man came forward, turned to the crowd, and raised his right arm. It ended at the wrist. He said, "I was that student. Professor Blackie led me to Christ. But he never could have done it if he had not made the wrong right." That professor demonstrated what it means to be humble and to be a follower of Christ.

Our readings for today from Sirach and the Gospel of St. Luke center around humility. Humility isn't poor self-esteem; it's worlds away from that. Truly humble people actually have very good self-esteem. It's also not a blanket refusal to take any credit. It is not diverting a compliment so vigorously  that people perhaps think, "Wow - that person is humble!" Thomas Merton once said, "A humble person is not disturbed by praise. A person who is not humble cannot accept praise gracefully."

The word "humility" comes from the Latin word humus, meaning the ground, soil, earth. But that does not mean humility is thinking of oneself as dirt. The phrase "down to earth" means not conceited, not speaking words designed to impress. A humble person is down to earth. Humility is recognizing realty. When humble people do something good, they think, "Yes I did something good - through the grace of God. I will not advertise it. I will be simply grateful."

There are many people who are so self-centered that they only worry about their own cares and concerns. They lack the humility that thrives in freedom from bondage to one-self. Bondage to self is the compulsion to make oneself the main consideration in decisions, transactions, ventures, projects, plans, relationships and general attitude. Cutting those bonds is a slow process, especially if "looking out for Number One" has been part of our life for a long time. We do well to remember that "all things are possible with God."

A few ways we can break away from this bondage to self, is to let others take credit for what was originally your idea. Defer to another or others in choosing a TV show, a movie, a restaurant, a cake (even if it's your birthday). Or you can do something good and not say a word to anyone about it.

Alcoholics Anonymous "Third Step Prayer" says the following: "Relieve me of bondage to self, that I may better do your will." We can pray this as a prayer daily as we deal with the problems of life that we face each day. 

Jesus often used exaggeration to make a point, so taking him literally would not be wise. As an example, Jesus said, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." Inviting only the poor, crippled, lame, and blind to, lets say, Thanksgiving dinner isn't quite that radical, but it would certainly hurt excluded family members.

What Jesus is teaching us in today's Gospel is to stop thinking, "What's in this for me?" Jesus is teaching us that we shouldn't do something good hoping for a payback. We shouldn't give aid, whether it's physical, financial, or other, with a view toward making the recipient feel indebted to us. That would be using them. Do good for them and expect nothing back. If gratitude is forthcoming, it's a perk, not a condition.

Jesus said the truth will set us free. As we approach the Eucharist this week, let us ask to understand the truth about ourselves and to receive freedom from bondage of self.

The Narrow Gate

Scripture readings for today's mass can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082116.cfm.

We hear in today's gospel someone asking Jesus, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" This, to me, sounds like someone more worried about other people "making it" or "not making it" to heaven. Jesus goes on to point out to "Strive to enter through the narrow gate..." He then goes on to explain that many will attempt but are not strong enough to enter. Jesus is teaching us to not to worry about what others are doing regarding their salvation.

Entry into the kingdom will require more than desire. It demands faith and discipline. It also requires a total allegiance to Jesus. Not everyone has what it takes, and entrance is not automatic. This is exemplified by the master who locks a door with people outside clamoring to get in but having no credentials.

There is only one way to heaven. That narrow way is through salvation won for us by Christ. No one else could open the gates for us. He alone is God and human. He alone could pay the debt of our sins.

We may ask, "Who can enter the narrow gate?" There are some people who would restrict salvation to Christians who were baptized by immersion as adults. That would leave most of us out who were sprinkled or had water poured on us when we were baptized as infants. Other people would assure salvation to Christians who claim to believe in Jesus. Jesus says that belief in him in not enough. Our faith must be active.

What about non-Christians? Can they be saved? Some would say that only those who confess Christ as their personal savior can be saved. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us otherwise in paragraph 847, quoting Lumen Gentium: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation."

In our first reading for today from Isaiah we hear that God wants all people from every nation to be brought to His Holy Mountain. Would our narrow perspective shut out those whom God would welcome?

Entitlement will not count. Not even blood relationship counts. Places of power and prestige have no clout at heaven's gate. The parable of Lazarus  and the rich man show that.

In John's Gospel, Christ says, "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved." (John 10:9) In today's Gospel from Luke, Jesus says to "enter through the narrow gate." At Holy Mass we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. In a way, that "Gate" enters us. May we never stay far from that Gate - from a relationship with Christ.

A Divided Household

Scripture readings for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081416.cfm

The gospel for today is a bit hard to take and embrace. Is this the Jesus of love and unity that we all expect? He tells us today, "Do you think that I have come to establish  peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." (Luke 12:51) Our Lord goes on to talk about divisions between Father and Son, Mother and daughter, family member against family member. It sounds shocking to us that faith in Christ should separate parents from children and split families apart. These words of Christ describe the very real experience of the first Christians, where conversion to Christ tore families apart. Back then, becoming a Christian was a dramatic step. In those days there was no "safety net" as we call it today. The family was the safety net. So, to become Christian meant embracing a way of life that separated you from your family and giving up, in effect, the equivalent of a pension, health insurance, social security, EVERYTHING.

Yet this experience still happens today. If you're a member of an Evangelical, Orthodox Jewish, Mormon, or a Muslim family today, and you choose to become Catholic, you are shunned from the family. Even today, when many people tend to take their religion lightly, serious loyalty to Christ makes them uneasy if not hostile.

In today's Gospel we see another side of Jesus, not a peaceful shepherd but the Christ of fire and flame. When Jesus says that He came to light a fire on the earth, He wasn't talking about forest fires or wild fires. The fire of Christ is the fire of conviction, of commitment.

Do we have the conviction about the Lord like Jeremiah, in today's first reading, who opposed the sins of a whole nation and suffered persecution, or like our predecessors in faith that the Letter of to the Hebrews describes who lived by conviction, all the old Testament saints whose pictures  are in churches and prayer books, the cloud of  New Testament witnesses whose loyalty to Jesus Christ shaped their life? How deep is our conviction in Jesus Christ?

It seems that in today's society, there are more people committed to a football, basketball, or baseball team than to Christ. They do not hesitate to wear  team jerseys and insignia while hesitating to wear a cross. They spend more on a season ticket than they do on Church donations. Who's more important to you: the Yankees (or Mets) or Jesus Christ?

The fire Jesus wants is the fire of loyalty and commitment because Jesus did not come to bring an easy peace by sweeping problems under the rug and having us look the other way. He came to bring a spiritual fire, a holy fire, to undo the power of evil in our world and in our selves and to remake the earth in every generation. By Baptism, we are called to join that campaign.

We do this by sharing our faith with our children and our families. We do it by sharing the truth of the Gospel with the people with whom we live and work.We can do it by insisting on honesty and fairness in business, politics, and government.

There is also a personal side to this campaign too. The fire of faith and conviction gives our life energy, direction and definition. Because society's values are confused, ours do not have to be. Because our culture is morally adrift, we do not have to be. We need to be strong in our commitment to following the commandments of God in our life.

This Gospel for today broadens our view of Christ. From Jesus Christ as Prince of Peace, which is true, to the Christ of fire and flame Who lit a blaze that lights the way for human dignity, repentance, the sacredness of life, a sense of sin burns away evil and deception to clear the way for grace and truth.

Let the fire of your faith in Christ, your conviction about the Lord, clarify your life and light the way for others.

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be!

I visited the Carmelite Monastery in Flemington, New Jersey, last Sunday, August 7th, 2016 and gave the following reflection during the Holy Hour. It was based on the gospel for the readings for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Homily for Carmelite Nuns on August 7^th

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

In today's gospel we hear Jesus talk about giving up everything earthly to be of service to the kingdom of God. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.” The heart of a priest is that of heavenly treasures and of service to the flock that Jesus placed in his care.

A couple of weeks back we heard of the brutal killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel, the French Priest who was killed by two Muslim Extremist. Fr. Hamel was doing what he has done for years: serving the people of God by celebrating Mass for them. Father Hamel was 85 years old and was living his life in service of the people of God and of his savior, Jesus Christ. He lived out his calling to the priesthood to the very end: he died at the altar of Christ and, as a result, is now a Martyr for the Lord. Father Hamel's treasure was that of heaven.

A brother priest of Fr. Hamel, Fr. Auguste Moanda-Phuatiis is quoted as saying, “He could have retired at 75 years old, but seeing how few priests were around he decided to stay and work, to continue to be of service to people, up until it all ended, tragically.”

Fr. Hamel was that good and faithful stewart that Jesus refers to in today's gospel when he says, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.” Fr. Hamel was distributing the heavenly food, the Body of Christ, when he met such a tragic end.

Another French priest that we can turn to who was a “good and faithful servant” is St. John Vianney, born on May 8^th, 1786, the fourth of six children. He was baptized the same day he was born. He was ordained a priest on August 12, 1815 after years of trouble with his studies in the seminary. In the year 1818 he was assigned to the parish in the small French town of Ars.

It was during this time, after the French Revolution, that he discovered that many people were ignorant of their Catholic faith. It was through his preaching that people started returning to the practice of their faith. St. John Vianney is quoted as saying about the Mass, “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.” During the last ten years of his life, he spent up to 16 hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him in his parish. He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer. St. John Vianey was a “good and faithful servant.”

Further, in this gospel for today, Our Lord is teaching all of us the need to share. The disciples are encourage to share their material goods. Possessions are never given ultimate value in St. Luke's Gospel. Real treasure is to be found in heaven. We are encouraged by Jesus to share our possessions with the poor and to give alms. These are kingdom values, and they lead to freedom from anxiety related to an abundance of possessions. One must serve God and not material possessions.

We are all encouraged to place God first in all that we do. We are also called, in addition to serving others out of love for God, to pray for our priests who minister to us and are able to bring us Jesus Christ in the various sacraments of the Church. Further, we are to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.

In addition to praying for an increase in vocations, if we know young men that we would feel would make good priests, do not be afraid to encourage them to consider the priesthood and have them follow through on the possible call to service in the priesthood.

In my parish of St. Lucy's in the Bronx, my pastor, Fr. Pergjini, has a keen eye in spotting young men who may make good priests. As a result, four young men from St. Lucy's parish is entering St. Joseph’s seminary at the end of August. Pray for these men and their vocation to the priesthood.

Let us all be good and faithful servants of the Lord in whatever vocation God has placed us in, whether we're living in a cloister, or are husbands, wives, grandparents, workers in the work place. We are all called to serve God in whatever situation we find. Further we are encouraged to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, and to encourage those we may know who we may feel are called to become priests. It is then that we, too, are good and faithful servants.

The Impossible Dream

The Scripture readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/073116.cfm

What is the most important thing in your life? Is it Christ that is the center of all you do? Or is it the things that St. Paul speaks of in his letter to the Colossians: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry? (Colossians 3:5) Paul calls us to put these things to death, and to turn our lives over to God, we are to put on a "new self." Put on Christ who is all and in all.

We learn from Jesus in the parable about the rich fool who has made his possessions more important than his relationship with God. This is not what God expects of us! The rich man thinks he'll have an easy life with no cares and worries now that he has an abundant crop. He fails to realize that God is the center of all who we are. We are not to store up treasure here on earth without realizing that our true home will be in heaven. Yes, belongings and blessings here in this life are nice to have, but only in the sense that we use them in service of others and in deepening our relationship with God. Belongings are not the end all of our lives.

The readings for today's Holy Mass reminds me of the 1960's play "Man of La Mancha" which is based on the novel by Cervantes, "Don Quixote". The main character, Don Quixote is out to make the world a better place and is considered crazy by all who surround him, both family, and those he encounters during his quest to make the world a better place. Dulcinea, the prostitute that Don Quixote falls in love with, much to her dismay, asks, "Why do you do the things you do?" He responds with the classic song, "The Impossible Dream". Some of the phrases that Don Quixote sings in response to Dulcinea's question is, "to right the unrightable wrong. To love pure and chaste from afar," "To fight for the right. Without question or pause. To be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause."

This is what St. Paul is calling us to do in his writing the Colossians by inviting us to put on a "new self", that of service to others and love of Christ. By doing these things for others, in the name of Christ, we will be storing up treasure in heaven.

How do we set our sights on the things of God and the treasures of heaven? We do it when we come to Mass on the weekend rather than skip Mass in order to sleep in late on a Sunday. We do it when we take the time  from a busy day to be with the Lord in prayer and discern His will for our life, with the Sacrament of Penance where we repent the wrong we've done and renew what is good in our life.  We do it when we receive Holy Communion to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ as the most enduring thing we can have in this world. We do it when we use money and resources  we have to advance the Kingdom of God, to help others along the way.

Build up your spiritual assets in your life. This way, when we meet the Lord, we leave behind everything we have and take with us everything we are and have become.

What are the spiritual assets, the spiritual wealth, we are acquiring to bring before the Lord? If, as the man in Jesus' parable, an accounting were required tonight, what would we bring to the Lord?

Ask and You Will Receive

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/072416.cfm

In many societies around the world, bargaining for a good price is the customary way of doing things. You are never expected to pay the price that is written on the price tag. You are expected to haggle over the price to bring it down. The merchant knows what you are doing because he or she knows that this is a normal way of doing business. Only in the United States, and perhaps a few other countries, are you expected to pay the list price. Bargaining isn't the US way of doing business.

When Abraham began bargaining  with God, he wasn't haggling over the price of a piece of merchandise. There was something far more serious involved. God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Although Abraham knew that and the sins of the city, Sodom was also the home of his nephew, Lot, and his wife and family.

At this point of time and history, Abraham did not yet fully trust God. Abraham didn't fully know him in the way he would later on. So he is a little insecure in his attempts to talk to God out of his intended destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

As we heard in our first reading Abraham begins negotiating with God with a question: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?" In essence, Abraham is playing with the idea that God wouldn't destroy the innocent. So Abraham appeals to God's sense of fairness.

As the story continues, Abraham almost sheepishly, yet boldly whittles the number of innocent from 50 down to 10. And God agrees, if there are ten innocent people, he will not punish these two cities.

The irony is that there are less than 10 people in Sodom, for Lot and his small family are the only innocent people living there. But God is greater and more generous than Abraham imagined.

Today's Gospel from Luke makes much the same point: God is greater and better than we can imagine. I know if a friend came to me in the middle of the night to give him food for his friends arriving from a journey, I'd be pretty upset. But I know with persistence from my friend, I'd give him what he needs just to get rid of him. In effect, persistence wins out in the end.

Jesus turns this story into a lesson about perseverance in prayer. He draws on human kindness and goodness and points out that even we who are sinners know how to care for one another and be good to one another. How much more will our heavenly Father care for us and willingly do good? God is always there for us in all our needs and knows our needs before we even ask.

Because God doesn't need us to tell him what we need, prayer is not about informing God of our needs. Prayer is more for us than for God. God knows our condition better than we know it ourselves, but wants us to express our faith and confidence in Him through persistent prayer.

Like Abraham, we are to approach God with a degree of confidence and trust -even when our our confidence and trust leaves much to be desired. God can use whatever little trust we have to bring us to greater faith and confidence. God is better than our wildest imagining. He will not be outdone in generosity and goodness.

When we approach the altar for the Eucharist, we confidently express our faith in the goodness of God who laid down his life so that we might have eternal life. There is no greater gift than the Eucharist. We are receiving the Body & Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is God's generosity and goodness at it's very best. May we use this opportunity to increase our faith and confidence in God as we make known our needs and petitions to him.

Hospitality

Mass readings for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/071716.cfm

Who do you relate to in today's gospel from Luke? Martha or Mary? In our society of busyness and activity, many people would relate to Martha. Always active, and getting upset at those that we consider lazy. We get upset at those who we feel aren't doing enough of their fair share of things when we have company.

When we see Martha and Mary, what we should be seeing is the two sides of relating to God in our lives and in the life of the Church. Martha, with all her busyness, is important in getting things done in our lives of service to the Lord. We're busy doing things for the family, paying bills, getting to work and dealing with the boss and those in our work place, etc, etc. When we finally pray, we tend to be still busy. We rattle off our rosary or pray from scripture or do our other prayers that we feel a need to do. All these things are important, but we need the "Mary factor" in order to put balance in our lives! We need to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus, with open ears and open minds to hear Him respond to our cares and concerns that we place before him.

In our first reading from Genesis, we see Abraham, who at this point is about 99 years old. Abraham lived a long life being "busy for the Lord". He's sitting in front of tent, being quiet and prayerful, probably thinking of his relationship with God. His patience is paid off by a visit by "three men standing nearby." (Genesis 18:2) According to tradition, these three men represent the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Abraham responds by being generous to them, and in his hospitality, offers them food and drink. In return to his generosity, the Lord promises that the elderly Sarah will have a son by the following year. This son to be born of Sarah is Isaac. It is through Isaac that the Lord promises: "I will maintain my covenant as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him." (Genesis 17:19) It is through Abraham's active and prayerful service that God blesses him and Sarah.
 
In our readings from Genesis with Abraham, and our reading from Luke with Martha and Mary, we learn that the being quiet with the Lord is necessary for a mature and strong spiritual life. Being in the quiet presence of Christ gives u a chance to pull all the separate strands of our life together. It's much like stopping and looking at a road map (or GPS) to compare where we are with our eternal destination.

It is through this prayer of listening, we begin to recognize the presence of God who comes in all kinds of unexpected ways, as the Lord does to Abraham. The Lord is present to us in good times and in bad times. Everything that happens to us is seeded with grace. Quiet prayer, listening to the Lord, helps these seeds grow.

Further, this quiet prayer allows us to gain spiritual wisdom. It's where we take the word of the Lord and make it truly our own.. Such a time of prayer, listening to the Lord, enables us to discover the particular way we follow Christ as spouse, parent, child of elderly parent, government worker, professional, student, parish priest or deacon. It gives us the kind of wisdom that doesn't come prepackaged out of books but is born in the presence of the Lord.

This kind of prayer, listening to the Lord, is different from "saying prayers" when we so often don't take the time to listen to the Lord because we're so busy speaking.

In our culture we are more into "doing things" than in taking time to reflect. This work ethic can infiltrate our prayer life so that we think that the only kind of prayer worth doing is "saying prayers," working prayers where we feel we're doing something.

But the "prayer of listening" takes its own kind of discipline and strength. The prayer of listening to the Lord takes work but it makes our time with Christ a source of energy and power and vision. Further, this kind of prayer is open to everyone. It has nothing to do with age, income level, IQ, family size, whether someone is male or female, single or married, priest or deacon, or lay person. The Lord touches each of us where we are.

Taking this quiet time is most important in our call as Christians. Take the time necessary to be alone with the Lord. This prayer will bring us closer to Christ, our spiritual center.

Give Peace a Chance

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." Martin Luther King from "I Have a Dream"

"He said in reply, 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. '"(Luke 10:27)

 "All we are saying is give peace a chance." John Lennon

Will this killing ever stop? Five police officer killed who were just doing their jobs in Dallas. Innocent men trying to make their world a safer place by protecting it!

Blacks being killed by the police that are called to protect them!

Innocent people in a gay dance club, there just to have a good time, gunned down due to hatred towards them and their life style!

When will this hatred and violence stop?

We're living in a country where the culture of death has been growing, growing and growing. We live in a country that, since the 1973 disastrous Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade, made the killing of innocent children in the womb legal. Violence in this country seems to have grown and gotten worse since 1973.  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other."

We are all called to bring peace into the world, as John Lennon says, "Give peace a chance." Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ calls us to not only love God, but to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our neighbors are those around us. Our neighbors are the police officers called to protect us, our neighbors are those who "look" different than us: they are the blacks, the whites, all those who call America home. Our neighbors are those who are in the LGBTQ community. We must love and respect all people regardless of who they are and how they choose to live their lives!

We are called, as Dr. King tells us, to not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. Dr. King is teaching us to love and respect all people, and to make the world a better place through this mutual love and respect..   

Further, we are called to end the violence of abortion, and realize that what we are killing is a human being. Once this is done, maybe we can move on to make this world a better and safer place for all people.

Black lives matter, white lives matter, police lives matter, LGBTQ lives matter! And human lives in the mother's womb matter!

Give peace a chance!

The Christ of God

Scripture readings for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/061916.cfm

Who do people say that the candidates for president are? The last primary was last Tuesday in Washington, D.C., but while we know who the candidates with the most delegates are, who are these people? Some say that one is a threat to the economy, world peace, and our lives as Ameicans. The other, for some, is the hope of the future, the leader with strength, and the one who will rescue the country from all that ails us. People say a lot of things. Only one thing is certain: no candidate is the Messiah.

During the time of Jesus, the Jewish people were under the control of Roman occupation. They longed for a political leader that will rescue them from these brutal oppressors. Many saw Jesus as one of the candidates for their eventual savior. Was he a John the Baptist (a popular outsider with a new and exciting message), Elijah, one of the "old faithful" (who was promised by the prophet Malachi to return) or was he an ancient prophet from the dead - because the only heroes are in the past, right?

God's vindication in the "Christ" would be the final defeat of and retribution of their enemies. Instead of fulfilling the people's dream that God's Anointed one would inflict great suffering on the Romans, this Messiah would suffer at the hands of their own leadership

This Messiah is not good at winning baseball games, picking the right lottery numbers, paying off mortgages, finding a cure for cancer, or getting our grandchildren to church. This Messiah does not guarantee that the best person for any country will win an election. The Jesus of the New Testement will always prove to be a disappointment to the expectations of victory and triumph.

Rather, Jesus leads us to places we've never dreamed of and, if we're honest, never really hoped for. The Messiah leads us to self-denial. Rather than a simple denial of certain things in our lives, the Messiah mandates a rejection of a life based on self-interest and self-fulfillment. The Messiah leads us to the cross. Struggling to love and serve our communities and our families can be a heavy burden to bear. Caring for an imperfect Church, a loved one in difficulty, or the sick and mentally challenged who have nothing to offer in return is a yeoman's task.

The Messiah asks us to follow Him. Our job is not to manipulate God into doing what we want. As Christians, we cannot believe that things happen by chance; each moment of conflict and of compassion is the place where Christ invites us to die and rise with Him for the cost of love. He goes before us.

Jesus is the Christ. He really does bring salvation to humanity, but He leads us to all that God hopes humanity to become. We have been created in grace to live and love beyond ourselves and to follow  Christ's lead. That path leads to the "other" who needs our death to self so that they might know the compassion and mercy of God. No candidate for election could ever win on that kind of platform - but then again, neither did Jesus.

What do people say the Eucharist is? Some say a symbol; some say a ritual meal. Others know that it is the Paschal Mystery - the dying and rising of Jesus again for us: the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Only in a love born of sacrifice  can we have communion with Him and with one another. Today, we say "Amen" to the Body of Christ and to anywhere He leads us when we walk out of the church doors.

Anniversary of my Ordination to the Diaconate

It was six years ago, June 19th, 2010, that I and my classmates were ordained to the Holy Order of Deacon at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in New York City by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan. After years of preparation at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York, me and my classmates finally made it to this special day. I remember the day well. It felt like we were all walking on a cloud as we processed from the the rear of the Cathedral to the Sanctuary to the beautiful music of "All Creatures of our God & King." From that day forward that music and hymn brings me back to that beautiful day.

As the mass moved along, we were called by the bishop to come forward, each of us found acceptable to be ordained, and we promised our obedience to the bishop and his successors. Then, lying prostrate in the sanctuary, the Litany of the Saints were beautifully sung by the choir of St. Patrick's.

Then, one after another, my classmates and I knelt before Cardinal Dolan who laid his hands on each of us to confer the Holy Order of Deacon. It's hard to explain the emotions that were going through each one of us! Joy, but more than joy! We were overjoyed!! It felt, to me, as if this is what heaven must be like.

Then the Cardinal gave to each one of us the Book of the Gospels, saying to each one of us as he did so, "Receive the Gospel of Christ,  whose herald you now are. Believe what you read,  teach what you believe,  and practice what you teach."

Since being ordained, I have attempted to live out these words in every act that I do for Christ, whether assisting at Holy Mass, performing a baptism, performing a marriage, or going to the funeral home to help families deal with the loss of a loved one. In each of these experiences, I was feeling the presence of Christ. I was teaching and practicing my belief that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and that He's present to all of us in whatever situation we face.

Pray for me and my 12 classmates as we continue to serve God in His Holy Catholic Church. Know that you will be in my prayers as well.