20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’
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Beloved in Jesus Christ, The Gospel today shows us the power of earnest prayer. Jesus, who is God, knew the heart of this Canaanite woman who came for help. And he new that if he first said ‘no’ to her request, her faith would become even stronger, and by this, she would forever be written down in the gospel as an example of excellent prayer.
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There are many types of prayer, all of which should be part of our life. Prayer of praise – praising God in gratitude – perhaps we don’t do enough of this. Mental prayer or Meditation: time every day to just ‘BE’ with the Lord, to talk over things – this should be for 30 minutes. And then there is Intercessory Prayer: asking the Lord’s help, asking for favors, his assistance – and this is our subject today: Intercessory Prayer.
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For myself, Intercessory Prayer – asking God for things – is huge: lists of many whose needs we must pray for: the sick, the dying, requests, the parish, the bishop, the Church, so many needs. And I know that we all have lists of requests we are asking from God every day.
In a thousand places in the Old Testament[i] God promises to hear all who pray to him: ‘Cry to me and I will hear thee,’ says the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah.[ii] And Jesus assures us: ‘ If you abide in me, and my words in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done unto you.'[iii] ‘Seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened.'[iv]
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Now some people say,[v] it is pointless to try to change the Plan of Almighty God, since he has foreordained all that will be. It is true, that God already knows all that will be, he knows from the beginning of creation. So what is the use of prayer, of trying to alter the Divine Decree? The answer is that prayer does not attempt to alter God’s plan; we pray not against his Plan, but within it. We pray because prayer is one of the forces which govern events in the world, just as God takes into account other forces.
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We pray because in God’s Providence, this prayer, that we just made, may be fore-ordained to contribute to bringing about this event rather than another.
So we always pray: ‘Lord, I want this; it seems good to me, it seems like it is best, please – but your will be done. You know best.’ When the Lord grants us what we ask, we should be very thankful, grateful. It is easy to say ‘my prayer worked!’, and then go on to the next thing without a word of thanks to God. We must be very grateful.
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Sometimes we may feel, that when we pray, we are petitioning a ‘hard, unmovable God, in which it almost seems barely worth our effort, as if God is a block of granite and we are trying to press out of him just one drop of water for our needs. Or as if our prayer is a mere lottery, where we hope by some luck of the draw, God will hear us. But this is completely wrong. God is our Father. He hears every single prayer we say to him. ‘Before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear,’ says the Lord.[vi]
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St. James says, when we pray, the Lord opens his hands and gives us more than we ask. ‘Let him ask it of God, and it will be given to him; God, who gives abundantly to all men; but let him ask with faith,[vii] …… ‘and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over into your lap.[viii] The Lord is not stingy in any way, but very, very generous; he hears us, because he is our Father.
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If your little child came and asked for help in something that was of great concern, wouldn’t we listen carefully to his trouble, and find the best way to help him? ‘What father, if a son asks for a fish would hand him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg would hand him a scorpion?[ix] Jesus said that. If earthly fathers want to help their children, Our Father in heaven wants to give us good things, but we don’t always understand his gifts to us.
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A little boy is being wheeled down the hall for a life-saving surgery. He is very afraid, and asks his father: ‘Why are you doing this to me? Children often don’t understand why their parents hurt them, why the Peroxide must be put on the cut, why the infection must be pressed out of the wound. Children don’t understand why they must go through pain. But we are children, of God, and we too often don’t know why God’s answers seem to hurt. We must pray daily; give God all our greatest desires and requests. Then trust his answer.
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I was with the elderly at the retirement center last night, speaking on this same subject. A lot of people there with physical problems. I said, ‘Brace yourself now for what St. Francis de Sales says.’ He says: When we are sick, ask God’s help; obey your doctor, take the prescribed remedies. ‘Desire to be cured,’ he says, ‘that you may serve God more.’ ‘But do not refuse to be ill, that you may obey him, and be prepared to die should this be his will, to praise him.'[x]
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St. Bernard says, when we pray, the Lord will give either the grace we ask, or one that is more useful to us.[xi]
St. Augustine says,[xii] ‘We owe this much to God: if he does not take away our trouble, we must not imagine that we are being forgotten, but we must await greater blessings. God always hears our prayers.
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St. Francis de Sales wrote a letter to a person who asked why her prayers are not answered. Here is what he says: ‘all trees my dear child do not bear fruit at the same season; some of the best are the longest in coming to maturity. I have heard it said that the palm tree grows a hundred years before it bears fruit. God has hidden within the secrets of his Providence, when and how he answers your prayers, and it may be that he will answer you by doing according to his views rather than yours. Be at peace, my child, within his fatherly arms and in his loving Care.[xiii]
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So we pray hard and with confidence – and we trust God in his answers.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say, God feels as if he were under an obligation to the person that prays to him.
St. John Chrysostom says, ‘the kings of the earth give an audience only to a few; but God gives an audience to all who wish for it.’ So let us pray daily and often for all our needs. We should all have a list of those things for which we beseech God. It is true, we do not always know what is best to ask for. So why don’t we put it all in the hands of Mary to bring to Jesus. Mary, I entrust everything to you, because you know best, how to bring everything to Jesus.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Nicholas]
[i] Efficacy of prayer is nicely discussed in: Preparation for Death, St. Alphonsus, p. 301-303.
[ii] Jeremiah 33:3
[iii] John 15:7
[iv] Matt 7:7
[v] The Divine Pity, p. 109.
[vi] Isaiah 65:24
[vii] see James 1:5
[viii] see Luke 6:38
[ix] Luke 11:12; Matt 7:10
[x] Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 96.
[xi] Preparation for Death, p. 301.
[xii] Roman Breviary, Office for Thursday, 29th Week.
[xiii] Spiritual letters of St.Francis de Sales, p. 191.
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Beloved in Jesus Christ, today we encounter in the gospel – that magnificent scene of Jesus walking on the water. The apostles had been out all night in the boat; it was very early in the morning. The winds had come up unexpectedly, a frequent occurrence at the Sea of Galilee. Suddenly, these apostles see something, someone, walking on the water? an apparition? what is it? then comes the familiar voice: “Have courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus, walking on the top of the water.
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Now while they are still in disbelief, from among them, Peter suddenly blurts out: “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you.” ‘Are you mad Peter? What are you doing?’ He slips his foot down onto the waves; set’s his sandal there, and his weight on it – His feet press against the water as if it were solid ground, he’s standing. Now such a thing had never been seen in the history of the world. But they are seeing it.
‘Lord, command me to come to you.’ And he said, “Come.”
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Friends, we wish to speak today about trust in Jesus, confidence[i] in the Lord. In one sense, we might say that trust in God equals worship.[ii] Without trust, there can be no real, living Faith, because living Faith inevitably leads to trust. How can a person say, ‘I have faith in the Lord,’ but I don’t completely trust him. If we had total confidence in God, we would never worry.
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Trust in God means a child-like simplicity. We see little children asleep in their mother’s arms carrying them around in the in the store, and they are completely at ease. Many wish to become holy, but do not attain it, because of a lack of confidence in God.
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There is an expression which is often said: ‘I am so worried about this, I just have to give it over to God.’ People say this: ‘I know, I just have to put it in God’s hands.’ So our conscience is telling us this, to trust in God. We say: ‘Lord, I put this problem into your hands’ – yet we do not feel the peace. We go on worrying, and we try to control the situation, to make it turn out the way we want.
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I was listening to a talk by Fr. Thomas Richter.[iii] He says, that we often pray in order to get God to agree to give us things. ‘Lord, please give us a sunny day for the family reunion.’ We get sunshine, God complied with our request, and then we sort of forget about him, until the next need arises. This is really to make the Lord a dispenser of favors, our prayers try to control him, because controlling everything is what we want, we wish to be self-reliant.
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A person will say, ‘My brother is getting a test to see if he has Leukemia, we’re praying that he doesn’t. We are putting our trust in God.’ So here is the question: What is meant by ‘trust in God?’ Do we mean that we have confidence that he won’t have Leukemia? Is this confidence in God? not really. This is why we keep worrying.
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Total trust in God means, that we believe he hears our prayer, that God loves us, and that whatever his plan is, without question, it will be for the best; and then we have peace, even if he has Leukemia, because we trust him.
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St. Polycarp was being pursued by those who hated Christians; he wanted God to protect him from capture, and he even hid himself. But he was captured. Yet when the solders found him – they found him at complete peace; he even offered them a meal. So was the gruesome martyrdom that he went through, a failure of his prayer? Had his confidence in God been misplaced? no God wanted him to be a martyr, and this was a greater thing.
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Confidence in God means that we want what he wants. Trust in God means embracing his plan today, accepting with peace, his plan, today. It has to do with that little phrase we say in the Our Father: ‘Thy will be done.’
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Some people think that being a Christian means that we will use prayer to get every cross out of our life. But Jesus says that to be a Christian is to take up your cross!
The truth is, we all have some-thing or some-one in our life that is a real cross for us. Something. We probably pray and anguish, the most about that. Let’s think right now, about that one thing or one person. If we had a magic wand, and could make that one problem in our life go away – an illness, our boss, a child’s lapse from the faith, a sinful past; my poor head for arithmetic;
it could be a co-worker who tries us, or a relative; or if my spouse just wasn’t – ‘that way;’ if only THAT, would be taken away, our life would be SO beautiful.
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Well, deep down we all know: this THING in our life, is no doubt exactly the thing by which Jesus wants us to find holiness. This is where complete trust in Jesus must be found.
We spend our life trying to get rid of our big cross, but it is in precisely in this, by which God wants to teach us to abandon ourselves into his Providence.
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People who want to manipulate God, this is their relationship to him – when they don’t get that job they prayed for, or the cure they asked for, they can become bitter or angry: ‘I tried trusting God, but he did not come through.’ This is trying to get God to do what we want, but really, we are supposed to be embracing what God wants! Peter walked on the water as long as he trusted Jesus. But when he stopped trusting, he sank. ‘Oh ye of little faith!,’ says the Lord. Well, we need more trust ourselves.
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Think of a 5-year old child who can’t sleep, tossing and turning; he is worrying about how to pay the electric bill; and how he will do all the shopping for the family tomorrow, and pay his older brother’s college tuition, big problems. He tells another boy how stressed out he is: But that boy says, ‘my parents do all that!’
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In reality, we are MORE dependent on God than that 5-year old. We have to put our confidence in the Lord, and not worry. We can’t control everything at all. When things are not the way we want them, this is where grace wants to come in. Being a true Christian means to stop hating hardship, but accepting it, so that we can grow. ‘When I am weak, then I am strong,’ says St. Paul.
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St. Paul prayed to God: He had something, that was a thorn in his side. ‘3 times I asked God to take it away. But God said, no. My grace is sufficient for you.’ St. Paul had to learn to embrace that thorn in his life, whatever it was, and to trust God.
Some think it was a temptation of the flesh which kept coming back to him. it is often found that temptation is conquered precisely by confidence in God.
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Those struggling against a sinful habit or addiction know that it is imperative, that at the first moment of temptation one must make an act of total confidence in God. ‘Lord help me, without you I will fall, but with you I will conquer. Father Faber[iv] says, a person who has been tested a lot by temptation is always someone with a lot of trust in God. No one can walk on water except Jesus Christ; so what about Peter? Peter had the Spirit of Christ in him. When we become worried about what is not in our control, that’s against the spirit of Jesus.
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‘I can do all things in he who strengthens me.’ There, that’s St. Paul. That’s confidence in God. The same St. Paul says ‘God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, He will give you the way to bear it.'[v]
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Often we wish to pray, ‘Jesus, take this storm away from me;’ We can go through life asking God to take away everything that makes us dependent on him – or we can trust him.
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Confidence in God, is true worship. It shows real, living Faith.
Our trust must be bold and it must be total.
Then God can have his way with us in the storm.
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Mary trusted God more than anyone. ‘Let it be done unto me, according to your word.’ Help us Mary, to put our total trust in Jesus, Our Savior,
come what may.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Teresa of Avila]
[i] See ‘Interior Freedom’ by Jacques Philippe for a great deal more on this subject.
[ii] See his conference ‘Confidence is the only Worship,’ in father Faber’s Spiritual Conferences.
[iii] Portions of this homily are from the talk on CD: ‘Trust in the Lord,’ by Fr. Thomas Richter, Lighthouse Media.
[iv] Spiritual Conferences, Faber. See his chapter: ‘Confidence, the Only Worship.’
[v] 1 Cor 10:13
Friends in Christ, today we are in our continuing Novena to St. John Vianney, our patron saint. Many have been coming to the Novena Nights this past week; Monday will be the final day, and the great procession, so hopefully everyone can be there, especially the children.
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St. John Vianney once said, ‘All the saints did not start out so well, but they all finished well.’
St. John’s whole life was really about helping people to ‘finish well,’ to turn away from past sins and begin again – to follow Christ. This is why he was in the Confessional 12 hours a day, and people came from all over Europe to confess – and begin new.
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‘All the saints did not start out so well, but they all finished well.’
The mercy of God is always inviting us to begin new, and to become a more true disciple; this was the mission of St. John Vianney. He once said, ‘All I desire is that everyone would love God.’
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Atheists deny God. So much of our world has no use for God, or heaven, or goodness or hope. But one thing is true of all such people: They do not wish to hear about the saints – they do not wish to hear about those whose lives became shining stars of goodness. For those whose heart has grown cold, who make the pleasures of this world their god – they do not wish to hear about the saints, it is painful to them.
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I was once asking my sister, what she likes to hear in a good homily. Without hesitation she said: ‘I love to hear about the saints.’ My sister likes this, because we learn by example. The saints show us what Christian discipleship looks like. So I thought it would be good today to speak about our great patron, St. John Vianney.
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Once upon a time, to the north of Lyon, France[i] was a tiny village called Dardilly, and in a nearby farmhouse, there lived Mathieu and Marie Vianney who had 6 children, the 4th being John. This was rural France in the 18th century. On the outside, such poor people of those days worked very hard; but on the inside, they had a great and simple peace. The difficulties of life pulled them down, but a pure faith in God lifted them up. Among themselves and at the supper table, they talked about the gospel stories as easily as we today, speak of news on tv. As Henri Gheon says, children then learned at the same time how Jesus was born and how the corn grows. Both were simply facts. This was the atmosphere of faith and life that little John Vianney breathed.
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But shattering through this goodness, was the outbreak of the French Revolution. Atheism and hatred against God led to the suppression of religion; some 30,000 priests either fled France or were executed by the guillotine. The Vianney family watched as their government became an enemy to the Christian Faith; in fact, the French government created its own pseudo-religion, based on progress and reason.
We ourselves today can feel a hint of this same attitude; our present government is against the Church, trying to force religious institutions to pay-for and accept that which is against God’s law. So we can feel a hint of this kind of pressure. So far however, no one has gone to the guillotine – yet.
But in little John Vianney’s time, this attitude of the government had crescendoed to a frenzy: priests and nuns were arrested and their heads chopped off by the thousands. For little John Vianney, he and his family, at great risk, attended covert Masses held secretly in various barns or farm-houses. Priests moved secretly from house to house, wherever good Catholics would shelter them so that they could still bring the sacraments. As a little boy, St. John once asked: ‘What is a priest? He was told: ‘a priest is a man who is willing to die, so that he can be one.’ And so he chose to be one.
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By the time he went to the seminary, the Revolution had ended, and the people had no faith. ‘Without God, he once said, people live like animals.’ But in order for him to become a priest and help the people find God again, St. John had to get through the seminary. He struggled in his studies, especially Latin.
Here is an incident[ii] that happened to him when he was attending school: One day, a teacher asked him to stand and answer a question in class, but he did not know the answer. With that, a boy much younger named Loras, called him a fool and straightaway punched him. Do you think he retaliated? No. He knelt down and apologized for being so stupid! At the sight of this humility, Loras himself burst into tears over what he had done.
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What effect did this simple act of humility have on Loras? Well, surprisingly, this cruel boy, went on to become a priest. He was sent as a missionary to the US – to Iowa. Working tirelessly, he was named a Bishop, and there established the diocese of Dubuque, Iowa. For 19 years, Bishop Loras guided Dubuque, a diocese that flourished. The people of Dubuque spoke with love of their Bishop. They named a college after him: ‘Loras college’ For generations, Catholic parents named their boys “Loras”, and even their girls “DeLoras,” after the Holy Bishop, who had shown them Christ.
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Loras – a man who had punched St. John Vianney. A man who transformed his own part of the world, because he himself was transformed by an encounter with a saint.
Our life affects so many others. The better our life, the more effect it has in the world. St. John Vianney was especially about helping people to turn away from the failings of their life, to begin again.
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‘All the saints did not start out so well, he said, but they all finished well.’
And he had a secret to help him – Mary.
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One evening, when St. John was only 4 years old, his mother went to look for him; she found him at the far end of the cattle shed on his knees in the straw, holding in his hand a little statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was his favorite toy. He did not hear his mother enter, he was praying. This was his secret.
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Mary, help us to be saints.
Pray for us, that we today will begin anew, and make the remainder of our life, a perfect gift to God.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Blessed Bartolo Longo]
[i] ideas and quotes here are taken from ‘The Secret of the Cure D’Ars,’ by Henri Gheon. pp. 7-11.
[ii] this incident is related in ‘The Cure D’Ars Today,’ by Fr. George Rutler
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of the two great pillars of the church: St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Peter, the first Pope, was given the keys of heaven by Jesus. St. Paul was the greatest missionary the Church has ever known. Both achieved the greatest honor a Christian can have: They gave their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ.
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If you go to Rome someday, you should visit ‘The Church of St Paul at the 3 Fountains.’ It was on that spot that St. Paul was martyred. His head was cut off, and as legend says, when his head was severed, it bounced and struck the earth in three different places, from which fountains sprang up. These fountains still flow today.
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If you go over to the Roman Basilica of St. Peter, under the high altar is the crypt where lie the bones of St. Peter. Jesus had foretold that Peter would be crucified, and in fact he was. But when the time came, he felt so unworthy to die like Christ, that they crucified him upside down.
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But these saints suffered greatly even before they were martyred. St. Paul tells of how he was one time scourged, other times beaten with rods, even stoned – And Peter suffered too. For example, we read today of the persecution by King Herod. When they wanted to go after the Church, they struck at the head of the Church, and that was St. Peter. Of the first 30-some Popes, nearly all were martyred. So Peter was arrested and thrown in prison. The whole church then did what we would do if the Pope were in prison; they began praying. As it says: ‘Prayer to God was made without ceasing by the Church for him.’
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So, there he was, chained up in this dark and gloomy prison. ‘What am I going to do, he thought? In that jail there were four guards guarding him, it seemed hopeless. But in the middle of the night, a bright light flashed in the cell, and an angel appeared. ‘Peter, wake up, put on your sandals, and let’s go!’ The chains fell off of his hands. But what about the guards? Well, they walked right past the guards. It suppose the angel put them to sleep. Now Peter wondered if he was dreaming because it says: ‘He followed him out, not knowing that what was being done by the angel was real.’ They passed through the first guard and the 2nd until they came to the iron gates that protect the city. Now what? At nighttime, the gates are locked. But what is this? The gates opened by themselves! And after going down one street, the angel disappeared. Then Peter thought, its really true! An angel has freed me! All of this is explained in the Acts of the Apostles.
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So, on the run, Peter goes to the house where St. Mark lived, for a place to stay. Now the people in there were praying so hard for Peter to be released from jail: ‘Please Lord, let Peter be freed, please Lord let Peter be freed. And then? !KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! A young girl named Rhoda[i] goes to the door. She looks through the peep-hole – its Peter! But she was so excited that she forgot to open the door! Rhoda then runs in to tell the others – its Peter outside! He’s here! You’re crazy! They said. It must be his angel! (This is, by the way, an example of belief in guardian angels so clearly shown in Sacred Scripture).
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So they kept praying – ‘please Lord, let Peter be freed from prison, please Lord let Peter be freed from prison.’ But Rhoda insisted that it is Peter knocking, and that they should let him in. !KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! Disregarding what everyone says, Rhoda will not give up on Peter. She goes and opens the door and brings in Peter and they are amazed! So he waves his hand for them to be quiet, and tells them how the angel had freed him from prison.
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Friends, Peter went through a great deal of anguish in those years, and as we said, so did St. Paul. You can’t just be a martyr after an unvirtuous life of leisure! As the Apostles lived their Life in Christ, being faithful in numerous difficulties, they were really training for the greatest honor: martyrdom.
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You may have been following in the news that 27 year-old woman[ii] in Sudan who was sentenced to death for her Christian Faith. She was ordered to give up Christ, and become Muslim – ‘No,’ was her answer. Yes, she was happily married. Yes, she had a child. But she was determined to die rather than renounce her faith. Are we? Are we prepared to be another St. Paul and lose our head rather than our Faith? Or a St. Peter? Our Faith in Christ must mean more than our life, because we owe everything to Jesus Christ. We must be able to say what St. Peter said: I know and believe, that ‘you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’
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I think everyone here can all say ‘Yes,’ without hesitation – that we would each give our life rather than ever deny Jesus. But we can test ourselves to see if we would really do it. We just have to ask a few questions: Are we faithful to the Lord in small things? When friends or colleagues criticize the Catholic Faith, do we speak up? Can’t be a martyr if we won’t even do that.
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The martyrs gave their lives for Christ, yet today, many throw away their Faith for the most pathetic things: – in order to remarry outside the Church, many walk away – because their friends are in another religion, they go too – they want to live at their boyfriend’s apartment, so they walk away from God. Pathetic reasons.
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We have to make choices, to do what is right or to walk away from Christ. Do we tell the truth when under pressure to lie? Do we cheat when there is an advantage? God permits us many opportunities to show him our loyalty, but we aren’t worthy to be a martyr unless we can be faithful in small things.
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In the spiritual warfare that is part of life, we do have our Angel to help us like St. Peter did; and if we are on the run, we can always knock at the door of the house of Mary, who will always open to us. May the Blessed Virgin help us in our daily life to be worthy of the promises of Christ.
[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Mary, niece of Abraham]
[i] The name Rhoda means ‘Rose,’ and it is also interesting that the house he went to was the house of Mary, the mother of Mark.
[ii] Meriam Yehya Ibrahim
Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
Beloved in Jesus Christ,
in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, St. Philip makes a request to Jesus. ‘Lord, show us the Father, and then we will be satisfied.’
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– Show us the Father? – For a long time, Jesus had been telling them about his Father in heaven; and he even had told them: ‘I and the Father are one.’ So here comes Philip, and he says: ‘Show us the Father.’ Jesus says, ‘Philip, how long have I been with you explaining these things; if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father!’
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Jesus is the revelation of God in the world. God has ‘put on flesh,’ to be with his people, to walk with us, to love us, and to teach us something about what God is really like.
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In Our Lord’s public life, he spoke many times about his Father in heaven, and he usually did it with parables. For example, the story of the Prodigal Son. This son, who leaves home and wastes his father’s fortune on loose living – But he comes to his senses and returns to his Father and asks for forgiveness, asking to just be allowed to work as a hired man. But this Father not only forgives him, he throws his arms around him, kisses him, and throws a party. Christ tells many such stories really, to teach us about what God is really like.
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Cardinal Ratzinger, in his book Introduction to Christianity, he says in so many ways, we see what God is like through Jesus: God is loving, he is just, he forgives, he is filled with emotion when his child returns, he yearns for us.
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Still, the world says that such things are ridiculous; yes, they will admit that there is probably some form of ‘supreme being;’ but it is absurd, they say, that this Being should concern himself with us, or come down to us. They say that we are naïve to think this; that these ideas are left over from a primitive world of ignorant people.
Our tiny and unimportant planet – this speck of dust in the universe, shows that we are nothing; it is absurd that a supreme being would concern himself with us, with our sins, or our problems –
They will say that God is not like that Father who throws his arms around a lost son and kisses him. God is like a Force or an Energy-field in the Universe. How vast is the universe, and what a tiny, unimportant speck our earth is, so GET REAL! – So say the “modern people.”
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But in fact, things are really flipped around just the opposite. For these “modern people,” THEIR God is actually too small. They have made their idea of God, as a narrow image of themselves; an idea that God is not able to embrace the whole universe and each person – as if God has limitations and is not able to leave his chair to visit the heart of each person. Their God is way too small. The True God is actually very great.
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God reaches down to the smallest, because to him, nothing is too small. This is the true greatness we would expect from a Supreme Being, that the great would stoop down to the little.
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Imagine a powerful executive of Chase Manhattan Bank; why would such an important person have any interest in helping a dirty, street person in the gutter? Well, if he does help such a person, we would call him great. Then isn’t God greater because he compassionates his tiny creatures?
If he stoops down to this speck of dust, and takes concern over each of our problems, unite himself to us, and suffers our own life with us?
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Today is the Feast of Most Blessed Trinity. And this is a uniquely Christian revelation, that God is a communio of Persons.
Buddhism, Islam, the other religions – they don’t know this about their Creator, they don’t know. they don’t know what St. John says straight out in his Epistle: ‘God is love.’ We know this because it was revealed by Christ.
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You can’t have love, by one person. There must be a lover, and a beloved. God himself, if we may say, is an eternal chase of love. 3 Persons in One God. The Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father, and that LOVE is the Person: the Holy Spirit.
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Now Our Savior has said that if we love God, the Three Persons will come to live in us. ‘If any one love Me, my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our abode with him (John 14:23).
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Calling on these 3 Divine Persons then, must be part of our daily life. Speaking every day to Our Heavenly Father, to Jesus, our Savior, and to the dear Holy Spirit
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It was by calling on these Divine Persons, that a glass of poison shattered, to save St. Benedict. It was by calling on these Divine Persons that St. Anthony fought the devil, that St. Catherine challenged the emperor, and St. George defeated the dragon. It was in the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit that St. Lawrence healed the blind, St. Sebastian healed a mute woman, and the martyrs gave their lives.
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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – These are the Divine Persons by which Jesus commanded us to batpize: ‘I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’
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We praise these Divine Persons every time we say the Glory Be. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. The Glory Be is one of the earliest-known prayers praising the Holy Trinity, and it was an answer to the heretics who denied the Divinity of Christ; ths prayer, the ‘Glory Be,’ should certainly be part of our daily life.
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God is not a Force, or an Energy-Field, or a vapor; He is a communio of Persons. The meaning of the Holy Trinity is that God is love. And the world of nature shows this God of love: St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, when holding a flower in her hand felt wounded by Divine love, saying, God has thought of creating this flower – that I might love him.’ The blue sky, the birds of the air, every tree and each star above, seems to say to us, ‘I am a messenger from God – He loves you.’
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Mary can show us the way into the heart of the Holy Trinity. St. Alphonsus says, see with what love the Most Holy Trinity blessed Mary. The Father crowns her by sharing his power with her, the Son his wisdom, the Holy Spirit his love. Well, God desires the same for us. He wishes to share with us his power, his wisdom, and his love. May all things be to the eternal glory of the most holy Trinity.
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Entrusted to the prayers of St. Teresa of Avila
Pentecost
‘And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a driving wind … and there appeared to them tongues as of fire … and they were filled with the Holy Spirit’
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Beloved in Jesus Christ, Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. It is the day that the Holy Spirit brings the Church alive. After Our Lord had ascended to heaven, there he told the Holy Spirit, ‘now, You must go! Go down to my disciples, to the Holy Church, and give them your Life. And so down came the Good Holy Spirit in a Wind, into the souls of the followers of Jesus; into the souls of those sons and daughters of God, and into us – at our baptism.
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Some[i] people wrongly think, that the Holy Spirit has come to ‘finish the job’ of what Jesus started, as if Christ’s work was imperfect. No, this is not it. How the Holy Spirit has brought the Church alive – how the Holy Spirit acts in us, dwells in us, moves us – the explanation of the work of this Divine Consoler must be found in Jesus Christ. If we wish to know how WE possess the Holy Spirit, all we have to do is know how JESUS possesses him.
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St. Paul says: ‘As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.’
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The Holy Church is literally the Body of Christ. The Church continues the Incarnation; this ‘birthing of Christ’ is essentially prolonged in the world – in us, and as we shall see, the Holy Spirit is the one who accomplishes this. We call the Church the Body of Christ, and so it is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says #1108: The Holy Spirit is sent, in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body.’ So the Church is the prolongation, the continuing of the Incarnation through history.
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See what a happened, when Jesus came into the world. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is made present in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Well, on Pentecost, we can say that by the power of the HOly Spirit, Christ is made present in the womb of the Church; the Spirit of Jesus is born his people. In fact, the entire Book of the Acts of the Apostles shows how the Apostles began to live and do what Jesus did. The Holy Spirit is making them into ‘other Jesus’s’. So what happens at Pentecost, is really the same as what happened at the Incarnation.
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At Baptism, we are born new, of water and Spirit. And here at Holy Mass, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ becomes present in the womb of Mother Church; so we are, more and more, being incorporated into the Body of Christ. Father Mersch in his book says:[ii] He who fashioned Christ’s physical Body – the Holy Spirit – is also fashioning his Mystical Body, the Church. St. Irenaus beautifully says: ‘When the Son of God became Man, the Spirit descended upon him, and in this way, the Holy Spirit became accustomed to dwelling with the human race.[iii]
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So the birth of the Church extends over the centuries. The Holy Spirit is continually being sent, and Pentecost never comes to an end; this is a reality: This Divine Paraclete, this Holy Spirit, is in us! ‘Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit?,’ says St. Paul.
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By his Gifts, this Divine Consoler wishes to do great things in us, really make us ‘other Christs.’ Jesus wishes to reproduce his life in us. You know, when St. Teresa of Avila would pray in the chapel, sometimes the Holy Spirit came with such power, that she was lifted off the ground, levitating in the air while she prayed. Many saw this.[iv]
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One time, St. Anthony was preaching at a Church at 9:30 in the morning, and during the Homily, he suddenly realized he was supposed to be leading the chant at a monastery 30 miles away, he had forgotten. He prayed to the Holy Spirit, and sat down for about 4 minutes, then rose to continue his homily. It was reported the next day that St. Anthony WAS at that distant Church leading the chant at 9:30 in the morning.
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Levitation, miraculous transport – the saints show the power of the Holy Spirit; but this Great Friend will work daily, real miracles in our own lives, if we ask him. I can’t tell you how many times I faced a difficult situation, or a problem with no seeming solution; a short prayer to the Holy Spirit, and then – well, the results could only be caused by that great Friend.
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A lady had a terrible argument with her cousin, but she prayed for help to the Holy Spirit, then went to see the cousin. It seems that just the right words came out, and they were accepted. The quarrel was over that fast.
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We should speak often to this dear Consoler, this Divine Friend, this Advocate. ‘Oh Holy Spirit, I love you. Guide me; animate me and help me.
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Friends, we are like a ship with a sail. When there is no wind, we can paddle along, but we make little progress. Yet when we pray to the Holy Spirit, that Breath of God fills our sails and we go much farther and faster than we ever could ourselves. St. John Vianney says it is the Holy Spirit that makes unlearned people wiser than many others. But we must listen to Him.
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Let us give the Holy Spirit what he wants, what we know he is asking of us. Give the Holy Spirit what he wants – and then he will ask for more! May the dear Blessed Virgin intercede for us; Mary, pray for us, that by the help of the Holy Spirit, we ourselves will build up the beautiful Body of Christ.
Entrusted to the prayers of St. Nicholas
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[i] Introductory ideas here are taken from Fr. Mersch’s ‘Theology of the Mystical Body,’ pp. 415-417.
[ii] Theology of the Mystical Body, p. 417
[iii] Office for Pentecost
[iv] She says: though I tried to resist, it seemed that I was being lifted by a force so powerful that it can compare with nothing else…. (Mysteries Marvels, Miracles /Cruz…p. 19)
Feast of the Ascension
Beloved in Jesus Christ, today we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven. St. Leo the Great says, ‘At Easter, it was the Lord’s Resurrection which was the cause of our joy; our present rejoicing is on account of his ascension into heaven.'[i]
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Now this event actually involves all of us; Christ’s entire Mystical Body is ultimately being brought to heaven. ‘And when I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself,’ he said. Today is the day when our human nature is carried up to the very throne of God.[ii] Jesus shows us the way, he shows us our future which is already beginning. To be resurrected in our body is one thing, to be glorified and brought to the loveliness of heaven, to the joy of union with Our Heavenly Father, well – that is quite another; but this is where He is taking us!
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Before considering the meaning of all this for ourselves, let us go back to that day, let’s place ourselves with Jesus, on that day. Gentilucci[iii] says that it is most likely that Christ ascended at the Mount of Olives where he had begun his passion. We remember that after his resurrection, Our Lord had spent 40 days – a month and a half – living with his Apostles, teaching them, eating with them, showing them how to say Mass, how to preach – all of this they did with a Resurrected Man – As St. Luke says:[iv] ‘he showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs during 40 days…..speaking of the kingdom of God while eating with them…’ their Faith could not have been stronger. Their Faith, having known a Resurrected Man – having seen in Christ their own destiny – for these apostles, who would ultimately become martyrs – their faith would remain unshaken even through tortures and prison. They had seen their own destiny, that death has been conquered.
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But was Christ the only resurrected person they had seen? It would seem not. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, there is a sort of hidden statement, at the Lord’s crucifixion, which says: ‘the earth quaked, rocks were rent, tombs opened, and bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose, coming forth out of the tombs AFTER his resurrection; they went into the holy city, and appeared to many.’
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So after the Lord’s resurrection, there were these other people who had died, who came out alive from the tombs. What happened to all these people? Origen, St. Jerome,[v] St. Thomas,[vi] and others[vii] believe that they ascended to heaven with Jesus. Among that group who had risen from the dead, it is believed by many[viii] was St. Joseph.[ix] Even Pope John XXIII mentioned this, saying that it may be piously believed.
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In any case, as we come to this day of the Ascension, when the Lord in his visible presence would leave his Apostles, was it a sad day? Not at all. Silveira writes that on the way to Bethany from where Christ would ascend, there was surely a sort of procession through Jerusalem; Jesus with his Mother Mary, the saints of whom we have spoken;next the Apostles and the disciples who had formerly followed Jesus. Silveira says ‘this privileged band of the faithful no doubt passed through the streets of Jerusalem,’ while the astonished spectators looked on. ‘No one had the courage to opposed the march of this blessed procession’ as they marched off toward Bethany.[x]
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So speaking with his Mother and these disciples, the procession ascended that mountain from where every part of Jerusalem could be seen. Cornelius Lapide[xi] says that the nearer Jesus approached the summit, surely the more sweetly he spoke to his disciples, like a good father who leaving a beloved family. John Chrysostom says that to Mary were whispered great mysteries, and then she kissed him, and engulfed in a cloud, he was taken up to heaven.
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Were they sad? not at all. They recalled the words he had spoken to them: ‘you will see me again, and on that day no one will take your joy from you.'[xii] And as St. Luke says: ‘They returned to Jerusalem with great joy.'[xiii]
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Why were they so happy at Our Lord’s Ascension? They had Faith. Jesus leads the way up to heaven, and he brings our humanity, he brings our human nature there with him.
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In this life we are baptized into Christ, we live our days as a Christian, we follow Jesus in this journey. And we will follow him up in his Ascension, to heaven – its our goal. To go up there! Visiting a hospital one time, I was on the elevator, and a lady herself stepped in as well. I asked: ‘Going up?’ ‘OH I HOPE SO FATHER!!’ she said.
Yes, we wish to ascend. Jesus’ words echo in our mind: ‘Come, follow me.’ ‘Lord, we DO wish to follow you – to heaven.’
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As St. Leo the Great says, ‘Our Redeemer’s visible presence has now passed into the sacraments. Now we live by Faith. This Faith in the Lord throughout history has led men and women, young girls and boys to give their life’s blood for this Faith. It is a faith that has driven out devils, healed the sick and raised the dead. Our Faith impels us to live daily the life of Christ, and God-willing, ascend with him to heaven.
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You know, when my own father passed away, we kids surrounded his bed with prayers; we prayed for God’s mercy as he closed his eyes. and I suppose we all like to receive a ‘sign’ from God – Well, I felt some peace, when I realized: Dad! You died on the Ascension!’ – it gave me some peace.
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May we be worthy to Ascend to heaven with Jesus. May the Blessed Virgin help us in the journey of this life, that we ourselves, may ascend with Christ to Paradise.
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Entrusted to the prayers of St. Bernadette .
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[i] St. Leo the Great: Roman Breviary, Office for Friday of the 6th week of Easter.
[ii] St. Leo the Great
[iii] Life of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Msgr. Romuald Gentilucci, p. 370.
[iv] Acts 1:3;
[v] Life of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Msgr. Romuald Gentilucci, p. 370.
[vi] Summa, Supplement, Q. 77, a1, reply to Obj. 3. Thomas is open to the question however in III, Q. 53, a3.
[vii] ‘Origen, St. Jerome, St. Bede, St. Clement of Alexandria and others believe that they ascended in the body to heaveh. Gentilucci, p. 373 note.
[viii] Pope St. John XXII, in a homily on the Ascension,1960.
[ix] Gentilucci, p. 268: ‘the common opinion of the doctors, is that St. Joseph was of the number of the Saints who arose with the divine Master….and at last on the 40th day, with Christ, he ascended body and soul to heaven.’ The footnote says: This is the opinion of St. Bernardine of Sienna, who says: ‘as the family lived a laborious life on earth, so they reign, body and soul in amorous glory in heaven.’ St. Francis de Sales says it is without doubt. Another proof is that no part of the body of St. Joseph is venerated.
[x] Gentilucci, p. 370
[xi] Gentilucci, p. 372
[xii] John 16:22
[xiii] Luke 24:52
