Sunday, November 17, 2019

Nov 17 - 33rd Sunday in OT


+ The liturgy, prayers and readings of today are brief and to the point: and their point is this: we do not know when the Lord will come (to wrap up history as we know it), and so we must be ready all the time! Not the kind of sitting around kind of waiting, but the “keep doing what you have been taught all along” kind of waiting. In a sense it is like a test. Is all of this “Jesus stuff “and religious stuff real or not? If it is then, the final day will not be terrible for those who are faithful and faith-filled; and looking forward in hope to eternal peace with God: they shall not be disappointed.



But, as the first reading tells us, those who just don’t want to buy into the program, those who think they know better than Jesus and his religion, those who think they will slip through the cracks and land somehow in the same eternity as everyone else: they are mistaken. There are consequence to our choices regarding Jesus and his Way of Life – and they shall suffer the fruits of theirs!



This coming week let us reflect upon the question: depending on where it is exactly that I want to end up when Jesus comes again, am I playing according to his rules on how to go about doing that? If so, keep up the good work; if not, it’s never too late to change!



By our perseverance in living the Christian way we will secure our lives – and it will be wonderful when that final day finally arrives!

Friday, November 15, 2019

Nov 15 - St Albert the Great


+ Albert the Great was born in 1200 in Swabia, near Ulm, Germany, the son of a military nobleman. He joined the Dominicans while studying at the University of Padua in 1223 and taught theology at Cologne Germany, and Paris France. He became an influential teacher, preacher and administrator. Against his will he was named bishop of Regensburg in 1260; and because of his inability to deal with the serious problems in the diocese, he resigned the see in 1262 to devote his time and energy once again to teaching and writing in Cologne. He partook of the Council of Lyons despite the shock of the announcement of the death of St. Thomas Aquinas on his own way to the council. Albert introduced Greek and Arabic science and philosophy to medieval Europe and was known for his wide interest in what became known later as the natural sciences – botany, biology and the like.



He wrote and illustrated guides to his observations and was considered on a par with Aristotle as an authority on these matters. Albert’s health began to fail him in 1278 as he lapsed into a form of dementia today called Alzheimer’s disease. He died on November 15, 1280 and was buried in the Dominican church in Cologne. He was beatified in 1622 and canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church and patron saint of students of the natural sciences in 1931.



As the Book of Sirach tells us in the first reading today, it is he who fears the Lord – who understands his dependent relationship with the almighty, loving, Creator, Father – who is given the gift of deep insight into the realities of both heaven and earth. Albert the Great must have then had a deep and real sense of fear of his Lord and God to reach the heights of understanding and knowledge that he did.

The gospel passage tells us that as we await the end, saints and sinners must coexist side by side, but as we try the best we can to be saints and influence sinners to turn away from sin, we trust God that, fearing him, and using the gifts he gives us will help the cause – as St. Albert the Great used his!



Lord, teach me your statutes.


Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Nov 12 - St. Josaphat


+ Josaphat was the first Eastern saint to be formally canonized by the Catholic Church. Born Ioann Kunceyvch in 1580, his father was a municipal counselor, and his mother known for her piety. He was raised in the Orthodox Ruthenian Church which, in 1595, in the Union of Brest, united with the Church of Rome. Trained as a merchant’s apprentice at Vilnius, Lithuania, he was offered partnership in the business and marriage to his partner’s daughter, but feeling the call to religious life, he declined both. He became a monk of the Ukrainian Order of St. Basil in Vilnius at age 20, taking the name Brother Josaphat. He then became a deacon and was ordained a Byzantine rite priest in 1609. Now Josaphat’s superior never accepted unity with Rome, and looked for a way to fight against Roman Catholicism. Josaphat, learning of the superior’s work, reported him to his superior, the archbishop of Kiev. The superior was removed and the post was given to Josaphat.



He became a famous preacher and worked to bring unity among the faithful and bringing strayed Christians back to the Church. He did this so well that he was named Bishop (of Vitebsk), and later Archbishop (of Polotsk), in Lithuania in 1617. The antagonism against those believing in Church unity and those who wanted nothing to do with Rome was severe. Josaphat did all he could to defend the unity, but in late 1623, a mob broke into his residence and killed Josaphat who was trying to insure the safety of his servants before fleeing himself. His death was a shock to both sides of the dispute and brought some sanity and a cooling off period to both sides of the conflict. Josaphat’s body was found incorrupt five years after his death. He was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1876.



The Lord’s Prayer for Unity with his bishops, their successors and their flocks (in the gospel passage today) was a driving force for St. Josaphat: Father I pray for them, that they may be one in us. This dynamic and experience of deep unity of God, in his Church is truly beyond description if you really stop and consider it reflectively and prayerfully. St. Josaphat tried his very best to bring this experience of peace and inner strength and joy to his flock, and to be the instrument of unity with the source – the Roman Church – for those who were choosing not to be plugged in to this key vessel of grace!



May we today count ourselves blessed to be a part of the communion not only of saints, but also of those living today who see the one Church as Christ himself – and union with it as union with him – who leads us all safely to the heart’s embrace of his Father in heaven.



The just will flourish like the palm tree in the garden of the Lord.




Sunday, November 10, 2019

Nov 10 - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time


+ We have some powerful readings today: the power of death, the power of life, and the power of faith. It is the power of faith that is the key to understanding the other two. Unless we see with the “eyes of faith” then we are not seeing reality correctly. Our human vision can only see so far, our human intellect can only see so far, our human intuition can only see so far – but we know there is more, there is something beyond our grasp that is very real, but very elusive yet very attractive!



This very yearning inside of us is a gift from God to lead us to the only entity that “can see beyond” – and that is the gift of faith! No one is entitled to faith, and that is why God freely gives it to everyone who asks, and even whets the taste buds of those he would like to have ask for it! For this gift is a supernatural reality that transforms everything for us: it allows us to deal with God on his own level, to see things as he sees them,  and to please him in all we do, proving our love for him by self-sacrificial service to other people!



And so when real faith takes a look at death, as we see in the first reading today from the Book of Maccabees, it can see clearly that the violation of God’s law is not an option for a member of God’s people, and that the promise of resurrection from the dead surpasses any form of punishment and torture – even death. But those who do not hold for “resurrection” from the dead can neither understand the commitment of these people, nor the reality they are willing to die for: they have refused the gift of faith – and so are unable to see!



Our gospel passage also describes the faulty vision of those who use a trick question regarding the seven marriages of the one woman to fault Jesus on life in the hereafter. Jesus, however, calmly dismisses the whole thing as petty and assures us that God is the God of the living, and that those who die live with God as his children and as brothers and sisters of one another: there is no marriage in heaven for marriage is a gift for the earthly journey only!



The second reading, finally, summarizes for us the attitude that is necessary for us to be faith-filled people: people of supernatural vision: it is the attitude of humble reliance on the grace of God, coming through the merits of Christ Jesus – so that we may remain filled with faith - so that we may direct our hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of living a Christ-centered life – so that one day it will lead us to the glory of our own resurrection – that is assured because Jesus is already living that newness of life – and he promised to share it with us!



When the glory of the Lord appears then our joy will be full – beyond all our wildest imaginings!

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Nov 5 - 31st Week in OT - Tuesday


+ We have two interesting and timely readings today, as we look forward during this month of November to “end things” – from the first reading: we all have a talent and a purpose in life – it is up to us to discover what they are, before the end of our lives on earth. There is something that each can do to upbuild the entire society in which we find ourselves living. And so, we don’t have to excel at, and be good at everything; and if we expect anyone in our lives to be able to do this, then we are deceiving ourselves, and putting a heavy burden on such a person.



Oftentimes children do this with a parent, or parents: they expect their mother and or their fathers to “be able to do it all.” “My dad can do anything!” goes the saying. This is born of course from the fact that when we grow and develop from infancy, we notice that are parents really are and do everything for us in those early stages. But, as we grow up and mature, we hopefully reach a point when we know that this is no longer the case, probably the same time we ought to refocus our belief in Santa Claus.



This goes to administration in a church or parish. To think that “the priest can do, and ought to do anything and everything” in a 7000 member congregation is to still believe unwaiveringly in Santa! To pedestalize a priest is the fault of the congregation: it is called clericalism when the priest expects it. And this is a myth that is in much need of modification, this day, in this age.



In the gospel passage, Jesus tells us that ultimately everyone will be invited to the “wedding feast of the King’s son” – actually, referring to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb of God – the King Himself, when history runs out. A “wedding garment” is required of everyone – good deeds done to others for love of God, and because God has loved us first. “Oh, that’s easy!” we might say: but actually it is not quite as easy as it might sound: sometimes we are all for doing good works for others, but it is so that we ourselves can get the recognition and the honor and the respect that is due. But unless and until we do give God the credit, the respect and the honor for all of it: we may be sitting in the parking lot when the heavenly wedding feast begins.



Yes, the end / the beginning of the all new is coming – and using our talents for the good of others is the entrance qualification: may we become even more qualified this day by our thoughts, words and deeds that GIVE GOD THE GLORY! AMEN.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Nov 3 - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time


+ Last Sunday we have Jesus telling the story of: the Pharisee and a tax collector. It was the tax-collector who went home justified because of his sincere, humble God-centered prayer asking for mercy and forgiveness; rather than the Pharisee whose prayer was actually not a prayer at all, but rather a rambling verbal pat of himself on his back for all the precise religious observances that he so faithfully kept!



Today, to emphasize the point, St. Luke adds a second gospel passage to back up the first: this time dealing with the chief tax-collector: Zacchaeus, the short little man who climbed up a tree to get a better view of Jesus, and to have a fitting podium from which to invite Jesus to his house for dinner. Jesus accepted the invitation! “Come down from that tree, Zacchaeus – let’s go eat!”



Of course, the Pharisees and the crowd gathered around the tree were mumbling: “He even goes and eats with sinners!” But Zacchaeus to qualify his invitation, to show his good will and to counteract the Pharisees said: Lord, now that I am right here in your presence, and see my own lowliness, I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone – which tax collectors were notorious for doing – I shall repay in four times over. Jesus smiled at Zacchaeus and to the crowds and said: Today salvation has come to this house…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”



My brothers and sisters: we must not ever count ourselves out from among the convocation of sinners on this earth; for if we do we are at the same time counting ourselves out of redemption, salvation and eternal life with God. There is not one among all the peoples on earth who is not a sinner – more or less – no one. There are some who are quite less, but there are also some who are quite more!  Maybe you know a few of each! Either way – it is because of our sinfulness that the Blood of Christ’s reconciliation applies to us, forgives us our sins and makes us eligible for eternal life.



Do not get me wrong: I am not encouraging anyone to sin in order to “stay qualified” for the “big prize” at the end of life. NO! But I am saying that we all find ourselves sinning on occasion and we must at that point seek the mercy and forgiveness of God: primarily in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).



Sadly, this is the most unused “golden treasure” of the sacramental system. In the first reading today from the Book of Wisdom we see everything put in perspective: before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balancing scale, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth, but this same Lord has mercy on all, because he can do it, and he does it, he overlooks people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are, and spare all things, because they are yours. Therefore, rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing that they may abandon their evil deeds and believe in you, O Lord, and find eternal life!



With a God who loves us so very much and who shows us the most power of his being (not in creating vast universes) but rather in his bestowal of mercy – it would behoove us to beat our breast like the tax collector last week and say: “O Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!” He will be merciful and then he will say “now let’s go to your house and have dinner,” like he said to Zacchaeus today!



God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Nov 1 - All Saints


+ Today is the great feast day of all the saints in heaven: the canonized and the not yet canonized. So often we think of saints as those who live a pure, holy and basically unearthly life and then somehow get assumed into heavenly glory. There are a small minority of those in heaven. There are also those specially chosen by God to go outside their often-times selfish comfort zones and do something really important for the life of the Church – when crises arise and spiritual heroes are needed to bolster the faith and lead the flock. Among these are those who found religious orders who preach, teach, take care of the poor and the sick and the suffering.



But I think more important than all of those are the ones who lived a real human life, encountering real human interactions, making mistake after mistake, after they committed themselves to lead good Christian Catholic lives, but kept getting up and starting over again – who are also called to heroic measures of self-sacrifice, love, compassion, helping those God the Father places directly in their paths each day: be they family, coworkers, or total strangers – who wake up when Jesus hits them over the head somehow and says: hey I want to use you for my game plan – in saving people, in saving the world, are you game?? St. Paul comes to mind here, and St. Francis and saints to be like Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day.



These are the kind of saints who eventually – when their own strivings and wills are smashed, put to rest and buried: can at last think only of doing what God would have them do: thus living the life of Beatitude proclaimed by Jesus in the gospel passage. Brother Richard Steinberg, aka Paul Andre, JSC RN, our own co-founder and beloved friend is such a saint now that he has been “transferred to the Motherhouse in heaven” as the Joyful Servants of the Cross like to put it – he lived a very full life and was tempted in all of the ways the rest of us are – but as he puts it: when God hits me over the head and gets my attention, then I am willing to do what he asks of me: and great great things he did indeed as a monk previously, as a soldier, as a husband, as a father, as a nurse, as a gardener, as a gourmet cook – giving his all for the people God put in his life – and many cats, and dogs, and birds, and geese and ducks as well!



Brother was more than ready to make the simple leap into his promised eternal inheritance on February 5th of this year, the feast of St. Agatha, Patron of Nurses of all days: and now with all the other saints of any making – while glorifying God at each moment, still do all they can for us here on earth who are still “in via” on the road to where they are!  



Yes, there are Saints, and then there are saints of all sizes, ages, stages and flavors: and they are just so willing for you to pray to them, talk with them, do things with them, things that will help the Kingdom to Come more this day than yesterday! Just think, one day we can be saints WITH THEM! AMEN!



Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints!

Happy New Year 202

  A Happy New Year to you all! I hope and pray I am able to keep this blog up to date now that we are entering into the New Year! I would li...