Caritas Christi Urget Nos

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  • The Nativity of the Lord (Vigil Mass)

    The Nativity of the Lord (Vigil Mass)

    In a town called Nazareth in Galilee, a long time ago, a girl named Mary lived with her parents, Joachim and Ann. Mary was just around fourteen years old or so.  She came from a quiet little area of the world, and just looking at Mary and her parents, you’d have to say nothing about her family was very special, although God knew that they really were!  She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, because that was when people got married in those days, but she wasn’t married or living with him yet.

    She was busy doing her chores one day, when she was surprised by the appearance of an angel named Gabriel.  As you can imagine, the appearing of an angel can be a little frightening, but Gabriel reassured her and told her that the Lord was with her.  He said, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” He told her not to be afraid, because God wanted her to be the mother of his Son Jesus.  Jesus would become great and would rule over the kingdom of Israel forever.  Mary was confused how she could have a baby, because she was not living with Joseph, and she didn’t have relations with any man, but the angel reassured her that all things are possible with God.  She was amazed, but she had faith, and said to the angel, “Let it happen as you have said.”

    Mary sang a hymn proclaiming how great God was, and went in haste to visit her older relative Elizabeth, who was also going to have a baby, even though she was very old.  When she got there, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy, and Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then returned home.

    When Joseph heard that Mary was pregnant, he was confused and upset.  He didn’t understand the message from the angel, and couldn’t see how this was all God’s will and God’s doing. He was going to break off the engagement, but he had a visit from the angel too, in a dream. The angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary into his home.  And so he did. When the emperor called for a census, a time when every person in the kingdom was counted, he took Mary with him into the city of David to be counted, because that was where he was from.  

    They had a terrible time finding a place to stay during the journey, because so many people were traveling to take part in the census.  Eventually, it became urgent: on the way, Mary gave birth to her baby, and had Jesus in a manger where the animals stayed.  It was the best they could do. Many people came to visit Mary and Joseph and Jesus, and gave the baby gifts and said wonderful things about him, things Mary would never forget.  She kept all of this very close to her in her heart.

    Mary and Joseph raised Jesus and watched him become a strong, healthy, and smart young man.  One time, when the family went to Jerusalem for a visit to the holy temple, Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus.  They were on the way home when they discovered Jesus wasn’t with them or any of their friends or family.  They were so upset and frightened!  Returning to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple, talking about their faith, with all of the rabbis and teachers.  He was only twelve years old!

    Eventually Joseph died, and Mary stayed near Jesus.  She watched him start his ministry, the whole reason God had sent him to earth in the first place.  He called his disciples and taught all the people.  He cured the sick and fed many hungry crowds.  He worked many miracles and always talked about how good God was, and how much God loved people, and how they should all turn back to God and turn away from the bad things they had been doing.  Mary watched as he did all these wonderful things, and she saw how faithful he was to God’s work.

    But Mary also began to see that Jesus wasn’t making everybody happy.  She saw that when he cured people on the Sabbath day, the day of rest, the leaders of the temple became angry.  She saw that when Jesus told them to take care of the poor and the hungry and the homeless instead of worrying about what day it was, the religious leaders wanted to kill him.  Mary watched as eventually they did take hold of Jesus, carried him off for a trial before Pilate the governor, and nailed him to the cross.

    At the foot of the cross, Mary stood sorrowful, knowing what a wonderful gift she and the whole world had been given in Jesus.  But Jesus took care of Mary even then, and entrusted her to the care of his friend John.  After Jesus died on the cross, Mary along with some of the other women in the group were the first ones to see that Jesus rose from the dead!  Mary stayed with the other disciples and prayed with them that the whole world would come to know the message of Jesus.  Her sorrow turned to joy as she watched the community grow and live the things Jesus had taught them.

    Those disciples were the ones who passed the faith on to us.  Because of the courage of the disciples and especially of Mary, we today can believe in Jesus and receive the gift of everlasting life from him.  Because of the faith of Mary, we can live forever with God and never have to be afraid of death or be mastered by sin.  All of this happened because Mary said to the angel back at the beginning of it all, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.”

    It is good for us to hear Mary’s story, because she lived her life following Jesus.  We’re supposed to do that too.  Mary got to see Jesus face-to-face, even hold him in her arms.  We might not be able to do that, but Jesus is close to all of us as long as we let him in.  Just like they made a place for Jesus to be born in a manger, we need to make a manger for Jesus in our own hearts so that he can be born in us and always be with us.  It’s very important that we all hear that just as God sent an angel to Mary, he sends angels to us all the time.  Those angels tell us, too, that we should not be afraid because God loves us and cares for us and wants to do great things with us, just like he did with Mary.  All he needs for us to do is to say, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

  • Wednesday of the Second Week in Advent

    Wednesday of the Second Week in Advent

    Today’s readings

    The bane of our spiritual lives is the horrible thought that we have to handle all of life’s challenges and battles on our own. This stems from the sin of pride, which is a conviction that we are to take care of ourselves and depend on no one else, and that we are more than qualified to do so. But it’s a lie, right? We make ourselves sick trying to rely on our own strength. We may be strong people, but there’s a limit to what we can do, and in fact, a limit to what we are supposed to do.

    Dependence on God lets God take us where he wants us to be, which is always better for us in the long run. And Advent is all about letting God do this new thing in us. Advent calls us to step aside and let God be God, and depend on his strength, and let him answer our prayers the way he knows they should be answered.

    That’s what Isaiah has for us in our first reading. God has created all things, and by his might and the strength of his power, all things are held in being. God’s strength is infinitely greater than the strength of the strongest young person. Indeed, we are told “Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength… They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” And that is the gentle yoke that Jesus offers us in the Gospel reading. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. All we need to do is to put down our own yokes and take up his.

    Advent calls us to rely on the strength of God in our own personal struggles and those in the world around us. We can’t do it on our own. We’re not supposed to.

    Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

  • Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today’s Gospel reading presents us with Luke’s version of the Parable of the Talents from Matthew’s Gospel. Luke’s version seems a little confusing to our ears; perhaps even a bit harsh. One wonders if Jesus was hangry or something. But we know he’s simply turning up the fire on his disciples because the task is urgent. So we have a jumble. Ten men get coins, but only three get questioned at the end, there’s the whole story about the nobleman and the delegation that didn’t want him to be king, and then the slaying of those delegates at the end. If you’re scratching your head about all that, I think that’s most understandable!

    I think the pivotal moment is the command given the servants when they receive the coins: “Engage in trade with these until I return.” That’s what the nobleman says to the ten servants who received the ten gold coins. The ten gold coins are extremely valuable. Their value is more or less what a poor servant might make in his entire lifetime. So the real question today is, what is it that is really worth that much? With what have we been entrusted that could possibly be so valuable?

    Obviously those ten coins represent the Gospel to us, the command to engage in trade with them is our witness. And as we approach the end of the Church year, it would be a very good idea to see which of the servants we have been. Have we been hard at it, giving witness by the way we live our lives, the service we give without anyone knowing about it, the integrity with which we conduct our business, which has caused people to admire our way of life, to seek to find what we have? Or have we wrapped it all in a handkerchief and stored it away so that we won’t lose it and can find it when we need it, making it all about us, keeping our religion private, caving in to our fear, and never giving anyone a reason to suspect we are Christians? The Church year is ending, our Master will soon return. What return will we give him on his investment in our eternity?

    May our Master find us hard at work at his return, and say to us: “You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of more.”

  • Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    I just love this story about Zacchaeus! In particular, there are two main components of the story that really stand out for me as hallmarks of the spiritual life.

    The first is Zacchaeus’s openness. First, he is so eager to see Jesus that he climbs up a tree to get a look at him. We don’t have to go that far. All we have to do is spend some time in Eucharistic Adoration, or even just some quiet moments reflecting on Scripture, or meditative prayer, even participating in Mass. All of those are ways to see Jesus, but like Zacchaeus, we have to overcome obstacles to get a look at him. For Zacchaeus, that meant climbing up a tree to overcome the fact that he was apparently vertically challenged! But for you and me, that might mean clearing our schedule, making our time with Jesus a priority. Zacchaeus’s openness also included inviting Jesus in, despite his sinfulness. He was willing to make up for his sin and change everything once he found the Lord. We might ask ourselves today what we need to change, and how willing we are to invite Jesus into our lives, despite our brokenness.

    The second thing that stands out for me is what Jesus says to those who chided him for going into a sinner’s house. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” What wonderful words those are for us to hear. Because we know how lost we have been at times, and how far we have wandered from our Lord. But the Lord seeks us out anyway, because we are too valuable for him to lose.

    And all we have to do is to be open to the Lord’s work in our lives, just like Zacchaeus was. What a joy it will be then to hear those same words Jesus said to him: “Today salvation has come to this house.”

  • Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, Virgin

    Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, Virgin

    Today’s readings

    St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was called “Mother Cabrini” during her life, was a humble woman of great faith and fortitude, who stayed with her mission. She was refused entrance to the religious order that had educated her. So she began working at an orphanage, eventually becoming a sister in the religious order that ran it. She later became their prioress. She went to New York intending to found an orphanage there. The house they were to use turned out not to be available, and the bishop advised her to return to Italy. But she stayed, and eventually founded not only that one orphanage, but 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick. She died at Columbus hospital in Chicago, which she also founded. She was the first American citizen to be canonized a saint.

    Mother Cabrini truly embodied the spirit of Wisdom that we hear about in our first reading this morning. That spirit, as the wisdom writer tells us, is “intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits…” That wisdom inspired Mother Cabrini to do so much good in her life and gave her the grace to make it all happen.

    Wisdom is available to all of us, to do what we are called to do by our creative and redemptive God. We might not found 67 institutions like Mother Cabrini, but who knows what the Spirit might do in us once we open our hearts to his wisdom and rely on his grace.

    Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.

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  • Pope Saint Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church

    Pope Saint Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church

    Pope Saint Leo the Great was known to be a wonderful administrator of the Church. But far from being caught up in purely administrative matters, he was also a very spiritual and prayerful man, many of whose great writings have become part of the lifeblood of our Church. He was elected to the papacy in the year 440, and he set the tone as a pope who believed in the pontiff’s total responsibility for the flock he led.

    His work included extensive defense of the church against the heresies of Pelagianism and Manicheism and others, he played the role of peacemaker, defending Rome against attacks by the Barbarians, and very significantly helped to settle a controversy in the Church of the East on the two natures of Christ. His work on that issue was promulgated at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

    Leo was well versed in Scripture and ecclesiastical awareness, and he also had the ability to reach the everyday needs and interests of his people. We have many of his writings to this day, and some are used in the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours. Some of his prayers also exist today in the Roman Missal.

    Saint Leo held that holiness consisted in doing the work we were called upon to do in our station in life, but not so much that it costs us our relationship with Christ. Prayer and spiritual growth are also required of the disciple, and holiness consists of doing both work and prayer in proper balance.

    In today’s Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours, Saint Leo writes about the priesthood that we all share as believers. He says, “[A]ll spiritual and mature Christians know that they are a royal race and are sharers in the office of the priesthood. For what is more king-like than to find yourself ruler over your body after having surrendered your soul to God? And what is more priestly than to promise the Lord a pure conscience and to offer him in love unblemished victims on the altar of one’s heart?” As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time for us to consider whether we have offered ourselves and surrendered ourselves to God, for our own happiness, and for the glory of God.

    Pope Saint Leo the Great, pray for us.

  • The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

    The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

    Today’s readings

    Today we celebrate the feast of the dedication of the St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.  That might seem like a strange feast for us to celebrate, since few of us have probably ever even been there.  But St. John Lateran is a very important church for us Catholics.  It is the “mother church” of all Catholics around the world.  It is the Pope’s parish church, the cathedral of Rome. It’s an enormous basilica built over three hundred years ago on the site of a former church built there in the fourth century.  Within the building are representations of the popes going all the way back to Peter.  Over time the churches on this site have been subject to fire, earthquakes and war, and have had to be rebuilt several times.  But a church has always been there. It is a visual reminder, inside and out, of our connection to our tradition and the fact that the Church has survived a lot over the centuries–from both within and without. The building attracts many tourists.  They can’t help but admire this grand edifice, much like the Jews of Jesus’ time strolled the Temple precincts and admired its splendor.


    While it is a solid structure, and probably needs constant upkeep, it is a reminder of another edifice, the real Temple Jesus laid the foundation for and Paul and subsequent preachers carefully built upon, and that temple is God’s people.  This structure also requires constant upkeep, that’s what we are about in our celebration today, remembering who we are and “tending to the Temple.”


    This church that is ourselves, this temple of the Holy Spirit that we are, needs constant upkeep and maintenance – just like this building where we worship, and just like old St. John Lateran.  Because we often fall into the disrepair of sin or the neglect that is spiritual laziness.  And often the repairs can seem daunting.  But they are certainly possible because of the love of God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that spirit that brings us back to the Church and helps us with the sacraments.


    And that’s the point of today’s celebration.  We remember that we are connected as Catholics throughout the world by our connection to the Pope.  We remember that we ourselves are the temple of God, as St. Paul tells us today, built on the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ, built up with the teaching of the apostles, the proclamation of the Holy Scriptures, and the guidance of the Church’s tradition.


    The Scriptures today paint the picture of a Church that is not just a building, but is a living thing that goes forth and makes the whole world new.  Just as Ezekiel’s vision painted the picture of water flowing forth from the temple, cleansing and renewing the earth, so the waters of baptism flow forth from the Church of God, taking with it the many ministries of the parishes and the myriad of giftedness possessed by all the baptized believers in all the churches of the world, and flowing out into the world to make a real difference.  This is how the lost come to find salvation.  This is how the poor are fed.  This is how the unborn and the elderly sick are protected.  This is how the world, dark in sin and lost in the disrepair of apathy is bound up and made new and washed clean and healed.  Saint Paul makes it very clear today: we are the temple of God, and we are filled with the Spirit to make a difference in the world.  The Church that is us, we baptized ones, goes forth into a world aching for renewal and brings it all back to the God who made everything, and makes everything new.


    And that newness is exactly what Jesus meant when he upturned the moneychangers’ tables and scattered the doves.  Because the doves were needed for the sacrifice, and the money which bore the inscription of pagan deities had to be changed for money that could be brought into the temple treasury – they weren’t doing anything wrong.  But Jesus’ message here is completely different than we might think at first – what he means by all of this is that there is a new temple, the temple that is he himself – that temple which will be torn down by disbelievers but restored in the Resurrection.  There is a new temple, and so that old one with all its dove-sellers and moneychangers isn’t really necessary any more, so take it all and go home, or come to worship rightly, in the temple that is Christ, that temple that will never ever fall into disrepair.


    We very much need the church buildings we have among us.  We need St. John Lateran to be a symbol of the Catholic faith that has withstood persecution of every sort and remained standing to give witness to Christ.  We need St. John the Baptist’s church here in Winfield so that we can come and worship and find our Lord in Word and Sacrament.  But all of that pales in comparison to the importance of the Church that is you and me, and all the baptized ones of every time and place, filled and inspired and breathed forth with the Holy Spirit, gifted beyond imagining, flooding the earth with the torrent of God’s grace, making everything new, and bringing it all back to God who made it all possible.


    The task is daunting, but we cannot be afraid to be Church to one another and Church to the world.  As our Psalmist tells us today, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold!”

  • Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

    Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

    Mass at Saint John the Baptist, Winfield

    I love that the Church celebrates women who were intellectual, influential, and beautiful, which is why I chose to celebrate this optional memorial today. Today is the (optional) memorial of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth century German Benedictine nun and Doctor of the Church who has recently become one of my favorite saints. She was a writer, music composer, philosopher, mystic, cook, medical doctor of sorts, and Benedictine abbess. Clearly she was a very busy woman!

    She was very sick in her childhood, and so her parents promised her to God for her healing. At age 8, she was placed in the care of a Benedictine nun, Blessed Jutta. She was taught to read and sing the psalms. Her holiness of life attracted her to many people, and at a young age, she began having mystical visions. At age 18, she was professed a nun and eventually elected abbess when Sister Jutta died. She went on to found monasteries at Bingen and Eibingen, which she felt was at divine command.

    Although she never had formal education and did not know how to write, she amassed great knowledge of the faith, music, natural science, herbs, and medicinal arts. Her insights and learning were attributed to visions, which were faithfully transcribed by confreres of her spiritual director. Hildegard became famous throughout Europe and people would travel to see her. The works that were transcribed from her visions included commentaries on the Gospels, the Athanasian Creed, and the Rule of Saint Benedict, in addition to Lives of the Saints and a medical work on the well-being of the body.

    As a person who loves to cook, I am thrilled that we have some of her recipes. Last year on her feast day, I made her “Cookies of Joy,” which are a crisp spice cookie not unlike gingerbread. I did, indeed, experience joy when I ate them! Her recipes, by and large, were written to include healthy ingredients (at least as that was understood in the twelfth century), but also to give delight.

    And in that delight, Hildegard encourages us to sing. She was a musician and she wrote: “Don’t let yourself forget that God’s grace rewards not only those who never slip, but also those who bend and fall. So sing! The song of rejoicing softens hard hearts. It makes tears of godly sorrow flow from them. Singing summons the Holy Spirit. Happy praises offered in simplicity and love lead the faithful to complete harmony, without discord. Don’t stop singing.”

    After her death, she was strongly revered. She became a saint, and in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, of blessed memory, declared her to be a Doctor of the Church, one of just four women and just 35 saints to be given that title. Pope Benedict XVI called Hildegard, “perennially relevant” and “an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music.”

    Saint Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us!

  • The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

    The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

    Today’s readings
    Mass at Saint John the Baptist, Winfield

    Bishop Robert Barron tells about an interreligious dialogue between Catholics and Buddhists at which he was present. At one point, one of the Buddhists said to him, pointing to the Cross above the door in the meeting room, “Why is that obscene image on every wall in your buildings?” The Buddhist explained that it would be considered a mockery in his religion to venerate the very thing that killed their leader. The truth is, of course, that it is obscene. It is strange, and I don’t think we give that as much thought as we should. Just because it’s strange doesn’t make it wrong, and Barron wrote a whole book about it called The Strangest Way.

    And we all must have thought about this at one time or another. Why is it that God could only accomplish the salvation of the world through the horrible, brutal, and lonely death of his Son? That question goes right to the root of our faith. We know that we had been alienated from God, separated by a vast chasm of sin and death, which we freely chose. But into this obscene world, Jesus becomes incarnate; he is born right into the midst of all that sin and death. He walks among us, and goes through all of the sorrows and pains of life and death right with along with us. If sin and death have been the obscenities that have kept us from God, then God was going to use those very obscenities to bring us back. Jesus comes into our world and dies our death because God wants us to know that there is no place we can go, no depth to which we can fall, no experience we can ever have that is outside of the reach of God’s saving power and love.

    Today’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, also called the Triumph of the Cross, was celebrated very early in the Church’s history. In the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She destroyed the Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman. The Cross immediately became an object of veneration.

    About this great feast, St. Andrew of Crete wrote: “Had there been no Cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no Cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood and water for the world’s cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be canceled, we should not have attained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no Cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled.”

    Because of the Cross, all of our sadness has been overcome. Disease, pain, death, and sin – none of these have ultimate power over us any more. Just as Jesus suffered on that Cross, so we too may have to suffer in the trials that this life brings us – we know that. But Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us, a place where there will be no more sadness, death or pain, a place where we can live in the radiant light of God for all eternity. Because of the Cross, we have hope, a hope that can never be taken away.

    The Cross is indeed a very strange way to save the world, but the triumph that came into the world through the One who suffered on the cross is immeasurable. As our Gospel reminds us today, all of this happened because God so loved the world.

    We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

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  • Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings
    Mass at Saint John the Baptist, Winfield

    Luke’s treatment of the Beatitudes is a little different than Matthew’s. While Matthew lists the blessings, it is only Luke who lists the woes. Whether we are looking at the blessings or the woes, it is clear that God’s wisdom is different than ours. How many of us would choose to accept hunger, grief, hatred and insult? How many of us would turn down wealth, plenty, laughter and good feelings? Yet the Lord makes it clear to us that what we choose may not ultimately be what we get.

    It’s kind of like my grandmother used to say, when we were playing and laughing a lot, “that laughing is going to turn into crying.” Usually, she was right. And that’s true of all of our lives. Time has a way of changing our circumstances and life comes with its ebbs and flows. But what Jesus is worried about here is a little more serious than that. He is concerned about those who make comfort and good feelings and wealth their number one priority, those who are addicted to these things. If this is what becomes our god, then what use have we for God our maker?

    Today’s Gospel is a call to get it right. To put our priorities in order. It’s not just about us; we have to take up the cross and follow Christ. That might indeed mean some hardship, some hunger, grief, hatred and insult. We might have to put aside the wealth, plenty, laughter and good feelings for a time. We are not home yet; we are mere travelers on this earth. And so the sufferings of this present time are but temporary. Our real reward is in heaven, and we pray that we don’t miss it by striving here on earth for all the wrong things.