Easter Sunday Morning, Year C – Homily

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Easter Sunday, Year C
Acts of the Apostles 10:34a, 37-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 (24)
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9
April 17, 2022

Early, “while it was still dark,” Mary of Magdala came to the tomb on the first day of the week.

Whose tomb?  Why is she going there while it was still dark?

To begin to understand this, we must first know whose tomb it is.  This passage comes from chapter 20 of the Gospel of John.  Much has happened leading to this moment, culminating in the Crucifixion of Jesus.  He was then laid in the tomb.

It is his tomb that Mary of Magdala went to.  She found “the stone removed from the tomb.”  She thought someone has “taken the Lord from the tomb.”  So, she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple to tell them.  In turn they ran to the tomb.  They found the tomb empty.  When the other disciple went in, we are told “he saw and believed.”  His belief was not one of complete understanding for “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” 

They would come to understand that Jesus had risen on the first day of the week.  This is why we celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, a new beginning.

Still, to appreciate what the Resurrection means, we need to know what had happened.  In our first reading from Acts today, Peter is giving a discourse about what has happened.  He speaks of “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and Power.  He went about doing good and healing…They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.  This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible.”

To appreciate the Resurrection, we need to understand why Jesus was put to death.  Crucifixion was considered the worst form of execution.  Why was Jesus crucified?

He had done nothing wrong.  He was innocence.  He was not crucified for anything He had done.

He was crucified for our sins.  It was our infirmities that He bore.

Jesus died for us. 

Jesus died to save us from our sins because He loves us.

Not only did He die for us, risen He appeared to his disciples so that we might know what it means to share in the Resurrection.

Knowing all this, we should make Jesus our cornerstone.  We should “seek what is above.”

What does it mean to make Jesus our cornerstone?

It means to have faith in what He says and to build our lives on that.  To do this, we need to read most especially the gospels but the whole New Testament to hear what Jesus teaches us and offers us.

It is Jesus to who “all the prophets bear witness.”  Thus, to understand Jesus, we need to know what the prophets had said.  That means we need to read what the prophets said in the Old Testament.  The prophets had long foretold the coming of a Messiah.  Isaiah alone has four passages that speak of a suffering servant whose suffering will justify many.

Jesus suffered greatly in his Passion.  He didn’t want to suffer.  In the garden He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.”  Jesus accepted his suffering because He knew it would save us.

The Bible, both the Old and New Testament, are the story of God’s love for his people.  It begins with God creating the universe and putting humanity at the pinnacle of creation. 

Yet, humanity did not always follow God’s way.  Original Sin came when Satan tricked Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.  There were people of great faith like Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac in faith. 

God’s people would face great difficulty, like finding themselves in slavery in Egypt.  God would rescue them through Moses and led them to a land flowing with milk and honey. 

Still, they grumbled.  They sinned.  God allowed them to sin and to suffer the consequences of their sin.  When they repented, God would rescue them. 

Jesus comes to rescue us from our sins.  His willingly giving his life on the Cross is the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  His Resurrection shows us eternal life.

Do we understand all of this?

Probably not, but we can believe.  We are saved.  Jesus Christ is risen today.

Easter Vigil, Year C – Homily

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Easter Vigil, Year C
Genesis 1:1-2:2
Genesis 22:1-18
Exodus 14:15-15:1
Isaiah 55:1-11
Romans 6:3-11
Luke 24:1-12
April 16, 2022

“In the beginning…the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss.”

From the formless, God created order.  From the darkness, God brought light, not just light as physical light.  God also brought “light” in bringing order and meaning to the earth.

The story of creation in Genesis is not meant to be a scientific explanation of how God created.  Rather, it tells us God how brought “order” to the “formless wasteland.”

God’s act of creation was not random.  He created a functional ecosystem where what was created was interdependent.  The water and land provide a place for things to live.  The plants and trees provide food and oxygen.  The animals provide food.  Created in God’s image, humans stand at the pinnacle of creation but we too are part of the “order” of creation.  Just as the plants breathe out the oxygen we need, we breathe out the Carbon Dioxide they need.

Created us in his image, He gave humanity dominion over creation.  We have dominion but we need to use what God has given us in creation wisely.

Having finished creation, God rested on the Sabbath day to give us the Sabbath.

Having finished creation, God did not walk away.  God chose then to be in relationship with all that He created.  He continues to choose to be in relationship with us.

From this comes the story of salvation history that we heard in our readings tonight and sung in the Exsultet.

Abraham was a faithful man, doing whatever the Lord asked of him.  Abraham and his wife Sarah had to wait years to have a son.  They saw their son Isaac as a gift from God.

God told Abraham to offer Isaac as a holocaust.  Abraham was willing to do it!  What happened foreshadowed what God will do through his Son, Jesus.

Abraham and Isaac journeyed for three days.  Jesus would lie in the tomb for three days.

Isaac would carry the wood on his shoulders for the sacrifice as Jesus carries the Cross for his Crucifixion.

Abraham is being prophetic when he tells Isaac, “God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust.”  God will provide his own Son at the proper time.

God does not make Abraham go through with sacrificing Isaac.  Instead, God provides a ram that day for the holocaust.

Our readings then turn to the Exodus.  God has led his people out from Egypt.  They become afraid when they learn the Egyptians are coming after them.  God tells us to “go forward.”

God will do the impossible.  He will part the waters of the Red Sea so the Israelites can escape.  As they reach the Red Sea, “The angel of God, who had been leading Israeli’s camp now moved and went around behind them.”  God both led them and had they back.

Their passing through the waters of the Red Sea foreshadows the waters of Baptism.  As they began a new stage in their lives that day, we begin something new in Baptism.  As God saves the Israelites that day from the Egyptians, so does Jesus save us from our sins.

There are many stories in salvation history.  Tonight, we hear just a few of them.  All are invited to “come to the water…without paying and without cost.”  All we have to do is turn our lives to God. 

We need to stop trying to find satisfaction in earthly things.  We are created to know God.  Nothing else can truly satisfy us.  Now is the time to “Seek the LORD while he may be found.”

Does this mean we will understand everything?  No.  God says to us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”

We are not going to understand everything.  We aren’t supposed to.  Only God truly understands everything.  Knowing God loves we place our trust in him.

We are to die to the things of this world so that we may rise with Jesus in the Resurrection.

We call this time Holy Week.  It truly is holy.  It is the culmination of the events of salvation history. 

On Thursday we celebrated the institution of the Eucharist and Priesthood.  Jesus gives us his Body and Blood.

On Good Friday we celebrated Jesus’ Crucifixion.  We celebrate it because it brings us the forgiveness of our sins.  We also celebrate it for how it reveals God’s love for us.

But the story does not end there.  Jesus was laid in the tomb.  It might have seemed like an end.  It was not.

“On the first day of the week the women…went to the tomb.”  There they found the tomb empty.  They were puzzled by this until two men appeared and told them that Jesus has risen as He promised.

This is good news!  They announced this to the others.  Not everyone believed the news.  To some it “seemed like nonsense.”

We believe.  We rejoice knowing that Jesus, the Son of God, died and rose for us. 

Remembering the darkness at creation, we began today in darkness and blessed the Easter fire. We lit the Paschal candle from the fire, recalling Jesus as the light of the world. From the Paschal Candle, we lit our candles.

Our world seems to be falling apart, losing the order God brought to it as people turn away from God. All is not lost. There is hope.

Jesus Christ is risen today.

Some Thoughts for Holy Thursday

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Today is Holy Thursday. At the Last Supper Jesus instituted both the Eucharist and the Priesthood. He instituted the Eucharist as He celebrated the Passover, taking that and transforming it into the Eucharist. The Passover was set by God (see the first reading for Mass tonight) to be celebrated with the sacrifice of a lamb where “The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.” On the Cross, Jesus becomes the Lamb of God. Just as the Jews celebrated the Passover as a “memorial feast” and “perpetual institution,” so do we celebrate the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not a human invention. It is what Paul says he “received from the Lord.” It is what Jesus commanded us to do when He says “Do this in remembrance of me.“

If you would like to read more about the Eucharist, you can read my blog articles on the Eucharist at https://blog.renewaloffaith.org/blog/?cat=113. If you would like to watch an extended video, you could watch my two-hour presentation (you can watch in stages) on the Eucharist that was part of my series on the sacraments at www.renewaloffaith.org/sacramentseucharist .

In tonight’s gospel Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. In doing so, He provides a model of leadership. It is a not a leadership of power and honor. It is a leadership of service. In my recent blog article, “The Ministry of Priests”, I included a quote from Archbishop Hughes, “Chrysostom gave special attention to the motive appropriate for saying yes to a priestly vocation: the salvation and sanctification of others” (Priests in Love with God and Eager to Witness to the Gospel. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2021. 34). One does not become a priest for oneself. One does it for others. (Priesthood is covered in my last presentation in my series on the Sacraments as one of the two Sacraments of service)

Please pray for all priests today. Please pray for more people to come to know the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

What Mercy Offers

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We need God’s mercy. Our world is in need of God’s mercy and we need it as individuals. We are human beings who are not perfect. At times we fall short of doing good and we need forgiveness. As look ahead to Good Friday this week, God’s forgiving mercy as at the heart of what we see as we look at Christ crucified.

From Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, we can go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation knowing that our sins are forgiven when we confess them with a repentant contrite heart. As we look at Jesus on the Cross, we see how much He loves us for, as Jesus says in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Laying down his life for us is precisely what Jesus does on the Cross.

This is Divine Mercy (For more on Divine Mercy, please see my article “God’s Gift of Mercy” where I offer some thoughts based on my reading of Understanding Divine Mercy by Fr. Chris Alar, MIC (Stockbridge:MA. Marian Press. 2021). 

Forgiveness is something needed in our world today (see my recent series, Finding Peace and Healing in a Troubled World. However, God’s mercy (and thus the mercy we show to others) is more than just forgiveness.

You may remember that in 2015, Pope Francis called for a Jubilee Year of Mercy. At that time, I offered three presentations on mercy that can be viewed on my website at http://www.renewaloffaith.org/be-merciful.html. As the Jubilee Year of Mercy was drawing to a close, I offered a single presentation version of some of the same information with a look forward (What Comes After the Jubilee Year of Mercy – http://www.renewaloffaith.org/video—mercy.html).

Mercy flows from love. Our love for God and our neighbor calls us to care for the needs of others. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus offers the Corporal Works of Mercy as criteria for what it is needed to seek God’s kingdom. The first of the Corporal Works of Mercy is to feed the hungry. Jesus, moved with pity, does this as He feeds the great multitude with just five barley loaves and two fish (found in all four gospels, Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6;34-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15).

Another Corporal Work of Mercy is to visit the sick. Jesus clearly offers mercy to the sick in the many miraculous healing He does.

Just as there are seven Corporal Works of Mercy, we also have seven Spiritual Works of Mercy found throughout scripture. These, as well as the Corporal Works of Mercy, are presented in my presentation, The Journey to Jesus: Acts of Mercy at http://www.renewaloffaith.org/video—the-journey-to-jesus–acts-of-mercy.html.

Today I would like to discuss two of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. The first is to “Instruct the Ignorant.” If we want people to follow Jesus, we need to tell them about Jesus. Teaching was an important part of Jesus’ ministry. We know this from Jesus’ own words, “He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come” (Mark 1:38, cf. Luke 4:43). As Jesus preaches, He teaches. Those who are regular readers of my blog know how important sharing the faith is to me.

The other Spiritual Work of Mercy I would like to discuss today is to “Admonish the Sinner.” This spiritual work of mercy does not call us to judge others for their sins. It does not call us to yell at them. It does call us to help them see and understand their sins. We must do so with mercy. Jesus gives us the perfect example of how to address sinners in the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) when He says in John 8:11b, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” This means she has sinned but should not anymore. In Luke 23:34, in the midst of his Passion Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” concerning the people who are having him crucified. Now that is forgiveness.

On Good Friday, Jesus shows us mercy as He gives his life for us on the Cross. In the events we celebrate in Holy Week and Easter Sunday, there is one more way that Jesus shows mercy to us. He shows us the Resurrection. Why do I consider this a demonstration of mercy? Because it gives us hope. The Resurrection reveals to us that God has something greater planned for us, a place in his heavenly kingdom.

We thank God for his mercy. May we share his mercy with others.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

What Holy Week Offers

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Today is Monday of Holy Week. What we celebrate at the end of Holy Week are the most solemn liturgies of the year. Today’s readings lead me to think about what God offers us this week.

Today’s first reading, Isaiah 42:1-7, is the first of four suffering servant oracles in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Jesus fulfills what these oracles speak of. He is God’s Chosen One who receives God’s Spirit. He comes quietly, not shouting. He comes to bring justice. Justice not as punishment but taking the punishment for our sins upon himself. He opens the eyes of the blind and set prisoners free as He sets us free from our sins.

Turning to today’s gospel, John 12:-11, Mary anoints Jesus with the oil that is worth three hundred day’s wages. Judas complains about the waste but what Jesus offers us is worth it. What Jesus offers us is priceless.

He is the Son of God. He is the one without sin. Thus, on both accounts, his sacrifice is perfect. His sacrifice is priceless.

On Holy Thursday, we celebrate Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist. The bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Priceless!

On Good Friday, we celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus’ Crucifixion, that which we celebrate in every Mass. Priceless!

Then comes Easter, the Resurrection. Jesus reveals to us eternal life! Priceless!

Jesus, I thank you for all that you offer us this week.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year C – Homily

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Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year C
Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 (28)
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56
April 10, 2022

Our Passion narrative today begins, “When the hour came, Jesus took his place.”  What hour?  What was his place? 

It is the hour for his Passion.  The place?  The place is where God had planned all along for Jesus to celebrate this Passover meal.

Jesus knows what is coming.  In fact, He says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  He is eager because He knows it is what the Father has sent him to do.  He is eager because He knows what his Passion brings for us, forgiveness and salvation.

His Passion has long been prophesized.  In Isaiah we hear of the Suffering Servant, “I gave my back to those who beat me…my face I did not shield.”

Psalm 22 speaks of the one is mocked, his hands and feet pierced, his garments divided.  All this is fulfilled in Jesus’ Passion.

To make this happen, Jesus had to first empty himself.  He “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.”  “He humbled himself” to save us, “becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Jesus was willing to suffer what would seem like defeat on the Cross to save us because He loves us.  He does this to untie us from our sins.  We should take his Passion lightly.

Today marks Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem.  We began with the blessing of the palms, recalling Jesus’ royal entry into Jerusalem.  The people spread “their cloaks on the road” and “began to praise God aloud with joy” with the words, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”  These words form part of what we sing in the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) at Mass.

So begins Holy Week.

In today’s Passion narrative we hear much of what we will celebrate in the coming days.  On Holy Thursday we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper where Jesus institutes the Eucharist and the priesthood.  As He does so, He unites it to the sacrifice of his Crucifixion on Good Friday when He says, “This is my body, which will be given for you…This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” 

So, every time we celebrate Mass, we are celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus giving his life for us. 

We call Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil on Saturday the Easter Triduum.  It happens over three days but it is one event.  I invite you to come each night to experience the grace of what Jesus does for us.

Jesus does this because it is what “has been determined” because Satan attacks us to lead us into sin.  We cannot win the battle against Satan on our own.  It is not a battle won with swords.  What do we need to win this battle?

The Cross.

Jesus giving his life on the Cross is what brings victory over sin.

What Jesus goes through in his Passion was not easy.  It was difficult for his disciples to even hear Jesus speak of it.  Thus, “he found them sleeping from grief.”

Are you exhausted from battling with sin and suffering?  It is time to hand it over to Jesus.

Those who opposed Jesus will arrest him and bring charges against him to Pilate as they seek to have him executed.

The charges.  The first is that He opposes paying taxes to Caesar.  This is not true.  In fact, in Luke 20:25, Jesus says to pay the tax.  Pilate finds him not guilty.

They accuse him of maintaining “that he is the Christ.”  Actually, He is the Christ.  So, He is telling the truth here, doing nothing wrong.

Then, they charge him with “inciting the people with his teaching.”  He does not incite anyone.  In fact, He stops them when they begin to strike with the sword.  He does not incite.  What He does do is inspire people.  He inspires them with truth and love.

Pilate continues to find him not guilty but consents to his crucifixion to appease the people.

What does Jesus say concerning those who have a hand in his execution?  “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

They will mock him by telling him to save himself.  What does it mean to be saved?  The salvation that matters most is not saving our physical lives.  It is the salvation of our souls.  This is what Jesus offers us.

What are we to do?

We turn it over to Jesus.  We pray for an end to suffering but we accept what is the Father’s Will.

May our prayers be like that of Jesus in the garden when He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still not my will but yours be done.”

Video – Finding Peace and Healing in a Troubled World Part III

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I completed my series, Finding Peace and Healing in a Troubled World, with Part III last night. The slides and video are now available online at www.renewaloffaith.org/healing3.

If you watch video in the next few days, you can complete an online evaluation at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdbvrN3TSImjEc5270S0sYQ8LaU2VeUCxTuGcgKBeFE84X-Wg/viewform?usp=sf_link

At this point in time I do not have any more presentations planned. I do plan to do more but it will be at least a month or two as I will be busy with Easter, Convocation, and other duties. Please feel free to share ideas for future topics in the evaluation or by commenting here.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

The Ministry of Priests

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I recently read a new book, Priests in Love with God and Eager to Witness to the Gospel by Archbishop Emeritus Alfred Hughes (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2021). He wrote the book with seminarians in mind but also for reflection by priests and bishops. It is important for priests like myself to occasionally reflect on their priestly ministry. I think it is also good for parishioners to reflect on the life and ministry of their priests.

For all of us, clergy, religious, and laity, love of God needs to be at the heart of what we do. Archbishop Hughes reminds us of Jesus’ call to love God above all else, pointing first to Matthew 16:24-28; Mark 8:34-9:1; Luke 9:23-27; Luke 14:25-33 before he writes, “So, the Lord lays claim to a person’s first and most fundamental love. When the love of the Lord is central, then all other loves fall more easily into their proper place” (21). Loving God first is not contrary to loving others. It is at the heart of it.

You may remember the following quote in my recent article, “Why the Fathers of the Church are Important,” from Mike Aquilina, “Indeed, during the centuries when Christians were most severely persecuted, the Church grew by a steady 40 percent per decade” (Mike Aquilina, The Fathers of the Church 3rd Edition: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. 2013. 39).

As he examines the history of the church with regards to priesthood, Archbishop Hughes echoes this sentiment as he writes, “But, without the threat of imprisonment or death, Christians became more lax in their living of the faith. Many began to to make accommodations to the wider world culture” (31). We must not be complacent in our faith.

Why might one wish to become a priest? Archbishop Hughes writes, “Chrysostom gave special attention to the motive appropriate for saying yes to a priestly vocation: the salvation and sanctification of others” (34, my emphasis). One does not become a priest for one’s own salvation. One becomes a priest for others. Being a priest is not easy. (Neither is it easy to be a faithful Christian today). Archbishop reminds us of Paul’s recounting of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28). Please pray for all to have the grace to endure sufferings for the faith.

Archbishop Hughes then offers what St. Augustine wrote (in Sermon 340, 3), “In his homily on the anniversary of his ordination, he expressed the awesome responsibilities of his role as a bishop in this way: “The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel’s opponents need to be refuted, its insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud need to be put in their place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled; the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be given your backing, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved” (43). St. Augustine wrote this 1,600 years ago. It still applies today. It is for the priest to share in much of this. For, as Archbishop Hughes later writes of priestly ministry, “He has a very real challenge to keep focused on not what pleases people but what ought to please them” (50, my emphasis). Priestly ministry is not rooted in the people’s will or the individual priest’s will. Priestly ministry must be rooted in God’s will.

It is not easy. As Archbishop Hughes continues to survey church history, he writes, “As the feudal society continued to mingle secular with sacred responsibilities in the lives of Church leaders, Catholic culture flourished, but Gospel living suffered. The faithful developed a remarkable reverence and awe toward the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist” (64). Unfortunately, many today have lost even the belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is Jesus.

What is needed to be a good priest? Archbishop Hughes turns to St. Thomas Aquinas as he writes, “He embraced fully the Dominican motto, contemplata aliis tradere (to hand on to others the fruits of one’s contemplation). For Thomas, prayer was a precondition for good theological study” (68). To be a good priest, one must have a strong prayer life and study. Please pray for priests to do this so that in turn the priests may help you.

Archbishop Hughes later writes, “Moreover, open hostility to the Church prompted many Catholics to privatize their faith in order to experience or to advance in their careers in life” (96). Please pray for priests to have the courage to say the Truth that God offers us.

As Archbishop Hughes continues, he discusses two ways people have seen the Second Vatican Council, “The first story emphasized engagement with the world on revelation’s terms. The second story seemed to focus on the engagement of revelation on the world’s terms” (105). Please pray for priests (and for everyone) to look at the world in terms of God’s revelation and will, not the other way around.

We call priests “father” because they are called to our spiritual fathers. Archbishop Hughes writes, “Every father has some administrative responsibilities for his family, but the spiritual dimensions of his fatherhood have to primary” (113). So it is with priests. Priests have administrative duties but these are not to be the first priority. The supreme good is the salvation of souls (Code of Canon Law, 1752). Please pray the salvation of souls always be the primary focus of priests.

In chapter 17, Archbishop Hughes writes of what is needed in the life of a priest. (Much of what he says is relevant for all Catholics). At the heart of it is a daily holy hour. A priest must keep going back to the Lord in prayer (153). This includes faithfully praying the Liturgy of the Hours where he writes, “This takes regular quiet time, because praying the Hours quickly, routinely, or superficially will not make that possible” (154). Please pray for all priests to sincerely pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

Archbishop Hughes goes on to speak of how priests celebrate the Mass, “those celebrating the Liturgy must become interiorly engaged in this ministry. The Mass is not just a ceremony or a worship service. It is the representation in sacrament of the redemptive Mystery of Faith…This pivotal event in all human history becomes present and accessible to everyone in this great sacrament” (154-155). Please pray for priests to always remember what happens in the Eucharist. The bread and wine really are changed, transubstantiated, into the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross that we celebrate in the Eucharist.

Turning to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Archbishop Hughes writes, “The priest is ordained to be a minister of that mercy in the name of Christ. If he is to be a good confessor, he needs to be a good penitent first. As St. John Chrysostom taught, only those who engage in the spiritual struggle for virtue and against vice are going to be able to help penitents to do the same” (156). Please pray for priests to understand their own need for forgiveness so they understand what they are offering to you in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Archbishop Hughes writes, “Priests who are humanly mature, intellectually alert, inquisitive, and spiritually alive will explore every avenue to help people meet the Lord in a meaningful and life changing way. For some, it will be helping them to encounter the Lord in personal prayer; for others it will be in participation in the Eucharist or in the quiet of Eucharistic adoration; for still others it may be in a retreat” (160). Please pray for priests to grow in their own faith so that they may help you grow in your faith.

Priesthood is for the salvation of souls. Here Archbishop Hughes writes, “As Francis Cardinal George perceptively commented, missionaries cannot evangelize either a people or a culture they do not love” (160). Pray for priests to have this love. Know what I do, I do for you.

Please pray for priests. Know that I pray for you. I end with one final quote from Archbishop Hughes, “Nor is this a time for the timid! The Holy Spirit has given the gift of parresia in the laying on of hands. It will require wisdom, conviction, courage, even boldness to reproclaim the Gospel in our own time” (164).

Pray for priests. Pray to God our Father “thy will be done.”

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Handing Our Sins to God

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There are numerous stories in the Bible. I would consider today’s (Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C) gospel of the woman caught in adultery as one that many people remember. You may remember it but how much do you reflect on what our Lord is telling us in this story?

The scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus who “was caught in the very act of committing adultery.” There is no question to her guilt. Well, maybe one, if she did she commit adultery, where is the person she committed adultery with? That person would be guilty of the same crime.

The question is not of her guilt. Jesus is concerned with how we treat sinners. However, that is not the motive of the scribes and the Pharisees. They are not concerned about the woman. She is a living, breathing child of God but they show no concern for her.

The scribes and the Pharisees refer to the law where Moses commanded “to stone such women.” They ask Jesus what He thinks. If they were really interested in what Jesus says as a lesson in faith, that would be wonderful. However, they think they already know what to do with the adulterous woman. Their motive is “to test him, so they might have some to bring against him.” They use the woman as a means to get what they want.

Jesus knows what they are up to. He does not fall into their trap. He simply “bent down and began to write on the ground.” What did He write? Did He about the commandments? Forgiveness? Mercy? We do not know. We are not told of any reaction to what he writes from those questioning him.

Since He does not answer, they continue to ask him what He thinks. Should she be stoned? He replied, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” The scribes and the Pharisees do not admit their sins openly but we are all sinners. They offer no reply.

Jesus again “wrote on the ground.” Again, we do not know what He wrote. Some people speculate that He was writing down their sins. Why suppose this? Because one by one, they went away without saying anything more. Did they each leave when Jesus wrote down a sin they had committed? We do not know nor do we need to.

What we do need to think about is how we treat sinners. Are we kind and merciful to them? Do we show them the same mercy we seek from Jesus? Do we forgive as we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?”

After everyone leaves, Jesus speaks to the woman, “Has no one condemned you?…Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

It is very important for us to think about these words of Jesus. When He says, “do not sin any more,” He indicates that she did sin. Why else would He say, “do not sin any more“? It also means that Jesus saying she needs to stop sinning. He does not condemn but neither does He say her sin does not matter.

He treats her with mercy.

Jesus offers us the same mercy.

God has always offered his mercy. Today’s first reading comes from Isaiah at a time when the Israelites had been in exile in Babylon. God is bringing the Exile to an end as He “opens a way.” The Lord leads a powerful army for, as we say in the Holy, Holy, Holy (the Sanctus) at Mass, He is the “Lord God of hosts.” God leads an army of angels in the battle against evil.

God forgives them their sins and tells them, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not.” God wants us to let go of the past, confessing our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and move on. When we feel abandoned “in the desert“, God will make a way for us. This is what He offered the Israelites. This is what He offers us, a new way. Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life.“

Our Lord wants to “restore our fortunes.” By fortunes, we do not mean material wealth. What is our greatest fortune? The love of God.

We fall short. We sin. Do not despair. As Paul writes we are called to continue our pursuit in hope of the prize that God offers us. We do not save ourselves. Paul writes to the Philippians, “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” We need to turn from worldly pleasures to the things of God. We cannot do this on our own. We do not need to. We do in “through faith in Christ.“

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Why the Fathers of the Church are Important

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I recently read The Fathers of the Church 3rd Edition: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers by Mike Aquilina (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. 2013). When I saw an ad for the book, I was drawn to it for two reasons. First, unity in the church is important to me. When I speak of “unity”, I include “continuity” over time. What the Church teaches today needs to be consistent with what it has always taught. Led by the Holy Spirit, Church teaching develops over the centuries but does not flip flop. For those who see radical change from the Second Vatican Council, properly understood the council was not about new developments. It was a returning to our roots. With this in mind, it is important to be aware of the what the church fathers taught.

Secondly, I like to watch stories of converts to our Catholic faith. When one hears the story of those whose conversion involves scholarly study, it often involves study of the Church Fathers. In it, they see that the Catholic Church did not go astray in its doctrine but rather is faithful to what the early church taught.

With this mind, Aquilina begins his introduction, “At the dawn of the age of the Fathers, Luke the Evangelist wrote of the first Christians: “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32)” (17). Being part of the Catholic Church is not about doing our own thing, picking and choosing what to believe. As Aquilina continues, “As heirs to the Apostles, the leaders and teachers of the early Church – the Fathers of the Church – were intensely concerned with preserving the unity and integrity of the “company of those who believed”” (17). He describes the story of the Church fathers as “the story of a family, and how the Fathers of that family strove to keep their households together” (17).

So, who are the Church Fathers? Aquilina describes them, “The Fathers of the Church are a select group of early Christian teachers, about a hundred in numbers, depending on the list you consult” (17). (Later noting, “There is no canonical list of the Fathers, and the Church as no process for naming them” (23).) To determine who qualifies as a Father of the Church, Aquilina relies on the criteria of “St. Vincent of Lerins in the fifth century:
1. Sound doctrine
2. Holiness of life
3. Church approval
4. Antiquity” (18)

This era of the Church Fathers is also known as the Patristic Era and “stretched from the middle of the first century to the middle of the eighth” (Aquilina 18). As understanding of our faith developed, so did many heresies. Thus, Aquilina writes, “As the generations passed, it became increasingly important for a teacher to demonstrate his continuity with apostolic teaching” (19). I believe this remains true today. It is why I like to use quotes from the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church when I teach. In turn, Aquilina points out, “The Catechism invokes individual Fathers more than three hundred times, and the Fathers collectively many additional times” (52).

From this understanding of continuity, Aquilina writes of the Fathers, “we might expect them to be a fairly uniform group” (20). However, as he describes, “The Fathers lived in cultures as varied as the high Roman Empire and the first Muslim caliphates, in cosmopolitan cities and in barbarian backwaters, in times of war and in times of peace, through periods of persecution and, finally, through centuries of triumph” (20). There were of various personalities, various methodologies, and different occupations (21). Unity does not mean everyone is identical. We are unique individuals united in a faith given to us by God through the Holy Spirit.

To ensure continuity, the Fathers sought hard to rely heavily on the Bible (Aquilina, 28-29). Likewise, as Aquilina writes, “For all the Church Fathers, the Eucharist was the sacrament of Christian unity” (36). In receiving the Eucharist, we need to be in “communion” with our faith. From this desire for unity comes the centrality of the papacy. There are those who think the papacy is one of the places the Catholic Church went astray. If this were true, then the Catholic Church went astray very early. Aquilina writes, “One of the oldest surviving Christian texts, aside from the Bible, is St. Clement of Rome’s Letter to the Corinthians. There we see the Church of Rome intervening in a controversy in a faraway church in Greece. St. Clement speaks from a position of authority and does not hesitate to demand obedience” (37, cf. Aquilina, 50). (This letter dates from the end of the first century).

From the time of Christ on earth to 312 A.D when the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in his “Edict of Milan”, the Church faced frequent persecution. Many people suffered martyrdom. One might think this would be a discouragement to anyone joining the Church. However, Aquilina writes, “Indeed, during the centuries when Christians were most severely persecuted, the Church grew by a steady 40 percent per decade” (39). Why? Because the witness of the martyrs showed to others how important the faith was to the Christians. One does not die for what one takes lightly. When little is asked of one, little is given (see Aquilina 40-41).

Beginning on page 42, Aquilina describes some the heresies faced by the Church Fathers. (To clarify what they faced, Aquilina writes “Apostasy is the renunciation of Christian faith. Heresy is the willful acceptance of incorrect doctrine. Schism is the attempt to preserve orthodoxy while breaking from union with the Church and the papacy” (43).)

In seeking continuity over time, central to what we are talking about is “Tradition”. As Aquilina writes, “The Fathers are witnesses to the Tradition, which predates them. They themselves are not the Tradition” (52). Tradition is something bigger than anyone of us. Tradition is rooted in the Bible and the teachings of Christ. Tradition flows forward led by the Holy Spirit, not by man’s personal desires.

From here, Aquilina goes on to spend some 250 more pages discussing the Church Fathers and providing excerpts from their writings. I am not going into all of that. I am not an expert in the Church Fathers. Besides, I don’t need to write all that. Aquilina has already written it. With that in mind, I just want to offer a short quote Aquilina provides from an excerpt of St. Ignatius of Antioch’s The Pure Blood of Christ. In this excerpt, St. Ignatius is asking for prayers that he “may not merely be called a Christian, but may really proved to be one” (66).

How seriously do you take your faith?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff