Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - preached at St. Kateri at Christ the King August 26/27, 2017

Today's scripture proclamations:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082717.cfm

“It is a great day to be a Catholic!”

I haven’t personally heard him say this yet - perhaps you have - I think he’s said it at more than one liturgy.  But my wife heard our new parochial vicar, Father Mike Buontello, proclaim this in a homily at daily mass a couple weeks ago.  “It is a great day…to be a Catholic!”

Now why would we say such a thing, much less why would we proclaim such a thing? 

The answer - because it matters.  It matters that I am Catholic, that we are Catholics.

            A friend sent me an interesting article the other day, written by Deacon John Beagan, a deacon who serves in a parish up near Boston, entitled “What’s Missing in the New Evangelization?”  After reading it I decided this article could just as easily have been entitled, “why aren’t our evangelization efforts working?” Or perhaps “why are we failing to convince people that it matters to be Catholic?”

Bishop Robert Barron asserts that for every one person joining the Church today, six are leaving.  And it is all too apparent, we are an aging Church – where are the young people?

Deacon John asserts that the Church is languishing these days because folks are pretty well off - reasonably comfortable financially, and despite challenging and traumatic events at times, life is pretty good.  He says that “basically, we live in a time and place where, practically speaking, we don’t need God.”

The Holy Father calls the Church a “field hospital for sinners,” but Deacon John writes “When I look at my extended family members and friends who don’t go to Mass, and people in the pews who don’t participate in parish life outside of Mass, I don’t see wounded people in need of a Church hospital.”

He observes that we are basically healthy and content and drifting away from our Lord Jesus.  Why?  The reason he says - “people have been infected by an increasingly steady stream of doubts and false beliefs.”

He cites a questionnaire conducted of Catholics in his hometown just last year, a questionnaire that reveals significant doubts among Catholics.  Doubts that the Church is critical to our relationship with God; doubts about the teaching authority of the Church; doubts about Jesus’ moral teachings as taught by the Church; even doubts that Scripture is the word of God.

Frankly, it seems to me, we’ve largely been evangelized by this world.  Modern media – television, movies, internet – have been far more effective than we’d like to admit in evangelizing us to ways of thinking that are far from God’s way.  And none of us are immune.  How far we’ve strayed in our beliefs about sexuality, economics, our responsibility to the poor.  To the point that the Church is seen as irrelevant, often even among us pewsitters.

The main false belief that has infected us, according to Deacon John, is the belief, the presumption, that everyone goes to heaven.  Eulogies at funerals routinely become canonizations of the deceased.  This belief is, of course, not scriptural, certainly not something the Lord Jesus taught us.  His way, He said, is the narrow gate, and those who enter it are few.    The last thing this world wants us to realize is that we are engaged in a battle - between good and evil, God and Satan, over our eternal souls. 

Which brings me to this Gospel.  Jesus asks “Who do YOU say that I am,” Peter answers with the magnificent confession of faith “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus confirms this: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”

Our Blessed Lord, the Son of the living God, then invests in Peter His power.  Upon you, Peter, I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against her.

And this is why it matters that we are Catholic – Jesus, who has just confirmed that He is the Christ, hands to Peter the keys to His kingdom.  Just as the Lord gave Eliakim the key to the House of David in our first reading from Isaiah, making him the doorkeeper of His household, so Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, giving him and by extension the Church, the power to bind and loose – what you bind, I will bind in heaven. What you loose, I will loose in heaven.

That day our Lord invested in Peter, as head of the apostles, as the future earthly head of His Church, the power of eternal salvation.  The powr to carry on the mission of Jesus, which is salvation!  No, not everyone goes to heaven, Our Lord makes clear. But the Church, likened to a ship, with Peter as the original helmsman, is charged with the sacred responsibility and power of safely carrying souls across the stormy sea. Across the stormy sea of this world, a sea of disbelief, disorder, and downright evil, safely to our goal, our heavenly homeland.

Sisters and brothers, we are that Church that Our Lord promised to build on the rock of Peter that day.  We are that boat.  It is right here, right back there in that little room in the corner, that we experience in the person of the priest, the power of Jesus to bind and loose – to forgive our sins and call us to ever growing holiness.  The only place, in fact, where our serious sins may be remitted so that we may be reconciled to God. And it is right here at this altar that we experience the most sublime gift Our Lord  left us – His sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Eucharist.

So two thoughts to leave you with today –

First, get in the boat.  Humbly think with the Church.  Recall today’s collect, which Father Joe just prayed on our behalf: “O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.”

Lord, help me to love what you command and desire what you promise.  Incline my heart according to your will, O God.  Give me the humility to realize that you came to save me, and left behind a Church and her holy Sacraments to safely lead me to live with you eternally in that place where true gladness is found.

Second, invite others to get in the boat.  He wants us with Him forever, and He gave us the great gift of our Catholic Faith to lead us there. When we realize what’s at stake – our eternal lives, our eternal gladness – how can we not reach out in love to invite others to get in the boat with us? The most hateful thing we can do is to leave people far from God, wallowing in sin, without hope.

Brothers and sisters, this is the way Our Lord wants to use us in this world – indeed it is our mission as Catholics, the mission Our Lord gave to our fathers and mothers in faith 2,000 years ago, and the mission we took up at our baptism – to go forth be His eternal life-saving presence in this world so increasingly far from Him.

It is indeed a great day to be a Catholic!

It is a great time to be Catholic!

Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 19/20 - St. Kateri at St. Cecilia

Today's scripture proclamations:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082017.cfm

"It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." From the mouth and lips of Our Blessed Lord.

I was thinking - that seems like an "un-Christian" thing to say to the woman, huh?  More or less calling her a dog.  I don’t know about you, but to my ears and brain, this has to be among the hardest Gospels to figure out.  Why would Our Blessed Lord, true God and true man, perfect in every way, seemingly insult this woman who’s come to Him begging for His help?

I did some reading and the only thing I’m sure of is that nobody can say for sure.  Investigating the original Greek language in which St. Matthew wrote the gospel, it’s clear that Our Lord didn’t mean dogs like a pack of dogs.  The Greek word Matthew uses has a meaning more like a small dog, a pet, a member of the family even. 

And I can relate to that because we have a small dog who’s always around the dinner table ready to pounce on whatever gets dropped (or secretly fed to her).  If that’s the case, then maybe what we take as an insult wasn’t meant to be an insult at all. 

But then again there’s the idea, and Matthew makes this clear, that Jesus is in a foreign district, Tyre and Sidon, and this woman is a foreigner. And not just any foreigner but a Canaanite.  The Canaanites versus the Jewish people – a conflict of hatred that went back centuries. 

We know from the parable of the Good Samaritan that the Jews not liking Samaritans, but to the Jewish community to whom Matthew was writing, well, he’s talking about someone despicable here.  And it was common for the Jews to speak of Canaanites as dogs – and not the household pet variety – this was demeaning and an insult.

And as an aside – Jesus is speaking here to a woman to boot – you’ll recall that it was forbidden to speak in public to a woman, doubly so to speak to a Canaanite woman – either would make you ritually unclean.

So that sets the picture – Our Lord Jesus speaking to this Canaanite woman – whom His disciples would probably have thought a dog – and after her pleading with Him, after her outwitting Him if you will with her response – “even the dogs eat the scraps from the table” – Jesus relents and cures her daughter at once.

This is no doubt a story of her great faith.  Some say it was a turning point, perhaps, in Jesus’ life or so goes one theory – when His eyes are opened not only to the lost sheep of Israel but to all humankind.

And it’s no doubt a story of the need to be persistent in prayer, of never giving up.  What mother would give up in seeking a cure for her daughter, even seeking the cure from a hated Israelite?

But I think the most important takeaway from this story is best framed in what’s happening right now in our own country.  Just like the bright dividing line that separated Jew from Canaanite, who is “in” and who is “out” - we have our own bright dividing lines, don’t we?  And in my lifetime I can’t recall this much intolerance, even hatred on the lips and faces of so many, shown for those on the other side of their line – for those “outside.” Intolerance of anyone with a differing opinion, huh?

Think of all the dividing lines – right, left. Democrat - Republican.  American – foreigner. Catholic - non-Catholic.  Black – white.  Christian – Muslim.  And I could go on.  Scary stuff.  It’s almost a little comforting to know that there were dividing lines in Jesus’ day, and Our Lord (or at least His disciples) were not immune from them.

But faced with this situation, what does Our Lord do?  He has a conversation – with someone on the other side of the line, someone He’s not supposed to be talking to.  He stops, He listens.  And He relents and heals.  He praises her great faith – she who twice calls Him Lord, and Son of David.  In place of hatred, He has sown love. He has made peace.

And He has blurred the dividing line, if not erased it.  Done something that must have shocked His disciples, but something that certainly taught them, too, taught them a new way. 

Sisters and brothers, He’s teaching you and me today as well.  Teaching us that blurring dividing lines is what you and I are called to do.  To focus not on what separates us but on what unites us in our common humanity – what we all have in common.  To follow Jesus, to blur those dividing lines, cross over in conversation, and bring the love and peace, the forgiveness of sin and the salvation bought by Christ’s blood, which we experience here, to all.

I was drawn in to a posting on Facebook the other day – it was entitled “50 groups of people Jesus said it’s OK to hate.”  Intrigued, I opened it, and stared reading, and scrolled down to the listing.  And it was fifty blank lines, numbered one to fifty.  Meaning Jesus gave us the OK to hate no one. 

“Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you,” He commanded us.  It is incumbent on us, His followers, those who are to be light to the world and salt of the earth, to shine the light of His love into the darkness all around us.

Homily for Sunday, August 6, 2017 - Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord - 8 and 11 St. Kateri at St. Margaret Mary

Today's scripture readings:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/080617.cfm

I’m fond, I suppose, of any mention of mountains in our Mass readings.  For the top of a mountain, any mountain, is my happy place, I’ve decided.  There are 115 high peaks in the Northeast – 48 here in New York, 67 in New England – I’ve hiked 63 of them, 7 this summer, and have 52 to go to say I’ve climbed them all.

One of the things that I most like about mountains is how old they are.  Sitting atop a wilderness high peak on a clear day, looking about at God’s creation all around, it’s not hard to imagine that what you’re looking at is pretty much the same thing you’d be seeing if you had been sitting there 10,000 years ago.  You get a sense for how small we are, how temporary we are, how fleeting our lives are.

And you get a sense, too, of the great power and glory of God, who created all the beauty you’re gazing upon from that lofty peak.  I get a real sense that He is God, the eternal creator, and I am not. Hiking mountains gives one a sense of getting away from our day-to-day lives, and in a real way encountering God.

That was the experience, I think, of Peter, James and John as they hiked up Mount Tabor with Our Blessed Lord.  They must have been curious, I think, about why they were hiking this mountain, without the others, and I think they must have been confused about who this Jesus guy was.  They’d given up everything to follow Him, yet they must have wondered at times why – what was He all about.  He was their friend, their confidant, their teacher – Rabbi – but still they must have been confused I think.

And now we know why they were going up the mountain – for there they were given proof that this man Jesus was not only human, but the Son of God Himself.  This was not just a nice hike but an encounter with the living God! His face bright as the sun. His clothes white as light.  Conversing with Elijah the prophet and Moses the bringer of the law.

“This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased,” said the Father from the cloud.  Here the three apostles are given not a glimpse but a clear high-def picture of who Jesus is - true man, true God.

So I suspect they had to have been completely blown away by what they witnessed – wouldn’t you be?  I know I would be.  Yeah I thought He was a pretty good guy, and He said some things about being “the One” but whoa – He really meant it!

And of course what happened on Mount Tabor wasn’t only for those three – it was for you and me as well.  Especially now, especially in this world we live in. 

It seems to me so much of our faith is focused on how close Jesus is to us – “imminent” is the word – and He is. And we sometimes think of Jesus as this friendly and nice and even fluffy guy – like singing Kumbaya around the campfire.  But how often do we stop to think of Him as “other,” as transcendent, as GOD?” 

Yes He is close to us, He understands our humanity because He walked and talked, was born and even died.  But do we really think of Him as God, as all Holy, which means “other” or “set apart.” Do we really think of Him in His dominion, power and kingship as the first reading speaks of Him?

We just prayed together to Him “You alone are the Holy One. You alone are the Lord.  You alone are the most high, Jesus Christ.”  Wonderful words of worship – but do we stop to dwell on what they mean?  Do we live those words – that He alone is the Holy One, the Lord of our lives?

Sisters and brothers, I think when we stop to ponder His otherness, we realize two things –

First we realize how utterly unworthy of Him we are in our sinfulness.  We get a sense of how wide the gulf is between God and humanity, in our sin.  How my sin offends God who is all good and all holy – offends Jesus who is all good and all holy.

In one version of the Act of Contrition which we pray in the Sacrament of Confession, in the presence of the priest, yes, but praying to Jesus Himself, we pray “O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended you.” 

And we go on “and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishment but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love.”

Jesus, the eternal Son of God, with Whom the Father is well-pleased, is offended by our sins, because He is God, is all good, all holy, deserving of all my love.  Am I just as offended by my sins, such that I’m resolved to stop sinning so as to please Him rather than offend Him? Glorify Him rather than forget Him?

Considering His glory, His kingship, we might ask ourselves - am I giving Him all my love?  Do I give Him all my worship?  Do I give Him all my life?  Or do I give Him a little piece of my life, my love, my worship, content to worship other things too? Is He my Lord?  Am I letting Him change me, change my life, transfigure my life so that I more and more closely follow after Him?

The second thing is - if we really ponder His otherness, we’ll fall on our knees in thankfulness, that this eternal Son of God, through Whom all things were made, in His great love would condescend to become one of us, to be born of woman, to live and teach and suffer and die – and why?  For you. For me. To save us from our sins. 

We should be filled with awe and thanksgiving that the eternal Son of God, Jesus, out of great love, with great mercy, would come and stand in the abyss between humanity and God, and be a bridge between God and man.  Taking our sins unto Himself and reuniting God and man. Yes – He loves us that much.

Thankfulness is the only proper response when we realize the great gift we’ve received in being invited to be His disciples, to receive His love and mercy, to have Him who is God call us “friend.” Thankfulness and worship are why we gather here at this altar to celebrate Eucharist, which means “thankfulness.” 

Yes, thankfulness is the only proper response to His gift, and resolve, too.  Resolve to live lives more and more worthy of such a gift.  And to share that gift with others.  To share our faith in the eternal Son of God with others, to share the love He pours into our hearts with others, and to share our hope.

Hope that one day, purged of all our sins and made holy, you and I too may stand before the throne of God, our clothes white as light, our faces shining like the sun, our lives transfigured by the life, the love, the mercy of His only begotten Son, Our Lord and eternal Savior, Jesus Christ.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - June 10/11 - 4:30p, 10a at Christ the King; 8a at St. Margaret Mary

Today's scripture proclamations:   http://usccb.org/bible/readings/061117.cfm

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and the word I want you to remember from today’s Feast is “Communion.”  Communion is defined as a mutual participation in a relationship, a mutual sharing, a fellowship if you will.  We speak of the marriage of husband and wife as a “communion of persons.” We speak of the Church as a Communion.  And today we celebrate that our God, who is One and three, is a Communion.  A Communion of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  An intimate union, in eternal relationship, an eternal relationship of life-giving love.

For much of our 2000 year history, Holy Mother Church has been trying to come up with an adequate way of explaining this mystery of Divine Communion, this mystery of Trinity.  St. Patrick famously used the shamrock leaf.  There’s a Greek word perichoresis used to describe the Trinity – it means roughly “to dance around with” – so we have the image of the three persons in an eternal, ecstatic dance. Pope St. John Paul II and others have used the metaphor of marriage - a man and wife whose love is so intense and life-giving that a third person is generated.

That’s great – what does that have to do with you and me?  Well, it’s this – you  and I are invited into this Communion, this eternal Divine love relationship.  God’s love is so extravagant, so overflowing that you and I, while created beings, not ourselves Divine, and while we are still sinners, by no merit of our own, are invited to enter in to this Communion. That’s the very definition of heaven, isn’t it? – to eternally share in the Divine love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To eternally share their love, their joy, their bliss. To eternally enter into that ecstatic dance.

That, sisters and brothers, is what you and I were created for. That’s the reason for our existence.  It’s what we should long for, ache for, live our entire lives for.  The goal of human life, wrote Pope St. John Paul II, is “fullness of communion with God,” “…a living relationship with the Holy Trinity.”

The cool thing is that that Communion, that sharing in the Divine life, which we also call grace - starts now – actually it started at our baptisms when we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now we don’t experience the complete bliss of heaven here, to be sure, for here we experience sin, suffering and death.  Those are the very things that Our Lord came to save us from.  Not so that we wouldn’t experience them, but so that we would transcend them.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

But here’s the thing.  Contrary to what you might think after reading the book or watching the movie “The Shack,” not everyone goes to heaven.  Not everyone believes in Him.  And many who claim belief in Him live lives far from that belief.

You see, you and I as baptized Catholics have an obligation to remain in Communion.  Communion with our Trinity God, and Communion with the Church as His instrument of our salvation.  We must submit our minds, hearts and wills to God and the teaching of His Church.  “Incline my heart according to your will, O God.”

And to stay in Communion means to stay in a state of grace, meaning not conscious of the stain of grave sin - mortal sin - sin so serious that it fractures our relationship with God, puts us outside, if you will, that Communion. 

Mortal sin - probably haven’t heard that term in awhile. Three things make a sin mortal –serious or grave matter, it must be done with full knowledge (yes, I know this is a sin and I’m going to do it anyway), and it must be done with complete free consent.  Serious matter, knowledge, free consent.  That kind of sin is kind of an “in your face” to God, a rejection of relationship with Him, cuts off Communion with the Trinity, cuts off sanctifying grace.

Examples of grave matter – murder, theft, abortion, false witness, sexual sins like adultery, contraception, pornography, fornication – any sexual intimacy outside the confines of Christian one-man, one-woman marriage.  Jealousy, greed, blasphemy.  Those are sins of commission.  Our Blessed Lord in Matthew’s Gospel lists grave sins of omission – failure to feed the poor, give drink to the thirsty, care for the sick, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger.

Another mortal sin is receiving Our Lord’s Sacred Body and Blood in a state of mortal sin.  The Church teaches that we ought not approach the altar if we’re conscious of grave sin, for to so we “eat and drink judgment on ourselves,” as the Apostle Paul teaches.

As an aside, Bishop Matano announced this week that next Sunday, the Feast of Corpus Christi, will begin a Year of the Eucharist, in which we the Church of Rochester will focus with renewed zeal and love on the magnificent gift our Lord has given us in His Sacred Body and Blood, the source and summit of our Faith.  One aspect of his pastoral letter concerns the necessity of our approaching the altar worthily.  While Pope Francis has written that the Eucharist isn’t to be a prize for perfect people, and who is perfect? but, indeed, we believe that if by our serious sins we have severed our relationship with our Triune God, we should come forward for a blessing but not receive.

Now if heaven is eternal Communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we have a word for what it’s called to be eternally outside that Communion – hell - another word we seldom talk about. Pope Francis regularly preaches about it - hell is real, and if you or I die in a state of mortal sin, outside a state of grace, tragically that’s where you or I will spend eternity, separated from God.

The very good news of the Gospel ,the very good news of THIS Gospel, is that God desperately loves us, desperately wants for that not to happen. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that we might not perish but might have eternal life – heaven. 

How desperately does God love us?  Look upon the crucifix, look at what Jesus suffered for us, to save us.  That is how much He loves us and wants to spend eternity with us, doesn’t want to lose any of us, that any of us ever be outside that Communion.  He loves us with a father’s firm hand and a mother’s gentle, tender, compassionate love.  He knows that we simply can’t do it on our own, that we need to be saved, and that is why the Father sent His only Son, to suffer, die and rise again so that you and I may be saved, healed, restored, sanctified, made holy.

The world out there tells us there’s no such thing as sin.  But if there’s no sin, then there’s no need of a Savior.  No need of Jesus Christ.  I don’t know about you, but I desperately need a Savior!

The confessional, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is the specific place He gave us for being restored to saving grace, the place where we experience the Lord’s exquisite loving mercy.  Where if I approach with a contrite heart and firm intent to amend my life, to “go and sin no more” as Our Lord gently commanded the woman caught in adultery, then I hear those beautiful words of absolution - that He has forgiven me, restored me to grace, restored me to Communion with Him and with His Father in the Spirit. So let’s get to confession before coming to Holy Communion if we are ever conscious of grave sin, if we are ever outside a state of grace.

Why? You might remember eight years ago a plane crashed just outside Buffalo, killing all fifty or so on board.  One of the victims worked for a man I know, and I called this man once the victims’ names were announced to offer my condolences, and this man, a faithful Catholic, said words to me that I’ve never forgotten.  Ed, he said, “state of grace, just in case.”  Meaning, we don’t know the hour we’ll be called from this life.

Brothers and sisters, let us pray, let us ask Our Lord for the zeal and deep desire to spend eternity with Him.  And to allow Him, in the confessional and here at the altar of His Sacred Body and Blood, to strengthen us in holiness, preparing us for that glorious day when we enter into the mystery of the Trinity, when we fully enter into the eternal, joyful, blissful Communion of love with our God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 21, 2017 - preached at St. Kateri at St. Margaret Mary site

Today's scripture proclamations:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052117.cfm

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

One of my absolute favorite verses in all of scripture.  1^st Peter 3:15. Just proclaimed in our second reading.

           “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

It’s a very rich verse, and if we cut it up and take it apart, there are quite a few questions we have to ask ourselves.

The first and most basic is this - do we have hope?  Am I a hopeful person?  St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tell us “faith hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.”  But for a Christian, hope shouldn’t be far behind. 

But we know from experience, maybe from others’ experience, and for many of us our own experience, well, at times hope is hard to come by.  The world wants to beat us up, beat us down.  “Life” is not the bowl of cherries some would have you believe.  Pain and suffering are part of all of our lives.  The devil, oh and the devil is very real, wants nothing more than for us to give up hope, to give in to despair.

Maybe we’re here this morning because we are filled with hope.  Maybe some have come here searching for some glimmer of hope.  If you’re at the end of your rope, and trying to rekindle some glimmer of hope, ask for it.  God give me hope.  Pray for it.  Show me, O Lord, what there is to be hopeful about.

Ultimately there’s only one thing to be hopeful about it.  Which leads me to the second question - what is the reason for our hope?  And the reason is not a thing at all; the reason is of course a person -  Jesus Christ.  The only hope.

And our hope in Jesus Christ is found in the event that we continue to celebrate today, as we have for the past five Sundays – the Resurrection of Our Lord.  Easter.  We who gather here share faith that Jesus Christ once was dead but rose again and now lives eternally with the Father. 

And the meaning of that singular most important event in the history of the universe is that you and I, too, may share in that resurrection, that you and I, too, may live forever in the joy of that eternal Divine relationship of Father and Son.  That is our hope.  As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that is our only hope.

But our hope in Christ is in this earthly life, too.  He promises us that He is with us even to the end of the age, that He will walk with us, shepherd us, not to avoid the valley of the shadow of death but to accompany us on our journey through it.

With Him by our side we can live hopefully, even joyfully.  We recall the words we heard every Sunday, until they were slightly changed in the recent re-translation of the missal – “In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

And that, sisters and brothers is the simple but profound answer if anyone asks us for a reason for our hope.  Because we know Jesus and He is with us on our journey.  That He, and He alone, is our hope.

Now we might ask ourselves – do I live in such a way that anyone would ever ask me why I’m hopeful?  Why I’m so joyful?  Do I exude hopefulness?  Am I an example of joyfulness?  Do the people who see me see a person of hope, a person of joy, a person who despite all the sorrow and pain and difficulties of this life still shines with peace, and joy, and hopefulness?

If the answer to those questions is “no” or “I’m not so sure,” then what we need to do, I think, is pray for the outpouring of the third person of the Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit Peter and John prayed down on the Samaritan people, the same Spirit advocate promised by Our Blessed Lord in this Gospel. 

You see, in order for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we kind of have to put ourselves, our self-centeredness, our selfishness, our self-pity, aside.  We need to be emptied of all that, so that the Spirit can fill us.  As happened to the Samaritans, evil spirits had to be case out first, so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And that same Spirit, then, will fill us with hope and all the other gifts of the Spirit –wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.  We have all these gifts, to be sure, from our Sacraments of baptism and confirmation, but as we come to the end of our Easter Season, as we celebrate the Lord’s Ascension this week and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in two weeks, let us pray again for a renewal of that same Spirit in each of us, in all of us. Come Holy Spirit, Come.

           For that same Holy Spirit is Who, if we ask Him, will fill us with hope, with peace, with joy, with love.  Who will speak through us when anyone asks what got into us – why are you so joyful, so full of hope?  And Who will give us the courage to proclaim the Name. The Name of our only hope, Our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Homily preached for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 2017, St. Kateri at St. Cecilia - 100th Anniversary of the First Apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima

We celebrate today what began 100 years ago today outside a remote village in Portugal, when Our Blessed Mother first appeared to three shepherd children, the miraculous apparition of Mary to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima, and then appeared to them five more times in the year 1917.  Now in celebrating such a feast, it would be easy, it seems to me, to skip right to the message - what did she have to say?

But in doing so, it seems to me, we’d miss out on the miraculous – think about it - that this woman, human in every way you and I are except conceived immaculate, without sin – a woman who walked and talked and breathed and gave birth – 2000 years ago – that here was this woman 1900 years later appearing to and speaking with these three children. 

That’s an amazing thing, huh?  That Our Blessed Lord, in His Father’s plan of salvation for the human race, would step into history, if you will, in this case at a critical time in human history, with the first world war raging and two months after the communist revolution in Russia.  Stepping into history, sending the Blessed Mother with words of warning, words of encouragement, words of great love and compassion.  With a glimpse into her Immaculate Heart, overflowing with love for His people.  Let’s not skip over that.  Let’s stop and meditate and praise God and thank Him for the gift of the Blessed Mother. For the gift of her apparitions.

Now we’re under no obligation to believe, mind you.  Marian apparitions, even if investigated and tested and approved by the Church as was the Fatima apparition, and Guadalupe and Lourdes and a host of others – are classified as private apparitions. And unlike belief in Christ’s bodily resurrection, unlike belief in Mary’s Immaculate Conception, unlike belief that Christ will be made present right here body, blood, soul and divinity in a few moments, all of which we’re obliged to believe – well we’re not obliged to believe in Marian apparitions.

But the questions is - why wouldn’t we?  In the case at hand, Fatima, there is ample evidence, ample signs if you will, pointing us to believe.  These three children were hardly the sort to make up crazy stories – they couldn’t even read.  There was the miracle of the sun, witnessed 50,000 or more people on October 13 of that year, the date of her last apparition. 

And the best evidence?  Today in Fatima, the Holy Father canonized, proclaimed that God has made saints of two of those children – little Jacinta and her brother Francisco – the first time in history that children who are not martyrs have been declared saints. 

That two little children could display the kind of heroic virtue we look to in our declared saints is the best evidence, if you ask me, of the Blessed Virgin’s appearance to them.  Why?  Because those two children (and their cousin Lucia who, I trust, won’t be far behind at the altar of canonization) took to heart our Blessed Mother’s words.  Their lives changed.  They became more and more holy.  They learned, as Pope Francis recently preached, “to love Jesus.”

Now I ask - from our own self-interest, why wouldn’t we believe in this apparition and take Our Blessed Mother’s words of counsel to heart?  It’s like taking a road trip and choosing between a bumpy curvy road with many stoplights, or a wide-open interstate.  The interstate’s what inviting Mary into our spiritual journeys is like.  We can get there without her – the death and resurrection of her Divine Son is sufficient, but she clears the way, so to speak, and leads us unencumbered to her Son.

So it’s a great idea, if you ask me, to take into our hearts Our Mother’s counsel to those three shepherd children.  So much has been written about her warnings to the world, and the so-called “third secret,” that maybe the world has missed her wise counsel for those children, and all of us, on our spiritual journey. 

She asked increased prayer, especially the rosary.  She asked that we pray for the conversion of sinners, all who’ve fallen into sin, especially sins of the flesh, and acts of injustice and lack of charity toward the poor, widows and orphans.  It was because of her request at Fatima that we pray, after each glory-be of the rosary, “O my Jesus, save us from the fire of hell, and lead all souls to heaven especially those in most need of your mercy.”

Mary asked for fasting, penance, acts of reparation and sacrifice to console the heart of her Son.  And she asked for increased devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Consecration to her Immaculate Heart!

By our prayer, penances, purifications and increased devotion to Our Blessed Mother, especially in her Immaculate Heart, we have her word, she who eternally has the ear of her Son, that we will be showered with all the grace, and strength and courage that we will need on our journey to her Son and His eternal Kingdom.

We pray - Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary - Pray for us O holy Mother of God!  That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  Amen.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday / World Day of Prayer for Vocations May 6/7 ,2017 - 4:30p,8a,10a St Kateri

Today's scripture readings:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/050717.cfm

Not too long ago I was watching the motion picture Patton on Netflix.  Classic movie, great movie, won seven Oscars including Best Picture back in 1971, and I’m showing my age now, but I can remember when it was first released.  Patton stars George C Scott and chronicles the legendary General George Patton and his part in World War II, liberating first Northern Africa, then Italy, then at the Battle of the Bulge.  It’s especially about General Patton’s hard-headedness and rebelliousness and apparent reluctance to follow orders and how that got him into trouble.  Great movie. 

Now there’s a brief scene in the movie, where two donkeys are pulling a cart (donkeys - General Patton uses another word for them).  These two donkeys are refusing to move, refusing to budge in the middle of a bridge.  And here’s the entire American seventh army, advancing on German and Italian troops across Sicily, stopped in their tracks not by airpower or tanks or soldiers but by two jacka….donkeys.  General Patton comes up and orders the donkeys to be removed from the bridge and, well, spoiler alert – the scene doesn’t end well for either donkey.

This scene, these stubborn donkeys came to mind as I was thinking about sheep and shepherds and what to say about this Gospel, for today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, aka Good Shepherd Sunday.  I was thinking about sheep – generally meek and docile, more easily led, needing to be led.  And I was thinking about stubborn animals, the opposite of sheep, strong-willed and hard-headed.  These donkeys came to mind, as did mules.  The voice of my mother, God rest her soul, rang out in my head – I could hear “you stubborn mule” - she would call me when I refused to be compliant.

Now if Jesus is the true, good shepherd, and He is, the shepherd who cares for His sheep, who’ll even go off and search for a lost sheep, then the question of the day is this – are we to be sheep?  Or are we donkeys?  What is the attitude of my heart – am I willing to be led, to be shepherded?  Or am I defiant, stubborn, unwilling to budge?

Many of us, I think, start with the premise that I’m right, that my thinking is correct, that my beliefs are correct, and anyone who disagrees with me must be mistaken.  Church teaching, for example, is fine in every teaching that agrees with what I think. And wrong in every respect that I, often in my selfishness, disagree.

This is especially true in the area of morality – for all of us have had some moral formation by our secular culture - “this corrupt generation” – it’s impossible in this media-driven world to escape that.  But the world’s moral formation is, in many respects, at odds with the law of God, the commandments, the moral teaching of the Church. 

For us to be morally grounded in Our Lord’s way, rather than the way of “this world,” well that requires some real humility, some real meekness.  It requires us to question our own beliefs and what, immersed in this worldly culture, we’ve come to see as right and wrong.  And I think it requires us to give the benefit of the doubt to His Church, and her shepherds, which, guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for 2000 years, have been shepherding His sheep. 

Let us, then, strive to have the attitude of sheep and not donkeys.  By His grace, let us submit our minds and hearts and spirits, in humility, to His way, to His teaching, so as to let Him shepherd our lives!

To be sheep rather than donkeys also requires us to submit to His will for our lives.  It means to listen to Him in prayer, to discern, to ask Him to show us – what, O Lord, would you have me do?  Where, O Lord, would you have me be?  Where, O Lord, are you leading me?

Frank Sinatra was great, but “I Did it My Way” is hardly the attitude He’s calling us to have, Him who lovingly shepherds us if we only allow Him.  If we’re not the donkey on the bridge holding up the Lord’s army.  Our attitude must be that of the Blessed Mother to the angel Gabriel - “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done unto me according to His will.”

In addition to today being Good Shepherd Sunday, today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  We pray especially this weekend that all people are always open and watching, humble and trusting God to show them His will for them.  To lead them to do what He wills, to be what He wills, to be where He wills.  That prayerful discernment goes for every vocation, religious, marriage, family, career. 

Where, O Lord, do you want me?  For what, O Lord, did you create me?  How can I best serve you with the gifts and talents and span of time you’ve blessed me with?

We especially pray this day for increased vocations to the holy priesthood, permanent deaconate, and consecrated religious life.  We pray that young women and men will turn to the Lord, the Good Shepherd, with this vital question – what to do with my life?  And that many will listen and, if indeed He’s calling to religious service, humbly respond to His call and not resist. 

I kept hearing His whisper, the call to the deaconate, first through some other people, and also through prayer.  I had all kinds of reasons why that was a bad idea, but thankfully, Our Lord is very persistent, and continued to whisper, each time a little bit louder, until I knew I had to respond.  And what great joy I’ve found by responding to His call.    

Whatever vocation He calls you and me to, I think there is only joy to be found by following that call.  That joy in knowing you are exactly where He wants you, doing exactly what He wants you to be doing with your life, whatever call that might be.

So sisters and brothers, let us pray that young and not-so-young men and women will especially respond to the call to the vocation of priest, sister, brother, deacon.  At St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Buffalo, nearby where I work, a prayer for religious vocations is prayed at every daily Mass – let us make it our prayer today.  Let us pray –

O God, we pray for all those who hear your call only as a whisper, that they may know that it is you calling them to service.  May they have the grace and courage to respond to your whisper.  I will pray, encourage and support all those you have chosen for priestly and religious vocations. Amen.