The doctrine of the "Communin of Saints" assures us that we can talk with the saints in heaven.

Friday, 11/1/13

Two of our readings for today particularly appeal to me.

First, I like the Gospel’s calling the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful blessed. I take that to mean that they are among the blessed in heaven. That means that  people in this life who make life joyful for others are rewarded forever after their deaths. They are among the blessed.

The second of the readings that I like is the passage in John’s First Letter where he said, “What we shall be has not ye been revealed.” I love the honesty of that.

I was put off by what a preacher said about the afterlife in his funeral sermon. He took a sideways step before the altar, saying, “Dying and going to heaven is just taking a little step like this. Nothing to be afraid of! One little step, and you are back with your family and friends, enjoying the after-life.”  How does he know that?

A wonderful nun who has been principal of a Catholic grade school for forty-five years surprised me a few weeks ago by saying, “We can’t say what happens to us. No one has come back to tell us.” She wasn’t saying that she didn’t believe what our Church teaches. She was just saying that in all honesty we can’t describe what happens.

Earlier this week we had a reading from Chapter Eight of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. In it he said that we live by the virtue of Hope. And he added that if we could clearly see what we are hoping for, that wouldn’t be Hope anymore. What we learned in our catechism classes can take us just so far. At the end of them we are left needing to take a leap of faith.

One item of our faith we learned in those classes should be a comfort. It is the “Communion of Saints.” That assures us that the saints can hear us if we address words to them.  Your mother and dad, your brothers and sisters, all had patron saints. Today you could ask those patrons to send on your greetings to your deceased loved ones.

Back when holidays were still holy days we honored all the saints on the evening before their feast day.

Thursday, 10/31/13

Five hundred years ago all of Europe was Christian, and what we now call “holidays” were Christendom’s “holy days.” And, in our modern practices there are some remnants of those times.

For instance, back then on January First, Christians celebrated God’s creation of our world; and, as part of the celebration they recalled the opening sentence of our Bible, which stated, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth the earth was a formless wasteland.” So, in recalling that “formless wasteland” on the night before the Feast of New Years, Christians used to have wild parties that acted out the chaos before God’s creation. Now, although people no longer honor God’s creation, they still have the wild parties.

In a somewhat similar way, five hundred years ago all Christendom kept November First as a holy day honoring all the saints. In old English, what we call “All Saints Day” they called “All Hallows Day.” On that day, they honored all canonized saints; and along with them, they honored all the fine men and women who have won heaven without fanfare.

On the  Eve of All Hallows Day they used to imagine the saints in heaven getting dressed up fancy for their feast day; and here on earth, Christians celebrated All Hallow’s Eve by dressing up like favorite saints. We might not now honor all the saints on the eve of their feast day, but at lest we do dress fancy.

We must make ourselves ever so familiar to the keeper of the narrow gate.

Wednesday, 10/30/13

Let me refresh your understanding of what Jesus meant by telling us to enter through the narrow gate. He was speaking to people who lived in old walled towns that had one large gate through which farmers went out to their fields, and merchants passed in and out of with their wares.

The gate served as a town hall where the heads of families each had the seat he occupied, hearing disputes and finalizing contracts. Those seniors were in charge of the gate, seeing it opened at sunup, and closed at nightfall. If there were bandits in the area, or if there was disease loose in the region, the seniors would shut the gate, and no amount of shouting and knocking would get them to open it.  

Every town had a few smart citizens who could get in or out when the town gate was closed. They were the regulars who knew about a secret narrow gate hidden on the far side of the wall, and they had over the years taken the trouble to make themselves known to the keeper of that narrow gate.

Jesus was using the image of that narrow gate and its gatekeeper to tell us that if we want to get into heaven we cannot go along with everyone else, always taking the easy way. No. For us, taking the effort to get around to the narrow gate can be translated into getting up to go to church, staying up to study hard subjects, putting up with annoying people, giving up our bad habits. In all those ways we can make ourselves ever so familiar to the Lord, who is the keeper of the narrow gate.

Hope that sees for itself is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

Tuesday, 10/29/13

I was officiating at a wedding last month, and I had some fitting words prepared, but then, looking down at the fine young couple. I thought of what a troubled world they were bringing their new marriage into.

Then, words from today’s Gospel popped into my head. I thought of Jesus saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast which a woman mixes with three measures of four until the whole mass begins to rise.” And I saw the young couple and the marriage they would establish as that yeast which would cause the spiritually inert people around them to come to life and rise.

And I said that to Ramsey and Justin, and they nodded, taking the challenge.

But, let me turn to the first reading in which St. Paul sounds like that Jesuit philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin. Both of them spoke of all creation as though it was yearning to be transformed and fulfilled.

The Church never bought Teilhard Chardin’s theories, but neither did she condemn them. He said that just as creation has spread itself into billions of species, so the time will come when evolution will go into reverse, with all species  converging to become one in Christ. The beginning of creation Teilhard called the Alpha point, the eventual convergence the Omega point.

St. Paul calls this coming together as the time when all of creation is set free in Christ. He tells us we must hope to be witnesses to the glory that is to come. That has us saying something like, “Yes, we are hoping for it, but couldn’t you give us just a little foretaste of it, making hoping easier.”

His answer to that was, “No.”

Then, elaborating on that “No” answer, he said, “Hope that sees for itself is not hope, for who hopes for what one sees?”

Christianity was founded on twelve apostle, like Israel was founded on twelve patriarchs.

Monday, 10/28/13

Today is the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude. They were apostles of whom we know almost nothing. The early church, rather then seeing the twelve apostles as individually models for us to follow, gave importance only to the fact that there were twelve of them. Christianity, in its being founded on twelve apostles, was therefore put on a level with the Israelites, who were founded on the twelve sons of Jacob.

The Zealots, with whom Simon was identified, were Jewish patriots who campaigned for freedom from Roman rule. Thirty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Zealots turned vicious, operating as bands who waylaid Roman patrols, dispatching them with short daggers. Simon, though, is identified as a different kind of zealot. He was merely a lively young man.

St. Jude left us a Letter that we can pretty well do without. It is a warning against so-called Christians who disrupt our gatherings. Jude described them as “complainers, disgruntled ones who live by their desires; whose mouths utter bombasts as they fawn over people to gain advantages. “

Mention of those people has us thanking God for giving us open-minded parents who kept us from having twisted views of life.Monday, 10/28/13

This Sunday's three Bible readings are presents from God. Let's unwrap them.

Sunday, 10/27/13

Today is a friend of mine’s birthday, and I bought her the season’s DVDs for her favorite show. But the idea of birthday presents had me looking at this Sunday’s Bible readings as presents we have from God. Let’s unwrap the three of them.

In the first reading God told us he has no favorites. Although he loves the poor, he is not overly partial to them. So, we don’t need to give up our possessions to get on his good side. He gives assurance to widows that he listens carefully when they pour out their complaints.

The Psalm has me repeating its line of  “I will bless the Lord at all times.” It has me begging God to never let me fall away from him.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul spoke to us in his final days. Back then, people had the custom of spilling out full cups of wine on the ground as a way of worshipping God. With death in sight, Paul said he was pouring out his final days as a libation to God.

Then, Paul, compared himself to both a boxer and a distance runner. He wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race.” Looking back on your years, can you say the same of them? Have you kept going through your fifteen rounds in the ring. Have you plodded on to the end of your marathon?

This Gospel takes me back sixty-three years to when I had to prepare and give a sermon to my seminary class. The priest had assigned me this reading about the Pharisee and the tax collector both of whom went up to the temple to pray. 

It struck me that Jesus said the tax collector was justified, while the Pharisee was not. That is, only he was freed from his sin. But, what I saw as an interesting twist to Our Lord’s story, was that after he was justified, the tax collector didn’t become an apostle. No, he went home. He went back to his way of making a living. Our Lord was saying  you can be a real saint while being a tax collector, a soldier, or a salesman.

Sunday, 10/27/13

Today is a friend of mine’s birthday, and I bought her the season’s DVDs for her favorite show. But the idea of birthday presents had me looking at this Sunday’s Bible readings as presents we have from God. Let’s unwrap the three of them.

In the first reading God told us he has no favorites. Although he loves the poor, he is not overly partial to them. So, we don’t need to give up our possessions to get on his good side. He gaves assurance to widows that he listens carefully when they pour out their complaints.

The Psalm has me repeating its line of  “I will bless the Lord at all times.” It has me begging God to never let me fall away from him. Please, let me be among those who bless you.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul spoke to us in his final days. Back then, people had the custom of spilling out full cups of wine on the ground as a way of worshipping God. With death in sight, Paul said he was pouring out his final days as a libation to God.

Then, Paul, compared himself to both a boxer and a distance runner. He wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race.” Looking back on your years, can you say the same of them? Have you kept going through your fifteen rounds in the ring. Have you plodded on to the end of your marathon?

This Gospel takes me back sixty-three years to when I had to prepare and give a sermon to my seminary class. The priest had assigned me this reading about the Pharisee and the tax collector both of whom went up to the temple to pray. 

It struck me that Jesus said the tax collector was justified, while the Pharisee was not. That is, only he was freed from his sin. But, what I saw as an interesting twist to Our Lord’s story, was that after he was justified, the tax collector didn’t become an apostle. No, he went home. He went back to his way of making a living. Our Lord was saying  you can be a real saint while being a tax collector, a soldier, or a salesman.

Good things that happen to us, and bad things that happen to us are not rewards and punishments from God.

Saturday, 10/26/13

With no football games to discuss in their time, Our Lord’s Apostles mostly jabbered on about terrible things happening around them. Like, a band of Jewish rebels from Galilee had conducted a raid on the Romans, then, they thought they had found a safe refuge in the inner part of the temple where Romans were forbidden to enter; but Pilate, ignoring his promise to honor temple sanctuary, sent his swordsmen in to cut down the Galileans as they made their offering at the altar.

Another conversation topic with the Apostles was about a tower under construction by the spring of Siloam. It had suddenly collapsed, taking eighteen workmen with it.

The general view of the Apostles was that God sent down death on the Galilean rebels and on the tower construction people. They believed God had punished those men for their sins.  

Having heard enough of that talk, Jesus interrupted, saying, “Do you think because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were greater sinners than other Galileans? Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower fell on them --- do you think they were more guilty than everyone else?” He went on to say we will all perish if we do not repent.

Those words of Jesus are telling us that God does not send us bad fortune to punish us, or good fortune to reward us. God does not interrupt the world’s natural flow of cause-and-effects to reward or punish us.

The Letter of James touches on God’s “hands off “ policy where it says, “No one experiencing temptation should say, ‘I am being tempted by God.  . . He himself tempts no one.’”  St. James went on to say that only “all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”

Today's readings have two fine lessons for living right.

Friday, 10/25/13

Both readings today are important for our properly understanding this religious life of ours. The first reading tells us that human nature is such a weak thing, that we cannot save ourselves without God’s grace. Then, the Gospel tells us that just going on, living as people did in the past, won’t save us. God made us for this time, and we must be in step with his world as it is today. Let’s look at how our readings teach us those two lessons,

In the first reading Paul was inspired to speak for all humanity when he said, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want." He went on to say that he loved the law of God in his mind, but he was aware of what he called “another principle” which was at war with his mind, taking it captive. He let out a cry of distress, asking who would deliver him. Then, he saw the answer to his prayer in the assurance that Jesus Christ was always near him, anxious to make up for his weakness,

When we move to the Gospel, we find Jesus asking you, “Why do you not interpret the present time?”

Father Bernard Lonergan, a Canadian Jesuit who died thirty years, gave us four simple steps toward our behaving properly in the present 1. We must open our eyes to what is going on. 2, We should perceive what is wrong there. 3. We must determine just what action could set things right. 4. We should take that action.

The bishops of the Second Vatican Council, desirous of doing what is right for the people of our time, conducted a worldwide survey of conditions. Then, for the four years of the council, never a day went by, without some of them referring to what Jesus said in today’s Gospel about “interpreting the present time.” 

Friday, 10/25/13

Both readings today are important for our properly understanding this religious life of ours. The first reading tells us that human nature is such a weak thing, that we cannot save ourselves without God’s grace. Then, the Gospel tells us that our just going along, behaving as people did in the past, won’t save us. God made us for this present time, and we must be in step with his world as it is today. Let’s look at how our readings teach us for those two lessons,

In the first reading Paul was inspired to speak for all humanity when he said, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want." He went on to say that he loved the law of God in his mind, but he was aware of what he called “another principle” which was at war with his mind, taking it captive. He let out a cry of distress, asking who would deliver him. Then, he saw the answer to his prayer in the assurance that Jesus Christ was always near him, anxious to make up for his weakness,

When we move to the Gospel, we find Jesus asking us, “Why do you not interpret the present time?”

Father Bernard Lonergan, a Canadian Jesuit who died thirty years, gave us four steps toward our behaving properly in step with the prresent 1. We must open our eyes to what is going on. 2, We should perceive what is wrong there. 3. We must determine just what action could set things right. 4. We should take that action.

The bishops of the Second Vatican Council, desirous of doing what is right for the people of our time, conducted a worldwide survey of conditions. Then, for the four years of the council, never a day went by, without some of them referring to what Jesus said in today’s Gospel about “interpreting the present time.”

Pope Francis wrote that to protect ourselves from estranged individual we need to develop happy, holy societies individuals would be loath to leave.

Thursday, 10/24/13

St. Paul, in the first reading, reminded the Christians of Rome of a sad time in their past when they “presented the parts of their bodies as slaves to impurity and lawlessness.” He was referring to their former sexual excesses. As well, he was recalling their over-indulgence in food and drink, along with their lounging around, being waited on by slaves.

He said that they themselves were slaves. They were slaves to sins. And he said, “The end of those things is death.” 

Of course, a life of over indulgence leads to an eternal death; but before that, it results in the loss of a happy old age. Our parish has a number of ladies who raised fine families while keeping their own bodies and souls in order, with it resulting in their being beautiful well into their nineties.

Three year before his election in Rome, Pope Francis, addressing the bishops of Argentina, gave a fine lecture on insuring against our society’s being overrun by unstable individuals. He said the only protection we can mount against having such estranged people is that of developing a healthy, happy, and holy society from which individuals would be loath to separate themselves.

Young farm minded kids have their ”Four H” Clubs.  We need to have a “Three H” society: one that is Happy, Healthy, and Holy.

However, our society  is always developing weak spots. Let me mention two I came on this week.

Tuning on the TV I came into the middle of a movie where a widower was raising his eight-year-old daughter, and he went to a counselor for help with the child’s  budding sexuality. The counselor said his own celibacy since the death of his wife was an impediment. She offered the information that she stayed healthy by masturbating twice a day. Our society has undergone some changes since I got heavy penances for confessing two dirty thoughts.

Two days ago I overheard a conversation between two young ladies at a nearby table.  One heavily tattooed young lady was recalling how neither she not her boyfriend could decide on what to do that evening. She said, “Like, I go, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know what to do;’ and he goes like, “Oh my God, I don’t know either.” Our age no longer thinks it sinful to take the name of God in vain.  

Wednesday, 10/23/13

Jesus compares you to a steward whom he has placed over the household to distribute food allowances  at the proper times.

How does that match  up with you in your present circumstances? Of what part of God's total household can you be seen to be God's steward? Perhaps there is no group of people directly depending on you for food at mealtimes. But, certainly there are people depending on you for nourishment of other kinds:  like, for advice or direction, or encouragement, or occasional handouts.

If you have been regarding those people just as acquaintances, or as mere co-worker, or as casual friends; then it is time for you re-orient your thinking. They are all God's children. They are members of his household, and while he does not want you to impose yourself on them, he wants you to accept your role as his steward.

When Cain asked God, "Am I my brother's keeper," he was expecting God to answer that he wasn't, but he was wrong. We are the keepers of all our brothers and sisters. Every person with whom you come in contact gains a little or loses a little from that contact with you.  Each of them is looking to you for "their food allowance at the proper time."

The Psalms are meant to be sung alternately.

Tuesday, 10/22/13

At those times when the first reading and the Gospel do not catch your attention you might zero in on the Responsorial Psalm. Today we are offered four verses from Psalm Forty.

That psalm could remind you of a movie scene where a sergeant gets musical in drilling his troops. He shouts, “Sound off. Sound off. One Two,” and the troops, without missing a step, shout “Three, four, Three four” in cadence.

This too is a processional song, with the leader calling out, and the men replying. 

(Let me be the leader, and using your books, sing out the answers,)

As leader I call out, “Lord, sacrifices and oblations you wished not.”

You reply “Ears open to obedience you have given us.”

As leader I call out, “Burnt offerings and sin offerings you sought not.”

And you sing out the answer, “Behold I come, Lord. Behold, I come.”

I sing out, “I announced your judgment to the vast assembly.”

And you reply. “I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know.

I all out, “May all seek you exult and be glad in you.

You respond, “The Lord be glorified!”

We should not have so much that we will be kept busy taking care of it.

Monday, 10/21/13

In Our Lord’s Gospel story, God called the rich man a fool. Why would God have done that? A fool is someone who gives up real happiness in search of something that will turn sour for him.

What real happiness did the rich man miss out on? Well, that’s obvious, he missed out on enjoying the bountiful fruits of his labors. There would have been no need to explain that to the other people in is village.

As the spring harvest approached, the poor neighbors would have consumed every last grain saved from the previous year’s harvest. There would be only warm memories of last year’s wine. For weeks the wicks of their lamps would have stiffened up from lack of oil.

Then, at last! The green stalks turn tan, and men and boys, women and girls are out with their sickles. At night the whack, whacking sounds of threshing fill the village. The winnowing of the cracked grain sends yellow clouds of chaff floating  past the great torches, and out into the night.

The earliest grain has been sold, buying oil and wine to gladden the village, and wedding banquets are being planned.

But the rich man misses out on the fun. He has more grain than he can store. So, he postpones all the harvest joys, saying he will work harder than ever, tearing down small barns and building big ones. He promises himself that his riches will give him future happiness. But, oh heck! He dies.

In gathering possessions we come to a date when we have enough. And if we keep gathering past the “enough date,” we will enter a stage where instead of being served by our possessions we will be kept busy serving them. We will be fools. 

Monday, 10/21/13

In Our Lord’s Gospel story, God called the rich man a fool. Why would God have done that? A fool is someone who gives up real happiness in search of something that will turn sour for him.

What real happiness did the rich man miss out on? Well, that’s obvious, he missed out on enjoying the bountiful fruits of his labors. There would have been no need to explain that to the other people in is village.

As the spring harvest approached the poor neighbors would have consumed every last grain saved from the previous year’s harvest. There would be only warm memories of last year’s wine. For weeks the wicks of their lamps would have stiffened up from lack of oil.

Then, at last! The green grain stalks turn tan, and men and boys, women and girls are out with their sickles. At night the whack, whack, sound of threshing fills the village. The winnowing of the cracked grain sends yellow clouds of chaff floating  past the great torches, and out into the night.

The earliest grain has been sold, buying oil and wine to gladden the village, and wedding plans are hatched.

But the rich man misses out on the fun. He has more grain than he can store. So, he postpones all the harvest joys, saying he will work harder than ever, tearing down small barns and building big ones. He promises himself that his riches will give him future happiness. But, oh heck! He dies.

In gathering possessions we come to a date when we have enough. And if we keep gathering past the “enough date,” we will enter a stage where instead of being served by our possession we will be kept busy serving them. We will be fools. 

Monday, 10/21/13

In Our Lord’s Gospel story, God called the rich man a fool. Why would God have done that? A fool is someone who gives up real happiness in search of something that will turn sour for him.

What real happiness did the rich man miss out on? Well, that’s obvious, he missed out on enjoying the bountiful fruits of his labors. There would have been no need to explain that to the poor people in is village.

As the spring harvest approached the poor neighbors would have consumed every last grain saved from the previous year’s harvest. There would be only warm memories of last year’s wine. For weeks the wicks of their lamps would have stiffened up from lack of oil.

Then, at last! The green stalks turn tan, and men and boys, women and girls are out with their sickles. At night the whack, whacking, sound of threshing fills the village. The winnowing of the cracked grain sends yellow clouds of chaff floating  past the great torches, and out into the night.

The earliest grain has been sold, buying oil and wine to gladden the village, and wedding plans are hatched.

But the rich man misses out on the fun. He has more grain than he can store. So, he postpones all the harvest joys, saying he will work harder than ever, tearing down small barns and building big ones. He promises himself that his riches will give him future happiness. But, oh heck! He dies.

In gathering possessions we come to a date when we have enough. And if we keep gathering past the “enough date,” we will enter a stage where instead of being served by our possession we will be kept busy serving them. We will be fools. 

We must cultivate an awareness of living in God's presence.

Sunday, 10/20/13

In the first reading the forces of Israel were engaged in battle, and as long as Moses kept his arms held high, the fighting went with Israel; but any time he let his arms fall, the fighting favored the enemy.

That symbolic tale tells us that things will go well for us as long as we stay in contact with God. In Paul’s Letter to Timothy he reminded him that they were in God’s presence. 

Last night I watched “My Seven Years in Tibet,” it was the movie version of a true story I read twenty years ago. An Austrian champion mountain climber, Heinrich Harrer, was climbing in northern India in 1939. But, when World War II started, the British there imprisoned him as an enemy of war. While in their camp, he received word that his wife had borne him a son. Hienrich escaped, and after living for three  years as an animal in the Himalayas he forced his way into Tibet.

There, he became tutor to a nine-year-old Dalai Lama, and when his precious pupil asked him if he ever thought of his son, he gave a striking answer. He said he fell asleep thinking of his son, He awoke thinking of him, and he mentally had him with  him all through his days. 

We are told to pray always, but it would be difficult to form the words for an endless prayer. But, we could learn a lesson from Heinrich, that mountain climber. We could cultivate an abiding consciousness of being in God’s presence. We could be constantly desirous of being helpful to his other childen.

The faith demanded of us is a deep trust in God.

Saturday, 10/19/13

Let’s talk a little about the first reading. Paul had been arguing with Pharisees who held that it was only by a strict observance of the Mosaic Law that a person could be saved.

Against their stand he here pointed out that Abraham, whom they revered as the father of their race and of their religion, had been saved by just believing; and that took place five hundred years before Moses and his Law.

The Pharisees were requiring much more than the observance of the Law on Moses as found in the Bible. As well, they were requiring believers to observe tens of thousands of prescripts that had been added to the Law over the previous 500 years. The Hebrew name for those prescripts added to the lawwas the Mishna.

Martin Luther misunderstood what St. Paul was saying. He took it that in saying there was no need to observe the Mishna, Paul was not telling us we could disregard the Ten Commandments and the Sermon o the Mount. No, as the Letter to the Hebrews pointed out, a person cannot be saved by faith alone if his behavior is sinful.

When the Bible speaks of our need for faith, it is usually referring to our need to trust God. That need ties in with today’s Gospel where Jesus speaks of our being saved by acknowledging him. He says anyone who denies him will be denied before the angels of God.

Luke is the only non-Jew to have written a book in the Bible.

Today is the Feast of St. Luke who was the only non-Jew to give us a book of the Bible. Actually, he wrote two books, his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. People who know good writing tell us that Luke was the New Testament’s finest writer. He subtly slipped himself into the story in Chapter Sixteen of the Acts of the Apostles. He had been describing the journeying of St. Paul and his companions. In verse 8 he wrote, “They crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas.” Then, picking up the story two verses on he wrote, “We sought passage to Macedonia.”

He stayed with Paul from then on. In Paul’s final days, as a prisoner in Rome, he wrote to Timothy saying, “I have no one here with me but Luke.” He subtly brought himself into his account of Paul’s journey

Paul joined the Christians ten years after the Resurrection, while Luke never saw Jesus. For writing his Gospel he had to ask other people for stories. He made that clear in the opening verses of his Gospel.

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I have decided after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence.

His account is special in that he tells us of the women who spent so much time helping Jesus. It is wonderful for the parables of mercy that Our Lord told the people. Like, he alone saved for us the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.

St. Ignatius chose to be thrown to the lions, rather than burn incense to Rome's gods.

Thursday, 10 17/13

Today we honor St. Ignatius, a wonderful man, and there is a tradition that when he was a small child Jesus lifted him into is lap. He was the second bishop in Antioch following St. Peter, and at a public Roman ceremony, he refused to burn incense in honor of the Roman gods. His case went all the way up to Emperor Trajan, who decided Ignatius would need to be brought to Rome to be fed to the lions, because refusal to honor Rome’s gods was classed as the crime of treason.  

There was a platoon of Roman soldiers who were scheduled to go home to Rome on furlough, and they were charged with bringing Ignatius to Rome and the Coliseum’s lions. Along the way they stopped in seven ports along the coast of Turkey, and in each of them the Christians came down to speak with Ignatius who was chained to the mast. When they got around to Greece, Ignatius wrote a note back to the Christians in each port where he had spent a night.

His seven letters are the first Christian documents dated from after those in the Bible. His Letters tell us some wonderful things. He wrote that priests should be in accord with their bishop like its strings are one with their harp. He said Communion was the bread of immortality.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing he wrote was in the letter he sent ahead to the Christians in Rome. He wrote as follows.

Please let me be thrown to the wild beasts; through them I can reach God. I am God’s wheat to be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may end as the pure bread of Christ. If anything, coax the beasts on to be my sepulcher, and to leave nothing of my body undevoured, so that when I am dead I may be no bother to anyone. 

We should not condemn in others the faults we have ourselves.

Wednesday, 10/16/13

In our first reading we have St. Paul telling us not to pass judgment on others, “Since you, the judge, do the very same things.” Going back a few verses in his “Letter to the Romans”, we can see what kind of things he was talking about. He had just mentioned behavior that was “senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”

Since we at times, are guilty of the same attitudes, we should go easy in condemning them in others.

His saying such things, could put you in mind of how Pope Francis asked, “Who am I to blame people?” In saying that, he seemed to be admitting he has sins of his own.

Perhaps he was alluding to such faults by Catholics as their sinful child abuse, or their shady dealings in the Vatican Bank.

It looks like our present Holy Father prefers that we leave off drwelling on people’s sin, and instead speak to people about arriving at their high spiritual calling.

Today is the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who four hundred years ago was confronted by Jesus who pointed to his heart, saying, “Behold this heart which has loved men so much, and has been loved so little in return.”

Perhaps priests should give more pulpit-time to the love Jesus shows us, rather than harping on the sinfulness around us.we shoud not condemn in others we should not condemn in others the fsaults w

Teresa of Avila ould be a good saint for s girl who liked romance as much as saintliness.

10/15/13

If you were a goody-goody from birth, you could easily find a holy woman after whom you might model your life. But if you find romance at least as interesting as saintliness, you might choose Teresa of Avila as your model.

The Spanish Inquisition had accused her grandfather of having leanings toward Judaism; so her father, wanting to foster a reputation for orthodoxy, purchased a knighthood in a region renowned for its saints. This caused trouble for Teresa’s mother, who read romances that she hid from everyone but young Teresa. On that mother’s death, her father, observing a liking in Teresa for boys and fancy dress, paid the dowry for her to spend all her years in a Carmelite convent. Although she was unhappy with the restraints, Teresa found convent life still less severe than life with her father.

When Teresa was forty, she met with a priest who scolded her for not having a real prayer life. That caused her, with hourglass in hand, to spend an hour a day in silent contemplation of God. At times she shook the hourglass, trying to get the sand to move more quickly. But she stuck to spending that hour alone with God, and in her second or third year, she began feeling moments of deep delight with God. Our Lady of Victories church in Rome features that fine Renaissance marble of a

reclining Teresa, with an angel piercing her heart with love for God.

In time, the innocent social life that had once meant much to Teresa, came to be a nuisance, and she more and more separated herself from the socially inclined nuns. They reported her odd preoccupation with prayer to the Inquisition. However, the chief inquisitor happened to be Sir Francis Borgia, who was to follow Ignatius of Loyola as third superior of the Jesuits. His group found Teresa to be authentic.

While remaining friendly with the socially minded nuns, Teresa began yearning for more quiet time with God. When she was fifty-two she met with a twenty-six-year-old John of the Cross. They campaigned together, gaining consent for establishing convents and monasteries devoted entirely to prayer. Under obedience, Teresa wrote classical books on mental prayer, including her “Autobiography,” “The Interior Castle”, and “Meditations on the Song of Songs.”  

The opening of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans was very formal, but formality isn't all bad.

Monday, 10/14/13

Our first reading gives us the opening paragraph of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and what might strike you about it is that it was very formal. It gives us Paul’s credentials as one of the Apostles. It describes the great glory of Christ. It praises  the Romans as a people called by God to heavenly greatness.

The formality of the letter’s opening reminds me of a similar style in letters Korean people wrote me when I was over there. Their letters would open by thanking me for the prayers that had made their lives happy. Their sentences would go on to express sincere desires that my parents were in good health.

I used to laugh at those pretentious sentences, but I look back on them with admiration now that email and twitter have us communicating in half words expressing nothing but our passing opinions.

Up to the last century rich people dressed like lords and ladies, and us poor people mimicked them with vests, ties, full-length slips and fancy hats. Then, an informality took over America twenty years ago. It happened when bankers with vests, and sometimes spats, went to Silicon Valley to tap in on the money there. They came on young billionaires in T-shirts and no socks, so the bankers led us all in saying goodbye to dressing with care.

In a way the trend toward informality has been a good, honest thing. But we might also regret what is happening with it. There was a time when people were neat and proper in their attire and when they had company manners. Back then, going out for dinner was an uplifting experience. Now, the T-shirts that are not tucked-in, along with the loud talk in our restaurants, has us missing the past. There was a time when the company of ladies and gentlemen had us comporting ourselves with a dignity befitting children of God.

An addiction to drugs or alcohol can be similar to leprosy.

Sunday, 10/13/13

The readings today are about leprosy. In 1873 a Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Hansen, isolated the micro bacteria causing the disease, and cures were developed. For thousands of years before that, it was the world’s scariest ailment; and preachers have employed it as a metaphor for all types of sinful habits. Anyone seemingly saddled for life with a drug or alcohol addition is a leper in his or her own way.

But for today let’s stay with the physical disorder. The falling incidence of leprosy brought the U. S. government to close down the leprosarium at Molokai in 1940,  and at  Carville, Louisiana in 1994. 

However, it was still so common in Korea when I was there in the 1950’s and 60’s that I had many sad dealings with lepers. In the spring of 1954 I was so delighted at being able to take part in a cathedral wedding, that it struck me as horrible the following year when the disease took young Gregory away from his Louisa. 

We had a group of regular lepers in the small town where I spent ten years. They used the threat of hugging people to induce them to hand over money.

They had a burlap tent on a temporary island in our river. And one day in walking across the bridge I noticed the oddest of our regulars as he readied himself for wading out to that home of theirs.  The man had very long legs, but a very short trunk, and I found myself  idly watching him slip those shanks out of their make-shift trouser legs, Then, he startled me by looking up, and shaking his fit at me for invading his privacy.

Our lepers got blamed for it when a mangled body of an eleven-year-old boy was found in a shallow grave. Someone spread the story that had the lepers killing the kid to use his spleen for a cure. That had men battering the lepers with clubs. Then, a truck driver came forward, saying he had run over the boy in the dark, burying the body. I thought highly of him for confessing to take the blame away from our lepers.

There are burnt-out-cases who have been cured of the disease, but are left with the disfigurement that keep them from mixing with people.  There used to be several thousands of those people in shacks on the wide red mud flats by the Yellow Sea. A bishop going out to say Mass for them, brought me along for hearing confessions. Through four hours of it what repeatedly struck me was that the problems of  Korean people are no different those of Americans, and the burnt-out-cases are no different from any others of God’s souls.

Who hear the word of God and keep it?

Saturday. 10/ 12/ 13

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

That seems straight forward enough, but it does leave a question hanging: I mean, how, when, and where does one hear the word of God? The simplistic answer to that would be that we hear the word of God when we read the Bible. But all people at all times haven’t had a Bible handy. Then too, those who have a Bible can’t always riffle through its pages to find the right answer to every one of the difficulties they face.

A better answer to the question about where one finds the word of God would be in one’s conscience. Our guilt or innocence are determined by whether or not we follow our conscience.

But even that is not always a satisfactory answer. If someone has been raised to lie and take things easy, his conscience might be telling him things like, “God helps those who help themselves.” And, “Never give a sucker an even break.”

No, those who hear the word of God and keep it must share the blessings they receive with those who taught them their Bible lessons, and share them with the parents who trained them in the discipline they need to keep from following the easy sinful way out.

We receive Communion at Mass to unite us to Jesus as he makes a Pleasing Gift of himself to the Father.

Friday, 10/11/13

Let me just say something about the proper way for us to hear Mass. At the Last Supper Jesus led the disciples through the customary Jewish table blessing. It was not just something they said before eating; rather, it directed their feeling toward God through the whole meal. It had three parts: beginning with their calling to mind God’s favors, going on to asking him to send down his power or spirit on them; then concluding with their submitting themselves to God as a pleasing gift.

Now, when Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” he meant that instruction to apply to the total table blessing, not just to what we call the words of Consecration. The Mass grew out of Our Lord’s table blessing at the Last Supper. We have copies of the wordings of the Mass from the Second and Third Centuries, and in them we see that the formula they followed still followed that pattern of calling to mind God’s favors, asking for his spirit, than joining Jesus as part of his pleasing gift. (The Greek for pleasing gift is Eu-charist.)

A special feature of that table blessing, and of the wording of the Mass that grew out of it, was that rather than following a set word-for-word formula, the one presiding, while going through the same three-part blessing, was obliged to use his own wording, so that the prayer would be sincere. 

When educated men became a rarity after Europe’s barbarian invasions, in 600 Pope Gregory changed the rule. He set up a single formula for the Mass prayer. It too followed the three parts of Our Lord’s table prayer. His Roman Canon in Latin was what I was using when I learned to say Mass sixty-one years ago.  

Let me draw your attention to the third part of that table prayer, the Pleasing Gift, or the Eucharist. In our Masses Jesus is with us, submitting himself entirely to the Father as a Pleasing Gift. Now, hearing Mass will be of benefit to us only if we join Jesus in the Eucharist by submitting ourselves to God as part of Christ’s Pleasing Gift, or Eucharist. The principal reason for our receiving Communion at that time is to intimately unite us with Jesus in submitting ourselves as part of his Eucharist.

Vatican II asked us not to have Benediction following Mass. They reasoned that our receiving Communion had us joining Jesus as part of the Pleasing Gift. But when we followed that with the more theatrical Benediction ceremony, we were led to see the Consecration at Mass as just a way of manufacturing the Eucharist for Benediction or Adoration.