Category Archives: Weekdays

Friends in Christ,

Today is the Annunciation of the Lord, or we sometimes say the Annunciation of Mary. The angel announces the Good News to the Virgin, ‘you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.’  

In the Breviary today, we read a beautiful letter by Leo the Great where he says; ‘to pay the debt of our sinful state, he says, a nature incapable of suffering was joined to a nature that could suffer.’  

The Son of God stooped down from his heavenly life, and ‘took on our lowly human nature, to save it.  Christ took the nature of a servant, without sin, enlarging our humanity without diminishing his Divinity.’  This is what happens in the dear Blessed Virgin, 9 months before Christmas.

The Incarnation, the fact that God himself, the creator of all things, would enter his own creation, and unite himself to – to the material world – well, this is the scandal,  the shock of Christianity that the world cannot tolerate.   

In then Cardinal Ratzinger’s famous book: Introduction to Christianity,[i] he speaks interestingly about this.   He says that most people will admit that there is some form of ‘supreme being,’ or God, but it is absurd 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, ancient 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.  

The future Pope says, on the contrary; God reaches down to the smallest,  because to him, nothing is too small.  this is true greatness:  that the great would stoop down to the little.   

Why would a chief executive of Exxon, such an important person, have any interest in helping a poor, dirty, street person in the gutter? Well, if he does, we would call this great.  Is not God greater because he compassions his creatures?  The world errors in thinking of a Creator in a worldly, narrow way; they project the idea onto God, that the powerful are not loving.  Is God not greater, if he wishes to stoop down to this speck of dust, and take concern over each of our problems, unite himself to us, walk and suffer our own life with us? He did it, because he is infinitely good.  

‘And Mary said, ‘May it be done unto me, according to thy word,’  and the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory.  

Friends in Christ,

Today we read in the Book of Kings about Naaman the Syrian;  Naaman came down with leprosy – bad news; no cure for it.   So he goes to Elisha, the prophet to seek a cure.  Elisha tells him he can be cured, all he must do is go and wash in the Jordan river.  That’s all? Naaman was indignant at this.  He expected some dramatic ritual or incantation;   

This situation can make us think of the world today.  Many don’t have leprosy of their bodies, but of their soul. People with enormous guilt over many, sometimes terrible things in their life.  So they seek dramatic ways to try to be rid of the guilt.   

I have heard that on some retreats people write down their sins on papers, and then burn the papers –   Does that solve their guilt-problem? Not at all.   Some will go on Oprah and tell all their sins, others will go to a psychoanalyst. While psychiatrists can help resolve problems of the psyche, they cannot remove the guilt from sin.  Others try to have a ‘born-again’ experience, or seek faith-healers, or even cut themselves.  Like Naaman, people believe that removing their guilt and starting fresh in life, requires something unusual.  

But in reality, Christ has already provided a simple way to free people from the sin that weighs them down. Children learn about it in 2^nd grade: it is called Confession.  Our children go every month to confession, and they actually enjoy it. It is a fresh start every time. The hope is, that this habit will stick with them when they are older; when they are in college, or adults, and have committed a serious sin; when they feel desperate or lost – then they will remember: ‘I will go to confession and be cured!’ This is why it is called a ‘sacrament of healing.’

 
‘But a priest is just a man, he is a sinner,’ they say. Regarding this, St. Augustine said:[i] Tell them: Augustine is a priest,  and he will himself have to give an account to God.  If he is a bad man, he will know it.  But even if he is good, I don’t put my trust in him.’  God gave us the priest, not to prove holiness,  but as an instrument by which the mercy of Christ could reach the people. So we should use it often.    

‘Are you a born-again Christian?, they ask. ‘Yes. Every time I go to confession   

Friends in Christ,

Today Our Lord tells a parable about those going to receive the produce from the master’s vineyard; these men are killed, and when he sends his own son, he also is killed.  The parable is aimed at the Chief priests of the Lord’s time, who themselves did not recognize the Savior and put him to death. Those who had come before the son to receive the produce; some say that these are the prophets of the Old Testament, which had foretold the Messiah.  

But Christ was foretold not only by the prophets, but by the types and signs of the Old Testament.  One of these types is found in our first reading today:  Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob.    

Joseph, is the dear son of his father Jacob,  

Jesus is the Beloved Son of his Father in heaven.  

Joseph was sent by his father to his brothers,  

Jesus was sent by HIS Father to his brothers, us.

Joseph was stripped of his garments, thrown into the pit, and left for dead,

Jesus was stripped of his garments, and thrown into the tomb.

Both Joseph and Jesus were sold for pieces of silver,

Joseph was sold by Judah, Jesus was sold by Judas.  

There are many other parallels, all of which should lift our faith, knowing that all was foretold long ago. Toward the end of Lent, we will walk with Christ  in his Passion.  In his life and especially in his Passion,  Our Lord fulfills all the types and symbols which have come before.   

In ancient times, Joseph saved the known world from starvation, by feeding them wheat;

Jesus saves an entire world with ‘wheat:’ the Bread of Life.  

In Egypt, Joseph was placed at the right hand of Pharaoh to rule his nation,

Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, to rule creation.  

When they saw him alive, Joseph’s brothers did not at first recognize him,

Jesus’ disciples did not at first recognize him in the resurrection.   

And most importantly:  Joseph forgave and embraced his brothers, even though they betrayed him,

Jesus also forgives his brothers – us –  even though we have betrayed him.   

Friends in Christ,

Today we hear about the rich man who ends up burning in hell. He seems surprised to be there.  

Despite the great importance of where we will end up, there are many who give not a second’s thought about the next life. There are those who are very talented, and who carefully plan their future,  but when it comes to their eternal future, they are quite foolish.  In the example Jesus gives in the scriptures,  the rich man did not commit crimes that we would say are horrible.  He did not murder or rob a bank.  This man lived a quiet life, he had friends; he was respected in society.  It is true that he neglected poor Lazarus,  but he did not curse him, or kick him.  What then was his sin?  The rich man thought nothing of God nor of his neighbor. He only thought of pleasure, of feasting – of himself.   

You know, some people argue with God,  they may even yell at him: ‘Lord, why did this happen to me?!’ Many wrestle in their relationship with God,  but there is a desire to know his will and love him.  On the other hand, there are others who actually ignore God.  Not a single prayer, no calls for assistance.  No gratitude for blessings, or for his creation.  Ignoring the poor and those who need them.  Such persons live as if they were atheists.  

When Jesus was knocking at the rich man’s door, he did not recognize him.  ‘If you neglected the least of my brethren, says the Lord, you neglected me’. St. Paul says, ‘How shall we escape judgment, if we NEGLECT so great a salvation; (Heb 2:3)  Today this is common – neglecting our salvation –  because we don’t care. We care only about pleasure in this life.   All one has to do to end in hell, is ignore God.  

We know from our own experience, that it is one thing to be shouted at, or chastised, or your motives questioned; but if you really want to feel a person’s hatred, it is when they ignore you.  To be ignored, to be treated as if you do not exist – Can we do this to the Lord who created us? God forbid!  

‘How shall we escape judgment, if we neglect so great a salvation,’ says St. Paul.  Far from neglecting, let us in these days of Lent, love the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul, and our neighbor as ourself.  

Good morning students!

 Today during this season of Lent, we see in the gospel, that Jesus teaches us about one of the 10 Commandments.  The 5^th commandment. What is the 5^th?  Thou shall not kill.  

So, I hope no one here has killed anyone; but Jesus tells us that it means more than just not killing.  He says that it means also, that we should not be angry at another person.  ‘I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.’  

Anger is one of the 7 deadly sins.  When we get angry, we can allow our passions to get control of us, and then we are like a crazy person.  Caught up in the passion of anger, we become a puppet for the devil. The angry person lashes out with words or actions which hurt others. His face swells up like a red blow-fish, and in anger, the devil fills his heart up with pride.   

Anger is very disturbing to our guardian angel. St. Remigius never was angry. He said, I know that my guardian angel is at my side, and I do not want to make him sad.’

 
Things can get us angry. We wanted to buy a new DVD, but dad says not today.  We become fuming mad, because we don’t get our way.   

We can’t figure out how to do a math problem; we have tried everything, we are frustrated, we get MAD! And when we go to the kitchen, mom says, ‘have a cookie dear’ and we yell ‘I don’t want a cookie!’ – because we are mad. Well, anger makes us hurt the feelings of others, and do things that we regret.   

For some people, anger leads them to want revenge. Another girl wins the soccer ball in the raffle, and we get mad because we wanted it! So our anger makes us get back at her, and then we get in trouble and are grounded – it is difficult to apologize to her, and then we have to say it in confession.  None of that would happen if we hadn’t allowed our anger to control us.  

Some people, when they get angry at someone, they stop speaking to them.  I knew one girl who got mad at her brother, and didn’t speak to him for 4 years! It made everyone very sad. Anger can really cause terrible problems.   

So how do we overcome our anger? Well, when St. Francis de Sales was young, he easily got angry.  But he asked God to help him overcome it; every time he felt angry, he would try to be extra patient.  And he got really good at this: when he felt anger coming,  he would be very, very patient.  Well, soon, he had a good habit of being patient,  and as he grew up, people found him to be always very patient and kind. That is how he became a saint!   

If we have a problem getting angry, then Lent is a great time to work on our patience. St. Francis de Sales did it, and he became perfectly calm,  no anger at all – if he can do it, we can do it.    

Friends in Christ,

Our readings today from the Old and New Testament urge us to one thing: prayer.  There are various types of prayer, but today Our Lord speaks about intercessory prayer.  

Intercessory prayer is asking God for things:  for help, for our needs, for other’s needs.  

We see Esther in the first reading pleading with God for help.  ‘Help me,’ she says. She starts praying for herself, but she ends by saying, ‘help US.’ Our prayers should be like that. We pray for ourselves, but we should include so many others.   

In the Holy Father’s recent Exhortation,  Evangelii Gaudium, he says: ‘Let us peer for a moment into the heart of Saint Paul,  to see what his prayer was like. It was full of people:  In his letter to the Philipians he says: “I constantly pray WITH YOU in every one of my prayers, FOR ALL OF YOU, because I hold YOU in my heart” (Phil 1:4- 7).’ ‘Prayer always has a place for others, he says.  

Jesus says today: “Ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.” Our Lord has told us to ask for things from our Good Father, who is more anxious to help us than even our earthly parents.  

Some  say, ‘God is unchanging, eternal, we can’t change his mind.’ ‘Do we think we can altar the Divine Plan?!  

Fr. Gerald Vann[i] writes, we do not pray to change God’s plan or against it; we pray within the framework of his plan. In the universe that God has made, there are forces at work. A tornado smashes a man’s car – this is a force which God takes into account. Saturday is sunny for the picnic –  the forces of nature are part of God’s plan. A man proposes to his fiancé on Tuesday, his WILL is one of the forces in God’s universe.

Well, prayer is another force that is part of God’s universe, and like other forces, it affects events of the world; We pray because in God’s plan, this prayer may be foreordained to bring about this event rather than that one.   

God is outside of time.  Past, present, and future are ONE for God, so it is easy for God to include in his plan all the forces of the universe, including our prayers.   

But if we don’t get what we ask for, we should nevertheless trust  that just as good fathers on earth often answer requests with something different but better, Our Heavenly Father knows what is the best way to answer our prayers.  

Friends in Christ,

Today Our Lord teaches using symbols, he refers to Jonah. Jonah, who was given up for dead in the belly of a whale for 3 days, is a type, a symbol of Christ who was in the ‘belly of the earth’ for 3 days.   

Our Lord points out that when Jonah preached to the Ninevites, and urged them to repent of their sins, the Ninevites, who were pagans – barbarians really – they repented.  

Now Jonah was only a symbol of the coming Christ, but Jesus’ hearers see the Lord before them in the flesh, and they do not repent. The fathers of the Church[i] say that although they were hearing Wisdom Incarnate, they nevertheless disregarded his signs and miracles.   

Christ also refers to the ‘Queen of the South.’ ‘The queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.’  

This refers to the Queen of Sheba, who came from Ethiopia to see King Solomon. This Queen was not a Jew or anything, a pagan woman;  yet she recognized greatness when she saw it.  

Jesus is saying, this generation has the True God standing in your midst, yet you are not able to see it. On judgment day, the Queen of Sheba will be among the elect; she, a pagan, will be resurrected, and she will judge you.  

The Queen of Sheba was a Gentile.  For this reason, St. Bede says that she is a symbol of Mother Church; the Church is of the Gentiles, and she seeks the true Wisdom, Christ.  ‘As the Queen of Sheba came from far-away parts of the earth, the Church will be gathered from the whole earth.   

Gregory of Nyssa says that just as she was Queen of the Ethiopians in a far country,  so in the beginning, the Church of the Gentiles was in darkness, and far off from the knowledge of God.   

Of today’s gospel, St. Ambrose says that the mystery of the Church consists of two things: the ignorance of sin, symbolized by the Queen of Sheba, and ceasing to sin, symbolized by the Ninevites who repented.   

We therefore, who know the True God, must recognize our sins, and repent during this time of Lent.   

Friends in Christ, as we are at the start of Lent, it is right that we should be making some promises to Jesus to do some self-denial, ‘give up something,’ as they say. But we should also examine ourselves with regard to our active good works.

In today’s gospel, Our Lord makes it very clear,  that there will be a judgment of each person;  the good will go to Paradise, the bad to everlasting fire.   Today he singles out something specific that will be part of that judgment:  ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink’

Our salvation yes, requires Faith;  it requires baptism, that we go to Mass, follow the commandments –  but Our Lord here requires something else  –  it is what we call the Corporal works of mercy.

To feed the hungry:

Everyone needs bodily food;  it is an act of love to help others obtain bodily nourishment.  For this, we can bring food to our food pantry, or we might know personally someone who needs help with groceries. I do not recommend giving cash to those on the street, but I always carry a gift card from McDonalds or something to give out for food. If people need on-going food assistance,  tell them that the parish gives bags of groceries from the food pantry every Wednesday.

To clothe the naked:

Everyone needs clothing.  It is an act of love to help those who are without.  Bringing clothes to the needy is a great thing.  We can also donate to charities which help the needy around the world. We might consider tithing 10% of our money. We could give 5% to the Church, and 5% to a good charity.

Visit the imprisoned:

If we have a relative or someone we know in jail,  we should go visit them. Write to them. Our visit is the same as a visit from Jesus;  it shows them that even though they have to pay for a crime, God will forgive them and they are still loved.

Shelter the homeless:

We should know how to direct a person, especially in winter,  to a homeless shelter.  Thankfully, we have Vincent de Paul here,  and they can often direct a person to the right place. Some have even allowed a person to stay at their house.

Visit the sick:

We owe it to those who are sick, to visit them in the hospital,  or in nursing homes. People can feel very alone when they are sick.

Bury the Dead:

When someone we know dies, we should take off work and attend their funeral. This is our duty.  We should also visit cemeteries and pray daily for our beloved dead.

Christ expects us to do these things,  because whatever we do for the least of our brothers,  we are doing for Jesus.

Friends in Christ,

Today, as we begin Lent, the Lord calls us to take up our cross. The cross as we know, refers to the hardships of life, the weariness in our daily duties, the contradictions that come, words spoken against us, illness, pain – pain can be physical, but sometimes the worst, is psychological or spiritual pain. Some encounter the cross even living in their own home.  

Today Jesus calls us not to hate the cross, but to embrace it.  St. Josemaria says:   Christ carries the cross for you, you can carry it for him;  don’t drag the Cross…Carry it squarely on your shoulder. Love the Cross, and then it will be…   a Cross, without a Cross! Now this is not easy, to love our cross. But if we try, we sometimes get glimpses of it, we can experience a joy in our suffering – sometimes.

And this is a great mystery then:  that if we accept and embrace the cross, it becomes – lighter. St. Teresa of Avila said, ‘Those who embrace the cross do not feel it –  if we resolve to suffer, the pain ceases.’[i]  St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said: ‘Those who offer up their sufferings to God soon find their pain to be sweet.’  

Just yesterday, I was at a hospital and spoke to a man who had been lying on his bed for months – many problems.  He was wrestling inside his heart with a question: ‘Father, I know that God punishes us for our sins, he said; and I have certainly sinned in my life, but I don’t understand why all this – why he does it to me, that there have been so many things going wrong.’  

I said to him, ‘it is true of course that sometimes God allows us to suffer as a consequence of our sins, but we must not think this is what suffering is all about. ‘You know, there was a very good man, who never did anything wrong – he was perfectly innocent, Jesus. And yet he endured the most horrible torture and death.  But great good came out of this suffering.  He was able to conquer death and make it possible for us to go to heaven.  So he shows that suffering is very valuable.   

So here’s the thing: When I look at this bed, I see you, I see Jesus lying here.  Well, you are supposed to be another Christ, this is what we are supposed to be.  So by you offering your suffering, you are helping Jesus save the world. Participating in the Redemption. Because of what you offer here, others will reach heaven.   

I have never seen anyone ‘get it’ as quickly as this man did. He said, ‘This has changed everything!’  

We take up our cross in Lent, we make sacrifices, and if we embrace our cross, it will become very sweet, and great good will come out of it.

Friends in Christ,

Way back in the 4^th century in the city of Antioch  there lived a woman named Pelagia.[i] Pelagia was the most famous actress of that city with many admirers. A dancer, often appearing in theater performances, she lived a life of frivolity and prostitution.  So great was her beauty, that no one ever stopped speaking of it. Continue Reading →