Monthly Archives: May 2017

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Zephaniah 3:14-18 | Isaiah 12 | Luke 1:39-56

She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ (Luke 1:42-45)

That’s a huge amount of understanding on the part of Elizabeth, no doubt gifted her by the Holy Spirit. To behold her cousin as an ordinary woman, yet penetrate her dowdy exterior and fathom the wondrous gift of God that she was bearing in her womb, is remarkable indeed.

Why not work towards a deeper understanding of our faith, instead of sticking to the hour-a-week of Sunday Catholicism?

Why not take the time to really look at the people around us each day, to perceive their inner pain in their arguments with each other, the worldly concerns that line their faces, and the love that they exude despite all that, when they turn to their children?

Why not, on this sixth day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit, pause to ask the Holy Spirit to make wide and deep our perception of God’s eternal love, that we may see our fellow humans in a new light and treat them as our brothers and sisters?

Understanding, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy religion. By faith we know them, but by Understanding we learn to appreciate and relish them. It enables us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths and through them to be quickened to newness of life. Our faith ceases to be sterile and inactive, but inspires a mode of life that bears eloquent testimony to the faith that is in us; we begin to “walk worthy of God in all things pleasing, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Come, O Spirit of Understanding, and enlighten our minds, that we may know and believe all the mysteries of salvation; and may merit at last to see the eternal light in Thy Light; and in the light of glory to have a clear vision of Thee and the Father and the Son. Amen.

Tuesday of the 7th Week of Eastertide
Acts 20:17-27 | Psalm 67(68):10-11,20-21 | John 17:1-11

And so here and now I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned (Acts 20:26)

My conscience is clear.

He would have reported me to the police, and my kids would have to grow up without a father…so I ran him over with my car. He’s single, so no one will miss him.

My conscience is clear.

I can’t break my gambling habit, and my company’s doing well…so I’ll take some money from them to pay my debts.

My conscience is clear.

She’s been smearing my reputation with her endless gossip…so I’ll tell you about her extramarital affairs.

My conscience is clear.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

It’s unnerving how often we see people do wrong, while claiming to be untroubled. Blessed are the “gong-gong”, they tell themselves, secure in the belief that they can sleep soundly, because they deliberately avoid giving thought to the appropriateness of their actions.

How often do we do the same?

How often do we claim to be upright Christians, yet avoid examining our lives in preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation? How often do we convince ourselves that this Sacrament is of no relevance to our daily living?

How often do we scurry like cockroaches, unable to bear the blinding Light of Truth that is Jesus Christ Himself?

We are sinners; of that, there can be no doubt. Instead of trying to drown out or ignore the quiet voice within us, why not acknowledge that which seeks to guide us, embracing the Spirit of Truth and Love, the Spirit of God’s will?

As we enter the fifth day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit, why not blissfully embrace the gift of the Spirit that is Knowledge, and thus bring our conscience to full bloom in our hearts?

The gift of Knowledge enables the soul to evaluate created things at their true worth–in their relation to God. Knowledge unmasks the pretense of creatures, reveals their emptiness, and points out their only true purpose as instruments in the service of God. It shows us the loving care of God even in adversity, and directs us to glorify Him in every circumstance of life. Guided by its light, we put first things first, and prize the friendship of God beyond all else. “Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it.”

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Knowledge, and grant that I may perceive the will of the Father; show me the nothingness of earthly things, that I may realize their vanity and use them only for Thy glory and my own salvation, looking ever beyond them to Thee, and Thy eternal rewards. Amen.

Monday of the 7th Week of Eastertide
Acts 19:1-8 | Psalm 67(68):2-7 | John 16:29-33

I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but be brave: I have conquered the world. (John 16:33)

Jesus has conquered death. He has returned to the Father, so that the Holy Spirit may be sent to us to inspire and to inflame.

Are we still afraid of being called out as Christians?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Fr. Cornelius delivered an odd homily yesterday, in which he painted the image of terrorists running rampant through our church during mass. There was some good stuff in it, but that image is all I can remember of it right now.

I’m sure we’d all be terrified to be singled out in such a situation, as violent death would likely visit us shortly thereafter.

But what about in daily life, where the threat of summary execution for our beliefs is pretty low?

When we’re taken to task for something we did in public,

when someone cries out, “Hey! You’re a Christian, right? How can you do something like that?!?!”,

how would we react?

Would we deny our own faith, just like Peter denied Jesus three times?

Would we tell them to mind their own business, as everyone else whose misdeeds are publicly exposed tends to do?

Or would we own up to our faults, and try to make amends?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Being called out for our faults is right and proper. There should be no hiding, no minimizing, no deflecting; all those “easy outs” would simply encourage us to “push our luck” yet again in future.

But admitting that we sinned is difficult, even when we’re disposed to be honest about it. It would require us to admit to weakness, to acknowledge that we are imperfect, despite all the support we receive from the twin towers of holy scripture and Mother Church.

This is precisely why we should avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as we need it. There is nothing quite like admitting our failings to the One who already knows them all, but loves us anyway. The confessional is a safe space, in which we can examine our conscience, and thereby strengthen it in the process.

We enter bent low under the weight of our transgressions, but after we’ve unburdened ourselves, we can reemerge standing tall and Christian once more.

It’s therefore so appropriate that on this fourth day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit, we would ask for the gift of fortitude:

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.

7th Sunday of Easter (Year A)
Acts 1:12-14 | Psalm 26(27):1,4,7-8 | 1 Peter 4:13-16 | John 17:1-11

It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. (1 Peter 4:14)

Mahatma Gandhi never said this:

First they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,
then they fight you,
then you win.

He really didn’t.

But these 16 words have a surprising connection to us Catholics. Obviously, they coincide with St. Peter’s words for today, but their underlying thread also links intimately with our Christian lives.

More on that later.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

St. Peter tells us that it’s a blessing to be persecuted as Christians, as indeed many of our spiritual ancestors were put to the test of faith.

But what if the opposite happens to us, and the above observation never gets past its very first stage? What if our Christianity were completely ignored?

What if we did not stand out from the crowd?

The crowd who pays no heed to the tired elderly who need a seat?

The crowd who treats the service personnel around us with disdain, or even as menial servants?

The crowd who berates the hospitality ministers at church, when their parking instructions conflict with our desire to be gone before the final blessing at mass?

The crowd who treats the Body of Christ as just a wafer, blatantly ignoring the frequent exhortations to first make peace with God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

We can be better Christians than that.

We must be better Christians than that.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Back to Gandhi.

He coined an intriguing term for his unique political vision: satyagraha. It’s a philosophy of nonviolent civil resistance that inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. during the years of the Civil Rights Movement in America, as well as many other social justice movements in the past decades.

Satyagraha literally means “holding firmly to the truth”.

Brothers and sisters, are we holding firmly to the Truth that is God’s love for all mankind, the love that we are commanded to share with our fellow beings?

When we hold firm to this Truth, when it becomes our moral and spiritual bedrock, when it truly becomes part of our daily lives, the words in Fr. Peter Scholtes’ famous hymn will come true:

Then they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Amen.

Friday of the 6th Week of Eastertide
Acts 18:9-18 | Psalm 46:2-7 | John 16:20-23

A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a man has been born into the world. (John 16:21)

I’ve experienced despair several times in the service of God over the last year, and especially during the transition to new parish “management” over the last few months. I’ve blogged about my worries during some of those periods, but I don’t think I’ve ever really examined what happened after.

In every case I can recall, that sorrow turned to joy, when our united song of praise to God continued, despite every worry about things falling apart due to lack of participation and commitment.

I pray that this “streak” will continue, because another conflagration is blooming within my parish, and this one may not be so easy to put out. It would be unfair to all involved to reveal details at this stage, but when most folks are pushed to the edge of their endurance, they’ll either push back hard…or just leave.

I don’t know what will happen, but I know I promised my Creator that I would Do His Work. The trick, however, is to get others to go along with what I think is the Work, especially when (as others have pointed out) I no longer hold the necessary authority to effect by fiat, and I’m facing a steadily rising chorus from my loved ones to not get involved.

I’m left with persuasion, but I’m pretty sucky at cajoling. Ah well…

Lord, the path You asked me to follow is getting harder by the day, but You promised that You would be always with me, that I just need to trust in Your boundless love and open myself up to the Advocate that You sent, the Holy Spirit who inflames hearts and rules minds.

Help me open myself up to Your love, and share that love in turn with my companions on this difficult journey, that we may not be led astray by personal desires or convenience or ease, but always be walking the Way of Truth and Life with our brothers and sisters, forever facing our eventual reunion with You. Amen.