Scandal of the Weak
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 1st 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.
Live for Heaven
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
St. Peter Claver
Friends in the Lord, today is the Feast of St. Peter Claver. Peter was born in Spain in 1581. He had a hard time making commitments. He went to a Jesuit school, but vacillated for years about whether he should join the Order. Finally he did, but he immediately had second thoughts. He was a person, not unlike many today, who had difficulty making commitments.
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Now along the way, he came to know a humble, elderly porter named Brother Alphonso. He confided his doubts to him. Brother Alphonso told him: you need to take a bold step: you should go to the Americas as a missionary. He felt great fear at this shocking idea. But summoning up all the courage he had, he asked to be sent.
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He was sent to Cartagena, Columbia. Now this port was a principle port for the slave trade, and there Peter saw the plight of these Africans – crammed into dark holds of slave ships, arriving dehydrated and hungry and mad with fear. Their treatment was so inhumane, that 1/3 of them died in the sea journey. They were herded into slave-pens and auctioned to the highest bidder.
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It was to these people that Peter would minister. Regularly he would row out to the crowded, disease-laden ships to bring food, medicine & clothing, but most of all, he brought them God. He had found something finally, that would compel him to throw his whole heart into it.
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While nursing them back to health, he taught about Christ and told them that they were loved by God. What he offered, was their consolation: hope in the promises of Eternal Life. He baptized nearly 300,000 slaves. and after 27 years of devout service, he lay dying in the Jesuit residence.
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Abandoned by the whites of Cartagena, it was an African who cared and nursed Peter Claver until he died. Canonized a saint, he was proclaimed patron of Catholic missions among the Blacks.
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And that humble porter, Brother Alphonso? He was canonized at the same time.
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We don’t have slavery in our country today, but prejudice in many forms is still present. We are not ‘on’ for changing all the problems of our society. But what we are ‘on’ for, is treating others with Christian charity, no matter their race or ethnicity or how they talk; no matter whether they are fat or thin, attractive or unattractive; like us or not like us.
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Since the time of St. Paul, this is how Christians have tried to be leaven in the darkness of the world; like St. Peter Claver, doing the best we can to treat others as Jesus would want it, one person at a time.
Maria Bambina
Friends in Christ, today is the Birthday of Mary.
There are many people who have become saints in history; Mary was born a saint. She was born for a great purpose, to bear the Savior of the world, we read about that today; she herself would become the Gate of Heaven, the way by which salvation comes to earth.
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Now the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin should be celebrated even more than normal birthdays, because at Mary’s birth, she was full of grace. She was full of grace, because she was destined to be the Mother of us, the Mother of All the Living.
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We celebrate many feasts through the year in honor of Mary, but rarely, except on today, do we consider Mary as an infant. In this regard I was reading about a beautiful devotion called Maria Bambina.[i] This devotion of Mary as a baby is centered on a miraculous image of the 18th century.[ii] It is a wax image of baby Mary, tightly snuggled in white swaddling clothes in a crib. There is a little crown on her head, or on top of her bonnet.
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Now during the course of the years, this image came under the care of the Sisters of Charity, who brought it to their mother house in Milan, Italy where it is to this day.
As the years past, the image of Maria Bambina became discolored, so it was normally kept out of sight, only brought out for veneration on September 8th , this feast of the birth of Mary.
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In 1884, a Sister Josephine sustained paralysis in her arms and feet. On the 8th of September, she asked the sisters to get Maria Bambina and leave the image near her overnight.
The following morning, the Mother General thought to take the image to other sick Sisters so they could kiss it. In the infirmary there was a novice named Giulia Macario who was unable to move because of a serious illness; overcome with faith, she took the image in her arms and kissing infant Mary, pleaded for her recovery. She was immediately cured, as was Sister Josephine and others.
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At the same time, the image itself, which was a worn, dull, gray color, suddenly became changed: it became bright and warm looking, tones which it has never lost to this day. Because of these events, the Sisters are often called the Sisters of Maria Bambina.
Couples began to venerate the image when they were trying to conceive a child, and it became a custom to give newlyweds a small wax image of Maria Bambina on their wedding day.
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Oh dear Infant Queen of heaven, Maria Bambina, pray for us.
[i] This devotion is described at: http://www.sacramentals.org/MariaBambina.htm
[ii] The image apparently was made by Sister Isabella Chiara Fornari, superior of the Poor Clares in Todi, Italy, in 1735.
God’s love for you
Latin Mass: 13th Sunday after Pentecost
‘And one of them went back, and he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks.’
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Beloved in Jesus Christ, This leper in the gospel today, was full of gratitude for all that the Lord had done for him, healing him. It says, that ‘he praised God.’ ‘He fell on his face giving thanks.’
Let us see today, that this disposition toward God of this leper, is precisely what should be in our own hearts daily.
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Most Catholic children that you ask will say that it is true,[i] that God loves every person with a special love, it is a commonly known fact in our Faith. But when we face this fact squarely, and really consider it, we may actually have difficulty believing it. It is not uncommon for a person to say to their priest, ‘Father, I sometimes am not convinced of God’s love for me.’
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Yet God does not look at us, as just a big group of people, rather, we are each before the Lord, before his eyes of love and affection.
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‘From all eternity, God chose to create you and me, not just another child of our parents, or another American, or just another person to work and then die in the 21st century – No. He made you and me unique and different from any other person who will ever walk the earth.
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Others may have many great abilities; other people may please God more than me or you; but there was something about you which God preferred, something special in you, in your ‘way,’ about you, something – that drew God to create you. This is the faith we must have.
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In Psalm 139 David says: ‘O Lord, you have searched me and you know me; You know when I sit and when I rise, for you formed my inward being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
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The value of each person is greater than the entire material universe put together. This is how dear you are to God.
If this then, is true, then clearly each person belongs to a plan; we have a place, a role in this world, a work to do. It implies that God has given each of us a special mission. Jesus has given us this unique life, and he is asking something of each of us specifically.
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St. Teresa the Little Flower felt this unique concern that the Lord has for each of us, and the sense of the mission he has given. She said, ‘When God stretches out his hand to ask, his hand is never empty, and his intimate friends can draw from him the strength they need.[ii]
St. Teresa would admit, that from the age of 3 she never refused God anything he asked. Why? What did she know about her relationship to her Creator?
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Well, the more that we ponder the specialty of God’s love for each of us, that you and I were made intentionally by God, with a purpose, well- we immediately recognize that we cannot love God as he deserves, we cannot return the favor adequately.
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Recognizing then, this special love God has for you, and me, individually, this is the same thing that makes us feel – fearful. Fearful, that we have not always been such a dear friend to Christ. fearful that we would ever betray God’s love, or forget Him.
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‘Fear of the Lord, is the beginning of wisdom, says the Psalmist.
‘Fear of the Lord is honor and glory,’ says the book of Sirach.
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Even in human relationships, the greater the love, the greater the fear of offending the beloved. Lovers take particular care to please the other and they would dread the thought of offending.
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Well if human love is half fear, then we can say regarding Divine Love, that he who loves most, fears most.
This is the Gift of the Holy Spirit, called ‘Fear of the Lord.’ Father Benedict Bauer says, love of God and fear of God, go hand in hand. We look on God’s goodness, we see his love for us, and then we look at ourselves, and we are filled with fear, lest through our many sins we should lose Him or displease him.[iii]
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‘I shudder to think, says St. Augustine:
‘I shudder because I am so unlike God, but my heart glows because I am so like Him.’
So then, if God made no two of us alike, then he wants us to carry out the special plan he has for us, and nobody else can do it. No one else can do it.
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Sometimes difficulty comes in life: the cross. Jesus is saying, ‘I know this is difficult, but I need you to do this for me, it’s important, part of the big plan, and you are the perfect person to do it.’ ‘I’ve made you this way for just this circumstance.’
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In the Gospel today, this leper first humbly prostrated himself before Jesus; it was through his Awe of Christ then, by which Jesus could tell him, Arise.
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Fr. Gerald Vann[iv] says, our daily prayer should begin with Awe of God. The prayer of a child in the face of Infinity. We must not have the proud familiarity with God that is contempt, rather, the humble familiarity of a child with his Father. To achieve this, we need to have a sense of our sinfulness; then in our misery, we can rise to confidence in His love. This is expressed so well before Holy Communion: ‘Domine, non sum dignus.’ ‘Lord, I am not worthy – that you should enter under my roof.
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This God, who if he wished, could destroy the immense machinery of the universe in a blink of an eye, he who burned five cities with a deluge of fire and flooded the earth – this All-Powerful God is really ours, in a way in which he is no one else’s.
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His arms are not around everyone as a group, with us among them, no. His arms are around our own selves individually. And while we marvel at this personal love God has for us, it also makes us fear that we would ever betray Him.
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Mary understood God’s special love. By the Divine light given her, she knew the infinite greatness and goodness of God’s concern for her, but she also knew her own nothingness.
Mary, this is our joy, to know our nothingness in the face of God’s affection for us. Help us to be worthy of God’s incredible and personal love for us.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.]
[i] This subject of God’s special love for us is found in Spiritual Conferences, Faber, p. 327.
[ii] Story of a Soul, p. 110
[iii] Frequent Confession, p. 214
[iv] The Divine Pity, p. 38
Mary’s Scapular
Friends in Christ, today is 1st Saturday, and an occasion for us to consider the love of our Mother in heaven.
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St. Fulgentius says,[i] ‘Mary is the bridge over which God passed in order to live with men; therefore, she is also the bridge over which men must pass to reach God.’
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There are important ways by which we remain close to the Blessed Virgin in this life: Praying the Rosary, saying the Angelus, paying visits to her image, aspirations of love – today, let us speak a bit, about wearing Our Lady’s Scapular.
The history of the Scapular was discussed on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, but today let us look at the power of the Scapular.
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During the Spanish Civil war, when Cardinal Taracon was bishop of Solsona, 10 prisoners from the communist army had been captured and were sentenced to death; they asked the bishop and three of his priests to give the usual spiritual help to condemned prisoners. It was about 11 at night, they were to be shot at 6 in the morning.
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8 of the prisoners responded well and went to confession. An avowed communist refused completely. That left one man, about 50 years old, very well educated. This man said, Father, I am grateful for what you people are doing for me, but I’m not interested, and I can assure you that I am not going to Confession.
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The Bishop asked, ‘Would you be able to do me a favor” Whatever you want, he answered, provided that it has nothing to do with confession.
OK: Would you allow me to place a scapular on you. I have no problem with that – these things mean nothing to me.. But if it makes you happy I’ll do it. The bishop, after placing the scapular on him, sat down in a nearby chapel and prayed before a picture of Our Lady.
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He had been there less than five minutes when he heard a person crying loudly, sobbing. ‘I found it alarming, he said. ‘I entered again into his room and I saw the man, and he came to me crying inconsolably, and said to me in the middle of his tears: ‘Father, I want to go to confession; I would like to go to confession.’ I do not deserve this grace from God; Our Lady has saved me.
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The next morning, the Bishop says, ‘As they were being taken out to be shot, the man hugged me and said, ‘In heaven I will pray for you. Thanks again Father. Our Lady has saved me.
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Father Valuy says, ‘Wear the Scapular with faith and respect, by night no less than by day. Never leave it off under any pretext. Press it to your heart with confidence and love.'[ii]
The Scapular is a Pledge of Our Mother.
[i] The Mirror of Priests, p. 119
[ii] The Mirror of Priests, p. 122.
The 8th Commandment
‘And he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and manifest the motives of our hearts.’
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In the 1st 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 8th 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.
Put out into the Deep
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.
St. Gregory the Great, Pope
Friends in the Lord, today is the Feast of St. Gregory the Great. St. Gregory was born at Rome in 540AD. He became a Roman senator, and by age 30 he was already prefect of Rome. After five years he resigned everything and became a monk.
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One day he saw young men being sold as slaves. He asked where they were from, and it was told to him, ‘they are pagans from England.’ Gregory knew then, that Christ must be brought to England. He set off to England as a missionary, but because he was so loved by the people of Rome, the Pope sent a messenger to call him back.
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3 days into his journey, Gregory sat down to rest and to read a book. As he was reading, a locust came and landed on his book. He took it as a sign that a messenger was coming, and so he waited. Sure enough, the messenger caught up to him and brought him back.
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Now at that time, the Bubonic plague was raging through Rome and many were dying of the plague. Even the Pope died of the plague, and so they elected Gregory as the new Pope.
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Pope Gregory immediately led the city in praying to God to end the plague. They took the image of the Virgin Mary painted by St. Luke,[ii] and carried it throughout the town in a procession, asking God to help them. Their prayers were soon answered and the plague came to an end; who drove it away? At that moment, Gregory saw, appearing to him, St. Michael the archangel, wiping a bloody sword and returning it to its sheath. So he built there a Church, in honor of the angels, and it is called to this very day, the Castle of the Holy Angel.[iii]
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It was by the efforts of Pope Gregory, that England was converted into a great Catholic country. But he always felt tired and weighed down by his responsibilities. He longed to return to the quiet of his monastery. But no. He offered each day, and each chore, and his work, to God.
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When Rome was being attacked by the barbarians, he personally negotiated with the barbarian King; he rooted out corruption in the Church, and helped priests to be holier. He beautified the Mass with what we know as Gregorian Chant, and poured out what money was had, to ransom prisoners, help the Jews, and victims of famine. He was perhaps the humblest man to ever walk the earth.
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He had been elected Pope at age 50, and he never did feel worthy. He was called in Rome, the ‘Father of the City and the joy of the world.’ Next to St. Peter himself, and perhaps Pope Leo, Gregory the Great is one of the greatest Popes in history.
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[i] Golden Legend under St Michael
[ii] It is unknown what happened to the original painting by St. Luke; this was likely one of the important copies of that painting, probably the one known as ‘Salus Populi Romani.’
[iii] Golden Legend under St Michael
