Category Archives: Weekdays

‘Then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners.’

Friends in Christ, in the days that Jesus walked the earth, so many were attracted to his holiness and his goodness. It says that all the sinners and tax collectors drew near to him, in Geek, πᾶς – that is, ‘all,’ ‘every one,’ a multitude.’

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It was the sheer goodness of Christ, the face of a man, but the divinity of God, that drew them – that drew sinners. ‘This man welcomes sinners,’ they said.

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Not only welcomes, but heals; forgives. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ The sinner who encounters Jesus Christ, finds that it is possible for him to begin again.

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Daily through our so-many faults, small or even very big, we can always approach this dear Savior: ‘Lord, I love you, I praise you. ‘Forgive me for my failings and foolish sins. ‘Help me to begin again.’

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The Pharisees grumbled and murmured against Christ because of the way he sought out sinners.

On this subject, Cornelius Lapide says: ‘To the Pharisees, the sprit of Christ was clearly opposed, for he came into the world to save sinners and sought every opportunity to converse with them and be present at their feasts; for nothing is more pleasing to God than the conversion of the sinner.

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Our Savior compares his seeking for sinners with the shepherd who seeks his lost sheep. ‘What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one, does not leave the 99 and go after that which is lost?’

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We, because of our sins, were the wandering sheep, walking the path which leads to eternal death. But the Son of God came down from heaven to seek us.

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Gregory of Nyssa says: ‘When the shepherd found the sheep he did not punish it, but placing it on his shoulders carried it gently.’

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There are very ancient paintings that can still be seen from the early days of the Church. Paintings on walls in the catacombs and other simple chapels – very ancient. One of the oldest we have, is that of the Good Shepherd, carrying that sheep on his shoulders to bring him home. This image affected very much, those early Christians.

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St. Gregory writes: ‘The returning Shepherd does not say, ‘Rejoice with the SHEEP that is found, no. He says, ‘Rejoice with ME.’ Because truly our life, is his joy.

Friends in Christ, we are approaching two important days in the Liturgical year; All Saints Day and All Souls Day, when we honor the Saints in heaven, and pray for those who have not yet reached heaven. Before these sacred days, we find this secular holiday of Halloween tomorrow. Literally, ‘All Hallows Eve,’ which means the evening before All-Hallows-Day. Some claim to know the roots of Halloween with certitude, but if we look into it, we find that it is not entirely clear how it originated.

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In the early Church, major feasts always had a vigil on the day before the feast. So, the Vigil, All Saints Day, and All Souls day were together part of what was called All-Hallow-Tide.

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As far back as the 15^th century is found the custom of baking and sharing ‘soul-cakes’ for the dead. These cakes were filled with sweet spices or raisins, and topped with the mark of a cross. They were traditionally set out with glasses of wine as an offering for the dead. During All-Hallow-Tide, children would go from door to door asking people for ‘soul-cakes,’in exchange for praying and singing for the people’s dead. One of the songs the children sang was:

A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!

Please good Missis, a soul-cake!

An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,

Any good thing to make us merry.

One for Peter, two for Paul

Three for Him who made us all.

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In some places it was believed that wandering souls left the cemeteries for a macabre festival before departing for heaven.

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So this could be one of the streams which gave us such a strange thing as Halloween; but the other might be the Celts of Ireland. The pagan festival of Samhain was in late October in Ireland.[i] It was seen as a time, when the spirits or fairies could more easily come into our world. Spirits of dead relatives were thought to come, and places were set at table for them. Superstition and magic were part of that pagan time. Later, some went house to house in disguises, asking for food, or threaten mischief if they weren’t received.

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So the origin of tomorrow’s secular tradition is uncertain, but what IS certain, is that many of the dead need our prayers, and would like to enter heaven and become saints. It is also certain that there is a war on for souls waged by the demons. St. Paul says today, ‘our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the evil spirits, therefore, put on the armor of God.

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So let us put on the armor of God, and also in the coming days, pray for our beloved dead.

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[i] That may be why Pope Gregory IV moved All-Saints from May 13^th to November 1st, to go against that pagan festival, this is unknown.

Friends in Christ, in the 1^st reading today, St. Paul speaks against immorality and impurity. ‘Be sure of this, he says: no immoral or impure person has any inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

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When he speaks of impurity, he is speaking about lust. Lust is one of the 7 deadly sins.

Thomas Aquinas says[i] that lust is to indulge in unlawful sexual pleasures. Sexual love is meant for marriage, and in the pure and good context of marital love, the sexual power is very good. But how easily this power can be misused.

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Lust is a disordered use of our sexual power. St. Thomas speaks of various types of sins of lust. Among these, are fornication, adultery, seduction, and unnatural vice.

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Fornication is the unlawful use of sex by unmarried men or women; it is a mortal sin for two reasons. First, it is a dreadful lie. A man or woman says with their body, ‘I give myself totally to you.’ But they may not be around next week or next year, because there is no marriage covenant. These actions are therefore a big lie; it is to use another person for gratification, with no commitment.

The other wrong here, is that children have a right to be conceived in a permanent relationship of parents; so fornication is to play around with the real, potential lives of children. We see the great damage today of this sin, many children without married parents. St. Thomas also reminds us that kisses and touches that are lustful are mortal sins as well.

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He also rightly says, that whatever happens in one’s sleep or in dreams cannot be sinful, since we have no control over our will. However, there could be fault in our waking actions – what we watch or listen to, which could prompt evil dreams.

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Adultery is a sin far worst than fornication, because it violates not only chastity, but is also a gross violation of justice against the true spouse of the person. It is an open attack on the other spouse, and it is also a sin against the common good – we see all the damage it is doing to society.

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Finally, St. Thomas speaks of ‘Unnatural vice.’ Unnatural vice would include impure actions with self or between two people of the same sex. Notice that he does not call this ‘unnatural sex,’ but ‘unnatural vice,’ because unnatural actions are not sex at all; they are perversions of the gift of sexuality.

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Lust is one of the 7 Deadly, or ‘Capital’ sins. But the virtue we really want, is purity. If our heart and our actions are pure, then we will, as St. Paul says, ‘Be children of the Light.’

[i] Tour of the Summa

School Mass:

Dear students of St. John Vianney,

Week after week, and every Sunday, we are hearing the Holy Gospels read at Mass. The Gospel tells the story of the great thing that has happened to our world: that God the Son has come down from heaven, to be born like us, live our life with us, and then save us from our sins. How has he saved us from our sins? By dying on the cross and rising from the dead.

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Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. He was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit, and that shows that he is God. He had a real Mother like us, and that shows that he is Man.

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The Holy Gospels show us so much of the Divine Power of Christ. Jesus knew what people were thinking because God knows everything. And the miracles that he did are very, very many.

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He caused Peter to catch thousands of fish, when before he caught nothing. Jesus walked on top of the water, no problem.

He turned water into wine, he healed a paralyzed man, made a blind man see, and a deaf person to hear; and he made a huge thunderstorm to stop and be calm.

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Remember he fed 5 thousand people once with a few fish and loaves, and did the same for 4 thousand others. He cured 10 lepers and when Malchus’ ear was chopped off, he re-attached it – perfectly healed.

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The greatest miracles of Christ were the raising of people back from the dead. He raised a woman’s son from the dead, Lazarus from the dead, and a little girl back from the dead. Greater still, he himself rose from the dead in a glorified body, never to die again.

All these miracles show us that Jesus Christ is really God, that he is the Son of God who came down from heaven.

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And they show us that we can trust him completely; and that when he promises us that he can forgive our sins, and that he wants to bring us to heaven one day – we can totally trust him.

This means we have to give our life to Jesus, speak to him often, ask his help, trust him; and above all, do what is right, live a holy life. St. Paul says: ‘Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the first.’

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Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to save us, in this we can trust and be certain. No one else who has ever walked this earth has done the thousands of stupendous miracles like Jesus Christ. No one.

So let us put all our faith in him, and even though we have done some sins, it is never too late to turn back, to be forgiven, and once again be his dear disciple.

Children’s Homily:

Good morning young people of St. John Vianney. Today in the Gospel Jesus says, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! When Jesus says, ‘Woe to you,’ he means, you are in big trouble.

This reminds me of a man named Ananias, who lived back at the time of the Apostles. He got in big trouble! Ananias had some money that he was going to give to the apostles to help the poor; but he lied about it to St. Peter, and kept some for himself; Then St. Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart, that you have lied? And at that moment, Ananias fell over dead.

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Lying is a real sin, and it displeases God. A person who tells even small lies easily, we can say that he has become a liar. People lie because they think that by telling the lie, their life will be easier, or they will avoid trouble or punishment.

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But do lies really get us out of trouble? Maybe for a short time, but then they get us into more trouble. When we tell lies, we are acting like the devil. He tells lies all the time.

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Lies are told for three reasons: a) because we think it will gain us something or make our life easier. For example, when mom asks what we were doing in the garage, if we say – just talking – but really, we were playing with matches, we told a lie, so that we would not get in trouble. But what happens? Maybe we start to become a dangerous, fire person?

Maybe the next day, we do it again, and we accidently start the garage on fire, and while it is burning to the ground, and dad is worried that he does not have the money to pay for it, and the car got burned up too – we wish we would have not told that lie in the first place.

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b) We might also lie because the lie will get us some pleasure. For example, dad says, if you get an A on your test, he’ll take you to the water park. And so when he asks you what grade you got, even though you got a B, you say you got an A, that is a lie. And though you go to the water park that day, you feel guilty, and when dad finds out you lied, you will be very unhappy, and you will say, ‘Why did I ever tell that lie!’

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c) The other reason we might lie, is to be cruel to another person. For example, we might tell a lie about our classmate, so that everyone thinks that person is bad, and I’m good. Such lies might make us look good for a moment, but soon, what happens? People find that we are not to be trusted. They call us a liar.

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To tell a lie about another person, is called calumny. To tell someone’s faults or sins, even if they are true to make the person look bad, that is called detraction.

A lady told me the trick to remember these two. Calumny has an ‘L’ in the middle of it – that is for a lie. Calumny tells lies about someone.

Detraction has a ‘tr’ in the middle of it – tr is for truth. Detraction tells a truth, but a bad truth about another person.

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We are never allowed to tell a lie, even if it seems to get us a good thing. We need not always share our knowledge when asked. But we may never lie.

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But if we have a habit of lying, we can change. We should confess all our lies in confession, and then promise Jesus that we will try to stop.

Before St. Peter became a great saint, he told a lie. When they asked him if he knew Jesus, he said: ‘I do not know him.’ He lied because he was afraid. But Peter was sorry, and he never lied again the rest of his life. So if St. Peter can stop lying, we can too, then we will be very happy, we will be a person of integrity, and others will always find us to be trustworthy.

Friends in Christ, today we encounter in the Gospel this great scene of the Penitent woman, anointing the feet of Jesus. Tradition has it, that this is Mary Magdalene, the sinner, who has, with confidence, sought out the mercy of Christ.

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The Pharisee that is there, he is at a loss to understand Jesus’ attitude toward her. But the lesson is: the more one has been forgiven, the more grateful a person will be. Let’s face it; if we have committed a very serious sin, it is then, after Confession, that we feel the most love and gratitude to God.

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St. Francis de Sales says,[i] ‘You have asked me if a soul who is aware of his own misery can go with confidence to God. I reply, that not only can that soul have great confidence in God, but that UNLESS it has this knowledge of it’s misery, it cannot have true confidence in him. For it is true knowledge and confession of our misery that brings us to God.’

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If we are trying to be great disciples, daily, then there are times when we – well, we just feel so bad about our past sins and present sins. This is the misery that St. Francis is speaking of, that can drive us into the arms of God.

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He says, ‘The more miserable we know ourselves to be, the more that we have to confide in God, since there is nothing in ourselves that we can trust.

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It is true that our frequent sins and faults should make us feel some shame, before the Lord. It is natural to feel embarrassment over our sins, before Our Heavenly Father. But we must not remain that way. That shame should propel us with confidence into the forgiving arms of our Savior.

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If we feel sadness or anxiety, then this is pride, because we are upset that we are not perfect; ‘how could I have committed this sin?!!’ it is pride.

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Even if we do not FEEL confidence, we should continue to make acts of confidence: ‘Jesus, I have no hope except in your goodness, therefore I abandon my self entirely into your hands.’

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Like Mary Magdalene, if we are acutely aware of our misery, it will lead to total confidence in our Savior. As St. Peter said, ‘Lord, to whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’

[i] The Art of Loving God, see chapter 1.

Friends in Christ, the sin of scandal, is the leading of others into sin by our actions. We might say, the sin of scandal, is the of giving bad example.

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An older brother shows his younger brother an impure magazine – ‘Hey, look at this,’ he says. His innocent brother, is innocent no more.

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A man tells his neighbor: ‘Sure, I always cut some corners on my taxes.’ His neighbor, who never dreamt of cheating, decides now to do it.

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The wife and mother, who speaks kindly to her husband when he is home, but speaks badly about him when he is gone in front of the children, teaches them how to be two-faced and disloyal.

In many ways, we commit the sin of scandal: leading others into sin by our bad example.

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Now interestingly, we can commit the sin of scandal even by doing a good action. How can this be?

In the 1^st reading today, St. Paul warns those in his flock against scandalizing the new, more innocent Christians. In those days, the pagans sacrificed meat to their false gods, and it was supposed, that most meat sold in the markets had been offered to these gods.

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Now when one becomes a Christian, of course one rejects pagan, idol-worship. So the new Christians not only stayed away from anything connected with idol-worship, but they would never eat any meat that had been sacrificed to those gods. They did not want to participate in any way with it.

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Well St. Paul says, since those pagan gods are not even real, you can really eat any meat you want, but he warns against scandalizing the newly baptized.

He is saying that if some of them might be shocked that you would eat meat sacrificed to idols, then, better not to eat any meat in front of them, so as not to shock their innocent consciences.

This is called ‘the scandal of the weak.’ We can give bad example even by doing something good, because it might be misunderstood by the weak.

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A parishioner asked me if it was ok to follow along at Mass on her iphone – you can get download the daily readings and such. I said, ‘well, in itself, this is fine. However, what if a young person sees you on your iphone at Mass, and thinks that you are texting your friends. He might think, ‘Well, it must be ok to do that.’

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So, even though what we are doing is good, we always should be careful, so as not to lead others into sin.

Friends in Christ,[i] in the Gospel today, Our Lord shows us that the values of a Christian are opposite of the world. ‘Blessed are the poor, Woe to the rich, Blessed are those weeping.’ He turns the world’s values upside down.

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St. Cyril tells us, when Jesus says ‘Blessed are the poor,’ he is telling us to set our hearts on the higher things. St. Basil says, there are poor people who are greedy, so being poor is not the virtue; it is, as St Matthew says, being poor in spirit – it’s about not being attached to things of this world.

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Having commanded us to simplicity of life, Jesus then says ‘Blessed are those who hunger.’ Saying ‘no’ to our desires, denying ourselves, this will generate a hunger in us, but a holy hunger, the hunger of self-control, of self-mastery.

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Living the simplicity of the Christian life, we will see how foolish the path of sinners is, a path of destruction and emptiness; we will weep for them. We will feel a sadness not only for our own sins, but for those of others: ‘Blessed are those who weep.’

nevertheless, weeping over sins leads to the joy of God in the soul, and this is the laughing that Jesus says will result, joy in the heart.

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St. Augustine often said, be sure to use the things of the world for higher ends. The things of this life should never be desired for their own sake, but only as far as they are useful in the work of God.

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Pope Francis has been urging us to live a simpler life; give alms, stop pampering ourselves.

Recently I stopped at a little watch repair shop; An old man with a beard came out of the back room.

‘Can you fix it, I asked him?’

‘We ca fix any-ting,’ he said.

He seemed like the perfect kind of mysterious, old man, to work in a watch repair shop!

Another customer suggested that I just buy a new watch instead, he was showing me some nice ones. I said, ‘Don’t tempt me!’ I have to be satisfied with what I have.’

The old man, taking the jeweler’s glass from his eye, looked up and said:

‘Dis is da message of da Church, no? Be satisfied.’

‘Yes,’ I said.

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We can ‘TAKE’ in this life; live for today, while the takin is good. But that will be IT for us. ‘Woe to you rich, you have received your reward.’ Or we can delay our gratification, and live simply, with our eyes on the Eternal Rewards ahead, which are much greater.

[i] Catena Aurea; see also, William Barclay, Daily Study Bible

‘And he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and manifest the motives of our hearts.’

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In the 1^st Reading today, St. Paul is saying, that at the Final Judgment, everything will be revealed. Jesus himself says: ‘There is not any thing secret that shall not be made known. ‘What you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light.’ We should feel some trepidation, that what we say will be revealed. The 8^th commandment says: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

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How many times do we wound a person by what we say about them? Jesus says, whoever speaks ill of his neighbor will be liable to the fire of Gehenna.

Speaking ill of our neighbor, is like the smell that rises from rotting corpses, bringing infection and disease to all who smell the stench.      

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Of course there are small-minded people who feel big by tearing others down. A businessman will say that the other man’s merchandise is worthless, or that he cheats. A workman will say that a colleague is lazy. They think this makes them superior.

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Calumny is telling lies about another. Detraction is telling another’s faults needlessly, which hurts his reputation.

A damaged reputation is almost impossible to recover. As scripture says, a good name is worth more than great riches. Prov 22:1

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In conversation sometimes, a person will say: ‘You know, what I said about him, it would be good to keep that quiet. It might hurt his feelings.’ Too late. It will be heard on the Last Day.        

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Listening to backbiting is to partake in the sin. When someone starts it, we should instead say something good about that person: ‘Oh, Angie? I really like her hairstyle.’ Say one nice thing, and all the bad talk stops.

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Tale-bearing tears down another, to get his friends to dislike him. This is worse than backbiting because it not only ruins the person’s good name, but tries to steal their friends as well.

St. John Vianney says, a person who is unfortunate enough to come under the tongue of a gossip, is like a grain of corn under the grinding stone in a mill: crushed and entirely destroyed.    

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In bad talk, people will ascribe to you intentions you never had; they will poison all your actions. If you do any good thing, they will say it is was just to gain attention.

The wicked tongue is like the worm which gnaws at good fruit; it is a maggot which infects the most beautiful flower, and leaves upon it, the disgusting trail of its own slime.

But justice will ultimately be done: all will be revealed on the Last Day.

And he said to them: “Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.”

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Friends in Christ, This is the phrase John Paul II spoke when he was newly named Pope. ‘Put out into the deep.’ He wanted us to look outward, to cast Jesus’ net for souls. This is a wonderful part of being a Catholic today; it is true, that the sea is kind of rough, strong wind. But the fishing is really about to pick up.

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I remember as if it were just yesterday, when I was about 18, we were up North on a family vacation, on a lake. That year, there was a lot of very poor weather. The temperature dropped quickly. Cold, rainy – not nice.

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But my brother Joe and I insisted on going out on the boat, rain gear, the whole bit. We went to the cove we thought most promising; we put the anchor down, but the wind made us drag the anchor, and drift across the mouth of the cove. Casting different kinds of lures, hoping for a big fish, we were cold.

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I said, ‘Joe, the weather is rough, its miserable, let’s go.’ ‘One more cast,’ he said. I’ve heard that before. But then it hit. At first he thought he had a snag, but not with a stick bait near the surface. Oh, it was a fish! And it would be a battle and the most exciting moment of any vacation we’ve had.

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Friends, the fishing can sometimes be the best when the weather is rough. When there is a big change in temperature.

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Well, the weather of the world today is rough, the storms are here and the temperature of the hearts of men today is getting cold. The Russians on the move, Issis, Ebola, terrorism – young people not getting married, twisted lies about marriage.

The weather has changed quickly. Some say it is the end of the world, but perhaps the fishing is actually about to pick up.

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What the world has been missing for centuries, is a good contrast; a contrast between the way of Jesus Christ, and the other choices.

The Catholic Church is criticized, even vilified. Yet She is the lone voice teaching the truth and beauty of marriage and sexuality. It is our voice – that of Christians – speaking up for freedom of religion, for the rights of Man, and the defense of innocent human life. These days, the beauty of Christ is seen in stark contrast to the horror on TV.

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There is no better time to be alive; we are part of a great adventure with the Lord, but we must do our part, be faithful ourselves to Jesus’ great work. People can be discouraged.

But it’s usually when the storm clouds come, that the fishing is best.