Friends in Christ, today in Acts of the Apostles, it says that ‘when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.’ The readings this week, the prayers in the Missal, are preparing us for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, 6 days away. Our Lord is preparing the Church to remain one with him, and to come alive by the Spirit.
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The Holy Spirit works in us primarily by his 7 Gifts. The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit are: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Tonight I thought we could consider the 3 intellectual gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. [i]
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These 3 intellectual Gifts obtain for us the equivalent of experiential knowledge. They acquaint us with things much higher than us, not through a process of reasoning, but by means of a higher light. We are thereby able to grasp things, almost as if we had experiential knowledge of them. This illumination gives us a sort of “intuition” or instinct about things.
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Francisca del Valle was only a poor dress-maker in the 1800’s. Yet this is what they say about her writings: ‘The intimate life in the Spirit is treated in her writings with such intelligence and subtlety, that they can be admired by the most learned theologians.’ (p. 9, About the Holy Spirit, del Valle.) This is said, yet she had no training in theology whatsoever. She was taught directly by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
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KNOWLEDGE is the Gift which helps us to see the events of our lives according to the plan of God, to know the right-use of created things in the spiritual life. This Gift of Knowledge allowed St. Francis to see every flower and insect as a testimony to God’s love. Knowledge allows us in a moment, to recognize what things will help us to find holiness;
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The Gift of UNDERSTANDING differs from that of Knowledge in that it is not limited to created things. Understanding allows us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths. It does not give us an understanding of the mysteries, but it gives us confidence in their truth. The Gift of Understanding allows us a sudden insight into a scripture passage, or gives us those ‘Aha!’ moments, and we grasp a spiritual truth.
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The Gift of WISDOM makes us love what God loves, and want what God wants. The influence of Wisdom directs our life only to God’s honor and glory. St. Bernard calls Wisdom, the knowledge that relishes the things of God. ‘We love what God loves, and want what God wants.’ We might know persons who are always trying to do God’s will, what He wants – they are basking in the Gift of Wisdom.
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As we wait for Pentecost, let us speak very much to this Good Holy Spirit, and ask him to increase his Gifts in us.
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[i] (see The Spiritual Life, by Tanquery, p. 624-629)
The Ascension of the Lord
Beloved in Jesus Christ, today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord.
Jesus, having completed his earthly life, ascends up to heaven: ‘And he led them out and raising his hands, blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them, and was taken up to heaven.’
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Well, we are supposed to do what Jesus did. Live our earthly life in faithfulness, like our Savior, and then be taken up to heaven like him. Heaven is our goal, it is the only goal worth pursuing; it is the most important goal, because if we do not reach heaven, everything else will be totally useless.
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How valuable is heaven? Jesus Christ has sacrificed his life on the cross for this, so that we can go there. St. Alphonsus says, ‘Most certainly, the greatest of all the torments of the damned in hell, is the thought of having lost heaven through their own fault.’
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In heaven we will have all that we desire; new beauties, delights, new joys. There, all our desires shall be satisfied. Heaven is described by St. John as a great City, it’s streets of pure gold, the walls are jewels, illuminated by the glory of God. Other images: flowers and meadows and streams, secret places to be and to love. Christ calls it ‘Paradise.’
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Once resurrected, our senses will be alive as never before in this life, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting… Our hearing will be alive with the sounds of nature in the New World; our eyes will behold beauty never before seen on earth; smelling will be satisfied by heavenly scents – no doubt scents we never could perceive before. And taste will relish the banquets of heaven, so often referred to by Jesus.
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Greater than the sights of heaven, are the inhabitants of heaven. No bad people there, only very good. Anyone who makes it there, has every fault purged away; hearts will be shared with truly admirable persons, with no limits set to the passing of time. To hear the voice of a saint speak, talk to us – to sit perhaps by a quiet pond, visiting, hearing the voice of the Blessed Virgin speaking to us. St. Francis de Sales says, as the singing of the nightingale in the woods surpasses that of other birds, so the voice of Mary is superior to that of all the other saints. And yet, we will be with her and those we love, in that Paradise.
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But these delights can’t compare to the greatest: and that is to be with God, to see Jesus, to embrace him; to experience the love of God fully in our heart, in ecstasy as we have never experienced love before. Some of the saints on earth briefly experienced union with God. St. Peter Alcantara once experienced such an ecstasy of God’s love that he took hold of a large tree and pulled it up by its roots. When St. Teresa experienced union with God, it was so sweet, she said she could no longer be content with anything but God himself. The experience will be indescribable, and it will be our fulfillment.
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In his Ascension to heaven, Jesus shows us the way, it is what he wants for us; and this is why he spoke so often and forcefully about avoiding hell. The Holy Scriptures tell of the judgment we will each receive, determining whether we go to joy or to eternal misery: The Book of Life will be opened, and each will search anxiously for his name. ‘And scrolls were opened, and the Book of Life; and if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the pool of fire.’
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The reprobate, not finding their name there, will become hysterical; they will be placed on the left to await condemnation. The devils will say to God, ‘This one now is mine, since in life he was unwilling to be yours.’ On that day the proud will be filled with utter dread; they will say, ‘we regarded Christians as fools who led humble lives, but now, we are really the fools.’
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The Lord will turn to his beloved and point in the Book of Life, their names written there. And to them Jesus says, ‘Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven.’ And he will bless their faith and their prayers and their tears, and receive each into his embrace.
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And he will say to the reprobate, ‘Depart from me you accursed into the everlasting fire. And as St. Ephrem says, these wicked will say farewell forever to their relatives, and farewell to heaven. ‘Goodbye Paradise. Farewell mother and father. Goodbye Mary, Mother of God.’ And a great pit will be opened, and their hideous bodies will descend into it forever, and the doors will shut, never to be opened again.
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Friends, heaven is our hope, and we must get there; we must. In heaven, all hearts will be revealed. There the child will see the true heart of his mother. He will know that it was the tears and prayers of his mother, which brought about his salvation. ‘O mother, he will say. ‘I used to love you because you gave me food and my needs, but now I love you a thousand times more because you won for me eternal life.’ How happy will be, those mothers and fathers who prayed their children into Paradise.
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One day at Mass, St. Augustine was describing the heavenly City to his people. He did so with a voice charged with emotion, with that golden eloquence of his. The people were deeply moved, and felt as if they were transported to heaven. Their emotion was so great, that tears flowed from every eye. The normal silence of Church was broken, each began to speak of the happiness of heaven.
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Hearing all these feelings and sighs, Augustine was surprised. He wanted to continue, but his own emotion stifled his voice. His tears mingled with theirs, as all longed for rest, in that heavenly homeland.
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Friends, heaven is the reason Jesus comes to us; in the end, he wants us there. He really wants us to be there. We must therefore do what he did: live a holy life – faithful – doing God’s will; so that on our last day, we too will Ascend to heaven.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Joseph]
Friends in Christ, in the first reading today, it says that one night Christ appeared to St. Paul who was evidently worried. Jesus said to him, ‘Do not be afraid.’ Many times, Jesus will say this, ‘Do not be afraid.’
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Fear, is a part of human life. Fear, is a shrinking back from evil, from a threat, from danger. If we think of an event that we once feared in our past, we will see that we don’t feel fear it now, because it is past and done. Only if events of our past can harm us today do we fear, but then it has become a present fear.
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There can be natural fears in our senses; for example the fear of being hurt. Or it could be a rationalized fear if it is an evil in the mind, for example fear of failing a test or fear of embarrassment.
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Because fear always is over a future evil that might happen, the evil that might befall us is in the imagination, which makes the threat seem present to us. The imagination might make the fear seem even closer or larger than it really is; that is called ‘inordinate fear.’ We have enlarged it. Or, the imagination can downplay a threat. An old person who is actually approaching death, may imagine death to be far off, and may have no fear of it, since distant evils are not really feared.
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Now fear can only come about, if we love something or someone because we fear losing something we love, whether it be our life, our health, our soul, or a person close to us. Love is the cause of fear, because the threat of its loss causes us to fear. People who do not love or who have nothing to lose can be fearless.
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Fear can lead us to pray, because when we fear harm that could come, either to our body or soul, we instinctively seek the help of another, especially God.
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Anxiety is a unique kind of fear; it is the fear of possible evils that are not clearly foreseen. Anxiety is difficult to overcome, because its object is ill-defined. It can be psychological or physiological. It can be due to something in our subconscious or something we do not understand.
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When Jesus tells us not to be afraid, he does not mean that all fears can be avoided. For example, we naturally fear death: he did. But St. Therese says, if we are never afraid, how can we exercise courage or patience? In order to become virtuous, there must be obstacles to overcome.
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So we are not cowards if, despite fear, we trust God and push on forward because it is the right thing to do. If we are doing it for the Lord and with him – then let there be fear, but let there be courage as well.
Beloved in Christ, today in the first reading we find that St. Paul goes to the Areopagus. This is a place in Athens where trials used to be conducted by the Greeks, and it is not far from the Acropolis, full of idols to various Gods. Paul sees there that they had an idol to ‘the unknown god;’ he takes that opportunity to talk to them about the true God that they do not know. He speaks to them about the creator of all, and then he leads to the fact of Jesus Christ, who has risen.
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This was what I was speaking to the 8th grade about recently. When they go to high school they will encounter people who say they don’t believe in God. What should they do, what should we say? Because we have to say something!
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Do what St. Paul did. He tries to speak to them first about the True God, using what they know, even referring to their own poets and this idol they have, to some ‘unknown god.’ So we can first talk about the fact that this entire beautiful universe, in it’s complexity, cannot ‘create itself,’ there had to be an origin to all things. If science says it all started with the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, that all the matter and energy, all that we see – exploded forth from a tiny dot – how did this begin except by a Creator. All of this can’t create itself.
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Like St. Paul, having first spoken about God’s existence, then we tell them about Jesus. God himself came down from heaven; he entered his own creation; the Son of God became Man, and lived our life; he taught and then he suffered and died for us and rose from the dead, so that we can do the same.
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Jesus is a fact. There is more evidence that Jesus existed than that there was Julius Cesar or Thomas Jefferson. Jesus Christ did many miracles, instantly curing people, raising people from the dead, and himself.
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‘Well, they may say, I believe that Jesus was a good teacher, like Budhah or Ghandi or Mohammed or Confucious. ‘No, we must reply,’ you cannot say that. Jesus claimed to be God. He said ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ ‘I am the Way.’ ‘You can’t be saved without believing in me. Yesterday we read, our Lord said over and over: ‘I and the Father are One.’ ‘To see me, is to see the Father.’ Jesus is the Revelation of God, he is the face of God in the world.
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We present the truth to our friends, then they have to decide whether they will seek out Jesus, or not. Everyone must choose to follow him, or reject him. There is no middle ground. And it will be very much like with St. Paul: some said ‘this is foolish,’ but others said, ‘I would like to hear more.’
Friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of the Apostles Philip and James.
Now there were two apostles named James. The saint today is James the Less, or James the Just; he is also called in the scriptures ‘the brother of the Lord.’
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Some people ask: how can they call him the ‘brother of the Lord? And why are some of the disciples referred to as the ‘brethren’ or ‘brothers’ of Jesus? After all, Mary was always a Virgin, Jesus did not have brothers by blood.
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Well, we should remember that in that culture, cousins, relatives, and other close family members were often simply called ‘brothers.’ In fact, nephews were called brothers. For example, Abraham’s nephew Lot was simply called his brother, and even today in many cultures of the world, people will call cousins and nephews their ‘brother.’
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As an example, in the Philippines, a teenage girl would call her older brother “kuya”. She would also tend to call her cousins “kuya” and even her brothers friends ‘kuya.’ So the Jewish people did this also in Jesus’ day.
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But why is James, in particular, given a special title: ‘brother of the Lord’? Well, James was the 1st cousin of Jesus. His mother was the sister of Mary. Also, some ancient writers say that James, being a 1st cousin, looked quite a bit like Jesus. They looked so much alike, that when they went to arrest Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas had to go along to identify for them which to arrest; he was able to distinguish between them.
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James was called ‘James the Just’ because he led such a holy life. He became the first bishop of Jerusalem and his reputation for holiness was so great, that people always wanted to touch his clothes. James prayed so much it is said, that his knees were rough and calloused. Tradition says that after Our Lord’s Ascension, he was the first to offer Mass in Jerusalem.
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At one point, a persecution erupted and when James refused to deny the Divinity of Christ, they threw him down from the temple and broke his legs. Then they bashed out his brains with a club. Before he died, he prayed for his enemies, just like Christ. It was the year 62AD.
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St. James is the patron saint of pharmacists, of those who are dying, and of hat-makers.
St. Joseph the Worker
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, which in the Tridentine Calendar actually overrides the 5th Sunday of Easter. This 1st of May is also called ‘May-Day’.
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For centuries, it was a day that celebrated the joy of Spring, the planting of the fields, a day of festivals. After the 1800’s, it also became associated with worker protests and strikes, and by the 20th century, Communists had turned this day into one for showcasing Communism: their armies and weapons and power – a demonstration of the supremacy of their workers. Communists proclaimed that a worker paradise could be achieved through their ideology, which promised a new man and a new society – a society without the need for God or a Savior.
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In a direct challenge to this false view of man, the Catholic Church instituted the feast on this day, of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope Pius XII, in 1955, instituted this Feast in order to expose the lies of Communism, and proclaim that the only truth which can liberate men and women is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Contrary to Marxism, the Church teaches that there is a dignity to human work, not because of the primacy of the State, but precisely because of the dignity of every human worker.
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In the gospel today, it says that Jesus was the son of the ‘carpenter.’ St. Joseph was this carpenter who worked hard for a living; it is certain that his work was done well, because it was done alongside the Son of God. In reality, God is with each of us in our daily work, whether it is difficult, hands-on work like St. Joseph’s, or mental or desk-work.
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Father Plus, in his book ‘How to Pray Always,’[i] tells us that if we wish to pray all day, we must do our work with maximum professional skill, and offer it to God. Even the most mundane task: ironing a shirt, sweeping the shop – these can be made into beautiful gems offered to the Lord, if we only will introduce a supernatural intention; this is surely the way that St. Joseph quietly worked.
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Charles Peguy writes that in his childhood of olden times, he remembered seeing people re-caning chairs as carefully as their forefathers used to cut stones for the Cathedral. There was a painstaking love of perfection for detail he says, a desire for a task well done.
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The Holy Father has lamented the throw-away society that we live in. Have we all not seen very well-crafted furniture from olden times, or that appliance that just keeps on going? Growing up, we had a toaster that just kept on going really my whole life, designed probably in the 50’s. New ones? no way. You throw them out after 5 years.
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The idea of quality craftsmanship is fading away, we often do work, design things, just to get the job out of the way, just to make some cash; St. Joseph for sure never lived like that. We ourselves should do everything with care and precision and professionalism, whether it is designing a microchip or cleaning the windows, all for God’s glory.
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St. Josemaria once wrote: don’t let your professional success or even failure — make you forget what the true aim of your work is: the glory of God! (The Forge, 704)
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There can be a tendency for us to look past our work, at greener pastures, looking for the next thing, the next option. If our duties are boring, we yearn for an exciting career; if we are weighed down by responsibility and stress, we yearn for a simple job. A man who was very well educated and in a lucrative field once said to me: ‘I saw this guy working in a shoe repair shop; his work was simple, uncomplicated; and at 5 o’clock he could just go home.’ He said, ‘I often wish for such a job.’
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We can all yearn for a different kind of work, but God does not ask us to do something different, he asks us to do our work differentLY. Work done well can be a cause for evangelizing others. They notice your work-ethic, they note the quality and they enjoy working with you, then underneath it all, they find a Christian. And they might want to know more.
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Father Plus says, we must all admit that sometimes we slack off and “go on strike”, we don’t put our heart into the quality of our work. But the saints did not behave in this way. Whatever had to be done, they did it to the best of their ability.
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St. Joseph, pray for us, that we will find richness and value in doing our work very well, because we are doing it for the glory of God.
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[i] How to Pray Always, p. 77, 85.
Friends in Christ, today Our Lord says, ‘ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’
These are the exact words we use at Mass before the sign of peace. The peace that Christ gives is not that of the world. The world sees peace as the cessation of war, or the end of fighting, or the end of arguing. But Christ’s peace is different.
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Thomas Aquinas defines peace as the union of wills, our will united to God’s will. Doing God’s will in our life, no matter the cost – this brings the peace that God can give to our soul.
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The sign of peace at Mass is a sign of this peace. The priest offers it only after Christ is present on the altar. It is Christ then, who offers his peace to his brethren.
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The sign of peace that we have at Mass has, through history, been called the ‘Kiss of Peace,’ and St. Paul refers to this. In the early Church, the kiss of peace was given – on the lips! It was literally a kiss, in which the person turned to their neighbor and kissed them. It is not quite so surprising, when we remember that a kiss between unrelated people was at that time, a sign of respect.
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Later, in different parts of the church, more stylized kisses of peace were done. Among the Syrians, each person clasps the hands of his neighbor, and kisses them. Maronite Catholics clasp the neighbor’s fingers, then kiss them. In the Latin Solemn High Mass, the clergy give the light, Roman embrace. Priests and Deacons often continue this at the Sign of peace, a light embrace of the arms as is done in Rome.
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In Europe, there is the ‘cheek kiss’, in Japan it is a deep bow to one another, and in India the palms are put together in a bow. In the 13th century in England, they used an ornate plaque imprinted with a picture of Christ. The plaque was kissed and passed along, each person kissing it; this was actually specified in the Missal of Pius V.
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In some places, the priest would kiss the Sacred Host, and then kiss the Deacon, who would kiss the servers, and then the people, all of it originating from the Sacred Host. And this is the point: the peace that we desire, can only originate in Jesus.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Mark.
St. Mark is one of the four evangelists, and his symbol is the Lion. He was a big, strong man with a long nose and a beard. His mother was named Mary and his cousin was St. Barnabas. It is believed that it was at St. Mark’s house where was celebrated the Last Supper and it was where Christians often met.
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Mark was baptized by St. Peter, whom he followed to Rome in the year 42. He was St. Peter’s assistant. In Rome, the people asked Mark to write down what St. Peter remembered about the Lord, and so he wrote the gospel. Peter looked it over and approved it. Then Peter sent St. Mark to Egypt, where he preached the gospel.
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The church grew quickly there, and many miracles were also done by St. Mark. St. Mark’s thumb had been amputated, and so he thought he could never be a priest or say Mass, because of this disfigurment.[i] But St. Peter ordained him a priest anyway, and then made him bishop of Alexandria.
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One day, St. Mark’s shoe fell apart, and so he took it to a man who fixes shoes. But while the man was mending his shoe, he injured his hand; St. Mark mixed clay with saliva, just like Jesus did, and rubbed it on the wound, which healed instantly. So the man took Mark to his home and asked him many questions. St. Mark told him that he is a servant of Jesus Christ, and the man said: ‘I would like to see him.’ ‘I will show him to you, said Mark, and he instructed him in the teachings of Christ, and the man and his whole family were baptized.
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Now in those days, many enemies of the Church plotted against St. Mark, because he was a great teacher. They attacked him while he was celebrating Mass on Easter. Putting a rope around his neck, they dragged him through the city, shouting: ‘let’s haul this wild ox to the slaughterhouse.’ Being dragged, his flesh was cut on the pavement, and the road was drenched with blood. Then he was put in jail, where Jesus appeared to him saying, “Mark, my evangelist, fear not! I will deliver you.’ The next day they again dragged him through the city, until he died as a martyr. His body exuded a wonderful, sweet, odor, so much so, that it could be smelled throughout the entire city of Alexandria.
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His tomb today is in Venice, at the great church of St. Mark near the sea. [ii] St. Mark is the patron saint of attorneys, stained glass workers, insect bites, and lions.
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[i] this is also referenced by Thomas in Summa, Under The States of Life, Q. 185 a2
[ii] The Venetians came to bring his body to Venice, but while they were doing so, men on another ship began to doubt that it was really the body of St. Mark. With that, the ship carrying St. Mark’s body, suddenly turned around at astonishing speed and rammed that ship of doubters.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Anselm of Canterbury.
Anselm was born in the year 1033 in Aosta, Italy. His dear Mother taught him to love God very much, and this never would leave him his whole life. At age 15 he wanted to join a monastery, but his father forbid it, so he turned to a worldly life.
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His mother having died, Anselm walked on a bad path for some time; in later life he would never cease to repent of those days. He went to France, and applied his brilliant mind to his studies, but at the age of 27, the call of the monastery returned to him; he entered the monastery at Bec, France. 3 years later, he was named the prior of Bec!
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Because he was so young, out of envy, many monks complained. One monk named Osbern was a bitter opponent of Anslem; but Anselm took a kind interest in him, and guided him from his lazy ways to become a very disciplined monk. Patience and gentleness eventually won them all over.
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Making many visits to the monastery in England, Anselm would have a long series of run-ins with the King who did everything in his power to oppose his work. But Anselm eventually was named the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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He was the greatest theologian of his age, a Doctor of the Church. He wrote many things, but his most famous is on the Incarnation, ‘Why God became Man.’ Although he was brilliant, it was not his brain that made him a saint, it was his heart.
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He had a kind charm about himself and a method of his own for teaching even the most simple persons. He was always trying to see God in every event of the day; once, as he was riding his horse, a rabbit, being chased by dogs, ran under his horse for safety; the dogs, who were with hunters, stayed back from the horse. He said to the hunters, ‘This rabbit reminds me of the poor sinner who is near death, and is surrounded by the devils.’ He then ordered the dogs to stay put, while the rabbit ran off.
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St. Anselm built up goodness wherever he went; once, he saw a boy who had tied a string to a bird’s leg and was stopping it from flying; Anselm didn’t like it, so he cut the string; and as it was often told, ‘the bird flew, the boy howled, and the priest rejoiced!
Friends in the Lord, today in the gospel we encounter Jesus in the temple; he is teaching the people, and it tells us that it was the time of the Feast of the Dedication. This feast of the Dedication is called by its Jewish name as ‘Hanukkah;’ and Hanukkah is generally celebrated around December 25th.
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The origin of this feast goes back to the 2nd century BC when the Greeks dominated Palestine. They wished to eliminate the jewish religion and replace it with Greek culture; Jerusalem was attacked, killing some 80,000 Jews. Since circumcision was the sign of the covenant, it was outlawed; mothers who were found to have circumcised their children were crucified with their children hung around their necks.
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The Temple was profaned, the chambers turned into brothels, and offerings were made to Zeus on the main altar. It was then that Judas Maccabaeus and his family rose up and led a rebellion against the Greeks. They were victorious, and the temple was cleansed and re-dedicated, hence the name: The Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah).
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But this feast had another name too: it was called the Festival of Lights. There were brilliant lamps lit in the temple; in fact, in the main temple area, were some enormous oil lamps that lit up the night sky all around. There were also lamps lit in the window of every Jewish home. It was around this time of illumination that Jesus had said: ‘I am the light of the world.’ As we see today, Our Lord indicates his Divine Nature; he says ‘I and the Father are One;’ and when lights were illuminating everything for the feast, he tells us that he is the Light of the world; He is the One who lights the way to God.
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We had 8 people baptized this year at the Easter Vigil; after that, they were given a candle, and then father said this prayer over them: ‘You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as children of the light and keep the flame of faith alive in your hearts. When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.’
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This prayer was said over us too, at our baptism. So we also, are to keep this Light of Christ always alive in our hearts.
