Caritas Christi Urget Nos

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  • The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (School Mass)

    The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (School Mass)

    Today’s readings

    Well, I am sure you all noticed the church looks different. Hopefully you saw that over the weekend, but if not, I’m sure when you saw it yesterday it was quite a surprise. The church really, really needed to be painted, but we didn’t just want to slap a coat of paint on the walls and ceiling. When the church was built, that’s what had to be done because there wasn’t money to do much else. So in painting the church this time, we wanted to take the opportunity to do what art in the Church has always been used to do, and that is to tell the story of the Gospel and teach us the faith. In the early days of the Church, most people could not read and write, so in order to teach the faith, people were taught to read the churches. So the artwork and the decoration of the church was meant to preach the Gospel and call people to Jesus. We wanted to do the same here at Saint Mary’s.

    So there are two major themes going on here. First and most importantly, we wanted to express the truth that this is the holiest place on our campus, the place where heaven meets earth, the place where Jesus Christ dwells with us until the end of the age. Some of you who have come to a class Mass with me have heard me say that. So the dome was painted as a night sky, complete with stars; the cupola was painted a light blue to allow natural light to reflect and illuminate the sanctuary; the Tabernacle was raised on a step, and placed on an altar with a stone top; and the reredos was painted with a stunning mural depicting the light of God coming down from heaven and enveloping us all as he calls us into his presence. The text on the upper border of the reredos says, Agnus Dei Qui Tolis Pecatta Mundi; which is Latin and it means, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

    The second theme is that our parish church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Immaculate Conception. So the deep blue which support the architectural features of the sanctuary, and the earthy green on the wings of the church proclaim that Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth. The golden rim around the “sky” above the sanctuary reminds us of her crown, and the gold rays in the ceiling symbolize her merciful love reaching out to the world.

    Along the back of the church, we have installed four “medallions” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which ask for her intercession for our parish, our families, and our community. The text along the back “ribbon” above the doors are selections from the Litany of Loreto: Mother of Mercy, Mother of the Church, Seat of Wisdom, Help of Christians, Queen of Peace, Cause of our Joy, Holy Mother of God, and Queen of Families. These have been presented in English, Spanish, Polish, and Tagalog, some of the languages spoken by our parish family. Finally, above the doors in the center aisle, the resurrected Jesus has been cleaned by our artist, and the blue from the sky has been painted as a background. This reminds us the Ascension of Our Lord, giving us a command as we leave the church: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

    Today we gather in this beautiful church dedicated to our Blessed Mother, to celebrate her Assumption, body and soul into heaven, to reign with her Son, Jesus. We believe that our Lord did not want any taint of death to corrupt his Blessed Mother, who was conceived without sin. What is important for us to see in this feast is that it proclaims, with the most joy that we can, that what happened to Mary can absolutely happen for us who believe. We too have the promise of eternal life in heaven, where death and sin and pain will no longer have power over us. Because Jesus brought his Blessed Mother back up into his life in heaven, we know that we too can go to heaven. On that great day, death, the last enemy, will have no more power over us, as Saint Paul tells us in our second reading today.

    Like Mary, we are called to a specific vocation to do God’s work in the world. We are called to make sacrifices so that God’s work can be accomplished in us and through us. We can be joyful because God is at work in us. We are called to humility that lets God’s love for others shine through our lives. We are called to lives of faith that translate into action on behalf of others, a faith that leads God’s people to salvation.

    All of that can be pretty hard to handle. Disciples are called to live saintly lives so that they can be caught up in the life of God, reign with him in God’s Kingdom, and one day live forever with him in heaven. Obviously, don’t have to, aren’t even supposed to, do all that on our own. To get there, we receive the gift of grace, and we count on the intercession of the saints, especially the Blessed Virgin, who is Queen of heaven and earth. Depending on her intercession, we set forth to accomplish great things for the Lord, and one day, we hope to share in the glory that Mary has already received.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Well, here we are.

    It’s been a whirlwind these last two months! First we emptied everything out of the church, and the pew refinishing company took apart the pews and shipped them to Nebraska so that they could be refinished. Then the painters moved in a couple of massive lifts that looked like some kind of alien spider that took them all the way up into the cupola so that they could paint. Our artist moved in and began painting the reredos, and later a sign company came in to install the Agnus Dei above the reredos, and the titles of Mary from the Litany of Loreto along the back wall of church. The staff cleaned and scrubbed and put all the furniture back. Perhaps the most herculean task was that of taking our massive Tabernacle off its altar and then putting it back on. I believe it weighs elevendy gazillion pounds. Renovating our church décor was certainly a labor of love, and we hope that you will love it!

    In renovating the church, we didn’t just want to slap a coat of paint on the walls and ceiling. When the church was built, that’s what had to be done because there wasn’t money to do much else. So in painting the church this time, we wanted to take the opportunity to do what art in the Church has always been used to do, and that is to catechize and evangelize. In the early days of the Church, most people could not read and write, so in order to teach the faith, people were taught to read the churches. So the artwork and the decoration of the church was meant to preach the Gospel and call people to repentance and salvation. We wanted to do the same here at Saint Mary’s.

    So we had two main themes that we wanted to convey. First and foremost, we wanted to express the truth that this is the holiest place on our campus, the place where heaven meets earth, the place where Jesus Christ dwells with us until the end of the age. During this Eucharistic Revival in our Church, no message could be more important. So the dome was painted as a night sky, complete with stars; the cupola was painted a light blue to allow natural light to reflect and illuminate the sanctuary; the Tabernacle was raised on a step, and placed on an altar with a stone top; and the reredos was painted with a stunning mural depicting the light of God coming down from heaven and enveloping us all as he calls us into his presence. And to make it very clear what we behold, the text on the upper border of the reredos reads, Agnus Dei Qui Tolis Pecatta Mundi; that is, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

    The second theme we wanted to convey was that this particular parish church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Immaculate Conception. So the deep blue which support the architectural features of the sanctuary, and the earthy green on the wings of the church proclaim that Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth. The golden rim around the “sky” above the sanctuary evokes her crown, and the gold rays in the ceiling of the nave symbolize her merciful love reaching out to the world.

    Along the back of the church, we have installed four “medallions” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, including one of the Miraculous Medal, which ask for her intercession for our parish, our families, and our community. The text along the back “ribbon” above the doors are selections from the Litany of Loreto: Mother of Mercy, Mother of the Church, Seat of Wisdom, Help of Christians, Queen of Peace, Cause of our Joy, Holy Mother of God, and Queen of Families. These have been presented in English, Spanish, Polish, and Tagalog, some of the languages spoken by our parish family. Finally, above the doors in the center aisle, the resurrected Jesus has been cleaned by our artist (who knew he was brass?), and the blue from the sky has been painted as a background. This evokes the Ascension of Our Lord, giving us a command as we leave the church: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

    It was our intention that the renovation of this church would help feed our spirits, which Jesus longs to do for all of us. In today’s Liturgy of the Word, we are invited to receive “bread for the Journey,” in Latin, “Viaticum.” Viaticum is usually one’s last Holy Communion, given when we are dying. But in today’s liturgy, we are shown that we always need bread for the journey so that we will have strength to complete the journey and do what God calls us to do.

    In the first reading, the prophet Elijah has had just about enough, thank you very much. Despite some successes in preaching the word of the Lord, he has felt that he is a failure. Today’s reading comes after Elijah, with God’s help, just defeated all the prophets of the false god Baal in a splendid display of pyrotechnics on Mount Carmel. It’s a wonderful story that you can find in chapter 18 of the first book of Kings, and your homework today is to go home and look it up! I promise, you’ll enjoy the story. Well after that outstanding success, one would expect Elijah to go about boasting of his victory. Instead, Jezebel, the king’s wife and the one who brought the prophets of Baal to Israel in the first place, pledges to take Elijah’s life. Today’s story, then, finds him sitting under a scraggly broom tree, which offered little if any shade, and praying for death. The Lord ignores his prayer and instead twice makes him get up and eat bread that God himself provides, so that he would be strengthened for the journey. In the story that follows, Elijah will come quite face-to-face with God, and be refreshed to go on. But he can’t do that if he starves to death under the broom tree. Sometimes God does not give us what we ask for, but exactly what we need.

    Our Gospel reading takes us back to Saint John’s “Bread of Life Discourse,” chapter six of his Gospel, which we are reading in this section of the Lectionary. We began two weeks ago with the feeding of the multitudes; then last week the multitudes sought Jesus out so they could get more of the same and Jesus sets out to feed their spirits. At the end of last week’s Gospel, Jesus told them that Moses didn’t give them bread from heaven, but rather God did; and then he made a very bold claim: “I am the bread of life.” So this week, the people are angry with Jesus for that claim, for saying that he came down from heaven. They murmured because they knew his family, and surmised that he couldn’t have descended from heaven. They didn’t yet understand the depth of who Jesus was. They were so hungry that they didn’t realize that the finest spiritual banquet stood right before them.

    The thing is, spiritual hunger is something we all face in one way or another. We all have very difficult journeys to face in our lives. Whether we’re feeling dejected and defeated like Elijah, or feeling cranky and irritable like the Ephesians, or whether we’re just feeling superior and murmuring like the Jews in today’s Gospel, spiritual hunger is something we all must face sometime in our lives. From time to time, we all discover in ourselves a hole that we try to fill with something. Maybe we try to fill that up with alcohol, or too much work, or too much ice cream, or the wrong kind of relationships, or whatever; and eventually we find that none of that fills up the hole in our lives. Soon we end up sitting under a scraggly old broom tree, wishing that God would take us now. If we’re honest, we’ve all been at that place at one time or another in our lives.

    We disciples know that there is only one thing – or rather one person – that can fill up that emptiness. And that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus knows our pains and sorrows and longs to be our Bread of Life, the only bread that can fill up that God-sized hole in our lives. We have to let him do that. But it’s not so easy for us to let God take over and do what he needs to do in us. We have to turn off the distractions around us, we have to stop trying to fill the hole with other things that never have any hope of satisfying us, and we have to turn to our Lord in trust that only he can give us strength for the journey. Jesus alone is the bread that came down from heaven, and only those who eat this bread will live forever, forever satisfied, forever strengthened. It is only this bread that will give us strength for the arduous journeys of our lives.

    We will come forward in a few minutes to receive this great gift around the Table of the Lord. As we continue our prayer today, let us remember the advice God gives to Elijah: “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” Only then can we go and proclaim the Gospel of the Lord.

  • Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr

    Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr

    Today’s readings

    Today Jesus calls disciples to lay down their lives: to take up their cross and follow him. This involves trusting that God will work things out for the greater good and bring us to him in glory. This was the kind of faith that Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross had and put into action.

    Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau, Germany as Edith Stein, she abandoned Judaism in her teens. She studied philosophy under Edmund Husserl, a leading proponent of the philosophy of phenomenology. Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. Later, she was influenced by the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila, and she became a Catholic on January 1, 1922. She taught in various schools until 1933, when anti-semitic legislation went into effect, and at that time entered the Carmelite convent at Cologne, where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

    At the end of 1939, she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.

    Putting our lives at the service of Jesus always requires sacrifice in some way. For Teresa, this meant actually giving up her life because she lived the faith and loved Jesus. For all of us, it means different things, but whatever it means, we need see Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as our example and take up our cross, whatever it may be, depending on her intercession.

    Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us.

  • The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    You know, sometimes our hunger gets us into trouble. And I don’t just mean with your doctor when you eat too much, although I can relate to that. We can hunger for all sorts of things: some of them good, some not so much. For instance, we can be hungry for attention, affection, connection with others: those are good, mostly, depending on how we pursue them. Or we can be hungry for power, prestige, money, and things: those aren’t so good, for the most part, again, depending on how and even why we pursue them.

    There’s a lot of hunger in the readings today. First we have the Israelites, fresh from their escape from slavery in Egypt, finding that they are hungry as they wander through the desert. I think we can understand their hunger. But what is hard to understand is the content of their grumbling about it. They say that they would rather be back in Egypt, eating bread and the meat of the “fleshpots.” Why on earth did God have to drag them out into the desert only to kill them by hunger and let them die there? They would rather be in slavery in Egypt than be in the situation in which they find themselves.

    Please understand how serious this grumbling is: it is a complete rejection of God, God who has done everything miraculous to save them from abject slavery. And that slavery was not some kind of minor inconvenience: the people were told to take care of the most strenuous of all labor, building the cities and even making the bricks for them themselves. If they slacked off at all, or didn’t meet their captors’ unreasonable quotas, they were severely beaten. They were subject to racism at its nastiest form, and their baby boys were put to death to keep them from rising up. And yet, the people say they’d rather be in Egypt so they could have a little food in their stomachs.

    Not so different is the clamoring of the people in today’s Gospel reading. Today we pick back up our reflection on the “Bread of Life Discourse,” the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. We began last week, with the famous story of Jesus feeding the multitudes. Today’s story picks up where last week’s left off: the people were so impressed by Jesus feeding so many with so little that they pursue him across the sea to Capernaum.

    Why do they follow him? Well, they want more food, of course. But the real feeding he intends is not just barley loaves, but instead something a little more enduring. So Jesus tells them that the best way they can do God’s will is to believe in him – Jesus, the one God sent. So they have the audacity to ask him what kind of sign he can do so that they can believe in him. Can you believe that? He just finished feeding thousands of people with five loaves and two fish, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers to distribute to the whole world, proving that he was enough, and more than enough, to feed their hungers, and they still want to see a sign?

    But let’s just pause a second here. Isn’t that a lot like us? Hasn’t God done everything for us? He created us out of love for us, and in love, he sent his only begotten Son to take on our sins and die in one of the most horrific ways possible, so that we could have the possibility of being freed from the chains of death, and one day go to heaven. And not only that, but he aids us in our daily troubles, hearing our prayers and helping us in our need. We are not so different from the Israelites longing for the fleshpots of Egypt and the multitudes clamoring for a little more bread and fish, please.

    So the people ask for a sign, and what Jesus does is to give a spiritual sign, a challenge really. He tells them to believe in him because “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

    Jesus wants to get to the root cause of their hunger … and ours too, by the way. Which brings us back to the observation I made at the beginning of my homily. Our hunger can get us into trouble, by desiring the wrong things, or trying to pursue our hunger in ways that are not healthy. But the hungers are there, and we need to address them.

    So I think the starting point is that we have to be clear about what it is we hunger for. And that question is very pressing on all of us today. Every one of us comes here hungering for something. Our hungers may be very physical: some here may be unemployed or underemployed, or perhaps our hunger is for physical healing of some kind. But perhaps our hungers are a bit deeper too: a relationship that is going badly, or a sense that we aren’t doing what we should be or want to be doing with our lives. Our hunger may very well be spiritual as well: perhaps our relationship with God is not very developed or our prayer life has become stale. Whatever the hunger is, we need to be honest and name it right now, in the stillness of our hearts.

    Naming that hunger, we then have to do what Jesus encouraged the crowds to do: believe. Believe that God can feed our deepest hungers, heal our deepest wounds, bind up our brokenness and calm our restless hearts. Believe that Jesus is, in fact, the Bread of Life, the bread that will never go stale or perish, the bread that will never run out, or disappear like manna in the heat of the day. Jesus is the Bread that can feed more than our stomachs but also our hearts and souls. The Psalmist sings, “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.” And we know that bread is the most wonderful food of all, because it is the most holy and precious Body of Christ.

    So here’s a way to pray with this in the coming week. First, think about the hungers you have been experiencing lately. This will take a lot of self-honesty. Second, think about how you have been trying to fill those hungers. Has this been healthy or not? Has it worked? Finally, give those hungers to Jesus. Ask him to teach you how to fill up your hungry heart and soul with him. Ask him to show you how he is enough, and more than enough, to feed your spirit.

  • Friday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Friday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    If we think simply obeying God’s call will make life much easier for us, today’s readings give us a, shall we say, different perspective. Sure not complicating our lives with sin and being certain to do what God asks of us is a good thing, and it does make life easier to an extent, but it does not guarantee a life without struggle or conflict.

    Certainly both Jeremiah and Jesus can attest to that. Jeremiah had the dangerous job of being a prophet to a people who wanted to do what they wanted to do. Evil was a way of life for them, and they certainly didn’t want to hear about their way of life coming to an end, and so our first reading ends with the people of Israel ominously surrounding Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. Jesus gets similar treatment from the people of his own native town. They took offense at one of them, the son of a laborer no less, working miracles and preaching with wisdom. And sadly, their lack of acceptance and lack of faith led to him not working many mighty deeds there.

    Maybe we have had a similar experience. Maybe we have tried to give witness to the Gospel, to what is right, to people very close to us. Many times that kind of thing is very unwelcome with those people. Maybe they are in our families, or at our job, or in our community. But like the prophet, and like Jesus, we must give witness anyway, and ask God to help them accept it. Preaching the truth in love can be dangerous, or at least ignored, at times, but it’s what we are called to do.

  • Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

    Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

    Today, we remember Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the patron saint of moral theology. At the age of just sixteen, Alphonsus Liguori received degrees in both canon and civil law by acclamation. At sixteen, I believe I was almost failing trigonometry! Alphonsus later gave up the practice of law to concentrate on pastoral ministry, particularly giving parish missions and hearing confessions. He was noted for his writings on moral theology, particularly against the rigorism of the Jansenists. The Jansenists were an overly-rigorist movement that developed after the protestant reformation and the Council of Trent and emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. Just a little overwhelming! Alphonsus’s moral theology was much more accessible to the average person.

    In 1732, Alphonsus formed the congregation of the Redemptorists, who had as their special charism the preaching of parish missions. They lived a common life dedicated to imitating Christ and reaching out to the poor and unlearned. Although they went through their own struggles as a congregation, they were reunited after Alphonsus’s death and are of course active today.

    Although Alphonsus was best known for his moral theology, he also wrote many other works on topics of systematic and dogmatic theology, and the spiritual life. Alphonsus’s pastoral approach to moral theology invites us to return to the Lord. The call is a simple one; we need not be learned in all the intricacies of Canon Law to figure out how to live the Christian life; all we have to do is repent and believe.

  • Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

    Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

    Today’s readings

    Today’s memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus is a feast of siblings.  It’s a wonderful reminder of how family should be: united in faith, and bringing each other to Christ.  The story of the raising of Lazarus, of which we have a fragment in today’s Gospel reading, is a story of how shared faith can triumph over death.  It’s our responsibility to bring our loved ones to Jesus, and for Martha and Mary, the need for that was very real.  Today’s memorial remembers Martha who toiled for the sake of hospitality, and professed her faith in Jesus when her brother died; it remembers Martha too, who famously sat at the feet of Jesus, drinking in his every word.  And we also remember Lazarus, from whom we never hear, but who Jesus loved enough to raise him from death.  In them we see ourselves: called to serve and profess our faith, called to contemplate the presence of Jesus, and called to the resurrection of the dead, which Lazarus saw firsthand.

    In them, we also see what siblings are supposed to do: Martha interceded to Jesus for Lazarus, knowing that Jesus could help him. And even though they quarreled sometimes, Martha and Mary complemented each other and encouraged each other in faith.

    So whether or not you have actual siblings, think of your brothers and sisters today. Even if they aren’t blood relatives, they may be brothers and sisters in Christ. Intercede to Jesus for them, and pray that you might all be together in the Kingdom of God one day.

  • The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today, as we listen to the proclamation of the Feeding of the Multitudes, we begin a five-week reflection on the Eucharist that is known as the “Bread of Life Discourse,” from chapter 6 of Saint John’s Gospel. We get this marvelous reflection every third year, during Cycle B of the Lectionary, a little break from our consideration of Saint Mark’s Gospel.

    Now, you may have heard some teacher or preacher or Bible Study leader talk about this miracle story as something less than a miracle. They may have framed it like this: “Jesus was preaching and the people were hanging on his words and it was getting late. So someone remembered the fish sandwich they brought with them and shared it with the people around them. Then other people saw that and got out the picnic they had brought, and before you knew it, everyone was eating. And much like an Italian family dinner, everyone was stuffed and there were twelve baskets of food left over.

    Now, I think you probably already know how I feel about this explanation just by the way I said it. You all know me pretty well by now! But in case you don’t, I’ll be plain: it’s garbage. First of all, there is absolutely no evidence that such a thing happened. With over five thousand people there, someone would have talked about how inspired they were by Jesus’ words that they just felt they had to share their picnic. But no such story has ever been found. Secondly, if it had been that simple, people wouldn’t have continued to clamor after Jesus looking for another miracle. No, they knew a miracle had taken place, and they wanted more of it, thank you very much. There are lots of other arguments against this explanation, but let’s just be clear: it was an argument that someone dreamed up much, much later, during the nineteenth century by people who were rationalistic and had no relationship with Jesus. So yes, this explanation is pure theological trash.

    The whole point of this wonderful story being told by all four Evangelists, by the way, is that it makes clear the absolutely incredible miracle that God wants nothing more than to feed us in the most wonderful way possible. He does that with a huge group of people who are not just hungry for food, but more importantly and urgently for God’s Saving Word, and he provides it working with just about nothing – five loaves and two fish – and turns that into enough, and more than enough, to feed that whole hungry crowd. Finally, he provides twelve baskets of leftovers – twelve symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel, or the whole world as they knew it – to feed even those who were not there to see that amazing miracle.

    In John’s Gospel, this story is the story of the Institution of the Eucharist, because John doesn’t have a Last Supper story like the other three Gospels. And so by feeding this whole crowd, Jesus makes it clear that God’s intention is to feed us all, always and forever, with the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation. The Eucharist will always and forever be God’s presence in the world and in our life. Thanks be to God!

    I was not able to be there but just last week, many thousands of Catholics gathered in Indianapolis for the Eucharistic Congress. Over two hundred thousand hosts were consecrated to be the Body and Blood of Christ during those days, showing that those twelve baskets of leftovers just keep on giving! That Congress was evidence of the joy that the Eucharist continues to bring us, that our God doesn’t give up on us when times look bleak, that young people still long for the presence of Jesus in their lives, and that God is still working miracles every single moment of every single day.

    The Eucharistic Revival doesn’t come to a conclusion now that the Congress is over. This coming year, the focus is on mission. A Eucharistic people need to take up those baskets of leftovers and continue to feed a world hungry for newness and revival and light in a dark and sad world. It is our mission now that our hunger is fed at this celebration of the Eucharist to follow the direction we get at the end of every Holy Mass: “Go!” Go and glorify the Lord by your life. Go and proclaim the Gospel. Go and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that desperately needs his presence. Go and feed others with the grace with which you have been fed. Go, and give them something to eat.

    So as we pray today, let’s focus on a couple of things. First: in what way do you find yourself hungry right now? What is missing in your life, especially in your spiritual life? Whatever you find that to be, give it to Jesus and let him feed you. And then second, for the mission: in what way can you take the grace of Jesus and fill up the emptiness of others? How can you enliven even just one person by your presence? What small act of love can you take from those baskets of leftovers and feed someone who is starving for salvation?

    Pray all that, and listen to the Psalmist sing: “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.”

  • The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    I really think one of the greatest obstacles to progress in our spiritual lives is the thought that we have to do everything ourselves. That we have to be trained and recognized and that whatever it is that has to be done has to be done by us. After all, we are good enough, aren’t we? So why should we ask for help?

    I think you can see where I’m going to go with this. But this leads to one or both of two things. First, if whatever it is does work out, it’s all about me. Aren’t I wonderful? Aren’t I great? Did you see what I did? But second, if it does not work out, it can make us think we aren’t good enough, we are a failure, and send us into frustration and depression and all sorts of bad behavior.

    Very often, this kind of thinking it’s all on us and all about us makes us shy away from doing something we are called to do. How can I do something like that? I’m not good enough to accomplish that. Someone, anyone else is more qualified to do that than I am.

    Look at the apostles. What a rag tag bunch they were. Who would ever have thought they were good enough to come together and do anything, let alone foster a fledgling Church and proclaim a new Gospel that a lot of people couldn’t bear to hear? Yet, Jesus knew them best, of course, and he saw the men he created for that very moment to do that very important task. And then, because they didn’t know everything and weren’t qualified to accomplish the task ahead of them, he gave them what they needed in pouring out the Holy Spirit on them.

    It’s so clear in today’s Gospel reading: “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” Because if they have everything they need, then they don’t need Jesus, they don’t need the Holy Spirit. So by going without, they have more than they could hope for. By being unqualified, they accomplish great things. Jesus makes it very clear today that that is the life of the disciple.

    And that includes you and me, friends. We aren’t qualified to do all the things we are asked to do, and we don’t have everything we need. I remember when Bishop Conlon called me to tell me he wanted me to come here to Saint Mary’s. I was very aware that I didn’t have what I needed to be the pastor of such a large parish. But as I prayed about it, God reminded me that it wasn’t about me at all, and that he would give me what I need.

    And he has been so faithful to that! Every single day, I am almost overwhelmed by how much of a blessing it was for me to come here. I look around at our marvelous volunteers, and I know I don’t deserve how wonderful they are to me. I meet you all as you come out of Mass, and I think how blessed I am that you took time out of your day to come pray and worship with me. I have what I need to be the pastor of this place because God knows what I need far better than I do, and he is faithful to giving me all that and more.

    So I offer that to you today. Wherever you need to go in your life, whatever you are being called to do, put it in the hands of Jesus and follow that path. Trust that he will give you more than just some food, a sack, and money in your belts. Trust that he will give you everything you need and more, and trust that then you will be truly happy. Who knows what amazing deeds God has planned to do in us and through us, if we just trust in his faithfulness!

  • Saint Benedict, Abbot, Founder of Western Monasticism

    Saint Benedict, Abbot, Founder of Western Monasticism

    Today’s readings

    It is with great fondness that I observe this feast of St. Benedict the abbot, and father of western monasticism.  My Benedictine roots stem from my college days at Benedictine University in Lisle (then called Illinois Benedictine College), and I have a deep fondness for the monks of St. Procopius Abbey, who staffed the college, and in whose monastery I made my Priesthood retreat before I was ordained.  Every now and then I go there for a few days of prayer.  The motto Saint Benedict chose for his order was “Ora et Labora” – Prayer and Work — and for me it is a constant reminder of the balance we are called to have in life.

    A wonderful source of inspiration to me while I was working in the corporate world, and still today, is reading from The Rule of St. Benedict, which is a great reflection on the balance we are called to in life.  It was also one of the most groundbreaking works of spirituality and monastic rule at that time.  It remains a spiritual classic today.  Recently, I read a quote from the rule that spoke of something the abbot of a monastery should bear in mind.  My reflection on it got me to thinking it was also extremely wise counsel for pastors of parishes, and even fathers – and mothers – of families.  It’s from the second chapter of the rule and it goes like this:

    Above all, the abbot should not bear greater solicitude for things that are passing, earthly, and perishable, thereby ignoring or paying little attention to the salvation of the souls entrusted to him. Instead, may he always note that he has undertaken the governance of souls, for which, moreover, an account will have to be rendered. And if perhaps he pleads as an excuse a lack of wealth, then he should remember what is written: ‘First seek the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be added unto you’ (Mt 6:33), and again: ‘Nothing is lacking to those who fear him’ (Ps 34:10).

    This is the same kind of instruction Jesus gave to his Apostles in the Gospel reading today. The Apostles were to preach the Gospel and proclaim the Kingdom, and do everything they could to bring many souls with them.  They were not to take a money bag, or extra things, but instead to depend on God to take care of them as they cared for the souls of those they encountered. It’s good advice for all of us.  Earthly things are always passing; things of the Spirit endure forever.  Seek first the kingdom, proclaim the kingdom, witness to the Gospel, and, as Saint Benedict also wrote, “And may he bring us all together to life everlasting!” (RB 72)